Grenadian adventures

Where to start??!!!! Mid 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

So this blog has to begin with what has happened to me in the last year and a half. Man......that is a feat that I will attempt without boring anyone too much!

So I finished my third year of veterinary school in Grenada, West Indies in December of 2007. I returned to US to complete my final year. I attended Louisianna State University for my last(4th) year of veterinary school or clinical year. Moving back to America and living in Baton Rouge, LA was quite a change, but a good one! Missing all my friends and classmates from SGU was hard but the students at LSU were very nice and friendly.

I still continued to attend Hashes, but now they were americanized. Much more drinking, less running, fits with the American way!! (hehe..yikes!) The first Hash I went to I met the love of my life, Jeff Henderson. We've been dating now since Feb of 2008! I know, I know sappy!!

My clinical year was a lot of work, but I learned a ton!!

I graduated in January 2009! Stayed in Baton Rouge 6 more months to study for boards the second time around and worked at the Small Animal Intensive Center there at LSU. It was a good experience, maybe not in my timing what I would have chosen for myself, but God works in mysterious ways!

Went to graduation in New York in June, attended Lisa Kolb's wedding, visited my best friend, Kim, and long time running partner, Holly. So I made a really nice trip out of it! Got to see all my good ole Grenada buddies!! Love yall and miss you too!!!

Came back South and started my new job at Bastrop Veterinary Hospital in Bastrop, TX. Bastrop is a cute little town just 30 minutes East of Austin, Tx on hwy 71. Jeff and I ended up moving into a cute house north of Bastrop, called Elgin, which happens to be 23 miles from Austin and closer to Jeff's future work. I am loving the job here. I get to work on every species, litterally...from mice to horses(the only thing that I don't see are chickens and snakes!) :) Two days ago I was treating a ferret with a prolapsed rectum in our ICU, running bloodwork on a geratric cat with what turned out to be renal failure, and in a room with a kid (baby goat) with severe GI parasites (barbarpole worm). It was great! What I always invisioned and hoped for.
Some days are not so good though! Like today is really really really slow. With school starting, business has slowed down significantly!!! Actually scarily would be a better way to put it!

I'll include some pictures soon of the practice and some really great Jame's Harriot stories to come!!

I'm done!!

2007-12-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Finals are OVER! Yippee!! Don't know any of my grades yet, but finals are over yeah! I am exausted, frustrated, tired, scared of the unknown, excited, emotional, sad, anxious all wrapped up into one big question........am I going to Louisanna for my fourth year? Grades are always an issue and always there is that fear that everything that I have had planned is going to blow up in my face!!! I am going to just reside on the unknown today and check all grades tomorrow. I need the day to relax, say goodbye to people and have some fun. Tomorrow is another day....and today is enough trouble of its own....HAHA!! My whole life has lead up to this point. As someone said today after our test. Think what an investment you have put into yourself. Yes, MYSELF. How scarey is that. The time, money, everything I've ever had or have has been poured into me, yes me, no one else following my dream. So the big question is now.......have I made it to the next step??? Life is that way though isent it! Next year this time...what... 3 weeks from today, I'll be asking myself that very same question. So until tomorrow.....my faith resides in Him. Maker of heaven and earth. Give me this day to enjoy and to cherish!!! May you be with myself as well as all my other classmates that are awaiting grades also that will be determining their future. Love all of you so very much!!!! Hopefully I will see you all very soon as a resident of the United States of America again!!!

First of the goodbyes!

2007-12-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

Hi again!!
So I am not dead, however, I have been dead to the blog world. With myspace and facebook occupying my time (oh yea along with vet school...can't forget that little time occupier) I have regretfully neglected to update my blog at all this semester and I am sorry for that!!
So today I said my first goodbye. That goodbye was to one of my dearest best friends here on the island, Jack! With the heat of finals upon us we all made time last night to celebrate Leah's birthday, say farewell to Jack, and eat some good foods. Good times!! Makes me really look back on why God has placed me on this island and to look around at the people He has placed in my life in the past three years. It is overwhelming and I am so incredibly BLESSED!!! The people I've met here are AMAZING!!!!! I would not change any of my time here for anything!!! I know that I will get to see Jack again.....my little island frisbee brother!!!! So the goodbye is only temporary, but somehow it is still hard! Change is good but I suck at it. Miss ya already Jack!!
If anyone actually reads this in the next couple days...I could definately use a couple prayers. I started Finals on Friday and I've got one monday, wednesday and Friday. Yikes!!! I better get back to studying!!!!!! Love all of you and can't wait to see everyone soon!!

Gift of sight and endless other things!!!

2007-05-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

So the semester is drawing to a near. This semester has been so fun. I am really going to have a hard time saying goodbye to Grenada and all the amazing people that I have met here. My family away from home really!! :) But that is not a goodbye until next semester when I am finally six term and that is my last semester here in Grenada.
I was blessed at Easter to have my little bro and sister in law (Bekki) come to Grenada for a visit. Man we had the time of our lives. At least I did. I did not want to see them go. They also took a little bit of my heart (Kole) with them and they are taking good care of him in Houston until I return to Texas towards the end of May. Since then I've been to two cricket matches, taken lots of tests, sailing, studying, studying, studying, riding, running, swimming, playing frisbee(pix at bottom), goofing off, dreaming, making plans for New York and the rest of the summer, praying, being excited about my friend Lotta in Ecuador that just got a new job, losing one contact...(finding out that my doctor in Midland will not send me another and that the entire island of Grenada can not or will not order hard contacts), then breaking my glasses(opps), then being really blind, then receiving the gift of sight by borrowing a soft contact from my dear friend Lois (that we found out has just about the same eye site), praise and thanking God for sight, being ecstatic about my bestest bud Sarah that just got engaged to Alex( congrats again guys), and studying again!!
So .....it is kinda hard for me to focus!! Can you tell???!!!!

So finals officially start on Thursday. I need all the prayer power each on of you have to move on to the next semester. Despite the struggles with school that I always seem to have....this semester no matter what happens (by the grace of God) was wonderful!!!!
Thanks to all of you for your continual support in me. Can't hardly wait to see each of you!

~CRICKET FEVER~

2007-04-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

So several awesome Cricket games later, several hours of sunshine later, several face paintings later, several hot boys later, plenty of laughs and adventures, bus rides, near death experiences, big 6's, 4's, and overs later.....the island of Grenada will never be the same.
The past few weeks have been so awesome living in Grenada and especially being female and single. Imagine an island full of veterinary students.... 75 % women.... hosting a cricket tournament filled with Australian, New Zealand, and South African guys with GREAT accents!! Not only was it cricket fever it was Christmas! HaHa!! It is a good thing that cricket it over now so I can refocus!! Here are just some highlights of some of the fun that we had.

April 2007 already!!!

2007-04-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

So it is already April. That is so incredible. I am barely even used to it being 2007 in fact just today I was writing the date down on my notes in class and I wrote the year 04. Now that is a little pathetic and crazy but I had to laugh and then do a quick reality check and make sure that I was still breathing. HeHe!

So this semester has been good so far. I am learning a ton. I have successfully performed my first two canine surgeries on my very own. One castration and one Ovarian hysterectomy. I have to say... I love it. Surgery is so fun!! I can hardly wait to do it again!!! I do one more surgery this semester on a sheep which is a terminal surgery :( meaning that we kill the sheep afterwards.... but before everyone gets sad.... it will make me a better dogtor right??!!!!! It is a really cool surgery though.... I get to do an FHO (femoral head osteotomy). Which for those that dont know... I get to saw the head of the femur (top of the thigh bone) off the sheep and reconnect it to the hip. Cool huh!! I am so pumped. I've also gotten to palpate a bunch of cows and even got to palpate one horse. Pretty exciting stuff! And it is always fun hanging out with the baby goats! But you know the best thing that will happen this semester is? In two days... my little brother (Trey) and his wife (Becki) will be sitting right here next to me in Grenada. Yes, they are coming to visit me and I am so stoked!! We are going to have a blast!!!!!!!!!!!! So I'll be updating with some more pictures... but I thought that I would include a couple on this entry for your viewing pleasure.

Hope that everyone is feeling as blessed as I am with the gift of friends and family and life that God has granted me. Happy Easter to everyone and I hope that this holiday is filled with a renewed sense of who Jesus Christ is and no matter what we have done, how quilty we may feel, and what we may do in the future, God has already forgiven us. He loves us so much that he sacrificed his only son so that we may someday have the opportunity to join him in heaven. What an incredible act and I am continually amazed by that unconditional loving sacrifice. Love and miss all of you.

Picture Glimpse of this semester thus far!

2007-02-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

Biking around the island (2/18)

approximately 60miles, 5.5hours, and lots of hills later.

My Surgery group: Sean, Vanessa, and me in the middle of the celiotomy we were doing on the pig.

Palpating the ovaries on a old skinny cow. Yes.. gross but really cool. I know I am weird!!

A bunch of us at a party before the semester began chanting, "Gooooo, 5th term." Total nerds!

Laybi and the two pups, Kole and Lance, at the beach

Greta having a little too much fun...would you believe this is what she wants to do with her life!!! Gotta love it!

Sacrifice!!!

2007-02-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

Well since it has been so long since I last wrote a blog. I am not even sure if anyone goes to this site to check anymore. What with email and myspace taking over the world.....

Things have been great. God is good!! I had a wonderful but short visit with my family at Christmas and an amazing time visiting Tonya and Lisa in St. Vincent before Christmas(always an adventure!!!)

Lisa my dear friend in St. Vincent (i really do miss her!!) wrote this exerpt about our little hiking adventure at the end of last term... I thought that she did a really nice job of describing the little adventure in her update emails (better than I could have) Enjoy:)
When I arrived on St. Vincent in August I kept hearing about the beautiful Falls of Beleine on the remote north end of the island populated only by marijuana farmers in their small shacks. Most people simply take a speedboat to a beach with a short hike to reach the falls. I, however, had heard there was a trail and wanted to hike there. People kept warning us it would be difficult but they have a different idea of hiking there than I do, so after our tests were finished a courageous group of 5 tired, excited students headed out. Off to a late start, of course, then a 2 hr drive north and finally we found the start of the path. Eventually we made it into the midst of the marijuana fields and ran into a farmer. He gave us the sad news that we had taken a wrong path but claimed that he could show us another way there rather than returning to where we had made the wrong turn. So we set off again with our Vincentian tour guide and his friend in the lead. They obviously didn’t know the path too well and when they lost it, they just tromped forward through the rainforest until we came upon it again. This made the going a bit slow, the hikers a bit skeptical and some of the hikers’ sandaled feet a bit sore from the numerous prickly plants. (I was doing just fine barefoot though =) We had some discussion among ourselves as to weather we should turn back to avoid being caught out in the rain forest after dark but our guides assured us that we were less than 30 min away and they would personally escort us back to our vehicle before dark. However, we turned out to be ‘less than 30 min. away’ for a very looooong time. But we finally made it, enjoyed a quick swim, and started right back up the path again. Unfortunately one of the girls was beginning to get terrible leg cramps. But fortunately I had some Ibuprofen along. It kicked in eventually but her body was also so worn out from the studying, sleepless nights and rather strenuous hiking that we were going much slower on the return trip. So there we were, tromping through marijuana fields with darkness falling quickly. Dusk came, the stars appeared – gorgeous in this remote location, the crickets began chirping and we kept hiking. One of our guides had an almost dead flashlight and picked up a few more from a friend’s hut along the way (one of the lights died by the end of our hike). So we stumbled through the darkness following the dim beam of a flashlight for almost 2 hrs. By the end my friend could barely walk from her exhaustion and I was literally pulling or pushing her up the hills. By God’s grace we made it; dehydrated, dirty, exhausted but all in one piece! But the adventure was not over. At the beginning of our 2 hr. drive home my roommate got sick, I had to take over the wheel and we were ambushed by a torrential downpour. However, without a doubt, we’d all do it again!
The following day Heidi (who had come to visit) and I took local buses to a nature trail and the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ set working in a ride partway in the back of one of the many ‘Mac’ trucks that often serve as a kind of bus, crammed full of guys on their way to and from work. On a Sunday afternoon we had it all to ourselves and enjoyed the wind in our hair (but not the dirt in our contacts!). This was something I’d been wanting to do since arriving in the Caribbean! Risky, you say? Yes, but life is a risk. I’d rather live mine to the fullest, content in the promise of God’s presence to guide me and ready to leave this earth any time he calls my name.
---end of Lisa's exerpt----

So that was my trip to St. Vincent. It was great fun!! I have a secret... that is not my only time to ride in the back of a truck.....I've done it a many times....well I am from Texas after all!! Actually we did it a lot on my mission trip in Haiti.

