Submit

"Congratulations!

You have successfully e-submitted your application to VMCAS."

You know what that means. That means I was up until 3 am last night staring at my computer screen trying to decided if I was finished with my veterinary application. I'd read all of the instructions, twice. I'd rechecked my courses work, probably five times. I'd read, edited, reread and edited my personal statement possibly a hundred times.

So there I sat.  Almost confident that I was done. Earlier in the night I was feeling so overwhelmed and stressed about the whole ordeal. But by 3 am, I was calm and I slowly looked through everything a last time, said a prayer and hit 'Submit.'

Out of my hands now! As someone once told me (yesterday), if I'm meant to get in this year, it will happen. Guess we will just wait and see (and try not to stalk the mailman).

Gymnast is to Veterinarian as...

"I stand off of the mat, awaiting the judge’s signal.  The sun coming through a window illuminates the uneven parallel bars and you can see chalk floating in the air. Level 8 gymnastics state championships. My heart is pounding.  The judge raises her hand, signaling me to go."

In retrospect, it is really cool to see how gymnastics has shaped me.  At this point in my life, 50% has been spent participating and 75% total time spent associated with the sport (I have coached for going on 5 years now).  It doesn't just teach you strength, endurance, flexibility and cool physics-defying skills. No. It is so much more than that. Just a few things I know I have taken from gymnastics include: teamwork, goal-setting, mental strength, determination, dedication... the list goes on and on.

When thinking about my personal statement for vet school, I realized how applicable and important this non-veterinary interest was to me.  The paragraph above is actually the first paragraph of my personal statement, which I plan to submit to VMCAS next week.  I decided to weave gymnastics into my statement, starting with that true story from my last competitive year. 

Veterinary medicine requires basically all the skills I outlined above that gymnastics helped develop in me.  I am not saying I am at an advantage, just that I am grateful for the opportunities I had as a kid. I always find myself telling my girls that I coach that they will learn SO much more after they are out of the sport. And it's true!

Gymnastics is a big part of who I am. I know it has and will pay off for my future in veterinary medicine.

I thought I would share some of my old gymnastics pictures as well :-)

Level 4 competition (wonder how many points I lost for that toe point!)

 I met Olympic gymnast Amanda Borden at a gymnastics camp!

My first Level 7 floor routine was to Ricky Martin's "The Dub of Life"

Level 7 Beam

Level 8 Floor

Helping Haiti

Ever since being in Haiti in May, I have almost constantly been looking for ways to help. I came across this article in the Purdue Agriculture Connections recently and found it very uplifting.

http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/connections/summer2010/02_mission_of_hope_continues_in_Haiti.shtml

So uplifting that I took time to email the guy and thank him for his article and tell him briefly about our trip. He was thrilled to hear from me and insisted on meeting with me. So that's what we did! I met Branly Eugene last Friday and we had a good discussion about Haiti and what we are doing to help.

It was interesting for me to hear about how he grew up in Cap-Haitien and has been living in the States for some time. He expressed to me how he as always felt an obligation to help Haiti through his blessings of education and opportunity. He plans to use his education (now working on his PhD in Agronomy!) to go back to Haiti and work on a long term solution. Sounds familiar. I would love to make a difference in Haiti with my agriculture/animal sciences background. So much so that a professor here at Purdue has offered to take me with him to Haiti this December. He is planning a service learning trip (hopefully with Heifer International) for next December, so this would be an "exploratory trip." Very cool!

I may be going to Romania next May too. I will officially be a world traveler at that point, should it happen (you aren't a world traveler until you have been across an ocean.) It is also a Heifer International Animal Sciences Service Learning trip. It would be 3 weeks and formatted very similarly to the 2011 Haiti trip. Love it.

I will be praying about all of this for sure. We will just now have to see how that cards fall. What are you up to God?? :-)

Deep Breath

Vet School Checkpoint #2?

Had a mini panic attack when I realized that it is almost September. I need to seriously get my butt in gear with this vet school admissions stuff.

The admissions office tells me they have not yet gotten my GRE scores. I still need two references submitted. I still need to start my personal statement.

Deep breath.

