Joy

These last few weeks may have been some of the most stressful and hectic we've encountered thus far in our lives/marriage.  I haven't posted lately because, honestly, I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up my joy through our circumstances.  I don't want to bore anyone with details, or seem like I'm complaining, so I'll keep it brief and start with the positives:

- We're moving!  On my last post I showed some pictures of our new condo.  We're really excited about the new place and checking out a new town ...

- We found a renter for our Daphne condo!  After 1.5 years of unsuccessfully trying to sell our house, and 3 months of trying to find a renter, God has now answered our prayers!  We found a super nice guy who wants to make our house his home for the next year or so.  However, the market being what it is, we could not get a rent price near equivalent of what we pay on our mortgage.  That plus the new condo in C'ville means we'll be pinching our pennies more than ever!  Not to mention he wants to move in about 1.5 weeks before we can move into our new condo.  So that means we have to pack up quicker than expected and will be homeless for a bit!

- Stuart has been on the job hunt now for a few months.  We had some luck in C'ville with a job offer, but it would have been for a position that would be a few steps backward in his career goals.  Stuart, being the wonderful husband that he is, was willing to take it ... but after much discussion we decided it wouldn't be best for us.  So the hunt continues.  We are now considering options such as Stuart staying in Daphne and continuing work with Chevron until God shows him a position in C'ville.  Or ... we are also considering overseas rotations with Chevron (28 day on, 28 day off positions that would allow him to live with me in his off time).

All of these situations have dominated our thoughts, prayers and conversations for the last few months.  It's really been exhausting.  Our faith has been tested ... some days we pass the test and some days we fail.  Ultimately though we have faith in our Sovereign Lord and know that he will provide a way for us.  It may not be what we imagine now, but His plans are always greater than ours are!  Stu and I figure that in 10 years we will look back on all this and THEN realize why everything had to be as complicated as it is now ... and it will likely make a beautiful testimony of God's faithfulness for us.

I've learned a lot through these trials, and hope I will see more that God wants to show me.  I think we've seen that Satan will try his best to throw you off track and to make you lose sight of God's goodness.  We know that C'ville is where God wants us to be, and Match Day was such an exciting day for us.  But since, it seems that everything has gone wrong, from financial issues to people actually taunting my husband at work and saying he's not man enough to make me stay here so that he can keep his job!  Ugh!

I've also learned that whatever comes our way, we have to be joyous through it all.  I've been stressed before (med school, hello), and I've had tough personal and family issues to deal with, but this has brought to me a whole new level of stress and worry.  And as I mentioned I haven't been handling it well the whole time.  It got to the point where I wasn't excited about graduating Saturday, or having last visits with med school friends.  I finally realized (with a little help from my mother) that I was allowing Satan to steal my joy.  Once I realized that, I can't seem to get away from the word "joy".  Our new pastor at church (and one of our great friends here in Daphne), just started a series on Joy.  Every song I hear on the radio seems to be about joy regardless of your circumstances.  A lady in the store the other day asked me if I was a mother because I looked glowing and joyous (a little weird, but nice anyway)!

Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit lives within us as Christians and never changes, just as God Himself does not change.  So therefore, whatever circumstances we face, our joy should never change nor be taken away.

Now, I'll stop preaching  =)  But first, here are a couple songs that have meant a lot to me the past few weeks.  I'd just like to share!

Home Sweet Home!

We found a new place in Charlottesville!

Let me tell you friends, between Stuart's multiple job interviews, visiting with long-lost friends, and house-hunting, it was an exhausting week!

We flew into Baltimore, MD early Sunday and drove to D.C (Stu's favorite part of the country) for a couple of job interviews and to visit with our friends Elizabeth and Braxton.  Braxton was Stu's "little brother" in his fraternity back in the day.  He was in our wedding, which means it's been almost two years since we've seen him!  We had a great time with him and his wife Elizabeth, doing everything from puppy shopping to sneakily driving by Bill and Hillary Clinton's house!  (Sorry, not sneaky enough to take pictures of it, but believe me, it's pretty nice!)

On the way to their house, though, we got a little hungry.  Using our handy-dandy iPhones, we were able to find a local restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  I use the term "restaurant" loosely, actually.  R&R Taqueria is hole-in-the-wall diner inside 20 square feet of a gas station corner.  The workers don't speak English, but the food is DELISH!  Everything is made to order (you can watch them).  It was so crowded that we couldn't sit, so we woofed down our authentic Mexican food in our rental car.

