It just took me probably 15 minutes trying to figure out a title...

This time I don't have a simple positive in my life, though I will try to remain completely positive in my response.  I can't spend too much time because I must be productive today.  I take my part one boards in only a couple of weeks and I have a long way to go before I am ready!!

Life since I last wrote, which was about 2 months ago, has been a bit of a whirlwind.  I successfully completed my second year of dental school, made it through root camp (which is a 2 week "boot camp" like course in root canal therapy), suffered through learning to give injections (which we performed on each other), and have been 2 weeks strong working on patients!  Clinic has been a totally different experience.  Besides the stress of having your first patients and performing dentistry on them, there are also the pressures of an educational institution and the performance that is required of us there.  With so many students and so few professors, it's TOUGH to stay on time and accomplish a lot even in a 3 hour span.  I look forward to the day when we don't have to answer to another Dr. about every step we take. 

I am learning A LOT though.  I am learning patient management and relationship.  I have learned about diagnostics and diagnosis.  God is amazing in how He creates each of us unique in His image.  He is so sufficient in my uncertainty too.  I have seen Him power me through each long day and each tough situation that has arisen. 

What else...we've had 4 showers since I last wrote, maybe even 5.  Each one being simply amazing!! Barrett and I have been so blessed with so many wonderful friends and family who are helping us prepare for marriage and life together!!  I am a little behind on my thank you notes, but that is all in time!! 

Barrett and I have also been attending pre-marriage classes.  They are going great now that we are rolling.  Right before we began the classes Barrett and I ran into some issues over denomination.  Barrett is Catholic and I grew-up Baptist, now non-denominational, and this posed some serious questions for us about raising kids and where we would go to church.  We had discussed the issues before, but not with the intensity that we felt at this time.  Long story short, bottom line is we both love Christ and we want our lives centered on Him, everything else is in His hands.  We also went skydiving, Barrett's first, my second.  It was AMAZING!!!

We have done a lot with the house lately.  Barrett has gone ahead and moved his stuff in and it has been so challenging to get everything organized.  We still aren't there, but a little every day.  His dad also helped us lay tile a few weeks ago which was awesome.  It was all down in one day, grouted the next and we cleaned it for the next several days.  It looks great too!  Barrett has been the most amazing fiance helping me out with the house.  He has done soooo much to help clean everything up and do his best to organize and clean up after himself.  I am so blessed to have such a sacrificial fiance and soon to be husband!

There has been no time to cook lately so I am looking forward to being able to do that soon.  Barrett and I have started working out again some, but as much as I love to run I am not able to right now.  My knee has been hurting when I run and I saw a Dr. last week who scheduled a MRI for me.  We'll see what happens from there.  We did run the Louisville mini and I ran it at a 7:38 pace and got in the top 70 for women and really well overall.  I was really happy about it.  I really hope to train for a full once I get my knee back!

The wedding is only a month away!!! I can't wait to be Mrs. Wilson (and soon after that Dr. Wilson) to Mr. Barrett Wilson!! YAYAYAYAYYAYA!!! I look forward to all God is going to teach us and am thankful for all He has already been teaching us about two lives coming together to mirror Christ and His bride, the church!! 

That's all for now, need to start studying!  TA-TA

Catch Me If You Can

I am actually a pretty good runner.  No I wont every win a 1/2 or full marathon, but I can hold my own. The first 1/2 marathon that Barrett and I ran was last October, the 30th to be exact, and we finished are 1:53: and some odd seconds.  That put us just under 9 minute miles, even with the engagement!

So for our upcoming Derby run I am hoping to get it under 8:20/mil run.  I have been training really well despite being really busy with school and some really fatigued legs.  The heat really picked up yesterday, which is always a tough transition when you are use to running in more comfortable weather, but even so I was still able to run my 9 miles in about 8:40 pace.  Not great, but with all things considered I wasn't disappointed.

For the FUTURE: I would love to qualify for the Boston.  That may not happen this year, but maybe after taking a little break from strictly running, I will be motivated and have the time to train right!  Barrett and I are going to attempt to take up TRIATHLONS...we'll pray we don't drown. 

Until the 29th of this month I am a runner though.  I am pretty good and compete well.  Maybe after the race I will be able to come back and say "I'm awesome, I did it!" 

Picture: That is Barrett and I finishing our first 1/2 marathon together, after he proposed right at the finish line.  The race was in Clarksville, TN and all of our family was there to surprise us at the end!  I love him and couldn't have asked for a better proposal or man to give it!

You've Got A FRIEND In Me

I am a great friend.  I am loyal and I do my best to make-up for any wrong doing I have done.  I am not the best to everyone of course, only a select few people can be everything to everyone, but those closest to me I am always there for. 

It's kind of funny to me that I can still remember being very young in church or somewhere similar, and the topic of conversation was on friends, precisely what makes a good friend and what kind of friend you want to be.  My very first answer was always honest and loyal.  I strive to be as honest and loyal as I possibly can.  Honest about who I am and loyal to the one who God has put in my path.

