back.

I haven't been blogging because (please select the best answer)
(A) our life has been so boring that I haven't wanted to put you to sleep
(B) I spend 20 hours a day on Pintrest and haven't had time
(C) the level of chaos has reached epic proportions in the L home and I have barely been able to feed, clothe and bathe myself (and feed my husband) muchless sit down and blog

. . . . and (C) would be the correct answer.  No partial credit given for alternative answers, sorry.

I do want to return to the blogosphere.  I will do my best.  While there is still much craziness in the months that lay directly ahead of Philip and I, I do sincerely hope to do a better job of documenting what's happening.  I know that I am going to look back on this year and be like "HOW DID WE DO THAT?!?!?"  I want to have some record  of what's been going on.  Though, my not composing one. single. post. in almost five months is VERY telling.

So, here's the abridged version. . . I'll try to catch you up as best I can:

MARCH - truly one of the most unbelievably stressful, challenging months of my academic journey thus far.  Those were some dark days.  I was in the midst of interviewing and waiting on results of externship match for my clinical placement for the 2012-2013 school year which was the most anxiety provoking saga ever (I know it sounds dramatic but it was an important piece of posturing myself for the internship match this next year so there was a lot riding on the outcome and there had been some serious hiccups in the application process).  My spring break was spent driving around the tristate area to interviews and working on papers.  attended the wedding of a dear classmate in Mercersburg, PA over spring break.

APRIL - Huge. Sigh. Of. Relief.  I found out I would be externing in a university setting (which is what I wanted/needed).  I was thankful that I had worked ahead on all of the crazy paperwriting, so actually the last few weeks of the semester wasn't as horrendous as I had braced myself for.  (I still was haunted by vivid memories of the terrorized looks in the 2nd years faces at the end of April the year before).  had a wonderful early birthday extravaganza/we survived spring semester with some of my favorites at the end of the month :)

MAY - Where did it go?  I enjoyed a wonderful whirlwind trip back to the midwest on my 27th bday (what?!?!? 27???) to see my baby brother graduate from college.  So proud of him.  Came back to DC, Philip and I took a weekend trip to NYC as a bit of an early anniversary celebration ("honey, remember the time you made me walk over 10 miles in New York. . ."  yeah. . . it was a lot of walking.  he was processing some stuff.)  oh yeah, this was the month where deployment plans changed countries/leave dates multiple times in a series of a week=emotional rollercoaster.  and, in the end, we're back to an unknown waiting game "if you go this round, it'll be completely last minute" awesome : / nostomuch. alas, such is military life.  suck it up/grin and bare it/soldier on. May also marked the time I began my assessment placement for the coming year doing neuropsyc testing at a private practice in Arlington.  I'm also training in how to do pre-op surgical psyc evals for bariatric surgery, which is something I'd love to keep doing after I'm in private practice.

JUNE - have loved summer classes (took an AWESOME Attachment class) and stayed busy with clinical work.  said a sad farewell to M&J
for the second time in our military career :S  Little brother began 1st adult job as an electric engineer with a firm in Colo. Springs.  so proud of him.  Enjoyed a wonderful visit from Philip's parents.

JULY - lots o' sunshine and suffocating humidity.  spending all spare moments studying for upcoming comprehensive exams when i'm not at the hospital, testing or writing bloody long tedious testing reports, and working on internship apps.  as busy as it is, basking in the emotional "space" I've been afforded in the recent months.  soaking up every second i can get with the love of my life.

The Lord has been so faithful in what has been one of the most challenging years of my life.  I've been given lots of remembrance stones to remind me of His sovereignty and grace in the recent months.  I know that I am going to have to grip them very tightly and continue to turn them over in my palms as I head into comps and, what has been the driving force at the root of 98% of stress (this is not an exaggeration by any means, unfortunately) and pressure of my entire graduate school experience:  Internship Match.