Family is Great

We just had a wonderful morning at church today. There was a combined third hour meeting, so Steph and I got to listen together. And Steph’s visiting teaching companion wanted to hold Camden for us the entire time, so we actually got to listen to the lesson. The topic was The Proclamation to the World on the Family, and we were taught two of the main doctrines that come from that proclamation: staying close to your spouse and learning how to cope with life’s challenges together as a couple; and the importance of nourishing and teaching our children from a young age. The bishop brought up the fact that statistically right now about 1/3 of the young men in the church are serving missions. He specifically pointed out that since we have three boys in our family right now, statistically only one of them would serve a mission if those numbers remain the same. And that this also affects the young women in the church when it comes time for them to choose a spouse and trying to find temple-worthy young men. The bishop wanted us as parents to think about what we need to be doing to teach our children so that they will want to make positive choices later on in life. Steph and I had some good ideas afterwards of things we can do to try and have more love and goodness in our home, including doing our family scripture reading as part of the boys' bedtime routine each night and trying to include them in the reading more, rather than just reading while they play on the floor.

The weather this week has been very pleasant. We took advantage of the good weather yesterday and met the Kearls at the beach at Lake Pewaukee. They have so much fun playing in the sand. We made an island for Steph to sit on and then the boys dug a “river” around her to trap her on her island. Afterwards we all went to dinner at Denny’s, since kids eat free on Saturdays – what a deal for our family.

I can’t believe it is already the end of July. It feels like I just started my dermatology rotation, and now I just have two days left. Maybe that’s because I’m having so much fun on this rotation. I continue to enjoy the things that I see and the idea of becoming a dermatologist just feels right. I have a presentation and my end of month test this week, so wish me luck.

I have also been working hard this week on my residency application. I met with my dermatology advisor, who I am also writing a case presentation with about one of her patients. She is going to write one of my letters of recommendation. I will meet with the dermatology chairman this upcoming week so he can get to know me a little better and write a letter – wish me luck. I am talking with one of the other pediatric dermatologists to see if she will write a letter for me. And then Dr. Flores, who I did my summer research project with during first and second years, is writing the other one. I have also been working on my curriculum vitae (in common terms, my resume) and a personal statement that we have to write.

Steph continues to stay busy at home with the three boys. They are always full of so much energy. They went to the zoo earlier this week, they both have swim lessons, and they have an art class every Thursday morning. And then Steph has her physical therapy each week to help strengthen her knee, which seems to be helping. Camden also got one of his front top teeth this week, and he looks so cute. And he waved at someone for the first time the other day too.

Monday night we had the missionaries over for dinner, and the message they shared for family home evening came from James in the New Testament, where he talks about the importance of going to the Lord for help, and then waiting for the answer to come, telling us how to act and what to say.

Tuesday night we went to JCPenny to get pictures of me for applications and the school’s yearbook. Normally when we go, it is such a chore just to get the boys to smile and try to get a decent photo. So I was expecting us to be there forever like always, until I realized that the photographer only took about 10 pictures and said we were done, all in about 5 minutes. It was great.

Friday night we had the Kearls and the Morrisons over for games. We played a card game called Red One that normally is meant for four players, but we tried it with six, and it actually worked fine.

Life continues to fly as we keep ourselves busy and enjoy the friends and memories we are creating out here in Milwaukee.