location, location, location

just wanted to let you know that i started a blog so that i can post pictures.

http://blubits.blogspot.com/

check it out! thanks for remaining loyal fans:).

or something along those lines:)

random acts of kindness

hello! it's been a while. as most of you will be relieved to hear, i'll be updating you on the events of my life soon:).

in the meantime, i wanted to thank whoever sent me that lovely card from the triangle area!

i realize the person who sent it didn't want recognition, but at the same time, i really want to express my thanks!

i received this card without a return address and it basically thanked me for my friendship. inside was a $100 bill! talk about anonymous gifts!

anyway, thank you so much for such an incredibly generous and thoughtful gift! i definitely have some expenses i can put it toward, and i'm incredibly grateful for it! thank you again!

bet you wish you woulda been there:)

so yesterday, we had our physical exam skills final in the morning, but we had another exam in the afternoon so i was gonna hang out and study for a little bit in between. now, you can probably imagine that the physical exam skills final involved touching dogs and doing physical exam stuff on them:).

well my hands smelled a little 'doggified' so i decided i should wash them. i'm cruising down the hall, thinking about what i should study for the next final. whoops--almost passed up the bathroom! so i make a quick correction and walk in.

well isn't that exciting? looks like someone put in a new shelf for us! and look at that! it even has some hooks for our bookbags and stuff! i even checked out the recent handiwork. didn't look all that new, but you could definitley tell where someone had dug out part of the wall to put it in there. guess i just hadn't been in this bathroom for a while....

but wait a minute.... i don't remember our bathroom having urinals in it! that's new....

yup--definitely in the guys bathroom. so i did a quick check to make sure that there weren't any guys in there who saw me and i grabbed my bookbag off of the handy 'new' hooks they have. maybe i'll go check out my bathroom, i thought:)

sure enough, i leave the bathroom, and there's a person walking by. not sure how to cover the fact that i either walked into the wrong bathroom, or i was the wrong gender, i just kept walking.

i know, i'll go down this hallway. surely she won't follow me here!

oops--maybe she did:). so i turn toward the lockers that are there and start fiddling with a locker combination as i pretend it's mine. half waiting for the correct owner of the locker to come up behind me and ask what i was doing, i take a sidelong glance to make sure the witness of my 'crime' was gone. i then left the stranger's locker and continued on my way.

smooth:).

the best part was that i was telling this story to some friends and one of them admitted to doing the same thing. however, when she did it, she went to the bathroom anyway:)

cracked me up.

a few of my favorite things

hello there!

i thought i should share with you a few triumphs:). first of all, only one more exam left! unfortunately, it's the one that scares me the most cuz it's over so much stuff. but to think that in 24 short hours, i'll be all finished..... VERY exciting!

also, i saw a few snow flurries this morning. not that it stuck or even was enough to know for sure that it was snow and not rain....:) but it made me smile.

i have also managed to keep the house relatively clutter-free during my exams. this is a huge deal since i tend to throw clothes everywhere and spread papers all around. it needs to be swept by a crazy madwoman, but i'll be that crazy madwoman tomorrow:).

i seem to have started some sort of sinus thing, but it seems to be under control for the moment. i didn't really notice it until yesterday, but i was just praying for it to wait til after my exams. it just makes me feel so spacey and i have a hard time concentrating. also, taking medicine gets tough cuz most of the time i do worse with the side effects of medicine than with the symptoms. so this morning, i spent my morning bonding with theraflu and orange juice:). let me just re-emphasize that it's not a big deal--just that i'm scared it will get bad before i'm done with exams.

other big bonus for today would be that i got my parasitology final back and i got an a- in that class! 5 credits too! that'll help me out alot! sorry to broadcast that, but i haven't gotten an 'a' in a 'real class' since i got to vet school. there were some 'cake classes' that everyone should have gotten a's in.... but this makes me happy.

i suppose some people would have thought that was a pretty easy class, but i really struggled with it cuz i didn't see a whole lot of relevance to most of the stuff. also, it was so much detail and it was pretty much just memorization. so i'm just gonna let myself be excited about it:).

k, stay tuned for the highlight of my day yesterday:).

hello there! i have emerged from my hole to post this:) i'm in the middle of finals but i have tomorrow off, so it's hard not to feel like i'm on vacation now:). still gotta study though. 4 more to go and then thanksgiving with the fam! can't wait!

things here have been going well. aside from the studying fun, i have been enjoying my newfound time with abbie and sammy. even if it is just sitting on the couch with them, it's been great.

we had our last surgery day this tuesday. two days before finals started. so while everyone else was at home studying, we were checking on our dog:). she did well but had some bleeding afterward, so we invested alot more time into it than we would have had to otherwise. glad she's ok, but it was sorta bad timing methinks:). in the end of it all, there was a chance she would have to stay for a few days and we'd have to continue checking on her every 4-8 hours (including through the night). thank goodness fonda picked up on our rising stress levels and told us the foster parents could watch her! in her words, "well how could i not notice? you stopped breathing for a full minute there." it cracked me up! i try not to stress over things that don't make a huge difference, but i guess i let that one slip through the cracks:).