So Christmas was awesome. I split my time between Trey, Becki, their dogs Kyla and Cam in Houston and then Midland with my mom, dad, grandparents, aunt and uncle. I got to play some soccer with Trey and some old buddies the first morning I was back in the States and in Midland got to play with new second cousins that are very very adorable and cute. Time flew by and before I knew it I was on the flight back to Grenada. Six days is just not enough. And there were several people that I did not get the chance to see or to talk to. Living in Grenada and working toward such a great goal is a big deal. Vet school in Grenada is not only demanding but should just have the title...."sacrifice". It is temporary and I try to make the most out of it. But I have to admit, I am very greatful that I only have one more full year left in Grenada. Don't get me wrong I will miss this place.... but I will be glad to be close to family, friends, and just simple conviences that I will never take for granted ever again.

I've been biking a lot this semester in Grenada and I have really enjoyed getting out into the country. Getting away from school, testing my athletic ability to the T, but having a great time with the challenge. Biking definately does not come to me as easily as running. Besides you should see some of the hills that we ride up. I am not lieing..... like 75 to 80 % grades. It is GREAT!!!!! No pain no gain right?

Two more of my dear friends got engaged over the summer. Kyle and his fiance and then Ayumi and Tim. Tim proposed to Ayumi over the holiday break in Japan. So cute... he went to Japan (where Ayumi is originally from) to ask her Dad for Ayumi's hand in marriage. Check out her website when you get a chance: http://www.xanga.com/asianwind It is such a great story, you don't hear that very often (the guy asking the dad) and both of them have hearts of gold for God. I miss them both a great deal. Kyle has wanted to get married since as long as I can remember knowing him. I am so happy that he finally found the right girl to spend the rest of his life with. My brother is going to be a groomsmen. I can hardly wait to see my brother all cute and dressed up!!! I miss him! (and Becki too of course !!).

Since we are working on our last year here in Grenada. It has come the time to decide where we are going to go for our 4th year clinical rotations. Granted we can change our minds really any time. But there is still an application like process that we have to go through. I had to tell my top three choices (well 4 - cause i can't decide) last week. They are as follows: 1. Oregon State 2. LSU 3. Tennesse 4. North Carolina . So I have to admit........ I kinda picked Oregon because of the area. It is located right next to a National Forest.
HeHe!!!! We'll see how this all pans out in the next couple months. It is exciting picking schools though, kinda the light at the end of the tunnel!!!!

Technical difficulties again. My computer (or should I say computers--plural ) are broken or MIA. So I was trying to hook my external up to the computer that I am on in the library and it is not reading the drive. So no pictures... sorry!!! I'll try again I promise.

Miss everyone so very much!!! Hold tight to God cause he has never and will never release that grip on us!!!

Two weeks to go...

2006-12-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

So I've got a final Monday, Friday,Monday, Wednesday...... the VSCE Friday and then it is CHRISTMAS!!!!! Yeah!! I head to St. Vinnies on Friday for the weekend to see Lisa and Tonya off to their next assignment (they are both medical students and they now are moving back to the States and Canada for their next schooling stage) and then I return to Grenada only to leave to go home for 6 days on the 22nd. I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!! Thanks to my wonderfully generous family... I get to see each of their smiling faces, many months earlier than I had orginally thought!!!
This is what will be getting me through the next two weeks.... the thought of being home with family and friends... such a great feeling isent it? I have to admit to those people who said...." distance makes the heart grow founder." This is so amazingly true. I definately value all my family relationships and friendships more than I have ever in my entire life. I can't wait to spend some time with all of them. :)

I leave you with a verse from Ephesians 3:14-15, "When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God-some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth."

I was going to upload some pic but it is not working right now :( Stay tunned!
Love ya'll....Texan for Miss you and love you and can't wait to see you.

Visit to St. Vincent

2006-10-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

So after all my horrible quizes and my depressing grades I decided to pick up and take a vacation for the weekend. I travelled to the island of St. Vincent which is just one island hop north of Grenada. St. George's University actually sends its medical students to St. V for their 5th and 6th semesters where they actually start doing some clinical rounds and seeing patients (performing histories ect). The island is so beautiful. I am very jelous that SGU does not send us there for a semester or two. My purpose of the visit was to visit my med friends that I miss so much this semester. Lisa, Tonja, and Celeste especially.....but many many others. It was so wonderful to get all caught up on everything. We all picked up right where we left off. Next semester (Starting in December) they all will be splitting up and going all diffrent places as they start their internships. So many of them that I saw this past weekend, I don't know if I will ever see again. On Saturday we climbed the volcano that made the island. We started out hitching a ride with L and T's classmates and then hiked from about 8:15am to 6:00pm from the East coast up the volcano, down into the crater and back up, and then out down the West coast until we ran into a town and caught a bus back to Lisa's place. We had a great time!!!! It was a really good break from Grenada before midterms!!
It rained off and on
all morning!! Pic to the left is at the edge of the crater where we repelled down the mountainside. The fog was
so thick that we could
barely see anything...and
it was COLD and WET!!!
(reminded me of a Texas
winter :) ) The island is so beautiful!!!
Just take a glance at the rest of the pictures. There are even more.....but I could not include all of them....could I make you anymore jelous???

Quiz after wonderful quiz

2006-09-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share this picture with everyone that I love. HeHe!!
This is how I have felt the last couple weeks as I have been cramming all this information into my brain and then regurgitating it out onto the test papers!! I'll get a little break after Monday!! YEAH!!

This is actually my brother in Paris on our trip to Europe Summer of 2002.

4 years later it still makes me laugh!!

The end is in sight

2006-08-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

So I have spent the past 5 days hiking in Grenada. Lisa Kolb came to visit me and we tried to accomplish a year and a half worth of hiking in 5 days.It was a blast but unfortunately I would not recommend trying to hike trails that have not been maintained since the hurricane during the wet season in Grenada! The rain forest defeated us on several diffrent accounts as you can see from our legs. Evil evil razor grass...

But the scenery was gorgeous as always and the weather was perfect! Kole enjoyed the river at 7 sisters hike up. (we were trying to get to the top of the river and discover where all the water actually came from) After hiking for 1.5 hours we had to turn around because we were slowly running out of daylight. That was Wednesday.
Then on Thursday we decided our goal for the day was to climb Mt. Qua Qua but take off to the west on another trail that is supposed to connect to Concord Falls. The trail guide people tryed to warn us and we followed what we thought looked like a trail for about an hour and 20 minutes until the razor grass and shrubs got to be too thick and we turned around.

Then Friday we along with Chris( a second term medical student) wanted to find Tufton Falls. Going on instructions that Lisa recieved last semester we went out hoping to find it, Lisa knew of a rasta man that lived just a short steep climb up the river bed so we hiked up and found his place but no human was to be found. He had sheep, donkey, pot hound, and rabbits. His place was really nice built out of bambo. So without his additional instruction we tried but failed to find the falls. Had a good time with nature in the process though.
Then Saturday we left early to try and find Mount St. Catherines. Hopeing this time this Fall the view from the top would be clearer than last semester. Well the same trail that we took was totally overgrown and we turned bsck about 45 minutes into the hike. It was dissappointing. So we came back to St, George's and went to the beach instead. Later on we went to a HASH in Mt. Granby and afterwards travelled up North to visit the Carpenter's. After visting with Emily Sat night we got up at 4:15 on Sunday to climb Mt. Piton with her. It was just a hour hike near the Carpenter's place to watch the sun rise. It was so fun trying to make our way up in the dark. (there was a full moon to help). Emily is returning to the states after spending 2 years here in Grenada doing mission work with kids mostly in Pearls. Grenada will miss her and so will I.
So we spent the morning up there on Mt. Piton and even played dominoes to the rock. Then went to church with the Carpenter family. After church we drove back into St. George's and Lisa packed and then we went to campus for a BBQ with Ara and Leanna. (friends from CSA church, Ara is a medical student)We all said our sad goodbyes to Lisa (she is going to school in St. Vincent this semester)with the intention of seeing eachother again someday.
Everyone is slowly trickling in from the summer. Trips to the airport are becomig very regular. It is nice to see everyone's faces and see them all refreshed. One more week of summer, then classes start. Uggh!!

Mount Qua Qua

2006-08-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

So another trail in Grenada was defeated again. Mount Qua Qua was about 1.5 hour hike to the top at an elevation of 2,300 ft. That does not sound that high but remember that we are starting from 0 elevation of below sea level. We all had a blast. Today was a Grenadian holiday (not sure what for?) but Friday starts the beginning of Carnival which I am extremely excited about!! The dogs climbed the mountain also (of course) and they were ready for more!
I am sure I'll have some great pictures!!
View from the top!!!---^ My feet from the very top!!

2006-07-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

The end of Lance' Ax' Supine (spelling?) Mom standing on a cliff--- you can barley see her legs.. that is pretty high!! But boy is it gorgeous!

2006-07-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

Whisper's Cove in Grenada... Phil and Shelley are a missionary family and have just started up this new resturant business.

2006-07-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

My A&M friends... love you guys!!

2006-07-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

PK lake and their new hiking trail. Mrs. Wolf, Marge, and me posing.

2006-07-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

Mi familia watching a bit of the world cup (no head butting allowed). See Kristin between me and Becki with the green sweatshirt,,, she is about to be my new cousin...when she ties the knot to JR in the black T-shirt. Congrats guys!

2006-07-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

One early morning feeding calves.. they appreciated it!!

2006-07-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

Marge, Sarah, Maverick, and me acting crazy or normal for us..hehe

2006 Summer 'o' fun

2006-07-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

What a great summer looking back.....
I got to visit with my family and friends every weekend, work with a great vet and coworkers and some good cows durning the week, got to visit and run a marathon in California and visit its beach, witness two of my friends officially become life partners, climb sanddunes with my cousins, hang an entire week with one of my bestest college friends and meet up with my other best college bud, help one of my Midland best friends pack to move to her new life in Austin, go to Possum Kingtom several times and ride like a crazy woman on the seadoo, eat some great food (aka Rosa's) and icecream(lots and lots of healthy icecream... thanks Mrs. Wolf), visit with my A&M clan(thanks guys for always being there for me!!), spend time with my brother and sister in law(I miss them so much already!!), join the world of myspace, have some great discussions with my grandparents, and finallytravel to Grenada with my mom and show off the island.
Man oh man... I could go on and on. God is so good. He has blessed me abundantly. Here are some pictures to go along with all the 'O'fun!

Summer 2006... so far

2006-06-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well I thought that I would send a short update to my summer thus far.
Currently I am working an intership for a dairy vet in Windthorst, Texas. I am living with a great welcoming family, Gene and Cathy Wolf that have litterally been treating me as they would there own daughter. I am having the time of my life working for Dr. Bloom palpating cows, curing LDA's, evaluating herds, doing A.I.'s, helping pull calves, practicing physical exams on Holsteins and learning and reading tons more that I could go on and on about. (but I will spare you).
I successfully completed my 2nd marathon at the beginning of June in San Diego, CA. I ran and finished with one of my classmates from SGU.( Kerri from Virginia Beach). The run went well, I can definately see a 3rd in my future.
Who would have known Elvis's were going to run the race also -->

Other than that, I visited my parents and grandparents in Midland and got to hang out with my cousins and second cousins at the Monahan San Dunes, went to visit my wonderful friends at A&M, and attended my friends Angela and Brian's wedding in Copperas Cove. I am so blessed to have such giving, humble, and loving friends. I am truely blessed! Thinking about it overwhelms me.
Life again took a sudden turn and I was reminded of how shortour lives are and can be. A classmate that I had when I was a vet student at A&M suddenly died earlier this month. Her death was and is such a testiment to the fact that God only takes the best. My vet school friends have been faced with a second death in their class in the past 4 months. Their strength in God through both experiences has been a testament to me. (and I know many many others). In fact, one of fellow former classmates responded with this: He has that much trust and security in His mind that my path in this life is guarded and led by Him no matter what or no matter how LITTLE I think I can handle.It is humbling to realize that God thinks more of me and my abilities to handle life's circumstances than I do about myself sometimes. He has that much faith in me - do I have that same level and intensity in faith in Him?
That is a question I seem to be asking myself time and time over. I've got a long way to go!
I get to visit Trey and Becki next weekend and then Marge and Sarah the next. Again...I come back to how can I not have that same level of faith in him when he has blessed me so abundantly!! Love you all!!

2006-05-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

This is my sweet trophy and metal that I got at the awards ceremony for the triathlon. I started laughing when they gave me the big trophy.. thinking to myself... what am I going to do with this... it is so heavy... It was pretty funny. The best part was, I also got 200EC that went along with the trophy. Sweet deal. Everyone keeps joking that now that I've been payed, I am a professional athlete. HAHA.

