Looking large!

Here we are working on decorating Sprout's room late one night. We're getting excited!! I'll put photos up of the room when we get it mostly done!

June 5th-8th, 2008: FUN visitors!!!

so the next weekend, no we didn't go anywhere but even better---we had some great visitors. my mom drove up with my grandpa to Ohio. my grandpa hasn't ever seen where mike and i lived since we've been married b/c it was difficult for them to travel to STL and KC. so we were so fortunate to have them visit. i have so many stories that i need to post. the best thing was talking to my grandpa and hearing stories. i hope it was refreshing to be here since he has had the worst week ever after losing grandma. we wanted to make it relaxing for them. i will write more in a bit about what we did that weekend . . .

sad weekend trip . . .

so what i didn't mention was that on our day on Grant's Farm we found out that my wonderful little grandmother passed away. i'm glad i was with Yoda when we found out. i think it made it easier to be with family. isn't it interesting that she passed away on memorial day, May 26th, 2008? i won't ever have trouble remembering the day. those of you who know me well, know that i was very close to my grandma. it's been hard but we can rejoice that she's in heaven having REAL communion with the Lord. it was hard for her at the end of her life to not be able to attend mass and have communion. sometimes father brought things over to her house but i know that was the hardest part of her illness for her. but i'm sure the REAL communion with the big JC has to be pretty amazing =) i know she's watching out for us up there and will be smiling down when Sprout is born.

so i went home the next weekend for her funeral. we had the memorial service on thursday and the funeral friday. i went home the next day but was sooo thankful my precetor (i'm on peds rotation now) was understanding and told me to take as much time as i needed. my grandma was truly a wonderful person. the hardest part is knowing that my grandpa lost the love of his life. they were married almost 63 years and i can only hope and pray i'm that lucky someday. i think the best thing they had going for them was their faith and love for God and then their love of family.

anyway, just wanted you all to know about my little grandma =)

May 25th-26th, 2008: Memorial Day Weekend in the Lou!!

So moving on to the next weekend . . . we met up with Jodie and Andrew in the Lou (that's St. Louis folks) and Charlotte and Ethan. Mike and I went up after his work on Saturday and stayed til Monday. It was a quick trip but Mike hasn't seen them since Christmas and won't see them again unless we meet halfway again after the baby is born. So that's kind of sad. We had a lot of fun with them though and it definitely gets us excited for our boy! Sunday was spent at the zoo, probably my most favorite place in the world. I LOVE the STL zoo b/c it's huge, fun, and free! So we all had a good time even though it rained while we were there. Monday was spent at Grant's Farm which Mike and I had never been to. Basically it's an outdoor zoo owned by Anheuser-Busch (as is like everything in st louis) but used to be the former President Grant's property. It's where they have the Clydesdales an everything. That was pretty cool and of course, free b/c STL is very family friendly =) We had a blast!!

May 17th, 2008: First Baby Shower!

So I figure I better at least start writing on this thing so that when I post pictures, I won't have to do it all at once. Of course, you'll see in my posts why I haven't written in awhile. It's been a little nutty starting off as SOMA President. There's a lot to do upfront but now its getting better. Plus we were gone soo many weekends! It's been fun but this was my third weekend gone. We had a baby shower at my parents house in Kansas City. My sisters hosted it. Jodie had a cute little cake made for sprout and my mom made my favorite meal, Christmas brunch =) complete with these famous butterscotch monkeybread rolls that we could eat a million of! I had so many friends there who I hadn't seen in awhile. My Alpha Chi friends even went in together on my car seat and baby monitor-that was such a nice surprise!!

Steph and Ethan =)

Kristi Bruce, June Manion, Me, Mom, Steph, Jodie

Pennsylvania

Our hotel at night

Us at the game

Me at 28 wks, it really looks the same as the last picture to me . . .