stephy came back yesterday. i didn't get to see a whole lot of her cuz she was hanging out with her family and i had to study for finals. but i did get to hang out with her a little last night so that was great.

joey spent the night on thursday night! we didn't really get a whole lot of hangage time in, but it was still nice to catch up when she first came over.

tonight, dustin and i are going over to jo's place for a pre-thanksgiving dinner. i'm looking forward to it--should be a nice break from finals. michael and karen are coming too so that'll be cool to hang out with them a little since they're in raleigh and all:).

i can't even tell you how excited that i am almost done with this semester. ...or with the school part of it all anyway. i'm pumped about having my nights free to hang out with people or to just veg out if i want to. i'm excited about being able to go home next week--it's been so long. i guess i've been home a few times this semester--but not for long. it'll be nice to be home for more than a day!

alright, i've procrastinated enough--i'll be going now:). have a great weekend to all! if i don't update by thanksgiving, then i hope you all have a great thanksgiving as well:).

worm burners and ice cream

so i had a great weekend! i needed a little outlet for all my pent-up energy, so it was great to have some social interaction as well. i definitely studied alot as well though, so have no fear.

this weekend, i got a little R&R to supplement all the studying so that was great! dinner, a movie, and a symphony concert that my good buddy megan was in.

dustin and i went to the driving range saturday night too. so i discovered that i'm definitely not good at golfing! i think i did a good job with about 6 balls out of the whole bucket. the rest were 'worm burners' as dustin calls them:). but it was alot of fun anyway!

and to top off the weekend, i had a wonderful ice cream part-ay with my sisters. it sure was nice to laugh with them and to catch up. i really had a great time.

ok, back to studying. i've procrastinated long enough. all i've got to show for my evening is a paper.... so much more studying to do:(

abbie's helpin out with the yardwork now

well, today i mowed the lawn. i highly recommend it to all of you! mainly cuz it's fall and the grass was hardly even visible under all the leaves.

the advantage of doing it is that you don't even have to look at the grass--just follow the lines of leaves:).

it also cracked me up cuz abbie was out in the yard waiting for me to finish so i could come play with her. when i was doing the part of the yard that she was in, i sorta expected her to be a little nervous about a roaring, cutting machine coming too close to her. so, i patiently waited to see if she wanted to go to a different corner. but instead, she just sat there while i mowed lines right in front of her. there she sat looking at me so sweetly while i blew leaves all over her.

finally when i did get a little too close, she crossed the yard, laid down in the mulch bed and rested her head on the wooden plank as she watched me:). cracked me up.

meanwhile, our dear neighbor friend invited me to karaoke night on wednesday night again. i think i'll have to go after finals sometime.

finally, our adventure ended with a dog-de-leafing before going back into the house:). i do love that dog:)

and the take-home message: wait to mow the lawn til fall. you can even do it in the dark that way!

Wanna play a little catch [up]?

just wanted to let you guys in on my life.

it's basically consisted of school lately. about 3 weeks ago, i was so frustrated that i wanted to quit. now don't think that i have lost sight of my goal, because i haven't. it's just that there are times when i wonder if i know what i need to know to be a good clinician. is the stuff we're being tested on relevant? have i learned more or less knowledge than my grades say i've learned? why can't we DO more in school--you know, get some hands on learning?

but that's ok. cuz all of those thoughts were based around 2 weeks and they're over now. for some reason, i felt like i had been sucked in--and i didn't like it. i would have rather been spending time with people. enjoying the beautiful fall weather. hanging out with my dog. getting other stuff done. etc. and not only was i doing a ton of school stuff, but it felt like it was all stuff that didn't really matter. or if it did, i felt like i studied and studied...and reaped no reward.

but that's ok too. cuz God lets us get frustrated so we can come out and see the reason for it all. i have worked very hard through this semester and it will be very nice to be finished with the grading part of it all in just a week and a half. i can't wait! then home for thanksgiving with my fam! will be exciting!

in the meantime, stephanie has gone home to take her CNA classes to become a nurse. it's kinda weird without her here, but i'm glad she got the chance to spend time with her family too.

we threw a surprise birthday party for dustin the other weekend too. i spent alot of time worrying about it too cuz i thought he was on to us. but in the end, he was completely surprised! it was so much fun! thanks to all of you who helped out!

our Bible study (at school) is going well too! last week, one of the girls brought her guitar and we sang a few songs too! it was so cool! never sang at the school before--especially Praise & Worship songs with a group and a guitar:).

speaking of Bible studies, Hope (my church) has recently planted a church and i'll be checking that out in the next few weeks. will be interesting to see how it all plays out....

becca's in town this weekend, so joey and i will be joining her for ice cream on sunday. will be fun!

in other good news, looks like i'll be able to get credit (at the vet school) for helping out that large animal vet in illinois. i'm so excited! i was going to do it anyway, but this way i can have a 2 week vacation after my 3rd year and before i start my clinical rotations.

