Done with the MCAT!

It's over at last! After 100 days of studying till my head spun, I'm finally done with the Medical College Admissions Test.

I find big tests like this to be a very interesting experience. In many ways, they test not only the material officially covered, but also what you're made of, like how you handle stress. And they show your relationship, or lack thereof, with God.

For me, testing is a scary, but rewarding experience I often look forward to. It's scary because I know it will be stressful, and I don't like the feeling I get when I look at a question and know that I don't have a clue how to answer it. But it's also rewarding because I know that when the way gets rough, when I have no idea where to start on a problem, then I feel God right beside me. Holding my hand, guiding my mind, giving me strength.

The morning of the MCAT I took a prayer walk down our road, far enough to reach the bend where it curves down and away, opening up an amazing view of Camel's Hump, a nearby peak we like to climb. I was sharing my heart with God - my fears, my dreams, my desire for His will to be done on the test. And suddenly, these lines of a song came into my head (From "Oceans" by Hillsong):

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the water

Wherever you would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

Where my faith would be made stronger

In the presence of my savior

I have found this to be so true on many occasions, and especially while testing. When I allow God to take me deeper than I would ever go myself, past my comfort zone and out upon the unknown waters, I find that the farther I go, the more His Grace abounds.

And that's how it was on the MCAT. Despite the massive nature of the test, and the fact that much of my medical school applications hung on the next 7.5 hours and 230 questions, I had an amazing sense of peace and calm. I felt that God was there with me, and knew exactly what score He wanted me to get, and how it would all work into His larger plan for my life. 

So, while I wait the next 4 weeks or so until the grades come out, I am able to rest assured that God is working in the entire process, and that regardless of how I do on the exam, His will will be done. And at the end of the day, that's all I care about.

And then, a couple days after the test, when I wasn't expecting a thing, we were having a family evening reading a book out loud and working on various projects, when Curtis left for a minute and returned with a long roll of leather.

"This is from the family," he said. "Just a little something to celebrate your big accomplishment."

I unrolled the leather, and there, just like I was in a dream, lay this beautiful Sears, Roebuck and Co. lever action .30-30 rifle! I was literally speechless!

Needless to say, I am incredibly blessed by my family - they're amazing!

Happy National Running Day!

Vermont Generosity

Recently I've been blown away by the generosity of the Vermont people. Everyone here looks out for the community, and they're quick to help out or do you a good turn whenever they can.

Just the other day Augs found the red tractor above for sale in a Craigslist ad - a fixer upper, as it was not running. He's always looking for good projects like that, so he went out and took a look. As it turned out, the seller had bought the tractor over 20 years ago, and it was rather an old friend. He was so happy to have a young guy planning to fix up the old machine that he just gave Augs the tractor!

Of course, Augs being so good with engines, he had it working within two days, and as I write, he is outside using it to mow the lawn. 

Augs, using the wheels of our old mower to replace the hopelessly flat front tires on the red tractor. He was using the front wheels here, but it turned out the rear wheels worked a lot better in the end. 

 Not 24 hours later, I was checking the community email for the day, and suddenly spotted someone giving a way a rototiller! It too needed work, but that wasn't a problem for us, so within minutes we were heading out to take a look. 

It turned out to be another elderly gentleman, who said he'd raised six kids on food grown in the gardens this thing made. Another piece of history, loved and cared for like one of his own.

Papa and I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning it up, and after removing a large mouse nest from in the fan and cleaning a lot of gunk out of the carburetor, we had it running!

 Me, bringing the rototiller back up the hill from where I've been reclaiming a scrubby patch for use as more garden and/or lawn. 

Once I finish, I'll take a couple of pictures for the elderly man who gave us the tiller - I know he'd be really happy to see it getting used again. And that makes me happy.

To end on a sweet note, here's a vanilla milkshake Ibs and I had the other day when it was just us at home, and we felt like a treat. We made it from a Paula Deen recipe on the Food Network website, and it was amazing! (But not even a shade healthy!)

Springtime Wrasslings...

Taking a look at the inner workings of the gear shifter

The past few weeks have brought a sudden flood of unexpected projects. First there was the van's power steering trouble. Then, only a short time later, our Ford excursion quit going into first gear. Thankfully, given the symptoms, Papa deduced that it was only a linkage problem, and after wrassling around under the dashboard for a while, I found the problem - simply a couple of loose bolts!