As I have gotten older though I realize one of the most important things in friendship is HUMILITY and SACRIFICE. Humility and loyalty can kind of go hand-in-hand, but I think humility goes a little deeper.  Because we are all sinners, we all need a savior, it's going to be tough to make any kind of relationship work, whether family, spouse or friend.  We each have to do our part to push aside our pride and stand firm next to those in whom we believe.  I continually have to push aside my selfishness and my sin in order to love my friends more and more and I am good at this because I am GROWING.

And sacrifice.  Now I really haven't always gotten this correct, but I think I am pretty darn good at it.  Maybe I am just really insecure, but I have often felt that though I have a lot of friends, really good friends, I still don't have that something that other people have.  You know what I am talking about...that group of friends that's inseparable, the two best friends who can complete each others sentences, the people who always have people diving into their lives, and on and on.  So to me sacrifice has meant knowing that even though it feels like a friendship may be one sided at times, my calling is to bring God glory, and to me that means sacrificing my own desires for the desires of Christ.  I am called to love, and to love FULLY even if I don't feel loved.  And I do a good job of this, for the most part.


So, I have A LOT of room to grow, but I think I do pretty well with friends!

Pictures: Brittany, Megan, Melinda, Kayla, (+Jessica, but we don't have an updated picture)...all of my bridesmaids!! :)

Money, Money, Money, MOONNNEEEYYYY

So I have two good things today- one for me and one for my lovely fiance Barrett!  First, because we are learning to put each other first, I have such a wonderful fiance.  Just this past week he found out he got a promotion at his job after being there for only about 8 months!  He works so hard at everything he does and especially at his job!  He is so good that they actually created the position for him!  He works in marketing at a hospital and has done wonders for their orthopedic departments marketing.  I am so proud of him and can't wait to walk alongside such an amazing, inspiring, hard working man. (oh, and he will get a raise, hence the title of this post).
And for me, I have become pretty good at managing our money.  I am faithful with giving back to the church at least what God asks of us as well as other organizations that I am either involved in or that are put in my path for a time.  I have also become better at budgeting, saving and questioning my purchases.  We are still able to enjoy eating out (which we LOVE), buying a few fun things for ourselves (like Elton John tickets...APRIL 15!!!) and put back in savings.  We are so blessed to be where we are and we realize that we have a big responsibility as stewards of what God has given us!  Although with both of our careers we have the potential to make a very good income, we continue to remind ourselves that though we are IN THE WORLD we are not OF THE WORLD!  We will enjoy the good things of this world, because God wants us to find joy in this lifetime, but our ultimate JOY is in Him, not in things!
I love managing our finances and looking for more ways to save and give!
              Top three of my favorite categories in our budget (all 2nd to our giving to our family-the Church):
               Entertainment/Gifts (I love spending time with Barrett and getting people things!)
               House FUNd (spelled just that way, I love getting new stuff for the house and making it more hospitable)
               Netflix (this means we get an xbox, save money by getting rid of cable, and I get to cuddle up with Barrett and watch movies)!!
Love, Whitney

Picture- Barrett and I purchasing our first 'couples' thing...new washer and dryer!

Positive Polly

I was thinking the other day about what direction I wanted to take this blog.  Several things came to mind, but the very first was making an all positive blog.  I tend to be my very worst critic, and I know that many of us our, but honestly I tear myself down A LOT! Barrett is always on me for not telling him the good I do in school, compliments I get, etc.  It's sort of a dilemma that I have because I don't want to sound prideful though I know I do well at somethings, but I also just tend to harbor on the negative and dismiss the positive/successes.  I also have a hard time taking credit because I know all things are for the glory of the Lord, not our own.  So my idea was to get on here when there is time and write things I have done well, and only things I have done well so to boost my confidence.
Then I thought of several other ideas not really coming to any conclusion.  I sort of dismissed the idea because in all honesty I don't really need to take the time to do this with school and wedding planning.  However, I talked with Barrett last night about it and he thought the 'all positive' thing sounded like a great idea.  And besides, my prayer journal is almost full so maybe I could take a spin at this occasionally.
I don't plan to do this often and I am not even going to seek out followers, but this gives me a way to 'talk' out loud and build myself up.  I wont say that I will commit to 100% all positive, but I do commit that in every entry I will follow anything that isn't purely positive with something that is positive!  And sometimes they will be really small and silly, but it will hopefully help me to build confidence!
Ok, so my positive for today...although I did wake up late I have been productively studying for our pathology test we have coming up and I made good waffles this morning even though I have a stinky waffle maker!

Picture: not actually of the waffles but of me cooking homemade stuff crust pizza and sugar cookies for Barrett and mine's first Christmas together!

Always Distracted

So I probably wont do this for very long or if I am able to keep it up I will probably only be posting occasionally.  With dental school and a wedding to plan I really should be more focused on those things.  I am in the process of learning to be a dentist, a wife, a better daughter and granddaughter, a pet owner, house owner and Christ follower.  I don't always get things right, in fact, I rarely do, but there's grace.  I'm learning to really accept that grace.  It's not easy and often I want to not believe I am worthy of it, I am my worst critic, but a free gift can't be earned.  His grace is sufficient.

 Picture: Just a coffee cup I love!  Makes me think of sitting on my computer in my living room sipping on some coffee while I blog (or study)!