Therapeutic details

It had been one year, 2 months, and 8 days since I last counseled clients.  I looked at our year of adventure as a huge sacrifice to my career and a hindrance to my personal fulfillment (I can be such a brat).  You see, counseling means a lot to me.  I have several passions, but counseling is the most prominent.  There’s nothing more exciting than working with a client and seeing growth with each session.  I get to witness life changes as I sit across from a man, a woman, a couple, a family, or a child.  I get to see their burdens lift and their problems resolved (most of the time).  Not because I’m good at what I do, but because there is something else at work in their lives, and it moves and changes them.  It’s glorious to see.  That is why taking a year off was so difficult for me.

This time a year ago, Josh and I had just moved to Texas and were figuring out what life in an RV in another state was all about.  Little did I know that that year was exactly what I needed.  I needed to have that time alone with my husband uninterrupted by our busy schedules and hectic obligations.  I needed to move away from the familiar and get scared and insecure in order to realize where my foundation really is.  I needed to have fun, explore, and experience everything that I did.  From people to nature to food to ideas- I needed all of it to teach me that there is so much more to life than my little known world.

In a way, I was experiencing a new kind of therapy.  It was difficult sometimes and freeing other times.  Looking back, if I had started working as a counselor right after graduation, I wouldn’t have been as effective.  I didn’t know then the things I know now.  I couldn’t have empathized as well or understood problems the way I do now.  I am a much better counselor/therapist/shrink (what have you) because I understand myself and this life better.

I say all this, because I have encountered many people lately who seem to struggle with timing the way that I do.  Whether they are looking for a relationship or a job, children or a house, timing is frustrating.  It seems like we are being held back (maybe even punished) when all we want to do is move forward.  Friends, let me encourage you: time is on your side!  Actually, the Lord is, but he is in control of time, soooo there you have it.  I digress.  You will not be as complete or ready if you gain the things you are desiring now to happen when you want them to happen.  Does this make sense?  There is a purpose- a very specific and glorious purpose- why you are not moving forward in your eyes.  Don’t you want to feel blessed to the fullest?  Of course!  And sometimes that means that in order to receive the very best for our lives, we have to wait.  And wait.  And wait.

So, while waiting is annoying or painful or even miserable, it is essential.  Maybe you won’t see the benefit of it immediately or even ever, but it’s there.  As a dear professor of mine used to say: Trust the process.

Lukas Yohanis

There were four men, with four different purposes, from four different backgrounds, and I stand amazed by all of them.  Josh and I had the privilege of accompanying my father-in-law, Ben, on a helicopter mission to remote tribes in the T’ara region of Ethiopia (click here for other details from the trip).  I imagined the trip to be routine for Ben as he taught and evangelized to these beautiful, isolated people and eye-opening for me as I got to meet the ones he loves so much.  We landed on top of a mountain ridge about an hour’s flight from the closest “civilization.”  This was my first time ever experiencing God’s creation in a helicopter and my first time ever laying eyes on such a beautiful place in the world.  We were on top of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere in Ethiopia, with lush green land and mud huts scattered along this ridge.  There were half-naked children jumping up and down as the helicopter landed and a crowd of eager faces waiting to see these strange white folks emerge.

As I was taking it all in and trying to pretend that hundreds of staring eyes didn’t affect me at all, I was unaware of the impact that four men were about to have in the next few minutes.  There was a young man there who was waiting for us.  His name is Yohannis- one of the men whom Ben has been able to work with and teach over the past few years.  He is part of the T’ara people, but he belongs to a village on another ridge about 8 hours away by foot.  Immediately when we landed, he approached Ben for help.  You see, he and his wife were expecting their first child.  Except, there was an issue.  It turns out that his wife had been in labor for four days.  The baby was stuck in the birth canal, and no amount of midwifery or tribal encouragement could bring the baby into this world.  This desperate father walked 8 hours (non-stop, I imagine) to meet us in hopes of getting help for his precious wife and child.

We unloaded all unnecessary gear from the helicopter to make room for Yohannis and headed to his mountain ridge.  Mind you, it took us 2 minutes to get there by helicopter and this man had walked the whole thing in 8 hours.  I am blown away by his dedication and persistence.  We landed in the village and once again were greeted by hundreds of eager faces.  It was exciting to be part of something like this, mostly because I didn’t realize the weight of the situation. 

