ONE

Today, Maxwell is 1 year old! (Although, technically, tomorrow is when it will be September 22 in CA.) At 11:07 pm, on a late Friday night, Max was born at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton in southern CA. Weighing in at 6 lbs, 14 oz, he made his presence known--thanks to a healthy pair of lungs! Now estimated to be at least 20 lbs and pulling some of his own weight around, my itty bitty baby is turning into a little boy.

The 1st birthday seems to be a milestone for us parents just as much as, if not more than, for our child. Sure, he's growing and learning to make sense of this strange new world... but so are we! If only babies came with owners' manuals! Maybe Mike & I should bake a cake to congratulate ourselves for keeping Max alive and kicking (and celebrate our own survival) for a whole year! Truly a miracle. :)

The main festivities will take place next week with some of our closest friends on the island. But the climax of today's celebration is the welcoming of Lolo GJ and Lola Beth (the Miranda grandparents) whose plane shall be landing in about an hour! Here's how Max is keeping busy in the meantime...

Before...

You want a piece of this?

...

...After! :P

On My Own

The journey towards physicianhood can be arduous, painful, and thankless (8.50 per hour!). Nothing is sweeter than breaking through to the "other side", and removing the "resident" label which now entitles me to a little more freedom, respect, and reasonable monetary compensation. At the same time, nothing is more frightening than removing the "safety net" we residents refer to as "the attending". No more drawn out inpatient rounds, required lecture attendance, gathering data at o'dark thirty in the morning, or "guess what I'm thinking" medical trivia...I am on my own!

This past week marked my first week on the Inpatient Medicine Service which equated to heart failure, GI bleeding, pancreatitis, stroke, heart attacks, cancer (all bad things)...all managed by a team of 1 (also a bad thing). The week was inaugurated by a call night of laboring OB patients and crashing heart failure lady. Also, crashing heart failure lady didn't seem to care if I was post-call either. The week seems like a blur to me. Was it scary...yes. Did I kill anyone...no! Can't wait to do it again!?!

Step by step

A milestone reached... A frontier entered... A step taken...

Max is walking!!!

This little guy's first observed step actually took place about a week ago as he crossed the ~20-inch gap between the chair and the couch. But it's the kind of event that incites both excitement and doubt--for fear of rationalizing it into reality because you're so eager for it to happen. "Did he really take a step? Or was he just moving his foot while falling?" Well, we held off on marking it as Max's official first step since we weren't sure if it was "for real"... plus, Mike wasn't there to see it (and believe it).

Since then, Maxwell has been proving to his father that he, indeed, can walk. It fascinates me how he grows more and more confident with his new found skill, and I'm even delighted by Mike's expressions of amazement every time he watches Max walk.

Oh, how deep the Father's love for us! That even our grasping of simple truths brings joy to His heart. That He watches us test, then try, then reach those new horizons... places He has been waiting for us to enter and enjoy.

Back to the Beginning

Well, the moving-in is still in progress with over 10 boxes that have yet to be unpacked. Not too shabby, though, considering there were 130-something numbered items unloaded from the moving truck! With God's grace, that day actually went a lot smoother than expected. And despite the dreaded precipitation (the movers had to take 2 breaks due to sudden downpours!), all our stuff was moved in and major furniture assembled in less than 3 hours! Woohoo!! The only apparent casualty was our corkboard bulletin board which arrived broken in pieces... so long, faithful office accessory.

We did, however, locate and unpack the intact USB cord for our camera which facilitated the downloading of ~480 pictures! (Hey, carpe Kodak!) But we shant overwhelm you with all of them at once. We'll give just enough to keep you coming back for more. ;)

And now... the long-awaited visual update begins!

Our very first day on Guam is, honestly, a big blur... likely due to its 1am commencement! Hence, the lack of pictures documenting our "first day." What we do have is a photo of our first Sabbath breakfast on Guam which took place in our fairly spacious hotel room. Nothing beats Goober PB&J and "pan de leche" from K-Mart!

We took advantage of our jet lag (it was ~2pm Califronia time!) and went for a morning stroll outside our hotel before heading out to church. What a great way to start the Sabbath!

"Toto, we're not in Murrieta anymore! "

Here, the Philippine Sea reminds us just how far we've come... and how far God has yet to take us.

More to come!