From this........

 ......To this.

WOW. When I think back to the beginning, we had NO idea what we were in for. It's been hard, it's been great, it's been challenging, it's been rewarding. It's pretty hard to believe that we are to this point- we've seen reached the end of this "tunnel"-- headed for another one! It's amazing to think back on all that we experienced and the way that we've all grown. I am unbelievably proud of Mike. I love him for the sacrifices that he has made and for all of his hard work.

I love the life long friendships that we've made.

Our time in Kirksville for graduation went by too fast, I left feeling like we didn't get enough time together. Plus the weather for graduation was FREEZING, so we didn't get nearly the pictures that I wanted to get. 

 The 3 families. Perry's, Us and the Flanagan's.

 Mike, with his parents and brother Russell. We are SO grateful for all their love and constant support through this.

 Jena and I (we couldn't find Tasha yet)

 There we are! LOVE these girls, SO grateful for them

He did it! We did it!

Thanks Ohio.....

Man, it was a hard day when we pulled out of Curtis Knoll Drive and headed west to St. Louis. We LOVED our first home, loved our friends, loved our ward, loved Samantha's school, we LOVED Ohio.

We have been so blessed to live there and to have met so many amazing people. We wish that it could have been for a bit longer.
Ohio will always hold a special place in our hearts.

My fabulous friends at craft group. LOVE them

Samantha's Kindergarten class

A quick visit home

A few months ago, my mom received a letter in the mail telling her that she had been selected to speak in a class at BYU's Women's Conference. I love to hear my mom talk, and I knew that this would be a neat experience- so I wanted to find some way to get home. I was talking with some friends at our craft night, telling them how I was trying to find a way to earn money for a plane ticket- so that I could hear my mom speak. A few days later, one of these friends approached me and told me that her and her husband had some airline credit that they wanted me to have. I was blown away - I couldn't believe it. 
It all worked out so perfectly, Mike would be done with his rotations so he could stay with the older kids, and then I could take Owen with me.
The trip quickly came. Unfortunately, I threw out my back a day before I left, so I was in a lot of pain, and for most of my time at home I spent it laying flat on the floor- but it was WORTH IT.  Owen was lucky and got to be spoiled by his Grandma and Grandpa Taylor (and Russell end even Marissa!) while I went down to the conference with my sisters. It was SO great to hear my mom speak. I know that I am not biased when I say that she did an absolutely beautiful job. I am SO blessed to have such an amazing example. LOVED her talk- LOVED the way that she presented her theme- her and my dad, Joseph are quite the team--- she comes up with the idea and he does all the technical stuff. I wish that I could have video taped it. I can't believe that I don't even have a picture of me with my mom. I STINK at taking pictures- All I got was a picture with my sisters (which I love). It was just that there were so many people that wanted to talk to her afterwards, that by the time we were leaving, I totally forgot to get the picture-- still so mad about it.

It all went by so quickly but I am SO grateful for great friends who helped make it happen, and for a wonderful, supportive husband who played mister mom for 3 days. I am grateful for my beautiful, amazing mom.

Easter

 We were going to be in St. Louis over Easter weekend, so we decorated our eggs earlier on in the week. I know I may have said this before, but I have a very organized and clean husband and that was the least messy egg coloring experience that I've ever had! It was great!

 LOVE THIS-- it was so sweet, we had to take a picture

The Easter Bunny was smart, he knew where to find us, even if we were in a hotel. We went to church with the Johnson's (friends from medical school) Lucky for us they are also doing their residency in St. Louis! After church we got together with the Johnson's and the Jenk's(more friends from school). It was so great to just catch up and visit.

MIRACLES.

To say that our family has been incredibly blessed these past few months would be a major understatement. It has been a whirlwind from March until now and we're still not done.

When we decided to withdraw from the DO match and pretty much give up a definite spot at Doctors Hospital (making it so that we could stay here) we knew that we were taking a HUGE risk going for the MD match. Mike had spent a lot of time rotating at DO hospitals-- building relationships there-- he had not visited a single MD program. But as we fasted,prayed, read a certain talk by Elder Holland and just talked together, we knew that this was the direction our family needed to take. We've had some really neat growing experiences which help to make our decisions. I love the power of prayer and revelation.
As March 13th came closer, our fears and doubts began to grow, but as we read the match email-- our MIRACLE happened. Mike had matched.


Now we waited for 3 days for the complete match results---(torture). Honestly when we read the where we were headed, we both were a bit shocked. St. Louis, Missouri was not where he or I had in mind-BUT we know that is where the Lord had in mind.
As soon as we knew where (and that we wouldn't be staying here) we started preparing our house to put up for sale. We met with the realtor who sold us the home and discussed that we would place in on the market
as soon as Mike completed the rest of the bathroom.(the tile on the floor still needed to be done)
It was a ROUGH 3 days for Mike as he worked his tail off- but it turned out BEAUTIFUL.
Our home was officially on the market on a Tuesday--- and by Thursday night @ 9:30pm (I was a my craft night when Mike called me) we had an offer. MIRACLE

When Owen was born with his sweet extra thumb, we knew that we wanted to have it removed before he got too old. Especially before kids began noticing it and possibly teasing him. Since we had done all the preliminary visits here in Ohio, we knew that we didn't want to start all over in St. Louis- so we went and had it scheduled a week and 1/2 before I flew out to Utah for my mom's class.

Owen's surgery was scheduled for noon which concerned me a bit. WHY? well this little guy likes to eat FIRST thing. It may not be obvious to others but he enjoys eating. I worried about how we would keep him distracted from food for hours (he wakes up at 7am) That morning he woke up he didn't even ask for anything-- he just played in the toy room and was as happy as could be. MIRACLE. I was also a little concerned about how he would react to being wheeled away from us and how scared he would be. He fell asleep about 30 min. before he was wheeled away-- he went into surgery already asleep. MIRACLE.

We worried about how recovery would be and how we would care for his thumb (changing the dressing ect.). They put his arm in a plaster cast-- which he only had to wear it for a little over 2 weeks. Owen was champ- he adjusted to the cast so quickly. It really was SO much easier than we had anticipated. MIRACLE.


All these things may not seem like miracles, but to our family they were. They were further evidence of a loving Heavenly Father who is truly mindful of even the smallest details of our lives--