The Match

Thursday I had the privilege of observing an event that was unlike any other I think I'll ever witness: 255 people finding out the next 3-5 years of their life...at the exact same time. As you could imagine, there was a great deal of nervous energy in the room. Parents, significant others, and doctors crammed into the lecture hall at Jefferson's new building at 11AM for the match ceremony. (Spruce Hill let me leave school to attend the event with Sarah, for which I was quite thankful)

From 11-11:50, all the med students were talking with their friends, taking pictures, and filling out end-of-the-year surveys. At 11:50, the dean went to the podium and asked everyone to return to their seats. He asked all family members and friends (excluding spouses, thankfull!) to leave the room and close the doors behind them! After several minutes of comments and thanking folks for their work, he introduced the new dean of students. This dean congratulated everyone and told the doctors to pass out the envelopes. (it was a little strange since the doctors had the envelopes the entire hour we were there, but they weren't allowed to pass them out)

Sarah accepted her envelope, then we scurried down to the front to meet our friends Krista, Will, and Michelle. Thankfully, they all got their first choices! I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Some folks weren't as fortunate. Sarah picked Jefferson because they have one of the best family medicine programs on the east coast. While she couldn't believe they picked her, I was very proud to see her be affirmed professionally. I'd pick her as my top choice too!!! Actually, I already did...

The rest of the day was filled with Jefferson parties. I had to return to school for parent/teacher conferences, but I was able to catch up with the rest of the crew in time to watch Michigan win their first NCAA tournament game in over 10 years! Our home group took us out for dinner the following night to celebrate. It was a great reminder why we believe that our time in Philadelphia isn't finished. Thank you all for your concern and prayers for us. Please keep them coming! Who knows what the next three years will bring?!?

The next three years of our lives (aka Match Day)

In exactly a week (March 19), medical schools across the country will have "The Match"--a term used to describe the day graduating medical students are matched with a residency program. At high noon, every medical student will receive an envelope with the next 3-5 years of his/her life inside. For family medicine residency students like Sarah, this means her next three years will be spent in a specific residency program. She ranks her top programs, and programs rank their top students. If Sarah's top choice lists her as a potential resident, she matches and is assigned to their program. If her top choice does not list her, the computer system looks at her second choice, so on and so forth.

What's nice (and stressful) about the process is that we ultimately don't make the final decision--that's up to God and the program reps with whom Sarah interviewed. We believe God is using us in our Philadelphia community and isn't ready for us to leave this city of brotherly love just yet, so we ranked the Philly programs as the first few, followed by University of Michigan and Virginia. Plus, the programs Sarah applied to in Philly are some of the best around in family medicine training. (we heard some strange statistic that one in every six doctors does some training in the Philadelphia area!?!)

Anyway, we would appreciate your prayers as the day approaches. I'll be sure to post an update Thursday afternoon!

Super-wanna be

SuperEric.  It's an accurate self-descriptor I learned from Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis.  Rob described a time in his life at Mars Hill when he was trying to be everything to everyone and it was burning him out.  When I read about his experience and heard his words of exhortation to "put down this book and kill your super-whatever inside of you," I realized that he had nailed me.  This has been me!  In college, at First Reformed, here in Philly.  I try to be SuperEric.  And it's stressful.  I tried to kill off SuperEric like he said.  I tried to do it.  But it's hard.  And it's only something that God can do--not something I can do by simply trying harder.

You see, I like to please people, so it's hard to say no to things or to delegate when it's something I could squeeze into my schedule.  Yet, saying no sometimes is healthy.  I believe this is a lesson I'll have to remind myself of time and time again, but for now--I'm going to do my best to be Eric.  Nothing special, nothing super...just growing, imperfect, little ole me.

In a seemingly unrelated event, our friend Sandy had our home group over to his house today for a citrus brunch.  We had a wonderful time consuming two crates of fresh oranges he ordered from Florida.  After we had eaten our fill, we got a tour of his apartment.  One of our favorite parts was when he showed us his deck, complete with a ladder to go up to the roof.  Here are a few pictures of Sarah and me, ironically portraying superheros as we attempt to save the world:

Superwoman/Superman

Spiderwoman/Spiderman

Ski trip!