Oh yea, school and extracurriculars have started in full swing. That involves classes, Ansc Mentor Program, Western Equestrian Team, Campus House stuff... Maybe I should give up sleeping for a while.

Deep breath!

By the way, I am completely obsessed with our new puppy. And now I don't get to see her :-(

Baby Jackie

Jackie when I left for school. So big!

Big dog, little dog. Patch and Jackie <3

Everyday Sunsets

Whenever you are somewhere other than home, do you sometimes make a point to sit and watch in awe of the sunset? Somehow those sunsets are just more beautiful it seems when seen across the ocean or in the mountains. Right?

An article I read recently talked about this and it did resonate in. I like to think that I take time out of every day to soak in Creation. The beauty that is around me all the time because God made it that way. But in the hustle of the usual life, this doesn't always happen, does it?

My point is that every day is a blessing. Every sunset is beautiful. Just have to realize it and be thankful. :-)

If I Die Young (The Band Perry)

Climbing Fences

Vet School Checkpoint #1

Every new obstacle in life could be compared to climbing over a fence. You see it. You take it one step at a time to the top and eventually make it over. If you take it too fast, you could fall. If you are scared, you won't make it at all.

My biggest fence of the coming year is going to be veterinary school. The application has officially begun for me. I am considering my first checkpoint towards admission to be the GRE. I finished it last week. Pwhoooh!

Purdue's deadline is October 1st. I hope it doesn't come too fast! There is a lot to get done between now and then! I will keep posting about my journey towards vet school.

Here are 5 blogs by 4th year Purdue students about their fences in vet school. I have found them really interesting and they certainly get me excited about vet med!

I have been climbing fences for a long time...

The Country Life

My mother recently asked me if I wished I would have grown up differently. Like, in a city or somewhere more urban. I think it was joking statement coming out of my DC/NYC trip, but it did make me think. Do I wish that? Of course not. A) Because I don't know any different and B) because my roots mean the world to me. And here's why.

I know how I have grown up is unique. Not many people my age can say the grew up on a farm. Not many people my age can even say they have never moved before. I have had the same bedroom since I was born. I can look back on childhood pictures and say, wow, that tree was sure small back then, comparing it to today. I have been all over nearly every inch of this property (almost 200 acres), probably more than once.

Let's see what memories I can't scrounge up about this place.
1) Playing in the cow pasture/woods with my sister. We usually ended up soaking wet from getting in the creek bottom!
2) Chasing fireflies in June. I love the way they glitter over the bean fields.
3) Sitting in the front yard swing listening to the crickets and frogs.
4) Laying outside (anywhere) looking at the crystal clear stars. Can't see that stuff in a town.
5) A trench had to be dug by the house back in the early 2000's. My sister and I filled it with water and played in the massive mud hole.
6) Playing in the sprinkler/hose.
7) Getting dad to build us forts out of straw bales and then crawling around inside with flashlights.
8) Of course, the tree "house". I had a whole mess of twine strung up there that we would drape beach towels over to make a fort. Sister and I would eat lunch up there and do all sorts of random stuff.
9) In 1997, our dog had 13 puppies in the lower barn.
10) Sledding in the back hay field.
11) When sledding wasn't good enough, we attached a tractor inner tube behind the pick up truck and drove around the pastures (frozen cow pies hurt!)
12) Tumbling in the front yard.
13) When old enough, lots of truck and tractor driving.
14) One time, I helped with a hay delivery and the lady tipped me 5 dollars more than the other guy helping us. Said she was impressed by me and that "we ladies have got to stick together."
15) Helping dad with whatever project in the barn/garage/house etc and listening to either classic rock or country. 
16) The animals! Cattle, hogs, dogs, cats, a horse... and don't forget the porch toad!

Ok, I could seriously do this all night and I don't think I even hit the highest points.  The point is, though, that there is nothing I would do to change my childhood. I love my this life, down on the farm. I love the way it smells, sounds, tastes (fresh produce from the garden which I am spoiled on!). I think you get the picture. The country life what I am about. I intend to raise my kids this way, to gain an appreciation for nature and simplicity. That's kind of what this blog is based around. Literally laying down in green pastures? Yea, I've done it. But metaphorically also. It's so easy to just overlook the small things in life and that is just what I am trying not to do!