Clinical Rotation Assignments!!!

I will officially be a second year PA student very soon and that means CLINICAL ROTATIONS!! We got our assignments for our clinical year today and I am very pleased.

We have 2 weeks off the second half of May, then back to the classroom for June and July, then White Coat Ceremony and 2 weeks off, then 2 weeks of Clinical Administration training at a hospital in rural SC, and THEN we start rotations on September 3rd!!

Here they are:

Rotation 1 (Internal Medicine): Columbia

Rotation 2 (Emergency Medicine): Kershaw

Rotation 3 (Women’s Health): Columbia 

Rotation 4 (Surgery): Manning

Rotation 5 (Pediatrics): Sumter

Rotation 6 (Family Medicine): Sumter

Rotation 7 (Mental Health): Charleston

Rotation 8 (General Medicine): Charleston

WOOT  WOOT!!!

Resurfacing

Upon resurfacing this morning after the completion of my 10th exam in 21 days (Hallelujah!), an ugly situation was brought to my attention in the form of the Kermit Gosnell case. Heartbreaking evil. How have we strayed so far from the light that it is not outrageous to kill a baby as it exits the womb, or even as it takes it's first cries in this world? Oh Lord, help us. 

This article was so good for my heart to focus on when considering the acts of Kermit Gosnell. Here's an excerpt that spoke to my heart: 

"The Kermit Gosnell story is one of severed spines and seared consciences. A gospel of justification without justice cannot picture a holy God. A gospel of justice without justification ultimately leaves us all without hope before the tribunal of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of both justice and justification, and brings them together in a Man drowning in his own blood at the Place of the Skull.

And on either side of him, there were thieves."

Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer

Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.

Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.

Let the treasures of the trial 
Form within me as I go - 
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.

Lord, Keep my spirit staid and sure and with your likeness let me wake. 

Study scenes

Block exams today and tomorrow. 4 hours of tests today, 4 hours tomorrow. Half-way. 

I think I can, I think I can. . . 

Stayed at my local Starbucks for 11 hours one day this weekend! I think it's a record. 

Encouragement. 

A break. Just enjoying the beauty of this wonderful city. 

Mims is One!

Mims is now one year old! She turned one on March 23rd -- crazy how this year has flown. 

Favorite Foods: Kraft cheese singles, Honey Dew Melon, Dog-cousin Millie's Mighty Dog

Favorite Pastimes: Chasing the Locals (i.e. Palmetto bugs); Road-trippin' in the car

Favorite Obsessions: Peppermint tea bags; Zip, the Cat-cousin who ignores her like it's his job

 Happy Birthday Mimsie!

After Ecuador.

Since Ecuador I've been lead by the Spirit to pray for what the Lord has for my life after PA school. I always assumed I would return to Columbia, get a job, perhaps a dog or a roommate, and faithfully serve the Lord through the local church, but Ecuador opened my eyes to the needs of those in other countries--spiritually, as well as medically.

In my prayerful consideration of what the Lord wants for my life, I have come to see the blessing of being single--I have the opportunity to do radical, time-consuming things with my time while it's not pledged in Covenant to someone else. I find it a challenge to be, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 7: 32, "free from anxieties" but I'm coming to understand the blessing of being "anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord." It's a joy to take my mind off my anxieties and turn it to what the Lord desires for His kingdom and how I can contribute now, even without a partner by my side.

This article on Desiring God was really good for me to read.