Mountain Biking

Mark and I love mountain biking.
I think it is our very favorite thing to do together. We have been going to Fort Custer recently on Sundays (Marks only day off), and it is so great. We actually have nice bikes that we bought back in college. (Funny story - we co-lead this youth group at Lansing United Methodist and we got paid well, and we wanted to do something fun, but at the time we were only dating, so we decided to get awesome mountain bikes so then it would be something we could enjoy together, but if we did not end up together we could each have a bike and go on our merry little way - well obviously we are stuck with each other and our matching bikes :)

So this past Sunday we mountain biked and as I bumbled along behind Mark I was thinking - marriage is a lot like mountain biking. Here is my analogy:

- I do best when following Mark. I have tried to lead us in biking. I get nervous and hop off my bike every other second, and go much slower because of fear. I can trust him to not do anything too crazy, and warn me when danger (like big jumps or logs or critters) are coming up. I just need to stay neatly tucked in following him and trusting his leadership. Just like in marriage.

- Some parts are easy and relaxing. You can just pedal and enjoy the beautiful view and catch your breath for the next challenge. Kind of like life - some seasons are easier than others.

- Some parts are very challenging. Some parts strain your leg muscles and make you nervous and give you bruises, make you bleed, and are hard to catch your breath. Kind of like the season of life I feel like we are in - we are being stretched and it is uncomfortable. We are being forced to trust in God's provision and faithfulness.

- Encouragement always helps. I love so much hearing Mark tell me how great I did on some little obstacle (the only kinds I can do - don't worry Mom), and hear him yell how wonderful and hard core I am. I try and encourage him along the way too, and I feel much closer to him and much more content even in the hard times when I hear encouragement.

- We need to ask each other how we are doing as we go. As well as encouraging him, I need to ask Mark how he is doing with the ride, and he needs to do the same for me. In addition to making me feel loved, it keeps us on the same page. Just like life.

Welp that's about all I thought of while riding on Sunday. Just makes me glad I have such an amazing husband, cool mountain bike, and beautiful pure Michigan places to hang out with my husband.

Love,
Brittany

Celebrations

Today I attended the state championships for girls soccer. Plainwell was playing, and it was awesome. I have gone to a few games, and they are really entertaining. I love soccer, and Lex has a few friends that play, and its just fun to sit in the crowd and chat. Anyway. Today, after a very toasty, intense 80 minutes of game Plainwell won. Plainwell girls are the state champions. I sat with my mom and Jenna, and we celebrated. We hugged and got way more into it than was probably necessary or appropriate for a family that has no one involved in the Plainwell soccer program. I watched them jump and scream and hug and people cry and run out and hug them so tight they spun them around.



Right after Plainwell won.
(I totally creeped and stole this picture from facebook)



And I actually got sad.

Sad.
In this moment of pure happiness I got a bit jealous. I thought I will never win anything like that. I will never win a big game or a race or triathlon and get to have everyone cheer and jump up and down with excitement. I wont have anything to celebrate like that.
And then I got thinking.
Nope, I wont.
I will never win a state championship for soccer, or a race or anything athletic. Ever.
But, we will have victories to celebrate.
We will celebrate graduating PA school next May.
We will celebrate (oh will we celebrate) when Mark gets a full time job.
We will celebrate beating cancer.
We will celebrate when first find out we are going to have a child.
We will celebrate how God is pursuing us and loving us and providing for us.
We will cheer and hug and spin around.
We will celebrate.


That is what God taught me today.
Go Plainwell.

Rotation #2 - Family Practice....

in...
KALAMAZOO!!!!!

Praise Jesus!
I was getting ready to start internal medicine at the VA (which I was less than thrilled with and had no idea when the next time I would see Mark is...), and I got the go ahead to head to Kalamazoo to start the next day. This was literally a last second come back. To say I was thrilled would be the understatement of the century. I have no idea why I had so much invested into getting this rotation in Kzoo (I think the whole living across the state from Mark was wearing on me), but I did, and when I found out I wanted to do a backflip. But I did not. Or I would be in the hospital right now.

I decided to surprise Mark at church on Wednesday with the great news. I thought (as of that morning), that'd I would be at the VA, so continued to let him assume that and just showed up at church where he was working. It was awesome. Even though he has already discussed in this blog how he is not a very good surprise receiver (like when I showed up in Texas), it was so fun. I cant wait to be with him everyday! Ah!

So.
I started today....and loved it!
I am doing the rotation at Promed with Borgess.
Today I got to see several patients, take out stitches, and cut off a bunch of skin tags from a guys neck and armpits. Which actually thrilled me. I am excited for this rotation!