Triathlon and so much more

2006-04-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

So many things have been happening both positive and negative. I am ready to leave this island in a couple weeks but there are definate mixed feelings. Last Tuesday we said goodbye to the first friend to leave the island, Brooke (Dr. Henderson, a clinician at the veterinary teaching hospital). She had planned on leaving on the weekend however after a pretty severe bike crash where she broke out 2 of her front top incisors she decided to go home a couple of days earlier. Can't say I blame her. Her comment when I asked her what was the first thing that she was going to do when she landed in America was, " I am going to wave my American flag and kiss the ground." Pretty funny comment. As you can see in the pictures, Brooke is so cute because she was trying not to smile with the big gap in her teeth!!! :)HaHa!!

Monday night we had a going away party for Dr. Tarpley. He was our small anatomy and large animal anatomy professor here at SGU. He is probably the greatest prof that I have ever had. His heart and desire for the best for the students is incredible and outweighs all the rest. He is a total inspiration to me. He will be greatly missed. This is most of our class. Dr. Tarpey is in the white at the top.

Yesterday we had the award ceremony for the vet school. Good news, I won the colleage award again this semester. I am so humbled!!! I cannot believe that many people would vote for me when there are so many other great students and to be veterinarians in our class. So unrewarding on my side, but I am totally flattered. It means a lot!!! Expectally since I got the award last semester. To be able to get it again was so special and amazine.

Then today I completed and finished my first triathlon. It was not too bad and it was fun! It was very warm and the people that I went with kicked butt. It was definetly an experience. The race was a 750 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. Check out the website if you are bored. I think that triathlons might be my new thing. I met a girl at the award ceremony that is a first term medical student and she might just be my new training partner next term we will see. So we had an awards ceremony and I won 2nd place in my age group and 3rd place overall. So I got a metal and a big trophy. The best part is I won 200 EC. I could not believe it. It pays to be a girl sometimes. There were not very many girls that entered the race so it gave me a great chance to win. Pretty exciting!! From left to right, Stephanie(MPH), me(vet), Dan(med), Leah(vet), Chris(MHP), and Lisa(med).

So with everything going on it has not lead me very much time to study. Opps that is why I am here in Grenada right? Sometimes I wonder? Eventhough this semester has been crazy both in a good way and a bad way, I am so looking forward to coming home to America. I miss it. Just like Brooke, I might be wanting to kiss American soil once I get back on the 19th of May. So close!!! Love you all and can't wait to visit you this summer :) Also one last thing... two kittens have become a part of my life. There names are Vibrissae and Capo. They are just the cutest and they know it!!

2006-04-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here are Kole's new sisters, Vibrissae and Capo. The kittens are 4 weeks old and fun of energy. Kole loves them!!!

2006-04-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Sunrise service on Easter.

2006-04-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is my CSA family :) on Easter Sunday!

Biking around the island of Grenada

2006-04-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

This Easter weekend has been jammed packed full of fun and great challenges. Friday was the start of the weekend and I had a ladies tea scheduled at 11am with my church. It was so fun, all the girls that go to CSA ( the church I go to on campus) got all dressed up and we had the guys serve us. Jess the president of CSA's church made a ton of orderves (spelling?) and a bunch of girls made stuff and brought it. Then after the luncheon, I went to Concord falls with Lisa and her parents that came in town for Easter. It was magnificant. Hiking up to the Falls and then hiking all the way back town the river bed was such fun. We met a Grenadian family on the way down and they gave us a plate of oil down to eat. It was delicious. We rode back at sunset.
Then on Saturday, Keri and I had our long run scheduled, 21 miles. It went great. It was tiring and I wanted to stop but I made it. We started running at about 5:20 and was done 3 hours later. So I had one hour and a couple minutes to rest before going out to the farm with the ophanage kids. It was great they were so excited. There was only one incident in which Kendall one of the kids got butted by a goat. It was a small goat so there was no damage it just scared him to death poor thing. All the kids got to ride a donkey. Seeing their faces as they rode was priceless. I can probably guantee none of them have done that before. After the farm we had a little Easter egg hunt outside of the farm gate. It was around 11:30 at this time and all the chocolate that was inside the eggs was melting and the kids like dove into the eggs and had chocolate everywhere it was pretty funny. After this we drove them up to campus and had pizza for them that Glover's had kindly donated. They loved the pizza. (What is it about pizza and kids, nothing beats it! Whether we are in America or Grenada) By this time I was absolutely exhausted. The kids are wonderful but they are a ton of work. We had them from 10am to close 2. That is long enough. We had actually bought water balloons to have a fight but the kids left so we decided to have one ourselves. So we all went down to Black sand beach and filled the water balloons up and then had a fight. The balloons were like invicible and would not break, so with clothes on and everything we all decided to throw eachother into the water. It was fun! Later on that night we all met again to camp out on the point near campus right next to Black Sand beach. It was Celeste, Ayumi, Lois, Laybi, Tim, Chris, and of course Kole. Tonya(my roomate from first term came and hung out for a little while)Tim played the guitar and we sang, and talked, built a little fire, cooked Somores, and sort of slept out beaneath the stars. Good times! We woke up early on Sunday to make it to the sunrise service. The service was beautiful, it sprinkled a little but not much. Regular church was at 11am so I walked home with Kole, took a shower and a little nap and was ready to go back up to church. The service was nice, Lisa's dad spoke about faith and dependance and trust in God. After service we had a little BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs. Got some really good pictures of some people. We had a good turn out I was grateful. I left around 2 to catch the bus to Grande Anse. It was Colleens birthday party and she was having a catamaran boat ride scheduled. It was fun, relaxing on the beach and hanging out with friends. A totally diffrent group of friends. As usual the sunset was gorgeous. I got home and ate some good carbs for dinner because I had the ride around the island scheduled for the next morning. Monday. Got up early and got my bike all ready. The ride was intense. Sam, Dr. Brooke Henderson, Lisa's dad, and a Grenadian native named Pip all went. Brooke, Sam, and Pip are all professionals. They have done the ride around several times and each time they have said that it is very difficult. There are so many hills, both steep and gruadual. Some even want to make you cry. Lisa was all ready to pick her dad and me if we needed it. We rode along the West Coast first. There were some major hills. It was so gorgeous though. So worth it when I think back now and see the images in my head. You just dont as much when you drive by in a car. You definetly do not appreciate the hills like I will now. We stopped north of the island around 10:30 to refuel and take a break. I was already tired at this point. So we continued. Close to Greenville. Lisa's dad hit a wall and decided to call Lisa to come get him. He did really well. I think that if it weren't for the heat he could have made it. It was such a mental thing at this point. Honestly, I did not think that I was going to make it. At one point, I told Sam that I would not make it unless I stopped and rested for a while. So everyone was so nice and they all stopped with me. They all talked while I sat in the shade and took a little snooze. I guess it was enough because I made it!! I made it!! It was unbelievable. Some of those hills, I mean it was a mind game. Pip kept making the comment that I was training for some crazy extreme race, 21 miles on Saturday and then 60miles on bike on Monday. We asked what are you doing tomorrow, the harbor 2mile swim. I guess I did do alot this weekend. I am taking the day off tomorrow. :) It was such great fun though. This week I have got to get serious about school. I had a nice break and now I am motivated to study hard. The remainder of the day Sunday after getting back almost 8 hours later from biking was doing laundry and trying to relax. How incredilbly blessed I am to have had such a wonderful weekend and that I am health enough to do all these activities. It was not by my power that I finished the ride today. I gained my strength to him. Thank you Jesus for your endless sacrifices. I am so weak with out you and with you I am strong. Love all of you dearly. Hope that you had a good Easter. I'm out!

Yes, I am still alive!

2006-04-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry about falling off the side of the earth. I am safe in Grenada and doing well and more importantly healthy again. No worries!
The last couple weeks have been.... I can't even find the word for it.... remarkable.. in both the good and not so good way.
Two days after I got back from my amazine trip from North of the Island visiting with the Carpenters, I got sick. It started out as the flu with a horrible horible(never had one like this before)headache, I just decided to rest and sleep it off. Four days later when I could barley get out of bed to go to the bathroom, my friends and classmates started to worry. That Friday a bunch came over and gave me some fluids because I had barely drinken anything and had not eaten at all since Tuesday night. I drank and have to admit felt a little better. I could not sleep that night and Saturday morning my head hurt so bad, and I just could not take it anymore so I called Bekki one of my classmates and she took me to the St. George's hospital. They put an IV in and gave me a bag of fluids. I felt better and thought that I was on the road to recovery... but no... I was still really weak and still not being able to eat and then throwing up when I did try. So by Tuesday, my roomate took me to the campus doctor which was a joke and then ended up taking me to another hospital. The doctor admitted me and I was there until Friday night. So 4 days in the hospital. It was an experience. I had so many visitors, classmates, old roomates, and friends. It was very humbling experience. It turned out that I had a bacterial systemic infection. A Gram negative bacteria as it turns out because at first I was not responding to the medication. Unfortunately we dont know how I got it or what exact Gram neg organism it was. It is pretty funny though because for the 2mile harbor swim that I did the other weekend with a bunch of my classmates my nickname on my cap was Gram negative. (I'll post pictures later, the internet/computer is running slow tonight)
Looking back on all the last blog when I was so high on life and felt invincable like God was on my side 100%. That shows me how powerful Satan is also. But he did not prevail, I feel like I grew closer to God over that time. Especially when I was in the hospital recovering. It was some great alone time with God. Not the way that I would have chosen but I'll take some peace and quite anytime I can get it.
Unfortunately these 11 days of being sick put me pretty far behind in school and not to mention that midterms were the week after I had gotten home from the hospital. My profs were very understanding and I had two of my tests postponed. I ended up doing really well on 2 and not so well on 2. This was frustrating but things will be okay. (I hope!)
So that was midterms and last week was unified tests #2, and boy did they suck!! I have yet to check my grades because I know that I am going to be dissappointed.
Now for some good news: two things. (1) I am finally getting back into the marathon training after being so sick. In fact, this Saturday is Kerri and my longest run thus far at 21 miles. Also we decided to raise money for the ophanage kids here in Grenada. We are hopefully going to have people sponsor us per mile. This way we are not just running this marathon for ourselves but making it positive for someother people as well.
(2) Last Thursday I ran for President elect of SAAVMA. SAAVMA stands for the student affiliated association of veterinary medical associates. This is like the foundation organization of the veterinary profession. Well... I got the position!! I had to make a speech and everything. It was nerveracking, but I want to make a diffrence at this school. I am tired of sitting back and watching. I hope that I can make a diffrence.
Today in church I gave my testimony. I shared with them about failing out of vet school at A&M and how I ended up here and then a little about my sickness that I described earlier. It is so easy to think that you are on top of the world and in control when God could halt your plans so fast you dont even realize what is going on. He does not do this to harm us, he does it to help us. Suffering provides preservance, and perservance hope. This is how we grow because we realize that we cannot do it alone. He is the almighty and he already has it all planned out perfectly.
By the way.. the pic of the dog above is "Razor" our neighbors dog. He is Koles best friend they get along so well and he is so adorably cute!!! :) HAVE A GOOD WEEK!!!!

Renewed!!

2006-02-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Seven Sisters Falls. It was absolutely beautiful. This picture does not even do it justice. We climbed up to the very top waterfall and looked over the edge. Some people from another group jumped. We couldn't jump because we had left our stuff up the river. But next time...no doubt.. I am jumping!! It must have been a huge rush!! How blessed I am to be able to experience this beauty!!:)
Lisa and I went to visit the Carpenter family this past weekend. They are a family that works with Raise Praise Ministry and they host short term missionaries from all over churches in the states for a week or so. They stay extremely busy organizing retreats, backyard bible studies, and school bible studies along with just their regular ministry work with the locals and local churches. They are an incredible family that readily follows Gods heart step by leading step. It was an honor to get to stay with them for a couple days.
This weekend must have been one of the most spiritally connected weekends that I have ever had with God. I totally reconnected, it was wonderful and I really needed it. At church yesterday he really laid me down. "I am desperately needing, I am pleading, Can you hear my heart, can you cleanse these hands," these are the words to a worship song by Pat Brown. This is what God did for me on Sunday!!! He broke me and I cried!! and cried!! Which was wonderful because I have not been able to cry lately. I know that sounds weird to those of you that know me!! I have to agree. But after the service, I was totally renewed. I feel like a totally diffrent person today. God is good!! And he has to come first, he just has to!! This morning in my quite time he reinterated this to me again, "Anyone who wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else." Even the disciples could not heal the boy that had an evil spirit in Mark 9, Jesus was the only one that could heal him. When the disciples did not understand and asked Jesus why they could not heal the boy, Jesus' reply was "This can come out only by prayer." Mark 9:29. WOW! All the things that are going on here in Grenada and still are not resolved and may never get resolved, I have total peace now that he is going to take care of it. It is under his control and there is nothing in my power that I can do about it except pray!!
I will continue to update you all on everything. I love all of you so much and can't hardly wait for you all to come visit me some day and enjoy nature like I never have before!!! Take care!!

