The first couple of weeks of June were some of the most dramatic in my life. My board exam was scheduled for Tuesday the 7th. Just to remind you, this test covers 2 years worth of material. It is an 8 hour test and costs $500 to take. I think I’ve said that before, I only mention it to emphasize that it is a big deal; if I didn’t pass it I would not be allowed to continue with my rotations. On Saturday (T minus 3 days) I got very sick and had to go back to the ER! When I went to the ER back in April I ended up staying in the hospital for 4 days; well I didn’t have 4 days this time, I needed to be able to sit for that exam. Needless to say, many prayers were said. In the ER they said that it was probably my Crohn’s acting up. They gave me some medications to help me get through the attack and sent me back home. I felt well enough to go to church on Sunday, and do some studying on Monday. I drove with a friend to Charleston Monday. Tuesday morning I was feeling about like normal and was able to sit for the exam. During the last couple of hours of the exam my stomach started acting up again. When we finally reached home I was feeling pretty bad again. Well, my stomach was feeling bad, but the rest of me was so happy and relieved to have that test out of the way.
Wednesday through Thursday we spent packing our belongings and tying up the loose ends. On Saturday we loaded the moving truck and moved an hour West to Beckley, WV. My health held up enough to get the job done. We spent the rest of the month of June unpacking and getting situated. We are living in a house now. This is the first time in our marriage that we live in a structure without other families. We absolutely love our house. It’s a little bit old, but it is such a big step up from where we were living before. We have a big yard, a garden, a grape vein (I don’t know the first thing about juicing or preserving grapes, but I think we’ve found someone to teach us), a large basement, a deck, and even a golf cart so we can go for rides around the yard. We are very happy. Becky posted pictures of our house on our blog, swing over some time and check it out.
I started my rotations the first week of July. I’m rotating in a small family practice office. The doctor I’m with does family practice and his wife does pediatrics in the same building. He takes time everyday to teach me and go over things we’ve seen that day. I’m learning a lot and enjoying it much more than classroom instruction. 2 weeks into July we got the happy news that I passed my board exam. O happy day! We went out for ice cream to celebrate. My score wasn’t as high as I would have liked, but considering the circumstances I was happy just to pass.
I’m now a month into my rotations and loving it. My health problems have not entirely gone away, but I’ve only had to miss one day of work. Becky and Sophie are doing very well. A couple of weeks ago we went and picked blueberries and Becky made a bunch of pie filling and syrup. Last week she started harvesting our green bean crop. For some reason our green beans have done really really well. We have 8 or 9 freezer bags full of them. If any of you were nearby I’d invite you to come and get some. Sophie has started crawling now. She still prefers to stay close to us, but sometimes she’ll get adventurous and explore around the house on her own.
We hope things are going well for you all.
Stewart, Becky, and Sophie
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
2011 April- Bates
I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of time to write (May will be better).
But, I've been at Adobe now since March 21st, and things are going great still. I have already made 2 internal apps, and everyone seems to really like them. I have been working like mad to make sure everyone is delighted with what I produce.
Fintan is getting braver about standing, but never does it for more than 5-10 seconds before finding something to grab onto.
Orianna is potty trained!!! Tamara and I talked about how to do it, and decided that I had no idea how to do it (I proffered that advice pretty early, but it took a while to convince Tamara). Tamara thought about it, and devised an ingenious plan... just have Orianna be naked for a day, watch her closely, and throw her on the potty any time she started going to the bathroom. I thought it was ludicrous, but had no idea what would be better. I got home late that evening... and she was potty trained. I was both shocked and amazed.
Orianna is getting excited to do things outside the home. She really yearns to learn. So we told her if she keeps doing good with the potty, she can go to school (either a dance class, or a pre-school... we haven't decided yet).
Hope everyone is great!
-The Bates Fam
But, I've been at Adobe now since March 21st, and things are going great still. I have already made 2 internal apps, and everyone seems to really like them. I have been working like mad to make sure everyone is delighted with what I produce.
