This year has been so full of blessings I really feel like I'm walking on sunshine. First off I have been blessed to travel all over this last year. In January I was able to drive with Jon to San Francisco for one of his medical school interviews and had such a fun time exploring the city even if it was just one day. Then in March we took what we thought would be our last big trip before medical school started to Montreal and Quebec City and stayed in an ice hotel. Really a chilly yet awesome, beautiful experience! Then we were surprised and delighted to join the Patterson family in a trip to the tropical paradise of Cancun before making the journey to Kirksville, MO.
Though medical school has been a lot of work for Jon he is putting in the effort and doing fantastic! I was blessed to find a job right away at the school and love it along with the people and students. It is such a fun job! To top it off rent is so cheap we were able to rent a duplex house that makes us feel like we live in a luxury home. We love our ward and the welcoming people they are making us feel like family from the moment we moved in. We have made some great friends that we can have parties or for me girl nights. I have a swim friend to help keep me in shape. Free membership (Its probably in tuition somewhere =P) to a gym where I can take fun classes like zumba, barre, and so much more. I have activities out the wazoo to keep me entertained on weeks when Jon is super studying like cooking club, Book club, Releif society, project nights with fun cheap decorative crafts, and literally so much more!
The great outdoors are so close here its wonderful! I've gotten to go hiking through autumn leaved forests, Kayaking in a beautiful lake, and experienced my first "Dusting" of snow. I am also playing volleyball again which I love and am playing quite well surprisingly for not having played in years.
Then I had the wonderful opertunity to join Jon to Boston where he had an ER conference to present his masters research in. And now here I sit writing this up in Chicago which is a short and inexpensive train ride from Missouri.
I feel so blessed!!! That's not even the half of it! Yes it has been hard to be away from family that I love so dear, but they have been so supportive and we've kept in touch and I know this is a run on sentence but in just a few weeks I will be back in my beloved desert of Arizona to see them and celebrate the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ.
I think it Has been a long time since I was this excited for Christmas and am already feeling the spirit of it. I am so thankful for this wonderful gospel and the knowledge that if I live righteously I can be with my family forever as well as my Father in Heaven and Savior. Honestly I can't thank either of them enough for the blessings in my life right now but especially for the atonement and the millions of chances I now have to start over when I've made a mistake. Life is wonderful!
