Emory University Says No

It has been a sad day (or two).  I received my much anticipated letter from Emory University. 

"I regret to inform you that you were not selected for a place in next year's class."  It was hard to read those words after all that we've done in anticipation of being accepted. 

I received an email yesterday with a digital copy of the same letter but I was hoping that there may have been a mistake and that the real letter today would actually say I was accepted or at least on the waiting list.  But apparently it was not meant to be.

I'm not sure what we're going to do now.  This will certainly be a time of much more prayer and fasting as we try to figure it out.  I am grateful to the many friends and family who who joining us in prayer.  With this much faith on our behalf there must be something even better on the horizon.

We often talk about being grateful for the "many blessing that we enjoy."  I guess today we get to practice being grateful the rest of the blessings that come our way.

Playing Frisbee in the Park

Today for family home evening we went to a park across town.  We had bought a couple of cheap frisbees from the DI and thought we would toss the frisbees around with the boys.  David, Donovan, Michael and Aleky all did really well, even with the cheap frisbees that couldn't seem to fly straight!

 

(Aleky)

(Donovan)

(David)

(Quinten)

(Michelle)

(finally posted 9/6/12)

Kaysville

Michelle's cousin Emily is now home from her mission.  After going to her homecoming we saw a beautiful chance for a family picture.  So we pulled over and took this picture before heading home.

 

(finally posted 9/6/12)

Emily is Home

One thing that is great about return missionaries is that they give the family a chance to get together, an unofficial family reunion.  Emily has just returned from her mission in Taiwan and we were able to attend her homecoming.  Most of the family were able to be there so we got to see everyone.

 

Obviously we were excited to see Emily again.

Jared's family

Uncle Dan's family

Melissa's family

Mom, Dad and Kyle

Uncle Daryl Petersen's family with Emily home

Sam, Michelle and Emily

Uncle Kyle in action

David and Devon

(finally posted 9/6/12)

Piano Recital

David has been taking some piano lessons.  We thought that he would love to play the piano since he has been trying to figure out some of the simple hymns on his own.  So Michelle worked out a nice little deal with the local piano teacher.  Michelle would pick up the teacher's daughter from her singing lessons and then David would get a weekly lesson with extra group classes on the weekend. 

With all our wonderful ideas in play David decided that he didn't want to practice.  He would practice if we forced him to but there was no internal motivation.  With homeschool we've decided not to force our kids to do anything they don't really want to do (we may amend this policy later).  But we decided to hold out until the first concert before we decide to continue the lessons or not.

Well, David had an enjoyable time at the concert and with the extra lessons too.  But he still won't practice so this may be his last piano recital.  Of course, we'll probably explore this option at a later time.

Happy Birthday Date

In keeping with tradition, David went on a date with Michelle for his birthday.  David decided that he wanted to play laser tag, among other things, for his date activity.  Michelle took David up to the Trafalga in Lehi and they let the games begin. 

As it turns out, David is pretty good at laser tag.  He ended up placing 5th while Michelle was slightly lower in the rankings.  After playing laser tag David played some of the other games in the arcade section.

By the time he was done playing he had amassed quite a collection of tickets which he turned in for some fun prizes.

After playing hard they headed down to the In N Out Burger in American Fork to finally have dinner.  There weren't very many people there so they got their food fast and had their choice of seats.

When the cops showed up they knew that the show was over...however, it had nothing to do with the cops.  It was just getting late and it was time to come home.

Michelle said that David was the perfect gentleman.  He insisted that she wait until he opened the door for her to get out every time.  That's what we expect from someone as grown up as David.

(video highlights)

Visit to Atlanta

This weekend I was invited to visit Emory University and interview for a spot in the new PA class (of 2014).  It was an exciting visit.  Part of that was due to the trip delays and changes, part was due (of course) to being in the group of applicants selected to interview at this top university, and part was due to the tornado that almost landed on my head.

The trip started out with a delayed flight from Provo to Denver.  The original plane broke down so they sent us a back-up plane that was smaller by nearly 30 seats!  With some heartfelt prayers from my family I was one of the lucky ones to get a seat aboard the delayed flight.  However, the flight from Provo was boarding at almost the exact same time as my connecting flight in Denver.  I was rebooked for the 7:00 pm flight to Atlanta (from Denver) but was told that I might be able to fly stand-by on the 1:00 pm flight instead.  With many more prayers I made it on the 1:00 pm flight that was completely booked...there was one extra seat for me!



I was tired but happy to arrive in Atlanta before midnight.  The rental car place let me pick my car out of line-up of compact cars so I picked a nice sporty one.  I may be silly but it just seemed fun after driving the big, red suburban around to have something small and sporty.  I arrived on campus the next a day early for the interview and apparently I took a wrong turn into the parking garage.  But the nice attendant felt bad for me so she let me in for free (instead of pay $10 for the day)!  In spite of that initial delay I was beginning to feel very blessed.

The interview took place in the School of Medicine building which is shared by the PA program and the MD program.  There were 8 of us who made it to the interview, 1 person didn't show up.  We had a brief meeting with all the applicants and a few of the staff.

Our day included a group interview, a mini interview, a written narrative, attending an hour of class with the 1st year PA students, a tour of campus and overview of the PA program and an exit interview.  All I can say is that this interview day wasn't quite what I was expecting.  With that in mind I hope I was able to answer the questions appropriately.

After the interview was over I took the scenic way back to start looking for areas we might consider living in, assuming that I was going to be accepted to Emory University.  I stopped by the Atlanta Temple so I would know where it was.  And I wandered along some of the back roads and byways.  Eventually I had to turn the GPS on so I could figure out where I was and how to get to where I needed to be.

I was staying with my sister's new in-laws in Marietta, GA since they were kind enough to let me sleep on their couch/hide-a-bed.  Shortly after finding my way back to their house we get a warning that a major storm is heading our way.  We turn on the TV in time to see that we have about 5 minutes before a tornado hits our town.

With that kind of news Wendy takes the kids and heads to the basement.  Chris and I head to the door to check it out!  Of course I was curious but I was trying to decide if I should take preventative measure for the rental car.  My hesitation got the better of me and the storm hit before I could do anything.  As it turns out, the storm pass 1 mile from where I was staying!  We got a brief gust of wind, some small hail and lots of news casters telling us about the storm.

The next day we drove past some of the damage that the storm caused.  I found out later that this storm system caused some severe damage elsewhere in the country.  Once again, the prayers of my family were answered and no harm came to me.

I spent several hours driving around the edges of the Atlanta metro area, outside of the perimeter.  One significant landmark was the "big chicken".  Apparently you have to know where the big chicken is to get directions in that part of town.  And get this...the beak actually moves!  Where else will you find this kind of awesomeness?

I can't say that I know where we'd want to live but I've narrowed it down to a few of the nicer areas of town.  So now we'll just have to wait and see what happens from this interview.  There is another group of applicants meeting on Monday, then the admissions committee meets the following Monday and they make the big decission! 

The flight home was uneventful and it was great to meet my family at the airport.  I am certainly grateful for all of the prayers that got me there and back safely.  I can't wait to see what happens and I know that our boys are certainly excited to move to Georgia.  The boys don't really care about my schooling but they do want to see the alligators and the tornados!