You know it's going to be delicious when it comes from a gas station ...

Isn't that beautiful?  So fresh tasting.  Stuart even admitted it was better than Chipotle!  Wow!

After a couple days in our nation's capitol, we drove our sweet minivan to Charlottesville.  Oh!  Did I forget to mention that Stuart chose to rent a Dodge minivan since that was the cheapest option via Enterprise?  My oh my did we ever look like (grand)parents driving that smoky gray beauty.  But, hey - it got us where we needed to go!

Look at that handsome minivan driver!

As we drove into C'ville, I was reminded of some of the many reasons it wound up being our top choice:  rolling Virginia countryside, organic markets, beautiful vineyards, Thomas Jefferson's house ... the list goes on.  It really is a beautiful drive!

Once we got into town, we began our house search.  We looked at around 8 places.  We felt like we were on an episode of house hunters, but perhaps (hopefully) we were a little bit less dramatic.  We wound up narrowing our choices to two houses and one condominium - and wound up going with the condo!

It's so new that it's not even completely built yet!  Which means we are crossing our fingers it will be finished in time for our tentative June 6th move-in date.  Anyway, its called the Reserve and built in a neighborhood called Belvedere.  It's central to anything we could want to do in town, but built back off the road so it feels a bit secluded.  There are 5 miles of walking trails on the complex, and we love the idea of being the first people to live in a condo there!

The big building is the clubhouse ... where the gym and salt water pool will be!

The front building will be our building!

I'll send new pictures along when they become available.  Until then, let the boxing up begin!

An Auburn Weekend

This past weekend was the A-day game in the Loveliest Village on the Plains.  Most all of my Auburn friends have left from AU and scattered, literally, across the country.  It's still great to go back though, and visit the campus and town I called home for 4.5 years!

Stu even loves Auburn (a little bit)!

This weekend marked a special occasion, apart from the A-day game.  One of my favorite professors, advisors, and mentors is retiring, and Stuart and I came into town for a surprise retirement party for him.  Dr Lawrence Wit taught me Mammalian Physiology (one of AU's most famous courses), as well as advised the COSAM Leader group I was a member of.  He is such a special guy who really cares for his students - past and present.  He means so much to me that he actually read a scripture in our wedding!  I hope that I can positively influence as many folks in my career as he has in his!

David, myself, and Chris ... part of COSAM Leader class 2006/7!

Ms Nancy, Dr Wit, and us

All the  past Leaders and Dr Wit/Ms Nancy

Since this was likely our last trip to The Plains for a while, Stuart indulged me with a few things.  First was a walking tour of the whole campus.  So much has changed since the last time I was there!  It even took me a minute to recognize where the old sidewalk was I walked to class every day ... it's a building now!  Second, we went to the bookstore so that I could loudly proclaim my AU heritage with a big orange and blue badge holder for my new white coat in Virginia!

And lastly, he took me to my favorite Auburn restaurant, Amsterdam Cafe.  They have an avocado and crabcake sandwich that's to die for ... but we decided to go with burgers.  Lamb for me and beef for Stu!

It was a great weekend, and really it was nice just to get away from our helter-skelterness here in Daphne.  We've been kind of crazy thinking about and planning for the move and all.  But now we're back and up and running again!

Sunday we'll be heading up to Charlottesville for some job interviews for Stu and house hunting!  Wish us luck!

A Personal Growth Story

During the second semester of my second year of medical school, I took a course in Pharmacology.  It was one of the tougher courses for me, because I felt I was just practicing rote memorization and wasn't yet able to relate drugs to diseases they treated.  Part of the course designed to help with that was a few group sessions with a "patient simulator".  Basically, this would consist of a group of 4 medical students huddling around a mannequin (who talked and had bodily functions), trying to figure out what was wrong with it.  There were always attendings standing in the room watching your every move and, I thought, just enjoying watching you sweat.

My first patient simulation turned out to be a diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation.  This is a condition where the heart gets a little "irritable", so to speak, and decides to beat really fast in an irregular rhythm.  This is bad because the irregular rhythm causes blood to pool in the heart, which can cause a clot, which can then travel to the brain and result in a stroke.  I had a very vague and minimal understanding of this disease at the time, but I did know that it would require anti-coagulation to keep the patient from clotting (like Coumadin).

