Dr. Marla?

I have a little news to share (that most blog-readers probably already know)... I'm going to medical school next year!!! That's right. Bring on the late nights and the pj pants. Bring on the cottage cheese and cereal dinners. Bring on the extra-curriculars and the spring breaks. I'm in for 4 more years!

Really, I feel soooo undeserving and thankful to have been given this opportunity. The premed process has been arduous, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't times I second-guessed my desired future. Some of you may remember that I became quite interested in studying clinical engineering as an alternative career choice after serving as a biomedical technician on the Africa Mercy. But these days I'm feeling confident about my decision to go to med school in the fall. I had been thinking and praying about med school and clinical engineering a lot over the last few months, and it seems that both are options that would allow me to glorify God (top priority), and I think I would really enjoy both (also very important). A downside of clinical engineering is that it doesn't quite offer the patient interaction that medicine does. When I first got back from the Africa Mercy I really just wanted to get back to the international missions field asap, because it was so clear in my mind how much need there is, and clinical engineering was appealing because it would allow me to get back to the field sooner. But now that I'm 3 months removed from the post-ship buzz, in the long run I don't mind that I'll be in training for 4-7 more years before I can really throw myself out there. I figure that in our fallen, pre-second coming world, the need will always be there. I've also realized over the last few months that I really miss school! In Jan/Feb I took an engineering class at a near-by community college (had to withdraw from the class once I started working again), and I loved it. I'm really excited about being in classes again. Please remind me how much I love school when I'm studying for my boards and ready to pull my hair out.

OH, and I almost forgot to share where I'll be going: The University of Arizona!!!! This has been my top choice for several years now, so I'm tickled. The school colors are red and blue, which conveniently correspond to the colors of my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.
GO WILDCATS!

Boomerang Child

...So yeah, I'm slightly embarrassed that I haven't updated my blog in about a month and a half. Motivation is low because I feel like Gilbert isn't quite as interesting or noteworthy as Liberia. But that's a bad attitude; there are events-a-plenty around here.

After 5 days in the Canary Islands and 3 days in London, I headed back to AZ via a direct flight on British Airways. (direct flight=super exciting) And then, I entered what I now refer to as The Time Warp. I slept a lot and then got sick and slept even more and then it was Christmas and then I went to the East Coast to visit friends and then I started to take a class and continue the med school application process and look into some other graduate schools and now I'm here. Really I can't believe I left the ship over a month ago. I've gotten to reconnect with several Mercy Ships friends state-side, which has been such a blessing!

I'm going to sift through my thousands of pictures from last fall (no joke) to find some fun Canaries and London shots for da blog. So stay tuned...