The Boot

Somehow, in all this moving I've lost my motivation to blog. I apologize to all my dedicated readers, which probably account to <10.

Some of the biggest news is, my new gimp status! I ran in a race this past week, and suffice it to say, I guess I wasn't quite as prepared as I thought I was. The race, as above noted, was called Cascade Lakes Relay. I was honored with a random invitation to join the team called, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." This came about, by what I feel was only by God's direction. I literally received an email stating nearly the following:

"You have no idea who I am. But I read on your bio that you enjoy running. We have an injured girl on our team, and were wondering if you would be interested in taking on her part of the race. Here's the race, Cascade Lakes Relay. You can google that and get more info."

So off I went, googling away, and excited to get the opportunity to be part of a relay team! I have always wanted to do one of these races, but have never had the opportunity. Usually you have to sign up nearly a year in advance for these races. What I want to know is when do 12 different individuals know where the heck they'll be in a year? So I've never signed up, nor do I think I could ever organize a team. Anyways, back to the point of the story (there's a point here? well, at least I'll try to get to one). The race started last Friday. In total, the entire length was 216.2, and I was planned to run 21.5 miles of that spread over 3 different legs, each nearly 12 hours apart. Leg 1 was good, a bit of a long, straight 7.5mile leg. You could literally see the finish line from the start of the leg. It was all downhill, but still a STRAIGHT run.

Before I started leg 2, I was exhausted. It was getting later and later at night, and since our theme was "FUN" we found that we weren't running as quick as we predicted. Anyways, suffice it say, before I was kicked out of the van to face the elements at 10pm, I was in the van, YAWNING, and really wishing for my bed at home, and reconsidering why I had sign up for said race. The ONLY motivation I felt that I had was that at the end of this race a possible 3-4 hrs of sleep was in my future, and that sounded glorious, since I really hadn't gotten any sleep the night before the race (unfortunately, the house we slept at the owners liked those darn grandfather clocks that chime every 15minutes...you can say I knew EXACTLY what time it was as I wasn't sleeping). So out I climbed from the van at about 11pm to start my second leg. I think I really was motivated for that sleep, because I took off running, and running fairly quickly! Usually, I am, at best, a 9:30 miler, and it turns out my pace was just around 8:30/mile. I knew I was running a bit quicker, but I FELT GREAT! God also helped me out a bit, because within the first mile I was running, I saw the BEAUTIFUL stars, I've missed for so long (living in So Cal you don't see anything more than the moon...and the moon only if you are luck). And I also saw a shooting star! It was AMAZING! So I just kept running and running. As my team gave me water, the only thing they commented was, you're doing great and making great time! That just prompted me to keep pushing it! Then....really I'm not sure what happened, and believe me, since I'm in the medical field I keep wondering what exactly did. It was right near the finish. I remember a guy yelling, "Stride it out. That's it." And right then, something pulled, gave, strained in my left achilles. It was like all of a sudden I couldn't run. Now this just didn't compute. I had just run nearly 6.5miles, nearly a PR, and I was hobbling to the finish????? So that's what I did, hobble to the end, pass the bracelet on, and quickly start stretching and poking around wondering why I had this pain. So there you have it...that's why I'm sporting this beauty now:

The Boot

I've found that it draws a lot of sympathy...even from my patients. I also think it brings a bit of intimidation to my small stature. It's a good husband motivator...."Take out the trash or you'll get booted." Hopefully, though, my union with this thing won't be for long. I got Xrays which didn't show more than beautifully made foot bones, no dislocation, avulsion, or stress fracture, etc. Now this isn't the end all diagnostic, but no need to do more until I give this little puppy some good ol' RICE therapy (rest, ice, compression, elevation). I have some fill-in-the-blank-itis (as my uncle put it well) and I'm not quite sure why I can't plantar flex my foot while weight bearing. Oh well, even those in the medical field have many injuries that you just gotta let the body heal itself, with time.

