John and Erika

5th Annual Masquerade Ball

2010-03-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

John and I went to a benefit for the UTMB OB/GYN department last weekend. It was a Mardi Gras/Masquerade Ball theme. The proceeds benefited a domicile for low-income women in high risk pregnancies in Galveston. It is an on campus "hotel" where women who are close to delivery can stay in the event that they don't have transportation to the hospital when they go into labor. Most of these mothers lack social support and have medical conditions significant enough through their pregnancy that they require management by the Maternal Fetal Medicine team. Of course, this is near and dear to my heart because as I worked for the Maternal Child HIV clinic, we sent many patients to stay there. I like to think it help prevent some HIV transmission babies. Plus, it was ALOT of fun!
For pictures, click here

Celebrity Look-A-Likes

2010-02-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the facebook trend, I wanted to post our celebrity look-a-likes. These celebrities have been independently verified by several friends. What do you think?
John, aka James Van Der Beek of Dawson's CreekErika, aka Mischa Barton from the O.C.

Super Duper Bowl Party

2010-02-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

Each year it has been at a different house, but the party continues. Yes, we are talking about the annual Anderson Super Bowl party. This was the third annual event. All of these things seem to occur by accident, and then they end up with a handful of people over at the house. Fun! Fun! Fun!
This was the first year I have not actually watched the game because the girls that attended preferred to talk and play Catch Phrase. All of which were really fun and the evening flew by. By the time the night was over, we had eaten alot of food and John had taken his engine apart with Benji, whom he had just met that night...an instant friendship. Anyway here are some pictures...

The host and hostess...The food... The hit of the night was the spinach/chicken/feta pizza- even John liked it.
The girls...
The cutest one at the party enjoying his cupcake...What was left of the engine...

New Hobbies

2010-02-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

I can't resist showing everyone John's newest hobby. When we were in Kansas over Christmas, he and dad removed the engine of his 1978 Camaro for him to play with in Texas. Here he is getting it on the engine stand with the crane his wife so graciously allowed him to buy.Dirty, but on the standCleaned up and on the engine stand As you can see it makes him very happy...and he has made quite a bit of progress in the last month.
On another note, I am declaring my new hobby antiquing. Of course, I have no pictures of that, but if anyone visits us soon I would love to take you in Galveston. There are some neat little shops there.

Ringing in the New Year

2010-01-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

We brought in 2010 with Kevin, Meghan and Rhonda in North Carolina this year. Kevin and Meghan were our previous small group leaders. They moved to North Carolina for Meghan to do a fellowship at Duke in pediatric ophthalmology (very impressive). Rhonda is another of our church small group members who flew out there with us.
Anyway while were were in North Carolina, we went to a couple museums at Duke, the Duke Chapel, played several games, spent time with the kids, and mostly just caught up on life. It was wonderful and relaxing.
Here are some of the pictures.

Rhonda, Katelin, Meghan, and John

I just loved this picture of Tye

John and me enjoying the outdoors

At the Duke Picasso and Andy Warhol exhibit

John was going through football withdrawal so Chuck E. Cheese filled a void

John's favorite vacation position

The Flemmons

Chuck E Cheese

Duke Chapel

Children's Museum of Natural Science

Consider this your Christmas Card...

2009-12-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

It was John and my first year with a Christmas tree. As with most things in our life, it was exciting for me, but not so much for John. Of course, shortly after we put it up, we went to Kansas for 16 days so we got back just in time to take it down. Still I wanted to share the momentous occasion. Consider this your Christmas card...

Christmas in Heaven

2009-12-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

This year we said goodbye to my Grandma Ensz (1924 to 2009). This poem was in her program and it was very appropriate. This was the last pictures we had of her during her recent hospital stay.

Christmas in Heaven

I see the countless Christmas trees
Around the world below,
With tiny lights like heaven's stars
Reflecting in the snow.

The sight is so spectacular
please wipe away that tear,
for I am spending CHRISTMAS
WITH JESUS CHRIST this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs
that people hold so dear,
but the sound of music can't compare
with the CHRISTMAS CHOIR up here.

I have no words to tell you
of the JOY their voices bring,
for it is beyond description
to HEAR THE ANGELS SING.

I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain inside your heart
But, I am not so far away,
We really aren't apart.

I can't tell you of the SPLENDOR
or the PEACE here in this place
Can you just imagine CHRISTMAS
WITH OUR SAVIOR face to face?

I'll ask Him to lift your spirit
as I tell him of your love
so then PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
as you lift your eyes above.

Please let your hearts be joyful
and let your spirit sing
for I am spending CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN
and I’m walking WITH THE KING.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T19:11:00.001-08:00

Some of my favorites from Thanksgiving 2009 with the Mosimans.
Texans vs Colts

The fam at the Spot

Reliant Stadium

The girls

Grandma and Grandpa at the beach

Liam helping me cook a meal

You should know us by now

The lazy ones

Dr. Liam on the plane

The whole family (minus Dathan and Elizabeth. We missed you guys.)

Love birds, or is she pushing him away?

Beautiful day at the beach

Father-son bonding. Can everyone say AWWWWWW?

Christmas beach style

John after grilling Thanksgiving dinner. Whew!

Steaks for Thanksgiving

Dessert bar

Grandma hiding

Liam with Marchel

One Quarter Century

2009-11-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I turned 25 a couple weeks ago. This year has brought with it gray hairs, aches and pains, and fine wrinkles. Regardless, I mustered the courage to have a night on the town with John. He got me a jewelry box and an evening dinner cruise on the bay. It was so fun. Below are the pictures:
My favorite restaurant from the water this time...

All aboard...

Golden Birthday

2009-09-30T19:16:00.001-07:00

John turn 26 this weekend on the 26th. According to Annette, that is the Golden Birthday. We had a private birthday party (me and John). We slept in, ate biscuits and gravy, and went to the jazz festival in Kemah. Mostly we just had a lazy day, but it was great!
Here is John at the jazz festival.

Here is John with his birthday present. Thanks to all the donors who helped with the cause. He loves it. In fact, when I gave it to him, he loved it so much he wants to bring the 78 Camaro down to Texas so he has something to work on. On one hand, I am glad he and Efrian aren't taken our running cars apart, but on the other hand I am a little scared. I can't believe I did not think of the ramifications of this gift.

San Antonio

2009-09-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

I had a surprise week off in the middle of my ER rotation so John and I spontaneously went to San Antonio. We had never been and we had always wanted to so we finally just went. It was incredible. I don't know if it was the spontaneity of it or the city itself, but we had a great time. Plus, it felt a little like we were playing hooky since we were gone last minute, in the middle of the week for several days. Fun!
Here are a few of the pictures. I accidentally deleted most of the good ones. I guess we will have to go back again to take more pictures!

A glimpse of our hotel: We got a great last minute deal at the St. Anthony downtown. We are not used to this type of hotel. We had to pay outrageously just to park parking/valet and we did order room service a couple times- a guilty pleasure.

Grabbing a Starbucks latte on the Riverwalk: we stayed only 2 blocks from the Riverwalk so we walked down there often. You know between naps, dips in the pool, and meals.

I thought this snapshot looked alot like our retirement: John drinking a coffee, reading a book or paper, looking scholarly...

The Alamo: This was also within walking distance of the hotel and free. We went there a couple of times. It was brought up those Patriotic feelings and made us proud to live in the US, especially in Texas.

On our way to dinner: This was pretty much our only scheduled activity every day. We ate most every meal at the Riverwalk. The food was hit or miss, but the dining in that atmosphere was amazing. I did get some new ideas for new dishes.

As I said before, I deleted most of our pictures. We also had some great shots of the Alamo. We went to the Tower of the Americas which was a rotating Tower allowing panoramic views of San Antonio. We ate at the restaurant at the top. We did not realized the building moved until we sat down to dinner. It was a little nausating at first, but we got used to it. We also rode a river boat, shopped at the mall on the River, and walked alot.
The lesson is: If you are thinking of taking a last minute trip, I would recommend thumbing your finger to the man and just doing it!

Bowling Night

2009-09-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

Our group church small group had a bowling night a while back. It was the classic girls vs guys competition which did not end well for the girls
Girls Team

Guys team

John and me

Look at that stance

You will notice our group has changed alot in the last few months. There are several new faces in these pictures and we added 5 new people at the GroupLink this past weekend. We are now sitting at 15 members, but there were about 15 people that we had to turn down. The church has done a great job of recruiting members for groups, but there are just not enough Navigators (group leaders). It was difficult to see people turned away, but I suppose it is a good problem for a church to have. They are definitely bringing lots of new people into the church. We can only pray these people will not give up on the church.

Our lives

2009-08-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

A quick update on our lives. We have both been busy lately working alot of 12 hour days, but such is our life right now. (Oh yeah, and I guess it will be like that for the next 9 years until John finishes residency.) If you ever wonder what we are doing, it is some variation of the following.

John:
John is working hard to get a paper send in for review in the next couple of weeks on his protein and some of its behavior. He had some promising progress toward getting the protein into a usable form last week. He is hoping that these preliminary result pans out because it has been nearly a year of the same things over and over with different conditions. On the positive side, he has been having alot of fun with some new equipment especially the fermenter. It is some sort of souped up bacteria maker. See below

Erika:
I just finished my second rotation at Texas Surgical Associates in Houston. I was with one of the best surgeons in Houston so I saw alot of cool surgeries. I saw leg amputations, lots of blood vessel repairs, heart valve replacements, mastectomies, colon removals, pancreas removals, and more. It was a stressful and time consuming rotation, but I did see alot of surgeries. My next rotation start Monday at the UTMB ER which just opened up on August 1. I am really excited about it, but anxious to see what it holds. After this rotation, I am done with my first block. Yippee!

Me vs. Judy

2009-08-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

I was so proud of my peppers and tomatoes until Dathan and Elizabeth brought us some produce from Kansas. We all thought the comparison was funny. Here is my version of produce vs. Judy Silknitter's produce. For those who don't know Judy, she is a good family friend and a domestic goddess from Kansas. Needless to say, we ate hers first.

My produce vs. Judy Silknitter's produce (mine are the miniature ones)

Caution: Men may not want to read this post

2009-07-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

Men you have a fair warning. You may not want to read this post about my Urology rotation. I had to do it though because I have gotten to do some cool stuff. I have finished three days of clinical rotations and they have been really fun (minus the wired urology stuff).

Day 1: saw patients in the Ben Taub Urology clinic, watched a prostate biopsy, did the next prostate biopsy, did a rectal exam, review alot of CTs and Xrays of kidneys and cancer.
Day 2: performed a circumcision from the incision to the sutures on an adult male, scrubbed in and closed the incisions with sutures on a vasectomy, did some history and physicals on my own, getting more comfortable with people dropping their pants when I walk in the room.
Day 3: screened patients for surgery readiness in the pre-op clinic, observed a radical resection of the prostate (removal of the entire prostate)--- very bloody.
Day 4: plan to scrub in on a nephrectomy (removal of a kidney) and see kids in the pediatric urology clinic.

Some of this medical talk may be awkward for people to read, but it is what I am doing for the next 3 weeks. It was not my first choice, but I am enjoying it none the less. Just be glad I resisted the urge to post a picture of genitalia on the blog.

Farewell for the Flemmons

2009-06-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

We said goodbye yesterday to some of our great friends Kevin and Meghan Flemmons. They are moving to North Carolina for Meghan to do a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology. They have been our small group leaders through Clear Creek for 3 years. Beyond that, they have also been involved with several Christian ministries on the UTMB campus with students. They have been a great example of how to live as Christians in this crazy, competitive, super-busy, fast paced medical field. Here are some pictures of the party.
Here is the whole group saying good bye to the Flemmons.

The honored guests start the food line with John not far behind...

Kevin and Meghan listen to John's tribute.

We will also miss Katelin and Tye. These are not the most flattering pictures, but they are candid.

The kids were drawn to the piano. I thought this was a cute picture.