We followed Yohannis along a narrow trail through corn rows up, down, and around a hill on this vast ridge.  As we were walking up to his hut- short of breath from the hike and anticipation- I saw a crowd waiting for him.  There must have been a hundred people gathered around, waiting silently.  As we moved closer, I saw a woman lying on a mat under the shade of a tree.  It was she.  His wife.  With every subtle movement, her face tightened and she held her breath.  I can’t imagine the fight she went through.  Four days of labor on a dirt floor.  No sleep, no food, just constant, intense child pains from a child who would not and could not give her relief.  This is a woman if I ever saw one.

Several men helped as they lifted the mat from beneath the tree and brought her into their mud hut.  I imagine that this poor lady hadn’t had privacy in at least four days, because even as she was gasping for air, trying to endure another contraction, people poured into the small space to glimpse at the potential action.  Josh went in to examine her and Ben helped mediate/translate.  After looking at her and talking to the midwife, Josh determined that the only way this persistent woman would survive is if she was evacuated immediately.  Ben left the hut to get Matthias, the helicopter pilot.

I stood in the clearing on the hill where the helicopter would land so they could load this mom without having to carry her too far.  Yohannis was waiting there as well.  I don’t think I’ll forget the look on his face.  I asked, “Are you nervous?”  Through the noise of the approaching helicopter and his broken English, he said, “I thank God that you all came, because I know my wife would have died.”

And just as quickly as it landed, they loaded Yohannis and wife, Josh and Matthias, and took off towards Soddo- the next nearest city with a hospital, which was about an hour away by helicopter or 10-12 days by foot.  Ben and I stayed behind and waited for Josh and Matthias to return.

Before I move on, let me explain how perfectly orchestrated the timing was.  Ben and Matthias usually visit these tribes at a certain time each month.  They had moved the trip back a few weeks, because Josh and I wanted to be able to come and do some medical work.  Originally, we were planning on going out on Monday.  Because Josh and I didn’t get to Ethiopia until late Sunday night, we decided to postpone the trip until Tuesday.  If Ben had gone during his usual dates, Yohannis’ wife would not have been in labor yet.  Most likely Ben would have found out the following month what could have happened.  Yohannis had walked for 8+ hours to get to the village where we landed.  If we had left the day before like we had planned, we could have missed him.  Because it was such a time-sensitive issue, it blows my mind how well these events align.  There is no other explanation except that it was purely God’s providence.

Matthias and Josh dropped the couple off at the hospital and made sure they were in good care.  They reported that the surgeons were taking Yohannis’ wife into surgery as they were preparing to leave and come back to get Ben and me.  Obviously these people have no quick way of communicating (i.e. cell phones), so we assumed that all was well and resumed our original plans for this helicopter trip.  After a day and a half in the bush, we packed our gear up and flew towards Soddo to see Yohannis and his wife before going back to the mission station.

We laughed on the flight there.  I remember feeling so excited to see these new parents and rejoice with them even though their struggle had been a hard one.  We landed in a soccer field and immediately spotted Yohannis in the crowd.  He wasn’t smiling.

Through peripheral conversation, I ascertained that his baby- his son- didn’t make it.  After taking his wife into surgery and performing a C-section, the boy was born with a faint heartbeat.  We met the doctor and he said that he tried very hard to resuscitate the baby, but they couldn’t save him.  Thankfully, his wife was doing well.  Her recovery will be a long one, but she has life.

Because there are no burial grounds at that hospital and Yohannis was several days walking distance from his village, it was determined that his son would have a place at the mission station.  We finished the rest of our business in Soddo, then Matthias, Ben, Josh, Yohannis and I took off in the helicopter.  The trip back was quite somber.

There I was, sitting in a helicopter with four men who worked so diligently to save two lives.  And along with these four men, there was a cardboard box lying on the floor of the helicopter.  It contained the body of Lukas Yohannis.  Africa is a crude place sometimes.  That box reminded me of that.  It’s not fancy, but it’s powerful.

Once we landed at the mission station and ate a quick dinner, those four men set to work.  Yohannis picked out a spot for his son.  It was in the side of a hill leading down to the lake underneath a tree.  I’m not sure if he saw the flowers growing up out of the hill as he was digging away at the earth, but they were there.  Yellow flowers.  Life next to death.