Tonight, Sarah and I returned home from a ski trip to Killington Ski Resort in Vermont.  We drove up with four other friends from Jefferson--Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina.  The trip took about 6 hours. 

Going in, I wasn't too sure what to expect.  Sarah is the ski expert in our family, and this would be my third time skiing--and first in the last two years.  Plus we were going to stay with a family who has kids with basically built-in skis.  My main source of comfort was Will, who had never skied before. 

The slopes were gorgeous!  We had a beautiful day to ski.  My first few moments on the skis were less than flattering.  Thankfully, I had some great teachers in Sarah, Adina, and Michelle.  After some warm-ups on green circles, I moved onto blue squares...and eventually onto two black diamonds (note: I did not say double black diamonds...I did two separate runs on different, single-black diamond slopes).  I was so proud of myself!  Sarah said I looked far more comfortable on my skis than last time.  Both Krista and Adina had strong visual memories of how I skied last time (picture the Hunchback of Notre Dame on skis), and I was much more relaxed this time. 

Here's a picture of us on the top of Killington's slopes:

My friend Will and I played some NHL 2007 on Sunday morning while the rest of the crew went skiiing.  It reminded me how long it's been since I played "real" video games (Wii not included).  We had fun!  A bit later, Sarah and I hiked along a snowmobile trail that kept us looking for snowmobilers along the path. 

The rest of our time was spent playing bunches of games, eating, talking, eating, and giggling like middle schoolers during a sleep over (the six of us were in one room).  A wonderful way to spend President's Day weekend!

Valentine's Day at school

Spruce Hill doesn't have school tomorrow (teacher in-service day), which means that we celebrated Valentine's Day today!  Here are some pictures from our mini-party:



This weekend, Sarah and I are driving up to Vermont for a skiing weekend with Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina (Jefferson friends).  We're looking forward to the long weekend and outdoor adventures!!  I'll be sure to put pictures up after the fact.

Snow day!

The snow days gods have smiled on Spruce Hill this year.  After going all of last year without a snow day, we have had snow days on the last two Wednesdays!  This morning, I got a call at 5:19AM saying that school was cancelled.  Like last week, I had a hard time returning to sleep due to excitement and mental analysis of how I was going to shift our schedule around to compensate. 

There are few joys in life that rival those early morning calls announcing the cancellation of school.  However deep the inner child is hidden in one's adult life, it springs to life when that news is heard!

We had several inches of snow last night, with icy conditions.  Whenever we have a snow day, I immediately think of West Michigan and try to decide of this amount of snowfall would have canceled Holland Public Schools where my dad and sister work.  Gauging from my 3rd story window, I don't think this would have been a snow day in Holland...but I'll take what I can!  (Philly is certainly less able to cope with snow than Holland.  There isn't any space to begin with--especially when snow is added to the mix!)

Last week, Sarah and I had some friends over for Trivial Pursuit and speed Scrabble (our latest game addiction...similar to Facebook's Word Twist).  Home group was at our house, so we never ended up leaving our apartment the whole day!  I think we'll go for a walk or something today to enjoy the sunshine and quiet city.

A new era

Today marked a new era in American politics.  Voters elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.  While people around Philadelphia were--for the most part--extremely excited about this event, I know not all the country is not as thrilled.  But regardless of if people voted for Obama or against him, today was a historical event.  Part of me really wishes I had gone to DC last night to watch the Inauguration, but another part was glad I got to experience it with my students in West Philadelphia.

At 11AM, grades 3-8 walked down the street to the University of the Sciences building.  They let us use one of their lecture halls for the ceremonies.  After some sound issues, they got the technology working.  I have to say that I felt a little emotional as I looked around the room at 100+ African American students, so enthused and passionate about our country's new leader...one that finally looked like them.  I thought back to four years ago when I was teaching in the rural farming community of Hudsonville, Michigan, and how much deeper this meaning is for my students here in Philadelphia.  With the Phillies winning the World Series, the Eagles/Steelers making it to the conference championships, and Obama getting elected, this is a great time to be in Philly!

It's pretty cool that just yesterday we celebrated Martin Luther King day, and today we swore in our country's first black president.  As I showed my class MLK's I Have A Dream speech on Friday, I got choked up as I thought about Inauguration Day.  In a way, Martin Luther King's dream was fulfilled today at the same mall he shared it with the world.