Brittany, Rhonda, and Hannah waiting patiently for cupcakes.

Life in Texas will be very different without them. We will miss you guys!

PA Send Off Dinner

2009-06-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

The UTMB PA program gave the 1st year students a clinical sending off dinner on Wednesday. It was a time of fine dining (just kidding), presents (again just kidding), and advice for the upcoming most difficult year of my life. Because the department was too cheap to allow us to bring guests, Janna was my date. Here are a couple pictures:
Me and my date

Some of my classmates with a professor, Dr. Salah Ayachi

Fun times! My first rotation is a surgical elective in Urology at Baylor in the Medical Center. It should be interesting putting this country girl in the urban jungle. I will be riding the metro to work each day and navigating miles of hospital and research buildings. Yikes!

The Start of Hurricane Season 2009

2009-06-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of hurricane season 2009. Good Morning America broadcast from Galveston today so I thought I would put of a slide show of the island post-Ike. I promised mom I would put this up a long time ago and I thought this was timely. Here is a run down of what I know:
-UTMB was approved for the money from the state legislature they need to rebuild the hospitals. However, as you will see in the pictures, there is alot of steps to have happen before the conditions of the school are changed.
-Most recently I heard that 60% of Galveston businesses are open.
-There is a long ways to go, but we have come a long ways too. All in all, it seems that the city has done well with the rebuilding process and we are starting to see changes.
-It is still difficult to get contractor and homes redone. John's boss just moved back into his loft last week. We have other friends who are still living in 1 or 2 rooms of the upstairs of their house until they are fully functional again. We have still other friends who have not moved back to their houses at all. It will still be a while until life is "normal" for many of these people.
The following pictures were taken within the last month or two in Galveston. Although some of these pictures are outdated, most of them are the same today.

Revelations

2009-05-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

John and I had several revelations about ourselves during our recent move.

First, my kitchen obsession is out of control. I counted 107 glasses in my cabinets. Just for me and John. Ridiculous. However, that was quickly overshadowed by the fact that I LOVE my new kitchen especially my new fridge with ice maker. Here is the momentous first glass of ice from the ice maker.

Second, we have a tendency to get in over our heads. We started 2 major projects in the midst of moving. We painted 3 rooms and a bathroom in the house. These tasks took WAY longer than we planned. We were up til midnight painting, taping, and touching up for a week. The second task was to renovate the landscaping. Again, a major task. It was really only survived because mom, dad, and Annette know what is going on. Here we are trying to support each other after another long day of painting and dad and John transplanting something.

Third, we are emotionally ready to try to take on some responsibility again. After the dog fiasco, we have shied away from anything that required maintenance. However, we heartily undertook a massive landscaping project with a small vegetable garden without any prior thought as to the commitment. I guess we will see how long these plants last.

Before

After- OK so these pictures don't look that much different, but in person there is a huge difference.

Fourth, John and I have a crazy amount of medical/PA school books which are really heavy to move. It is depressing to think how many dollars and pounds there are, and worse, how soon they will be out of date.

Fifth, sometimes we surprise even ourselves. We moved in on a Friday and hosted a party of 18 people on Sunday. As long as no one opened any doors, everything went off beautifully. Again, as long as mom, dad, and Annette are available to clean and babysit for the kids who come, we can do anything. Plus, we have a great CCCC group. No pictures of that night. We were fortunate to pull it off.

Another New House

2009-05-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

You are all probably getting tired of hearing about new houses for John and me (I know I am), but here is a post about our latest place. We got the keys to the house this evening so it is official. We are moving about 20 miles off the island to a town called Dickinson so that I can have a better commute to Houston for rotations. It is sad for me to leave the island, but John seems pretty happy about it. (That said if anyone wants to stay one block from the ocean for free you better do it in the next 2 weeks.)

Here is the video I made this evening.

Also here is John in the manly garage- this may be his favorite part of the house.

P.S. John is almost done with his massively ridiculous qualifying exam. He is up to almost 80 pages of text for 7 questions. Again, ridiculous! He is hoping to finish question 7 tonight and then be able to edit it and turn it in early on Friday. It is actually due Monday, but we would like to paint our new house this weekend. He has been working really hard for the last 2 weeks. He only comes home for dinner and goes back to work for several more hours (I don't know when he comes home because I am already in bed.) Anyway, he is getting tired of it and just plain tired so hopefully he will finished tonight.

Update on Life

2009-05-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Just a few things about how life is going with John and me and what we have coming up.

-We will be moving into a new house off the island in 2 weeks. We are pleased we found a place, but I am sad to leave Galveston. I loved living here. We will be in between Houston and Galveston in Dickinson, TX.
-I got my clinical rotations schedule. It was amazing. I am so fortunate. I have one rotation that may end up being away from the Houston/Galveston area. Most of the other people in my class have 5-6 months away and they are moving to different places every month. The rotations start on June 29. My first 3 months are in the Texas Medical Center and after that I am around the Clear Lake/Galveston area.
-We just got back from a week long trip to see Steve and Vicki which was wonderful and relaxing. Joe and Becca met us out there. Yes, I was still in classes, but I had a strange break in the middle.
-John recently won a research award from the Sealy Center for Structural Biology.
-I have one week left of my Spring 2009 semester. I am in a class with the medical students right now, and I have a test on May 8. It really works out well for me because John has already been through this all. This summer semester will start May 11 and will mostly be devoted to learning skills like suturing, IVs, surgical techniques, ACLS, and proposing my Master's research project.
-John started his qualifier exams for his PhD today. This is the first of a handful of major steps that are required for him to get his degree. It was a surprise to us. He found out yesterday the test started today and he will be taking it for the next two weeks. He is a trooper about adjusting to these sudden situations, but it does look like it will be hard test.
-John will probably propose his PhD work this summer and be accepted into candidacy for the degree. He has to give a presentation to his committee and write a paper for that.
-John has also made alot of headway in the last month about his project. I would tell you about that but he is paranoid about people stealing his work and to be honest I don't understand what he is doing.

It seems like there are several other things up in the air but they are not coming to mind at the moment so this will have to do.

Hands and Feet Medical Missions

2009-04-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

It is sad that it took me so long to post about a recent international trip John and I took. Better late than never I suppose. Recently, we had the opportunity to be involved with a medical mission project at UTMB called Hands and Feet Medical Missions. The trip was sponsored by Christian Medical Association and Baptist Student Ministry. We had 23 health care providers and student who saw about 170 patients over a weekend. We were fortunate to have partnered with a local Mexican church the First Baptist Church of Piedras Negras. Here are some of the pictures.

On the way to Mexico...

The whole group at the site of the first clinic...

Going door to door trying to recruit patients for the clinic. We were in a rough part of Piedras Negras called Buenos Aires. It was interesting to see our patient's living conditions, and it was really important for us clinically to know what kind of resources they had at home.

This is the outside of the first clinic. It was in the lawn of a gym, which was really more of a cinder block 15 x 15 feet room with a couple weight sets.

John and I before we start the first clinic. We were on a team together and saw almost all of our patients together. John was great at his Spanish. And I thought he was joking about learning Spanish on the trip to Mexico!

One special blessing was to have our entire church small group with us on the trip. These are the groupies we have left post-Ike.

Another special blessing was to staying with families from our church. Here is a picture of the house we stayed at and our Mexican parents, Carlos y Elida Perez. They were so grateful to have us there that they went far out of their way to make us comfortable and treated us like royalty.

Medical care pictures.
Here are James and Garrett suturing.

Meghan doing an eye assessment.

John explaining a medication to a patient.

Sadly there were alot of health concerns we could not address. Most of the patients were sent away with Tylenol and a prayer.

Last but definitely not least was the authentic Mexican. Here you see a Mexican potluck that the families from the church made. Talk about an authentic Mexican meal. It was AMAZING! We also had several meals in the homes of the families that we stayed with which was also great.

This post is only the tip of the iceberg. The trip had many more layer to it than can be explained in such a short post. However looking to the future, I am really excited about where these trips might take us. It has been a blessing to work with people who have the same heart and mind for people. We have future plans for monthly or bimonthly trips to the border and hopes to expand to other areas locally and internationally as well as longer term trips. Still, we have a lot of details to work out like fundraising, housing, organizing all of the various schools schedules, safety in the midst of drug wars, and just working together well as a team.

I will leave you with our mission's verse and statement.

1 Peter 4:10-11
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies-in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Mission Statement:
To join God’s work in physically and spiritually healing by sharing Christ’s unconditional Love and taking His name to the nations.

Call for Visitors

2009-03-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

I have to give a shameless plea for visitors every so often on the blog. This time I will do it with pictures. We had recent visitors to Galveston Island, so rather than telling you what we did experience the fun through their eyes. Here are some of the many options for things to do in Galveston:

The one of the US's largest rodeo and livestock shows...

Sporting events...

Food (stock photo)...

Learning...

Shopping...

Historic districts...

Renewing your wedding vows...

Free stuff...

Private beaches...

Water sports...

Interaction with wildlife...

Don't they all look happy to be in Galveston. That could be you!

Entertaining for the MD/PhD Progressive Dinner

2009-03-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

John and I hosted the appetizer portion of the progressive dinner for the MD/PhD program last weekend. It was really fun. We hosted with our friend Sarah who is also a MD/PhD student who lives across the hall. We had food on her side and drinks on our side. We ended up with about 30 people here.
The “Second Look Weekend” is designed to convince those students accepted into the UTMB MD/PhD program that UTMB is the best place for them to be. It is really one of the better events that the program puts on for students. They put you up in swanky hotels, take you to the trendiest dinners in town, and you get all the free alcohol you want. Plus, you get to meet and talk to older students to get an accurate impression of the school. Anyway, it was fun to finally be a stop on the progressive dinner.
Here my pictures:
The hosts (Sarah, Chris, John and me)

The food side

The drink side

Sarah came over to the drink side with food because for some reason everyone was staying on the drink side. Hum, wonder why….

Finally Spring Break!

2009-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

I officially started Spring Break tonight. I am so happy. It has been a flurry of tests and presentations and papers until 5 pm today.

So, what am I going to do with my time you may ask? Well, John and I will be finally finishing our Lost marathon. Our goal is to be caught up to this season (season 5) by the end of next week. It is a lofty goal, but I think we can do it. Speaking of which, if you have not created a Sawyer nickname you should try it. Of course, John's are "the Doc" and "the Sheriff" while my nicknames are "Pippy Longstocking" and "Underdog". I feel so flattered. Naturally, John gets the cool, sexy name and I get the loser nams.

Also over Spring Break, we will be having visitors. Grandma and Grandpa Butch are slated to visit for a few day. Then Annette and a couple college friends are coming over their Spring Break. It will be so fun. We will likely go to the Rodeo a couple time and a Rockets game. We may try some kayaking and biking on the Seawall. Of course, there is always laying out at the beach.

Can you tell? I am so happy for a break. More pictures to come soon.

A Trip to Dallas

2009-03-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

John and I met mom and dad in Dallas for a conference PA conference where I received a scholarship from the Texas PA Foundation.
Here I am receiving my award. There is a check in that envelope! Yippee!

Here I am with my chairman and classmates receiving a $14,000 donation from the Texas PA Foundation for Hurricane Ike relief. They had a very nice presentation about our program and students surviving despite adversity. They even gave us a standing ovation. It was all very nice. We are so grateful to this organization. They also came to our classes shortly after the hurricane with LOTS of supplies. I got gift cards, kleenexes, toothbrushes, hand sanitizers, blankets, pillows, sheets, scrubs, etc.

Here is my support team. Mom, Dad, and John were so wonderful watching me get the award. They all sat through a lecture just to be able to see me receive the award.

Mardi Gras with Friends

2009-02-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

We were invited a Mardi Gras party by one of our friends in our church small group. Yes, our church small group celebrated Mardi Gras together. We had a really good time. I thought you might enjoy the pictures.

Reaching for beads...

The cute ones...

The king and queen...

The Krewe...

A Second Career?

