Mini One...Done!

Thank You for all your prayers and encouragement for Kyle as he took Mini 1 last Monday! They definitely worked - God is so good, and Kyle did amazing on his exam! I normally grade his tests for him, and he always anxiously paces around the room until I tell him I'm finished... it's a fun little ritual we have :) But honestly, thank you for your support - it means the world to us!

So, of course, we headed to the beach after Kyle was done taking his exam. We both agreed this was the best "Beach Bash" so far! It was also great that Kyle has his minis in the morning this semester so we can be at the beach until noon. The weather was great, SGA provided free food, and most of our friends were there. Kyle even did a water relay where he had to paddle around the dock on a surf board, while I went tubing with Czarina. We had a blast!

Then for dinner we headed to Purple Turtle with Ryan and Ashley. This is the restaurant on the beach named - you guessed it - Purple Turtle, where we swung from the rope swing. We had never eaten there so we thought we would give it a try. Well, it was definitely an experience... Kyle's cheeseburger was great, but Ryan, Ashley and I all ordered chicken and it didn't really look the greatest. We tried a little bit, but our dinners mainly consisted of fries. All in all though, it was a great day & night with great friends - and finally, a chance to relax!

Check out our tans! Well, actually, check out Kyle's sun burnt face! (he's still peeling!)

Even though our chicken dinners weren't so great, we still put them to good use. Kyle and I have some what adopted our neighbor's dog, who we like to call "Pup." Pup is probably one of the ugliest dogs you will ever see, but also one of the most loving and excited. We became a little attached to him, so whenever we have leftovers that we don't save, Kyle LOVES to go feed Pup. So, you can imagine Kyle and Pup's excitement when we came home with 3 boxes full of chicken!

Well, ever since Pup's chicken feast, he just won't leave us alone! He definitely knows who we are, because every time we come down the stairs, he waits to see who it is, and then comes bounding down the stairs and follows us where we're walking. He's even followed us up to our apartment a few times, expecting to walk right in. And when I tell him, "No Pup, you have to go home!" He walks around outside our door and even jumps up so he can peer in the windows! Needless to say, I think we've made another Dominican friend :)

To add to the "academic celebrations," Wednesday night we went to the Dean's Reception. Basically, I got to put on a pretty dress to celebrate how well Kyle's done at Ross so far and we talked to some of Kyle's professors :) Also, I got to meet the dean of the school - and guess where she got her medical degree: Ohio State! She's a big time Buckeye fan! So we got to chat about Ohio, which was fun. The reception was just one more reminder of how God has remained faithful... and the amazing doctor He promises Kyle will be!

Sunset Surprise

For our first Newlywed Valentine's Day (which, along with Christmas, is one of our favorite holidays!) Kyle decided to plan a little surprise...

The day started off as pretty normal...Kyle had class the majority of the day, and studied when he didn't and I was busy making bread and selling it at lunch. All I knew was I was supposed to meet Kyle on campus at 5pm for a special surprise. Well after lunch I started dinner and before I knew it, I was off to campus.

Well, I found out that Kyle had planned a special walk on the beach, and then he brought "supplies" to watch the sunset - which are beautiful in Dominica! It's always something we wanted to do together but never found the time. Well, Kyle packed a bag with a beach towel, wine and even some Swiss cheese :). We set up our little romantic setting on a large piece of driftwood on the beach, and it was amazing! After the sunset, we ran home in the rain and cooked dinner together. All in all, it was a great Valentine's Day, and definitely one we won't forget.

So you had a bad day...

This was just too funny not to share! Kyle has recovered from the traumatic event, so no worries. Enjoy! :)

About 2 weeks ago, I left early in the morning to go on a trip to Roseau. Kyle didn't have to be at class until 10:30 so I wasn't too surprised he was calling me at 10am. Well, as soon as I answered the phone I knew something was wrong. He quickly said, "This is already the worst day ever" and I knew I was in a for a good story...

