the Graduate

Seven and a half years ago, Sam told me he wanted to be a physical therapist. Interesting. I knew next to nothing about the field. I did however know that it required school beyond undergraduate, and sitting next to me was a self-professed school hater. In our exceptionally brief relationship, I had already determined that his academic adviser (one specifically for student athletes) was a moron. So, I decided to look at what this dream of his might require… low and behold, I found our that the field of physical therapy was in the midst of a transition from a Masters degree to a Doctoral degree. WHAT?!?! I immediately thought two things (I'm just being honest): 1- no way this guy's going to school for a doctorate, and 2- thank the Lord, I swore I'd never marry a doctor.

Well people, last Friday, he proved me wrong on all accounts. He in fact, did go on to receive his Doctorate in Physical Therapy!

Congratulations Sam!

Sam with "diploma" in hand after graduation!

The festivities were many, but hopefully, Sam felt proud, accomplished, loved, appreciated and supported at the end of it all! We started off all of the fun with a Hooding Ceremony on Thursday night for everyone in the College of Allied Health Sciences. Basically, it was an hour and forty-five  minutes of boredom watching undergrads get called for every award under the sun for fifteen minutes of glory as Sam and all of his fellow classmates were "hooded".

Sam receiving his hood from the Department Chair

The last fifteen minutes were lots of fun! It was particularly humorous to watch these professors stand on boxes to reach the students. I thought Sam should have simply knelt! So with that done, we moved on to the more exciting events: pictures (which he wasn't into in the dress clothes, gown, hood, and Augusta heat), dinner at Nacho Mama's and dessert at Boll Weevil.

the one and only decent picture of us
(kind of looks like he went to Hogwarts, right?)

Dessert at Boll Weevil never fails to impress. If you're ever in Augusta, make sure you stop by. And if you happen to be in town on a Sunday, double bonus, desserts are half price! Hel-lo!

"Perfect Chocolate" and "Tropical Dream"
Excellent way to end the night!

Friday morning was lots of fun! The DPT class held a brunch for friends and family. This was much more intimate and special. Plus, it was really the only time that I got to catch up with all of our friends. It's crazy to think that other than a few weddings, the class hadn't been together since July 2012! It was great to see everyone again! 

Kyle and Lesley Anne Fenton, some of our
greatest friends from our time in Augusta. So
incredibly thankful for their continued friendship!
(please ignore the weirdness of my dress)

After brunch, some speeches, some additional awards, and the traditional candle ceremony it was time to head to graduation. I'll spare you the details of what happens when you merge a local college of predominantly undergraduates (ASU) with a well known school of medicine and health sciences (MCG) to form a brand new conglomeration struggling to identify itself and find cohesive elements (GRU). Needless to say the graduation ceremony was long, fairly boring, and quite unique as it's graduates earned everything from associate degrees to doctoral degrees in everything from drawing to dentistry. The important parts were: 1- He DID it! Hello Diploma! 2- they said his name right!!! (gray-view, not groo-voo, or grugh-voo, nor gree-aw-vu)

on his way to the stage… 

diploma in hand! Congratulations Dr. Sam Greavu, PT, DPT

Sadly, this came at about the half way point… there were still approximately 867,592 graduates left to call! Bah! Sore back! Can't feel my butt! Save me! Eventually, it did end. All that was left was a few quick photos (it was roasting outside) and to pick up the actual diploma.

Woot Woot! Three long years later, it's official!
Can't believe we've come this far!

We were off after snagging the diploma and headed home. I was exhausted and sore (think one week post surgery), but crazy proud of my big boy. Saturday night we took the Graduate out to Bonefish to celebrate!

To say I'm insanely proud of my husband would be a vast understatement! Seven and a half years ago, Sam had just started his sophomore year with a 2.0 GPA. Obviously, you can't get into grad school, let alone a medical program with a GPA like that. The following years were filled with hard word and sacrifice. I can honestly say that there were times in which I wondered if we'd make it, if it would all be worth it. I'm a doubter by nature. But not Sam, even when the odds were crazy low, even when he received rejection, he never doubted where he was meant to be. Through his hard work, and by the grace of God, we made it!

The abundantly awesome part… not only did he work forty hour weeks during the last semester completing a clinical rotation and an elective, but he also studied his butt off for his board exams. And don't you know? He passed both! Within a few weeks time, Sam will receive his license to practice. He will start his first professional job within the next few weeks and we are both simply ecstatic about the opportunities that he has been given and the provision the Lord has given to bring us to this point in our lives! The sky's the limit (well, after we pay down these student loans)!

Congratulations Sam! I'm so incredibly proud of you! I pray that the next years of your life are everything you hoped they would be! 