So now we have gone on our next weekend excursion. We are working on getting Sprout used to being transported all over already =) Mike and I went to Pittsburg to see the Pirates game on Saturday. It was fun and he can cross off one more of the stadiums on his list to see. I've kind of gotten into it too and like seeing all of the stadiums, more so for that than actually watching the game. Mike made it very special and we stayed at this fancimous hotel, The Renaissance, in downtown Pittsburgh. It was absolutely beautiful, all white marble, wonderfully decorated, and built in 1876. Sunday (today) is Mother's Day and I was so thankful to be able to be an almost mom today. Mike got me a card and we went to a Mother's Day Brunch in downtown Pittsburgh. It was delicious and they gave me a flower at the restaurant. I am just so thankful for little Sprout and can't hardly believe he'll be here in a couple of months!

DC!

US =)

Library of Congress

Capital and Cherry Blossom

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Well Mike and I just got back from a lovely trip to DC. I was there Wed through Sunday and Mike was able to come up on Thursday. I had to go for DO Day on the Hill and then for the SOMA convention after it (Student Osteopathic Medical Association) where I was inaugurated the National President =) You can read about SOMA at http://www.studentdo.com/, hopefully we will update it soon with the new officers.

Mike and I had a great time! He mainly went around by himself while I was at convention Fri and Sat. On Sunday we went around together and saw a few sights, the White House, the Eisenhower building, National Botanical gardens, and the National Archives (with the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution, etc)-Very cool! I always try to see new things each time I go. This is my third year and I'm already looking forward to next year. I love DC and the fact that everything is free and learning about all of the history =)

by popular demand!

Me at 23 weeks =)

the south . . .

so my friend, Tracy, and i just came back from the land of iced tea and sororities. wow. the south is a lot different than here! my friend, Nancy from KCUMB, just got married this past weekend in Oxford, Mississippi. it was interesting to go shopping down there and see all of the people. her friends were great and they explained a lot to us about Ole Miss. the campus was beautiful!! we had a great time seeing it and exploring the cute little town.
here is a picture since I was the only one who could make it from our class!

Our baby boy bedding from PBK =)

Herei s

IT'S A BOY!!!

Yay!!! Kristi found out first by one of the OB/GYN residents on her rotation. She surprised Mike at home with the news by the pie in the picture and the cookie cutouts. It was fun! So now we get to work on the name, which will be a surprise!

GUATEMALA

hey all, i hope that some of you have time to read this. i am going to write just a little about my experiences. i went to antigua, guatemala in February with a group of students from my med school, KCUMB. it was a great time! i love speaking spanish and practicing it! this counted as a rotation for my school and i'm so glad that i did it. we had the opportunity to visit the Mayan Tikal (pictured) while we were there and also to a hot springs water fall.

here are a few select photos . . .

Announcing Miss Charlotte Vivian . . .

My sister, Jodie and Andrew, just had their second baby, it's a girl!! Ethan will be a great big brother. After Guatemala, I was able to spend a week in KC helping them out. It was so special and I already love her so much!

2007 Year In Review

Pictures from St. Kitts and our house in Ohio!

Hi all! So we are finally going to start using this blog, feel free to check it regularly. We have a lot of friends and family who are interested in our lives and hope this helps us stay updated!Here's our year in review, briefly:

July: Moved to Ohio

August: Vacation to St. Kitts and Nevis

September: Mike started new job, optometry, and I started my third year of med school and am on rotations now

November: Found out we were expecting our first little one!!! This is the SAME month we were told we wouldn't be able to have kids on our own w/o IVFw/ICSI or adoption!! God works in amazing ways doesn't He =) We still plan to adopt someday though.

December: Waited. . . and finally told our families! They were sooo excited and we had a lot of fun sharing the news.

We are very blessed that God has trusted US to be parents! It's amazing to think about. It will be an exciting time and are truly looking forward to it. Miracles still happen every day and we have no doubt that all kids are miracles, including our little "sprout".

