Its about time! We got it!

After months of waiting and praying, we finally found out Friday that we received the Indian Health Services Health Professions Scholarship. I turned in my application 6 months ago and have been waiting patiently ever since. They were switching from paper applications to online applications this year, so they were a little behind the deadlines that they had proposed, considering its the end of August and the website initially said they would let recipients know by the middle of June. None-the-less, I can't begin to explain how excited Jen and I are. For those of you who aren't familiar with the scholarship, it includes full tuition, books, equipment, and a monthly living stipend. In exchange for taking the scholarship, I agree to work for IHS for two years. I looked up job openings for IHS on Saturday just to get an idea of the kinds of places that we may end up... OH MY! We're more than likely to end up somewhere extremely remote. For example, for those of you who are curious, they had an opening in Kotzebue, AK. Look it up on wikipedia, it gives a nice picture. Again, Jen and I are extremely excited and grateful for this HUGE blessing and for another strong confirmation that Heavenly Father is watching out for and taking care of us. Thanks to all of you who have offered prayers on our behalf. We appreciate it.

My favorite times of the year

Some people really love Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, or New Years. While all of these are great times of year that I enjoy just as much as the next person, my favorite time of the year is driving home from my last final exam. I experienced one of those moments just 30 minutes ago. I hate all the stress that is involved with taking 7 tests in 7 days and I love the stress relief knowing that all those tests are done and I now have almost two weeks to just relax. I think I may finish the gate for our fence. It has needed a gate for over a year now. I think I will also finish the hardwood floors in our master bedroom. That has needed finishing since November. I blame this lack of being able to finish projects on my genes (before you get defensive, mom and dad, remember the wall in our entry way on Brookdale that only needed to have the sheetrock painted, but stayed unpainted from when I was 8 until sometime when I was on my mission?). Anyway, thats what has been going on lately here in Mississippi. We are also expecting to hear from IHS soon about the scholarship I applied for. We will let you all know as soon as we find out about anything.