Spiritual High

Well, another week has past and it is my turn to write. Today in sacrament meeting the topic was on the Savior and his perfect gift, the atonement. The thought was given that Christ has already given us this perfect gift, and so whenever we do anything, we should think if it is showing thanks for that gift that was already given. In Sunday school we are reading Acts and learned about the calling of the seventy, Stephen, and Saul (Paul). Something that I had not really focused on before was the verses where Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus, and as soon as Saul realizes who it is and that he has been doing things wrong, he says, “What wilt thou have me to do?” and so we were taught that this should be a goal for our lives, to be able to ask that question and then follow the answer. In the last hour we talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy, and several stories were shared about temporal things that may have been missed out on (participating in a sports game on Sunday, etc.), but all of the eternal blessings that were gained for following this commandment.

Yesterday was our Stake temple day, so we drove down with Peter and Cynthia Hedgecock and their kids. Steph and I went through an endowment session first while they watched our kids. The stake had worked it out with the temple presidency so that we got to listen to counsel from the temple president for a half hour before doing the session. This is the second time the stake has done this trip this year (they have a third one scheduled in November), and they have been such spiritual rejuvenators. I learned so many things about the temple and how I can improve my life and how to better teach my children. I think I was on a spiritual high. After we were done, it was our turn to take the kids and keep them entertained while Peter and Cynthia had a turn. We also watched Tyce and Faith Kearl’s children so they could get a chance to participate as well. We had all three of our boys and their two kids in our minivan, so it was full. It gave us at least a glimpse of how things might be in a few more years when we have five kids (though thankfully by then all five will not be under the age of 4 like they were yesterday). :) We took the kids to the park and played on the playground and swings for a while. Then when they got tired of that we took a walk in the park. A little further down from the playground was a skateboarding park. No one else was there, so the kids had so much fun running up the ramps and then sliding down them like they were slides, though they ended up with really dirty pants because of the black dust on the ramps. We think the dirt was worth the fun we had.

This week was also my birthday – 27, wow, where has the time gone? I got lots of new clothes and a pillow. Thanks to everyone for the phone calls. Peter and Cynthia babysat for us because we had babysat for them the night before while they went to dinner for their anniversary. Steph and I enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, That’s Amore. Afterwards we saw The Bourne Ultimatum. It was action from beginning to end. (Thanks, Grandma Bradshaw, for the present of dinner and a movie for my birthday).

Friday night we met some friends at the park to play some sand volleyball. We got to meet some new couples in the ward that are starting medical school this next week. Steph had baked a birthday cake, so we took that to share. One of the new couples, Keith and Jana Wells, needed some help moving some furniture into their apartment, so we helped with that and then ended up at our place to play some games – Cranium and Scum.

School has not been too bad this week. I have off most Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons for “personal study time,” which has been so nice. I am in a community internal medicine clinic on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then I work at the hospital on Tuesdays and Thursdays, helping with pre-op physicals to clear people for surgery.

As part of the rotation, we have to do a hospice visit. I had mine on Wednesday and I ended up with a chaplain to do some home visits. It was quite a different experience from most “normal” days at school. The first lady we visited was dying of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is an end stage disease of the lungs. She was quite religious, and so the chaplain ended up sharing a story with her from the Bible about faith and hope and letting Christ into our lives. The second lady is dying from pancreatic cancer. Talking with the chaplain, I guess this lady was not as religious, and so the visit was tailored more to find out her goals, which centered on her family. The chaplain talked about the importance of meeting people on their level and helping them to cope with death the way they want to, being there to support them as needed. I was just reminded that patients have a “spiritual” side that needs monitoring and at times help with healing, and that if we as doctors can take time to help people with that aspect of their health, it usually helps their physical health as well.

Well, I think that is enough writing for now. Until next time, have a great week.