Matthias nailed two boards together in the shape of a cross as his wife wrote the child’s name and birthdate.  In the darkness with only flashlights and moonlight to see, I watched those four men make a grave.  Then I watched those four men grieve and pray over what had happened the day before.  Once Ben was finished speaking for the ceremony, we stood there for a minute.  Yohannis was standing inside the grave, straddling the cardboard box.  He had wrapped his only jacket carefully around it.  I imagine that he didn’t move right away, because he physically ached too much from his grief to do so.  Then, slowly, he took handfuls of freshly dug dirt and put it back in its place around the box.  Maybe that was harder for him than the ceremony.  And once again, those four men worked together to finish what they started.  That body went from the womb to a cardboard box to the grave, and they all knew it.

I have been to funerals before.  They are never easy.  But this one struck me in a way that none of the others have.  Because even though it was painful to see the look on Yohannis’ face as he placed dirt around his firstborn’s body, that was not the end of the story.  His wife was saved.  There was one grave instead of two.  If Ben didn’t feel called to minister to unreached people in Ethiopia, he never would have met Yohannis, Yohannis would never have walked 8 hours to get help, Josh never would have examined her, and Matthias never would have evacuated her.  Four men with four very different purposes saved a woman’s life.  Truly.  And that’s what amazes me the most.  I am heartbroken for those parents, because how is burying your own child ever ok?  At the same time, I rejoice because Lukas will never know the pain of this world.  Even though his body is dead, his soul is not.  He is with the One who gives and takes away, and that is a far better place to be than here.

  

3 countries later

Well, it’s no surprise by now that my husband likes to travel.  When a good friend of his announced that he would be getting married in South Africa at the end of June, it was kind of a no-brainer for us.  We also decided to tack on a few more countries since we would already be on that side of the world.

 Bright and happy…obviously before our 14-hour flight!

On June 22nd, we boarded our 14-hour plane ride and headed to Johannesburg, South Africa.  We were really anticipating this trip, because Josh has such fond memories with the groom and his family.  I had heard stories for years, but it was exciting to be able to meet them all.  We arrived Monday morning in all of our jet-lagged glory, rented a van (aka, party bus), and drove about 4 hours down to a town called Ladysmith.  While we were making plans, we decided it would be fun to get there earlier in the week so that Josh could have some extra time harassing the groom and relaxing before all the hustle and bustle of the wedding started.

At a game park in Ladysmith, SA 

The Drakensburg Mountains

While it was exciting to see a new country, the people made this trip exceptionally fantastic.  There were about 20 of us who were attending the wedding staying at a lodge down the road.  It was great to be able to fellowship with these people, laugh, tell stories, arm wrestle (why, yes, of course!), etc.  How often does that happen?  All I know is that I truly enjoyed the week we spent with each of them.  (McGraths, you rock my world!)  Of course we had a blast celebrating the new couple and dancing the night away as well.  South Africans know how to party! 

 Arm wrestling.  Because, why not?

Just some pre-wedding shenanigans

The Skaggs with the new McGraths

This family is fantastic!

The morning after the wedding, we flew out of Johannesburg and headed to Ethiopia to visit Josh’s dad.  We had met his 2-year-old brother before, but there was a younger brother we hadn’t seen yet, so we were eager to get there.  Before we came, Ben suggested that we could accompany him on one of his helicopter missions to the bush.  He works with unreached people groups in Ethiopia and works to plant churches and translate the Bible in their own language.  Also, since these people are isolated, they have no medical care.  This is what Josh wants to do with his training, so it was the perfect opportunity.

We flew to a few different villages so Ben could teach the people and encourage already established evangelists.  Josh was able to help several people receive medical care(see blog post “Lukas Yohannis” for details about one in particular).  It was fantastic.  While I was severely outside of my comfort zone, I was so excited to be there.  In one village, I was sitting inside a mud hut with a straw roof, surrounded by elders of the village sharing a loaf of bread and a bowl of honey so fresh there were still bees in it.  In that moment, I thought, “I need to remember this.  This is life.”  I mean, these people sleep on dirt floors, walk around barefoot, bathe in a stream, and they are far more content than any American I have ever met.

Listening to Ben teach

Sorry for the graphic content, but these kids were tough!  This guy couldn’t have been older than 4 or 5 and he didn’t flinch when Josh was cleaning out his wound!

My first time ever flying in a helicopter.  I’m a fan.