HOME =)

sorry it took me so long to post my return post. last wednesday was a very busy day for us and i didn't have a chance to use the computer. then thursday and friday i was traveling home and finally got a chance to go to the library today and write a little.

my ride home was crazy and i'll tell the short version. i flew from acapulco to mexico city on thrusday morning. my next flight was to chicago. i was offered by aeromexico chance to stay overnight in mexico city for $300 in international credit so i volunteered. i was a little nervous about being in mexico city alone and wasn't sure what mike would think. but we could travel if i got this! anyway, at the alst minute they didn't need me after they already gave away my seat. so they put me in first class to chicago =) well, the plane ran out of fuel and we had to stop in houston. this put me 2 hours behind so i missed my connecting flight to KC in chicago. i ended up staying overnight in chicago courtesy of delta and was booked for a 7:40 flight the next morning. well, i go tthere really early fo rmy morning flight and they told me i didn't have have a ticket, just a reservation. to make a logn story really short (because i'm going to be logged off this computer in a minute) i spent the next two hours talkign with the delta ticket agent and he finally got my tickets straghtened out. i didn't exist in the computer or something. so i missed the 7:40 and went on another flight at 9:40. i'm so thankful for that guy and i'm also thankful to be home!!!
god bless,
kristi
i might post more pics later!

two more days!

we had a great time making cookies with areli. we were forunate to be able to use susie yanez´s kitchen. it´s super nice because she loves to cook and they just built a new kitchen. it´s amazing, there is a 6 burner stovetop and everything =) she also had baking powder, vanilla, and chocolate chips which are about impossible to find here. we even had to go to FOUR different stores before we found one that carried flour, nobody bakes things like that here =) we had to go to three different stores to find one that carried butter too. it´s funny the things that are our staples that are impossible to find anywhere else. we have cookies to the yanez, dr. steinneman, dr. nela (she also owns the hotel we are staying at), and of course, our cooks (las cocineras)!

areli, megan, and i hung out and talked last night. it was a great time to just chat. we listened to different praise songs in english and areli wanted to learn some of them. we also practiced saying each others name and of course, making fun of how are pronounce it. i could just never say her name right and she couldn´t say mine because the r´s are so different you really have to grow up with the language to say it correctly. it was funny!

today we were at the hospital again all day. i never feel like i tell very exciting stories about the hospital but i don´t know that it´s all that interesting to everyone!! we always have great discussions with dr yanez about how medicine is practiced in the united states. the privacy act HIPAA would be appalled at how things are handled in mexico. but it works for them so that´s just fine. patient confidentiality doesn´t really exist. Curious patients have been known to stand in and listen to others, there are 10 people in one hospital room with no dividers or privacy, and after an ultrasound many patients just get up and walk out-bearing their backside to everybody in the hallway on the way to their room. it´s just really funny here. medicine is a lot simpler and there´s not even patient history forms, dr yanez explained . many people can´t read or write anyway so it´s actually more of a hassle but he says it takes up a lot of his time getting a family history on them. and, of course, everyone is in charge of their own medical records, dr´s don´´t keep that info. it´s really been interesting learning more about the logistics of a hospital in a third world country. it´s a lot simpler and sometimes i think that´s a very good thing!

one funny thing that happened is that dr. yanez was talking to a patient about her separation from her husband. he asked me what i think she should do. i said, i don´t know because i don´t know her. he asked me again to give her advice since i am the married one of us girls, and so i said, i would talk to God about it and go to church. this was great because then it was kind of an opening for him to talk to her about her spiritual life. they talked about it at great length and he was telling her about some of the churches in ometepec. maybe she can find strength in the church because she´s having a rough time.

tonight we are going to the church again to hang out with the young adult group. it was a lot of fun last time so i´m looking forward to it. and tonight we get PIZZA! it´s our first time to eat at a restaurant in mexico. we had the same pizza at church the other night so i´m sure it´s fine. and we don´t really care, we are looking forward to some americanish food. hopefully i´ll get to write on wednesday. it will be our last day and the woods are having us over. it should be very nice =)

have a great day!
love in Christ,
kristi

galletas!

have i ever told you all that we have cookies for breakfast here? fine by me but it´s always a little funny taht we have like four packages of cookies to choose from every day.

so italia won and that made me happy since the french people don´t really like americans. yeah for italia! it was fun to watch the game here!

today we spent hte whole morning in the hospital as usual. it was really interesting and megan especially saw a lot of interesting cases-a woman with bell´s palsy who was pregnant, a baby who might have achondroplasia (dwarfism), and other interesting ones. we had agreat review of EKG´s today with dr. yanez, the cardiologist. it´s good to keep up on this stuff and review!

this has to be short because we´re going with areli tonight to make cookies (galletas) to say thanks for all of the doctors and cooks especially. we get to use susie yanez´s kitchen and i´m excited to see her house. i´m also excited to taste the chocolate chip cookies =) we have to go to the store today and since nobody bakes here we think it might be a little hard to find the ingredients! i better look for a recipe!!
have a great day!

to Him be the glory!