It now works good as new, and we're praising the Lord it wasn't the transmission going out.

One down, another coming...

Just a few days later, I'm sitting at the kitchen table studying enzyme kinetics when I hear Ems calling from the laundry room.

Ems: "Ike, can you come look at something?"

Me: "Coming!"

Ems: "Do you see what I see?"

Oh no! A large puddle seeping from underneath the washer, and growing fast.

There's only one thing to do - open up the washer and attempt a diagnosis. Thankfully, we've had this one open before to give it a good cleaning (Note: you probably don't even want to know what is living inside your washer. It may look clean on the outside, but inside......)

I open it up. There it is. Water seeping from a crack in the drain water pump. Finding the part number, I locate one on Amazon for $15, then call a local parts shop to get a second price. Only thing is, I should have thought to call just a parts shop, and not one that also sells new machines.

Me: "Hi, I need a replacement for a leaky Kenmore washer drain water pump."

Her (sounding skeptical): "What makes you think it's leaking?"

Me: "Well, there's water all over the floor, and it's pouring out of a crack in the pump"

Her: "You sure there's a crack?"

Long story short, after assuring her that yes, I knew what I was doing, and yes, we did want to repair this machine even thought it is 10 years old, their price turned out to be three times Amazon's.

Amazon won, and a few days later we had the new part. It was a simple matter of a few clips and hoses to put in the new pump, and the washer is now running again without a stray drip in sight!

Despite the inconvenience of things breaking down, I must say I'm always a little excited when something does go wrong, since I get such enjoyment out of getting in there and seeing if I can fix it. Next on my list is the Excursion passenger door, which currently refuses to open!

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Mums,

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are just a few things, out of millions, I love about you:

> Your love of the outdoors and nature - gardening, morning walks, admiring the sunset, watching the leaves change color in the fall...

> Your unconditional deep love for Papa, and how you set an example

> Your femininity and love of beautiful things

> Your visionary outlook on life

> Your pushing of me to always be my best and to never stop learning

> Your selfless serving of the family

> Your love for beautiful music

> Your adventurous spirit in travel and trying new and wild foods

> Your can-do attitude

> Your willingness to talk about anything, always assuring us that we can ask you any question and trust you with our deepest feelings

> Your constant thinking the best of others

Thank you for the inspiration you are, and for being the best mother a boy could ever have. I look forward to many, many more years and good memories together.

Lots of love,

Ike

Life Lately

So a few days ago, Curtis's Honda mini-van decided that it had had enough of power steering. From now on, we were on our own in that department. Papa fossicked around under the hood for a bit, and being as amazing with engines as he is, soon discovered the problem, now buried deep under a layer of oozing, purplish power steering fluid.

Turns out the van had stopped taking its medicine, and was steadily getting rid of the fluid from the top of the power steering pressure hose that runs from the top of the fluid pump down and around to its destination near the driver's wheel. By this time, it had successfully covered most of the engine in the stuff.

Now, we're all can-do by nature, and love a good challenge, not to mention loving a good savings, so pretty soon the same thought was niggling at the back of all of our brains. If it's only a hose gone bad, could we replace the hose ourselves?!

Well, long story short, and several hours of wrassling later, the van is good as new again! We took the old hose out and replaced it with a new one, cleaned up the engine a bit, and flushed the system with fresh fluid.

And we were just in time, too, because the Cady Hill mountain bike trails up in Stowe opened a few days later, and we needed the van to get our bikes back and forth! So, after a good hard working day of studies, we threw our bikes in, and headed for the trails.

Only thing was, one of these trails was called "Bear's Trail," and this particular bear seemed to have woken from its winter hibernation a bit on the grumpy side. None of us are reckless, so we were all taking it pretty careful along there, until this one hole up and grabbed my front wheel, throwing me off the front of the bike!

Somewhere in the process, the gears in the front got a bite of my leg! So, my riding to injury ratio is at an unfortunate 1:1 right now - it looks like I'll have to get out there and improve that!

Attitude Makes All The Difference - Zig Ziglar

I just discovered this really inspirational clip from Zig Ziglar on attitude. Check it out!

Zig Ziglar - Attitude Makes All The Difference, from Empowermentalist School on Vimeo.