OSCE's, FINALS, and then a break. God is good.

It's that time again. Time for me to crawl into my office cave and only come out for food, a little cuddle time with the wife, and to go take a final. Tomorrow is my last final. WHEW!

This week of finals started with a BANG. Monday afternoon I had to take a set of exams called OSCE's. I have no idea what OSCE stands for, but I know what it means to us students. It means long hours of studying everything we have learned up until this point. Anything was free game on this test. There were 20 stations, I had 5 minutes to complete each station. This year the test ranged from performing exam procedures on real people while a clinician watched and graded (beleive me, lot's of writing was a bad thing), to multiple choice questions, to interpreting X-rays. Chalk another one up to God coming through for me. He is so faithful.

Before the exam we were sequestered for one hour. We had that hour to sit and wait while the group before us took the exam. There we were, 20 or so students in our white coats cramming more information into any available space in our brains. Some crammed, some sat around and joked, but everyone was really really nervous. That was the longest most nerve racking hour of my life. I did A LOT of praying, not that I would pass, but that I would simply remember what I knew and that He would quiet my nerves.

He did, and I did. I passed, thank GOD! I was talking with one of the graders today, she said at my 2nd station I gave 4 answers to one question, all of them were wrong! Naturally I have no idea what I said or what question was asked, I was in a nervous haze at that point. But after the 3rd station, God took control and calmed me. We now joke about how much of a nut I was at first.

OSCE's ended at 3:15. I had to take another written final at 4:00. Whoever planned that at my school is just plain mean. I did well on that one too. See, God is faithful regardless of how I act or how little faith (in Him or in me) I show.

So after a few more finals, I sit here writing this instead of studying for my last final tomorrow. God is good, true. But I know I gotta do some work too. Time to hit the books, one last time this quarter.

Josh

A (tree) Hunting we will go.. A (tree) Hunting we will go...

So it's my turn to post. I guess I have been slacking a bit on the posting, Elisabeth has asked me to do it several times, yet it hasn't been done. She is so patient.

As is tradition, we went hunting for a christmas tree again this year. This time, we had another vehicle to follow us on our trek through beautiful Mount Hood. We headed up to Estacada with friends Cory and Becca in our car, and our other friends Jason with his wife Jennifer, and John and his wife Brandi in Jason's old rusty monster of a blazer. I realize those names might not mean a lot to many of you, but it proves that we have friends (yay).

(Cory and Jason behind him in a BIG mud puddle.. oh yeah)

The conditions were less than perfect, but that didn't stop us. It was cold and rainy (imagine that in Oregon), and that meant a little bit of snow and A LOT of mud. Naturally we just had to play a bit on the way up.

We trudged up the mountain in search for the perfect tree. After a few miles and a lot of mud we pulled off and went trapsing around the hillside. Lo' and behold we found it.

We brought the tree home and after a bit of trimming, we had ourselves a wierd looking tree, but a tree none-the-less.

As you can see, we have had some problems with our garland. Apparently dog tails and garland do not mix.

Merry Christmas to all!!

Josh