Goodbye 2012

And 2012 is going... going... gone. I'm tempted to say good riddance, but that seems kind of blasphemous, or at least unthankful. And truly I am thankful for this year; I'm just in a pity-party kind of mood. I remember a similar post in 2011 in which I was sad to see 2010 end, it had been a FABULOUS year. I don't feel quite the same way about 2012. Good things happened for sure; I'm just ready for 2013. Ready to put the bad, the sad, the frustrating, the depressing from this year behind me. Having so many fellow bloggers gives some humbling perspective to the idea that "next year is our year" as many of them are in their third, fourth, fifth, etc. year of actively trying to conceive. So I won't say that 2013 will be the year of success, but I have to cling to hope, cling to the idea that 2013 might be the year, and if it is, well, I'm glad it's here.

But like I said, 2012 wasn't all bad. Firstly, I outed myself as infertile. It was a crazy, stressful, overwhelming decision, but I haven't regretted it for one moment. I've found so much support in the blogging world. The camaraderie, the sister-like aspects of blogging about my journey and reading about others' experiences is truly therapeutic. I'm in a much better place than I would have been if I was dealing with this alone. And the support I have received in real life - the friends, the family members, the random strangers - has been unbelievable. It is so comforting to know that people care, really, truly care. This time last year, I was blogging secretly about my experience, about surviving the miscarriage, about starting clomid, and I felt so unbelievably alone. Amazing what can change in a year, when really, nothing has changed at all.

Secondly, we celebrated our second anniversary. Sam and I decided long before we ever said our vows that we would make a point of celebrating our anniversary each year. No matter what. We promised that we wouldn't let kids or jobs or money prevent us from marking each achievement. Well, luckily, jobs haven't been an issue, we've celebrated cheaply, and wouldn't you know, kids still aren't a problem. Our second anniversary wasn't as glamorous as our first, but I'm still happy that, thus far, we've kept our commitment. Let's hope something cheeeaaaap makes itself available for anniversary number three!

Thirdly, in keeping with the marriage aspect, my marriage is in a better place this year than last. Don't get me wrong, we've been great all along, but infertility can really put a strain on things. Sam and I dealt with the miscarriage very differently and it was hard for me to watch him move on so quickly. Initially, we were in very different places on how to move ahead with the infertility diagnosis. It created a lot of tension. I'm happy to say, that we are on the same page now. Maybe not on the same paragraph, but hey, progress is progress. You've got to celebrate the little things. We have a (for now) plan. I won't say that either of us are 100% in love with the plan (who loves a plan that includes IVF?), but we've reached a compromise, and that is a beautiful thing.

Fourth item of fabulousness, we moved! Praise the Lord, Augusta is behind me. Lots of Sam's PT classmates love Augusta (I think there is something in the water), but it wasn't for us. Between the job, the school, the heat, and the cockroaches, we had our fill. We are so happy to be back. We are THRILLED to be close enough to our church, Athens Church, to get involved again. This has been an amazing season for us spiritually both individually and as a couple. We simply can't wait to permanently move to the Athens area.

And lastly, I started treatment. I won't go so far as to say that I'm thankful to need treatment. No, if the good Lord wants to heal me tonight that is fine by me. But, I'm thankful that we've started. If we are going to need to go alllllllll the way to IVF, then I am glad the ball is rolling. I'm glad we didn't wait. I'm glad we didn't "give it more time". I'm pleased that despite the immense amounts of frustration and the fury over our situation, that we've checked boxes off the list. There are less "unknowns" now. We have more answers, not all of the answers, but more than we had at this time last year.

So, in conclusion 2012 was rough, but most importantly we survived. We survived with our marriage and our faith still intact, and let me tell you, some days, that feels like a pretty huge achievement. 2012 certainly left some scars, but nothing that we can't move beyond. Maybe one day, we will be thankful for those scars; stories to tell and all of that. Welcome 2013. Be gentle with me. And puh-lease be "my year".

It's Christmas Time in the City

Yay! It's my FAVORITE time of the year! This Christmas is particularly special as it is our first Christmas as husband and wife. We have had so much fun shopping for all the decorations! Well, let me amend that, I have had an incredible time doing the aforementioned, and Sam has dutifully smiled and pretended to care about each little decision.

When Sam and I went home for Thanksgiving we decided to look at the Christmas tree farm that my family has bought trees from for the past six years or so. Sam priced them here in Augusta so we knew we were looking for a great deal (without skimping in the least). As my mom and Sam can attest, I am a little bit picky about Christmas trees... they must be perfect. For the last sixteen years my family has been fortunate enough to have very high ceilings so we have always had very large trees. I was not looking forward to downgrading in the least... a tree that is shorter than my husband just doesn't seem all that large, even if it is "average height". So Sam and I helped pick out a BEAUTIFUL twelve foot tree for my mom's house, and then, while the men drilled the whole and bundled it up, Sam and I browsed the small tree section. They were all so pitiful... skinny, short, nothing looked right. And then out of nowhere, bam! Beautiful! It's short, that's for sure, but it's as tall as our little old home can handle. We were debating whether it was worth buying it and hauling it all the way back to Augusta, when the sweet lady who runs Cooper's Tree Farm came and put a price tag on our sweet tree! And that did it! I can't say no to a great deal! So Sam grabbed our perfect baby Christmas tree and hauled it to the drill!

