Christmas

Just got the Christmas tree decorated. Had a friend help which was really nice. We are having our clinic Christmas party here next weekend (while I am on call, thank goodness for good mid-levels). I am enjoying planning Christmas stuff. I keep seeing things as my girls might see them. I can't wait to have them here helping decorate the house and the tree.
It looks like they might be here sooner than I thought. I got second medicals on the older one last week and should get them on the younger one in the next week or so. Once I have approved those and my dossier is translated everything will be submitted to court for a date. That court date could be in January or February. That means I could travel in March or April. Nothing is certain by any means, but I am starting to fret over the timing and such. Please pray that I would trust God that His timing is perfect.
In the meantime, I am going to enjoy this Christmas season. Above is a photo I took of my tree this evening. I have been playing with using the tripod and the self-timer so I can get crisper photos.

Meet Buttercup

I finally got my new truck this past Wednesday. This evening with some help from my dad and stepmom, I came up with a name. It is so luxurious that I thought it would have to be called "The Princess Mobile." Then I realized its name had to be Buttercup. You need to watch The Princess Bride if you don't know the significance of the name Buttercup.

Here's Buttercup in the garage. Thanks to the back-up camera, I can tell when I am in far enough and still have enough room to get around the front.

Interior from the driver's side.

Photo of the FABULOUS navigation system/radio/bluetooth.
Wouldn't be my truck without this sticker. It is a little smaller than the old one.

Front grill. Very intimidating.

Once I have a couple of Ethiopian princesses and a prissy standard poodle in the back seat, this will really be a PRINCESS-mobile.

Reunion Weekend

I spent this last weekend in Santa Barbara for my 10-year college reunion at Westmont College. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

My hotel room at the Montecito Inn.

The prayer chapel on Westmont's campus.

Birds of Paradise are everywhere on campus.
East Beach on Saturday morning.

Totaled

Well, Babe the Blue Ox is totaled. I am turning over the title, etc. on Tuesday night before I leave for California. I am going to miss that truck. The first I ever bought for myself and paid off early. Now I am in the process of finding a new truck. Yes, I am going to get a newer version of what I had. I am looking at 2009 and 2010 F150 SuperCrews. The fun part is that now I can get all the bells and whistles that I couldn't afford as a resident. State Farm is paying me more than I ever thought they would for my truck and I am thankful to God for that. It makes buying a new truck much easier. I actually will have something for a down payment.
I am still quite grateful to be alive. I have driven over that bridge a few times since the accident and I still shudder slightly. It is sort of weird to see a pile of glass and know that it once was my front passenger window. I am much more cautious now. I hope it will last for awhile. I was definitely getting too reckless. Well, I am off to bed. Have a great week!

P.S. Once I have my new truck I will post pictures and I will probably need help coming up with a name so stay tuned for that.

Wear your seat belt!

I am grateful to be alive today. This morning I was driving to Billings to work for the residency. I hit a patch of black ice and lost control of my truck. According to a snowplow driver who saw some of it, my truck did something like a 360 and then went off the right side of the road. It then went down on the passenger side and then set back up again. I was wearing my seat belt, and because of that, I can write this post this evening. I know God had His hand on me as well. There are so many other things that could have gone wrong or been worse. I have a few bruises and a small bump on my head, but I was able to climb out of my truck and take some pictures. So if you ever think you don't need your seat belt take a look at these pictures.

This is the driver's side. Doesn't look too bad.

Front passenger window is out.

Both passenger-side tires are totally destroyed. The inside doesn't look too bad.

As I said, I am grateful to be alive. God definitely had His hand on me. Since I am okay, I am hoping that my truck won't be totaled. I am not ready to give up on Babe the Blue Ox yet. It is the first car I have ever bought on my own, and it is completely paid off. But all of that is just stuff. And as I am reminded frequently, people are more important than stuff and if I have to get a new truck I will deal with that. So be safe out there and wear your seat belt no matter where you are going or how short your trip will be.

