Headed to Vegas baby

I'm at the Bham airport headed to Las Vegas today for Will's tournament. The tournament is called Southern Highlands Collegiate, hosted by UNLV. The play days are 3/13 – 3/15 and the scores can be found on www.golfstat.com if you are interested. It should have a good field; Will is excited about playing. Last year Charlotte finished 2nd. It will be interesting to see how competitive they will be this year. My parents arrived there yesterday and have already found my recommendation to stay at The Bellagio to be enjoyable. I looking forward to joining them. I made sure to pack plenty of green, white and black for the course and no AU gear, as Auburn will also be playing in this tournament. Probably the one time in my life when I will be cheering against my Auburn Tigers!

Amy's in Africa!

So, my good friend Amy has been in Ghana, Africa for almost 2 weeks now. You can check out her blog at www.amykinafrica.blogspot.com or on the link to the right. She is working at the Baptist Medical Center in northern Ghana for a her elective rotation - I had the privilege to meet the pharmacist and doctors she is working with on my trip to Cote d'Ivoire this summer - they all came to the IMB meeting. I know she is having a great experience - can't wait to hear more about it!

Rank List

Well, it's official - i turned in my rank list yesterday. Still unsure about it, but I trust the Lord will place me where He wants. I put 1-MUSC/Charleston, 2-Vanderbilt, 3-UAB, 4-Wake and 5-UNC-chapel hill. I'm really hoping I get one of the top 3, but I know I will be fine at any of the programs. Now I just have to wait until Wed, March 18th at 11am to find out!

Decisons, decisions...

Still struggling over what order to rank the residency programs in. I have a tenative order, but at any moment in the day I could talk myself into one program more than another and totally change the list. This week, as I have prayed over the situation, I have found more peace - in knowing that His purpose will prevail, whether it is my choice #1, 3 or 5. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" Pr 19:21.
I was reading a few chapters in Elizabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity today and these few sentances just stuck out and really spoke to me... "the heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go, than they care about getting there?"

Lunch with Campbell

Today I got off work early and was able to eat lunch with Katie and Campbell at Moe's. Campbell overheard the employees saying their traditional "Welcome to Moe's!" - she then turned to me and said, "Welcome to Moe's Jess!" It was precious and the highlight of my day!

Flight/Trip Cancelled and SNOW!

Well, as I was about to get in bed early last night for my 6am flight out to Denver, I checked the flight status and my flight from ATL to DEN was CANCELLED!! I have to admit I was somewhat excited because I was dreading the trip a little bit...didn't really feel like I would end up going there anyway (for many reasons). So after about 2 hrs of calling, busy signals and holding, I spoke with someone at Delta and had the choice to delay the trip a few hours or just cancel it all together. I went ahead and cancelled because I figured i would get to Atlanta and get stuck there today. It was a good choice as I checked all the flights this morning - old and new - and they were all cancelled! I feel like this poisition was not where the Lord would have me for next year and I'm thankful to have one less choice for my rank list. Even the guy on the phone with delta said, "yeah - you better stay home, this is not meant to be." Now if the rest of the choices would be so obvious...
Anyway, so I woke up in Birmingham to snow!! We've gotten about 2-3" so far. It's beautiful and I'm glad to be here and not traveling.

Sarah came to Bham

This past weekend my good friend Sarah from college/pharmacy school came to town!! She left Atlanta about the same time I left Nashville on Friday afternoon (after my interview) and we arrived in Bham about the same time. It was SO great to have her here and show her around - I took her to some of my favorite restaraunts and we also did some cheesy touristy stuff like The Vulcan. I had never been up to see the Vulcan before, so I thought it was a good idea to take her there. She didn't tell me about her newfound fear of heights until we were getting on the elevator to go up. It was neat to see Birmingham from that view...it was quite windy as you can tell by our pictures. We then took her dog, Colby on a walk at Vulcan trail. I enjoyed having someone at Brook Hills with me on Sunday and was glad she got to see the great church I have found here. She was also very patient in listening to all of my pros/cons about my residency decisions all weekend - I was very thankful for the insight and understanding. All in all, it was a great weekend and I really appreciated her taking the time to come!

Update on Interviews

I feel like just yesterday I was headed off for my NC interviews, but now 3 weeks and 5 interviews later I have come to neglect my blog! Overall the interviews have all gone really well. They were all very long days of answering a million questions, but I always came up with an answer and didn't find myself stumped on many of them. I really enjoyed talking about my Africa experiences and also the route I took to get to pharmacy school (year off, med school rejections, etc.) - it gave me a chance to share how I know I am in the right place with my career and how my faith plays into that. BUT...all that to say, I am SO confused as to where I should go! There are definite pros and cons about all of them, but none of them would be a bad experience and none of them were a "lightbulb" experience like "THIS IS WHERE YOU SHOULD GO!" I would really love to stay in Birmingham and not move, but I also know I could have a great experience elsewhere. My top 3 in no particular order (for now) will prob be UAB, Charleston(MUSC) and Vanderbilt... Wake was a great program, but I'm just not sure I would want to live there - I know nothing about Winston-Salem. UNC is prob rounding out at #5 just because of the distance and they pay a lot less than the other programs, with the most work! I'm really considering making a big pro/con poster so I can visualize all the different options...I'll let you know how that goes.
I am really struggling about this decision and am spending a lot of time asking the Lord to guide my heart. I know it will all work out for the best, but I need to know what order I am going to put them in...by next Friday the 6th! I'd appreciate your prayers over this matter and for my fears, doubts and anxieties to be quieted.

Oh - and I'm still headed to Denver this weekend for an interview at Children's Hospital next Monday. I have known for a while that this option is probably not what I want (b/c I still want some adult rotations) but I didn't feel like I could cancel the interview - so I'm going for the experience and who knows what it will show me!

Feb 3rd

Well, I'm sitting at the Birmingham airport about to board the plane for Raleigh, NC... I'm quite nervous about the 2 interviews because I haven't had much time to prepare for the questions like I wanted to. Oh well...

Today is Campbell's 2nd BIRTHDAY!! She is getting so big and is at such a fun age right now. She has progressed from calling me "jess" to "jess-i-ca" - it's like she thinks we've been saying my name wrong the whole time and she wants to correct us! Her birthday party is Saturday at Chuckie Cheese - should be fun!

Tonight at 6:30pm central on ABC, Katie's friend Hannah will be on Wheel of Fortune!! Katie was able to go out to LA for the filming a few weeks ago and you might just see her on tv at the end...

Birthday Fun

Today (and this weekend) was great! I enjoyed being home for the weekend and tonight I had a great dinner with the girls at a restaraunt called "26" (for the end of me being 26...). I am blessed by wonderful friends and family - thanks for all the birthday wishes!