On Sunday when we got home to Augusta, we quickly made a fresh cut and got our Christmas tree in the stand and watered. We then headed out to get lights, which of course required two trips. I guess even the first year when you are guaranteed they will all light, you still have to make an extra trip for more! Sam was great and helped put up the lights and decorations while we utilized the greatness on Pandora to listen to some Christmas carols.

As we have the extra ordeal of Sterling to contend with, we went almost entirely with shatterproof ornaments, which has turned out great! We spent way less money then we would have on glass ornaments AND as both Sterling and Everest love to get ornaments off the tree, we've been saved a great deal of heartache over broken glass!

So here it is, our first Christmas tree!

Along with our tree skirt from Pottery Barn (monogrammed and shipped for FREE) we got stockings for ALL of us. Sterling's and Everest's are actually from Pottery Barn Kids, and I couldn't resist! They were just too cute!

Thankfully we have a cute little shelve in our living room since we don't have a fireplace, but I'm pretty pleased!

It also gave me a great (safe) place to display some of the many nutcrackers that I've been collecting for the past fifteen years. The remainder ended it up squeezed in an old bookcase. All of our Christmas decorations are above the five foot level, but I'm pretty pleased with what we've accomplished.

And for the first year that we can't be home with our families for the greater part of December, we've done a good job of creating our own festive feel in Augusta until we can make it home. So Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you are all enjoying this Christmas season as much as Sam and I! May the Lord bless you and your's in the coming year!

Wall Art

When Sam and I moved into our rental home, I knew that I wanted to work really hard to personalize the space, but I also recognized that we are on an extremely tight budget, and we didn't want to sink money into a rental. I hated the bland, boring white walls, popcorn ceilings, and icky beige carpet of my apartment in Athens, and I wanted our first "home" to feel as much like our own place as possible. One of the best decisions we've made is the investment in some beautiful "works of art".

Sam and I were blessed to meet two incredible people who photographed our wedding and engagement sessions. Chris and Allie Bartelski are amazing people and really, really talented photographers. (Plus they were recently blessed with one of the CUTEST baby boys in history) Together they form theReason (link directs to their interactive blog). Sam and I are so thankful to have these pictures to celebrate and remember these times in our life. But I didn't want to leave all the memories in digital form and look at them occasionally on the computer, so I searched for professional grade printers. After I found a fantastic site for high quality, professional prints, we decided to order some prints to hang on the wall.

First we composed an arrangement from our wedding pictures for the wall in our living room. I ordered when the site was having a pretty good sale, so I think total cost for the prints was about $40. We are really pleased with the way it turned out! And this is definitely an investment that we can utilize in every home for years to come! (Believe me, they look better in person... our house is just super dark)

Since our first experiment turned out so well, we decided to order another print to hang in our bedroom, this time from our engagement shoot. Again, we're really pleased! And the best part is that we got the frame for $31 and the photo for $16... Not a bad price for 24x36 art on the wall!

And lastly, it doesn't hang on the wall, but we got our wedding album in the mail several weeks ago, and as this blog has turned into an endorsement for Chris and Allie, I figured I'd include a couple of shots. As a designer myself, pretty much every wedding album I've ever seen has made me want to gag. There are some really talented photographers out there who get way too amped up when it comes to album design... yeesh! Let the pictures speak for themselves and for crying out loud... let them breathe!!! I was pleasantly surprised when I first met Chris and Allie. Their albums are well designed and timeless pieces to capture the story of the day. So as my last word on theReason... any brides scouring the earth for wedding photographers, Sam and I would highly recommend this husband and wife team!

As for Sam and I, we couldn't be more pleased to slowly make this rental house a home. Augusta may not be our dream locale, but we're making the best of our time here, and decorating on a BUDGET!

Long Weekend in the Jungle

Most people think of Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start of summer and the first opportunity to head to the beach or spend the day on the lake. This year, for Sam and I, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity that presented itself and use my dear, sweet Momma, and all of her landscaping talents and overhaul our new yard.

As newlywed's and first home renters, a yard is a new and exciting thing for us... but this one was a little daunting. Momma came down Friday night to spend the weekend with us, and when I woke up Saturday morning, she was already tackling what I thought was an overgrown tree. Boy was I wrong!...