well, this has become way too long and i need to study for finals some more. peace out:)

Alan Feimster

most of you know that i went on a veterinary missions trip to the navajo nation this summer. true to form, i still have yet to compile some pictures and send them to the people who supported me. i haven't forgotten though....

regardless, i met many people on that trip who changed my life. we were able to learn some veterinary skills, witness to people, and learn about navajo culture. we ate their food, we slept on their floors and in their buildings, and we helped their animals. in the process, i hope we helped direct them to the One who inspired us to be there in the first place--Jesus Christ!

but one of the people i met was particularly influential. he actually went on the trip with us. his name? dr. alan feimster.

always ready to offer advice or insight into God's word, he never passed up a chance to share God's love. he was willing to admit when he didn't know the answers, but we all knew he would go research it. he had a quiet authority about him, and yet we knew he was approachable. he was honest, sincere, and genuine. he cared about who we were and where we were going--spiritually and professionally.

i believe that he was truly right in the center of God's hands. his treasure was in Heaven and not on earth. he had such a passion for the salvation of his family. he was a man of prayer and he was a man of action. everything he did was with passion and focus.

alan went home to be with Christ on Thursday, October 12, 2006. He was under 40 years old and he was active. He was going to be married to his fiancee, liana, that saturday. they found him in his room at the hotel where the wedding was going to be.

but even without alan here, his testimony still lives on. he loved gardening--and looked for growth in everyone he met. he loved photography--and tried to be well acquainted with every angle of people in day-to-day life as well. he had a strong relationship with wasabi peas:). and he shared that love with us just like he shared his love for Christ. he will forever be missed...but always remembered as God's faithful servant.

weekend o fun and busy-ness

well hello there!

figured i should update again--cuz it's been a while.

just went to karen and michael's wedding this weekend. beautiful! they both seemed very relaxed and happy....it was very nice.

then some dirt track races north of winston salem. i've never been to a dirt track before and it was a blast. let's just say that it wasn't a straight shot off the interstate though:). but it was totally worth it.

it also turned out that the dog we neutered on friday (and that i spent a fair amount of my evening dealing with) ended up having to go through surgery again on saturday. therefore, we had to go in to check on it all weekend:(. he's doing fine...and i wasn't even here on saturday, so i took a couple sunday shifts instead. but it sorta stinks when it becomes your whole weekend.

finally got to go to dustin's parents house for dinner again. i've been so busy with school lately that i haven't been all semester:(. so that was good.

i didn't get to see steph a whole lot over the weekend, but it sure was great having the time that we did have together.... she makes me laugh.

i also finally got in touch with the vet in illinois, so i'll be doing a 2 week selective up there over break. i'm so excited to hang out with my relatives and to be able to learn some more about ruminant medicine--as well as be able to do whatever they put me up to:).

school calmed down alot this week, so it'll be good to be able to get back on top of things. i only have one test and 2 quizzes this week, so that's good. i've had the chance to get a paper done ahead of time, and i already have the quizzes under my belt. things are looking up:). now if i could just focus on this test.....

think that'll cover it for now.

pens clicking and fingers tapping

why is it that i have this sort of nervous energy? but it comes when i'm so tired that i probably shouldn't do anything about it. or can't do anything about it.

last night, i wanted to go to the gym so badly. normally, i wouldn't have any excuses since my gym has lately become 24 hours during the week. however, i think it's 7am to 7pm on the weekends so i couldn't go.

here it comes again, but i have other things that i need to be doing with my time. like getting food for my snake. running by work. getting a new stereo for my car. finishing a scrapbook for someone. putting together a presentation on navajo nation. most importantly, studying. and maybe even more importantly now, taking a nap.

i'm also thinking about changing my home online to a blog so i can put pictures up. i'll keep you posted though. hmmm, what to do. might go to the gym after all.

why hello!

it has been a long time. and i'll assume you know i'm apologetic and that i will surely do better this time about updating more frequently.:) not that i've ever said all those things before:).

just a litele blurb for now though. for those of you who keep up with me this way:
we've (steph and i) have moved to a different rental house in cary. if you need my new address, please let me know.

i have a corn snake now. and he's wonderful! steph recently adopted a dog that was surrendered by the owner due to financial restrictions. check out her blog if you wanna see pictures: http://whitlark.blogspot.com/

navajo nation trip was pretty incredible. i'm still working on putting together pix and comments together for those of you who still haven't heard about my trip. thank you all for your support! i am so grateful!

school is going well. i'm pretty busy, but so far, i've been seeing good results so that's been very encouraging.

weddings have been keeping me busy as well, which has been fun! i haven't been working very much lately.

right now, i'm at sarah's house and i'm having a blast. we are currently listening to tapes of us singing and reciting verses as small buttons of children:). it's hilarious. next scheduled activity is hiking which will be followed by dinner and walking around downtown:). it's been a wonderful weekend so far:).

hopefully, there will be more later. if i'm VERY good, i'll keep up with this better so it can be more entertaining posts:)