NARNIA =)

so narnia was great and i´m so glad that i saw it. mike and i just never go to the movies so i didn´t have a chance. i still really want to see End of the Spear, a movie about ecuadorian missionaires. it was supossed to be great too!

it was nice watching the movie, there were about 15 of us there. andy wood made popcorn and brought pop. the wood parents were in acapulco so it was nice that we could all get together so that andy and susie would have something fun to do =)

this morning we went to Fe y Luz, areli´s presbyterian church. i enjoy the worship and singing but it´s so hard to listen to the sermon. the sermons are about an hour and it just is hard to concentrate in spanish for that long. i always miss a lot but this preacher was VERY vibrant and i really didn´t think the use of the microphone was necessary =) he´s so welcoming and they all prayed for us while we were there. tonight i´m going to the later service. there is santa cena (communion) and a baptism. i´ve never had communion here or seen a baptism so i thought that would be fun to go to. there´s another sermon so hopefully i can concentrate better this time!! we´ve really made quite a group of friends here and all of them attend Fe y Luz. carla plays on the worship team and areli plays the guitar so it´s fun to see them doing what they love. i´ll really miss them areli a lot. she´s 25 and this is a small town so it´s hard to meet new people. i told her that i´m going to pray that a new christian guy moves in town for her =) i better go, i want to see how france and italy are doing!! i can hear everybody cheering and the t.v.´s are all on so something is happening!

love in Christ,
kristi

truenos y rayos!!!

well this past week has definitely been great. i have been hoping and praying to be able to work with the church more and i got to do that a lot this week. yesterday was friday and we were at the clinic. i had the opportunity to work with dr. steinneman again. he is a really great doctor and i also enjoyed talking with him about the opportunity to have medical students come and work. i got a lot of valuable information that we can share with the medical benevolence foundation about this. i also found out a little more about the history of the hospital. apparently this hospital was rebuilt in 1995 after a horrible earthquake here leveled the entire place. there are many temblors (tremmors or small earthquakes) but this was a terremoto (big earthquakes). he invited me to go with his wife to a nearby village for their vacation bible school. that was probably one of the highlights of my trip.

he met his wife here and they married in 1982 and had at least three children (i can´t remember exactly). he said he misses switzerland but loves it here. i went with his wife and two girls to Alianza . it is a nearby very poor village that doesn´t have a single church. the wife explained to me that they are hoping that if they can get the children interested, then the parents will follow. they called them all to school through a loudspeaker that reaches many parts of the neighborhood. they came running barefoot and smiling =) there were probably 30 children that showed up for the vacation bible school last night. we met outdoors under a makeshift cover with wooden poles. on one side was a pig pin and the other was a local area set up for the women to wash clothes together. the children were so sweet and very eager to learn. i enjoyed learning the spanish praise songs too! sra. steinneman put all of the songs to hand signals and had little word charts for them to follow along with music from the stereo she brought. i´m very happy that these children have someone like her who cares so much about them and wants them to be sure they know that they are ALL loved by a great wonderful God. that was the theme of almost all of the kids songs. sra also told them the story in Daniel of Shacrach, Meshak, and Abednego which is one of my favorites. it was wonderful to hear it in spanish and hear her animations along with her. then we broke them into groups according to ages and they all did activities related to the story. it was a wonderful time!!

after that, i met the girls that evening for some mango hunting with areli and carla. we were on the church property and found some great mango trees. so naturally, we decided it would be a good idea to get them. fortunately we didn´t run into any snakes!!! Using a net we found on the ground hooked to a long bamboo piece, we were able to get about 5 mangoes. i got mine by climbing a tree and using the net-so fun!! we had dinner that night with areli and carla and afterwards we all sang around listening to megan and areli sing praise songs. they are both so good. it´s really fun when we can sing the same song in different languages at the same time!