2009-02-16T15:22:00.001-08:00

We could not help but notice the interest dad took in science this weekend. We took him up to tour John's lab and to the Houston Museum of Natural Science for the Body World's Exhibit. In the lab, he understood more that I do about the mechanical theory of the machines and light refraction. He was fascinated by John's lab toys. These pictures say it all.
Learning about lab technique.

Who knows? He may get his name on a paper of John's for assisting. Here he is doing an e. coli resuspension. These bacteria are going to be used to express John's protein (sacsin) someday.

What guy doesn't like playing with fire?

The Greatest Social Need

2009-02-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know my career goals lie with the disadvantaged people and public health. Alot of the time, this means multiple social problems including no health insurance, homelessness, drug addiction, jail time, and prostitution. My interests have pulled me to social health concerns like HIV/AIDS, TB, infectious diseases, and caring for the uninsured.
Although I do not have a solution for these problems, I know my opinions. The heart of many of these social problems is a consequence of a lack of a relationship with God. My work with these people does not solve their many issues, but by caring for them without discrimination I hope to introduce them to the unconditional love of Christ. I am excited that the Church of today joins in many of these outreach programs.
In our Evantell letter this month I saw an article that summarized my perspective well. Socialized medicine, free clinics, and welfare only puts a bandaid on a much bigger problem. Check out this article from Christianity Today, The Greatest Social Need.
This is the kind of thing that gets me excited to be a PA, and I hope it gets others excited to serve in some way too.

A Toast to the Post: A one hundredth blog tribute

2009-02-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

How can I let this momentous occasion go unnoticed! The blog has been a part of our life for 2 and 1/2 years now. One hundred posts! Now, it is time to toast it for its wonderful ability to communicate with family and friends around the country. In a great literary feat (and a chance to avoid studying), I have made a poem about our time with the blog.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Without the blog in our lives
Whatever would we do?

From Cabo San Lucas
to Colorado with hukas
We've traveled far and wide
Taking pictures of life's ride

Capturing four of our homes
One dog with his bones
Two brothers with new brides
And some really long motorcycle rides

Holidays were popular topics
Because of their time away from our tropics
Then there was school, studies, and graduations
Followed many more vacations

You saw awards and races,
Some every day places,
Not to mention fun with Gracen and Molly
Which was always documented fully

And, oh yes, you may remember
One special post in September
Hurry, take what you can for a hike
You are about to get Iked!

So, ode to the blog
A faithful, dear friend
One hundred posts have come and gone
And we are still going strong!

School and Free Time?

2009-01-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it is officially back to school for John and me. I have my first test of the semester tomorrow. John is give a presentation right now, even I as type this. I took some pictures to give you a glimpse into our free time.

Yes, these are pictures of the lab.

Yes, I spend my free/study time in the lab so that I can be around John. I suppose it is because, as his boss says, his presence is calming. Well that, and I love my husband.

John spends his time running around the lab doing experiments. Although, don't tell John that is what he is doing. He has the perception that he has not done a single experiment for the last 6 months. Still, somehow he is always working.

You will also note the strict rules he adheres to in the lab. Did you notice it in the picture? His water bottle is right next to the radioactive waste. He insists that it will cause not harm, but I am not convince. I have requested a few times that he move his desk away from the radioactive waste and the radioactive hood behind him. Please John for the sake of our children!

Finally, I go to the lab because I like to view the harbor from there. As you can see, it was a hazy day, but still a nice view to see at work everyday.

So, this gives you an idea of what graduate students do in the evenings and on the weekends. John works in the lab so that he has something to do while I am studying. I go up to the lab to study so I can be with him and so the cycle continues.
It is not as bad as I make it out to be though. In all honesty, I am going to study renal physiology on the beach...

The psychologist in me...

2009-01-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

I just started my clinical psychiatry class yesterday, and it peaked my interest. I guess that is a good sign that my Bachelors is in something I actually love. This week, I will be going to the elderly inpatient unit to be administering psychiatric scales for depression, personality disorders, and mental status. It is so exciting!
Since I can't test everyone, I thought you might like to try your hand at a personality quiz to see it you have negative affect and are socially inhibited. I will not tell you what John and my scores are, but they are interesting- doctor patient confidentiality.

For each statement answer: False, Less false, Neutral, Less True, True
Your response score will correspond with the option order above.
1. I make contact easily when I meet people 4 3 2 1 0
2. I often make a fuss about unimportant things 0 1 2 3 4
3. I often talk to strangers 4 3 2 1 0
4. I often feel unhappy jklmn 0 1 2 3 4
5. I am often irritated jklmn 0 1 2 3 4
6. I often feel inhibited in social interactions 0 1 2 3 4
7. I take a gloomy view of things 0 1 2 3 4
8. I find it hard to start a conversation 0 1 2 3 4
9. I am often in a bad mood 0 1 2 3 4
10. I am a closed kind of person 0 1 2 3 4
11. I would rather keep people at a distance 0 1 2 3 4
12. I often find myself worrying about something 0 1 2 3 4
13. I am often down in the dumps 0 1 2 3 4
14. When socializing, I don't find the right things to talk about 0 1 2 3 4

Add Your Answers
Negative Affectivity:
Add scores for questions 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12 and 13
Social Inhibition:
Add scores for questions 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 14

SCORE THE RESULTS
You qualify as a TYPE D personality if your Negative Affectivity is 10 or
higher and your Social Inhibition is 10 or higher
The social and emotional problems associated with Type D personality can increase
your chances of chronic disease and possibly poor adaptation to Chronic Pain.

P.S. I just realized that anyone who is on my blog and actually taking this survey is probably not socially inhibited. If you are reading this, you are on a social networking site! Silly me. It is fun anyway.

John and Liam

2008-12-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

Too precious to not post (thanks, Kellie). The first 3 are trying to make Liam look at the camera and smile. The last one is trying to make John smile.

Terminal Ensz: The Band

2008-12-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

Introducing Terminal Ensz, a family rock band. A morbid name I know, but there is much more threat in the name than the band appears.

I can not take the credit for the name. It is actually Dathan's guitar hero name. He was also the lead singer- mostly because the rest of us (minus John) don't know any rock songs and he thought we weren't any good. As you can see, we are a multi-talented group.

Celebration Time!

2008-12-20T16:55:00.000-08:00

I am finally done with finals. Yeah! It wasn't pretty, but it is over. To celebrate, we went to the Houston Rockets vs. Sacramento Kings game. John has been wanting to go to a NBA game since junior high and I wanted to celebrate and eat junk food so I was the perfect option. It was a really fun experience. Our seats were about halfway up the stadium (which was still a long ways up) but they were much cheaper than the alternatives. This is a view from our seats.

However, I did move down the $500 + seats for a while just to experience the thrill of sitting courtside. I didn't get right on the court, but I was about 10 rows up. I guess the game was not too popular because there were alot of open seats. I did get this picture of Yao Ming and Shane Battier.

Of course, this was my favorite part of the game...the junk food. Here are rounds 1 and 2.

White Coat Ceremony Take 2

2008-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

You may remember at that start of John's medical school UTMB had a ceremony for all the medical students to receive their white coats. Well, they have the same for PA school too. This year it was delayed to the end of the semester, but it finally happened yesterday. The ceremony is really just a formal welcome to the profession and taking an oath to protect and respect patients. Here are the pictures:

John and me in our white coats:

John and me at the ceremony:

Janna (a friend from my class) and me:

It is nice the class is so small because I know almost everyone in my class. Here is the class of 2010:

Receiving my white coat (I messed up the picture trying to lighten it- thats why it looks funny):

Click here for an AAPA article about our class.

Update on Life

2008-12-05T07:58:00.001-08:00

I realize that I have not posted an entry in several weeks. I have several excuses, but we won't go there. However, I finally have a break of 1 week between tests so I am sitting on the couch watching the news at 9 am. Yippee! Anyway, here is an update on life.
John:
-Submitted a paper for publication to the journal, Bioinformatics. It was over some anaylsis of the protein that he is studying in the lab, Sacsin. He mostly did computer analysis to make images of the protein and look for unique segments of the amino acid sequence. We are hoping it will be accpeted for publication. It made it through the first phase, but it out for review now.
-Had a dry patch for experiments. He is starting to attack his project differently. You will have to ask him in your are interested because I don't understand. The bottom line is the protein is too big to clone in its entirety and the segments he has tried to clone he can not get into a form that it usable.
-Spends most of his time at home reading SciFi books. He has been through several since the hurricane.
Erika:
-Mostly doing school. PA school is busy, but the end is in sight. Finals start December 12 and end December 19. I have 8 finals.
-I really enjoy what I am learning and feel I am confirmed that this is the career for me.
-I have started volunteering to give free health care at a Christan street ministry on Saturdays. It is called the Luke Society and I really am enjoying it. It helps me with the withdrawl from the HIV clinic.

Thankful Thanksgiving

2008-12-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

It feels like I haven't had time to sit down and actually be thankful this Thanksgiving. Alot has happened in the last year, but it has been a wonderful time of growth for us and learning the important things in life. It has been difficult, but there is one thing that we repeatedly come back to: the Lord is faithful. Despite all other things being uncertain, He has remained faithful. We have never had to rely on the Lord as much as we have in the last 3 months. So, we are so thankful this Thanksgiving for several things:

-Financial stability from generous gifts from dozens of people and FEMA
-The strength to maintain our schedules
-Passing my classes
-Letters, emails, and phone calls of encouragement that have meant as much as monetary gifts to us
-The Church body
-Finding a place to live that is close to school
-The two of us have been able to stay together to this point
-Several new friends within my PA class that are Christians (our small group from church was disbanded by the hurricane)
-Ability to move and find help on the spur of the moment
-A chance to grow closer to the Lord

We can not express our gratitude enough to those who have helped us. There is still alot that is uncertain but we rest in the fact that the Lord has been ahead of us each step and he is faithful.

Playing PA

2008-10-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today was my first physical exam on a real patient. It was really fun to play PA. It also took longer than any physical I am sure any of you have ever had. To do it properly, it takes 45 minutes. This is without interviewing the patient- only examining. The interview is theoretically supposed to take another 30 minutes. Whew!

The New Place

2008-10-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

Between John and me, this is the ninth place we have lived since we started college 6 and 5 years ago respectively (not including our parent's houses). Here's to never moving again.
Here it is:

The Anderson's Are Open for Business

2008-10-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

John and I are now open for business after 4 weeks to the day that we evacuated for Hurricane Ike.

Some things are the same: We are in Galveston about 9 blocks from UTMB, red kitchen supplies, only one car (which is a pain), still neighbors with Sarah, John can still walk to the lab, trash still clutters the streets and boats are still on the causeway, no general access in town to doctors, UTMB, Strand, our bank, post office, and beaches

Some things are new: house, furniture, place to go to school, new work and school hours, closer to the beach (you can see it from the house), busy schedules, restaurants are slowing opening up and getting full menus, Wal-Mart, pharmacies, and Target are open (though not always stocked), more stop lights are working

Some things are improved: we now have hot water, AC, electricity, and internet, we had our first meal at home on Sunday, have our own place to go at night, a refrigerator to store food in, curfew is much shorter, can drink the water now, we started getting mail yesterday

Some good things: We should be receiving aid from FEMA, the church (Clear Creek Community Church) met almost every major need we had left this weekend, the church also met several of our friend’s needs, a friend came to help John move us in while I was in class, we found a place to stay and for mom and dad to stay while we were here waiting for our new apt to be finished (Kevin and Meghan’s), no flat tires yet

Soon, I will post pictures of the new place, but for now I am studying hard. I had a test today and I have a test Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. God bless John for all the work he has done moving us in while I have been at class and studying. Ladies, he even scrubbed the kitchen floor for 4 hours on Sunday. What a guy!

A Picture is Worth 1000 words

2008-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

No time for commentary. Pictures are worth 1000 words. The only thing that I would add that you can not experience through pictures is the smell. Everything in the house and on the island has a smell of sewage and mold. It is indescribable the destruction unless you experience it first hand.

