Dot photos

Dot had a playmate last weekend. A friend's foster-daughter brought her Australian shepherd mix over to play and he and Dot had a great time together. He was much better at fetch than she was.

Dot just got a haircut yesterday. Prior to that her last haircut was before Christmas. According to the folks at the vet office she was starting to look like a Portuguese water dog. Here are before and after photos and you can see what I mean.

Before:

After: she has her model legs back and foofy bows in her hair.
The bows came out tonight.

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.