Thursday, July 8, 2010

Enjoying Aunt-dom and Uncle-dom


We have absolutely loved being closer to our family. Here are some of the fun things we've been doing:

Teaching a 13 month old how to climb. Preparing him for that 5.14 (that's the hardest climb for those who don't know).


Making Benjamin be a dare-devil. How to have fun, be safe, and push the limit just a bit!
Notice his helmet is covering his eyes!


Grace is getting so big! She's doing Monkey Bars, and is better than I am!


Precious Kate...oh so much to aspire to. She's doing great on her own, and certainly loved squealing at us while we played on the playground.

She's isn't dazed and confused or half drunk....promise!
Her hair would look like this every time she went down the slide!
That's an Electric Slide!!!

Showing Porter how to shop like a pro in IKEA!

Hiking in style, as Tobin goes up the Mountain like a Mountain Goat (literally) with a child in tow!
Falling! Caught in the act!
The mountain man and his stick!
Can you tell We are loving it here?

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

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 3rd 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!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Tobin's Birthday

May 10th, we celebrated Tobin's big 2-9 in style, for breakfast!! Cinnamon rolls (whole wheat mind you), eggs, and bacon! We spiced it up with a few sparkling candles! Almost too much excitement for us! Here's proof of the fun:

Scared due to the sparks!

Lots of hot air. No there are not 29 candles...I couldn't fit them on without our smoke detector go off, it already was at 5!
Yummmmmmmmy!

Happy Birthday, Dr Tobin Rummel....we might need a doctor after eating this meal!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Just Memories Now...

Yesterday, I found out very sad news. It came as a blow to what already felt like a very tough week of illness, loss, and death. Lauren Failla, a younger sister to my very good friend Emily Failla who passed away in 2006, also died in a scuba diving accident. My first and human reaction, is to say, why so much death in one family? Why was it God's plan to take away amazing women at such a young age (they were both about 24years old)? Why will their parents never be able to attend their daughter's wedding or be grandparents? I don't know why, and I don't understand God's timing, but I do know it's never off, early, or late. But it is tough for those of us left here on earth. I so hope and pray that I will see these beautiful women in Heaven.


Yesterday morning, I was reading an article about suffering. At the time, I didn't really think much of it. But when I found out about Lauren's death in the evening, God really reminded me of the verses I read about suffering and comfort.


2Corinthians 1:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.


The loss of Lauren hits me very close to home, because I love and cherish my sister. I am reminded now to grasp hold of each day the Lord blesses us with. Because it truly is a gift from Him. I don't have much more to say, definitely nothing very profound. All of this words are just humble sentences from a girl who is mourning, confused, and hurting. But Christ can be your comfort as He is my comfort. I pray that for any and everyone reading this that doesn't know Christ's comfort and saving grace. May you accept Jesus Christ into your life today. Don't run from Christ because we never know the day or the hour He has for us on this earth.


Here's some photos of Emily and Lauren Failla, I was so blessed to know you both:


failla6.jpg


failla1.jpg



My sister and I...oh how I hope to cherish each day I have with her!



Saturday, April 24, 2010

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!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Ok, Part II of our Colorado Trip via picture tour;) This is the last day... so we made the most of it by meeting Elias at his place in the mountains for some snowshoeing!

The vista as we broke into the mountains

The start of our snowshoe trip, not enough time to get to the top but we had to try and get as high on the mountain as possible!

Christy before starting the climb

Dancing in Snowshoes???

The uphill begins

Christy feeling the heart pounding, awe inspiring, instant sweat that comes with such an amazing view as we rise above the trees.

Such wonderful powder to play in

Elias breaking his own trail

This is as high as we got for the day...

...but Christy had to get just a little higher


Brian had the most interesting snowshoeing method on the way down...

including removing one leg... or at least the covering.

What an awesome day!