The blog is back!

Yeah, I haven't really had anything to say in awhile. Actually, I don't have much to say now...but I figure I should resurrect the blog (mostly because my sister told me to). The last two months have been really busy. I spent a month on the pediatric intensive care unit...which was intense, not particularly fun, and really amazing at the same time. Of all my fourth year rotations, I learned the most on the PICU. I can (sort of) manage patients on the ventilator and write for intravenous nutrition...and I got a refresher on taking histories, doing physical exams, etc. I'm really glad I ended the year with a bang!

During my month on the PICU, one of my dearest friends, Andrea, tied the knot. Her wedding was really beautiful and so focused on God. She and Jason are going to have an awesome life together! Below is a photo of her and some of us girls.

At the end of my PICU month, almost all of the senior medical students in the country found out where we were going to spend the next several years of residency training. It's called Match Day (the match is a lot like sorority rush, believe it or not), and it's kind of crazy. At my school, we had a brunch in the morning then went downstairs to our mailboxes to collect the envelopes that held our fates. I thought I would hate the spectacle of opening my envelope in front of other people, but it was actually pretty fun. It doesn't hurt that I got my first choice! I'm going to be training in pediatrics at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am so, so excited. Below is a picture of some of my dearest friends and me as we delight in our matches!

After all that excitement, I spent the first week of my spring break in Juarez, Mexico, on a medical missions trip with the Christian fellowship group at my medical school. It was a hard week, and I had a pretty rough time emotionally for lots of reasons...but it was a really humbling experience. Besides treating colds and ear infections and arthritis, I prayed with a woman whose husband was beating her and with a man who had severe burns from being doused with gasoline and set on fire. So many of my patients came in with poorly-defined complaints of pain...and when we got to the bottom of it, their pain was emotional and spiritual...and very real. And it really made me wonder, where is God's grace in the midst of all of this? Why do I have it so easy? All I can do is trust in God's amazing love and wake up to the fact that He has called His people to show His love to the poor, to the orphans, to the widows...and to pray.

My favorite part of the trip was, of course, the kids. We actually stayed at an orphanage, and the kids there were overflowing with energy and sweetness and love. One evening I got back and was particularly tired (mostly from being a translator with suboptimal Spanish) and sad...and then this sweet six year old girl crawled into my lap and gave me a hug and sat for awhile. I'm particularly dependent on physical touch, so her just being there was just the sweetest thing. And then she gave me her school picture...which made me cry but in a good way. That girl's hug was grace from the Lord. Which I know sounds crazy to people who don't believe in God, and I totally understand. But it's still true. Of course I have to put a couple of kid pictures in below:


Well...now I'm in Salt Lake City on an apartment hunt. More about that later. Utah is beautiful.