papers...boo!

I have so many papers to write and I don't want to! I only have a few weeks left until the end of school and then I'm done! Jordan has been taking a ton of tests lately for all his classes too. He is worried about this semester and what it is going to do to his GPA. We had better get in to VCU :) I have a really good feeling about moving there, and I think we will get accepted soon. I have been looking at houses and apartments, jobs, and everything that is fun to do in Richmond. We plan on selling my car before we leave, driving across the country with our few things, and getting an apartment for a few months while we go house hunting! It is so exciting. I am so so excited!! I will work here until the end of July hopefully and then we will move. I'll start work again at the end of August/beginning of September and work on the house. Jordan has been thinking recently about becoming a neurosurgeon - basically doing brain surgery. Wow, my husband is way way smart! He loves the brain, it is his favorite organ. My favorite organs are the kidneys :) haha, now everyone will think I'm weird. That's ok though, because I'm a nurse and I'm allowed to have a favorite organ. Oh, and I haven't have bad chest pain since the day after the ER visit, so I'm happy. Our insurance is covering part of the CT scan, so we hope they cover most of the ER visit. Ok, wow, I'm really procrastinating. We will keep you in the loop!

Joy!

Oh my...don't we LOVE waiting? I suppose that is why VCU has decided to torture us a little longer, and not sent Jordan any news about his status. We are in limbo for another week. That is when they will let people know whether they are on the wait list or whether they are rejected. In the meantime, I will try to remember that patience is a virtue!!

Birthday!

Today is Jordan's birthday!! He is 24 today, which is really weird. It seems so old :) We are not going to be really celebrating his birthday though because his parents are out of town and he has a quiz and a horrid test today. His teachers have tried to ruin his day, but we won't let it. I'm throwing a party at our house tonight with the two of us! I'm going to buy balloons and party decorations and make a cake. Because I believe that birthdays are special, no matter how old you are. When I lived at my parents, I would always be the decorator for every party. I love it! I'm so excited to see how surprised he is tonight :) he gets home at 8:00!

On another more sad note (for me at least), I have had zero motivation to complete my papers, projects, studying for tests, etc. I am done with school in less than two months and am sick of it. Seriously. I can't even study at our apartment hardly because there are NO comfortable chairs and our landlady listens to the TV so loud that we can't even hardly talk to each other! I have about 5 papers due by tomorrow, two tests, a group presentation in class tomorrow, and an evaluation with my clinical instructor. Bah. Just let me graduate and let me be a nurse. I already know what I'm doing! Not really, but I'm just so fed up. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.

We still haven't heard from any medical schools. Jordan sent updates on how much he would like to get into schools a few weeks ago. Like I said before, we are supposed to hear from VCU on March 15. We just keep praying and fasting for good news but also to be aware of Heavenly Father's plan for us. It is hard to pray for that but we need to show our faith in Him. I heard a really good quote this weekend: "Faith and fear essentially come from the same place. They are both believing in something that hasn't happened yet. The only difference is that one is positive and the other is negative. So choose to believe in the positive." - Danny Bae

Alas...

The day was anxiously anticipated, but it passed through uneventful. Unfortunately, we did not hear back from VCU today as we had hoped. The next day they are sending out acceptance letters is March 15. Oh how we dread this waiting game. :P We cannot stress it enough - PLEASE pray for us that we will get an interview at one of the other schools and that we will get an acceptance at VCU!!! We love you all and will continue to update you.

Contacts, Schools, and Real Estate

I got my contacts two days ago, and I am in heaven. I no longer need to clean my glasses every 2 hours. The permanent "nose pads" that imprint themselves on your face are disappearing. I CAN ACTUALLY SEE DETAIL from 20 feet away now! It is awesome! My eyes were a little irritated the first night which is expected, but now they are totally back to normal. Yay!

On another note, Jordan had his status updated from George Washington...they emailed him to say he is now in a pool of applicants they are possibly going to interview. We are very excited about this and hope he gets an interview. Washington D.C. is beautiful and one of my favorite places to visit. On the plus side for the in-laws, Southwest Airlines flies directly there ;)

I recently started listening to a book on CD called the Automatic Millionaire Homeowner. It is a great book for first time home-buyers. It explains the necessary steps you need to take to buy a home the smart way. It has talked about going mortgage shopping and how you know what mortgage fits your needs. I've really enjoyed listening to it. Hopefully I can remember all the things we need to do to buy a house! :)

Anyone Want to Help Pack?