Photos from North Carolina

I just got back from the Christian Medical/Dental Association national meeting near Asheville, North Carolina. It was a really good conference. I learned a ton and met a bunch of new people and renewed friendships with others. I also skipped a couple of the lectures so I could go see some of the sites and take some pictures. Unfortunately the day I did that it was raining pretty hard, but I think some turned out okay.

Here is a view out over the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Biltmore Estate.

Pretty flowers at the Ridgecrest Conference Center.

A stream and pond outside my hotel at the conference center.

The Biltmore Estate. Home of the Vanderbilts and supposedly the biggest house in America. It was incredibly opulent inside. The only room I would have liked was the library complete with winding stairs and TONS of books.

I could only take pictures of the exterior so here are a couple of details of the exterior.

Two lions like this guarded the front door.Just below the house was this wonderful loggia.

Here are a few of the flowers in the garden. It was full on raining at this point so the color is a little washed out

So there they are. I have lots more, but these are the best. I am now glad to be home, but not sure I am ready to go to work tomorrow morning.

Contentment

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Life has been a little busy lately. I have delivered a few more babies, my step-mom turned 50, and I finished my dossier for my adoption. I have also discovered that I am in a really good place in my life. I am contented. I spent some time at my dad's house and spent a little time in the new house a friend just moved into and for the first time in my life, I didn't wish I lived somewhere different. I am content with my house, my life and my job. I have family and friends that love me, a wonderful church and before too long (6-12 months at this point) I will have two beautiful children. What more could one person want? I don't really have anything else to say so I will share a few pictures from my trip to California for my step-mom's birthday party.

Here is a photo of the gorgeous cake my dad ordered. It has several of her favorite things on it.

A comfy spot with a view to enjoy the party.

One gratuitous picture of my dog (who desperately needs a haircut).

Crow Fair Pics

Last Sunday I was invited to spend the day with a family I know that was camping at Crow Fair. I have never gotten to experience it that way. I have seen the dancing and watched the parades and eaten fry-bread. But hanging out at the camp was a fabulous way to experience the "Tee-Pee Capitol of the World." Here are some pictures I took while I was there.





This is Miss Crow Nation, the daughter of a friend of a friend.












I thought this woman was incredibly beautiful. I call this "calm in the chaos." She stands so straight and tall in the midst of everyone else running around.












A full pageant of color. This doesn't even begin to show what the full grand entry looks like.







This is a view of the tee-pees across from us as we watched the parade on Sunday morning.




There were tons of adorable small children in the grand entry and parade. There were even a few I delivered (no pictures of those though since it would be a HIPAA violation). I loved this mother-child pair.

My Dog-a great distraction

I need to keep my mind off adoption ruminations for a little while so I thought I would post some pictures of the best furry friend a girl could have. She follows me around the house and tries to chew on my butter spreaders, but I love her anyway. I picked her up in March of 2008 about a month after my grandmother, Dorothy, passed away. My brother went with me to pick her up. The breeder was calling her Jade, but after we got in the truck he informed me that the dog's name was Dot, and "her AKC name can be Dorothy Elizabeth" (Elizabeth is part of my maternal grandmother's name as well). And so it stuck. She is Dot and she has even grown a couple of spots of gray to go with her name. Anyway, here are a few pictures to entertain you and keep my mind off thinking about small children in Ethiopia.

Here she is the day I got her. She was small and scared and had REALLY long fur.














Here she is a few months older and has had a haircut.















She has gotten quite fast and loves racing around the yard now that I have a fence and grass.




So this is pretty much what she looks like right now. Running around the yard with her tongue hanging out, stopping periodically to nip at the grass.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this diversion as much as I have. Now I am going to bed so I can get up early and start reading. Got a lot to get done before my home study is done on 8/7.

PhotoWalk Submissions

Here are two pictures I took on the 18th as part of the Worldwide PhotoWalk. I can submit two for the competition and I think these are the two. You can see the rest of the pictures I took through the link in the previous post. Curious to see what anyone thinks. Thanks to my dad for helping me with editing.

