It’s amazing what a moment of peace can do.
I’m sitting in front of our Christmas tree, the fire going, with a glass of egg nog. It’s 6 am and still dark outside.
The moment of peace is stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of this Christmas season. This year, I have spent more time, energy and money than ever before trying to make this season magical for the people I love.
And yet it is still a far cry from what others invest in the holiday.
My anxious and worried heart wonders, “what if it’s not enough? What if Christmas morning comes and my husband and family are still disappointed in what they received? What if there are no shining eyes or exclamations of “thank you.” What if they don’t feel the magic of Christmas?
My quiet moment this morning provided some beautiful answers for me that I would love to share. I opened to Luke 2 to read the account of the saviors birth. It occurred to me that he gave literally everything he had. None of it was made from Pinterest board. None of it was bought at the store. None of what he gave was, in the world’s eyes, shiny, glamorous or beautiful. But he literally gave all.
Few said “thank you.” Many more even complained that what he gave them was not what they wanted.
I feel like I have invested everything I have into making this holiday wonderful for those I love. And yet, in that preparation I have found a beautiful lesson that has brought me closer to my Savior. It is the lesson of agency. We have a beautiful opportunity to take advantage of the atonement, believe in our Savior, and feel his love and peace. He gives freely. But it’s up to the recipient to accept that gift with a thankful heart.
My lightbulb moment this Christmas: It is not up to us to create magic for others. Rather it is up to each of us individually to find the magic in Christmas.
Not everyone will. And while that is unfortunate, it is a lesson to me in how the Savior must feel when we refuse to draw close to him.
Each of us has the ultimate ability to choose for ourselves. A big part of growing as a person on this earth is learning to accept the choices of others. We cannot force happiness on anyone, nor should we try.
As long as we give our unconditional love, it will always be enough. No matter what is under the tree.
Will you find the wonder in Christmas?

Wanted to give a quick blogging shoutout to my brother who is doing an internship at DTR Fitness in Reno. This little gym rat is learning the ropes and I could not be more proud.

Way to go little bro!

Yeah. You read it right. No play on words here. The folks in the great state capital decided to call it “Zoo Boise” rather than the Boise Zoo.
Sawyer and I decided to explore this crazy place hoping to abate the tired-infused temper tantrums that were happening at the apartment. We traded tirades for attempts to eat zoo dirt, rearranging the decorative bark and a whole lotta cool animals that mom was way more interested in. If it wasn’t moving, sawyer wanted to move on. So the monkeys, penguins, jellyfish and that deceptively named Sloth Bear were his favorites.
I was impressed with what they had there and at times it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. Sooo worth the $7 ticket.
Enjoy the pics!

 
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This month David is doing a pediatrics rotation at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise (about three hours north of Pocatello).
Since they are now ripping the moldy walls out of our spare bedroom *arg* I figured I would go with and see what our new state Capitol is all about.
So far Sawyer has tested the acoustics in the Capitol building and thoroughly examined both the Senate and House chambers.

We checked out the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial park where I tried to explain the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights carved into massive stone tablets. He was more interested in introducing himself to the statue of the pretty girl. Oh, my little flirt.
!

By the time we got to the Boise temple the little man was tuckered out so mom just snapped a couple pictures while baby slept.

Today we tried to take a stomp on Boise State’s “Smurf Turf” but (after navigating the ridiculous parking on campus) the stadium was all locked up. 🙁 oh well. Our blood runs Wolf Pack silver and blue anyway!
Boise has some beautiful parks and I have loved being in a bigger city for a while.

The residency is kind enough to provide a pretty basic two-bedroom apartment for the residents to live in while they are here. We plan on heading back soon but are thankful for the chance we get to explore new places!

So how is life on the flip side? We’ve drained our blood, sweat, dollars and tears into med school and now we are …

well, we are doing alright.

I can only speak for David’s Family Medicine residency experience (which is still relatively new) at this specific program. But being an intern seems to be a challenging and rewarding experience for him.
I have to preface this post by admitting that David shares hardly anything with me about his patients – as it should be. We both take HIPAA seriously and the need for discretion intensifies in a very small-town community.
So while I understand that who you work with and what you see is 90 percent of the job, this blog won’t have any of that.
But you (the spouses who actually read this) are probably more concerned about the hours anyway 🙂

The Hours:

I’ll just get this out of the way first, since it seems to be the question on most people’s minds. Yes, the hours are rough. And yes, you will adapt to it and you will be OK.

David’s program consists of four-week blocks in which he will work in the OB, Emergency, Internal Med, Pediatrics, Surgery, Orthopedics, Cardiology, and other departments. Some rotation hours are better than others. OB was either 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. for the day shift or 6 p.m. – 8 a.m. for the night shift. But there was a day off here and there. Emergency department shifts are from about noon ’till midnight or thereabouts. For two months out of the year they will live two or three hours away in a provided (2-bedroom, family-friendly thank Heavens!) apartment in either Boise or Salt Lake City at Primary Children’s Hospital. Internal Medicine – they will basically live at the hospital for four weeks tied to an on-call phone. No joke. But we can handle only four weeks of anything, right? Plus the Community Medicine rotation is four weeks of 9-5 hours. So it balances somewhat. He will be working Christmas and New Years, but I hear they *try* to alternate years for people.

There are many times that I feel like a single mother – as much as both David and I hate to call it that. Holding down a job without an in-home caregiver is all but impossible. It is hard when your spouse is so busy stitching up bleeding people that he or she can’t respond to a text for days on end.

At the graduation ceremony for the 2014 class of residents, one of the preceptors/attendings came up to the group of newbs and said, “If you are prepared to work hard, you will be just fine.” He seemed to know what he was talking about, for the spouses as well.

No matter the specialty, the hours are hard. But if you like being a doctor and enjoy the people you work with, you will be happy. And when Huz is happy, wifey is happy. And when wifey isn’t happy … well, nobody’s happy. 😉

The People:

While I can’t say much about the patients or procedures, I can share what David has shared about the people and the program. Although David has been challenged, he works with good people. Many of the attendings and preceptors are graduates of the residency program, making them a little more understanding. Actually liking the people you work with makes even the rough hours a little better. When they say during residency interview season that they want candidates that will work well as a team, I can completely understand what they meant now.

Also many residencies will tell you in the interview process (once they learn that you have kids and a family) that they are “family friendly.” This residency not only talks the talk but also walks the walk. The families get together regularly. There is a playgroup every Thursday. We are amazed at the sense of community among the residents, preceptors and their families. I was able to attend the outgoing resident graduation at the invitation of the program. The accolades for the graduating residents did highlight their professional accomplishments. But what was focused on more was their accomplishments as compassionate human beings, parents and spouses. I was sincerely impressed by ISU’s sense of priorities.

Now a little (at least what I know) about the program:

• People seem to like to stay here. The program is run by many former ISU Family Med Residents.
• The hospital is brand-spankin’ new. Built in 2010.
• He can walk to and from work. In hindsight, a BIG plus.
• The OB experience was awesome. David caught at least 15 babies in four weeks, was in on any and all C-Sections and felt empowered and supported as an obstetrician.
• It is a completely unopposed program. Family Med is the only residency here.

I hope that by sharing a few of our experiences, you will feel better about interview season and the next step. Interview season is scary as heck and my thoughts and prayers are with all our friends. But I hope you can find a place where you can feel like you belong! If you can handle surgery and IM at Arrowhead, you can handle this.

Who has two thumbs and took Zero naps today?

This guy.