From the looks of it, Jordan and I are going to be moving in the next six months. Yes, folks, that's right - we got a rejection from the University of Utah. Fortunately for us, as stated in my previous post, we still need to hear back from several schools. I'm starting to freak out - will we find a place to live? Will I get a semi-decent job that I like? How in the world are we going to move out there? We will see. Pray for us!

Doctors, doctors

This morning Jordan got a rejection from Ohio State University. He states that he feels, "ok, I mean I just want some place to give me an interview." He has yet to hear from George Washington, Cincinnati, Columbia, Creighton, Rosalind Franklin, Temple, and Miami. We decided this morning in the freezing basement that we wouldn't mind going to Miami :) The days are counting down and we need some interview people!! Come on!

I had my eye doctor appointment this morning and it was amazing. I saw Dr. McKay at the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah and it was so wonderful! They got me into the appointment right away and I almost cried when I got the prescription...I could finally see! After four months of being basically blind, I could see down to the very bottom line of the chart. Then he dilated my pupils and said I have healthy eyes. They are going to mail my contacts to me in a week and I will be officially free! He also talked about Lasik with me and said that in order to have the surgery, my prescription needs to be stable for two plus years. It has never been stable in my life so I'm not sure if Lasik is even going to be an option for me.

I also made banana bread today...it just came out of the oven and looks beautiful! Yummmm. :P

It's Been a Long Time Coming

Meaning this post...I've been so bad these past few months! Here is another quick run-down of what we have been up to since November.

Jordan: Had his second interview at the University of Utah which went very well! He finds out in the end of March/beginning of April about whether he has been accepted there or not. We hope so! He also did good in all of his classes last semester and then had a very relaxing Christmas break playing video games and computer games all day every day :) On January 4th, he had his interview at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and it went well also! The only thing that was interesting was the hotel he stayed in...it was scary and had a bidet in the bathroom. Random. He was able to see the hospital and the school campus and really liked them both. The interview was TWO hours long! Wow! But he feels good about it. We should find out from Virginia whether he is accepted or not in either February or March. So soon!!! He is taking lots of interesting classes this semester including comparative physiology, p-chem, and something else that I can't remember the name of :) Only 3 more months until we are done with finals and only 4 more months-ish until we graduate! Hallelujah!

Melyn: I was sooo happy to finish Community Nursing last semester. I did well in my classes and am still hanging onto my 3.5 GPA - thank goodness! I found out that my capstone/nursing leadership course clinical would be in the inpatient psychiatric floor at the University of Utah, otherwise known as 5 West. The capstone course is where you spend your clinical time in an area of nursing that you love. My loves in nursing are oncology and psychiatric ;) heck yes. I'm loving my capstone and my preceptor, the nurse I work with the majority of the time, is amazing. Most of the nurses up there are Westminster Alumni, which makes it a little nicer. The course work doesn't seem to be that strenuous for me, although some people have complained about it. I think the reason I think it is easier is because I'm no longer taking and general credits along with my nursing courses. I can focus on just my nursing - not history or art. My teacher is a crack-up and I really enjoy her teaching. I have my first midterm test next Thursday so we are moving through the course quickly. My business has been growing well and I'm set to hit the next promotion this month! That will be awesome :) I've also been working on my goals for this year voraciously and am loving it. I love goal setting and truly believe that any goal can be achieved as long as you do the necessary things to achieve it. It is essential to PLAN for success, not just dream about it. As some of my heroes have stated:

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. - Moliere

God does not manufacture junk. Success is your birthright!! - Larry Raskin

Nothing will work unless you do. - Maya Angleou

If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams. -Les Brown

My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny. - Elaine Maxwell

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. -Calvin Coolidge

Christmas was also great this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Jordan's family. It was so nice to not worry about having to attend every family party and to be able to spend quality time with family and friends.

