Fall Football and other Musings

I come from a large family, with my youngest brother on this earth is Joseph. There is an 18 year difference between the oldest biological, and the youngest. For the past 26 or so years, my parents have had children at both the local Catholic Elementary School and Catholic High School. Last year marked the first year that my parents would not have a child at the elementary school. It was bittersweet for certain, but these are life's changing stages.

Joseph is now in 7th grade at the junior high/ high school, while my other sister, Mollie, is a junior. I am glad that they have each other there. My oldest sister, Rachael, and I also work at St. Joe right now and so I find it so funny that there are 4 Gray-Lewis' at one school now! I am loving being around family so much, and I am so impressed by how much Mollie and JoJo are growing. They are becoming such independant, intelligent, and kind people. I thought JoJo would be embarrassed about seeing his older siblings at his new school, but he will still come up to me in the hallway and give me a hug! I love it! JoJo is playing football this season and he such a good athlete! I have been fortunate to attend a few games and get some pictures of him- no matter how much he protests- It's not cool to have to stop and smile while playing football, ya know?

I don't remember what my dad was doing here, but he sure was proud of himself! 

Joseph has decided he doesn't like to smile in pictures anymore. He's too cool for it.

When we were kids, if we were not smiling my dad would always say, "I can see that smile!" over and over again until we smiled. Works every time

Can you see the red hair? #17

We called his name for a while to try to get him to turn around- finally he acknowledged us!

 

This is my pitiful attempt at a picture of all of the Gray-Lewis men. They are such goofballs! Oh, and my mad photography skillz could use a little work. Any tips on working with low light?

Momma Mary's Birthday!

Back in September we celebrated my wonderful Mother-In-Love's birthday! Momma Mary is such a wonderful woman. She is an extremely hard working, and intelligent nurse. She is so generous and selfless towards Will and I, and is always trying to find new ways to help us out. We had her over for dinner and dessert that night and opened a few presents. Here are a few pictures of our party!

I had so much fun making her cake! 

I tried my hand at pop-up cards- and I am proud to say I will be making more of these!

MM is a lover of the National Parks and ourdoors just like Will and I. We got her this book that she had been wanting with pictures of all the US National Parks. It is such a great book!

I think she loved it!

Catch Up

At the beginning of August, Will started Medical School. We were very prepared for a difficult ride- and were pleasantly surprised when at first it wasn't really that bad. We still were able to find time to hang out and catch up, as well as finding enough time to study and feel good about school. Well, the past few weeks have become more difficult. His schedule has been more hectic, which translates to less time together, at home, or studying. The stress level has increased and we are both feeling it. Thankfully he now has an off weekend- meaning he doesn't have any major tests next week so we will get a breather. For this, I am thankful.

We both feel like we are on the right track right now, but the time commitment is still daunting at times. He's got a little more than 3 1/2 years of school, then roughly a 5 year residency, then more if he decides on a fellowship etc. We know it will be worth it, but still, that's a lot time, ya know?

Our mantra right now is One Day At A Time. We've been told the first year is the most difficult, and I feel that is mostly because of the adjustment period from undergrad. It's a lot of changes all at once, and the expectations are so high and there is very little 'me' time. Will is doing very, very well with all the changes- but there's only so much one person can do.

For all of these reasons, I am so glad that we decided to go ahead and get married before school started. We dated for 5 1/2 years before we got married, and throughout that time our plans changed a lot. For a while we were thinking of tying the knot after both of our schooling, but now I'm confident that this journey would be so much more difficult without him being right there with me. We are so blessed.

I read a quote the other day that I felt really spoke to me-

Source: imperfectionatbestt.tumblr.com via Clare on Pinterest

Happy Wednesday.

What's On My Mind Today.

It's Fall, Y'all!

....and it's been nearly forever since I've posted.

One day I will actually finish recounting our cross country trip, complete with pictures, but for now, updates of what we have been up to will suffice.

We have had several big milestones in the past few months-

First of all, Will started Medical School and got his White Coat!!

Pre- White Coat Ceremony!

He is now on his way to getting his MD!

He has done so well in school so far and I am so proud of him. He was even elected liaison of his class. This means that after any test, if someone has a problem with a question, he's the person they go to. Will will then decide if it is a legitimate claim, and then present it to the professor. This is turning out to be a great position for him because he is so good with words and being diplomatic. He is able to find ways to present the claim in such a way that it is valid, while not stepping on anyone's toes in the process.

Something I'm very happy about is that there is an active Medical Student Wives Auxiliary group at UMC. It is for any wives, fiances, girlfriends etc of medical students. It is primarily a support group and we have monthly meetings and get togethers. This was something I was really hoping that UMC had and I am just so happy to be apart of such a great group of girls that are involved!

On September 5th we celebrated our 6 year anniversary! We got married on April 9th, but the fifth has always held a special place in our heart. We began dating on September 5, 2005, and have celebrated the fifth every month since! We also celebrated our 6 month WEDDING anniversary on October 9th!

I think we just like to celebrate :)

To celebrate our wedding anniversary, we picked up some food for a picnic and went to the spot where we got engaged, Lakeshore Park.

It was perfect weather and it was so nice to take some time apart from studying and just reflect on our time together. Because we dated for so long before we got married, we spent a lot of time talking about "THE Day". Now that THE day has come and gone, and we are married, it's still hard to believe sometimes that it's all real!

A few weeks ago we went to the Mississippi State Fair. It was a lot of fun...apart from the bruises we got on the giant slide. It was am extra special time because exactly 6 years and one day earlier we went there for our first anniversary date. I know, I know. I'm very nostalgic. We rode the same rides we rode then and it was just so much fun. If someone had told us 6 years earlier that we would be in the same spot and married in just a few short years, I don't know if I would have believed them. Will, of course, said he always knew :)

Happy Friday!