As you can see this monstrosity was taking over a fence that was hiding under the depths of its shady foliage, but what appeared to be a tree in bad need of some grooming was actually a VINE!!! Who in their right mind would plant such a thing, I'll never know. After hours of cutting, ripping, and ultimately wrestling with these thorny vines, we conquered (sort of)! Mom wanted to simply chop it down, but I convinced her that as we are renting, we probably shouldn't destroy the property. Here is an after shot of the much needed hair cut!

And with that we were off to a long weekend of learning all about our jungle of a yard and slowly taming this new responsibility of adulthood. The first thing I learned: landscaping is a fortune, literally. Grass alone can make you cringe at the checkout! And who knew there were so many types of fertilizer! Thankfully, we have a very small back yard, but it was really overgrown. This property is over 50 years old, and I believe that pretty much everything is original. All of the bushes and trees are HUGE and they haven't been maintained in quite sometime. Which leads me to the second lesson I learned: it's much easier to maintain a yard in good shape than one that has run amuck! But in the end with a lot of help from Mom, we have a neat little yard. Now we just have to wait for the grass to grow!

Here is a shot of one of the Camellia in the back yard that Mom trimmed back in to shape (they looked like giant balls before). And as you can see they are huge!!!

We also planted three Hydrangea (my favorite). Two are the traditional ones that are blue or pink depending on your soil's pH, but one I just couldn't pass up is called Peppermint. It's petals are variegated pink and white to look like, well a peppermint!

We also spruced up the front of the yard with some new hanging baskets and planters filled with Impatiens since pretty much our whole yard is shady! Here's a before and after of the front of the house.

By the end of the weekend we were all pretty tired, but I have to admit that I'm pretty pleased with the results. It wasn't a lot, but it certainly made the view from the kitchen window much more pleasant and it made our house feel a little bit more like home.

So, a blog huh?

I guess I am officially joining the crowd and becoming a member of the blogging community. It’s another one of those things, that I swore I’d never do, because I mean, “who reads those things?”. To answer it, I do, so I might as well join my voice with everyone else. Now is as good of time as any.

In fact, now may be one of the more popular times to start a blog, as I’m in the “newlywed phase”. Based on so many of my friends who have married before me, it seems like a blog is the thing to do for the newly married. Why? I don’t know, probably for several reasons. Firstly, it probably has something to do with the feeling of severed ties. You are a unit now, not an individual, and in some ways it feels kind of isolating, contrary to what it might seem. Secondly, so that family (read this as moms) can keep track of you and your family without feeling nosy. Thirdly, it probably has something to do with social networking. So many of my friends (and myself) got married before careers and everything were completely set in stone, so there is also the aspect of starting real life, and some contacts sure won’t hurt.

I guess I fall into all three of these categories. I could certainly use any networking available, I’m sure our moms will be the major followers of this blog, but the main force driving me is the feeling of isolation. I have no idea exactly how writing to no one in particular solves that, but putting pen to paper (figuratively) has always helped me order my thoughts, and maybe the idea that someone could read it removes some of the isolation.

Not only am I a very recent newlywed (just over 6 weeks), but I’m also a resident of a new city where I know one person… my husband. Talk about feelings of isolation! And to top it off, I’ve knowingly chosen a life that I swore I would never have--I am the wife of a medical student. I am surprisingly pleased with this status and so very proud of my husband, but it is not the path I thought I'd be on 5 years ago. Why is that so taboo to me? Well, I grew up to my mom’s horror stories of doing exactly what I’ve just done… marrying my dad and leaving everything she knew to go with him when he got into dental school in Louisville, KY. She didn’t know a soul, she had no job, a son to take care of, and a husband who spent 20 hours a day at school slicing open cadavers or at home in silence studying. Thankfully there are some differences between my mom’s story and mine: The Lord was good to me and only sent me 2.5 hours away from my family instead of 9, I don’t have a young son to care for, just a 1 year old cat (Everest), and I seriously doubt that my husband will spend 20 hours a day studying. As he explains it to me, he would either go crazy or his head will explode!

Despite these distinct differences, I am coming to realize that the next three years are full of unknowns, and I HATE unknowns. I like lists, I like order, I like to know exactly what steps get me where I want to go, and I like to be in control. However, I think God has a different plan. I have decided to trust, which is something that I am very bad at, but I am going to trust Him, that His reasons and His plans are infinitely better than the ones I would have come up with. I’ve decided to trust that God fully comprehends our financial situation, and that He will provide; that He hears and understands my loneliness, but that He is using this time to draw me closer to my husband, and ultimately to Him; and that He has the timeline of my years planned for me, so I can stop with all the worry.

So here’s to believing that I have not been abandoned no matter how alone I may feel, and trusting that the next chapter of my life is being written by the ultimate Author.