2006-02-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

One last picture!! My physio professor from last semester took this shot and the other 2 I also posted. Absolutely gorgeous. No crocidiles, promise!!

2006-02-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

There are chili's in Grenada also! Gotta keep a little bit of Mex/Tex with me at all times!!

2006-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Probably the most famous meal of Grenada is called the Oil Down. This is a picture of a local lady at the HASH making a a huge pot of HASH. The concoction can consist of almost anything and everything. The rod looking thing is a type of fruit believe it or not. I think there were carrots and potatoes too. Maybe fish. NO... I did not try it. Maybe someday or if someone bets me $50 EC, I'll do it.HaHa!

Walking the HASH

2006-01-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

So things are quickly getting busy and I am falling more and more behind in school work. That might not sound like a good thing and it is not, but it is pretty normal for me, and I am having fun in the meantime.
So I am training for a marathon. Actually the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon. A classmate of mine convinced me to do it and it has been great so far. The second day of running, I tripped and fell in a pot hole and sprained my ankle pretty bad. The human body is amazine though. I took one day off, have not played any soccer or ultimate, and it is almost back to normal less than a week later. Thank God!
This past week, I also purchased a bike. On my crosstraining days, I will be riding. So today was my first day! We went toward La Sagesse. It was wonderful and so much fun!! 18 miles. It totally did not feel like that much at all. Lots of wonderful hills both up and down, it was a blast. Unfortunately, while riding, I swallowed a bee or someother kind of bug that decided to sting me before I could spit it out. It bit the back of my throat around the uvula( the hanging ball thing). It hurts pretty bad, but I can still breathe, and that is what is important.
The HASH was gorgeous yesterday.
It was in St. David's, Southeast part of the island.

Fishin' Trip

2006-01-22T04:48:00.000-08:00

Today was probably one of the best days I have ever had in Grenada.

We left the boat yard at 9am and did not return until 9pm. We fished, we swam, we dove, we got sunburned, we talked, we froze on the way back in the dark. All the essentials for a great boat ride. It was extremely relaxing just to sit out on the boat with good friends!!! Don (the veterinarian at the GSPCA here in Grenada) caught his first fish ever in Grenada! And also on the way back, Don caught a baby barracuda. Greta learned how to successfully fish for the first time, but unfortunately did not catch anything :( I fished with no success either. Brooke (Dr. Henderson a clinician at veterinary teacing hospital) caught a pufferfish that we had to throw back. Then Jeff(Dr. Ball at the veterinary teaching hospital) caught a swordfish looking thing.

Great times and Great fun!
<--This is Brian playing his Banjo!!!!

Come visit as soon as you can!!! Love all of ya!!

Friday fun after a week of school

2006-01-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

I decided Kole deserved some fun after the busy week that I had. He and Sadie were non-stop!!!

This is the view of the boats in the bay and then this is Alan(Bekki, a classmate's husband) playing fetch with his dog, Sadie, and Kole. [ notice the A&M shirt...] Alan and Bekki are my Texas friends!!!

2006-01-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

From left to right: Pepper, Hercules, Kole, and Sadie. Is this a great advertisement or what. Priceless expressions on each of their faces.

The first few days of third term

2006-01-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

I made it safetly to Grenada with all flights on schedule and all my luggage, can we say "Lucky"(as Napolean Dynamite would say). Then yesterday, my registration, enrollment, financial aid, and getting my diffrence check all went unbelievably smooth. It was a miracle. ("lucky")
So it is the second day of third term for me anyways! Currently I am taking all the "ologies". Pathology, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Parasitolgy, and Bacteriology/ Mycology, and then Clinical Skills.
It has been great so far. So nice to be learning new info and no tests yet, so everything looks bright!!
Yesterday was kinda a bore, and I did not understand a word that came out of my pharmacology professors mouth. But today in class after studying and catching up on the material, I understood much better! So it put me in a good mood. Also I am going to play ultimate frisbee at 5 and I really looking forward to that. The weather is absolutely gorgeous today. A great day to play outside!!!! :)
I have been taking pictures like a mad woman with my totally new, totally awesome digital camera that my parents gave me for my birthday. So be expecting some pic posted in a couple days. Maybe even tomorrow!!
Miss all of you and hope that you can come visit this wonderful island that I live on!!

Christmas Break 2005

2006-01-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

What a wonderfully incredible Christmas Break. This break I have had the chance to share stories with friends and family, rekindle friendships, watch some of my best friends get married, reevaluate what is truely important to me as a person, and how I can hopefully be a better person through my weaknesses.
A couple days ago, I learned of the passing of one of my dear soccer and college buddies, Janell. She was one of those girls that could always and will still light up a room with her presence. She will be greatly missed. She had a way about her to make any bad situation turn into a good one or at least one that we could laugh at. I remember doing 120's in soccer practice back at SFA and how we all hated them more than anything. She probably hated them more than any of the rest of us, however, she always gave her all. I wish I could say the same for myself. Janell, you will be greatly missed! Thank you for the great example that you set for all of us in life. Thanks for living your life to the fullest!

At the beginning of the break, I had the undeniable opportunity to visit Barbados. This happened all because I could not get a ticket out of Grenada for Christmas, so I booked a ticket instead out of Barbados. All I had to do was find a way to Barbados. In Barbados, I was blessed to get to stay with a family in connection with CEF ( the organization that I went on a mission trip to Atlanta with in summer 2002). I had a wonderful time visiting and talking with Diane(CEF leader in Barbados). What a life she leads following the Lord! Barbados is like a "little England". Very simular to Grenada except that it is flat and the waves are much bigger. Hint hint... you surfers out there!!!
Shortly after Barbados, I returned to the states and attended the weddings of my close Texas A&M veterinary friends, Travis Nichols and Anne Ray. Getting to witness both marriages of Travis to Katy and Anne to Josh and seeing the delight in both of their eyes made me truely believe in love. (I know that this is sappy, I apoligize, but if you only saw them you would say the same thing). At the weddings got to reaquant myself with old friends. It was great to see you Lisa and Brad. Good luck this coming semester!! I am so proud of you! Also while making my way through Austin, I got the treat of seeing my Uncle John and Prissy and my 2 cousins Misty and Andrew and there 2 baby girls(one of which I had not had the pleasure to meet yet!). While passing through Dallas, I got to visit the Staib side of my family (Melzer- my moms side). Getting updated with my uncle Bob and new wife Christi, exchanging experiences with my cousins and second cousins, and learning about the soon to be still baking in the oven. Life is good. :)
Then one of the highlights of my entire trip was getting to spend a couple days with my little bro Trey and his best friend and wife, Becki. I love you guys more than you ever could imagine!!! I am so proud of you guys! Around this same time I got to make a short but sweet visit to my Aunt Beth and Uncle Erics house. Of course, Eric cooked and boy was it delicious!! During this Houston visit I got the chance to also rekindle a friendship with an old roomate at SFA, Fro, that I had probably not talked to in 2 years. It is amazine how time flys!!!
For Christmas, my Aunt Martha and cousin AnnE came to Midland. So I packed up my things and headed back to Midland but not before stopping into College Station and visiting with my good friend Amanda. She left for a mission trip to Ethiopia a couple days later. At Christmas dinner as my grandfather gave the blessing, I could not help but reflect on how blessed our family is and how incredible it is to be part of the whole thing.

Then to bring in the New Years, I got to spend it with three of the most important girls in my life. Erin Wolf, Marge Barnes, and Sarah Williams. These girls are the greatest. I can only pray that people have friends like these girls in their lives. Erin has joined the Peace Corps and she leaves for Zambia, Africa in a couple days now. http://erinwolf.bravehost.com/ . Have a time of your life Erin. I'l be visiting soon!!
The next thing on my agenda was a Colorado ski trip. All I have to say is I love Colorado!!! I had the time of my life. This was the best birthday present I could have ever given myself. Not only did I get to spend some great time with my soon to be married friends Brian and Angela, meet 15 new people, play in the snow, but I got to learn how to snowboard! Yes, I thought that I was going to die after the first day because I was so sore, but I had the time of my life. People should be arrested for having as much fun as I did. I did not want it to end! Daniel... sorry that I had to use your picture in my blog, but I could not help it. Too funny!

Now as I reflect on the past couple weeks. I am flabbergasted. I got to visit almost my entire family and friends. What a gift!!! Life is such a gift!! I would not trade any of the times that I had for anything. Please all of you take care of yourselves. Until next time!! Love each and everyone of you silly creatures!!!

By the Hair of my chinny chin chin

2005-12-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

School is over and I passed. I ended up with a 71.11% tile in physiology. I was defintely sweating on this one. The grade sucks but it is so much better than a D. The final kicked my butt and I thought for sure I was doomed to have a D!!!
Thank God that it is over with!!!After 2.5 years of pain and angish and nightmare after nightmare and doubt after doubt, I made it and my nemesis is over with. No more physiology ever!!!
Without the grace of God and all your prayers, I would not have made it. Thank all of you so much for all your support throughout this entire obstacle in my life. There are many more to overcome, but it is nice to at least be able to move on.
I leave for Barbados tomorrow. I am so looking forward to it!!! :) Bye bye Grenada!!
Have a great weekend everyone!!!
i

Officially finals week

2005-12-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

So today we started finals.... I have to admit... they suck... I wont lie and tell you that I am fine....cause I feel like crap.... but I think that all kind of goes along with finals week. Don't they even nickname it "hell week"? Finals actually this semester is not so bad. We only have 3 finals. We had one Friday and then today. So wednesday is our last one. YEAH! I have a special favor to ask all of you though. At 1pm on Wednesday, if you get a chance, say a little prayer for me. I am going to need it. This might just be my last physiology test ever!!!! By the grace of God it will be!!! If I can just make it past this last huge bump then I am done. It is more like a mountain though and I feel extremely unprepared which is amazine after now taking the class 2times before already. You would think that I would know the stuff backwards and forwards, yet it still seems to trip me up!!! So 1pm on Wednesday, I would appreicate it!!!!
Love ya'll. Can't wait to see many of you this break!!!

This is one of my lab groups in large animal anatomy. From left to right, Regina, Emma, Andrea, the goat's rumen, Sheila, and Megan. Yes... I did say goat's rumen!!!

2005-11-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

This is me in action last weekend! Lisa shot this picture while we were hiking up and around Bathsway beach, close to the Carpenter's(missionary family) house. I have to admit... it was not as high up as the picture protrays!!!

2005-11-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

There was a beer stop half way back to the start of the HASH!! Funny huh!!! This little stop was at the top of a cliff overlooking the Atlantic. Jen is on the far left, Greta in the middle and a medical student on the right, enjoying the tall grass and the brisk somewhat "chilly" breeze!

2005-11-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

Bathsway beach at dusk. Extremely north Grenada!

2005-11-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

A gorgeous view of Bathsway beach, north Grenada. These were just a few of the sites we saw while running the HASH on Saturday! Paradise.

My trip to North of the Island

2005-11-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

So I kinda already described the trip. But here are some pictures! Enjoy!! Yes... I promise... it is a real monkey!!! Lisa and I went North of the island to visit a missionary family and we hung out at their place Friday night and then hung out with some of their kids at Grand Etang Lake. This is where we meet our new little friends!!

Everyone likes Koolaid!!!!

The tin man!!!

2005-11-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have to explain myself. One day I was bored and surfing the net I came upon this guys blog site. It was a really weird posting so Greta started looking at it with me. We were trying to figure this guy out when we came upon what we think is one of the most peculiar picures I think that I have ever seen in my entire life. We must have laughed for hours and hours!! So everyone took a turn being the tin man. Enjoy!! I am sure that you wont think that it is as funny as we did. This is what living in Grenada and studying and studying for hours upon hours can do to people!!!! Be afraid be very afraid...

2005-11-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

I entitled this picture "Duh, my name is Kole" . Always having fun with the best dog of the house!!! Always constant entertainment at the funny farm(this is what we named our apartment complex).

Rain Rain go away!