Now, I know you all have that dying question still burning within you, "Did I finish the 3rd leg?" Well, just so you won't go unsatisfied, and I would hate for those of you to have a burnt hole inside of you, I'll answer the question (but it takes a bit of explanation first). Well, after I realized, that yes I really was hurting and it wasn't my imagination. I did get that 4 hours of blissful sleep on a high school gym floor. I then was a good lil' nurse (even with the help of my teammates) to REST, apply ICE, and elevate my little foot. Someone even had Kinesio Tape. So I taped up a good replacement achilles, and prepared myself for a 6.1mile run. Now prior to this, I could barely walk, so I truly wasn't certain how far I would go. But I wanted to try. So I didn't even do any "test runs" prior. I wanted to save my foot. I was suppose to run another 7.5mile leg, but another teammate switched with me (which was so gracious of her)! So off I went. I think God was reminding me of humility, because of instead of running fast, I took off at a SNAIL pace (probably 13-14min miles). I slowly was able to make progress. The biggest progress of the day was the road kill I passed. Now for those of you who aren't into racing, "Road Kill" are those runners you are able to pass during the race. Well, my "road kill" was a bit different that day.

************Disclaimer, possible tummy turning, for those light of stomach be warned, or any FEMA activists....it wasn't my fault!******************************

As I was running along the Cascade Lakes Hwy, I saw a cute little chipmunk run out into the road. Just about that time a Blazer drove by, and I thought, "I hope the little guy makes it!" To my dismay, right before my very eyes and little moving legs, the chipmunk had been hit. Now there wasn't much blood and guts, so I began to worry that he was just injured, and when I got to him, the poor little chipmunk might just be in respiratory or cardiac arrest. And I was trying to contemplate if I could just run by and not stop for such a site. Well, before I had the chance to further prepare myself, my van of girls was driving by. They slowed down to cheer me on, and I tried yelling back to them..."I just saw a chipmunk get ran over before my very eyes!" Simultaneously, the driver of our van, didn't see the chipmunk, and "SPLAT!" Just a few yards ahead of me blood and guts literally squirted across the highway....I was checking myself to make sure I wasn't hit (thankfully I wasn't). I summed it up, that God allowed the poor thing to be out of his misery, and thus I didn't have to assess Airway, Breathing, Circulation to see if the little thing was still alive. But I did pass a literal Road Kill that day, despite how slow I was. I think I forgot about my hurting achilles at that instant! So LONG STORY LONG, I made it roughly 4 miles of the 6.1miles, and another teammate (WHO IS AN AMAZING RUNNER) finished it for me. Sad thing is, I was one of the youngest girls in the van! I'm afraid to get old, since I already seem to be falling apart.

Anyways, now I'm in this boot thing, and trying to enjoy the rest and smile at the comments I get! Plus, my shoes don't match, and I just can't have that! So here's hoping to be out of it soon!

Rummel Update

Some of you may have already read this. But I thought I'd post it to give you an update, from my long absence! You can tell why I haven't been blogging!

The Moving Pile!

Dr. and Mrs. Rummel

Our last photo at the SoCal Beach!

So happy to be done (for both of us!)

What do you do with this thing?

The whole fam: Dad, Dr., Mrs. Rummel, Aunt Velva, and Mom

It was special to be able to hood him!

So here is the latest update:

Where in world are Tobin and Christy, you might ask? Well, we are very excited to announce that this time we will be in the same location for over a year! In these last few weeks, we’ve experienced quite a lot of changes. On May 21, 2010, Tobin became, Dr. Rummel! Such an amazing accomplishment, and a day we have been anticipating for 5 years. In those 5 years, if you didn’t already know, we moved 5 times, and Tobin travelled to countless more places for rotations, exams, and interviews! But this past February, we found out exciting news, we had been praying for months and years—Tobin had matched for his residency program in Corvallis, OR for a family medicine residency program. We were elated with joy the morning we found that out! We get to move back to an area we LOVE, be able to have family closer, and an area that has many outdoor activities just outside the front door. His residency program is 3 years long, which will be the longest place Tobin or I have lived in the last approximate 7 years! We want to thank all our friends and family for their love, prayer, support, encouragement, listening ears, helpful hands, etc, etc throughout this entire process, and what a process it has been!

