Orientation Week!

It has been almost a week since we posted. Last Saturday Makayla and I made some lunch and went up to the look out at East Rock Summit park and had a picnic and played some frisby. It was a fun afternoon and it was good to get out and do something. It was a beautiful day. That night we decided to kick off our last day of freedom before school starts by going out to dinner. We went to a Thai restaurant called Thai Taste. It was delicious and actually not very expensive :) We were glad for that! Then we went over to the home of Clay and Jessica Shorter, one of our neighbor families and played the Wii with them. It was a fun evening and a great day that helped to get our mind off of things.

On Sunday we got the wonderful opportunity of substituting for the 5-year-old primary class! Let's just say that it was an experience we will remember! There were like 10 of these little sweet spirits! Good times! nuff said!

Makayla has worked every day this week and is doing an awesome job. She is a hard worker and I have been so impressed by her willingness to support me in my goals. I am so grateful that we found each other. She is so wonderful and means the world to me. I can't imagine life without her. I must be the luckiest man in the whole world to have such a beautiful companion!

She is enjoying her new job and is getting along well with her co-workers. Her boss even offered to loan us a TV!

My orientation started this week. All in all it was a good week and it was nice to finally meet my classmates and figure out who we'd be stuck in classes with for the next year. It seems like a pretty good group. Some of the highlights of the week I'll just quickly mention were: Welcome, PA program reception with the Dean of the School of Medicine, various presentations by computer support, Yale Health Plan, Security, disability insurance, a PA panel discussion and Q&A period, meeting our donor for anatomy (we do a full body dissection), and a ropes course yesterday. This was just a bunch of team building games and excercises out in the woods. It was pretty fun.

One thing I'll say about the PA reception was that Makayla was talking to a man for about 15 minutes and he was asking her all kinds of questions about her life such as if she'll be going to school, about her job she got and where she was from and really seemed to have a genuine interest in her life. After he walked away I asked if she knew who he was, she said, "No." So I told her she was just talking with the Deputy Dean for Education for the Yale School of Medicine. She was pretty impressed and excited that he was interested in her life and well-being. I am happy about that too. The faculty here is just amazing and are willing to help with anything they possibly can. The Dean of the PA program offered to let us borrow some of her cooking things or whatever we need while we are waiting for our things to come. She even said she would write Makayla a letter for school or work or anything that she needs. She also made sure we were able to find our meeting house for church on Sunday! What a wonderful person she is! Her name is Mary Warner.

This is a really great program and I am excited to get started into the course work on Monday, although I am a little nervous. But with the great support from the faculty and Makayla, I know I'll be able to get through it. I didn't have any school business today so I am at home and Makayla is at work so I thought I'd give y'all an update on what's been going on. We hope everyone is doing well and that school is going well for those who have started again! We love you all!