2005-11-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

So it is the rainy season in Grenada. All it does is rain and rain and rain and rain. Eventually it stops but there is no telling when. I do love the rain though, it cools things off and what harm will a little water do anyways. “Little water”, I say this, but I think that everything is pretty saturated about right now.
It is not my favorite thing to walk the dogs in the rain, I have to admit. And now, we have an extra dog living with us. I am fostering a big black dog that looks just like Kole. Last Sunday he was hit by a car near the Texaco on the bus route to school. Apparently, the person that either saw or found the dog after it was hit, flagged down a school bus and asked if there were any vet students on the bus and if the vet hospital was open. Well two lucky vet students that I know fairly well from church and from tutoring perked up their heads. Lois, one of the girls, said when she saw the dog her first thought was that he was dead and not to bother with it, but she could not just leave it. So the guy handed her, no kidding, this 70 pound big black practically comatose dog and she carried it on to the bus( which is unheard of, because dogs are not allowed on the bus). The bus stopped them off at the VTH for treatment. Because it was Sunday everything was done on Emergency. This was all done early in the morning, and so this is how I come into the picture. Lois comes to church, she is wearing jeans and they are all dirty and soiled, from carrying the dog and I approach her wondering why she is so dirty. So untactfully I ask her why she is so dirty and she explains to me the entire story. So to end this already long story, I am fostering (I should say my roommates and I) this big black dog that looks scarely similar to Kole. Everyone gets along great dog wise. We ended up naming the dog “Tex” because he was found near the Texaco. His improvement everyday is undaunting. The first day we had him he was ataxic(falling over everywhere) and he could barley walk to my house from the VTH(which is like ½ a mile) He now is running and barking, but has obvious brain damage and kind of gets weak and falls over when he has been standing for a long periods of time. We are looking for a home, with Christmas drawing near, if is going to be hard to find someone to adopt him. I’ll keep all of you updated on the whereabouts and the actions of “Tex”.
Other than that, I am just trying to improve and get caught back up with school. It is a constant battle, a neverending, always swimming, just keeping my head above water struggle. Only by the grace of God will this even be possible. A good note, I passed my physiology test last week. Barely! But I did pass. I now have a 73 in the course, which is definetly not where I wanted to be sitting going into a comprehensive final, but this is truth and I am having to deal with it. Thanks to all of you that prayed for me.
I so look forward to seeing all of you in a couple of weeks!! Those of you that are about to start a new life with their sole mates, those that have new jobs, those that have transformed their bodies, those that have a new miracle growing inside of them and those that have not changed much, I cant wait to see each of your smiling loving faces and get caught back up in your lives. Love you all, stay healthy and take care of eachother !!!!!

Kole wanted to go for a swim also....

This page is in dedication to Marge!!!

2005-11-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

Here goes....
I can not believe that my last blog was in October!! Time flys, actually I kinda forgot that it was November. Scary huh!!
I just wanted to share with all of you the wonderfully blessed weekend that I just experienced. Lisa and I has been looking forward to this weekend for a while, but it could have not gone any smoother!! God definetly was with us the entire time. There is a missionary family called the Carpenters that lives North of the island. It consists of two interns and then a mother and father their son and his wife and then their daughter. Everyday they all split up and visit diffrent schools and conduct a bible study. Then on Sundays they lead worhip at a small little Evangelical Church. The first time that I met the family was at a little get together we had on Phil(my bible study leaders) boat at the beggining of the semester. Then before midterms they came and lead worship service at CSA( the little campus church that I got to) and had them over for lunch afterwards. We talked to them about coming up and visiting them. So we planned a date and everything worked out just perfectly. So Friday night, CSA had an international praise night that was amazine in itself and they drove down for the worship. It is a pretty big trip to drive, eventhough this island is really small, it takes about an hour and a half to drive from north to south, because of the windy roads and steep mountains. So they met us at the worship service and then we caught a ride back with them. By the time we got to their place it was close to 12:00am. We talked a while and they showed us around and then we all called it a night.
Lisa and I woke up Saturday morning staring out at a gorgous beach with amazine vegetation around. It was so beautiful!!We took a walk to the beach climbed some rocks and then headed back to the house to get ready to leave to hang out at Grande Etang Lake with some discipleship group kids. We had a blast, played a little soccer, and this bean bag type game that was really fun. The day was so cool, I had to wear a lite jacket!!Unheard of in Grenada!!!!We played with some monkeys, I'll post the pictures I promise!!! It was so amazine. All surreaal now that I am here back on campus typing this up!!
I have a bunch of other stuff that I cant wait to share with everyone, but I got to run. One of my medical student friends is in an organization called Smiles. Well this entire semester they have been working with kids at this ophanage to put on a show. Well there show starts in 6 minutes so I gotta jet. Love all of you so much!!
Stay heathy and take care of yourselfs so I can come see you soon!!! :)

2005-10-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

Just another view of the Sulfur Springs HASH. I think that you might get why now I plan my schedule so that I don't miss any HASHes.

2005-10-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

This is an amazine picture that our Physiology prof took at the HASH at the Sulfur Springs one week ago. It was really rainy that day and this picture shows the true rainforest of Grenada.

2005-10-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

This was the path of the HASH along the water. It was mighty fun to try and run on this stepping stone terrain, however the Grenadian HASHer's had no problem bounding from rock to rock.

Pushed aside......

2005-10-28T21:51:00.001-07:00

Hey blog readers!! I am alive, and I apoligize for not updating in a while. Man I got some great, funny, crazy, interesting things to catch all of you up on. I am going to try and couple of new things with my blog like posting some short movies and then including my pictures in the actual paragraph that I write you guys. So please bear with me.
Man... were do I even start?
So I am totally addicted to HASHes. They are scheduled every other Saturday and I never miss them. Actually, I am missing the next one but that is only because it is Carriacou(small island North of here) and we have a physiology test on Monday. So.. unfortunately school must come first, because to go on more Hashes I must pass the semester!! So HASH has to come second next weekend.
Don't know if I ever mentioned my intramural soccer team. I'll have to get the team photo and send it to you guys. All of you would be jelous, at least my girlfriends. The entire team was guys except for one other girl, Anna Sophia. We had a blast playing together. We lost in the semifinal match (pretty big deal!!! We think) We really should have won, however, we lost by one measly point. Then the team that ended up winning the entire thing, we had tied earlier in the season. Soccer is always a good study break and when you get to hang out with and have teammates as cool and serious about soccer as my teammates were it makes the competitiveness and soccer that much more fun. Gotta love it!!!
Every Tuesday/ Thursday like clockwork, I play ultimate frisbee at 5:00. This has been such a fun excursion!! Again it is so fun getting to hang out with everyone. Several of my classmates come out and play and Lisa always plays, so I get to see her at least on T/Th. Last night , we played till we could no longer see the frisbee at all. It was raining on and off and the field was drenched. You can imagine a big mud pt, great fun!! We were sliding around everywhere, having a good ole time and just for a while try to take our minds off of school.
I have really been working on my quiet time lately with God. It has been a real struggle with me this semester because when I wake up in the morning I am either thinking already about all the things that I need to do or I am rushing to get out the door to get a run in for the day. I never feel like I am alone, ever. So fitting in some alone time with God has been a struggle. One great thing about my runs in the morning is that I am alone and that most of the time no one is around. I can freely let my mind unwind and refocus. Besides all of those that are soon coming to visit Grenada once you witness what environment I get to run in everyday, it will turn you into a runner also. It is just gorgeous here! Admiring the views really brings it home that there is aGod that created all of this environment.
There are so many things that I want to continue to share with you. This will have to wait though. Our Neurology final is on Monday. So I have been studying pretty intently with that material. Our professor is a Neurologist from California and he is an awesome professor. I have learned so much. He has taught a more more clinically based neurology than I learned at A&M. So really with my knowledge from Neurology at A&M combined with the neurology here at SGU, I feel lucky to have had both curriculms. Probably the best two classes I ever took. Who knows... maybe I'll even decide to become a veterinary neurologist?Yes.. I like it that much.
I gotta get off to bed it is getting late and the computer is about to die.
Tata for now.

2005-10-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

We found this poster at Grande Anse. Of course we decided to hang it up on our wall, it makes a perfect addition to our living room decor.

2005-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is the certificate given to first time HASHers. It says....Certificate of Loss of Virginity

Having done it with all of us, at times rough, sometimes wet, sometimes dry, sometimes hard, sometimes prone, sometimes supine, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, bawling a lot of unintelligible phrases like �Are you�, �On, On�, �On Back�, �On in.� Grunting and groaning, and shouting expletives in the mud and sand and rivers, and streams, on hill sides and mountains, bushes, and trails of the forests and having completed this hour long ordeal absolutely exhausted, sweaty, and smelling like a ram goat is henseforth not to be considered a virgin by a member of the Grenada Hash House Harriers (G3H).
Given by the Hashmaster:

Bon Accord Estates
St George�s

2005-10-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Which one is the real ass?

Better today!!

2005-10-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Just for Ma and Pa and all those that are worried about me. I had a crappy day yesterday. I am sorry for posting it on the blog. Today was much much much did I say much better. Yesterday I went to an ophangage with a couple of my church members and hung out with some 3, 4, and 5 year olds for a while. As I looked into their innocent eyes and pure smiles, it brought me back to reality and how blessed I truely am no matter if I failed a test or not.
I am going to post this email that my friend Lisa sent to me yesterday. It is pretty powerful. Read it whenever you get a chance, I promise that it will bless you!
Love you guys!!!!

A WORD WITH YOU

By Ron Hutchcraft#4892 - "The Incredibles"2 Corinthians 5:15

They're a family of superheroes with super capabilities that normal humans don't have. And they're the subject of an animated movie hit. They're called "The Incredibles." And because of the powers they have, they are incredible. Or they could be. But the movie shows them living a very un-super life; just going through the motions of everyday life, living in the same kind of mediocrity everyone else is. They're the "Incredibles," but they're sure not living like it. People with the power to make a tremendous difference - but they're living ordinary. That's not just the plot of a movie. It's the sad story of many followers of Jesus Christ.The day you invited Jesus Christ into your life, He brought with Him all His resurrection power - power that was great enough to raise Him from the dead. He gave you His Holy Spirit who is all-powerful. The same Holy Spirit lives in you who lived in those first-century believers; those ordinary folks who turned their world upside down for Jesus in one generation. He's just as powerful as He was then, but something happened to us along the way.If you belong to Jesus, the Bible says some amazing things about who you are now. You are "the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14), "the temple of the living God" (2 Corinthians 6:16), you are a "son" or "daughter" of "the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:18). That's pretty incredible stuff. But tragically, like that cartoon family of superheroes in the movie, maybe you've been settling for ordinary - living in maintenance mode; doing your daily drill but not making much of a difference. And you're restless inside, aren't you? That's because the Jesus in you is saying, "There's more, man. I made you mine to make you so much more."Our word for today from the Word of God spells out part of the amazing assignment God has given you. II Corinthians 5, beginning with verse 15, tells us that Jesus "died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again." A small life is a life that's all about you and your agenda. This passage goes on to say that Christ has made you "a new creation" and given you a powerful purpose to live your life for. He says: "We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."The President of the United States has a personal representative in each country - his ambassador. The Son of God has a personal representative in your corner of the world - it's you! nd that assignment is what should define each new day in your life - you look in the mirror and you say, "Everywhere I go, everything I do today, I am there 'in Christ's behalf.' I am the face of Jesus where I am. I am the voice of Jesus, to say what He would say. I am the hands of Jesus to do what He would do." Suddenly, the most everyday stuff becomes eternity stuff because you are going to be there representing Jesus!How can you ever be content again to just live like a "space taker-upper"? You're not here primarily to make money or make friends or make an impression or just make it through - you're here to make a difference! Like Jesus would in the same situation! How are you doing? Your heart's telling you that there's got to be more. And there is - much more. Don't settle for ordinary anymore! Lay down "business as usual" and tell Jesus you're ready to step up to what He made you for, what He saved you for! Because of the risen Christ living in you, you have the power to make a difference in every life you touch. You are one of God's "Incredibles!"

Always digging a hole...

2005-10-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

I just got my physio test back... once again I am digging a hole straight to Hell. I dont know the final results but they are not going to be good. I dont know what my problem is. I am in deep trouble!! This test was 1/3 of my grade! At times like this I look toward God for guidance and He is supposed to answer. I am waiting!!!!Sorry to write this in my blog but this is my life. Up's and downs!! Thanks for listening!!!

What a wonderful weekend!!!