Any move we make, God seems to reveal what we will be doing and where we will be living, just prior to the deadline of when we must move. In March, we flew up to look at houses to purchase. Christy interviewed for two Nurse Practitioner positions, and the process of home buying, getting new jobs, relocating from Southern California began! Despite having a couple months, it almost seemed impossible that we would be able to accomplish all of the above. However, with God’s direction and blessing, He made it possible. We went through the joys, woes, and stress of purchasing a home, but praise the Lord, we were able to close on the home in good timing and move in right in after Tobin’s graduation.

In late-April, Christy accepted a position working as a Nurse Practitioner at an Integrative Medicine Clinic, serving primary, family care patients and working alongside many other clinicians. She is excited and nervous about starting this new position, but very grateful for an amazing schedule of 4, 10 hour work days a week, with three day weekends! Coming from two part-time jobs (sometimes three!), working nearly every weekend, and then seemingly that schedule perpetually changing, the new schedule seems glorious.

The day after Tobin’s graduation, we began loading boxes into a Penske moving van. Thankfully, we had the help of Tobin’s parents, otherwise the process would have literally been longer and much more painful. We managed to get everything loaded, and on Sunday early morning we left LA at 0500. The roads are beautiful on Sunday morning (no traffic!) and we made good time, to arrive in Redding, CA later that evening. The following day, we drove into Corvallis, OR, unloaded the van into our new home—so that we would avoid the impending rain the following day. In a web of confusion, paperwork, protocols, laws, etc, etc, we weren’t actually closed on the house before we moved in, but thankfully God worked it all out, and we are now homeowners, which carries its own responsibilities, stress, and joy.

We have already taken advantage of this area, going for a beautiful mountain bike ride, just minutes from our house. We also have been able to celebrate, in person, our niece, Zoey’s 3^rd birthday; and we drove over to Bend, OR with family to relax and (what else…) go rock climbing at Smith Rocks! We’ve onlfy been here just over a week, and we LOVE IT!

We do ask for continued prayer as Tobin begins a very BUSY year as an intern. Yep, the work is, at times, grueling, but also so very exciting. Please pray for Christy, as she begins a new position and everything that goes along with that! Pray for our relationships with people here in Corvallis. Pray that we could be a witness here in this city, minister to the community, and find wholesome Christian fellowship.

Our new home!

We would love to hear how you are doing!

Highlights...

Sorry about the hiatus

..Since March I feel like my life has entered this state of trying to work everything out for our big move back to Oregon, but the more I work on things the farther everything seems to be planned or decided. I guess God will work it all out in His good timing and I've got to be patient for that! Since March, we've been blessed with having my great friend Meg come and visit. She went to nursing school with me, among the other things of basically being a roommate, study partner, someone to just sit and roast marshmallows over a candle when the electricity would go out, or a friend who is used to tornados and could help her friend from Oregon who knew nothing of tornado sirens and what to do if that happens and something is on in the oven (yep, quite the story)....thanks Meg!

At Disneyland!

Of course we had to take her rock climbing!

With her long limbs (not limps as I previously wrote!) she did amazingly well for her first accent!

And this is proof of Meg's courage and toughness! Tobin took her Mountain biking and Meg stuck it out, and went wherever he took her! I'll be surprised if she ever wants to see us again after the way we abuse her like this!

Ahhh...and finally reunited together with most of the Jeannie Apartment crew! So good to see Amy too! These were some amazing Asian Pears that we got at the Farmer's Market in Hollywood!

Meg, I wish you lived closer, so we could share more adventures, more often!

