Southpark Medical Clinic

This is a comic made by my medical tech about our clinic. The stars of the show are myself (bald one), Grant DuPill my med tech (blonde spikey hair), Felix and Rachel our nurses in the clinic. I guess you have to know some of the people in the clinic to find this funny but the characters are dead on. Enjoy.

19 week US part 2

19 week US part 3

19 week US

Here is part of the US we had done at 19 weeks. The baby is about 13oz now! The 3D images aren't that good but they'll get a little better later in the pregnancy. I'll post more of the US soon which shows the baby moving and kicking Lyn pretty hard.

September and October

Things in August

Well, it's been a mostly eventful month. It seems like time moves even faster now that Lyn is pregnant. It feels like we just found out and she's 10 weeks as of yesterday which is just crazy. It's a lot of fun watching her go through all this. Nauseated, hungry, nauseated again...beaming and beautiful! She hasn't really started to show yet but that should be coming over the next 4 weeks or so. It was a lot of fun getting to tell our parents who have been waiting on both sides for their first grandchild for some time. We're trying to plan for some kind of good trip we can take prior to April (when she's due) and have been spending a lot of time looking for someplace but when you're in the military there are a lot of stars that have to align before something big like that can happen so we'll see. We're going to California in Dec/Jan for Josh and Jenn's wedding and we're pretty excited about that. Check out their website at www.joshandjenn.nearlyweds.com. I'll put a link over to the side. Here are a few pictures of Lyn to document the progress.

This is just after finding out about the pregnancy. It turns out Lyn was just about four weeks pregnant here.

The first appointment with the OB. The pregnancy was dated 6 weeks and 6 days by the ultrasound done on that day with a due date of 04 April 2009. We got to hear the heartbeat! 132 BPM.

10 weeks and still looking good!

Spaghetti and Pansit

July 2008

a new song- Kina Grannis Original

Lyn was at a function this last week in Moreno Valley where two of her cousins were singing and Kina Grannis happened to be there. Lyn has been following her on YouTube for sometime now and we love her music! She was nice enough to give Lyn a shout-out toward the end of this video.
Anybody not familiar with her should check out all her YouTube videos and listen to her amazing music and lyrics.
Take care...

Happy Anniversary!

I had somewhat of a milestone this last week; 02 June 2008 marked two years of my payback time to the Air Force! I've been active duty now for three years and I have two years left with a seperation date of 02 June 2010. God's really blessing us here with ministry and friends and we can't wait to see what the last two years of this journey holds!

Ryan

Jason Mraz Ft Colbie Caillat - Lucky

Airshow

Hey everybody! It's been a while hasn't it? Well we've been up to quite a bit but just never get around to blogging. This last weekend we had an airshow here on base it was a good time to get out and take some pictures. I spent most of the day working the medical tent but it was still fun. The med group set up an Alaska shelter which is a pretty cool tent. Air conditioning units hook up to it and when they work it stays nice and cool. When they don't it's like being locked in a hot car in a parking lot in the middle of summer with the windows up. We had a 105 degree day and had our fair share of heat exhaustion and people passing out from dehydration but it was good for us because it gave us all a chance to have some fun and treat some patients. I didn't see much of the airshow but I did catch a little of the A-10 demonstration. It's hard to explain why these planes are so dang cool so if you want just search "A-10" on YouTube and take a look.

A panorama of the heavy's that showed up for the airshow.

C-17

Rear view of the C-17

KC-135. Our buddy Pete flies these...shout out to ya' Pete!

C-130

I'm a big fan of companies that are honest about their product.

Our Alaska shelter.

Our techs getting things set up.

This is Airman Reuter. He's one of our newest techs and works in pediatrics but has been a great addition to the clinic. He has an infectious positive attitude that is definately needed in such a remote place.

These are a few of med techs that work in the clinic. The guy on the far left is my tech in clinic everyday and does a great job as do the rest of them!

This is Dr. VanValkenburg and myself. Dr. "Van" is our chief of medical staff at the clinic and really has become a great friend and mentor over the last two years here.

This is one of our techs SSgt Crowley keeping a steady eye out for insurgents while trying to cool off in front of the air-con.

It was so hot the ground with sun on it was like kryptonite. I wish I had a picture of it but people were under the shadows of the planes just perfectly following the outline, it was great...and provided us with some customers.

