This past month has been a residency respite for Isaac. Working in a Lancaster clinic provided normal eight until five/six work hours. It was the first month in a year and a half in which Isaac was given weekends off, and the unscheduled time was most welcome. For the first time in a very long time we were able to schedule time to go on a hike, visit my grandparents to provide them with help around their house, and attend church together four Sundays in a row.
The general stress of the past few months has been difficult and has kept us constantly on our knees in prayer. Isaac needs to decide quickly if he will specialize after residency in order to direct his research over the next two and a half years, and it is stressful making those life and medicine decisions. With my frustrating job search, financial strain, decision to return to school for nursing, and decision to pursue spinal surgery, the stress and emotions have been high.
Due to my declining neurological status and back health, to have Isaac more accessible this past month was providential. We were both feeling the exhaustion of eighteen months without consistent time together, and I was needing a husband who had the time to help with dishes, cleaning, etc. However, tomorrow starts a new schedule back in the hospital – back to one day off per six days worked, later nights, etc. And four weeks later I plan on kissing him goodbye for a month due to his rotation. But we have this past month to carry us through….to build up our bank of dinners together, time spent dancing in the kitchen, and to store it for the months when we don’t have those things together.
Yet in the midst of the turmoil, pain, and unknown, we have seen God faithfully working in our lives – moving, growing, and changing us ever more into his likeness. At times we have felt the past few years have been a giant storm; a constant set of circumstances that have held us on the precipice. But we are seeing the way these storms are challenging us and shaping us. Our marriage is growing, we are growing, and we are in the midst of having some serious conversations about what, where, and how it looks like for us to live out the calling on our lives.
And until the day I regularly see my husband at the dinner table or have weekly guaranteed date nights, I will treasure these moments and times that we share.
(Our “date night” to do work and study together while drinking coffee! We love this place! It’s where we first studied together while in school.)
Life's Best 