The next weekend after Meg left was the Warrior Dash! Basically a 3 mile run with several obstacles, mud, and a chance to get a free Warrior Viking Helmet! And another chance to do an official army crawl with my amazing friend, Boom, who is in the Airforce and knows how its done correctly!!

Our "Team" We wore our Mud Run shirts from the very first one we did in 2007!

Tobin joined us at the last minute, ran the race with us, so we could all get muddy together!
My Muddy Buddy forever! This is the girl that's gotten me to do so many fun races!

For which we will have to plan more! I always thought I could be as tough as people in the military and Boom keeps me motivated to do just that! Love ya girl!
And the reward! Viking Warrior Hats and eating at Red Robin!!

Other than those exciting events and even more exciting event that I don't have documented in photos is Tobin FINISHING ALL HIS ROTATIONS IN MED SCHOOL! He officially is DONE!!! What an amazing accomplishment from the last 5 years of HARD WORK! I am so proud and amazed at my husband for the dedication. I was only in school 2 years after undergrad and that was enough to make me sick and want to be done! He has persevered and has grown so much into an amazingly knowledgeable medical professional! He used to ask me a few questions concerning medicine and I could kind of answer him, but now I ask him all the questions because he has learned and experienced so much! Tobin's last day of his rotation was with an Internal Medicine rotation and to "pass the baton" he gave away his Student Lab coat to another med student, cuz Tobin WON'T NEED IT ANYMORE!!!! Officially, Tobin will become Dr. Rummel on May 21st, but in my book he's already there! Makes me get a little teary eyed, I can't believe God blessed me with such an amazing, hardworking husband whose heart is to serve and glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through everything he does! Love you, Dr. Rummel!!!

Right now, Tobin has been relaxing and trying to prepare himself for Residency (which will be tough in its own accord), but right now trying to relax and have fun. So that means taking our new bikes our for spins! We've really enjoyed road biking together and look forward to the possibility of commuting on our bikes in Corvallis, OR!

I also flew up to Corvallis for a job interview. Still don't know the outcome of that, but waiting and praying that the Lord knows where He wants me. And praying that we might be able to know soon so that the house God allowed us to make an offer on could be ours to own. But overall, we must keep trusting in the Lord. Hard to wait at times, but that's all we can do at this point. Please pray that things would work out soon! I think that's why I've been on this hiatus, just not knowing what exactly will happen. It gets tough to daily explain that to your coworkers, who are excited to hear any new information about our move. Everyday, I keep telling everyone, "don't know yet." Pray for patience, PEACE (the opposite of all the anxiety I can have), and direction! Thank you!

Mediocrity

Today, I am feeling less than mediocre. Do you ever feel like you work harder than ever to do things correctly, but in the end you found your intentions, accuracy, and hard work to be for naught. I feel that I have a strong work ethic and try to be a witness within my work place, but recently, I feel that I will make poor decisions, my documentation could have been better, and I keep missing things that seem like work tasks but in essence are critical to the way my work role functions. For instance, today was suppose to be a nice relaxing day off, and now has become more stressful because I found out that I missed documenting and submitting encounter charges from patients I saw in September! And wouldn't you know that all documentation from that was either accidentally saved over, or I have already gotten rid of sheets from that day. So this morning was spent scouring my records, emails, and loose papers, but all for naught - therefore feelings of me just being mediocre and continually messing things up. I know I cannot be perfect, but I have been continually doing things by routine to make sure things are missed. It's disappointing when you see that fail. I am not looking for sympathy, I don't know what I'm looking for, but I felt writing about it might help.

Just recently, I was also going through an old email file, and came upon an email from a very good friend from nursing school. Reading this reminds me that even though the problem I mentioned above seemed enormous and makes me want to crawl into a hole and quit, I realize how selfish and self-centered I can become. This letter below was written April 2008:

Dear friends and family,

I apologize that some of you will be hearing this news for the first time through email, but it seemed daunting to reach everyone by phone. For those of you who have already heard the news through others or from me, I apologize for the redundancy – I just created one distribution list for this and future emails.