2005-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!
I just had one of the nicest most relaxing weekend of the semester. I finished midterms on Friday and so I decided that I deserved to have the entire weekend off. And that is exactly what I did. I did not even crack a book the entire 48 hours!!! It was great!!
On Saturday, I slept in until 9:00am!!! Went grocery shopping and cleaned the apartment. Then early afternoon, Greta and Kole and I, met my med school friend Lisa, and my old roommate, Tonja, at Aquarium beach. Went swimming for a little while before we headed off to the HASH. The Hash was at Bon Accord Estates about 30 minutes away from True Blue(the area where I live). All my roommates all decided to come. This was all of their first HASH!! So I had a great time initiating them!! They all got their certificates of Loss of Virginity.( I copied the certificate and wrote it out so that all you guys could read it. ). The HASH was really rough. You should see my legs they are all scratched up. I went to the beach again today (Sunday) and everyone was asking me what happened!! They look horrible. Oh well they will heal!! Hehe!!
It was all worth it. This semester so far I have made it to every HASH and hope to keep it that way. They are addicting and so crazily fun!! Lisa, two of my classmates, Ika and Leah, and med school friend Ben all end up running together most of the time competing with eachother, laughing at eachother when we fall, or take a false trail, just enjoying the amazine views after we have climbed a huge mountain, and most importantly encourage one another, always being the first group to finish.. wining!! Great times!!!!
Then on Sunday, took the dogs to the beach for Sunday morning dog times. (Every Sunday students bring their pets to the beach to play). Then went to church on campus. Church was a treat today… we had some missionaries from the Northern part of the island as our guests, their worship band played and they lead the sermon. It was a real treat. After church, Lisa invited them over for lunch, I helped her prepare spaghetti. It was so fun to hangout and fellowship with all of them. Phil and his family came also(my bible study leader- another missionary). You have to stop and thank God…the fact that he has brought all these people from all types of backgrounds together in this one place and the one ultimate thing that they have in common is Him. Pretty unbelievable!!!
The rest of the day I spent on the beach at Grande Anse and watching the movie Tommy Boy.
Now I am here writing this on my borrowed computer, listening to Jadon Lavik sing “what if” on the MP3 player that I am borrowing. Thanking God for the place that he has put me and the incredible sacrifices that He made for me… because of His unselfishness. Also for the unselfishness my friends to let me borrow their stuff. Jadon Lavik sings in his song, ”Say I belong to you… apart from all the things I do…. I am in awe of why you do….What have I done to deserve your Son…. Give me eyes to see…. One thing that I know is true… your love is staying.”

Back on Line....

2005-09-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!! Having a computer and typing on this computer keyboard feels wonderful!!! As my only access to the outside world and my main device of studying for midterms, I am grateful to have one at my fingertips again!!!!
Again I am amazed at Gods testing, as one of my classmates told me today," God will suffocate us to the point where we think that we are going to die but he will not strangle us." This is very true and believe me the things that have been going on lately with everything here and especially everything at home in Texas and Lousinana, we wonder sometimes how we are going to continue....but we do don't we!!!!??? Life goes on!!
So midterms start on Monday and I am just trying to keep my head above water right now. Please be praying for me next week as I am tested mentally as well as physically.
Love each and everyone of you. Always praying and thinking about you!!

Computer and technologically challenged

2005-09-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...
Wanted to let everyone know that I am ALIVE and no hurricane's have even raised our eye brows here in Grenada.( Sorry to all of you in Texas and Lousiana that have been hit so hard by mother nature.)
I have not been emailing and keeping my blog updated because last weekend I broke my computer screen to my lab top. I was in a hurry and accidentily shut my earphones inside the case, wenceforth cracking my screen. Bad, bad deal. So currently I am without a computer because I cannot see anything on the monitor at all. My CPU is fine so I am working on getting a external monitor at least until December when I can take it into a Gateway representative in Texas. Living in Grenada does not make things easy.. but I have great classmates and friends that are willing to help me out anyway that they can(like let me borrow there computer durning class, hehe).
So sianara for a little while until I get everything back up and running.
Take care of yourselves cause I love ya!!

Ending up where we are.....

2005-09-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

Isen't it crazy when you really stop and think. Ten years ago, when that teacher asked me....."what do you want to be when you grow up?", I would ever imagine that I would be in the place I am not. God strategicly places us in every situation we find ourselves in no matter good or bad. Our only job is to take every situation with a grain of salt and make the most out of it living it as Christ would have lived it. That is an easy thing for me to say but to perform is an incredible feat. I strive to excell to this level. And boy...........I have a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg way to go!!!!

There is a group of 4 of us that meet every Friday at lunch. Two are married-(one is newly married and the other has 4 children) and the other has been divorced for 2 years. Then there is me. I have to be honest with you.... if it were not for these 3 people in Grenada, life would be a lot rougher. These are my accountablily partners. They are my lights and I love them dearly and God has totally brought the 3 of us together. We are meeting every Friday and just reading a chapter in "My Purpose Driven Life". I am so blessed to have these guys in my life.

On another note.... could I please have ya'll pray for my roomate, Lori. She has been ill now for about 3 weeks. She went to the doctor thinking that she had giardia and so they prescribed Flagyl (metronitazole). Well about 3 days after starting the medication, she walks out of her room holding her arms our in a fixed position and asked me "Heidi, I cant move my arms past this position, should I be worried.". I did not know how to reply... I told her to go back to the doctor. So they totally blew her off pretty much and googled her symptoms right in front of her. So she stopped the medication and a couple days later she was still not well. On this last Thursday she flew back to the states. Now she is home in New Jersey and the doctors still don't know what is wrong. They do not think that it is the Flagyl and there differentials are lymes disease (which is unheard of in Grenada) and rhumatoid arthritis or worse. She is waiting for the blood results now and resting at home. Please just pray for her comfort and recovery. Also with her returning to school. She has already missed two exams and she will be missing two more next week. I am really worried about her. God has a plan... it is just hard watching and waiting on a friend in pain.
Good night it is getting late!!
Love all of you so much. Please stay heathy!!!

2005-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from last semester, but this is Greta and me feeding a calf on the farm. This semester for large animal anatomy we spend a lot of time out on the farm studying and palpating all the animals. Fun times!!! :)

Trying to be omnipresent... but failing

2005-09-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

Man....
What a week, I am exhausted! I wanted to be so many places and I feel like I was everwhere but not anywhere. Just goes to show that I am not God and can not even attempt to be, he is omnipresent, omnipotent, at our beck and call anytime we need him!! What a job, I am glad that it is not me.
The other day, I went running in L'ance aux epines ( a rich suburb of St. George's). It is so gorgeous. Most of the run wanted to be so many places and I feel like I was everwhere but not anywhere. Just goes to show that I am not God and can not even attempt to be, he is omnipresent, omnipotent, at our beck and call anytime we need him!! What a job, I am glad that it is not me.
over looks the ocean as the road curves back and forth and up and down. The best part is at the end of the road is a vacant looking lighthouse with an amazine view up on top of a hill. I often stop here and just look out over the ocean and reflect on everything going on in my life. I was praying about somethings and having some doubt that things would ever get solved when I turned my right and there was God's promise, an unbelievably huge rainbow in the distance. It was incredible!!
Thought I would share that.

Yesterday, Saturday was another HASH. It was a great time. The run was a little over 1 hour and 20 minutes. The best part was to finish the hash we had to swim across the ocean for about 30o yards. I was excited to get to jump in the water because I was so hot, however, I was also in my clothes and shoes. I thought about taking my shoes off but how would that help, they would still get wet and I would then have to try to swim with them in my hands. So my classmate, Ika, and I both jumped in with our shoes and everything still on. We both pledged if we drown we drown together. 300 yards is a long way in the ocean!!! and even seems even longer after running a hash. Great fun though!!!
I have got to share this one last thing with you guys!! Today durning church I got approached by Dr. Patterson, a new veterinarian from Aurburn that is working here in Grenada. Her along with Dr. Smith(a former vet pathology prof) are having a meeting on Thursday about starting up a CVF here at St. George's. They both invited me to come to the meeting. Most of you know, this has been a major major top of the list prayer for me since I first started coming school here last semester. I was so excited and so pumped. This is so HUGE!!! I cant wait to see what God does!! I'll keep you guys informed!!!
Love each and everyone of you!! Thanks for all the support and prayers!! They truely are being answered!!!

2005-08-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

This is happy Kole and his new best buddy "Pepper" (my roomates Jack Russel) playing in our apartment.

Grenada Grenada... lets come again!!!!

2005-08-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

The title is an actual song sung here on the radio!! He He!

Well.... I am back!! And learning to be patient all over again(things are very slow here and can become complicated really fast)-- for instance the cell phone for AT&T/ cingular has been down for 4 days now and is supposed to be down for who knows how long. But I'll tell ya... gotta be honest. I love it here. I love the simplicity. School and my apartment and Kole..... that is all I have to worry about. (which at sometimes can be enough worry for any one.) It is gorgeous and after running in the hash yesterday in the jungle, up mountains, over tree stumps, getting all muddy, getting chased my local dogs, getting lost on the trail and falling down waterfalls, I have to say I am glad to be back!

I'll admit... the entire summer.. I was not really looking forward to coming back to Grenada. However... I was really glad to get back and now seeing all my friends, old roomate, church friends, soccer friends, and familar smily faces... I am really glad to be back. :)

Kole is doing great!! It was a rough trip for him but he is doing well now. My roomate and I took her puppy, Pepper( a jack russell terrier) and Kole to the beach earlier this week and they had a blast. Kole was so excited to get into the water. He about swam his little heart out!! He loved it so much!!

We've got a quiz on Monday and Tuesday of this week already!! All classes seem good. I am excited for the semester!!

Until next time!! Love all of you and miss ya.. Keep saving that money so you can come visit and spend some time on this wonderful island with me!!!

July 4th weekend revisited

2005-07-17T16:17:00.001-07:00

My moms side of the family all got together for the 4th of July to celebrate by Grandfathers 90th birthday but also just to celebrate "family". All I have to say is we must be one of the most blessed families in the world in how we all get along and all love eachother and the Lord God as much as we all do. My cousin Robert( I prefer to call him Bobby) came all the way from his peace core assignment in Azerbijan to Tapatio Springs for the reunion. I think that the only one that did not make it was my own father because of work concerns. Eventhough it has been like 3 weeks since the reunion, today I was reminded in how important family is. Today in church at Stonegate in Midland, Patrick the pastor was discussing how each day we need to grow in Christ and take those opportunities given to use that might look often like risks. The first thing that popped into my head dealing with risks was the fact that I am in vet school in Grenada taking out loans of close to $35, 000 dollars a year. Risky... I would call it so! However then I thought of all the generations of aunts and uncles, grandfathers and grandmothers, cousins, second cousins, moms and dads, and brothers and sisters, and all the risks that they have taken to create this wonderful family of mine. Now those are risks and I am so grateful for every last one of them. This might seen very obtuse and confusing, but to me it was a perfectly clear picture. So I included a picture of my family. I am so thankful to be included!!
Thank God for family!!!

All of you are like family to me!! And I miss you and love you!!

2005-07-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Melzer family reunion. July 4th weekend!

Back in the Good Ole USA

2005-06-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I made it back to the good ole USA. And all I can say is God Bless America!! I took a hot shower, ate some BBQ with vegetables, blew dry my hair, watched TV (the news), drive on the right side of the street, went to the grocery store with milk and eggs and bread, amazine, and talked on the phone to my mom and dad. It was great to do all these things. Things that we really take advantage of being here in the states. Eventhough I miss all these silly things, it goes to show you that they are just materials we can easily live without them.
But in the same breathe, I am a selfish american and I am glad to have my fountain drinks, trident, and skim milk. Just 4 months without them make you appreciate them even more. Like people say, " Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
For those that might have not gotten my email... I passed physiology!!! Thank you God!!! Without all your prayers and thoughts and encouragements I would not have made it!!! I did well in my other classes too. So praise God.
So now I am back in the states, until the beginning of August. I'll be in Houston for a while and then back to good ole Midland until I leave for Grenada again!!
Again... thank all of you for all your prayers and support. I am so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. It is in times of reflection like this that I am overwhelmed by the people that I have in my life, how truely amazine they are, and how much they love the Lord!!

2005-05-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is "Nutmeg". She is one of the Grande Anse beach dogs. We vaccinated her a couple of weeks ago at an outdoor clinic. Guess whos name is on the rabies certificate or I should say legal owner???HeHe!!

Physio in the morning, physio in the evening... physio at supper time

2005-05-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Real quick....
I need your prayers tomorrow at 1:00pm when I start taking my physio final!! At this time it is out of my control. (relatively... it all is anyways) But at this time, God will be working and I will be in a physio frame of mind.

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifing to the gospel of God's grace."
Acts 20:24

This task I have tomorrow.. may it seem huge right now, is so minute in God's eyes. The real task that God has blessed me with (though I know not what it is) covers all others.
Thanks to all that are praying and supporting me. What would I do and where would I be with out you?
Big hug coming your way!!!Love ya'll.

