Pete was on call today so it was just me and the girls at church. I was trying to get Emily to be reverent and think of Jesus during the Sacrament. She said really loudly, “I already know everything about Jesus and I don’t want to think about him right now!”

Dogs and my mom's visit

Well I doubt we will be getting a dog any time in the near future (not that I wanted one). Pete is on the Plastic Surgery service right now, and you wouldn't believe the number of dog bites he's had to sew up in the last week and a half! It's not wild, neighborhood-roaming pit bulls either. Lots of family dogs. He just got paged in to sew up another pretty serious one on a kids' face. Hearing all of the things that can go bad for a child (like crashing on a bike, "falling" out a window, getting bit by a dog) makes me want to keep my girls locked up!

My mom was in town for 2 weeks, which was so fun! She is so easy-going and fun to be with. I appreciated all of her help with the kids and just having her there to talk to. Here are some pictures of some things we did together and of Emily and Abby.

Groceries

Alright. I am trying to figure out how much is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries. How much do you all spend a month??

Pics!

Here are some pics of the kids...







Sorry for so many at once! It has been awhile.

It has been really fun having Pete home these last few weeks. We have been able to see some of the sites of Cincinnati and spend some great family time together.

Church and random thoughts

We had a pretty good sacrament meeting last week. It was a testimony meeting, so it's always interesting to see what you're going to get in a new ward. Before the meeting, there was a couple sitting 2 rows in front of us. He is an intern pastor who is going/moving to Utah to preach, so he came to our ward to see what the Mormons were all about. During the meeting, a new convert who is a tall, old black man with gray hair, stood up and bore his testimony about how great the gospel is and how glad he is that he found it. Then a Latina lady stood up and talked about how her eye sight had been spared from a genetic disease (long story ;), then our high councilor stood up (another older black man with white hair, who's name is Brother White ;) and talk about how it had been over 30 years since the announcement that "a person of color" as he put it, could hold the priesthood. He talked about how awesome that is and how wonderful the church is. It was one of those moments where you feel so overwhelmed by the spirit and have such a strong witness that the gospel is true. It was a great meeting. We have an interesting, diverse ward. I had to teach a RS lesson yesterday, which I was nervous about. It was on redeeming the dead, which is pretty unique to our religion. There were a few investigators there, so I wasn't sure what kind of response/questions I wold get. But luckily it all went fine. One of the investigators came up to me after (she's a southern baptist) and said that she thought it was beautiful that you could get baptized for someone who died and didn't have the chance to. I'm glad she caught the essence of the lesson.

Yesterday a family who had recently moved out of the ward came back to visit. He was an ENT resident at UC and just finished and got a job in Colorado. I saw her in the hall and asked her if I was going to survive the next 5 years. She said, "You're the one who's husband is doing ENT!" And then she just hugged me. I asked her for any advise and she said, "It is going to be really, really hard. But don't get a divorce because it would be hard on the kids and not make things better." I jokingly asked for the name of her therapist and she said in all seriousness, "Well I'd give it to you, but I'm sad to say that he moved away." Hmm... Med school was hard on all of us. Really hard. Am I up for this? I just wonder if I'm strong enough to do it alone. I guess this is the time to prove myself to myself...

Sorry for the rambling. I can't get my pictures off the camera for some reason, but I promise to post some as soon as I can. I guess I had better run to Lowes. I am supposed to be hanging blinds today and finishing painting the girls' ceiling. I don't think I'll want to paint again for a long, long time.

I'm back

It's been so long since I've posted anything that I started to feel like the next thing I post should be spectacular. But I don't have anything spectacular to say, so then I got intimidated and have been putting if off. So I thought I'd just do it and put up a post. :)

We are here in Cincinnati now. Things are going well. We have most of the boxes unpacked and are just trying to get organized. It has been great having Pete home during this time of transition. The kids are doing well. Emily has made a couple of friends in the ward and is enjoying her new house. Abby is so cute and chubby. I just want to squeeze her!!! The move was crazy/stressful/icky, but things are looking better now as we start to get a little more settled. Moving and not knowing anyone, not knowing the city, missing family and friends, is always the worst. I've decided it takes a good year before you feel acclimated and make good friends. Some people in our ward have reached out already, though, which has been really great. I'm worried about Pete starting up work. Everyone keeps telling us to gear up because I'll never see him again (at least for a year or 2). It's making me nervous...

I have some pictures to post, but our computer blew up, so I can't get to them. Right now we are borrowing the computer of someone in our ward, which is very nice of them to loan it to us.

Emily and Abby are awake now, so I had better run. But I will do a better job of keeping things updated now that we're semi-settled. :)

The long awaited day...

Today is the day!! The LONG,LONG awaited day. It is finally here. After 9 years of school... Peter graduates from medical school today!! Hip, hip, HOORAY!!! I am so excited to have made it through alive! I'll post some pictures after the big event. :)