We've had trouble with ants lately, and when Kyle woke up, he saw a trail on hundreds on ants going under our bed. He quickly jumped up and found the trail went all the way back onto our living room wall and out the front door. He knew they must have fun something good under there, but had no idea what would attract so many ants. Well he soon found out: SPIDER EGGS! In one of my duffel bags, their were thousands of ants eating thousands of spider eggs, which slowly, started to hatch! (God made sure I was out of the house during all this because I would lost it!) Well, Kyle kept it together, grabbed the bag, and ran out on the balcony. But then...

SLAM!!! The wind shuts our back door, which then locks Kyle out. I forgot to mention he was in the process of getting dressed up for class before all this started. So he's on the balcony with a white undershirt on, accompanied by just his boxers and a pair of socks! It doesn't take long for the laughter to travel up to our balcony from the apartment full of girls across from ours. Well, soon Kyle pulled out the screen to a window, which thankfully was unlocked, and hopped back in the house with just enough time to get dressed and get to class. But then...

He goes to put his dress shirt on, and it felt a little snug. We had just sent it to get washed, and yep, they shrank it! So, he throws a tie on with the top button still undone and runs out the door. This is when he called me. And then... it started pouring down rain! Poor guy!

So when I got home later than day, I went on a cleaning frenzy. I hate spiders so I was a little nervous, but I knew it was nothing that our toxic-illegal-in-the-USA bug spray couldn't handle. Well, I may have sprayed too much, because I started feeling a little loopy and before I knew it, I was rearranging all of our bedroom furniture to I could clean under it all. Our new arrangement makes no sense - The bed even blocks the back door to our balcony. Kyle got home and through I had gone crazy...

It was quite the eventful day, but I am happy to report we haven't seen any spiders since :)

A favor to ask

I borrowed this from Ashley's blog, thanks Ashley :)

Yesterday during RCF bible study our preacher's wife asked a favor of us. One of their son's life-long friends is very ill and is not expected to live too much longer. His 25th birthday is in March. He and his family are Christians and are confident that he will soon be in a better place. Since this is expected to be his last birthday, his mom is trying to get 1,000 birthday cards sent to him. Please take a few minutes next time you are at the grocery to grab a birthday card and mail it to:

Gene Gardner

Bible Baptist Church

P.O. Box 450935

Grove, OK. 74345

You can just say Happy Birthday...you could say that you are praying for him and his family...anything you feel like saying. I think he will be blessed to know that so many strangers took the time to wish him a happy birthday! Oh - and I think this is a surprise, so if there is anyone reading from Oklahoma, don't ruin the surprise! :)

Big Trouble...

I know... I'm in BIG trouble for not updating this in so long! I hope you all are still reading and checking for updates (though that hasn't happened in awhile!)

In my last post, I talked about how this semester was already busy. Well let me tell you , it just keeps getting more hectic! Kyle's already in his fourth week of classes, and has a mini coming up on Monday, February 18th (mark it on your calanders - we need your prayers and encouragement!) Kyle says this semester is the hardest so far, because it seems like he can't find time to study all the material. He has class from 8am - 5pm on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then on Tuesdays, he has ICM, which provides time for hands-on practice with certain procedures. They use dummy dolls, named Harvey and Stan D. Ardman (get it? Standard Man?) I'd tell you the anatomical region he is learning examinations for now, but trust me, you probably don't want to know...