I wish I could project my memories of that trip onto here so you could experience what I did.  That way of life is hard, for sure, but it is so unadulterated by materialism.  As I watched half-naked children dance and sing around a drummer beating on an instrument made from animal skin and wood,  I felt so blessed to be able to have seen these people.  I might not ever see them again on this earth, but man, were they beautiful, beautiful people.

We finished with our helicopter mission and drove back to Addis to spend time with Josh’s little brothers.  I think he might start teaching them rugby before too long.  For those of you who don’t know, Josh’s dad got remarried a few years ago.  God has blessed them with a 2-year-old and a 9-month-old.  They were definitely so much fun to be around. 

Christian took Josh for a drive.

He is well-loved.

Joel and Christian.

Just as soon as it came, our time in Ethiopia was over.  Originally, we had only planned on going to Africa.  However, my husband likes to spoil me, and I don’t complain when he does.  I have always wanted to go to Greece.  The internet doesn’t help when Google searches pop up white buildings and blue waters.  Josh had been wanting to visit some good friends in Bahrain for awhile now, and when he found out they would be in Greece the week we could go visit them, we booked our flight to Athens.

While there we saw the typical touristy sights like some old temples, the Parthenon, Mars Hill, etc.  One of the days, Josh and I took a boat to a nearby island called Hydra.  Athens was great because of all the great history associated with the city, but Hydra was the Greece I was picturing.  The buildings were so Mediterranean, the water was crystal clear, there were fruit and olive trees lining the streets, and the only way to get around was on the back of a donkey.  We spent the day exploring the little town and swimming in the beautiful water.  I died a little bit inside when it was time to leave.

The Parthenon

Stairs leading up to Mars Hill where Acts 17 took place.

Hydra with my boo.

Can you even believe a place this beautiful exists?

Like all great adventures, our three-week, three country journey came to an end.  We returned to the grand old U.S. on Friday, attended a wedding on Saturday, packed Josh on Sunday, and kissed him goodbye on Monday.  He will be in Alaska for the next few weeks tending to people who wrestle bears and moose for a living.  Not really, but I imagine Alaska to be a rough and tumble place, and it just sounded exciting.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit him at some point (especially since he’ll be there during his birthday), but I have started my internship as a clinical counselor already, so we’ll have to see if time permits.

At good old Southern wedding where the groomsmen wear camo, the only music is country, and the fireflies come out at night.

I met a counselor one time who said that you can’t go to foreign countries and come back unchanged.  I think she’s right.  It wasn’t so much the places as the people who made every step of this trip memorable and precious.  Even if I never get to visit those places again, I am so grateful to have met each person along the way.  There are some truly fantastic people out there, and I get to meet a lot of them.

Moving (part III)

We have officially been back in South Carolina for about 2 weeks now.  It’s a mighty good feeling, but the road to this point (literally to this very moment that I am just now sitting down to write this) has been stressful and frustrating and yet so, so necessary and good.

Captain Skaggs.  Can we give it up for this stellar man who drove 3,000+ miles to get us home?!

Oh boy.  Where to begin?  I suppose the beginning would be a good place.  (And just a fair warning, this is a loooooong post with maaaaaaaany pictures.  You have been warned.)  We packed up our “house” early on the morning of March 22nd and hit the road without a hitch.  The only moving difficulty we had faced at that point was that Josh’s car had not been picked up to be shipped yet.  It wasn’t really a big deal since he has a good friend there who let us park it at his house.  So, really, at this point no hitches.

 

The first day was long and uneventful (which is always good while moving).  We were continually blown away at how gorgeous Washington is.  People, if you have never been, do yourself a favor and go!  You really can’t find a prettier place in the U.S.  While passing through Missoula, MT, Josh realized that he had an old rugby friend who lived there.  So, we pulled our house over on the side of the road and met him for a nice chat over dinner.  We didn’t stay as long as we should have, because we were trying to make it to Bozeman, MT by that night.  It turns out that RVs are slow machines, meaning that we didn’t make it there until 1 or 2 in the morning. 

 

I’m going to miss those Washington montanas.