Happy 25th Birthday!

2008-09-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

John turned 25 on Friday. We were planning to be in Galveston knee deep in mold and rust, but alas we were still in Wichita. It actually worked out well because John and I don't often get to celebrate birthdays with our family. This year we went to Cristy and Brian's for pizza and then to Lorin and Sandee's for an impromptu ice cream social.
John and I celebrated together in Newport Beach while we were in California. We went out to a little restaurant on the beach, sat outside, and chowed down. We walked and talked along Newport and Huntington throughout the afternoon.
Still our favorite thing is to just sit on the beach. Just Like Home...
The day was not all bliss though. As we were finishing up the meal, a pigeon pooped on our table right where the food was just at. We could not help but joke that that adequately summed up the last few weeks. After everything that has happened, we finally get crapped on literally. The old proverb is true "A cheerful heart does good like a medicine." If you enlarge the following picture, you will see 3 blobs of crap. Yummy!

Hurricane Ike Update

2008-09-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, alot has happened to us in the last 2 weeks. We went to California last weekend to see John's parents and while we were there our precious friends, Kevin and Meghan, went to our house and salvaged those things that could be saved from our moldy house. Our house took on about 18 inches of water, but because we have not been able to go back to the island since September 11 the house is covered with mold and mildew. It will have to be gutted and completely rebuilt. From what we understand there was not much there that could be saved. They mostly removed our clothing, bed, some medical books, and some electronics. I am not sure what we will be able to keep once we get there of the kitchen items and furniture. We are not expecting to save much but dishes that can be washed.
As you may have heard, Galveston opened the island to residents today. John and I were going to return, but we decided not to because my classes starting date got pushed back to starting on October 6. Besides, most of what could be salvaged Kevin and Meghan rescued and once we got there we would have been homeless.
So where are we going to live when we return? That is a great question. We are planning to stay with friends until we are able to find a more permanent place to live. We found an apartment in Clear Lake off of FM 518. It is a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 650 sq. feet. We put a deposit down on it because there is nothing else available. We called all the FEMA hotels in Clear Lake and Galveston, but none of them had vacancies. Then, we called apartment locators and real estate agents throughout Galveston and Clear Lake. The only property we could find was the one we rented. There were 3 total rental apartments available in the whole area. However, 2 of those were in Seabrook (a long ways away) and the one we rented is about 30 minutes away. We only got this one because we happened to call right after someone else cancelled their deposit on the apartment. The manager held the room for us until we could fax in an application and overnight our checks. She said they got several calls on it in the amount of time it took for us to do those things. We should be able to move in the first week of October. We were very fortunate to find a place.
We are going to continue looking for properties to rent that are closer to UTMB, but we are just grateful to have found a place to live for now. It gives us some peace of mind to have a "home" even though we did everything over the phone without seeing the apartment complex.
Obviously, the situation is changing every day, sometimes every hour. We still have not heard the final word from our current landlord on how they will deal with our house. We are following some lead for apartments in Galveston that we found through friends, but the island is still not inhabitable. It is a tough decision to leave or try to find a place inside the town. We also just went down to one car and we will probably have to buy another since we will be commuting to different places (my classes will be in Texas City and John's classes are in Galveston). We also need all new furniture and, of course, food.
Things do seem bleak from time to time but we have also had some triumphs during our time displaced. God seems to have gone before us every step of the way directing our thoughts and plans. We are grateful for what we brought with us and we are grateful for all the support we received since being homeless. Our friends, family, and church have all been very gracious.

Hurricane Ike: Stress Relief

2008-09-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

Our stress relief from Hurricane Ike consists of the following:
Food (OC Mining Company)Food (Breakfast on the patio)
Never-ending learning (LA Science Museum)
A little humor (Hurricane Simulator)
Trying to fly (LA Science Museum)
Fun with family (LA science Museum)
Holding babies makes everyone feel better (Liam)
and guns (need I say more?)

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

As most of you have heard, John and I evacuated for Hurricane Ike on Thursday morning. We come to Wichita, KS and have been staying with my parents. We boarded up our windows and covered most of the electronics and books with plastic to prevent water damage. It has been an emotional roller coaster waiting to get back into Galveston, waiting on word from UTMB, and waiting to hear how our house survived. We have registered with FEMA as evacuees and are now receiving benefits from them. Today, we move to a hotel in Wichita that we can stay at long term until the island is open again. We also found out today that our house has about 18 inches of water inside of it. A friend of ours was able to get inside and survey the damage. We are happy that the house is standing and some things may be salvageable.
Here we are in our new home with all of the belongings we brought with us.We plan to enjoy our time with family and friends. We are headed out to California to see John's parents over the weekend and then we will be back to Wichita indefintely. We are grateful to God for the wisdom to make decisions in a timely manner and well. He has answered several prayers:
-We evacuated with plenty of time,
-Our friend was able to find the key to our house and get in to look at it,
-Our house is standing and some items should be salvageable,
-We were able to see family that we had been trying to plan a vacation to see,
-We have been provided with free housing for the time being,
-John's sample for research and his building were unharmed
-Family and friends have been very supportive- taking us to dinner, giving us space when needed, talking us through scenarios, and giving gifts and prayers.

We are still concerned about what UTMB will do with us in the future. The PA program has talked about moving us to San Antonio for courses, but John's PhD program has decided to stay in Galveston. We would rather not have to make a tough decision about careers or live apart. Also, we are unsure that our house will be livable or that our landlord will allow us to continue living there while they repair it. In which case, it may be difficult to find housing. Thanks to all the people who have called and emailed. It is nice to know that you care.

Workin' 9 to 5

2008-09-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a look into the work side of John and my life. This is so family and friend have an idea of who we actually work with and can put a face to a name.
For me, I technically don't work at UTMB anymore, but officially I am still employed there. (Clear as mud, I know) Although I was technically done on August 1 , I have gone in for a few hours here and there. The department did hire someone to replace me this week so I will officially be done with work when I finish training her. Regardless of my status at work, I am still invited to the parties. We had a party recently at Debbie's house and here is a pictures of "the girls". This is Debbie (sitting), Stella (in the back), and me. Also, John's labs had a group picture recently so you can see who it is that he works with. Dr. Jose Barral (the boss) is in front of John. Next to him standing up is Ephrain (graduate student) and Jason (tech). Sitting down is Ray (graduate student). Note the background of this picture is in their lab. Yes, John has an amazing view of the harbor from his lab.

Hurricane Season is Here!

2008-08-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

This is the latest picture from the NOAA National Hurricane Center. Needless to say, it looks like Galveston has the potential for an interesting couple of weeks. Gustav is supposed to make landfall any where from TX to LA on Tuesday, and Hanna has a potential to enter the gulf. Not to mention the other THREE potential tropical storms that are out there now. When I saw this pictures I was surprised at all the activity in the Atlantic. Yikes! John is even required to pack up all the equipment in his lab to prepare for Gustav.

First Day of School

2008-08-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today was my official first day of classes at the UTMB PA Program. I was in orientation all last week. Needless to say, it was an exciting first day of class. I actually got to try to draw blood on another student - on the first day. Notice I say try because I did not get any blood to actually go in the tube. Still, the other student was nice enough to let me keep picking him until the class was over. I have a feeling that is a sign of things to come with this PA program. Everything will come very fast.
It was nice after all this waiting to finally get a schedule and have a plan for the semester. I am taking 18 hours and I am in class essentially 9 am to 5 pm three days a week and 9 am to 3 pm two days a week. I was definitely surprised at how hectic my schedule was going to be, but we will make it work.
Here's to hoping I will have time to make a blog post or two from here on out. Any votes for John to start updating the blog?

Fun with Gracen

2008-08-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Who can resist cute pictures of our beautiful niece? As I was looking through all of our pictures from recent trips, I noticed a large number of cute Gracen pictures so I had to share.

(Molly, let this be incentive for you to start walking. See how much fun you could have with Uncle John and Aunt Erika? We are coming for you next!)

Two Brides for Two Brothers

2008-08-13T13:45:00.001-07:00

Both my brother (Dathan) and John's brother (Joe) were married this summer.
Joe was married first in July in Colorado to Becca Munger.Dathan was married just last week to Elizabeth Bishop back home at Whitewater, KS.We are thrilled to have two new sisters in the family! Also, John and I got to walk down that aisle together for both weddings! It was fun to stand up with each other and be such a big part of each of our siblings weddings.
(PS: Annette, that title was for you. Do you get it???)

Goodbye UTMB and Hello Again UTMB?

2008-08-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day of work in the Pediatric HIV clinic at UTMB. I am going to miss it sorely. I loved the people I work with and the patients I grew attached to. Learning the medicine was fascinating and brought me to my ultimate career, working on the social problems was addicting (no pun intended), lunches with friends were fun, and so it goes.
Here is a picture of the “HIV team”, my boss Dr. Janak Patel, and our social worker Debbie Konopik. Our team is actually expanding now that I am leaving to include more faculty and a fellow, but this the closest picture I have.

We had some good and crazy times. Like I tell everyone when they ask about my job- there is never a dull moment in the HIV clinic. I will leave you will a few snippets of the countless stories I now have:

1. Patient stabs boyfriend and leaves him on the floor in a pool of blood. When the ambulance comes to help her with her injuries, they find his body.

2. Mom is high on crack, methadone, meth, and marijuana. Gives birth to a 35 week preemie at home on the floor and carries the child around on the street with the placenta in one hand and the baby in the other. Both bloody. Once admitted to the hospital, both baby and mom are found to be HIV positive (among other things). The baby is later diagnosed with Hepatitis C exposure and CMV infection.

3. 10 year old patient admits he has a crush on me and gives me a cat figurine from the flea market at his next visit.

4. Woman in jail for prostitution. She has complications with HIV medications and gets a serious infection after delivery. She also has a long list of psychiatric illnesses. Once released from jail, she showed up in clinic with her little baby and she is a new person (for a while at least)!

5. Mom leaves a message on my voicemail. “My daughter is addicted to drugs. She needs help. Please get her into rehab and out of the situation she is in- for her sake and the baby she is carrying.”

Rape victims to women considering abortions to high school kids to innocent children without parents and CPS cases the clinic is never dull. I have found a lot of satisfaction there, and I am going to miss it. I am not sure what I will do without the adrenaline rush of the clinic!

Camp Hope

2008-07-30T15:19:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, I was at Camp Hope last week. It was a wonderful, tiring, stressful, encouraging trip all in one. Needless to say, there were several highs and lows and very little sleep.
Camp Hope at Camp for All is for 7 to15 year olds in Texas and Florida who are infected with HIV. This year the camp had around 150 campers and 55 counselors. There were also psychosocial and medical teams. I was with a group of ten 12 and 13 year old girls. We had 3 counselors in the beginning, but one went home early with a child who misbehaved. Essentially, it was me and the lead counselor toughing it out. This was my home for a week. The camp had many layers as you can imagine. The children came to camp with the usual social problems we seen in the clinic for their age. They are struggling with their diagnosis and the implications of it; there are lots of family problems (if they are even with a family at all); they hate medication; they usually have alot of uncontrolled anger and sexuality; several are on psychiatric and behavorial therapies; and they have usually experienced little love and acceptance. However, the cool thing about camp is that they can all attend, and regardless of where they live the rest of their lives, they are loved. In fact, most of the counselors and campers cry as the kids enter and leave camp because both adults and kids know that this is the only place where they can be loved for who they are.
There are more stories of fun and intense emotions than I could possibly tell. My favorite part of camp was my daily hugs from one of my own patients who attended camp with me. Little does he know how much I love that!
But for the fun side... we had lots of it. We did horseback riding, climbing and zip lines down, a water day, a Olympic competition, a talent show, canoing, fishing, paintball, archery, etc. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed at camp due to obvious confidentiality reasons. I was able to take a few pictures before the kids arrived to give an idea of the set up.

And the results are...