A painful lesion developed on the side of my tongue a little over a year ago. A biopsy at that time was negative for cancer, but the lesion did not go away. After ineffective medication therapy, an excisional biopsy was performed a couple of weeks ago to remove the lesion and confirm the previous benign diagnosis. Unfortunately, last Friday, I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. This is rare for men my age. It has traditionally been found primarily in smokers and heavy drinkers over the age of 50, but apparently the diagnosis is on the rise in younger people without those risk factors.

I am scheduled to see a head and neck surgeon at Vanderbilt on May 8^th at 4pm to begin the process of staging the cancer, which will determine its severity. So, I cannot give a lot of details concerning my treatment at this time. Whether or not I will need surgery only, surgery and radiation, or radiation and chemotherapy depends on the stage.

I know some of you have been concerned as to whether or not I feel okay. I’m running in the Country Music ½ Marathon this weekend, and unless my treatment schedule absolutely prevents it, I plan on running the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in San Diego as planned on June 1^st (and, more importantly, meeting my youngest niece, Miss Olivia Tafao). In other words, I feel fine – I’m not sick. Actually, my tongue feels better than it has in a year due to the recent surgery – just sore now. Chewing without pain is definitely underrated. J Now, we just have to take care of this cancer thing.

This cancer is now a part of my story, and I trust God is in complete control of how the story will unfold. God doesn’t promise us perfect lives, but He does promise us (in Deuteronomy 31:8) that He Himself will go before us and be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. I’m so glad those aren’t empty promises!

It’s tempting to ask, “Why?” at times like this, but I believe God has already answered that question. We are told in scripture that our ultimate purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. If my life’s purpose is to glorify Him, then the purpose of this cancer is to glorify Him as well. Therefore, I trust that He will indeed be glorified through this process. And, if so, it will be most worthwhile.

I realize I may see rough days, but God knew the details of today and all those that lie ahead long before I was ever born. He will not be caught off guard. I know that [He] can do all things; no plan of [His] can be thwarted. (Job 42:2) How amazing it is to realize that we serve a living God, the creator of the universe! I am comforted that He will see me through any challenges I may face.

Even more amazing is the truth that He has invited us into a personal relationship with Him through the sacrificial death of His only son, Jesus Christ. For all of you who have a relationship with Jesus already, don’t let even one day pass without cultivating it further. If we fail in this area, we have wasted precious time.

And, for any of you who have not entered into a relationship with Jesus, don’t be deceived. We are not a cosmic accident. We are the intelligent design of an intelligent, loving-kind and unchanging creator. We were separated from God by our sin, but Jesus closed that chasm through His death on the cross. He longs for a relationship with all of us, but will not force it. He gives salvation from sin (and eternal life with Him) to anyone who is willing to follow Him. I know all this might sound far-fetched if you are skeptical. If so, I’d love to attempt to explain it further. Don’t write off Jesus because of the many failures of those who claim to follow Him. Discover the Man Himself before you make your decision. John 3 and Romans 10 are great places to start. Done preaching … for now. J

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for and encouraging me and my immediate family. The support has been incredible already, and I am grateful. I am so richly blessed to have such unbelievable immediate and extended family and friends. I love you all and will try to keep you updated. Feel free to forward this to others.

Blessings,

Daniel

Daniel passed away just a short 6 months later, not once doubting the Lord, but always always trusting God had a plan, and whatever situations, illnesses, or healing God had in store, Daniel trusted and walked daily with that hope! I guess my shortcomings are just a reminder that I am not perfect, and it's how I react and deal with those situations that becomes my witness, not whether I'm perfect to begin with. This morning, I didn't do a very good job, but I will take that mistake, learn from it, and continually strive for improvement. It's funny because in high school, I was always the one to receive the "Best Improvement" award in Sports...that was because I was so bad, clumsy, and unskilled to begin with; anything would be an improvement! My carnal nature, wishes I could just be like those individuals who always have a natural tendency to be amazing at whatever they do, but that is not what God wants for me. Looking at the big picture, I see that God wants me to depend on Him, and not just think I can reach perfection, if I have all my ducks aligned. Definitely not the case. In light also of things going on in this world, earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, droughts, famine, suffering, wars, my daily shortcomings are important, but not "world-ending." I pray that I won't get caught up with myself in the day to day things, but will look to Christ as He is my joy, my strength, and my All.