Our friend Steve's grandparents were in town visiting as was his father. It was a real blessing meeting and getting to know them. They are such an encouraging and Godly couple. We can't wait to see them again at Steve and Amy's wedding!

This beautiful patient wanted to get a picture with me. It's good to be a doctor :)

Official Jason Mraz - I'm Yours video

Jason Mraz - The Remedy (I Won't Worry) (Video)

Almond Blossoms

It's a great time of year in the central valley of California with the blossoms. Unfortunately we can't be there to see it but my mother has sent us some beautiful pictures of it. As for Lyn and I we're trudging along. I've started riding with DR. FART (Del Rio Fitness and Race Team) and that has been a great experience. Lyn is working hard and has really been pushing herself with her singing and guitar playing and watching God grow her in that capacity is amazing. We hope everybody is well and hope to hear from you soon!

Here is a nice progression of pictures my mother sent of the blossom.

The above picture is beautiful and as soon as I saw it I thought of Van Gogh's "Branches with Almond Blossom" (below).

My sister and her Irish Wolf Hounds. Supposedly one of these dogs was in the running for "Worlds Tallest Dog" this last year (not a joke).

Be blessed!

Back to Work

Well, Lyn and I have come back from a really fun break. We went on a cruise from Galveston down to the Caribbean with her mom, dad and aunt and uncle. I have to be honest I was pretty resistant to the cruise idea but I had a great time. Mostly because the cruise gave us a lot of time to catch up with our family. The cruise was on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas and the ship was a marvel of engineering that I just couldn't get over. The service on the ship was amazing and we befriended some of the staff on the ship and it was fun to get to know them as well. They are very hard working and we really appreciated them. Pictures are in the slide show below.
Coming back to Del Rio was another story. It's hard because although the military gives 30 days of leave per year, it's very misleading in that you have to include every weekend that you're gone. So unless you want to take your vacations from Tuesday to Thursday you really get just a hair over 2 weeks per year. As for me this was my first time getting leave since April of 2007. It's hard coming back to the realization that another break likely won't happen for nearly a year. Because of the weather right now it's also hard to do those things that make it bearable here for me like riding my bike, paddleboarding etc. It's constantly very cold and 20 mph winds every day from about Dec to April. But we get to be more creative on the other hand as Lyn is taking guitar lessons and dance lessons. I usually have my face buried into some journal and so the learning is pretty high yeild and I love getting to take evidence and apply it to my practice. It's so much more interesting that way. My relationship with my patients and my joy for my work I feel continues to grow. It's nice having about two years before I have to reapply for anything or think about moving so I can really focus on becoming a better doctor and Lyn and I can continue to persue ministry.
I've decided to try to train for a triathlon and I think Lyn is going to do it with me. One thing about Texas is that there are multiple tri's, bike races and adventure races almost every weekend throughout the year. I'm going to do a 6 week plan to do an olympic distance tri. We'll see what happens. I'm pretty bad and staying committed to things like that and every time I start running distance my left knee starts bothering me. I love riding my bike though so even if I never make it to a tri I'll be a little faster in the cycling events throughout the year. There's not much out here besides long country roads so I might as well take advantage of that.
I want to throw out my congratulations to my friend Jack and his wife Anita who are going to be having their first baby soon. Amy and Steve who are now engaged and Chad and Ronda who will also be having a baby soon!
The last thing I will mention is how wonderful my wife is! My wifes character is all that is described in Proverbs 31:10-31 and then some. I wake up blessed because of her and no day I have spent with her would I consider wasted. Wisdom...when the Holy Spirit puts something on her heart, you can take it to the bank!
Have a good week.

Check out my Slide Show!

Super Bowl Video- Message From Your Heart

Read the words to this song as you listen.

Message From Your Heart
by Kina Grannis

Don't break me, I bruise easily
The source of both your love and misery

I am steady, beating endlessly
While you are dozing, dreaming pretty things
Lovely things

I don't work for free
Please take care of me

This is a message from your heart
Your most devoted body part
Taking blood and making art
This is a message from your heart
Pounding away into the dark
You could thank me for a start
This is a message from your heart

Don't hurt me, I bleed constantly
My efforts leave me but flow back swiftly

My rhythm, soothing, like raindrops steady
On foggy windows when you gaze outwardly
Peacefully

I don't work for free
Please take care of me
Please take care of me

This is a message from your heart
Your most devoted body part
Taking blood and making art
This is a message from your heart
Pounding away into the dark
You could thank me for a start
This is a message from your heart

Everytime you sleep
Everytime you eat
Everytime you laugh
Everytime you cry
Every time you love

This is a message from your heart
Your most devoted body part
Taking blood and making art
This is a message from your heart
Pounding away into the dark
You could thank me for a start
This is a message from your heart

Baby Got Book (OFFICIAL)

Let's see if anybody can sit through this one :)

Message From Your Heart- Original

This is a girl that Lyn came across on YouTube singer her songs for an online competition. She writes her own stuff and it's awsome! Take a listen.