2008-07-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

The results are in... Drumroll, please...
All of John's hard work from the last year paid off. He did excellent on his National Board Exam. He did not want me to put the actual score of the blog, but it is good enough that we can probably do whatever he wants wherever he wants. (You can call us if you really want to know his score.) It is a huge relief to us for two reasons: he has not decided what he wants to do so he retains all the possible options and because the next place we move is actually not our choice. The medical gods "match" you with a program. Basically, you can rank where you want to go and then the schools that interview you rank which applicants they want. Some combination of those rankings gets you are next placement. If you are higher on the list of the place you want to go, the more likely you will end up where you want to go thus we have a higher chance of being placed where we want to go. Like I said, it is a relief to us to have the options.
-Erika

We are very fortunate to have such supportive friends and family. Thank you to everyone who prayed for and encouraged us.
- John

Deja Vu and More

2008-07-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

John and I just returned from our second honeymoon to Estes Park, CO. The trip was really meant for Joe's wedding, but we decided to extend it a few days and revisit our first trip together. We stayed at Aspen Winds, the same resort that we stay on the honeymoon, and we tried to take many of the same pictures. Here is a sampling:
Today: Shopping in Estes Park
2005: Shopping in Estes Park Today at Twin Owls Steakhouse 2005 at Twin Owls Steakhouse

Today: Horseback riding in the Rocky Mountain National Park
2005: Horseback riding
Yeah, so, we pretty much look exactly the same. I suppose it was more the experience of the trip than to see how much we had changed. Still, I would recommend a similar sort of trip for all married couples. It is amazing how much you remember once you are in the same setting.
We were actually in Estes Park for a couple days longer this trip than last so we participated in many additional outings. We spent much more time in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was the highlight of the trip. We could have spent all day everyday there. We drove and climbed to the above 12,000 feet (which is quite a difference from our usual 0 feet). John and I also went on a 5.5 mile hike. Here you see us at the midpoint, regretting how far we had left do go. What goes up must come down...

Lethargists and Gluttons: A Summary of Our “Adventures” with Steve

2008-06-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

Steve, John, and I started a new club during our celebrations after John’s test. We are officially called the Lethargists and the Gluttons. That’s right. Our motto was “Don’t do anything that requires more energy than eating” and, to be perfectly honest, we exceeded to our greatest expectations.

The entire weekend consisted of fine dining, sleeping, watching movies, sitting on the beach or the couches reading strange books (this was limited to Steve and John), and then rotating through all of those “adventures” again and again. There were two highlights: a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science for the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit and the greatest highlight of all was the 400+ mile Harley ride that John and Steve took.

Not to mock da Vinci's work, but we could not resist.

Can you believe he even wants to look at another picture of the human body after the pain of the last few months? This man is going to be a dedicated doctor!Gluttons: Late progressive dinner from 5 to 11 pm. This was the entree of crab legs and steak. Yum!

Lethargists: Reading on the beach.

Conquerers of the road, John and Steve: They may look good in the pictures, but after a weekend of sticking to our motto they were very sore and tired from riding motorcycles for 12 hours.

Does anyone else want to join our club?

Same John, Same Activity, Different Locations

2008-06-08T18:46:00.001-07:00

Well, all of you who talk to us know what is coming up this week. It is finally the week of John's first Board's test, the USMLE Step 1. Basically, it is the culmination of the last two years of the classroom courses he has taken. The test does play a big part in determining which school and specialty he will go into for his career.
On the upside, this is the first of three real milestones we will hit in his education at UTMB. Next week, he will start phase two with his PhD research and dissertation. Then after 3 years (hopefully), he will come back to clinics and finish his MD.
To give you an idea of what he has been up to, I cataloged a typical day in the life of John. As you can see, he pretty much does the same thing over and over again, but varies it a little by studying in different locations. This reflects his crazy study scheduled of 8-16 hours per day.

Here is John studying at Mod Coffeehouse, his favorite study niche on the Strand. They have excellent coffee and snacks too. John up late at night studying pharmacology note cards on the back porch.And finally, at his desk with more studying. You can sense his feeling about his life. Please remember to pray for him on Thursday. It is a big day, and he is feeling the weight of its importance. Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and prayers so far.

Coming to a Town Near You....

2008-06-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

...Tim Claassen on his fancy, new motorcycle. Tim is an old friend from Whitewater, but we really got to know him well during college at K-State. He is on an 8,000 mile bike ride around the nation. He stops to see family and friends as he goes and camps at the places in between. We were encouraged to see him and spend some time with him even though it was only one night.No post about a vacationer is complete without a shameless plea for visitors. Here is what you need to know:

If you pay the expense to come see us, you too can have the same cheap thrills in Galveston that Tim experienced: your choice of a couch or an inflated air mattress in our office, your own restroom facilities (and shower!) adjacent to your living quarters, lawn chair and beers on the beach, a guided, narrated tour of the island, and we may even buy you a meal (some exclusions may apply).

Galveston Sandcastle Competition

2008-05-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

John and I traveled the 2 long miles to East Beach today to check out the annual sandcastle competition. We have always wanted to go, but each year we just missed it from being out of town. This year was the 22nd annual contest. I read in the paper that many of the teams are architecture, engineering, and contracting companies that use fancy tools and systems. They supposedly plan for months in advance in pursuit of the Golden Bucket Award. Not all of the designs were sandcastles. Most were creative creations that fell into categories like the most hilarious, the most environmentally friendly, political messages, movie themes, etc. Here are our favorites and votes for the best:
John's favorites
HalliburtonFamily Guy's Evil Monkey CastleErika's favorites
SandylandGalveston Jones: the crab in the hat is back"Its Lonely at the Top"
This was the tallest sandy structure....and 5 minutes later it was no longer one of the tallest Best actual sandcastle (Look at those arches between castles. Wow!)Best Abstract

Wedded Bliss

2008-05-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today John and I have been married 3 years. Wow, those years have flown by! John says that first year was trial by fire just to see if I would last. That was somewhat true considering the surgery, the ER visits, the moving across the U.S., the career changes, graduating from K-State, and so on. Regardless of all those events, I can say I love John more today than I did the day I married him, and I am looking forward to seeing where life takes us. It has been an exciting ride so far. Who knows where we will end up next?

On our wedding day...

When we were in Kansas a couple weeks ago, we visited the wedding site again and took a picture under the alter...

On our third anniversary...John got me the best thing he could have for our big day- a night with him without any studying! What a rare treasure! And that's not all . In July before Joe's wedding, we are going to Estes Park (where we went on our honeymoon) for a vacation.

Two Showers, Two Graduations, Two Parties, a Mother's Day Get-Together, and a Niece Playdate

2008-05-13T15:32:00.001-07:00

How is that for a high-impact weekend? While John and I were in Kansas last weekend, we attended two showers, two graduations, two graduation parties, one mother's day celebration, and one essential niece playdate. Whew!
SHOWERS
It all started Friday. I left the house at 4 am to get to the airport. After some flight delays, I actually ended up on a different flight which got in 1 hour earlier than it was supposed to. That was a sign for a good weekend to come (or maybe God just knew I was already overcommitted for this weekend and an extra hour would help). That evening Erin, Annette, and I with alot of help from other family members hosted a shower for Elizabeth (my future sister-in-law) and Kellie (my cousin).
The hostesses and honor guests after a full night of eating sugar (From L to R, my sister Annette, me, my cousin Erin, cousin Kellie, and sister-in-law Elizabeth).The finished dessert bar. We had the two showers back to back. All in all we hosted about 50 women. This is the panic before Aunt Marchel got home and saw what a disaster her house was. Her "freak out" when she walked is now famous, but priceless.Kellie may kill me for this picture, but we had to have some time between showers to take a load off.The honored couples.

GRADUATIONS
The next phase of the weekend was graduation parties and ceremonies. My cousin Cathryn and my sister Annette both graduated. They were the last ones on both sides of my family. They will actually go on the be roommates next year at Sterling College. I forgot my camera for Cathryn's graduation, but here are some from Annette's. I tried to tell her to smile sweetly, but the girl has a mind of her own. I suppose that is not all bad. That trait will probably serve the girl just fine in college.
She received exactly what she wanted for graduation- an iBook. Shortly after receiving her diploma.
A new graduate. MOTHER'S DAY WITH THE ENSZs
The extended Ensz family was fortunate enough to be together for Mother's Day including Grandma Ensz. Here is John and me with my mom. Happy Mother's Day mom! PLAYDATE
Finally, what trip to Kansas is complete without a playdate with the nieces? We went over to Lorin and Sandee's to play and catch up with the Trusketts.

Update on Life

2008-05-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

I hate to be one of those people who never updates their blog. I guess I needed a hiatus to regain my enthusiasm about the blog. Don't get me wrong. I love read about other people's lives on their blogs, but it seems that John and I don't have quite as much exciting news to report as others. Summer is coming though and that should bring excitement (or so I hope). Here is a short list of the things that have happened to us in the last month:

Erika got sick for 3 weeks with a gastroenteritis and then a bacterial infection. John is currently sick with some nausea, vomiting, and fever bug.

Erika got accepted to Baylor PA school and subsequently turned them down for the UTMB position. It was a difficult decision but I think it was best for John and me. You can pray that the details with UTMB will be worked out especially scholarships since neither of us will be working and the several months of rotations that are away

Our friend Sarah (an MD/PhD) student moved in just down the street from us. Now, we have friends within walking distance.

Erika has only 1 remaining test at Galveston College on May 8. I can not wait to be done with my undergraduate classes.

John has only 1 test of UTMB Medical School classes remaining. It is on May 9. Then on June 12 he takes his big USMLE Step 1 Board Exam. He will not truly be done studying until he takes that test.

Our friends Kevin and Meghan had their baby boy, Tye, and their other daughter Kaitlin turned two. Click here to see pictures of John and I at both events.

Our Clear Creek Small Group moved to our house for a few months while waiting for the Flemmons family to recover from the new baby.

We bought a new laptop for Erika because PA school requires it. I have a webcam now so I can talk to ya'll anywhere. Let us know if you have one and if you want to chat, and I will try to figure out how to use it.

I have plans of more grand things to come in the next month...

Fun in the Sun

2008-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Dathan, Elizabeth, and Annette joined us last week for some of the nicest weather we have had in Galveston. Aside from those times I was not vomiting over the toilet, we were outside in the sun... and we have the sunburns to prove it. We did the typical Galveston fun: Strand, Kemah, Moody Gardens, beach, grilling, Houston Rodeo, local restaurants, and biking on the Seawall. Here are the pictures:Dathan and Elizabeth at the Houston Rodeo. They went to the Toby Keith concert.
Biking on the Seawall. Trying not to fall over the side. Dathan seemed to think it was really funny to hear the girls scream as he got closer and closer to the edge.
Dathan and Elizabeth dining on the bay. What a cute couple!
Dathan cooking with me! He really wanted brownies and ice cream.
John and me on the Seawall. We finally got him to try the bike and he liked it! I see more rides in the future.
A picture for mom. All of us after church at Red River BBQ.
Quick Ferris Wheel ride over the water.
Kemah Marina at night.
Annette and me at Moody Gardens just before we saw the Titanic exhibit.

A Love Letter from John

2008-03-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

Don't worry the following love letter is not as intimate as the title suggests. It is no Shakespeare, but I will take what I can get.

Setting:
Some of you may know that John has high blood pressure. I was trying to help by sending him an article I found about hypertension in the paper.

Article Excerpts:
Good Marriage Equals Good Blood Pressure
By MALCOLM RITTER
NEW YORK (AP) -- A happy marriage is good for your blood pressure, but a stressed one can be worse than being single, a preliminary study suggests. That second finding is a surprise because prior studies have shown that married people tend to be healthier than singles, said researcher Julianne Holt-Lunstad.....Analysis found that the more marital satisfaction and adjustment spouses reported, the lower their average blood pressure was over the 24 hours and during the daytime. But spouses who scored low in marital satisfaction had higher average blood pressure than single people did. During the daytime, their average was about five points higher, entering a range that's considered a warning sign. (That result is for the top number in a blood pressure reading)....It makes sense that marital quality is more important than just being married when it comes to affecting blood pressure, said Dr. Brian Baker, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

John's reply:
If this research is true, then without you my blood pressure would be 200/150.