After the simulation was over, the attending decided to ask all of us questions (aka "pimp" us) to make sure we understood the diagnosis and treatment.  After a few minutes of this he turned to me and said, "so what medication does this person need to be on"??  I sheepishly said. "Coumadin?" and probably turned eight shades of red.  The attending had no expression on his face, looked down at the floor, and responded with, "So you want to give your patient RAT POISON?!?!  How do you explain that??"  **(Note, Coumadin originally was used as rat poison because it caused them to hemorrhage internally.  In smaller doses in humans, it counteracts clotting).

I was crushed.  I thought to myself: I must have said a stupid answer!  I thought I knew that!  I'm so embarrassed!  How will I ever be a good doctor if I want to give my patients rat poison?!?  I fought back tears until I was in the car, and then was really bummed out for probably three days afterward.  I thought i was going to be a terrible doctor.  I didn't know at the time that he was just trying to make me be confident in my (correct!) answer.

Now.

Flash forward to today.  I'm a soon-to-be-graduating fourth year medical student working in the Medical ICU.  I'm past my pharmacology days and this month have been helping care for the sickest patients in the hospital.  This week marks the third week of my rotation, and also a schedule change in attendings.  Well, who do you think walks in to teach on our team, but that same attending from my second year pharmacology simulation!  I hadn't worked with him (or thought too much about him) since that semi-traumatic moment a few years back.  I got a little nervous.

After our team finished rounds, the attending wanted to give us a short lecture on mechanical ventilators.  We went to the conference room and I listened to, well, one of the best lectures I've heard in all my four years!  We reviewed anatomy, physiology, pathology, and treatment all in one session, and it made sense, too!  We had open discussion about related topics, and even though some of my thoughts were wrong, I wasn't embarrassed.  I learned a lot, and this guy will now go down in my book as one of the best teachers I've encountered at South.

So, what changed?  I'm pretty sure it wasn't the attending.  Nor did I grew exponentially smarter (though I wish that were the case).  I think it all comes down to having more confidence.  Confidence in myself as a future physician, and confidence simply in my ability to think.  To trust in my education thus far and not resort to feeling like I've failed if I get an answer wrong.  Because, I will definitely get answers wrong.  Yes, I've learned a lot of anatomy and physiology and memorized a few drugs over the past few years, but I think one of the best things my medical education has given me is confidence in myself and my abilities.

Virginia Is for Lovers!

... and for the Saulters!

Stuart and I found out on March 16th that we got our first choice for residency: UVA in Charlottesville, VA!!!  As you could guess, the week or so afterward has been a bit hectic and exciting as we start planning for our future move!  Also I've started working in the ICU and that has been really fun, but a bit more time consuming than I had planned on.  So sorry I haven't blogged about our Match until now!

Stuart and I had both our families down for the big weekend.  We had a great time visiting, eating, and we even threw in an arts and crafts fair downtown.

Sally, Brian and VK taking a break in the shade at the Fairhope Arts Festival

Give Dad a funnel cake and he's a happy guy!

VK's first chicken on a stick!

Celebratory Match Day dinner at Jesse's

To keep it brief, Match Day was probably the most nervous I've been in a long time.  It was such a strange feeling that morning to know that just a few short hours later Stuart and I would know where we would be moving and starting a new chapter of our lives!

As the event started, I received a sealed envelope that contained the name of our destination.  I had the choice to open the envelope with our families, or dramatically at the podium in front of the 400+ crowd.  I chose the dramatic option!  I mean, how many dramatic moments do you get to indulge in during your lifetime?  Not that many.  Of course, while I was waiting to be called up I began to think I had made a poor decision.

The envelope please ...

This is my nervous face, apparently.  Stuart's trying to cheat and see through the envelope.

No worries - we didn't see!

Finally my name was called, and I brought Stuart up to the podium with me.  Here's a live action shot so you can relive the drama with us!

Hooray!  UVA!  Interview season left us with several good choices, but UVA was our favorite.  It's a very strong academic program, has a great reputation, has faculty and residents I got along with really well, and is in a super cute town!  So obviously it was our #1 choice!  Here are some more pictures from the day ...

The letter!

Us and my fam

Us with both fams

The Saulters

And now the whole Saulters clan!  VK was worn out by the festivities ...

Stuart and I are getting even more excited now that we are just about two months away from moving!  I hopefully will be updating more often now that the craziness has died down a bit and we'll keep you posted on all our goings-on!