Fintan is getting braver about standing, but never does it for more than 5-10 seconds before finding something to grab onto.
Orianna is potty trained!!! Tamara and I talked about how to do it, and decided that I had no idea how to do it (I proffered that advice pretty early, but it took a while to convince Tamara). Tamara thought about it, and devised an ingenious plan... just have Orianna be naked for a day, watch her closely, and throw her on the potty any time she started going to the bathroom. I thought it was ludicrous, but had no idea what would be better. I got home late that evening... and she was potty trained. I was both shocked and amazed.
Orianna is getting excited to do things outside the home. She really yearns to learn. So we told her if she keeps doing good with the potty, she can go to school (either a dance class, or a pre-school... we haven't decided yet).
Hope everyone is great!
-The Bates Fam
2011 April- North
April was a challenging month for us. It started off well with General Conference, but shortly thereafter it took a turn for the worse. At first I noticed that my stomach was making a lot of noise. This continued for a few days; I thought it would go away and I would be fine. Then on a Friday evening after celebrating the end of one of my classes I started feeling bloated and nauseous. I went to bed but couldn’t sleep because I was so uncomfortable. I threw up at around 2 and decided to go to the ER by 2:30. That was the longest, most painful night of my life thus far. They couldn’t give me morphine for a couple of hours because they had some tests they needed to run. By 7 am they were thinking Crohn’s disease and had me admitted to the hospital. They ran several tests, including a colonoscopy and EGD (a camera down the throat) and decided that the cause was probably Crohn’s. Crohn’s is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks the digestive system. They don’t know the cause, but it has some genetic component; my brother Alex was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease a few years ago. They did a retest for celiac disease (gluten allergy) and it came back negative, so we’re thinking that I’ve had Crohn’s the whole time and not celiac disease. When they released me I was feeling pretty good and I thought I was on the way up; I thought the medication would keep my symptoms under control. That proved to be incorrect. In the month since then I have continued to have brief attacks, some worse than others. Some are exceedingly painful, others just make me feel achy. This sickness has really cut into my study time here at the end of the school year. I try to make every minute count. So far I’m keeping up, but it’s been a challenge. I’m now on 2 medications and it looks like things are improving. Through it all Becky has been a trooper. I couldn’t have made it without her. She has kept me going and has shouldered the extra burden very well. I’m lucky to have her as my wife. We look to the Lord to support us through this trial. We know that we are in His hands and that all will work out in the end.
We hope that you have had a better month than us, and we look to better days ahead. Life happens to everyone, it’s just not what you ever expect.
Stewart, Becky, and Sophie
We hope that you have had a better month than us, and we look to better days ahead. Life happens to everyone, it’s just not what you ever expect.
Stewart, Becky, and Sophie
2011 April- Robertson
Hey Everyone,
I missed last month's letter and I looked at the calendar and saw that this month is half way over. I need to amend my slovenly ways. Here is my excuse for what it is worth. April saw the finals at BYU-I and the start of a new semester and the finals at ISU. Between all three, the paper work was immense and I barely made it through alive. Last semester at BYU-I ended on a positive note, I think. I only had one student plagiarize one paper last semester and that was on the final paper. When I flunked the paper, the student email me and asked me why I had given the paper a 0. I had to point out that she tried to pass off someone else's work off as her own and that was a bad thing. Other students said that they really needed an A in the class and was there anything they could do to get that. Yes. They could have turned in all of the assignments instead of skipping them and class. I don't know. It seems pretty commonsensical to me that if you don't turn something in you should expect a 0 for the assignment and that zeroes will hurt the overall grade. However, that could simply be my advanced degree in teaching speaking, and I might just be out of touch with today's students.