My reply:
How sweet! I guess I was the pessimist in this case. I was think I might be the cause of your hypertension. I like your way of thinking better.

John's response:
You are being way too pessimistic. I really think I would have had a berry aneurysm on my circle of willis explode leading to a hemorrhagic stroke and consequent paraplegia and dementia if it weren't for your calming presence. I love you (how's that for sweet husband MD talk).

A New Twist on Valentine's Day

2008-02-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

This year was a new twist on Valentine's Day. I had class on the night of Valentine's and John had class over lunch. So, we decided to go out for a Valentine's breakfast. It was a new twist on the tradition of the day, and it made me feel very special because John hates to get up early in the morning (it also saved us quite a bit of money). We went to Speculoos on the Strand.
Then, John told me he was going to take me out to a nice dinner at Rudy and Paco's (a local fine restaurant) the night after Valentine's, but there was a catch.....we were to go with 30 other MD/PhD students and applicants. Then Saturday, we also were to spend the day entertaining MD/PhD students followed by a progressive dinner. Romantic, huh?
Despite the nontraditional nature of the day, we did go on to exchanged cards and gifts. Mostly, I had to share the shirts my mom sent to John and me for Valentine's. I don't know if he will ever wear his outside of the house so I decided to post it for everyone to see. I thought they were cute. They could not express our sentiments more. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

A Whirlwind of Events

2008-02-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of events for John and me. It went something like this:
Sunday, Jan 27: Bought our pugalier, Chase. Isn't he so cute? Monday, Jan 28: Erika Interview for PA school at UTMB. Here is Chase celebrating with me after my interview.Tuesday, Jan 29: My boys took their first nap together.Friday, Feb 1: John's first endocrine test.
Sunday, Feb 3: Super Bowl Party with small group at our house. Here you see Kevin, Angie, and Abigail. Then, Josh and Christina and finally the girls. Monday, Feb 4: Erika accepted to UTMB PA school AND John's first paper accepted for publication to Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The paper's title is "Antibiotic resistance of enterococci in American bison (Bison bison) from a nature preserve compared to pastured cattle". Here I am opening the letter of acceptance. Tuesday, Feb 5: Fat Tuesday in Galveston. Chase celebrates with a necklace from the Children's Hospital Mardi Gras parade. Wednesday, Feb 6: John placed in the top 5 students on his endocrine test.
Friday, Feb 8: Decide to find Chase another home. He has been spending the weekend with various friends who are interested in adopting him. John and I decided we could not keep him between our schedules and the amount of attention he requires. Unfortunately, we thought we were going to be dog-people. We are not, but we will miss him anyway!
Sunday, Feb 10: Spring begins in Galveston with 70 degree weather all weekend. John and I sit on the beach in shorts and a tank top. To sum it up, while Kellie was in the Dominican Republic saving lives on a medical mission trip, John and I bought a dog, adopted him to someone else, discovered my future career, start John's career with a publication, hosted a party, celebrated Mardi Gras, continued school as usual, and spent some time at the beach.

Somebody has a new puppy

2008-02-02T05:42:00.000-08:00

Undoubtedly, John and I would post a video like this if we had a video camera.

Meet the Newest Addition to the Anderson family

2008-01-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

We picked up our new dog this afternoon. He was born December 8, 2007. He is a mix of a pug and a King Charles Cavalier- a pugalier. Since he has joined the Anderson family, he has peed on the floor, had a mild nervous breakdown after being separated from his brothers, and received lots of new toys. He also made a new friend, Bella. Bella was our inspiration for pug-mix. She is a puggle owned by our friend Dianne in the the MD/PhD program. They had some fun playing together.
We simply love him even though he has been fairly depressed since moving. Here are some pictures of our first day with him. He is a joy...... at least so far but we have not spent the night with him yet. As Cristy noted, this is the closest any of our family will come to having a human for many years to come. Yes, gifts are being accepted in lieu of a child. The name is to be announced at a later time (John and I disagree.)

Dogs Rule!

2008-01-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

The votes are in and the people chose 2 to 1 for John and I to get a dog for Christmas. Now, the only barrier is actually doing it. We have been looking around in the paper and the animal shelters but so far there has not been anything that we really want. What we had originally wanted was a puggle- a mix between a pug and a beagle. They look like this one below. Isn't he soooo cute? However, the only puggles we have found are very expensive. Other dogs we have looked into were sharpei,yorkshire terriers, and a pocket beagle.The decision is just so hard because they are all so cute. I never thought I would be one of those people who even desired an indoor animal, but I think John and I would both welcome a little more excitement in the house. We need a little addition to the family. We just want a cute, little dog that we can play with. Does any one have any suggestions?
P.S. I am sure you can all guess which dog John wants the most- the sharpei. Of course, he would pick the fat, wrinkly, lazy, grumpy-looking one!

Ringing in the New Year!

2008-01-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

Since I took very few pictures over Christmas and I have not posted in many weeks, I will pretend that nothing happened during that time (when in reality we were going crazy which was why I did not post).
To ring in the New Year John and I are making a monumental post. This is the first blog post that we have authored together. I think it is safe to say that John and I are glad to see 2007 gone and are looking forward to 2008. Why you may ask?

Highlights of 2007.....
1. John is done with another year of school.
2. Another wonderful year of marriage.
3. Loss of grandpas on both sides of our family.
4. New family member: Molly.
5. Traveling to Austin 2 times, Kansas 5 times, California 1 time, Washington DC 1 time, Arkansas 1 time.
6. Thanksgiving visitors from the North Country (Kansas).
7. One half marathon and one sprint triathlon for Erika.
8. John's academic success: Blocker's Scholar, 2nd place in the National Student Research Forum, Seymour Fisher Award, and remaining at the top of his medical school class the whole time.
9. Moving into our new house and LOVING it.
10. Weather: experiencing our first hurricane, a mild winter, and a ridiculously humid summer.

Highlights to come of 2008 (hopefully)...
1. Exciting school opportunities for both John and me.
2. John starts his PhD which, more significantly means he has finished his first two years of medical school.
3. Full Marathon (26.2 miles) for Erika in Washington DC among the monuments.
4. New family members: two weddings (Becca & Joe and Elizabeth & Dathan) and baby (Baby Fredin).
5. Three year anniversary.
6. Becoming more involved with Clear Creek Community Church and our Galveston Small Group.
7. Keeping out New Year's Resolutions to be healthier.
8. Annette's graduation from Remington High School.
9. John takes his first set of Board Exams.
10. Leaving room for something surprising.

Thanksgiving Partaaaaay!

2007-11-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a new experience for John and me this year. This year we were the hosts of the party in Galveston. The ENTIRE Mosiman side of the family came to Galveston to see John and me this holiday- that is 14 people in all. We are truly blessed to have a family that is willing to travel 11 + hours on Thanksgiving holiday to be in our tiny house. (I think the beach might have been an attraction too.) We had a feast of Thanksgiving food and desserts. Between our house and the seafood restaurants in Galveston, we ate nearly every meal together as a family. We were especially excited that Grandpa and Grandpa Butch could make the trip. Grandpa had just had a back surgery only 5 weeks ago. As you can see, he was the life of the party since he was pain-free for the first time in years. You also see that Grandma treated "the cook" with apron that she made on her new sewing machine. It would not have been the same without them. I had planned for 70 degree weather since that was how it had been all fall, but it did not turn out quite so nice. On Thursday the temperature dropped to the 50's and windy, but that did not stop us from spending time in the water on the beach. Three brave souls attempted to boogie board on the waves while the rest of us sat on the beach and took pictures. Needless to say, the swimming did not last long because of the cold weather. Kudos to Jeremy for the best picture of the vacation- a bird lifting off of the beach. The grandkids (except John) also spend an afternoon at Schlitterbahn in Galveston. It was so fun. The waterpark is convertible so it is indoor in the winter. Although there were fewer rides, we tried everything we could. I am definitely going back sometime in the summer when the whole park is open. Hopefully, I will have some adventurous visitors again so that I have someone to go with since John is a party-pooper about these things. On Friday night, the family went to Moody Garden's Festival of Lights. It is a walking tour of the grounds that goes right along the bay. A person could spend almost an hour walking through all the light displays and eating snacks. Again it was cold, but well worth the expense and time. Finally, we do not want to forget about the shopping trip in the Strand District on Black Friday and the ferry ride in the rain on Saturday. Whew! I can not believe that we crammed all of those activities into a few days of vacation, but it was a great time. John and I have alot to be thankful for especially all of our close family on both sides. Check out additional pictures on Kellie's blog.

New Do

2007-11-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

I got a "new do". Last weekend, I finally took the plunge and chopped my hair off. I cut off 8 inches and my hairdresser donated it to the Shiner's Burn Hospital at UTMB. Since most of you won't see me until Christmas, I decided to post some before and after pictures.
Before:

Erika's 23rd Birthday

2007-11-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

I celebrated my 23rd birthday this week (on November 13 for those of you who forgot). I had a nice day. There was a small birthday cake and party for me at work and John and I went out to one of my favorite restaurants on the beach. I received lots of great gifts and cards from everyone. Most of what I received was gift certificates and money which was perfect. I had been working on buying a few things to decorate the house so the money and gift cards went a long way.
John's present to me was neither of the above. He gave me a nightstand complete with an alarm clock and lamp. I had been living without all three since we moved because my old one was converted into our TV stand. I love it. Here I am laying in bed enjoying my present- plus some flowers John gave me. Thanks to everyone who sent me something.
In other news, John and I (mostly me) have been working all day to get ready for our Thanksgiving guests this week. My entire Mosiman side is coming- aunt, uncle, cousins, mom, dad, brother, sister, and grandparents. It is going to be a blast. I am so excited to have them and I am excited to try my hand at Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, we will not be having turkey. We prefer to support our family trade and eat beef!

Ships Ahoy!

2007-10-28T20:19:00.001-07:00

John and I went to some friend's house this evening to carve pumpkins and have a potluck. We were not expecting to make a masterful work of art, but that is just what happened. We started it together, but eventually he took over. He saw it as a challenge. He thought it was something like neurosurgery. Everything is a competition! Anyway, we are proud of our creation. We will be displaying our "scary" pirate's ship for our trick-or-treaters this week. Hopefully, we will have some, but if nothing else we know that Katelin is coming over for Cheerios and fruit.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE SPOOKY LONE-STAR STATE!

Award and Travel

2007-10-19T17:29:00.001-07:00

Obviously there has been nothing too exciting happen in the Anderson family lately. I have been trying to come up with ideas of things to write about, but there is not much. A couple of bright spots in the last few weeks have been: John's award and my trip to Kansas.
John receive another accolade on October 6th at the MD/PhD Program Banquet. He became a Blocker's Scholar among other things with this award comes a travel budget- for scientific conferences only. However, if anyone knows of one close to them, maybe we could make it into a road trip. Here he is with one of his MD/PhD classmates, Sarah. She won the same award. The next weekend I made a trip to Kansas. Technically I went home for Brittany's wedding (sorry Britt I wish I had a better picture from the wedding), but I got alot of time in with family too. I had a great time eating out, visiting Grandmas and Grandpas, and catching up. Among other things, we celebrated Dathan's 20th birthday...Had an impromptu baby/maternity shower for Kellie. For the first pictures of the babe check out Kellie's blog...Working on college applications with Annette...Perhaps the best highlight was getting some quality one-on-one time with my nieces, especially Gracen. We went to the park for some bonding time. I have to say it was great, but I don't know how Cristy does it all day every day. I am sure glad that Brian told me to just take Gracen when I offered to take both nieces to the park.

I Now Declare a War on Lizards!

