Starting Fresh

Can we just start fresh? Pretend that I didn't disappear for a year? Thanks, that would be great. Now, where to begin....

It's our 1st research year of residency. Can you believe we finally made it? Me neither! And trust me, it has been everything we thought it would be. Carey didn't go to work until 11 this morning. 11:00!!! It's crazy to think that the alarm used to go off at 4:30. Yuck. Of course, not every day is this lazy. He's moonlighting tonight at Children's Hospital and won't be home until sometime tomorrow. So he'll have time to work on things for the lab if he needs to. Moonlighting is a term you've heard me say before. It's like a shift that he picked up for extra $$$. Yep, that's right. We can supplement our income now. Did I ever mention our crazy debt from his 4th year of medical school when he flew around the U.S. and interviewed at 14 different programs? 14 flights, 14 hotels, 40+ meals out...you get the picture. Did I ever mention the cost of moving across the country? I hope not. Back to the supplementing income part, I bet you can guess where it all goes. :)

Let's see, research is fewer hours, a chance to pay off some debt, and our opportunity to grow as a family. We're actually eating meals together again.

But don't let me fool you, research isn't a walk in the park. Carey is a highly motivated and competitive person. He takes his role in the lab very seriously and has every intention of getting published in as many journals and papers as possible over the next 2 years. It seems like he has the weight of hundreds of sick kids on his shoulders and is determinded to find a solution for their intestinal problems. He's currently growing intestinal stem cells in mice and something, something, something. Gosh, I really thought I was going to actually able to explain what he's doing. I guess I'm going to have to listen a little better. :)

Other than that, he's trying not to stress over the amount of hair that he lost during the last 2 years of residency and IS trying to correct the poor health gained over the last few years.

I think I'll have to ease in to this, if y'all don't mind. I'll try to be back tomorrow to update on Aisley and Hayes. No really, I will! :)

Bring Love In Lemonade Stand

If you're here, it must be because you want to donate to a fabulous organization! (They actually prefere "community" instead of organization but I can't seem to make that jump.)Bring Love In is a "community" that pairs widows and orphans in Ethiopia (p.s.-there are about 5 MILLION orphans in Ethiopia)creating a Forever Family and allowing the kiddos to stay in their home country. They prepare widows from a local church to mother 6-8 orphaned children, provide a safe, clean home, food, medical needs, and ensure that the kids go to school. Pretty brilliant, huh? Tomorrow I'm babysitting several kids from out life group and thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a service project. We're hoping to raise the $300 needed to fill a sponsor spot and support a Forever Family for an entire year. Who knows, maybe it'll be super hot tomorrow and lemonade will be in such demand that we can sponsor TWO families! :)So if you're local, please stop by. If you're not local, click the paypal link below to donate to our jar. You would be building families in Africa and creating a giving spirit our kids. We only need 12 people to donate $25 each to sponsor a family. Thanks in advance, friends!