Old rugby pals, minus the black eyes

On our way there something really strange happened.  The window on the passenger side shattered.  Thank goodness it was a double-pane window otherwise we would be quite chilly.  It was strange, because we were driving down the highway at night and it shattered on the side.  The only thing we could think to make sense of it is that it was a ricochet bullet (like from a BB or a weaker gun).  Whatever it was, thank goodness for that extra window layer, because if it hadn’t been there, whatever the object was would have hit me square in the back as I was facing Josh when it happened.  With that extra bit of excitement and the long drive, we were tired puppies when we got to Bozeman.  We allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit before we heading out to meet some good old American buffalo in Yellowstone!

 Shattered window.  You can’t see it, but the second pane has a dent where the mystery object hit.

We decided to visit 3 national parks, since they were on our route back to South Carolina anyway.  The first was Yellowstone, and boy was it phenomenal!  March is still technically winter there, so about 3/4 of the park was closed due to snow.  We didn’t see Old Faithful on this trip, but we got our fair share of bison, elk, sheep, and moose!  I remember going as a kid and seeing the bison walk right along the road, but I forgot how fun it was!  If I wasn’t afraid that it would ram me (and if it wasn’t severely frowned upon) I would have pet the darn things!  It was awesome to get so close to such epic creatures.  I think Josh and I were excited the whole day, and every time we saw more bison, we’d get giddy all over again.  The only animals on our list that we wanted to see but didn’t were a wolf and a bear.  (Apparently there was a bear roaming around in the area, but we didn’t see him).

 

       Look at all that snow piled on there!

 

Burnt trees from a forest fire.  Baby trees taking their place.

  We call him Buffalo Bill.

 Me taking a picture of….

 ….this guy!!!  Seriously, if I had stepped out of the car, I would have touched him!

Traffic jam Yellowstone style

 Because doesn’t everybody hang out on the side of the road?

 Just your typical elk herd on the playground…

 gazelle

 Something wasn’t so lucky.

Because most of Yellowstone was closed, we got to see all that was open in a day, which fit nicely into our moving trip.  So the next morning, we hit the road to head to Jackson, Wyoming to gawk at the Grand Tetons.  On our way there we had to go through a pass that had a 10% grade.  In a regular car, that’s not a problem, but there are only 4 or 5 places in the U.S. that have such a steep grade, and as a result, it is illegal to tow a trailer on said passes.  We saw the sign that said “No trailers beyond this point,” but for reals, how do you expect an RV towing a car to turn around on a 2 lane mountain road?  So we didn’t.  And we were totally fine going through that pass towing our car until we were less than 1/4 mile from the end of the pass when a cop saw us.  We don’t really have good timing.  Once we got our exorbitant ticket, we were off to find our RV park and forget our woes by exploring the Tetons.

 Going into that fateful 10% grade

First, we went to the National Elk Refuge.  This was neat, because they take you on a horse-drawn carriage into a herd of elk on the refuge.  It was so interesting to be able to watch these massive deer-like creatures joust each other and graze together in the Spring sun.

‘Ello, Mr. Moose!

 the Tetons!

A cowboy!  Or elkboy!

Practicing for mating season

Just some coyotes hanging around the elk herd waiting to pick off one or two.

The noble steeds that pulled our carriage.

Once that was done, we drove around the Grand Tetons for the rest of the afternoon.  They say not to go to the Grand Canyon if you want to feel important.  Same goes for the Tetons.  It amazes me that there are such beautiful structures as these.  And still people say there is no God?

 

Stud.

 That is really how high the snow was!  And that’s also why I live in South Carolina!

 On a hike to find some natural hot springs that we never found :(

Again, most of the park was closed due to snow, so we only needed that afternoon to see all that we could of that place.  And we woke up early the next morning to get a move on our journey….except it was a rough start.  We didn’t really have any problems getting into the RV park where we stayed, but getting out was an adventure.  Folks, it’s 40 feet long plus another 15 with the car and tow dolley.  Josh deserves an award for best RV driver, because I sincerely thought we were going to have to unhook everything so that Josh could do a 20-point turn to get out of that narrow park.  Thank goodness we didn’t have to!  With a little teamwork, we made it out without a scratch (which is really saying a lot about that place!).  We were on narrow mountain roads for most of the morning, which means 2 things: difficulty driving the RV and wildlife.  The sun was still rising so the visibility was not great, and all of a sudden, an elk decided to mosey across the road.  I closed my eyes and clutched the seat, because we were going to hit it.  Truly.  There was no way for us to stop in time.  Then at the last moment, Mr. Elk realized a huge machine was coming at him and he leapt out of the way!  Josh and I both breathed a loud sigh of relief.