Final crunch

2005-05-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

I decided to write in orange... don't really know why!!
This is going to be quick hopefully because I really have only been studying a little over an hour today because of the fun activities that I got to participate in!! HeHe!!
Today I woke up early for a morning run. I almost got lost, had to ask directions, but made it safetly home and discovered a new route in the process!! Score!!
Then my friend Lisa (1st term medical student) and I attended a Grenadian Baptist Church for morning worship. It was so fun, they sang a lot of the same songs and they were so friendly. They had like a 5 minute greeting time and everyone was giving hugs and spreading litterally Gods love. It was very warming!! They sang "my God is so big, so strong and so mighty." I know you all know this one. It was so cute!! I wanted to to do the gesticulations for it!! It was a very fun time!! Hopefully, I will get the chance to go again.
Then we both took the bus to campus to attend the normal CSA service. There was a guest sermon given by a missionary sergeon that has done a lot of work in Angola and China. His stories were totally amazine. Makes me think about what God is calling me to do! That is a whole nother topic though, for another day!!
Today was also the day of finshing my certification for scuba diving. I took my final for it yesterday( and passed... thank goodness) and today we had our last dive. We dove in a spot called " Quarter Wreck". It was awesome. There was like this ship wrecked (duh) and tons and tons of fish were swimming all in and around and through it. We all had underwater cameras and so I took 29 pictures today. I kinda got a little carried away, chasing fish and such. It was fun!
Then to end out the day, I attended a choir performance. Lisa( my same friend as before) she has an amazine voice and so she is in the choir and they had their performace of the semester tonight. It was wonderful! I was impressed to say the least!!
Had to change the color again.... NOW I AM FINALLY STUDYING... ENOUGH PLAYING AROUND... TIME TO HIT THE BOOKS. A LITTLE MORE THAN TWO WEEKS AND ILL BE ON THAT PLANE HOME!!!!
SEE YOU ALL SOON!!
The missonary that spoke today reminded me about storing my treasures in heaven not on earth. Check out Matt 6:19- 21 ".... for where your treasures are, there your heart will be also." Be encouraged as well as be the encourager!
Love ya'll (gotta add the Texas into this blog!!!)

Feral Cat clarification

2005-05-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

All of you wondering.... Shawn the guy in the feral cats picture... yes that is a Phi Lamb shirt and no he is not in Phi Lamb... it is mine... he needed to borrow a red shirt... Pretty funny that you guys noticed!! He loved wearing it especially the quote on the back that says "Sisters for the Lord". It was pretty funny!!

2005-05-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

The Feral Cats!!!

Weekend full of Dodge Ball, Scuba, and HASH.

2005-05-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

You would think that on a remote island there would not be much to do except study, go to class, and occasionally hang out on the beach. But it is quite the contrary. Eight of my classmates and I played in a dodgeball tournament this past Friday. Our team name was the feral cats, meow!! Our first game was against a group of all male medical students. Needless to say we lost, but we tryed our hardest! The male species is rare in veterinary medicine and so our team had one guy, to 7 girls. The opposing team had all guys!! So we did not stand much of a chance, expecially since most of our team had never played dodgeball before. But it was fun anyways!! It was halarious also!! There were about 20 teams in total and some teams really got dressed up. Boys wearing tight short shorts, with sweat bands in their hair, socks up to their knees, anything 80's looking. I was very impressed at some of the ingenious and creative designs. I would recommend every school have a dodgeball tournament. It is just too fun to miss out on!!
So the rest of the weekend consisted of Scuba training and a HASH on Saturday afternoon. Nine of my classmates including myself are working on getting our scuba diving certification and we are trying to get all the classes and dives accomplised now so that we will be certified before we all go home for the summer. Vive la Scuba!!! It is so much more time consumming than I ever expected. We always joking that we are really here in Grenada to scuba not for vet school. Totally joking!! It is just extemely time consuming!!
On Saturday morning we took the boat out to Glovers Island and did some real diving as opposed to pool sessions. I got to see a fireworm, lobsters, several gorgeous other aquatic life and even collected a few sand dollars off the ocean floor. We finished up the session and watched our last scuba videos for the certification!!!! Thank God. Then we hopped in the car to make it back to the dorm before my ride to the HASH left. The HASH this time around was in Spring. It was a very short HASH this time around but still loads of fun!! I got the battle wounds on my legs, stomach, chest, and arms to show for it also. The trail was really rough and bushy!!!! Lots of climbing and jumping over fallen trees. Afterwards, I went back up the trail and climbed some rocks with a couple medical student friends. I wish that I had pictures because we were litterally climbing up the surface of a montain with no rope except that which God provided, vines!!! It was great fun!!!! After I got home from the HASH, I helped my roomate get ready for a toga party. She looked so cute!!!, and then I went with a couple of friends to play poker. It was a great weekend!! I Probably had a little too much fun with finals just around the bend, but now I am all set to study (I hope!!!??).
Hope things are going well for everyone in the States and else where. Everyone is getting very ancy about going home. We are all ready to climb onto that plane home to see our loved ones that we miss so much!
Miss you all!!!

Test after test after test with no end in sight

2005-05-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

WOW!! The semester is winding down what can I say...and it is just test after quiz after test. So tommorrow is embryology quiz, eventhough it is only 15 points it is important that I do well so that I can get my A in this class. Hopefully?
I have not been to the beach in 4 days, even to look at it, this is a record for me!! I plan on going tomorrow to make up for it. Maybe after the test and class. Go for a short run on the beach and then a swim. Gives me something to look forward to, get me through the rest of my studying tonight and tomorrow until the quiz is over. Envious yet. I am defintely going to miss the fact that I can do that, when I go back to Texas this summer.
Well, I am falling asleep in the library. What a surprize since I fall asleep everywhere!!
Hope everyone is doing well. Missing ya like crazy. The count down has almost officially started.
Love you all!!

2005-05-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

A little Napolean Dynamite in Grenada!!

2005-05-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

These are my new roomates for next semester!!

2005-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Easter BBQ Sunday with the Grande Anse gang!!

2005-05-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

The view along the HASH run, believe it or not!! We are actually on a cliff running!! Cool huh!!

2005-05-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

At one point along the trail.

Sunday news

2005-05-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

It is funny that I entitled this Sunday news because I really dont have any news!! HeHe
This past week flew by!!! Yet, when I think about last weekend it seems so long ago. Lots of late nights since then.
So I have been a party girl this past week. I went out on Wednesday and on Friday. Both times were great and it was fun to hang out with my classmates and friends. Friday night was the best!! The theme was pirate's party and people got so creative. One medical student pulled boxes out of the trash cans at the grocery store and made himself a boat that he could fit in. Him and his roomate both cut there scrub pants bottoms all scraggly so that it looked like a pirate's pants. Some people were very ingenious. My roomates sister is in town until Wednesday and so she went to the party also, she braided my hair and I wore a bandana on my head. It was pretty funny. Greta was an island girl and I drew a big heart with a sword through it on her arm. In fact, I drew a lot of tatoo's on people throughout the night. Just in case, vet school does not work out for me, I think that I have found my calling!!! Just kidding!!
Except for people drinking a little too much and creating drama, the night was a hit. The last little bit of fun for a while for me personally. I am sore and tired from dancing so much!!! I guess I am just getting old or something. Nah! I will defeintly post some pictures because between my roomate's sister and one of my classmates, there are over 400 pictures just of that night!! Yes, I did type 400, no typo there!!
Now I am settling in to study for my quiz on Monday. Embryology oh what fun!!
Take care love you all!!
"We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." Psalm 33:20-22

HASH

2005-04-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

So I got to do something yesterday that every individual that ever comes to Grenada should take part in. I ran in the 500th HASH. It is hard to explain just what a hash is because unless you have really done one. But basically it is a 5K or longer or shorter depending on your luck and if you take the right route. Yesterday the course was set in La Sagesse a resort about 45 minute drive Northeast of St. George's. The National Forest is also there right outside this resort and as soon as the race starts everyone takes off following paper trails that were strategically placed by the race coordinator earlier that morning. There is no prize for the one that wins, just water at the end and a free Carib beer.(official beer of the island that is cheaper than water.)
The course of the race contains all types of terrain that you could imagine. Rocks, fallen trees that you have to crawl under/over, jump through, practically climb, tall straw grass that you have to romp through, swampy, muddy areas, cliffs over looking the ocean, tons and tons of thorn bushes(you should see my arms and legs!!hehe), a forest with cows, sheep, ect, climbing mountains, and running down a hill at about a 75% angle, and then through a small little village with all the locals and an intense cricket game going on. GREAT FUN!!!! Only in Grenada!!!! :) Did I ever mention that I love it here? HeHe!!
IT was a blast!!! The race ended on the beach which was nice, cause you could jump in the water afterwards, to cool off!!
I'll try and post some pic so you guys can see what I am gloting about!!
So now my focus is school, at least after I get done with this blog. Anatomy tomorrow and Histology Wednesday.. it never ends.
Just got back from a great motivating church service though. The pastor talked about Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans for you says the Lord, plans to give you a hope and a future...." You all know this one. The reminder was just that we are here and to make the most out of life and wherever you are start living your life, do not live as though things are going to get better. Live it clinging on to God for the ride no matter what path or what avenue he might take you on. Eventhough you might not understand what he is doing in your life or the lives of others around you the best piece of encouragment that you can give some one is cling to God and be faithful!! Because through everything He will still be there. Always!
Love all of you!!
Heidi

Encouragement and bearing the burdens

2005-04-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

There are alot of burdens that we suffer through in life like veterinary school, being Christian, being a student in Grenada so far away from everything, I could name a million things. I miss being able to just pick up the phone and call my friends that I have always had just a couple of digits away and be able to talk to them about anything and everything. Phone calls are just too expensive. So I just dont call. This has been a new experience for me and I think that it has been good for me, prehaps that I have learned to talk to God about the situation.
Things are rough right now, I wont put on a act. I am barely passing Physiology for the second time in my life and it could possibly cause me to fail out of vet school a second time. I know and trust that God has put me in this place, Grenada, for a reason. There are people in my class though that are going through things that are alot more complicated than what I am suffering and I just try to be an encouragement to them, because they are always an encouragement to me. Everyones always so positive!!
I was listening to a sermon today online from Dwight Edwards ,the former preacher at Grace Bible Church in College Station, and in his closing statement he encouraged everyone in the audience to picture someone in their mind that needed encouragement and help in bearing their burdens. He went on to challenge us to do something for this person. Dwight went through the verses in Galatians especially 6:2, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fullfill the law of Christ."

I've got some good news totally off the above subject. I found a place to live next semester!! It is a 2 bedroom 5 to 7 minutes walk from campus and on the bus route for night time travel. It is really nice. Has a yard for Kole and a washer and dryer. Almost too good to be true!! It is the first place that we looked out. I am going to be living with 3 other veterinary students, Linda, Greta, Jennifer, Lori, and then me. Actually I just listed 4 other students, but one of them is going to be living across the hall in a one bedroom so it will be like she is living with us, which is great!!!
I am very excited. Now I just got to make it to next semester, God willing!!
Take care each and everyone of ya. I love ya and miss ya! Call a friend tonight, you might just make their day! :)

April 11th- volunteering at the clinic

2005-04-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

So with all the things going on, I probably should have stayed home and studied physiology however, what better way to learn than to learn it hands on.
I arrived at the clinic a little before 7:30am and the clinicians put us right to work because the 4th termers were not there because they are taking midterms or some rounds of tests this week. There were several dogs that we did kennels on and medicated at first and then we went on to the rooms working with clients. There was this one dog that had been hit by a stone of some sort on its head and so it had a nasty gaping oozy wound that we shaved up and scrubbed, but not before we sedated the little dog with dormitor. To do this I got to put a cathetor in the dog and had absolutely no problem putting it in. It went right in with no prob and I was very excited. Once we sedated the little dog we could see how much damage was actually there. The wound was stinky and discusting and we tested the dog for hw/erl/lymes and it tested positive for Erlichia which is actually the an antibody response. The poor dog had millions of ticks all over it especially in its ears and in it cutaneous marginal pouch (which is that little pouch in the dogs ear). Instead of putting the dog on doxycicline she gave it cephalosporin IV. We shaved it all up and then drenched it in Adams tick and flea and give it a sulf/dex bath. The dog upon waking up I am sure will feel like a totally diffrent dog.

The we got to go into a room with a Rotweiler that was down. It had some kind of small puncture wound on its right front paw but the fact that we had to carry the 19 kilogram animal into the exam room was more of a concern. Blood was taken and a CBC / Chem 12 was run. The results showed that the dog was in renal and liver failure however the total protien was extremely high also so the clinician explained to us that the renal values could be the result of severe dehydration. The dog was also heartworm and erylician positive. The dog was placed on IV at a maintainance level. The clinican showed us how to calculate the amount of IV a dog would need which is as follows.
shock: 90ml/kg/hr
maintainance:90ml/kg/24hours
surgery: 10ml/kg/hr

By the time that we finished with the rotweiler it was time to go to class. It was so good to be back working in a clinic again. I can hardly wait till this summer to work again. It is just so fun. I guess that it is good that I love to do this stuff as much as I do no matter how gross it can get.