I'm reminded of a hymn that speaks volumes to this very concept:

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well, with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
   My sin, not in part but the whole,
   Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
4. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
5. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
   The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
   The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
   Even so, it is well with my soul.

Here's to a better morning, with a better perspective!

Early Bird Gets the Powder!

Saturday Morning at the local Southern California Mountain High Ski Resort! We got there early and enjoyed a great day of powder, especially in the morning as we beat the traffic (read minor plugging of the roads for 4-5hrs due to So Cal drivers and snowpack mix). We were able most of the morning to make our powder runs and very quickly get back on the lifts. This was quite enjoyable but wore the Ladies out completely - I (Tobin) even have to blog the events due to Christy already cutting ZZZZ's;) Thanks to a week of rain in So Cal, the mountain was completely covered in light, fluffy, cold (high of 30), snowy greatness!

The Three Powder Musketeers!

Boom and Christy Holding each other up!

Christy and Tobin Enjoying the Scene

Christy Getting First Air! - She even stuck the landing;)

Which always brings out the smiles!

Thought I might throw in an action shot of one of Booms Wipeouts!

Proof that I was getting plenty of powder runs!

Christy Ripping up the Powder in the Morning Sun

Christy and Boom on the Ridge Run

Snowboarding...in So Cal???

So randomly we got the day off...on a Thursday....and so did Boom. We decided to go up to Bear Mountain, which was actually instigated by a few of my nursing friends who planned on going. It was a amazingly warm day...I've never boarded when it was so warm before. Could have nearly been in shorts. Here's some of the photos of our day.

If you look closely you can see Tobin going off a jump

The boarders

Hopefully we'll go again soon!

Catching UP

I must apologize to my frequent fan and blog readers...I know you've missed me. ;) My absence has been due to business, life, work, etc, etc. I was told by one of my faithful subscribers that I need to "post a blog STAT." So this is for you!

No really, I have been meaning to put updates up, but I must admit that I've given into the ease of just uploading photos to Facebook and not taking the time to formulate thoughts and sentences...laziness, I KNOW! Maybe, it'll be a New Year's resolution to keep this blog going!

So where did I leave you off in our story, on this road of life. November 19th was my last entry.

Just a few short days later the Rummel Clan came to visit! It was a blessing to have fun with Darrol, Marty, Shannon, and Josh (in-laws, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law). We had quite an amazing few days. We went from kayaking and swimming in warm beaches on Thanksgiving day (La Jolla):

Friday we stayed home and celebrated with cooking Turkey in our convectional oven (for which I had my trepidations that it might not turn out...many a day I've undercooked or overcooked stuff in that oven), but the Turkey was great! So was all the company and family time.

Our thanksgiving spread. It was amazing and even more amazing and fun to put it together with everyone's help.

Friday Night...didn't you know Christmas already happened? Well it did for the Rummels. After having Turkey Dinner we sat around and opened gifts. It became more like a Christmas exchange when something for Josh didn't fit and something for Darrol didn't either. It was quite hilarious. We all got some good laughs.

Then since Christmas had already happened, we left early Saturday morning, on New Years Day, for Joshua Tree. And appropriately, while we were rock climbing it started snowing! Yes snowing!!!

Josh showing his amazing climbing skills!

I think you can answer the question...Self explanatory!

The snow added to our exciting trip! We camped out in Joshua Tree. Strangely the two who slept out under a tarp (and not in a tent-Tobin and I) were the warmest of the bunch. We all had fun though.

