Delicious Ambiguity

Last week we purchased a family membership at the YMCA.  I really wasn't all that into it until we actually signed up and met with a personal trainer.  I really feel like we are making a great step in the right direction to becoming a healthier family.  The best part about the YMCA's family membership is that we get free daycare while we work out.  Erik and I never EVER have time alone.  Hopefully we can use our time at the YMCA as dates!  Even if we don't work out together, they have a hot tub that we can enjoy together after we work out.  There are also several children's programs that I hope to get the kids involved in.  Hopefully it will give the kids and I something to do when Erik is at work.

This last weekend Erik got a surprise weekend off!  This was perfect timing.  Lately I have been so concerned about how much Erik is having to work.  He goes to work at 6am and usually doesn't get home until between 11pm and 2am.  There have also been times when he doesn't come home until 4am, then he jumps in the shower, changes his clothes, and takes off for the hospital again.  He is literally sleeping an average of 2-3 hours per night.  I have no idea how he is making it.  Between work and studying, he tries to squeeze in time to play with the kids, check his email, and help around the house, but there is really actually no time for any of that.  I have tried to stop sending Erik any email forwards (sometimes it takes him over an hour just to read all the email forwards he gets),  stop expecting him to help with things around the house, and stop asking him to help with the kids.  Those are just little things that I have realized that I can do, to make his life easier right now.  It was so nice to have him here all weekend, though, to help a little bit with the kids (especially at church!).  It also felt so great to sleep and know he was sleeping next to me, instead of waking up every half hour, wondering when he would be coming home.

Hopefully I'll be able to share a little bit more about our life as a medical school family in future blog posts.  I read other blogs of medical spouses and it really helps for me to see that I'm not the only one going through these stressful times.  I've been hesitant up to this point to share personal struggles that we've had as a medical school family because in the past we've had readers get offended or too sensitive to what we were sharing.  It's all part of the our journey, though - my journey, Maida's journey, Skogen's journey, Erik's journey, and I want our blog journey to reflect our real life journey so when we look back in 10, 20, 30 years from now, we'll feel so good at how far we've come!  The picture on the right is Erik getting his white coat, over two years ago.  I can't believe our medical school journey is half over and that Erik is over halfway to being a doctor!  I'm so proud of him.

Since Erik had the night off last night, we were able to go to a Vikings party at church!  We had a devotional, watched the game, and ate some nummy lasagna that Wendy made.  It was Melissa's birthday, too, so she brought an amazing Vikings birthday cake (she's one of the biggest Vikings fans I know!).  We all had a great time until Brett Favre threw that interception with seconds remaining in the game (a game that we already had won).  It was the most awful feeling for me because I knew at that minute that we had lost the game.  Seven months seems way too long to wait for another football season to start again.

In ending this post, I would just like to mention some people that I have been praying for.  I believe in the power of prayer and know that many of you do, too.  If maybe you have a spare minute or two, you all would use it to pray for these people, also...

*  Kate (http://www.prayforkate.com/) - a little girl with a brain tumor.  I have no idea who this little girl is, but I've been praying for her for the past six months.

*  Jason (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/stampers) - a minister from Minnesota in the hospital with a weird and painful infection.  Him and his wife have four little kids (the youngest being a brand new baby)

*  Jamie (http://lailahrafik.blogspot.com/) - the sister-in-law of a girl that I went to college with and was in Gamma with.  She was in a bad car accident while overseas in the Peace Corps and is now in a coma.  Her family flew overseas to be with her right after the accident and then they flew with her back to the US where they are now.

*  Dr. Maple (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnmaple) - one of my professors from college battling cancer

*  Karlie and Brandon - Erik's brother and his wife have their big ultrasound tomorrow where they not only find out the sex, but they check over the baby to make sure that everything is good and normal.  Prayers that everything checks out okay.