Oh, and for those of you who haven't noticed, I have been wearing glasses a lot in the past four months. My right contact broke about four months ago and I have had to live with the torture of glasses. This week, the glasses will be no longer. I am soooooo excited to be going to the eye doctor this Tuesday to FINALLY get contacts! I will look like myself again and be able to look at things without squinting (because the glasses aren't even my correct prescription)!

I will continue to update you folks about our lives, and won't let the blog get this far behind again!!

A Break (finally...)

Since Wednesday, Jordan and I have had Thanksgiving break. Ahhh...peace. All we have been doing is simply relaxing and taking a break from everything related to school. Jordan has been playing video games and computer games and I have been watching House :D and lounging. It is such great fun. I love not having to worry about school.

Updates on school: I have only one assignment left which is still about a third of my grade and two tests left. Yay. Jordan says that, "School is ok. Hard, but not bad." He is so smart. He interviewed at the University of Utah about a week and a half ago and needs to do one re-interview because the first one was so weird. Ask me about it if you want details. The interview at Virginia Commonwealth is in the beginning of January and we are just waiting to hear from other schools. Please pray for us :)

Updates on our life: we went shopping today, Black Friday, and got almost all the rest of our wedding things that we registered for that we didn't receive, which was so nice because we have in-store credit so the stuff was basically free! We have just been up to the same - school at Westminster, working at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, building my business, and trying to magnify our callings as visiting and home teachers, ward building cleaning coordinator, and Relief Society pianist.

That's all for now...not very exciting, I know. I will let you know when our life is better...after graduation in almost 6 months!!!

Medical School Interviews

Jordan just barely received the University of Utah interview request! It will be in the beginning of November. Congratulations sweetheart!! I'm so proud of you!!! We will keep everyone posted on other interview requests we receive in the future, so stick around!

E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D

SCHOOL!!!!! Holy cow, I don't think either Jordan nor myself have ever been so busy with so many things.

Jordan: applying to medical school, taking 16 credit hours at school plus, extra lab time, research twice a week, volunteering at the Road Home, volunteering for Hearts for Hospice, running XC with a meet every other week...ahh!

Melyn: taking 16 credit hours at school, 14 hours of clinical every week, studying 3 hours a day, working my business as much as possible, trying to sleep 8 hours a night, working at least once a week, trying to tie up loose ends with the wedding (grr)...

I know, I know. Jordan is SO much busier than I am, but I feel like I'm going crazy! If it literally were not for the fact that I don't do anything on Sundays besides take naps, go to church, and visit family, my mind would freak out and die.

Ranting is good. Ok, I'm done. For a while :)

Secondaries!

Jordan got a letter to send secondary applications to Colombia University, Ohio State, and George Washington University!! Yeah! Congrats sweetheart. :)

Married Life

Wow what can I say! Married life is freaking fantastic. I am so lucky to be with Jordan. He is such a wonderful man and makes me feel so happy and loved. I am thrilled that we are married together for time and for all eternity.

Our honeymoon was in Cancun and we basically just relaxed. It was so nice to get away from our families (even though we love you guys) and just be together. Plus Cancun is just gorgeous! The beaches were beautiful and the water a fantastic aqua blue. We spend about four days and four nights at the Riu Cancun resort.

Now that we are back to reality, it a little hard adjusting from the honeymoon. We actually have to do work and cook our own food! :) I really like cleaning and organizing our little home though. The only process that we really have to go through is throwing out all my old things and bringing in our nice new presents. We are truly blessed to have such a fantastic family and friend group. The only room that is left to organize is the living room. We need to get a couch and a plant in order to complete our decoration! Honestly though, I'm glad that we are not going to live here forever. Jordan was scheming and saying that once Lavon passes away, we are going to buy her house and live here with our kids. I absolutely refuse. It is a nice place, but there are seriously two bedrooms...not enough for kids!

Jordan recently applied to medical schools all over the country. He got a request for a secondary application and possibly an interview for Dartmouth!! Wow! This is a very prestigious school up in New Hampshire. I am very excited to see what other schools want secondary applications from him.

Jordan is also working this summer in a research program up at Westminster College, where we are finishing our Bachelors. He is studying the connection between emotions and attentions in human DNA...he is so smart. Crazy, huh?