These are pictures from the Salybia clinic I went to on Saturday. In one picture is Robyn, Eunice, and some of the local kids. The other pictures is of the group that went including the doctors and nurses that were there. It was a lot of fun. Jeff, one of the guys that went, actually got to lance an abscess on a patient's foot.

Other than that I have been studying like crazy. We have exams coming next week...plus I have been doing anatomy TA as well. My last session is Monday. I have 17 days left!!!!!!! I can not wait. Now all I need to do is finish strong, pass, and come home to the people that love me.

Tonight was also JT's first basketball game. They lost to Central High School, a AAAA inner city school. It will be a good learning experience. I hope the boys and JT don't get too down over this because it is only game one..... JT is a good coach and I know they will be improve in leaps and bounds. I can not wait to watch them play when I come home....did i say that was in 17 days.....?

Well, have a good week. I love you guys! Keep praying for me!

~nat

Here are some pictures from my football game. One is of me playing, the second is of me and my friend Eunice and the other is a team picture. And the other is of me and my room mate Kim. We won, by the way, and I played pretty well. I have tons of other pictures of the game too. Tomorrow I will post pictures from my trip to the Salybia health clinic. IT was a lot of fun as well...

I assume everyone had a good Thanksgiving though I have not really heard from too many of you. I went to another Thanksgiving dinner today with some different friends which was a lot of fun.

Anyways, I will talk to you later.

~nat

Last Minute
I have to buy all my presents at the last minute, she said, or I get too excited & just give them away. ~www.storypeople.com (so for those of you who know me, How TRUE is this?)

These are pictures JT sent me last night of his Thanksgiving day. At the top are Daniel (JT's brother) and his wife Denise, next is the set dining room table. The next picture is of JT's uncle Bobby and three of his four grandsons, Brandon, Evan, and Zach. The next picture is JT and his Mamaw and this Jt and his second cousin Sydney. The last picture is everyone cooking (Mike, Rick, Brooke, Margie, and Jennifer). It looks like they had a good time.

I have not yet loaded the pictures we took last night but we did have a Thanksgiving. Ross Christian Fellowship where Kim and I go to church donated a Butterball turkey. I was responsible for making the green bean casserole and carrots.....I know I know that scares everyone at home but it was quite good. Kim made giblet gravy and turkey. Kim's friend Kelli was the star chef....She made pumpkin pie from scratch....with a whole pumpkin and all. She did the same thing with the sweet potatos. Plus she brought two homemade chocolate pies....So in the end, we had turkey, dressing, gravy, scalloped potatos, green bean casserole, carrots, rolls, salad, sweet potatos, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, cranberry sauce...... It was all so good. Plus we had a great group...My friend Lisa, came, as well as my friend Lindsey from La Tech that I play football with came. Kim's good friends Kelli, Owais, and Ollie came as well. It was so nice to be with people on Thanksgiving since we could not be at home.

Today I have my football game. I hope we win but I hope we have fun. Anyways....I hope to get pictures from everyone else! Have a great shopping day.....

~Nat

“Blessed are those who give without remembering. And blessed are those who take without forgetting.”
Bernard Meltzer

So above are from the assortment of pictures on my computer and I will continue to post them through Thursday so don't wonder why you may not be up there....I wanted to pose the question and see what kind of response I would get because I look forward to your comments....

so, "WHAT are you thankful for? WHO are you thankful for? HOW can you show those people that you are thankful for them?" I guess being here and not with any family makes you think about those things. I am so thankful to have emails and phone calls and pictures....I am thankful that my air conditioning works and God has a sense of humor in giving us a Subway. I am thankful for my family, each and every one of them.....There are so many and too many to name. I am thankful God gave me a wonderful husband.....parents and stepparents that love me despite me......and for a sister who is both my mirror and my opposite. I am so very thankful. I am thankful for the many many voices that have prayed for me while I have been gone. And I am sorry that I dont show my thankfulness any better than I do. However, I thought now would be an overly appropriate time to tell all of you, THANKS. Thank you for loving me and praying for me and thinking of me and missing me and just being in my life. Each person has made such a mark. Happy Thanksgiving and take lots of pictures for me!

Doesn't my baby, JT, look wonderful? And doesn't my other baby Asia, look cute? That is my mother-in-law, Sharon, holding Asia. I cannot wait to get home to see both of my babies. Plus I will get to see the rest of my family, and see Christmas lights, eat good food and so much more.... Oh, I will get watch JT coach six or seven games when I am home. YAAAAYYYY! I wanted to tell everyone to have a wonderful Thanksgiving week......I wish I were there but will be in 26 days so I will survive. Plus, I have a test at one o'clock on Thanksgiving day....So eat turkey for me. I love you guys and hope you have a great week. Can't wait to see you!