My sunday went well, Brian got to meet Phil the missionary because he went to church with me and we talked to him about the boat. We are going to go out and see it sometime soon. Hopefully it will work out, we will see.
Sorry if I bored you with my above paragraph about the clinic work that I did this morning. It was so fun though.
All of you take care, love you and miss you. Hope all is well!!
Peace out!

2005-04-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the captains seat and trying not to press any wrong buttons!!!

2005-04-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

View of the Windward in Carriacou

2005-04-09T16:53:00.001-07:00

Heidi, Leah, Linda, and Greta sitting on a canon in Carriacou

2005-04-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Blooming cactus and the beach of Carriacou

WOW.. it must be illegal to have this much fun!!

2005-04-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

Today, 6 of us took a boat to Carriacou. This is an island about 1 hour (by boat) North of Grenada. Carriacou is 13 square miles and 7, 000 inhabitants. Their main export is animals and large majority of income comes from the tourists.
We left Grenada about 9am and rode at the very front of the boat the entire way to Carriacou. Feeling like we were on the titanic, we rode the entire way standing up with the wind to our faces enjoying the breeze and just the feeling of freedom. For a couple of hours today we were litterally in paradise!
Once we arrived at Carricou we were surrounded by taxis guys telling us they would give us tours around the island. So after walking around for a while we decided to take the tour bus. Our tour guide, Victor, took us around the island and told us all about the island and its history ect. After about 1to 1-1.5 hours after riding around in the bus stoping at the health clinic and dock and several amazine viewing sites he dropped us out at the Paradise beach. There we did a little shopping, talked to some locals, played with some kids, ate, played with a pot hound, had a nice conversation with a couple from Florida that lives in Carriacou now, and went swimming. We also walked along the beach looking for conches (which we found some amazine ones), built sand animals, partially drew out the entire US states in the sand, and did flips in the water. To sum it all up simply we had a blast just liming (Grenadian for hanging out). This is probably the most fun Saturday that I have had since I got to Grenada!!
I will update my yahoo pictures http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hjmvet/my_photos and post a couple on my blog page. Hopefully I won't make each of you jelous just more anxious to come visit me soon!! Hehe!!

TGIF.... I guess

2005-04-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the big day we are going to take a boat to Carriacou. I am very excited and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures so that I can make all of you jelous. Just kidding!! Wish all you were here to sit and sip the beverage of your choice right next to me, soaking up the good ole Carribean sun, while dreaming across the crystal blue ocean.
I am going to make this short, because I am going to go work out in our outdoor gym.

Beach Day

2005-04-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

So today was one of my dear friends birthdays. She turned 25 day, Happy Birthday Greta!! I aked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said kiddingly,"Skip Physiology and got to .
the beach instead." I looked at her and said, "Okay!" So that is what we did. We studied the material that we were going to go over in class and discussed it outloud to eachother. It was good! I think I got a pretty good tan line also. Hehe! Sorry if I am making you guys jelous!
I am taking classes for scuba diving with abot 10 of my other classmates and on Good Friday we took our first scuba diving adventure in the ocean. It was so awesome!!! I got to see so many amazinly colored fishes and coral. It was so cool!! We are getting some water proof cameras so maybe I can post some once we go diving again.
Take care and let the Lord have all your worries for tomorrow cause today has enough worries of its own!
Love all of ya!

"Alternate Assignment"

2005-04-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

These were the words on the back of a Reggae bus(equilavent to a taxi in the States) as I was running toward St. George's harbor this morning.
I have been battling midterms for the past 2 and a half weeks. This would account for the reason that I have been behind on my bloggin. A ton of things have happened since the last recording and I will do my best to remember and catch up on the exciting things.
So after my physiology midterm yesterday, I was pretty upset and honestly I still am today as I write this blog. Things did not go as I hoped once again and I am now barely passing the class. Now I am scared out of my mind because I could fail all over again and be sent home this time with a 37,000 loan on top of my already accumulated loan from failing out at A&M. Also I would be losing my dream for the second time except this time there is no alternate move. I would be a complete failure, my second chance was given to me and I still failed myself. I would be at home, with failing grades from two universities, an incomplete boring masters, and then a degree in Chemistry that I would not use. Pretty pathetic... if you ask me... enough to make me feel very sorry for myself.

So God intervened this morning and smacke me upside the head. So back to running and the bas having the words "alternate assignement" written on the back windshield, this might mean something totally diffent that what the driver wanted me to think, but it hit me hard. I am not here for myself and I am not here just to go to vet school and take Physiology tests, I am here temporarily and here to do Gods work no matter what it might be. He sent me here to this little island of Grenada to do work for him, not for myself and my dream of being a veterinarian. It is really hard to swallow and sometime I would like to catch that bus and ride to my alternate assignment, but I really think that it is staring me in the face... my classmates, the professors, my friends. This is a pretty wild and neat concept and I thought I would share it with all of you. Sometimes, God makes things pretty obvious. He lets you know what He is trying to do, you just got to take your blinders off. I put up blinders way to often.
Well, I gotta get run to class.
Again, I love each and every one of you and I encourage you to think about your "alternate assignment" and let it carry you through your day today!

Overwhelmed on a Friday....how sad

2005-03-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

Well now that the week is over, I feel more overwhelmed than I did on Monday.... Is there something wrong with this picture?
Last weekend, I volunteered for GR3 again and had a blast once again hanging out with the kids, the community, and the other volunteers. Our job was to screw on the toilet seats to the risers and then deliver the risers to the appropriate houses to complete the latrines. GR3 along with Habitat and another relief organization raised enough money to donate a bunch of latrines to this community. It was neat to see how excited people were to receive their riser and to complete the process of their latrine. Some of the people had some older latrines and they were really gross. Not gross just old and delapidated. They take care of them and follow instructions on how to take care of them, but they can only do so much with a hole in the ground filled with human waste if you know what I mean.
Gross subject, I move on. So that was Saturday and then Sunday I went to church of course and then on my way out of the service, Greta called asking me to come to the beach with them. Not a hard decision we did not have any major tests that next week, I was on my way home.
So Linda, Greta, and I layed out on the beach for a while, then went swimming. Then we had the great idea to build sandcastles in the sand. Well we ended up building animals in the sand. Linda sculpted a turtle and a startfish and I made a crab and a really ugly fish. This took us at least 45 minutes, but it was so fun just to relax!! We had a really good time!!
So Sunday, Greta's sister was flying into Grenada to stay for a couple days, so we went to the airport to pick her up and you will never guess who I ran into! Dr. Landis and Mr.Landis (professors from Texas A&M). It was crazy I only had like a second to talk with her but I told her I would find her. That next day (Monday) I saw Dr. Sis (the dean of the veterinary school) on campus and I practically tackled him trying to ask him about Dr. Landis and where she was and if I could meet up with her. So after class he invited me up to his office and gave me their schedule for the week. Apparantly she was invited by the St. Georges to come and take a look at the University so that she could become a a pre-vet advisor for St. George's Veterinary school. So Dr. Sis took me with him to the welcome dinner for the advisors that night and I ended up talking to Dr. Landis for about 2 hours. She had tons of questions and so did I about A&M and Grace and many other things. She is a really great professor and an even better person. She was very sympathetic about my whole situation with A&M and was very proud and grateful that St. George's was here for an option for me. Honestly, I am glad too. Eventhough I might feel really overwhelmed at this moment and like I do not know how I can possibly learn all this information in a week for midterms, I know that I am here for a greater reason. I have no idea what that reason is and I might never know, but He is right there experiencing it all with me and walking right beside me often times having to pick me up when I fell. His love keeps me going and keeps me waking up every morning.
Well I have a soccer date in a couple minutes, it is 5 o'clock on a Friday!!
Have a great weekend!!
Love and miss all of ya!!

2005-03-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

people wading at Grande Anse beach at dusk

2005-03-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

Grande Anse at night

Saturday, 3/12/05

2005-03-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

Hola,
What a day!! It has flown by...I'll tell you what. This morning, Linda(one of my classmates) and volunteered for GR3 again. (Grendian relief fund). Again, the group travelled out to Dunbar and this time we delivered wooden toilet seats for the latrine and fastened them to the risers as they called them. This is how I would discribe...A latrine is like an outhouse, there is a hole dug and there is some specifics like 6 feet deep, certain width etc. and then on top of this hole they place a concrete slab with a rectangle hole in it. This is then placed on as much as poossible level ground. The riser is then placed over this concrete slab hole. The risers are concrete molds that someone made and last week they were delivered. So the people were excited today because we showed up with the tiolet seats and officially they could start using them. It was fun, we got to hang out with the kids again and did a lot of waiting and trying to figure out where we could deliver the new risers and toilet seats. I still had a good time, we left about 3:00 and Vip(another volunteer- 3rd term medical student) graciuosly gave us a ride home and then I was back on the bus to meet my group for dissection on our dog. We need to finish the forelimb and hindlimb muscles. We got fairly far tonight and so I feel better and less behind. Because we are supposed to start our dissection on the abdomen next week and we were no where near ready to do that.
Now I am in the medical histology lab, studying my histology slides. I feel pretty cool because the medical students do not have slide boxes and us vet students do, so I am looking at all these slides under the microscope that most have them have never even turned on. This is a definte plus having a smaller class.
I think I am going home in a little bit. Gotta catch the bus and then must do some Physiology before bed. Hopefully, my roomate will be up. She wants to go running with me tomorrow. I am excited that she is interested, she will not be able to go very long, but at least she wants to go. She needs some stress relief! Poor thing! She is doing good in school but she just failed a minor quiz on Friday and so she is scared. All she does is study though, so I am really glad that she is showing interest!!
Have a great night, by the way ...everyone I got a phone. Please feel free to call me whenever...just be aware that it is about 40 cents per minute for you to call me. The good thing is...it won't cost me anything. But it is expensive, so I really don't expect any calls from the US, but in case of emergency, like engagements,weddings, congratulations (like I got a job), those things would be great to hear. Enough of that... the number is 1-473-534-4828
Love you guys!!! and miss ya too!!

Thursday, the long haul is over for a while

2005-03-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

It is the 10th and Physio tests are done with until midterms,yeah... i guess!
Again, I wish I had better news to share but all I can say is I passed. I made the exact same grade... I guess that I am going to have to deal with the fact that I might just be a C student. I really do not want fall into that.. so I am still going to try and do my very best. What else can I do?
So I plan on going to the grocery store and getting some food, taking it easy for an hour or so then coming back up to school and studying for my quiz tomorrow. It is never ending, I'll tell ya. However, it is an anatomy quiz and I don't mind studying for it at all!
I better run and catch the bus before it leaves me... because those crazy drivers will leave me!
Take care all hope you have a great Friday!!

Monday the 7th

2005-03-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

Hi All!!
The last couple of days have been a whirlwind, in fact, today I thought it was Friday. Scary huh.
That is what happens when your life revloves around studying. I do faintly remember going to church yesterday so that must have been Sunday.

Actually, church was really good yesterday. Phil lead the service (he is my bible study leader) and did a great job on the topic of suffering.
There is one thing that he said that sticks out in my mind, it was this story that he told. I'll paraphase it for you, there was this little boy that really liked rabbits and he had always wanted one, but never had the money to get one. In the newspaper he saw this ad for Easter and it was a contest for kids to do this little easter egg hunt thing and the kid that found this special kind of easter egg would win a real live baby bunny. Well the little boy was so excited and he prayed to God asking Him for this bunny and saying how much he had always wanted one and how he would take really good care of it and everything. After the little boy got done praying he was intent on the fact that he was really going to find this special egg and win the bunny. So the contest came and the little boy was competing against a bunch of little kids and sure enough another kid found the special egg. The little boy was devestated and he asked God," why did I not win this rabbit, I asked you for it and I really wanted it." So the little boy walked home alone without the rabbit. On his way home, the little boy passed by the pet store and he noticed that the other boy that had found the special egg and won the rabbit was in the store redemming his prize. So as he walked by the little boy he overheard him say to the store manager, "my mother says that our apartment wont allow pets so I can't have the bunny." So the little boy jumped on this opportunity and asked if he could have the rabbit. The other boy willingly handed over the bunny and the little boy walked back with it under his coat thanking God the whole was home.
So the whole point of this story was to say that God listens to your prayers and eventhough he might not grant them in the timing that you would like or the way that you wanted it to happen, he listens and he does answer them. This story got me crying (surprized, I know!!! I am pathetic). But it really hit home for me.

This week is a duzey, test after test after test. I am so tired right now, but I have got to at least get through one chapter in Physio before the night is over.

Love you all and miss you all <---look at how I am writing ( I am hanging around to many Yankees) I mean "yall"

Heidi