2007-10-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

In Kansas, you deal with spiders. In Wyoming, you have bears. In Arkansas, you have snakes. In Texas, all I get is lizards. For a while, we had a resident lizard that I saw outside our house almost everyday. It was a little weird, but at least it was outside. Well, now they are inside. I have no idea what to do about. You can't really kill them because they aren't harmful. You can't chase them out because they are too fast. I don't think there is any way to spray for them. And today a new element was presented- they camouflage with their surroundings. See how the little guy blends in with our green shower curtain. If being in the house is not bad enough, they have been spotted recently on the printer, in the ice cream maker, and one time in my pants as I was trying to put them on. It is really unnerving when they crawl down your leg or you pick something up and you feel something else wiggle in your hand. Enough is enough and something must be done. This is war!

Cheers to the Birthday Boy!

2007-09-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

John celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday. Well, it was actually more like I celebrated John's birthday while he was depressed because "a third of his life was over". For some reason, he was really melodramatic. It must be the age!
Not to worry because he was quickly cheered up with the gifts and cards he received from family and friends. He mostly has received money which he plans to spend on a week of birthday dinners. He has a list of places he wants to go celebrate. I thought it was a great idea too. We could get free desserts from each restaurant!Money is a good gift because what else can you get a man who spends his life reading science books for entertainment? However, a wife can not give the gift of money for obvious reasons. So from me, he received an EcoSphere. It is a self-contained ecosystem which tiny shrimp, vegetation, and water. It is perfectly combined so that the system will last for years inside of a glass ball. It will be a tourist attraction in itself.

Hurricane Humberto

2007-09-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have gotten enough phone calls from family and friends that I decided it was time to make a post about the hurricane. Galveston was hit with a Category 1 hurricane last night. It was remarkable for the fact that it developed into a hurricane so rapidly. Initially, there was little concern because it was just a tropical storm with maximum winds of around 45 miles/hour. However, as the storm hovered over the warm Gulf waters, it rapidly became a hurricane with winds sustained around 80 miles/hour. It hugged the coastline into Louisiana. We were expecting 5-15 inches of rain locally, but we only received 6 1/2 inches. The brunt of the storm hit east of us in High Island and the moved to Port Arthur/Beaumont area. I would liken the hurricane to the average tornado in Kansas just much more widespread. Still, I can not imagine how anything could be left after a Category 3, 4, or 5. We are OK and nothing in our city was greatly damaged. I think the Galveston they are referring to on the news is all of Galveston county as there were parts that were more heavily affected than others. For example, Port Bolivar was declared a disaster area. It is only a few miles (plus a ferry ride) from our house. Now, we are getting ready for the next storm Ingrid which is already forming in the Atlantic. The only difference is now we are seasoned veterans.
I got a couple of pictures, but it was dark by the time the worst of it come through. Here you see our car in front of our house at about 6 pm. You can see the the water is already up to the hub caps. We were afraid if it continued at that pace it would be under water. We drove it onto the grass to get it a little higher, but I don't think we would have had to do that. The rain was so much less than expected.This is a picture of the waves. I read somewhere they were 6-10 feetI got this picture from a website with pictures of Galveston. It shows that the waves were actually high enough for someone to surf. Usually the surfers are just floating on the water.

Hooray for Vacations!

2007-09-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

John and I took a much enjoyed vacation last week. We traveled through Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma by car. We were gone 10 days. It was alot of driving (about 35 hours in all) but we sure enjoying seeing family and friends. We spent the first couple days at Bull Shoals in Arkansas. Next, we went to Great Bend to see John's grandparents and then back to the Whitewater area to see my family.
The highlights centered around our nieces, Gracen and Molly.... Aren't they the cutest?Some sightseeing in Arkansas...Family and friends...Adventure...
Molly's dedication...

Seymour-Fisher Award

2007-08-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that John won the Seymour Fisher Award for Excellence in Neuroscience. Although he was notified of the award a few months ago, he received the official award this past Monday at the White Coat Ceremony and Award Program for Medical Students. Basically, he was given the reward because he wrote a paper about a research project he did in the summer. He tied for first with graduating medical students. He received some cash, had to give a presentation for faculty, and this certificate. Here he is given the award by dean Dr. Thomas. I am so proud of him. It was really fun to go back to the same ceremony that started his medical school career last year and to see him get an award. I remember wondering back then how the next year was going to go. He has been far more successful than we ever expected.
Still, the rigors of medical school is starting to take its toll. John does not enjoy all the time he has to spend studying. He is getting burned out on school, and I can see that he would much rather be in the lab. Also, he continues to take on additional programs while he is dong medical school. He will be applying for his own grant and starting graduate school classes next week. He has a test on Friday and then it is vacation for us. Please say a prayer for him as he finishes this phase of school.

Ironbabe

2007-08-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

I am an Ironbabe and a triathlete. How empowering to say, but it is probably a little dramatic! Meghan and I did run our first sprint triathlon this morning. It was a 300 meter swim, 11 mile bike ride, and 5 K run. It was a short distance so that it why it is called a sprint- might because we went fast the whole time! Here is how our weekend went:Saturday
3:00 pm Kevin and Meghan pick us up in the pouring rain to go get race information. We are hoping this is not the way the race will go.
4:30 pm Pick up packets for the triathlon
5:30 pm Arrive at the hotel in Houston
7:00 pm Go to supper at Olive Garden for a good pre-race pasta meal. I think it is true what they say about pasta before a race, but it might also be an excuse to eat alot of food.
10:00 pm Go to bed
Sunday
5:00 am Wake up and prepare for the race
5:30 am Leave for Alexander Duessen Park
6:00 am Receive our chip, get our body markings, prepare our transition stations, and scout out the competition (My supportive husband. Thanks for coming along and getting up early John. )
7:00 am The race starts. I was in a wave before Meghan because I was in a different age group. First was the swim. This is definitely my worst part. Since everyone was so close together, they kept running into you and pulling you under water. This was an added element I did not count on. And I am a beginner swimmer. Somehow, I made it back to land.Then the bike. The bike went well. There was only one small incident where I had my helmet on backwards and a nice guy help me put it on straight. Then the sympathy cries started for "number 19". It was embarrassing, but it was also my own fault because that was the first time I had put my helmet on. However, if you ask anyone from the race, it was because everything was going so fast, not ignorance. :)(This is a picture of the transition station.)
Finally the run. The run only took us 24 minutes which we were both very happy with considering the fact that we had just done a work out. We did not train for 8 minute miles, so it must had been the adrenaline. Also, this was the first time I had run 3 miles at once since the half marathon because of my knee injury. Right now it still feels OK, but I think the true test will come tomorrow.9:25 Cross the finish line9:30 Head to the Pavilion for free Marble Slab ice cream (Anyone who know me knows that is the best reward I could get), Applebees, and Breakfast BurritosThe results
We finished in under 1 hour and 1/2. I heard that there were 400-450 women in the competition and they ranged from ages 10-72. If I had to guess I would say that the average age was around 35-40. I came in 9th for my age group, but there could have been 9 people in my group for all I know. As for whether or not we will do it again, during the race we said to each other definitely not, but now I am not so sure. I might give it another try. My body feels much better after this race compared to the half marathon.

Hurricane Season II

2007-08-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

If you want to track Hurricane Dean with us, I use www.foxnews.com and www.khou.com.

Hurricane Season

2007-08-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's officially hurricane season for the Gulf of Mexico. I am actually really excited to see what kind of storms we get. So far this week, two new threats have raised some concern on the island. It is all the buzz around Galveston, but it could be a false alarm. Tropical Depression Erin hit Corpus Christi today. The locals here say we are on the "dirty" side of the storm. Basically that is everyone to the right of the storm gets heavy rains and wind. There has been a little bit of activity today, but not as much as I was expecting after all the build up. So far, it has been pretty typical Galveston weather.

The one that everyone is really worried about is Hurriance Dean. It was upgraded to a category 1 hurricane this morning. I have been hearing reports that it will get to a Category 3 or 4. At this point, they have no idea where it is going to end up. It is expected to hit landfall on Monday. I will try to get some cool pictures if we see anything unusual. You can follow UTMB's alert at http://www.utmb.edu/alert/.
For now, I am going to take my books to the porch and watch the clouds roll by. Hopefully, I will see some rain and lighting too. I love a good storm!

Hooray, Summer is Almost Over!

2007-08-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

I know it is sort of backwards, but I am so excited that summer is almost over. I only have 6 days left of my Microbiology class. It has been consuming my life because it is Monday through Thursday 5:30 to 9:30 pm. Also, only one week away is my first ever sprint triathlon in Houston. Although Meghan and I have suffered some setbacks (we have both been extremely busy and then we got sick), we are going to complete it. Basically, my life cycles through work, workouts, class, and studying.
John is busy too. He recently took a test and did very well. We are thinking he was in the top 10 people in his class, but we don’t get his official rank anymore so we can not be sure. He has acquired some extra work because the car is broken. We took it in and got the price quote. It did not take long to decide that John decided he could fix it himself! Needless to say, he has a lot on his plate to deal with in the next few weeks.
There is more, but hopefully that explains why I have not been posting lately. Well, that, and the fact that I knew if I posted it would just be ramblings and complaining.
The long and the short: Both of us are tired of studying and ready for vacation. Bull Shoals here we come!

Happy 17th Birthday Annette

2007-07-22T19:27:00.001-07:00

Annette decided to grace us with her presence for her 17th birthday. Why not? Not everybody can say that they when to the beach for their 17th birthday. We had a great time. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural History. There was an exhibit there on Imperial Rome that Annette wanted to see. As it turns out, there is a whole world up there in the big city of Houston that John and I have not seen. Here is Annette and John outside of the Museum and then the girls in the exhibit.
Of course, a trip to Galveston is not complete without a little shopping on the Strand where Annette found her birthday gift from John and me. She had to model it for John because he did not go shopping with us. Finally, we made a big birthday meal on their last night with us on our NEW grill. (We love the new grill. I think cooked on it 4 times this last week. )
It was great to see Annette. She is maturing into a beautiful, articulate, caring, young woman. She will be fine out there in the big world that awaits. I just wonder if the world is ready for her....

Great Summertime Dessert

2007-07-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone must give this recipe a try for your next summer party. It is from the Food and Family magazine published by Kraft. Muy excellente! I made it this evening and it actually turned out like the picture. Usually I am not patient enough to decorate and make a dessert attractive, but this one was so easy and it tasted great. I promise you will love it.

Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream Cake
10 minute prep. time

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

8 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

POUR fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.

ARRANGE 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

FREEZE at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.

Change is good!

2007-07-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

In the second year of the blog, it is time to make some upgrades- new colors, new features. Ok so it is really not all that different, but its the biggest change I can muster. Wow! How did I ever manage to move 700 miles away and I can hardly stomach to change my blog background?

There's No Place Like Kansas!

2007-07-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

John and I had a quick trip back to Kansas to see family last weekend. It was great. We mostly went our seperate ways, but we did join back up on Sunday. We flew into Wichita on Thursday night and got up bringht and early for breakfast with the Mosiman's. Then John, Gracen, and Cristy left fo Great Bend and I stayed behind in Whitewater. The focus of our visit with to spend time with our ailing grandpas. Although that is a depressing reason to go home, it was good to see them and family. Here are some pictures:

Kellie and me
Grandma and Grandpa Butch and me
Fun with GracenThe Whole Ensz Family

The Best Picture of the Day! Look closely at all of my lovely aunts, uncle, and dad.

