Wear Your White Proud!

This past Friday September 12th was Colby's official White Coat Ceremony for medical school. It was a wonderful day, as our families came in town to help us celebrate. I just loved watching the entire ceremony and took tons of photos (brace yourselves) because I am so proud of him and all his hard work! We've waited a long time for this day to come and putting on his white coat for the first time is truly a day we'll both remember and look back on and cherish. I hope putting it on each day for the rest of his career will take us back to this first day and help us appreciate and thank our God for his faithfulness and provision.

Here's his white coat the night before all ready to go. It took me 2 hours to sew that patch on the pocket, wedging my hand down inside...goodness. Also pressed by me-those that know me and my lack of ironing should be very impressed by this! :)

My attempt at an artsy photo with his coat and the invitation.

The stage where the ceremony was held.

Colby processing to the front to get his coat.

Next up!!

Getting his coat put on!

Congratulatory handshakes from the school Deans and professors

Proud parents! Directly after the ceremony with the school in the background.
My mom and Colby's parents at the school reception afterward.
Proud Wife!
Colby and Blake with their white coats
We went out for a fabulous dinner in downtown Fort Worth, then came back to our house for some yummy cake and ice cream to celebrate.
My brothers Benji and John Michael and sister Hope came to celebrate and stayed the weekend with us!
Eating cake and watching the Baylor football game- Sic 'Em!
My mom gave us Christmas ornaments- Colby's is Santa in his white coat to remember the day and mine says "Nurses Call the Shots"- Colby already knows this is true in our house, hehe. :)A wonderful weekend!!!

Sleepless

Well, it's a little after 9 in the morning and I'm sitting here sleepless. I got home from work this morning after working 12 hour shifts the last four nights in a row. I should be exhausted, well I am exhausted but my heart is heavy. I knew this would come at some point with working on a pediatric oncology floor, and it's here. One of my favorite patients got sent home last night. Yet instead of rejoicing over her being able to go home because she is better, she was sent home because there is nothing else the doctors can do for her. She has 97% blast cells in her bone marrow and months and months of chemo were unable to touch that. This family is one of the most compliant families that we have on our floor. They do everything that we ask of them, never ever complain and are so gracious.

Needless to say, this just hurts all over. After taking care of her, comforting her and knowing that she's gone through bone marrow aspirates, lumber puncture after puncture, mediport and needle sticks, chemo side effects of nausea, diarrhea, skin breakdown, lots of pain, and medication after medication, there's nothing else that can be humanly done to help her. This is a hard place to be in the healthcare profession because the physicians train and have studied so many research protocols and to have all of their options exhausted just doesn't seem possible. But then again, how much can this precious 8 -year-old go through? At some point there has to be a determination that having a few more happy weeks outside of the hospital have to be better than several more months of chemo and pain. On the exterior she is a completely normal little girl who wants to be a dancing nurse when she grows up, her favorite colors are pink and purple of course and her favorite book is If you give a mouse a cookie- all displayed on a colorful art project outside her door. Well, her wish has been expedited and she will be off to Disney World on Monday. I pray it's a trip of a lifetime for her and her family.

I didn't post to depress anyone, I just really need to take the time to reflect somewhere to get it down and out of my system and to remember what a blessing she is when I look back at my blog 10 years from now. And as a disclaimer, my job is not always a sad job and there are thousands of children that have walked through our hospital doors that are living happy and healthy lives, as childhood cancers have much better prognosis than adult. Yet it some instances, we have to step back and really think about who is in control of our lives. When a team of experts fail, it is only the Lord who can truly heal and cover our human wounds. I ask that you pray for sweet Rachel and especially for her family and mother. Although I am sad for the entire situation and don't know what it will bring, I know exactly where she will go if the Lord decides to take her, as her family are all believers and this is my comfort. My prayer is for healing and not necessarily the healing of her disease, but for a healing that can only come from our Heavenly Father.

I've got the Mac back!

I haven't been updating as regular as I usually do b/c Colby's med school computer i.e. Windows Vista, no offense all you PC users but we do LOVE our Mac, had crashed and he had to send it back to Dell to get another one. So in the mean time he was using the Mac for school, which gave me zero access for blogging. I suppose studying is more important than blogging. :)

Well, Colb finished his first module in school, Biochemistry, and I'm so proud of him. That class totally stinks and he was working his buns off to study for it. He just began Gross Anatomy lab this past week and is busy dissecting the back and learning all of the back muscles, arteries, etc. They make them learn everything in the body in great detail which is good b/c when they have live patients in a few years they will be able to visualize all the things that they will be treating... pretty neat.

I spent Labor Day weekend laboring, surprise surprise, it just happens that way in the medical field. I have to work Christmas Eve and Day also this year, no fun. Colby also worked on Sunday at his old company RTI doing a recovery, which was good for him to have a change of scenary and make a little extra money.