that evening there was a horrible storm and i heard some awesome thunder. melissa and erin thought that megan and i were crazy for falling asleep and sleeping through it but i can sleep through anything-it´s a gift =)

today we decided to go to the market with areli and carla since it was our day off. we all bought some things for our families and ended up walking around town for 3 hours!! i´m not kidding when i say that we walk a lot here! the market was lively because all of the people in the small villages come to the ´big´ city, ometepec, to sell their crafts and food. we all bought a fresh coconut and the guy on the street opened it for us. we enjoyed fresh coconut juice in the zocalo (town square) with areli. her sister, leslie, came later too and went shopping with us. right now it´s the after noon and i need to take a siesta and then i´m off to the deportivo!! tonight we´re watching Narnia with areli, leslie, and the wood kids. i´ve never seen it and i´m really looking forward to it. forunately, we have an english version because my head needs a spanish break =)
thanks for the prayers!

God Bless YOU!

center-areli and megan
photo 2-anesthesia machine (you have to turn your head to the right!)
photo 3-operating room

hace fresca!

whew, finally it´s a little bit cooler here because i think it´s going to rain which is good because i´ve been drenched in sweat all day. lovely, i know . . .

last Tuesdaywas super fun playing volley ball at Areli´s church. we played with the young adult group and there were about 15 of us there. i was really thankful for that time because i had been hoping to do more with the church. again, it was nice to hang out with people our age and be able to talk with them and learn a little more conversational spanish. the church we played at was the first Christian church built in ometepec by the tim and barbara´s parents along with boyces, other missionaries from the states. i just finished reading a book about them and how they got started in ometepec. i love reading books about missionaires and this one is called I Heard the Donkey Bray by Marguerite Boyce. She was the lady who came and visited the first week mike and i were here. i´ve been doing a lot of reading here actually. it´s been good for me and i always enjoy having extra time to do more devotions and time with the bible.

i was totally motivated and planned on going ot the deportivo yesterday morning but my bed was just too comfortable. (actually, my bed is at a slant and i need to pillows under my head to make it even =) we had a full day at the hospital yesterday. i worked with dr. yanez jr again and learned alot. megan even got to apply osteopathic lymphatic techniques to help a patient with all of the edema in his leg. he had ascites (for all of you med nerds) from drinking and had the biggest belly i´ve seen. it was very distended and we drained it with a tube. it was like deflating a balloon. i felt sorry for the man as he was very cachectic and probably wouldn´t make it much longer. there was an interesting surgery involving taking a bullet out of a man´s leg. it had been in there for FOUR years!! they´ve tried surgery on it twice but is in the synovial cavity and keeps moving around in the knee. there is not endoscopic surgery here!! the man also apparently tried to take it out on himself. well, they got it out and erin was excited to assist. there were many other patients but i can´t remember them all now. every day we work with dr. yanez is fun and i always learn alot about medicine. i also enjoy it because we all get to help with taking patient histories.

areli and her friend, Carli, invited us to go to church with them again yesterday. it was a wonderful worship service in spanish and a good message about ephesians 2 8. areli is a very talented guitar player and it was beautiful to hear it. afterwards we heard a guy from the youth group play the piano. he was amazingly talented and learned it only two years ago. he was playing chopin, mozart, beethoven-all by ear and without music. truly amazing, he has a great gift that he is able to share with the church.

today was our last day in xochis. but i´m rnning out of time and only have one minute to write about it. dr. carmelo took us to the museum over lunch. it was a cute little museum and he was very excited to show us it. our time with dr. carmelo has been fascinating. i am just so glad that i met him. he really has devoted his life to translating the word of god and that is truly amazing. he is just the nicest person you´ll ever meet. he would like to come visit churches and sights in the states but says it is impossible to get a visa. our time there has been totally worthwhile and hopefully we helped that little town. we gave a lot of chupas (suckers) away today and left the rest of our donated gloves and mouth covers with dr. carmelo. that about covers it, i better go eat with the girls now. there is always so much to say!!
love in christ

photo 1- me, erin, dr. carmello, melissa, megan outside the clinic in xochis
photo 2-melissa, me, erin, riding in the combi from xochis