“When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.”
Joe Paterno

Dropping Like Flies
I like people until they give me reason not to, she said.Some days they just drop like flies, though, she added. (from storypeople.com)

I thought the first quote was appropriate and the second was so true.... This is JT's team picture taken just a few days ago. Don't they look sharp with their new jerseys? Doesn't my husband look fabulous? 29 more days until I see him. I can not wait. He makes me so happy. Well, sorry i don't have much time....Kim and I are going to do some ICM practice. Later

“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”
Alex Hale

These are a few of the pictures from my visit my mom and Bob. They were here from last Thursday until yesterday. We had a great visit. We went to Fort Young, a very nice restaurant in Roseau. On Saturday, I took them on a tour of the entire island, which I think they really enjoyed. Mom was able to buy some baskets made in the Carib territory. On Sunday, though, they, well Bob did the mashed potatoes, made me and some of my friends an early Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, sweetened carrots, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie......IT WAS SO DELICIOUS..... especially since next week, the real Thanksgiving, I have my Behavioral Oral Exam.....

Anyways, I just wanted to share a bit with everyone. I will tell you more about their visit in my next post, after they send me some pics. I love everyone and hope you are having a good week.

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family”
Anthony Brandt

These are pictures that my aunt Pam sent me from this past weekend at the Morris family "holiday" get-to-together. The one picture is of the entire family, obviously. One is of my mom and her two sisters, Pam in the black and white, and Addie. One is of JT, Gretchen, Mom, and Bob. The last one is of my cousin McKensie and her boyfriend Brett. I thought the pictures were good and I really enjoyed them. There were some more but too many can be distracting and time consuming to upload....

My mom and Bob are flying into Dominica to visit me today. They land at 4:45 at Melville Hall....the booming airport of Dominica (yeah right!) kidding.... I am taking them to Tomatos tonight. Some of my friends are going to stop by there to meet them. Tomorrow night we are going to Fort Young in Roseau.....Saturday we are going on an island tour. Sunday, though, is the best....MOM IS COOKING THANKSGIVING FOR US! We are all very excited, as you may imagine. Potatos, corn, green beans,......Trust me, we are all very excited, especially me. I will take plenty of pictures so that everyone can enjoy them.

I hope everyone is having a good week! ~nat

"The noble causes of life have always seemed foolish to the uninspired. But this is of small concern. I worry less about the crucified than those who pounded the nails." The Letter by Richard Paul Evans

"I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed: and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I fail and keep trying.”Tom Hopkins

These are pictures are some of the ones JT took this weekend. If you are from my mom's family, don't be jealous. He did not take any pictures at the family function because he said everyone else did a good job....Therefore, you guys need to send me some pictures. It was good to see the Morris family on webcam this weekend. My aunt Pam and I discussed it and my uncle David bought the webcam. I was so excited and appreciative. It made my day because I had not seen many of those people in 2+ years. It was nice to see them.

I took my exam yesterday.....I will know how it went soon enough. Lets "cross our fingers". I studied hard so hopefully some that paid off. I am just ready to get this week going, which it is, because I am sitting in pathology class. Obviously its very exciting; I am updating my blog....

Have a good week! Love you guys!

“You can't undo anything you've already done, but you can face up to it. You can tell the truth. You can seek forgiveness. And then let God do the rest.”

I have an exam tomorrow. Just wanted to share this. I really want everyone to have a fabulous week. We only get one life; might as well enjoy it.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech~Maryanne Williamson

"Hope is a rare gift that, if we are lucky, comes to us with the power to heal our lives. I've come to know that the deepest sense of hope often springs from the hardest lessons in life. It is in the darkest skies that stars are best seen---perhaps it is divine irony that within the darkest moments we are capable of revealing the greatest light, demonstrating what is best with humanity." Richard Paul Evans, The Timepiece

I realize the truth that the statement above holds.....That in the darkest skies, the brightest stars can be seen. But what about those moments when you don't feel like a star.....when you have hurt and disppointed so many people around you for so many different reasons. Yes, the sky is dark but I don't feel like a bright star. However, I do realize that this is where hope comes in. Though hard to see, hope is just on the edge of the horizon within a fingers reach. And I have come to realize that pain you endure at the hands of others is just a tiny morsel when compared to the pain we cause to others, regardless of the source or reason or lack thereof. I know my words do not make much sense to most of you. However, please pray. Pray for me and my pain and my world and all those who are in it and those that I have hurt along the way. And if you are not a person who prays, well, I dont know. Right now, prayer is all that I have. Thank you to those of you for loving me despite myself, when I don't deserve it or did not deserve or lost it and you gave it back. Thank you.... I am sorry to those of you I have hurt or ever let down in any way. Please know that I care about each and every person in my life and never seek to hurt anyone intentionally. I love you all. These are my ramblings, I apologize. I hope everyone has a great weekend.