We took some friends out on a blind double date last night which was super fun to go out on the town, eat at Mi Cocina, play pool at Fox and the Hound, followed up by some Molten Lava Cake from Chilis...mmm, sweet goodness. I guess that's about all that's new with us! Please pray that we can find a church because that is something that's been at the forefront of our minds lately. Hope everyone is doing well!

-JB

Emily came to Visit!

Last week, my sister Emily came up from Houston to visit! It was so fun to see her and I really appreciate her driving all that way just to come see us. We went to the Kimball Art Museum and went to see the Impressionists exhibit. It was AMAZING! Anyone that likes any kind of art at all should really check this out if you're in the area. There were so many famous paintings and it was fun to hear history about them and what went into painting them. Here are a few temptors for you by Van Gogh and Monet:

Then we met up with a good friend from home that now lives in Forth Worth and went out for dinner. So fun to see Beth and spend a fun night out with the girls! Emily has just started her new job this week at her new firm, we are so proud of her and all her hard work through law school!

Busy Bees

Goodness it's been awhile since I've updated. We've been all over the place lately. I don't have any pictures, but here's what we've been up to:

1) Colby made it through his first Biochem test! I'm so proud of him, that stuff is no fun to learn and sometimes seems irrelevant to actually being a doctor, but I guess you have to get through the daily grind stuff before getting to the fun stuff.

2) I got Lasik on my eyes on Monday!!! It is wonderful! At my post-op appointment, I was 20/10, which I never even had with my contacts. It is so weird going to bed b/c I can still see and I feel like I'm not ready for bed until I'm blind. The post-op things are a little hard, like 2 kinds of antibiotic drops every 4 hrs. for like 3 weeks, I have to sleep with shields taped to my face and I shower in googles for 2 weeks, no eye makeup (which lets face it isn't really a problem), but the biggest is I can't rub my eyes for 2 months! Ahh, this has been really hard. But the blessing of sight is one that I will never take for granted! I highly recommend this to any of you vision impaired people out there. I can't wait to go on our first campout, swimming, or any other time that contacts are a pain. I am still having a little trouble seeing at night, especially driving-all the lights have halos around them- anyone else have this problem?

3) Saturday was my only weekend day off for the entire month of August, so we celebrated with having some of our new Ft. Worth friends over for a barbeque. It was a lot of fun to eat and socialize with both new and old friends, and definitely a welcomed alternative to working and studying.

4) The Olympics!!! Just like everyone else out there, we love the olympics. It's been so much fun to watch, however I have been a little ticked about some of the gymnastics judging and think a few of our girls have been jipped! Like Nastia last night...what?!? Tie breaker built in!? Grr.

5) Sunday our good friends Grace and Nathan stopped by our house and we all went out for a fun gourmet dinner at Arby's before they had to get on the road to head back to Temple. It was great to see them and get to visit for a little bit.

6) Lastly, my family stopped through last night after they returned from the family vacation to DisneyWorld, so we got to go eat dinner with them last night and hear all about their trip. They had some great stories to tell. The biggest shocker for me was that my little brother Benji, who just turned 13 (oh my goodness, a teenager!) last week was taller than me! I can't believe this, I used to change the kid's diapers and I now look up to him. Hope starts middle school this year as well. They are all growing up so fast and I miss seeing them go through all these life phases.

Well, that about sums it up and I have some back-posts with pictures that I need to post soon. Hope everyone has had a good summer!

-JB

Colby's First Test

Today was Colby's first test in medical school in Cell Science, which is essentially Biochemistry. He's been working so hard these past few weeks. I'm so proud of him and know he did great on his test! We're adjusting slowly to the new schedule, although it is now Tuesday night and tonight will be the first time we'll sleep in the same bed together since last Wednesday! Yikes, talk about opposite schedules with me on night shift and him on days plus studying hard. Although we know this is just a season of life for him to accomplish the goals the Lord has set before him, it definitely will take some getting used to. In fact, last week and I went with him up to the school library with my magazine and watched him study for a couple of hours just to sit with him. I now value my time with him more than ever and know that I was truly spoiled these past 3 years of marriage. He is being very thoughtful and accommodating to me, as he studies extra hard on the nights that I am working (even if they are weekend nights) and then schedules a break to be with me on nights that I am home. So I really appreciate that, and know that we will make things work. I snuck in and took a few pictures of him over the past few weeks when he was in the home office studying. hehe, cheesy I know, but I'm proud of all his efforts. He wasn't that excited about the picture interruption, so these are all you get. :)

Even Rocky is having a hard time adjusting to the schedule b/c playtime and walks are harder to come by, but he decided to help his daddy out by keeping him company.

A Visit To Waco

Last week (yah, I'm behind) I visited my college roomie Amy in Waco and helped them with packing and moving stuff since they are relocating in Waco. I had a wonderful time chatting with Ames, eating Bush's chicken, seeing their new home, and playing with Mason. He is getting so big and I can't even believe it! He's babbling, a crawling machine, sits up on his own and iseven pulling up to stand (at 7 months I might add). He's such a happy baby and I'm a proud Auntie Jo, so here are a few pics for you to enjoy.