Family Medicine Residency Graduation June 2011

Everyone has been so overwhelmingly encouraging in sending Steven and I congratulatory wishes on his completion of residency. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I just had to have one more post about his actual graduation. The graduation was this past Saturday night. It's so strange that something which has consumed our lives for 7 years, that being medical training, is now finished. It was a bittersweet evening of saying goodbye to friends, colleagues and teachers whom we've shared this season with and grown to love. Steven's parents, my mother, the twins, and I were able to attend the ceremony. I was so pleased at how well the twins behaved during the 3 hour event. Berkley did get a little ansy at the end, but hey, he's only 2 y/o and 3 hours is a long time to sit. Berkley actually started shouting Daddy at one point in the evening when Steven was up front, but thankfully people loved it.

Steven, we're all just so proud of you. You set your heart on becoming a doctor and through the grace of God, you've accomplished just that. And now you're off to begin working in a community that you love, providing the medical care that you love, serving Christ whom you love, with the family you love beside you all the way. That's a lot of love! So many exciting things up ahead. I'm so happy to share this journey with you!

Here is Steven's graduating class!
I'm waiting on a great family picture that my mom took, I'll add that as soon as I get it!

Residency Complete

This was Steven's face when he came home from work this morning at 7:30am. Last night was his final shift as a resident! It's been a long 3 weeks of working 5:30pm-7:30am, with little sleep and even less time with me and the twins. It's been an even longer 3 years of constantly changing schedules. I think I may just let him sleep late tomorrow, just because he can!!!

Capturing My Heart

I've been wanting to post for awhile about all the ways Berkley and Meredith are growing, not to mention all the changes that are coming our way. We're moving next week and Steven graduates on Saturday. I want to record it all, but I get overwhelmed trying to put it all in words. I get paralyzed and so, don't do anything at all. But tonight I was writing an email to Steven and typed a little something that expresses what I really want to say right now.

"By the way, did you know our children are amazing? By golly, if I don't love them more and more everyday. Meredith said a 6 word sentence today. She is so, so smart! And Berkley and I had a little moment at the dinner table when our eyes met and we could tell we were both wondering the same thing at the same time and then we both started laughing. We got home from our outing this afternoon and they, of course, wanted to play outside. Before you know it, all three of us were lying in the grass looking up at the trees and laughing. Moments like that, that's what every mom wants. I want to remember it forever! Love them!!!"

I don't have to explain everything. I don't have to put it into perfect words. I just want to look back on this blog and be able to capture the heart of my family. That is my heart tonight. I adore making memories with my children and watching them grow. I'm proud of my husband as he completes a journey he's worked so diligently towards for the last 11 years and I'm looking towards the next chapter of our lives.

The Queen City Visit

As I mentioned in my previous post, the twins and I are just returning from a two day trip to Charlotte. We traveled with my mom and brother to celebrate my cousin's graduation from high school. Charlotte is like a second home to me. My mom's brother and sister both live there with their families, so I grew up visiting my aunts, uncles, and cousins in Charlotte on a regular basis. As I've gotten older and begun my own family, my trips to Charlotte have gotten fewer and fewer and yet my love for my family there has gotten even greater. This was Berkley and Meredith's first trip to the Queen city and it was such a joy to watch them interact with my family, play with some of the same toys I played with as a child, and make special memories of their own. From visiting my Uncle Norman who is recuperating from a stroke, loving on Aunt Gwen, and sharing in the joy of a graduation, every minute of this journey together as a family was priceless!


We had the chance to visit with Aunt Gwen and here she is showing the twins some of the toys I played with when I was a child.



All the grandkids, nieces and nephews get a picture on this special swing


I remember how much I loved walking on these stepping stones as a child and it was so cool to see my babies doing the same thing.


They just started playing and posing after this.

Go Philip!!!

I'm just returning home from a two day trip to Charlotte, where I had the honor of watching my cousin, Philip, graduate from high school. Words can't express how special this graduation was or how special Philip is to me and my entire family. The photo above was taken as Philip walked down the aisle in the opening processional, that's when I started crying out of joy, and I cried off and on throughout the entire ceremony as I thought through all the challenges Philip has faced and risen above. Philip Cecil Blount IV, we are all SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!