Coming Back Live!

Hey Yall,

Well. Lyn and I are still living in Texas. We found out recently that we'll be here for two and a half more years until I seperate from the Air Force 02 June 2010...but who's counting :) There are a few new things going on but some of them are secret. I'll elaborate on the ones that are not.

1. God has been moving mightily in my life over the last few months revealing things to me that have stayed hidden for the last 4 years. He has revealed to me once again how wrong the paths I have taken with my career in the past have been...namely trying to get away from patient care. I entered medicine with the altruistic ideas we all do I guess, to help people. My frustrations with my work, the long hours, etc had me convinced I needed to get away from direct patient care and move into a technical specialty like Radiology. What's been revealed to me (and it's kinda hard to put into words) was how wrong I was. God wants me directly involved with patients. He wants me to be a huge part of thier lives and them to be a huge part of mine. He has blessed me with gifts to be able to do this kind of work and I want to use those gifts to serve Him. I've decided to persue Family Practice with a rural emphasis once I'm done with Air Force. With this revelation door after door has continued to open for Lyn and I, unfortunately it's just too long for a blog post.

2. OCF (Officers Christian Fellowship) has been going great. We are making new friends and God is blessing us with great studies (Judges currently).

3. Lyn and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on 12 Dec 2007. If she was the only thing God gave me in this life it would be enough.

4. My good friend Jeff Olsen was just accepted to Loma Linda University School of Medicine! Congratulations Jeff!

5. Lyn set up a friend of hers in Redlands with a pilot here on base about 7 months ago now and things seem to be going great for them. She may hold the record for "Most Visits to Del Rio by Someone Other Than a Bass Fisherman".

6. Lyn got to go back to Redlands for Christmas and visit with her family for about one week. She had a great time although she was missed at home.

7. I am still collecting digital panoramas like they are going out of style and now have an absurd collection...I love doing it though. I'm so happy they were invented.

Well, that's all the public info that I can think of. We're going on a cruise with Lyn's family in about two weeks and I'm pretty stoked about that. I haven't seen her family in almost a year which is the last time I was back in California. I remember when a school year would seem to last forever and now it feels like I have a birthday every month.

By the way anybody reading this blog. I want to extend an invitation to check out Mike Huckabee as a president. This guy is the most straight shooting, no non-sense, candidate I've seen in my short voting life. I think he has set a high bar for the other candidates. His idea for a "fair tax" is outstanding, and listening to him answer questions about things like evolution, homosexuality, Iraq, etc is refreshing to say the least. I've added some YouTube videos and links to this site so people can get a little better aquainted.

Take care. I'd love to hear from anybody reading this how their doing and their thoughts on... anything at all.

BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK

This peak is called Casa Grande and it seems like just about any time of day there is some kind of crazy lighting on this mountain.

Lyn on Emory Peak

OCF

(L to R): Ben, Pete and Joe. Ben is a fairly new student pilot, Pete is an instructor who came from flying KC-135's and Joe just finished pilot training and just after this picture was taken learned he will be flying F-16's.

Joel's going away dinner. We miss you buddy!

(L to R): Steve, Ben and Joel.

(L to R): Me and Joe.

Mountain biking with the OCF at Camp Eagle.

Lyn's Work and Business

(L to R): Lyn, Clover, Emilie and Erica.

VVRMC ICU nurses at the recent Christmas party (L to R): Sandy, Connie, Gloria, Colleen, Sharon, Cecilia, and Lyn.

Friends and Family

Sam and Nick visiting from the Chech Republic.

Steve and Amy.

(L to R): Kelly, Amy and Lyn.

Magandang araw at buenos dias to my sister and brother in LA!

Magulang namin!

Pamilya ko!

OUR ANNIVERSARY

Magandang maybahay ko!

Hanggang mamaya.