BEST. DAY. EVER!

So, the big news in our house as of late is that Justin was accepted into medical school!  We will be moving to El Paso, Texas in May and he will be starting med school at Texas Tech in July!  We were so excited, relieved, and grateful when we found out!  And life has seemed so much brighter ever since!

Here is Justin with his acceptance letter!  

Justin and Trace celebrating (notice how Justin is wearing his scrubs)!

For those who don't know, this was the end of a long journey for us and I am going delve sort of deep for a bit and write about some of my feelings from the past couple years.  The process of applying to medical school is so stressful!  I am so amazed when I look back over the past 2 and a half years that Justin was able to accomplish all that he did.  There were a couple semesters where he was balancing 16 credits at BYU, volunteering at the Provo hospital, job shadowing, doing research, working, fulfilling church callings (some of which were pretty stressful like ward financial clerk),  studying for the MCAT, taking the MCAT, playing basketball (this was his stress relief), and of course being an amazing husband to his crazy emotional wife!  Then there came the application process with its essays, deadlines, fees, and interviews which always seemed to be offered at the last minute leading to expensive plane tickets and frantic schedules.

It was pretty hard when we did not get in the first year.  We went into the process with such high hopes and then those dreams were put on hold.  I think I speak for both of us when I say we spent a lot of time asking why we had not gotten in that first year.  We did not understand, we had done everything the schools had asked, we had applied early, we had spent money for new suits for interviews, and all those plane tickets, and we had been trying to live our lives right.  I definitely had a couple "woe is me" pity party moments after which I was reminded of 2 sayings.  First, "life's tough, get a helmet", and second, a saying that my mom always says, "If this is the worst thing that happens we'll be ok!".  And so we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and with hope and faith that everything happens for a reason applied for year #2!

Now looking back I can truly say that I am so grateful we did not get in that first year.  Yes it was hard to not know where we would living, and yes it was hard not be able to make long term plans.  For a while it felt like we were living in a sort of post BYU Limbo having no idea where we would end up.  However, there were things that I needed to learn about myself and there were lessons that I needed to learn from my Father in Heaven during this time that I would not have learned otherwise.  These lessons are priceless to me and I truly think that I am a better person because of them.  Also, in moving to Plano for the year we have strengthened many friendships, and made so many new friendships that we never would have had otherwise.  There were some hard times in the past couple years, but overall there was also a lot of joy in the journey and I am so grateful we experienced all we did.  We both grew individually and as a couple.  All in all, I am just reminded that everything happens for a reason and that our Heavenly Father is always mindful of us and knows exactly what we need even when we don't!

Thank you to everyone who prayed and fasted for us, we are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family!  I am so proud of Justin and the fact that he worked so hard and achieved his goal, and we are so excited to start this new chapter in our lives!

We will enjoy beautiful sunsets like this for the next 4 years in El Paso!