In the Begining

Medical school has finally started. Johnny went to orientation today. He said it was really boring. You meet the teachers and learn about the curriculum. One very good thing did happen though we got our really big loan check! I also did a lot of job searching and filling out applications. I think Johnny will be happy when he actually has something to study. There really isn't a lot to do at our apartment. We are sharing a computer while the other one is at Best Buy. He was going crazy this afternoon while I was doing my applications. I think he will have stuff to study tomorrow and we will be going to Kellie and Brett's for dinner.
Well I wanted to end with some pictures we've taken of Miami.















These two are of the park next to our house.

































Cute little guy.
















This is the front of the house the apartment is in.















There are peacocks everywhere in our little neighborhood.

Welcome to the Jungle

Okay now on to Miami! We left Johnny's parents later than we planned, but we made really good time getting to SLC. We checked in and had to pay a little extra for our checked bag because it was overweight. Our flight left at midnight and was and we got no sleep at all. I don't know how people can sleep on air planes. Its so noisy and the chairs are uncomfortable. We had our layover in New York and I decided I hate JFK. It was dirty and confusing, everything was really expensive, it also my have been that I was tired and hungry. Our flight to Miami went well. I got a little bit of sleep because I was so exhausted. We road the bus to get to the apartment and when we got off the bus I felt like we were on another planet. We didn't know which way to walk or how to read their street directions. We got a little lost trying to find the apartment so we called the landlord and he came to pick us up. He is so nice. He has been very helpful. After he showed us the apartment he took us on a drive to show us where everything was, he explained the street directions to us. The apartment is nice. It is a converted garage, but he did it very well. The yard is BEAUTIFUL. There is a very nice park that we have as a neighbor as well. We needed to go to Best Buy because our laptop's hard drive crashed. We got there just fine, but got very, very lost on the way home. We wandered around looking for the apartment for about 2 1/2 hours. We were so tired by the time we found it but we couldn't stop because we still had to go to the store. We were so tired we didn't want to cook dinner and we hadn't eaten since 7 in the morning so we went to a Japanese buffet. It was SSSSOOOO good. I ate so much crab! We finally got home and just crashed.















I think I could get used to Florida. It is so nice here. We got up this morning and hopped on the bus to go to church. I love that church feel the same no matter where you are. Everyone was so friendly! We met some people that just finished their fifth semester at Ross and are going to their house for dinner. They want to tell us all about Dominica. There is also a family at church starting Ross tomorrow. Its nice to know there are others at church in the same boat as us. So the start of our adventure has defiantly been one.

Thanksgiving

The week we spent in Idaho was wonderful! Moving went very smoothly and we were done organizing everything in his parents house by Tuesday morning. We spent the rest of the time just relaxing. Except when Johnny had to haul hay for his dad. Thanksgiving was very nice. I was really homesick this year for some reason. We watched the Macy's T-Day Parade while I talked to my mom. We did a lot of the cooking the day before so cooking didn't take that long. I was really sad because even though all the food was good it wasn't like home. I was feeling really really home sick then all of a sudden I took a bite of jello salad and POW I was home! Thank you mom for letting make your jello salad part of our T-Day traditions. We did wake up for Black Friday. We got all the stuff we were sent to get. While we were in Walmart I ran into Vanessa Jones, one of my friends from High School. I couldn't believe it! She was shocked too. Its a small world sometimes. I just want to let my in-laws now we are so thankful that you guys let us stay at your home for the week. OH Yeah we took some family pictures, Enjoy!

Moving is hard to do.

I know I've said this a lot lately, but it really has been hard to do my blog. I promise once we are in Miami I WILL do better. We are in Idaho at johnny's parents for the week we don't have wireless there so I won't be on much this week. I will tell all about Thanksgiving when we get to Miami. Thanksgiving is my favorite!!! Moving went well. We still need to organize everything and put it all away in the storage closet. Fun times!

My New Smile

For all of you that know me personally, you know that I have stained teeth. I have always been embarrassed by them. My teeth are probably the thing I am most self conscious about. I always think when people see them they think that I don't brush my teeth. I promise I do. Its just when I was a little girl I hit a girl in the head with my two front teeth and "bruised" my new teeth coming in. Yesterday I went to the dentist and had it remedied. I have white teeth for the first time in a long time!!!!! I want to thank all the people that sent me birthday money this year. I think I spent it very wisely. Here are my before and after pictures.
I'm sorry I haven't been posting very often. We have been so busy. We have been packing and now we are very close to being done. I think I only have two more boxes worth of stuff to pack. I have a lot of cleaning to do though. That what I will be doing for the next couple of days. Only 11 more days until Miami!!!