 Bessie hanging out with the trucks

We were making excellent time and had mentioned how nice it was going to be to get to Colorado earlier than 7pm so we could have time to relax that night.  Spoken too soon.  Somewhere in the desert of Utah, where people and cell phone reception are scarce, the RV began to overheat.  You know how in old Western movies they have a scene of tumbleweeds blowing across the dirt with that Western music howling in the background?  That’s exactly what it was like.  We pulled over on the side of the road and hung our heads, because we knew it wasn’t good.  Neither of us had cell phone reception, but we saw a house on a hill a little further down the road from where we had pulled off.  We walked up to it to see if we could use their phone, but they did not have reception either.  My car was on “E” and had been for awhile, but we didn’t really have another choice.  So, we unhooked it and hoped that a gas station and cell reception was close.  And it was!  Never in my life has a gas station been more exciting.  We sat there for about 2 hours while our insurance company contacted a mechanic to come help with the RV.

Bo, the mechanic, diagnosed that we had bad coolant, and said that he had to take it to the shop in order to fix it, which was about 40 miles away.  He followed us to his shop in case it overheated again, and once we got there, he pulled out his tools and got to work.  Five hours later, our RV was set and we were anxious to hit the road.  Needless to say, we did not make it to Colorado by 7.  More like 1am.  And wouldn’t you know, we ended the day the way it began.  Except, this time it was a herd of elk instead of just one!  Thankfully, they dodged us again otherwise I would have started to cry from frustration.  Finally, though, we made it to Mesa Verde, Colorado!

Mesa Verde National Park is by far one of my favorite places we have been.  My family went when I was a kid, and I remember being so awed by the ruins.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Native Americans built villages along the cliff faces, which date back to about 2,000 years ago.  It’s really incredible to see and totally worth the venture.

The Cliff Palace

It isn’t a big park compared to the others, so once we were finished, we got back on the road.  We hadn’t been driving for an hour when our “low coolant” light flashed up on the dashboard.  Are you kidding me?!  Once again, we pulled over on the side of the road.  Apparently, Bo hadn’t tightened a bolt back all the way the day before.  When we looked underneath old Bessie, coolant was gushing out.  So Josh, in all his manliness, climbed underneath and fixed that darn bolt.  We refilled the coolant (which was not an easy feat since we did not have the proper tools with us), and got back on the road as quickly as we could, keeping a cautious eye on that light.

We had checked the forecast that day and were thankful for sunshine but faced another kind of beast instead.  Wind.  Of 40mph.  In a car, that’s rough.  In an RV, that’s dangerous.  Josh was careful and was doing a good job.  Then, all of a sudden, he quickly pulled over on the shoulder.  In the back of the RV, there is an emergency exit window that flew open.  I don’t know how it wasn’t ripped from the entire RV with winds as gusty as they were!  The only thing we could do was duck tape it from the outside and clamp it down from the inside.  We keep things classy around here.

 Windy, but at least the scenery was nice.

With the last 24 hours going the way they had, I told God that I would be ok if nothing else exciting happened during the rest of our trip.  And from then on, nothing too terribly exciting happened.  Phew!

We passed through the land of the nothingness, aka New Mexico, north Texas and Oklahoma, and stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas, Memphis, and Nashville to visit some friends.  Then we finally hit South Carolina!  And boy, I can’t describe the feeling of crossing over the state line.  I actually teared up a bit.  Mostly because it had been a long week, but also because I had dearly missed this state.  This is my place, where my people live.  This is where my memories start, where I learned how to be me, and where I want to spend my days.  In short, it’s home.

Can’t contain the excitement!

House in front of the house.

We were pleased to find that our furry child missed us as much as we missed him!

So, even though we haven’t stopped cleaning the house since we’ve been back, and we took a quick trip to Chicago for Josh’s boards, we are incredibly thankful to be in Columbia again.  Many people have asked me what it’s like being back after being gone for so long.  Well, it’s amazing.  It’s restful and it’s peaceful, which is exactly what the doctor ordered after 9 months of adventure.  Hello, SC!  We missed you!

3 fantastic doctors preparing to take their oral boards in Chicago!

Lake Michigan meets Chicago

The wives who tagged along!

Watching some good old American baseball at Wrigley Field

Two very proud South Carolinians