Wedding pics: Left - men's tie op ::: Right - Isn't Giant Jesus inviting?  "Come here little people so I can eat cough cough.... hug you!"

March Showers Bring Wedding Flowers

Hello Friends and Family,

I am happy you have hung in there for another month!  

Wedding Bliss:

I had the honor and luck to see two friends married this month!  In case you know them... Eric Barcack (classmate) and Ricky Board (church friend).  Consider yourself very fortunate to have glimpsed me in this state because I don't wear fancy pancy clothes like this all the time!  

Austin Revisited:

In early March I went back to Austin to try my hand at politicing some more.  This event was much more fun than the last because I went the the rural crew at my school... along with the rural hospital association of Texas.  The board of directors from Cuero Hospital (where I am completing my rural experience) showed up, so we got to hang out and get to know eachother.  Talk about some fun old men... they meant business with the congressmen but were full of jokes and laughs between office visits!  

The picture below: I'm getting a breath of fresh air on the capital steps before my next medical advocacy encounter.  I will admit... it was a planned pic.

Special Spring Break:

Over the holiday, "Spring Break", notorious for exciting adventures and dreamy road trips to distant lands, I didn't actually go anywhere new.  But I did get some good life experience in.  The guys in my home group spent this week intentionally living for Jesus.  Yes, we should always live in such a way, but it doesn't often happen because of time, work, other bothersome stuff... etc.  Well, we did have lots of time and little work... KAPOW!!! We spent a lot of time hanging out with the homeless down on E. Lancaster (near the shelters).  Also, we have wanted to make some music, share it, and praise God, so we asked God to give us more creativity than we can normally muster during normal school hours, and God blessed us with some sweet songs and a lot of fun!  I would love to share our recordings with you, but don't have them yet... wait for that post in the future.

Lovely times!  As I write, I'm thinking of you and hope you are doing well.

~drew

Praise: some of my medical student friends were introduced to Jesus over the spring break mission trip, we have been praying for that many months!

(if you have time to shoot up a quick one)

Prayer: Can I be a little selfish and ask for more blessing on Board Exam Study?  

A "Normal" Month

Normal?

Can any month really be normal?  This is a conversation I had with a coffee barista who insisted that his life was normal and dull.  He said this because he was not accomplishing what he wanted to do in life, and I could definitely agree with my friend if Jesus did not shake things up so often.  I'm not talking about a bag of "Shake-n-Bake" chicken either!  

Our lives have a purpose that is way beyond the normal routine of getting up, eating breakfast, and going to work again again and again.  New challenges are rising all the time, whether it is learning to play the banjo, learning neuropathology or genuinely and sacrificially loving my roomate, Ryan.  Yeah!  and we don't have to live in Zimbabwe or work as a CIA agent either.  

I suppose all this is to encourage us not to waste a day, instead to live fully.

Above pics: 

Upper - my lifegroup celebrates Vicki's birthday (I baked the delicious baked a chocolate ganauche cake)

Lower - astounding colors! Afternoon in Fort Worth

Austin and back in 24 hours: DomeDay 

On feb 26th, Osteopathic doctors and students gathered at our Texas capitol building to swarm representatives' and senators' offices, voicing our concerns and opinions about medicine inTexas.  I was a nervous jumble during my first office visit, but after a few more the formality and sterness seemed to dissapate and my genuine concern/passion over a few issues were more clearly expressed.  

In case you're interested, some of the issues were:

"increasing residency positions in Texas - because 40% of our medical students go out of state" "increasing insurance company responsibility for our patients and their clients"  --> right now these companies will often not reimburse appropriately, leaving physicians to bill their patients or absorb the cost.  They also limit how physicians treat their patients by limiting the medical care they will pay for.   

"the rural doctor shortage"

This coming week I'll be down in Austin again with the Rural group, lobbying-it-up!

 I have problems with normal poses!  Probably some medical/psychiatric condition.

Praises: Thanks for praying, because I felt like Jesus overflowed from this person a bit more.

Prayer: Diligence and focus in Board Exam studies this month.  It's coming along, but needs to be ratcheted up.