Two More Weeks

My Life seemed to fly by this week. I now have no job. I still have a lot of packing to do and only a week to do it in. I'm also very nervous about the fact that it is supposed to snow next weekend. how are we going to pack and move when it is snowing and how are we going to keep all our furniture dry?
Johnny's mother came to stay with us on Wednesday so we could take her to the airport the next morning. Its always great to see her. She always makes me laugh! My sister, Rachel, also had her baby girl, Eden. We are going to go meet her on Thursday and help Rachel out with feeding the other kids and the house work.
Johnny and I are getting so excited to meet all you fellow MERPers! The snow has started and those warm sandy beaches are starting to sound really good right now. Only 16 days to go!

One more week of work, yeah right!

I wanted to let all the MERP students know more about the loan process with Wells Fargo MedCap loan. I was easy to apply for and easy to get accepted. The part we were not expecting is that you have to wait until orientation day to actually get your money. We thought they just sent the money to the school then the school sends you a check for whats left over. This is not the case. We were going to use that money to secure housing and buy our plane tickets, but not anymore.
Okay as for my life right now. I have not been doing very well on packing. I know it will all get done eventually, I just dont know how. I am very ready to be done with my job. I have had problems with it before, but it wasnt anything I couldnt handle. the last two week have been horrible! I just can not work there anymore. I only have five... more...... days...........................Yeah! I cant wait until Rachel has her baby and hope all goes well with that. I will let you know how the packing is coming.

Getting MERPed

For all those wanna be Ross students out there, this is for you. I wanted to let you know about our experience. Ross called back eight days after Johnny's interview and let us know that he was invited to attend the November-March MERP semester in Miami, Florida. We were very surprised that he got MERPed. Apparently they were a little nervous about direct acceptance because he retook a couple classes in college. We got the acceptance package a couple days later that had loan information, the schedule for the semester, a list of classes that you take, and a book list. You con't get a federal loan for MERP so you have to apply for a personal loan. They recommenda to do a MedCap loan with Wells Fargo or a loan from Sallie Mae. We went with the MedCap loan. It was pretty easy getting the loan. We just went to Wells Fargo and they put us in their system because we are currently banking with someone else. They then told us to call the loan people and they got us started. They ask for a co-signer, we went with Johnny's dad. They called us today and said we just needed to sign. They send all of the loan money directly to the school and they take the money you owe them and then the school sends you a check for the rest. This is why you have to accept your "award" before you apply for the loan. It makes it so the school can send you the money. I have to admit I didn't understand the whole award thing at first.
You are required to give a $700 deposit to reserve a spot for the semester. Once you send that they assign you a student ID number so you can log in to MyRoss. There you can search for housing and accept your loan awards.
The housing network they have is not the best, but it did the job. The biggest problem it has is that it doesn't show if a place has already been rented out. it was really annoying to call someone and then just have them say that it wasn't available anymore. It was probably annoying for the land lords as well. Other than that it is very easy to search on the website. They have plenty of places for single people. It was a little harder if you are looking for a family.
If you would like to know more about MERP here the address to their website. http://www.medicalreviewprogram.com/
I'll keep posting more info about life as a Ross student.

Cops and Robbers

Happy Halloween! Well it wasn't the happiest day for me, but I get paid for working right? I was at work all day. I did dress up with my friend Chris from work. It made the day a little more fun. Chris was the cop, I was the robber. Oh and Jorge was an "under cover police".(This mad me laugh so hard!) I'm also very proud of my pumpkin that I carved.
Every day I get more excited about going to Miami! The land lord for the place we want to rent said we are the only people interested in the place and that he would call me if anybody else wants to rent it, so hopefully we have a good chance of getting it. Its been difficult to pack because we have to leave stuff out for the cold weather were having here and also try to keep the stuff we want to take when we go to Dominica in places we can get to them easily. Besides the fact that I got called in early to work everyday this week. I told myself that from now on I'm not going to go in early anymore. I hope I can be mean to others and keep my promise to myself. I want to get as much done now so that when Rachel has the baby we can go visit them.
I was thinking the last couple of days about how life works out. If I hadn't have had my miscarriage I would be delivering a baby this week. That would have put a damper on our present plans. It still makes me sad that I'm not going to be a mother in the next few days, but it will happen when the time is right for us.
I wanted to say thank you for all the prayers. They were all answered even though it wasn't what we expected. I love you all. We don't know how often we will be able to see all of you in the next few years, but I wanted you to know that I think of you often. Remember to keep doing your blogs. It is so nice to hear from you guys! I told you I'd nag.