It's almost Christmas!!!

Well it looks like this year is the year of sparse blog updates.  The past few months have flown by and with less than 3 months before baby girl budd arrives, I'm sure we're headed for more of the same.

Since my last post a few things have happened:

1. We found out in mid October that we were indeed going to have a girl!  Such exciting news, especially since we thought she was going to be a boy - it's been fun picking out names and we have 3 but won't name her until we see her beautiful face!
2. My beautiful baby sister Breanna got married on November 11th to the love of her life - Tim Remer.  It was such an honor to be part of their special day and it was so fun to be with all of my sisters and their kids.....four kids under 4 left us with little energy at the end of the day, but it was awesome!
3. Kelsey finished his 5th Semester on December 2nd and kept up his "A" average for med school.  Proud doesn't begin to describe how I feel about the work he's been putting in for the past two years attending medical school, being a great husband and soon to be dad!
4. With the end of 5th in Michigan we moved back to Jers....where there really is no place like home.  We plan to be here until sometime in Aprilish (depending on where we start rotations) and we'll be having Ms. Baby B on Feb 29th in Jers...just like her daddy =)
5. I had my 34th birthday which was nice to have back on US soil (for the past two b-days I was out of the country, Thailand for 32 and Dominica for 33).  It was a great day that started off with breakfast in bed (french toast, eggs, coffee and grapefruit - compliments of Kelsey).  We then spent the rest of the day just the two of us....which when your husband is in the middle of studying for one of the biggest tests of his life is the BEST present ever!

So that's a quick little update of what's been going on with us.  I'll be trying to post more pictures of baby bumps as I am getting bigger and bigger as the weeks pass along!

Until next time....remember the reason for Christmas...the greatest gift each of us has ever received!

Fifth Semester, Michigan and a New Addition

Family and Friends:

You all know me by now and know that what started out as a great attempt to blog all the time has almost become non existant, and for that I apologize.......Many of you don't talk to me on a regular basis nor do you have even a general understanding of the craziness that is our life in medical school because I haven't updated this little blog =(

So here is my attempt to update you all on what has happened the past few months in our lives:

TIME IN DOMINICA.......has come to an end.  On Aug 22, 2011 Kelsey and I were scheduled to leave the island of Dominica and make it home in one day with very tight connections (if you flew here all the time you would know that is almost an impossible feat!)  So we got all packed, sold everything that we couldn't fit into three bags (we left a suitcase behind) and hoped we would be under the 50lb per bag limit so that all our bags would make it to St. Marteen (we flew Liat to St. Marteen via Antigua) and then we would board a different plane and airline to make it to Newark!!!!  Sounds simple enough except a little chic named Irene almost messed it all up!  That's right Ms. Irene swept through the night before and closed St. Marteen's airport, which we didn't find out until we were at the airport Monday morning.  What were we to do????? The airline told us they would call around 10 am (our flight was to leave at 9:15am) and for those that no me "that was just not acceptable" I wanted no NEEDED to get off that island THAT DAY!  So we started praying, sent out a text to Kelsey's mom to get everyone she new praying and literally within 30 minutes tops we found out that the airport was open (from a different counter) told Liat, who called, checked us in and our two extra bags (best $120 I have spent on the island) and we boarded our plane by 9:15am!!!  We made all of our connections, including a two hour layover in St. Marteen that was shrunk to just an hour! But thanks to the baggage guys downstairs who called our airline and let them know we were in baggage and not to sell our seats, we got on our flight, had time for lunch (best Quizzno Salad ever!!!), made it through security with 1 minutes left to board and we got home 20 minutes early!  If that wasn't God I don't know what else it could be.........PRAYER works people!

U.S. and OUR MOVE TO MICHIGAN.........What a blessing it was to be home for two weeks in NJ.  We got to see friends, family and Kelsey got some much needed R&R as well as some of the best food we have had in a LONG time...can anyone say steak?????  OOOOH  and we got to celebrate Aunt Sue and her 50th b-day which entailed lots of family and friends, a phillies game, and more steak!!!  After a brief two weeks home filled with swapping our spring/summer wardrobe for fall/bitter cold winter  wardrobe, we packed our car with all that would fit and headed out on a long 12 hour drive to Saginaw MI.  "Where???" some of you may ask....it's about 1 1/2 north of Detriot, but it's America and we are having a great time here. 

Kelsey had to take a HUGE test which is a mock of the first board exam he will take early next year and had to pass in order to even move on to the next two years of school!  You have three tries to take this exam, and PRAISE GOD - Kelsey passed the first time with a great score (although all you need is a 66 to pass) =)  So he is off to a good start here in Saginaw and already did his first (and only for now) pelvic exam on an "actual patient".  I think he has ruled out OB/GYN as a field he is interested in, but he is getting to work with patients on a regular basis which is a nice change of pace from sitting in a classroom five days a week.  Oh and did I mention (although he'll hate me for posting this) he has still maintained his 4.0!!! PROUD doesn't even begin to describe my feelings but it's only been by God's grace that he has gotten this far and been this successful, and to GOD be all the GLORY for his grades and success!

NEW ADDITION............now some of you may have heard through the grape vine.......