ISU finished and what a finish it was. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on with me during the last two weeks of the semester. I had a 50 page portfolio due, a 20 page paper, and a 10 page paper. Got them done and was somewhat proud of my work. I've decided to try and take my little 10 pager to a conference somewhere. I wrote about teaching visual literacy in the university level by using comics and graphic novels. I used Moore's Watchmen as examples. If you haven't read it, it is one that I suggest trying to get through. I say try because the violence can be rather graphic at times (pun intended) and is meant to be disturbing (the author gets his wish). However, the play with image and language is utter genius and the moral dilemma at the end is mind-blowingly delicious. Anyway since then, I have been on a graphic novel/comics kick. If you want an easy "in" to graphic novels - pick up the Bone series of novels (there are 9 in total). It is a Lord of the Rings-esque adventure with much lighter humor.
We are slowly getting out house put back together after the winter water adventures. We have everything bought. I just need to get around to cutting, painting, and installing all of them. I have a deadline now of July 4th when Morgan's family is staying with us for a few days for their family vacation. Which reminds me - is anyone going to the high school reunion? I'm trying to decide if I am going to go. I can't go to the afternoon lunch get together because I am in class at that time and it happens to be conference days - can't back out, and we are leaving to Morgan's family reunion early the following morning, so i am trying to decide if it would all be worth it. Any who - I think that is all I have to report without starting to get into what has happened during May.
Look forward to hearing how everyone is doing,
Derik
I missed last month's letter and I looked at the calendar and saw that this month is half way over. I need to amend my slovenly ways. Here is my excuse for what it is worth. April saw the finals at BYU-I and the start of a new semester and the finals at ISU. Between all three, the paper work was immense and I barely made it through alive. Last semester at BYU-I ended on a positive note, I think. I only had one student plagiarize one paper last semester and that was on the final paper. When I flunked the paper, the student email me and asked me why I had given the paper a 0. I had to point out that she tried to pass off someone else's work off as her own and that was a bad thing. Other students said that they really needed an A in the class and was there anything they could do to get that. Yes. They could have turned in all of the assignments instead of skipping them and class. I don't know. It seems pretty commonsensical to me that if you don't turn something in you should expect a 0 for the assignment and that zeroes will hurt the overall grade. However, that could simply be my advanced degree in teaching speaking, and I might just be out of touch with today's students.
ISU finished and what a finish it was. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on with me during the last two weeks of the semester. I had a 50 page portfolio due, a 20 page paper, and a 10 page paper. Got them done and was somewhat proud of my work. I've decided to try and take my little 10 pager to a conference somewhere. I wrote about teaching visual literacy in the university level by using comics and graphic novels. I used Moore's Watchmen as examples. If you haven't read it, it is one that I suggest trying to get through. I say try because the violence can be rather graphic at times (pun intended) and is meant to be disturbing (the author gets his wish). However, the play with image and language is utter genius and the moral dilemma at the end is mind-blowingly delicious. Anyway since then, I have been on a graphic novel/comics kick. If you want an easy "in" to graphic novels - pick up the Bone series of novels (there are 9 in total). It is a Lord of the Rings-esque adventure with much lighter humor.
We are slowly getting out house put back together after the winter water adventures. We have everything bought. I just need to get around to cutting, painting, and installing all of them. I have a deadline now of July 4th when Morgan's family is staying with us for a few days for their family vacation. Which reminds me - is anyone going to the high school reunion? I'm trying to decide if I am going to go. I can't go to the afternoon lunch get together because I am in class at that time and it happens to be conference days - can't back out, and we are leaving to Morgan's family reunion early the following morning, so i am trying to decide if it would all be worth it. Any who - I think that is all I have to report without starting to get into what has happened during May.
Look forward to hearing how everyone is doing,
Derik
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
2011 March- Hope
Well this month of March was a fun one, first all my family is doing great we found out that Scott can go to the 1st grade, it was a bit iffy for a bit to see if he needed to be in kindergarten again. Kyle really loves his class and school and we got some Gerbils from his school and the boys love them. Michelle is still doing her online job and working with the kids. We had our best parade for St Patrick's Day Parade ever there is a clip on my FB. And I just got my music for pipe competition the tunes are The Skye Boat Song and The Canadian Scottish so I hope I am ready by June. Other than that we are all doing great and cant wait to it be warm outside. Hope all is going great for you all.
The Hopes
The Hopes
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