Sunday morning, instead of enjoying warm instant oatmeal at the campsite, we quickly loaded up all our stuff in the rain, and drove to a nice warm restaurant to have yummy breakfast!

Then we headed up to San Jacinto Mountain, for a tram ride up the mountain. It was great! It didn't feel like we were in So Cal! It was beautiful!

In the tram on the way up the mountain. What a view!

Looking back down on the valley.

Then at the top we hiked in the snow and evergreens!

Here Tobin is smelling the tree...apparently it smelled like vanilla.

He wanted to eat it!

Our next Christmas card.

So basically our trip went sun, beach, sand, rock, wind, rain, snow, mountains, snow, and so cal freeways. Quite the mix!

So after Thanksgiving...Tobin has flown to Maine for an interview. I ran in the Muddy Buddy...crazy fun! I did it with my friend Boom, what better partner? We were about the same size...fit in with our PJ's...didn't quite win the costume contest (I have to say the Hog and Pig duo out did us!).

The Mud Crawl at the end

Then this past weekend we went on a short mountain biking ride.

It was right after a "big" rainstorm in So Cal so it was muddy fun again!

In between the photos you can picture me writing notes, dictating History and Physicals, running between floors to see patients, answering the phone, driving, eating, and sleeping...yup that's about it. For Tobin he's gotten the past two weeks off (in between traveling and interviewing for residency programs): he's been working at home, cleaning, doing laundry!, having fun, and relaxing. Quite an end to 2009! In the next two weeks, I will be likely absent again as I'm working, working, working. I'm even charge nurse on Christmas Day (yup, me in charge...scary!).

For those of you who might be awaiting our Christmas letter or card...don't wait any longer. I'm not planning on sending any out...since we already celebrated Christmas and New Years. ;) But really, I haven't been able to send something out...so I'm planning on awaiting till "Match Day"(which is February) when we learn where our lives will be headed for the next 3-4 years. If you want an update...look back in our blog history. =) Love you all (my faithful readers) and hope for many blessings, fun, and excitement for the 10s...that is 2010!!

CLIMB!

We were blessed this past week to enjoy two of the same days off together, and in the middle of the week! So we decided to take advantage of that and go outdoors! Two other girls that work with Tobin as fellows at school were able to join, so we went off together to Joshua Tree. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We arrived mid morning on Wednesday, set up camp where there also happened to be a great area to set up a climb. I don't think I've ever had it so good climbing. Drive in, set up camp, climb, stop, tear down, eat dinner, sleep, then repeat (if you want) ;) Here's the photos of our adventure:

A Small Joshua Tree, crazy things they are! A cross between a cactus and a palm tree

Our Fearless first climber...Nici (this was her first climb ever).

She did great...with a bit of coaching and cheering!

Then Sara, who did an excellent job as well!

Tobin...if you look close he's wearing his new "fivefingers" on his right foot.

He loves them! Nearly went to church in them today!

Here I am at the top of a great climb!

Dinner was a bit of an adventure. Our camping stove decided to go on the fritz. But since my husband has amazing Macgyver Skills, dinner was hot, hot, hot! So we enjoyed good Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup with Garlic Bread! YUMMMMM!!

Here we are cleaning up the mess, over our well crafted sump hole,

utilizing our water preservation skills. With our trusty head lamps!

Now you can see the action!

Then...not to be missed a good game of cards! Hand and Foot!

Sara and I gave Tobin and Nici a run for their money, but in the end, I had to

let Tobin's team win so I'd be allowed to sleep in our tent.

The next day we enjoyed some more climbing! In a new spot.

This time Tobin led trad (using all the cool cams, tri-cams, nuts, etc), rather than being top-roped. And we did a two pitch climb to get to the top of the rock you see behind us in the following photo. It was a great climb, beautiful at the top, but the down climb on the back side was a bit interesting. But thanks to my amazing husband he found a safe way for both of us to get down!

The Geared-up Rummels!