Just kidding!!!! But seriously.....

Kelsey and I will be expecting our first Baby Budd on February 29th (yep it's a leap year) of next year.  We are still a little shocked by the whole thing and at least 10 times a week still say "We're going to be parents!?!??!"  or "We're going to have a baby!!!!!!!!"  So crazy how a little over a year ago we were beginning the craziest thing either of us had ever done (well at least for Kelsey) by moving to a small 3rd world island in the Caribbean and now we are embarking on the craziest, most wonderful, scary, and exhilarating, life-changing experience we could ever have in becoming parents! 

We appreciate all of you who have been praying and continue to pray for Baby Budd and the growth and health of this beautiful miracle!

Until the next time (hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.....) remember to love those around you with more than just words....

The Final Semester Begins

Argh I was hoping to do a better job of updating this blog over semester 3 but as you can see....it DIDN'T HAPPEN!  So my goal is going to be to update this little bitty blog each Sunday, which was the plan for last semester, but with only 4 weeks of teaching left, and more free time then ever I think I should be able to accomplish this goal.

So what has been happening since our last update......


1. Apartment - we are actually staying in the same apartment this semester as last semester, which means for the first time in our marriage Kelsey and I will be living in the same space for more than 4 months!!!!  Here are just a few quick shots of our apartment...

 This is the view of the ocean from our front porch and kitchen!

 This is the living room.....

the dinning room and HUGE kitchen (for Dominica anyways)

 The bedroom.......

and our view from our bedroom....I literally wake up to the mountains each and every morning

..this apartment is such a blessing!

SO as you can see we love our apartment and are able to have our home fellowship KOINONIA in our apartment each Saturday.

2. School for Me - school for me is coming to an end.  School's official last day is JUNE 30th!  I will be glad to have more free time, but will miss the kids and the free A/C!!!!  But I have decided to work the summer program 2 days a week to keep me busy and to help cover expenses over the last few months when I don't receive a paycheck :(

3. School for Kelsey - Kelsey is doing AWESOME in Med school...while he doesn't like to brag, he's among the top in his class of over 250 students for his semester and is involved in several student groups, he leads our home fellowship group and tutors Anatomy!  Needless to say I am sooooooooooooooooooo proud of him this blog would make most people gag if I wrote on and on...so I won't but know that he's kicking butt and all of your prayers for us and for him during test times are not only appreciated but being answered.

In addition to this being Kels last semester on the island it is also the semester where he get's to be most like a "real doctor".  Yep he gets to go to hospitals and clinics and interview REAL patients.  Now while that might not seem like such a big deal it really is....up until now he has been interviewing "fake" patients who are given certain symptoms to report, history, etc.  He is now getting to go and try to determine what next steps a "Real Person" would need to take...this is no longer a textbook case of such and such.  His first hospital visit (for a full day and at our hospital in Roseau) will be on this coming Tuesday so keep him in your prayers!!!

4. The Break - This break we decided to stay local and head to another island so we jetted off to Barbados!  In theory this sounds like a wonderful idea...we find a great deal on a hotel right on the beach and we head out with another couple and poof!  We are whisked away to an island adventure in central america (technically I guess the southern islands are considered part of central america...who knew?)....

That's all for tonight....look for more updates on Barbados and our 2nd anniversary and Kelsey's 32nd birthday in the weeks to come...

Love ya all....and remember...if you can't love the ones your with...love them from a distance LOL!

Updates for Semester 3

Yes, yes I know I KNOW it's been way to long since any type of update.  Thoughts of "are they ok?" "do they have a place to live?" "are they still in Dominica?" must be running through everyone's heads.  But rest assured we are alive and well and enjoying our 3rd semester (months 8-12) of living in Dominica.

Here are just a few quick things that we have been up to:

1. Moved into yet another apartment (this time only to the building next door).  We lost the 2nd bedroom but gained a huge living room, eating space, kitchen and bedroom.  So I've been able to cook and bake like I did back home which is an incredible thing to do!
2. Valentine's Day  - we had a wonderful V-day with a homemade dinner to die for and a fabulous bottle of wine Kelsey surprised me with from one of my favorite places...South Africa!
3. Hiked to Victoria Falls - it's one of the largest (or maybe the largest) waterfalls on the island.  We had quite the adventure (individual post to follow)
4. Hiked to Boiling Lake!  YES you heard me correctly - a BOILING lake.  This hike usually takes 3 - 4 hours each way, but our crew did it in 2.5 hours each way!  Needless to say there were points of desperation, a walk through the Valley of Desolation and an amazing hidden waterfall that was featured in the Piarates of the Caribbean 2. (individual post to follow - with pics)
5. Started then canceled a trip to Paris =(  I personally was so excited to see that there were tickets for $650 each way to go to Paris from the neighboring island of Guadeloupe, unfortunately we didn't snatch them up in time, so it will be bumped til next year when we hope tickets are still a great price.  Until then Au revoir Paris!  We will see you again soon......
6. Carnival!!!!  Today is Carnival in Portsmouth the town that is nearest to the school....Kelsey and I plan to go there for a few hours today and check it out....

I promise to update more and post more pictures....but until then - keep on loving the ones you're with!

N