Long time, no post

2007-06-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Contrary to how it appears on our blog, we have not been in California for 3 weeks. We wish! John and I have been back in Texas since June 3. We are busily back into the swing of things. Here is what’s coming up for us:
John starts back to medical school classes on Monday. This is the cardiovascular-pulmonary section. He is not too excited about it. He has spent the last 8 weeks in the lab- his first love. However, he recently completed a wonderful presentation to the Neurology faculty about is research project. He has one more presentation coming up on Friday and then he will be done with his summer rotation.
I am taking a night class on Organic Chemistry. On Thursday I will be half done. It actually has been much better than I thought it was going to be. Of course, it helps to have John around. J Meghan and I have started our training for the Ironbabe- a triathalon in Houston. I have not signed up yet because I need to see how well the swimming training goes.
Finally, for those of you in Kansas, we are planning a trip home from June 28 to July 1. We will mostly be there to visit family, but hope to catch some time with friends too. We looking forward to seeing people and the hometown scenery- like Dad's wheat fields and Gracen. Check out more pictures of the cutie at http://www.flickr.com/photos/truskett/

Days 1, 2, 3, and 4

2007-05-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

DAY 1: Nautical Museum at Balboa and Harbor Tour

DAY 2: Newport Beach

DAY 3: Santa Monica Pier for Erika and a day at home for John

DAY 4: Hiking to Holy Jim Falls and the Crab Pot

Holy-Freaking Crap its a One-Legged Bird: A Contribution by John Anderson and Richie McNabb

2007-05-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

*This picture and title were the only contributions John demanded be made to the blog.

Presents!

2007-05-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to buy some presents with the money raised for the Houston marathon. As you remember, the funds are intended to help HIV positive mothers and their affected newborn children with basic needs. Their most pertinent needs include things like diapers, bath tubs, car seats, blankets, strollers, and clothing. I expected to raise only enough money from the marathon to buy car seats. However, the fundraiser was blessed and I did get enough to buy additional items like listed above. Here is the toy room now (and I have not even ordered the car seats yet!):
As you can see, I have some organizing to do before I can fit 10 car seats in this room. My first shopping spree cost about $750 and was all of the Target bags stacked on the floor- some of them are cut out. All of the gifts I bought are for children from 0 to 12 months. The other gifts are donations from churches and AIDS organizations, and are mostly for older children. Thank you to everyone who donated. These women are in need.

One year down: How many more to go?

2007-04-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

John is officially done with the first year of school. We still don't know how he did on his last test- I am just glad he is done. I can already tell that he is a little less tense. I have to be a little reserved though because even though he is done with one year there are many, many more to go. The other big news of the weekend came from the NationalStudent Research Forum John participated in this weekend. He did a poster presentation of his work from his rotation last summer with Dr. Barral. This is one of the pictures from his poster. He drew this structure using some computer program for bioinformatics. I am not sure what it is, and John made it sound like it was too complicated to explain in the blog .... Probably it is a model of the protein chaperone, Hsp 90 The process go like this... He stands by his poster for a couple of hours while experts in the field of Neuroscience come around and ask him questions on his project. They ask how to prove further his hypotheses, how to improve his work and next steps, and check to see that he understands his project. Then they grade him on his knowledge and the actually poster format and presentation. I think it would be nerve wrecking!
Anyway, the long and the short of it is that he is graded and compared with other people in his field and then compared with everyone in every subject overall. He did very well- taking home the second place prize of everyone in the competition. Here he is with his award at the awards banquet. It is really good because he was up against over 250 applicants from several different countries. Can you tell I am proud?
In other news, we are moving this weekend to the new house. Yippee. We are so excited to get out of the apartment. Moving to the city is bad enough, but then having hundreds of next door neighbors makes it worse. We have been slowly packing for the weekend, regardless it could be stressful for me because I have two tests this week and two finals next week.

Oh Happy Day!

2007-04-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a big day. IT IS JOHN'S LAST DAY OF CLASS. Yippee! I am so excited. Probably not near as excited as John, but excited nonetheless. Of course, this is small compared to the joy we will feel next week once all of his tests are though. To treat ourselves, we bought a new coffee and end table set. Here is John studying for his upcoming finals surrounded by the new furniture.

All of this is good timing because we are moving in a exactly two weeks. We went over to the house for one last look this week and made some final measurements. Here are some additional pictures of the house.Me in the rose garden across the street from our new house. It is the one closest to my head. John measures the living room windows for blinds. The tiny kitchen. Our enclosed back porch.

Master bath.The rest of the living/dining room with the kitchen bar.

Same 'ol, same 'ol

2007-04-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to post anything new until something exciting happened. However, that does not seem to be in the plans for the future......So, here is what has been happening with us in the mundane, recent weeks.
Since Spring Break, it has been mostly studying for both John and me. He had a midterm in Neuroscience and Human Behavior and did excellent as usual. He got number 2. I on the other hand counted that I have 9 tests in the 8 weeks following Spring Break, so I am just looking forward to the end of finals.
We both have been spending quite a bit of our time on our respective research projects. John has a poster presentation on April 26 and 27. It is the National Student Research Forum and it will be held at UTMB. He is presenting based on his Sascin project from the summer. I have also be working on a poster presentation that will be held at the Pediatric Society of Research meeting in Toronto. Although my PI is presenting the data, I have been completing alot of the background data collection and analysis.
In other news, we signed the lease on the house we are going to rent today. We decided on the one close to UTMB. Our lease will start May 1, but we will probably move slowly over the month of May as we have a month of overlap. Here is the picture to refresh your memory: Other than that, I have been filling my spare time by trying to prepare new recipes often. Also, my running partner and I decided to train for a Triathlon in July. It should be an interesting challenge since I do not technically swim. Also, neither one of us have a bike. We want to do the one in Irving, TX. It is called the Iron Girl. It is short length Triathlon. I thought that a routine of swimming and biking would help the rehab on my knee.
As for John's spare time..... well there is none. I did coax him out of the house for an Easter meal out at Saltgrass this weekend. I do that occasionally so that he gets some fresh air, and so that I can have a date.
Well, here's to hoping something exciting happens in the next couple weeks. So long.

Livin' for the Weekend

2007-03-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

John and I have been livin' for the weekend. The last two weekends we have gotten out of the house to have some fun. I enjoyed every minute, mostly because these were the two weekends on either end of my Spring Break.
The first weekend we went up up to Houston for the Houston Livestock Show and Ro deo with a couple of people from our Bible Study. The Houston Rodeo last for 3 weeks, and has country music performers every night following the rodeo. For this evening, it was Kansas-native Martina McBride. The rodeo is located in Reliant Stadium- the same place were the Houston Texans play. It was huge.
Here you see two other couples from our Galveston Small Group before we got to the Rodeo. Kevin, Meghan, and 10 month old Kaitlyn Flemmons and Steven and Brittany Potter. You might remember Meghan was my training partner for the Houston Marathon.
Mock creation of the cotton fields as one of the exhibits in the Livestock Show. I took this picture for Grandpa Butch and dad's sake, but don't get too excited the cotton is fake.
Bull riding
Calf roping competition in Reliant Stadium.
John and I with the carnival in the background. This was after the rodeo and the concert were over. The entire Rodeo is set up more like the state fair in Kansas. There are restaurants set up for dining, carnival rides, livestock competitions, machinery, etc. The Rodeo is actually only a small portion of what you can see at the Rodeo.

The second weekend my family came to visit from Kansas. They also wanted to see the rodeo, so we drove to Houston to see Brooks and Dunn perform. Unfortunately, we got there after the
rodeo was finished so we did not see any competitions.
Annette and I are waiting for the Houston METRO to give us a ride to Reliant Park.
Dad found his dream truck while at the Rodeo. It was the new 2007 Chevy Silverado with an Allison automatic and diesel. Did I say it right dad? He must have really wanted that truck because he kept trying to get inside even though the doors were locked. The only hang up was the $41,000 price tag.
Dathan's new career as a NASA trained astronaut. He was the only person over the age of five that even tried to fit in the suit.
Family picture on the last even there were here. Notice the new addition- Elizabeth Bishop, Dathan's girlfriend.
And what is a trip to Galveston without a trip to the beach. We spent part of the afternoon Monday soaking up the sun. There were a few brave souls willing to try out the water. In fact, the visitors spent much more time in the water the the local Galvestonians. Check out the video mom made of the family.

Home Sweet Home?

2007-03-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it is that time of year again. It is time for John and I to move. He has lived in 6 different houses in the last 5 years. I have lived in 5 different homes in the last 5 years. We are hoping this will be the last year for our annual moves (until we leave Galveston). We are looking to rent again, and we have the homes narrowed own to three. Here they are:This house is on the West end of the Island. It would come with a small dock and is located right on a water canal. It would have a nice view, but it is a little small. Also, it is about 25 minutes from UTMB, which would add up to alot of time and gas. It is at the lower end of the price range though. I imagine that this would be a favorite home for our potential guests. This house is bigger with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. It has hardwood floors throughout and a nice big back yard. It is only 2 blocks from the beach. It has very tall ceilings, but it is at the upper end of our price range and the appliances and extras are not all that great.
Finally, a home that is close to UTMB. This is the house we are leaning towards renting. It is at the lower end of the price range and it is completely remodelled. It is close enough to UTMB that we could walk or bike every day. (This way we could drop our parking another $85 discount.) It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, with 2 porches. This nice big porch on the front with an enclosed porch on the back. The appliances, floors, walls, kitchen, everything is new. The only down side it that it is a little smaller than we wanted to commit to for 6 years.

What do you think?

Road Trip

2007-02-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

John and I took a spontaneous road trip this weekend to Austin. Upon John suggestion, we decided to get away and it was agreed that he would leave all his books behind. Of course, I could not pass up the opportunity.
It was a short trip, but fun. We left Friday night and returned Saturday night. Although it was fleeting, still, we were able to fit in a few activities. As with most of our trips, the most exciting part is scoping out a good place to eat. On the top of the list was Rudy's BBQ store. This is a BBQ restaurant unique to Texas that was introduced to me by the Anderson side of the family. John and I love the brisket.
Then, we visited Zilker Park alongside Town Lake. We took a walk to work off our BBQ, which was worth every calorie. There was alot of activity around the park that day. We managed to find a part that was not too populated, where John took some time to commune with nature. Of course, there was a little bit of time to disrupt nature as well.... Here you see the beginnings of this duck attacking John. Eventually, John was forced to kick him off in a not-so-gentle- manner. Next, we went over to the Blanton Museum of Art on the University of Texas campus. They had an interesting exhibit called the Geometry of Hope that John and I actually really enjoyed. This was my first time (that I recall) going to an art museum like this. This art was themed around Latin American artists and, of course, geomtery. I learned alot about art. Of course, we could not take our cameras in, but there was a sculpture outside the Museum of a Gibson guitar. This was a promotional event that Austin was doing while we were there called Guitartown.Finally, we ended the day with a nap in the park, dinner at a Tex-mex place in downtown Austin, and the drive back home.

Mardi Gras Galveston Weekend #1

2007-02-10T19:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend kicked off Mardi Gras in Galveston and New Orleans. For the first day of festivities, there was a parade on the Seawall from 14th to 61st. John and I were lucky enough to have our apartment close enough that we did not have to find a parking space. We just walked. It started at 6 pm and did not get to where we were (at the end) until almost 8:30 pm! We went with another MD/PhD student, Jason, and his girlfriend. Jason is from New Orleans so he has experienced many a Mardi Gras. The parade mostly consisted of floats like the one above with people throwing beads and marching bands. Here are some pictures of us (by us I mean John) jocking for beads.......
John jumps over his friends to reach the beads. According to Jason and his girlfriend, in New Orleans there are a ton of people pushing you away to get to the beads.

Here I show off my gazillion beads with the featured medallion: "Registered Texan". How did I get all of those beads anyway????

Finally, I got John to put on some beads and take a picture. That was a rare treat.

Next weekend is supposed to be the best parade. It is on the Strand, but is costs $20 just to walk on the Strand. We have not decided if we want to go yet, but everyone says that it is the best one in Galveston.

I must give credit, where credit is due

2007-01-31T07:04:00.000-08:00

Joe, John's brother, was John's partner in crime. For his visit over New Year's, Joe helped John saw, measure, and test out markers and erasing techniques for optimum performance. Just to appease me, they put a nice trim around the bottom of the board. Had it not been for Joe the project might not have ever gotten off the ground. Thanks Joe!

P.S. The board worked. John was #1 on his test on Friday.