Miscellaneous

It's been a little while since I last posted. Life just gets so busy! Already our calendar into the new year is pretty well booked solid!

We are in the middle of/entering into my favorite time of year. From the middle of September when temperatures start to cool down and the leaves change, up through the New Year, I LOVE this time of year! I love crisp, cool, fall weather. I love weiner roasts and hayrack rides. I love trips to the orchard. I love starting to see the Christmas lights and hear the Christmas music. I love the yummy food from roasted marshmallows and hot dogs to turkey and pumpkin pie to Christmas cookies. I love the overall hustle and bustle of the holiday season! I suppose I could go on for an entire post about all the things I love about this time of year, but I think you get the idea! I'm especially excited about Christmas with Abram this year. We've been in a few stores where they've already put up holiday decor, and he is absolutely enamored by the lights and ornaments. It will be a fun and chaotic Christmas indeed!

There isn't a whole lot of new news to post, other than a brief medical school update.: Ryan has now been accepted to four schools, and we are most interested in the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois. Yes, the infamous U of I who rejected him twice! If we attend there, we will spend all four years in Chicago; we received our placement notification just this past week. We won't make any final decisions until 2011. After the new year, we can file our FAFSA and see how much loan/grant/scholarship money we can receive from each school. That will help guide our decision, combined with much prayer!

This entire journey has just been such a testimony to God's sovereignty in our lives. We thought this was the way to go, so we pursued it, only to be rejected. After two years, we assumed that the door had been closed and that we needed to look elsewhere. I remember back in February when we decided, much against our will, to apply one more time. We were hopeful, but not excited, yet we felt as though to not apply would be willfully disobeying our Father in Heaven. Now, he has richly blessed our efforts and Ryan has been accepted with ease. It is so clear that THIS is God's time for us! THIS is the way He wanted it! We have obeyed our God, "who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens" (Rev. 3:7). It is as though he has spoken to us, "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut" (Rev. 3:8). Though some may disagree with me, I believe that GOD closed those doors the other times we applied. Ryan was not to get in then. God had a work to do in us before we could go. And now, God has opened the door, and no man could intervene and stop it. HE has divinely orchestrated the events of our lives to take place in HIS perfect time. I prayed (and so many others too!) for the hearts of Ryan's interviewers to be turned favorably toward him, and this time, according to God's wisdom and plan, it happened. PRAISE JESUS!

Anyway, I must go. I have much to do and Abe's naptime is likely about over. Until next time.