And, I'm taking suggestions for a new title for the blog!  We won't be living on a bay anymore ...

The Time Has Come ...

To find out where we will be for the next 3+ years of our lives!

I can't really even begin to tell you how I feel.  It's very ... surreal I guess.  I've worked hard in high school to get to college.  I worked hard in college to get into medical school.  I worked really hard in medical school to be able to match into a good residency.  Now, next Friday all that work will come to a culmination and I'll find out what that residency program is!

I'm sure it will be a relief, as I'm obviously a bit nervous.  I know I would be happy at any of the five places I ranked on my list, so there's really no need to be nervous at all.  I guess I feel a mixture of happiness, sadness, and nervousness all at the same time.

Happiness because, like I said, I've worked hard for this moment, and when I open that envelope Friday I know it will be for exactly where God wants us to be and where He has a great future planned for us.  I trust in that.  It will also be a happy moment because I will be there with my wonderful husband, our families, and all my medical school classmates who will be celebrating at the same time.  If it wasn't for all of them, I'm not sure I would have made it through this process.

Sadness because all those friends sitting around us will be opening envelopes for different places.  Most of us will be moving away to different parts of the country.  I guess when you undertake something as stressful as medical school, you really get close with people you share the experience with.  You complain, laugh, cry, and stay up lots of late nights together.  I came to medical school not knowing anyone, and will be leaving with lots of great friends (6 of which were in our wedding)!  Not to mention the precious friends we have made at our church/small group.  They are wonderful and it's been such a blessing to have Christian "couple" friends while we've been here.  Also we'll likely be moving a bit farther from family than we are now.  While it's nice to have a bit of a "buffer zone" when you're still newly married, neither of us want to stray too far from our families.  I don't think our mothers would let us, anyway!  And finally, this might be silly, but I'm really sad about leaving our house.  This quaint condo on the bay was our first home together.  We've hosted many a brunch and tacky Christmas party in these walls.  Right when we got engaged Stuart painted a cute wooden sign that says "Stu + Kacie's Bay House" and hung it on our back porch.  I think I'll cherish that forever.

Finally, nervousness.  I know I shouldn't be nervous, because God is always in control.  But, holy cow, I'm going to be a doctor in four months!  When did that happen?!  I keep having these mini panic attacks when I remember that I will be responsible for peoples' LIVES in JULY!  I know I've learned a lot these four years, but I definitely don't know enough yet to do that!!  It will be trial by fire for the next three years, but just like medical school, I know I will make it through and be better for it!

Stay tuned for Friday's results!  And keep those prayers coming!

Prom(s)

This weekend Stuart and I had quite the prom experience!

First, our friends Gray and Lauren hosted a pre-prom dinner for some local high school kids.  The theme was "masquerade", and Lauren decorated their house wonderfully!

About 10 kids came to dine before the big event.  Stuart and I helped prepare food and then acted as expert waiters for the night.

Menu

"appetizer table"

We served salads, shrimp alfredo with broccoli, and cheesecake for dessert.  We were so excited about our dinner plans, but as finished plates returned to the kitchen, we quickly learned that high schoolers would just as soon skip on the vegetables and eat noodles and sauce.  Oh well!  I think the kids had a good time, and all of us "adults" definitely did too!  We had a lot of good laughs while in our dinner assembly line.  And we only had one small explosion in the kitchen.  A success!

Lining up for pictures

Enjoying dinner

After everything settled down in the kitchen and the kids left for prom, Stuart and I headed over to Mobile for our own Med School Prom (aka Asclepius Ball).  It was at the Mobile Carnival Museum, which turned out to be a pretty neat place!  Inside, past Mardi Gras King and Queen outfits are showcased, among other things that I didn't really understand what they were.  Somehow, I managed to get a scrolling slideshow from their website of museum pictures below.

Museum pictures

This was the second med school prom Stuart and I had attended.  Our second date was actually at prom my first year of school!  So this year marked the 3rd anniversary of our second date.  And the rest is history!

Flash from the past: 3 years ago!

The event was really fun, and we danced our little hearts out until midnight!  That was the latest we've been up in a while!  Here are a few more pictures for your entertainment.

Andrew with a rabbit on one shoulder and squirrel on the other.  He always is the best dressed!

Me and Shannon - going to miss this girl in July!

Caleb was trying to steal my dancing partner.