And of course you know he couldn't go his last semester on the island without sneaking in some intramurals! He's still playing with the fourth semester football team, the Thundercats. And he also joined a basketball team, named Last Chance, because the team is full of guys who never really played, but thought, hey, why not? since it's their last semester. Sadly, they lost their first game, but Kyle played well. But the Thundercats are back at it!! They've already won their first 2 games, and not to brag (ok, maybe I am a little bit...) Kyle was named MVP for their first game! Fourth semester had a pretty big cheering section (though at times a little obnoxious), so the fans make the games even more fun to go to. Here are a few pictures from their last game against 2nd semester:

In addition to classes, studying, sports, and more studying, Kyle is also continuing as a leader with Ross Christian Fellowship, and got to give sermon last month, one of the first of the semester! He talked about the difference between having a proud heart and a humble heart, which is something that really hits home with med students. We both also helped out at the RCF cookout, which is held every semester. It's open to the whole campus, and we fed almost 500 people! Ashley and I were in charge of the salad table. Here's a pic of us in action:

As for me, Kyle jokes that I'm even busier than he is! I've become a jack-of-all-trades down here, and some days I reminisce back to last semester when I had so much free time I didn't know what to do with myself. Well, last semester we prayed a lot about our finances, and specifically that I would find a way to make money down here. Well, let me tell you, those prayers were abundantly answered!

First off, I babysit for a six year old named Maile on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Her mom in doing 5th semster in Roseau, so most mornings I'm there by 6:45am (it's about a 15 minute walk to her house), and drop Maile off at school by 8am. Then, Kyle and I pick her up at 12 to have lunch. It's funny because we sit with all the families, so sometimes we feel like we're parents now! And some days I watch her for a few hours after school. It's great because I still have a lot of free time during the day.

Well, let me restate that, I "did" have a lot of free time until I agreed to substitute teach at the Day School, the same one Maile goes too. For a week, I subbed for the p.e. teacher, and though it wasn't too bad, it definitley isn't staying on my list of possible carreers... after a few days of kindergarteners running all over the place playing duck, duck, goose, first graders crying because they got hit with a ball during dodgeball (who knew that was supposed to happen?) and fifth graders arguing over every rule for soccer, I think I had enough. But then this week I subbed for Maile's class, which is 1st - 3rd grade all in one. That was a little better, though difficult because the big age difference between the grades. Thankfully, one of the spouses was volunteering at the school that day so she helped out in our class. So, I am so appreciative that I got to sub, I love that I get a little break! Today is the first day I sat down and had to think of something to do!

BUT the big news with me, and some of you may have heard by now, but Ashley and I started selling out homemade bread!! Our name is Daily Bread, and it's been a big hit with the students!! Here is our menu:

So about 2 weeks ago, we made some sample of wheat & white bread, as well as the focaccia bread and set up a table during the student's lunch break. It didn't take long until we had people surrounding our table!

Well, the bread was a hit! We set up our table every Monday and Thursday. and have people email us their orders. The orders started rolling in, and now people walk up to our table and say, "Are you the bread ladies?" Apparantly, we've established some street cred around campus! We even have some "regulars" already! Ashley's specialty is the focaccia bread and mine is the banana bread. Here's a picture from a day where we made over 5o loaves of bread (though some we're small, it was still A LOT of bread!):

So business is good! Someone came up with the nicknames "The Breadwinners" for us, so now Ashley and I joke that our bread is going to put Kyle and Ryan through medical school. It definitley keeps us busy (and stressed when we're still baking at midnight!) but it's nice to have something to do here, and make a little money as well. And, with Kyle studying more than last semester, he likes to know that I'm not sitting at home bored. I have my bread to keep my company :)


Well, it's just about time for me to start making dinner before the Mr. comes home! It's great that we've still been able to eat lunch & dinner together every day, despite Kyle's crazy study schedule. OH, and for those of you wondering, we were even able to watch the Super Bowl down here! They played it in one of the classrooms, though we were a little dissapointed because half of the commercials were from the states and the other half from Peurto Rico. We watched the rest online. My favortie was the talking baby who was buying stocks... totally underestimated the creepiness of the clown :)


We would love to hear from you all - all you have to do is click that little comment button and leave a message for us! Miss you all, and if we don't talk to you before, Happy Valentine's Day!


Love-
Kyle & Andrea