2009 Worldwide PhotoWalk

2009_07_18 PhotoWalk

I participated in the Worldwide PhotoWalk today. I can submit two of the pictures that I took to the local competition and then the best one from the Billings group will be forwarded on to the international competition. The problem I have is that I am not sure which ones I should submit. I have linked to my Picasa Web album (just click on the picture of the geraniums) and I am hoping that my readers might help me decide which to submit. Just leave a comment regarding your two favorite pictures and I will see what the consensus is. FYI, I have not editted any of these pictures. This is how they came out of the camera. I am curious to see what you all think. Thanks in advance for your input.

Mountain Escape

After a couple of long weeks (did 4 deliveries and helped with a c-section all in the space of 10 days) I took a day off and ran away to the mountains. Visited some of my favorite places on earth. Here are a few photos.

Looking down the valley from Vista Point on the Beartooth Highway.

At Vista Point there was a big contingent of Germans on Harleys. Had to take this picture for my sister.
My dog, Dot, enjoying some time out of the truck. This is just before the Montana-Wyoming border where we went for a walk and got really wet in melted snow.


The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

A bald eagle, presumably feeding its young, near the road in Yellowstone.


I could upload all sorts of other pictures, but this is plenty for now. I don't have pictures of the fabulous dinner I had last night at Chico Hot Springs; nor can pictures convey the relaxation of just getting away, even if it is for only 36 hours.

Freedom

What does freedom mean to you? I tried to come up with an answer to this as I tried to explain the importance of July 4th to my friend's 7y/o foster-daughter. It is more than the freedom to set off fireworks (which is what she thought it was all about). It is even more than the freedom that we have in this country that has been hard won. As a Christian, I realize that, as Paul says, slavery to Christ is the greatest freedom I will ever have. My church (Harvest Church) shows this to the community by putting on a huge carnival and fireworks show every year. I think people outside the church need to see that Christians really do know how to have fun and be free. Too often we act as though the Christian life is all about what you can't do. Remember that Christ "came that (we) might have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10). That means fireworks too.

The moon just after the clouds cleared.Children living the abundant life with glow in the dark toys.

Small Town Life

So for only the second time in my life I actually won something today. Little Big Horn Days is going on here ("celebration" of Custer's Last Stand) and one of the staple events is the bed races (more on that in a minute). Prior to the bed races there was a trivia contest where the M.C. called out questions and the first person to shout out the answers won a gift certificate to a local business. The first question was "what is the motto on the Montana state flag?" The answer is "Oro y Plata" meaning gold and silver. I shouted it out and was actually the first. The embarassing thing was that I had to go out in the middle of the street and give my name and pronouce the motto again. There I was in front of hundreds of people (several of whom are patients) trying not to embarass myself. I did fairly well and walked away with a gift card to Pamida. Kinda cool. Not really something that happens in bigger cities.
The best part of the evening was the bed races. I don't know how they got started or if it is something that is done anywhere else, but it is a heap of fun. The rules are that you have a bed on wheels, one person rides and two push the bed down the block turn around and come back. The beds are usually decorated and the pushers and riders dress up. The winner this year was from the local nursing home. Last year the boys pushing had a hard time because the scrub pants they were wearing kept falling down while they were trying to run. This year they only wore the scrubs for the "best in show" judging then stripped back down to their shorts and t-shirts in order to run. It worked much better that way. I highly recommend coming to visit out here just to see such silly small town entertainment. We have other things too, but this is one of my favorites. Photo credits to my cousin's husband.

Big Horn Canyon Adventure

Here are some photos of the Big Horn Canyon. Like I said, nothing will really do it justice. I highly recommend you see it for yourself if you have not. Also for anyone interested in geology this is better than the Grand Canyon because you can get right up close and personal with the rocks.This is a photo looking towards Yellowtail Dam. I think it is the third largest concrete hydroelectric dam in the country (I could be wrong, but that is what my brother told me). The water is quite high right now (5ft. above full).
This sort of gives you an idea of the geology.Here some cool spires on top of the canyon rim. It also looks cool in black and white. Still you need to see this in real life. It will knock your socks off.