The end of one chapter and the beginning of another

Time sure does fly! I am done with my second clinical rotation and Christmas is coming in a few days! I have been working on last minute presents, trying to relax and spend time with my family before I leave Idaho. My cousin Josiah came in on Friday, my parents, Shelly, and my cousins Zach and Sam fly in tonight and Brett comes in tomorrow night. Everyone except for my cousin Nick and his wife Sara will be here for Christmas! We have not been able to have a big family Christmas like this for at least 5 years!

Before my classmates left for home we went out to eat with our clinical instructors at a place called Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine, it was a neat restaurant in a garage like looking building, with very good food! The picture above is of my classmates Erin and Jamie, Eddie (A rehab tech at St. Lukes where Jamie and I were for our clinicals) and Jamie's CI Brett. There is actually a table inside of that car and people eat in there! It was a fun place! The picture below is of my CI Lynae and I.

Brett and I will start driving back to Oklahoma on the 28th and then I will be able to spend time there with him until the 9th of January.

I am also very excited that my friend Cassie is possibly coming to visit from Philadelphia! I have not seen her since our friend Savanna's wedding in August and it will be fun to show her Oklahoma!

We are also planning to go down to Dallas to visit Denny and Bev (Brett's great aunt and uncle that I stayed with during my first clinical rotation) and Brett's great grandma is visiting with them for awhile also, so we will get to see her as well.

We are so excited to have time to spend together even if we are busy with visiting and traveling- things just don't seem to slow down- but we are enjoying all of our adventures!

I got a call from my CI Rudy from Texas yesterday and he updated me about a patient that I had done my case study on from there. He had an amputation and we were preparing him for a prosthesis, but I had to leave before he was able to get one. Rudy said that he has his new prosthesis and now only has to walk with a cane and is independent in his daily activities! I was so happy for him and sad that I wasn't there to see the whole process through- but Rudy is sending me a picture from him and the power point presentation that the next student put together about him. I am excited to be able to learn about prostheses, I haven't had the chance to, so hopefully I will have more of a chance to follow a patient through at a later time! It is just so rewarding to hear the stories of people that you were able to help become more independent- I think we take for granted little things like being able to walk- and go to the bathroom ourselves. I hope someday to have a chance to go back and see him walking around with his new leg- maybe I will make it down there sometime to do that!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you take this time to reflect on all God has blessed you with this year! We are truly blessed to have friends and family like you!

Love,

Emily (and Brett)

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello everyone! it has been awhile since we have given you an update! Time is flying by so fast! I am in the last full week of my second clinical! I cannot believe that it is December already! It has been so great to spend more time with my extended family! Brett came out to Idaho for Thanksgiving and it was so great to spend time together and for him to get to know my family better. We had a great Thanksgiving, we were over at my aunt Kristi and uncle Jerry's house. It was a great time to just talk about what we are thankful for and chat and play games.

The picture here is of my cousin's daughter Jeya, she is such a cutie. It has been fun to be able to be a part of her life and watch her grow up, it is amazing how fast kids learn and change! She is talking a lot now and can understand a lot so that is fun. We read lots of books and play games, and of course I try to teach her more advanced anatomy than most 1 1/2 year olds know!

We had Thanksgiving on Thursday and then Brett and I went up to McCall Idaho on Friday and stayed the night and came back on Saturday. It is such a pretty drive up there into the mountains, so it was a lot of fun especially since Brett had never been to Idaho before. We walked around at the state park up there and by the lake. It was cold and they had snow so it was really pretty! We also walked around and looked at all the little shops in town.

When we got back on Saturday my cousin Holly and her husband Jon took us to The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant) for our wedding present. It was so much fun! You have two burners on your table and get to choose your sauces to dip. We had a whole four course meal with cheese first and bread, apples, and veggies to dip in it, salad next (no dipping there), meats of all kinds with two different sauces to cook in and lastly dessert which was amazing we had a turtle dip and white chocolate and they brought strawberries, bananas, brownie bites, cheesecake, pound cake and marshmallows to dip! It was so fun a brand new dining experience!