The Olsens are in Omaha!

Omaha is a cute city. We have a Culver's and a Hobby Lobby right by our house!

Omaha is very humid. So humid that Jonathan says he can hear the grass growing. The green, soft grass and the big trees are so pretty. 

People are friendly. Food is expensive. It stays light until almost 10 pm at night. 

Fireworks are legal, so they are going off all the time. 

Church is at 9 am, but sacrament is last so that is really different. But it is nice if you are running a little late ;) like we were last week in the race to find shoes.

To be honest, this has been a hard move.

Moving out of our home, the only home the girls have known, and saying good-bye to our friends and family was so hard.

We had so much help getting our house ready and packing and even driving here (my mom and Jonathan's brother came and helped us drive) but it was so exhausting. It was nice to get here, but then there was the unpacking. It has felt like our lives have been chaotic lately. 

So we decided to have some fun today. 

We went to the zoo.

The girls were the most excited to go to this playground. Funny, that with all the animals and exhibits, the playground is what was the most fun for them. 

The drive here was very hard on Lucy, so it was nice to see her smile and have fun. She is getting lots of teeth!

 The carousel was also a highlight of the zoo. 

Even though I get frustrated that I don't know my way around town yet and there are boxes that I just want to go away, I am grateful to be here. For Jonathan. He has had SUCH a hard time in residency and now he feels a great weight has been lifted off of him. 

And I recognize my blessings. The Lord was truly with us. I know that we will settle in here and I look forward to that. 

Residency Graduation

Last night was Jonathan's residency graduation.

It was a really nice ceremony. It was at the Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, which is super fancy, and the dinner was amazing! But of course the best part was knowing that residency was almost done and seeing Jonathan get recognized for all his hard work.

Jonathan was voted "most likely to be mistaken as having an asthma attack while laughing." We thought this was hilarious because J has this wheezing laugh that is so funny. (He gets it from his mom, she laughs the same way.) 

He was also awarded "Clinic Resident of the Year," and was given the "House Award for Best Diagnostic Skills." 

I thought that was awesome and I am so glad the program recognizes how hard he works. Jonathan feels that the awards were not appropriately given because he hates clinic (true that, he is always complaining about it which makes it so funny that he got a resident of the year award for clinic) and he feels that there are smarter doctors who should have gotten the House award. And he wasn't just trying to be humble. He started listing off residents who should of gotten a plaque and didn't. And I agree that all the residents should have gotten an award because residency is BRUTAL. But I love him for his kindness and I am still happy that he got his awards. :) 

 (If you can't tell what this picture is, it's the slide of Dr. House on the left and Jonathan on the right.)

Jonathan's mom and sister came and it was so fun to have them there.

I cannot tell you strongly enough how glad we are that residency is done!  (Well...almost done. He has to keep working until we move.)

Really, we are not sad about this at all. (We are sad about moving from our friends and family, though.) 

Residency is hard. So hard. Really, it is so, so hard.

There were some times when I was sure J was going to quit. He started looking at other programs and looking at jobs that didn't need a residency completed. He was totally and completely exhausted. But he hung in there and we are all so glad.

And through all of the difficulty of residency, I have truly seen the Lord's hand in our lives. I know that we could not have done it without the Lord's constant help. So the biggest lesson that I have personally learned while Jonathan did residency is that the Lord's grace is real. And so even though we are not done, and Jonathan is starting a two year fellowship in a few weeks, I know that the Lord will continue to help us. And I will always be glad that residency helped teach me that.