Our Month of MAY-hem

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

Wow…we had SO much happening in the month of May. It seemed to fly by, but then again, it seems like the beginning of the month was a year ago. We had lots of fun, and were also very busy this month, so brace yourself for pictures galore!

Brax’s First Birthday

Brax turned one on May 2, and while we already had his Lumberjack party a few days earlier, we still had to do something for our boy’s special day. He received an Orange Leaf gift card as one of his birthday gifts, so we took him for his first frozen yogurt experience. He loved it, and of course, Kinsie didn’t mind it either!

Kinsie and Mommy’s Day of Fun

Any fans of the show “Friends” out there? Well just like Joey and Janice, Kinsie and I had a special day together this month. Her school had a Mother’s Day Lunch on a Friday morning, so I took the morning off to go with her. We had a great lunch together at her school, then I had to get ready to leave and head to work. Her brown eyes had big ol’ crocodile tears in them when I told her I had to leave…so I thought about it, and since it was nearing the end of the school year (my students checked out LONG before this anyway), and the rest of the afternoon at school was our PTO Walk-a-thon, I thought, what the heck, I’ll bring her along! We had a great day together! She loved playing on the playground, silent reading time, and being my little helper at school. My students LOVED having her there, and they were great with her. It was a much-needed Mommy and Kinsie day.

Dr. Matthews

It’s official…he’s a doctor now! After 4 very long years of medical school, my husband is now an MD. Two years of living in different cities with a newborn baby, two years of countless rotations with long and crazy hours, throwing another baby in the mix and surviving on a teacher’s salary…and we made it! I know we still have a long road ahead as he starts his residency, but we have come so far. We did it as a team, and that’s how we will continue our journey.

First Swim of the Season

This usually happens WAY sooner, but it has been a crazy April and May. Lots and lots and lots of rain and below 50 degree temps. But a few weeks into May, we finally got these kids in the pool! Kinsie did her happy dance all around the pool, and Brax splashed and giggled and did his happy shout the whole time!

Lake Time

Ahh, the lake. Our favorite. Our happy place. We have spent two weekends at the lake this month…we are trying to soak in as much lake time as we can before we move. We spent all of Mother’s Day there, and Memorial Day weekend. We have our staple activities that we always do while we visit…including lots of fishing, golf cart rides to the playground at the Marina, and lots of boat rides. This last trip even including Brax’s first time on the paddle boat, and both kids took turns driving the boat. Both of the kids (and the adults) are SO happy while we are at the lake. We all drag our feet when it’s time to leave and head back home. It really is all of our happy place.

Outside Fun

We haven’t had quite as much outside time as you would think for the month of May, but the few times it has been nice enough, we try to get the kids outside. Even if we don’t want to, they drag us out. They have enjoyed wagon rides, playing t-ball, family bike rides, and running around in the backyard finding frogs and other critters.

Soccer

Kinsie loved her soccer season! She absolutely loved playing with her cousins, and getting a snack ticket after every game. She improved SO much this season. She became more competitive and aggressive…all she needs is a little bit of speed and she’ll be a soccer star! Whether it was raining, freezing, windy, or sunny (I think this only happened twice), the kids were troopers and had a great season. They always had a great fan club too!

Some “Lasts”

Within one week, Kinsie had her last gymnastics class, her last soccer game and her last day of preschool. All of these lasts weren’t just for the season, but her last doing all of these things in our current home of Indiana. She had such great experiences for all of these things, especially her preschool. We were so sad for her to leave this school, we really loved it there. She loved her teachers and her friends, but she is very open-minded about finding a new preschool and new friends (we’re hoping her optimism rubs off on her mama a bit). We were so lucky that she had all of these great opportunities to help her learn and grow, and we know we will get other fun opportunities in our new home.

Last week was a tough one, because I had to say goodbye to a job that I love. I packed up my classroom, turned in my keys, and said “see you later” to some amazing fellow teachers that have become my best friends. I taught in this community for 5 years, and while it often completely drained me, it was so fulfilling. Even though I won’t be teaching at this school anymore, I feel in my heart that my teaching career is far from over.

That just about wraps up our month. It was busy, crazy, exhausting, but amazing. We are counting down the days to our big move, which is happening in a couple of weeks. While we can barely walk through our house because of moving boxes everywhere, we are still trying to relax, soak it all in and enjoy our time with our families and friends before we pick up and move our lives to Little Rock.

21Mar2017

My Heart Belongs in Arkansas

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

The day that we had been anxiously awaiting for years finally happened…Match Day! And as you probably guessed based on this blog’s title…we are going to Little Rock, Arkansas!!

I feel a lot of emotions about the idea of moving to Arkansas…anxious, nervous, overwhelmed….to name a few. But overall, I am very excited. This will be an exciting new adventure for our family. We always talked about how we didn’t want to live in Indiana forever. I knew the possibility was coming soon, and I truly felt that God prepared me for this. A year ago, I was TERRIFIED of the idea of leaving my home in Indiana…I would have a panic attack if Ryan even mentioned it (I literally cried the first time he showed me the list of residency programs that he was going to apply for). But slowly, over time, God worked on my heart. I prayed constantly…not that we would end up in Indiana, but that I would find peace wherever we ended up. Day by day, my heart softened to the idea. In November, I went to Gainesville with Ryan for one of his interviews, and actually SEEING a place that could be a potential home made me excited for the first time. Picturing myself living somewhere different seemed exciting rather than terrifying. After 13 interviews around the country, Ryan continued talking about his first interview in Arkansas. He loved the area, the program, and the people. He really wanted me to see it for myself, so in February, we took a weekend trip. That trip was a game changer for me. During the entire weekend there, I felt a sense of comfort. I felt at home. I felt at peace. I felt that that is where my heart belonged. I knew that God put that feeling inside me for a reason.

We still ranked IU as his #1 choice…just because this is where our lives are. We knew it was a long shot since the Indiana Emergency medicine program is rated among the top 3 programs in the country. We knew that God would place us where we were meant to be. Well, we are meant to be in Arkansas.

My emotions have been a roller coaster already since finding out a few days ago, and I know they will continue to change from day to day. I’m still scared…but I’m more excited. I’m sad to leave our home where we started a family…but I’m ready to have a new home and make new family memories. I hate the idea of leaving my job and my school family…but I know I’ll gain new friends and hopefully a new school family. I am dreading leaving our families…but I know I’ll still get to see them often and thank goodness for modern technology and FaceTime!

Here are more Match Day pictures, as well as the video of the opening of the envelope…

And so the adventure begins…God prepared me for this, so I know He will not abandon me now!

8Jun2015

So Long, Muncie!

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

Ryan is officially done with his second year of medical school…which also means that he is halfway to becoming a doctor and that he is DONE in Muncie!!! Those of you who have followed our journey know how hard this has been on us. When I was 7 months pregnant, we found out that Ryan would be at the Muncie campus for his first two years at IU Med School. I know it could have been worse…he could have not gotten in to IU, or he could have been placed in Evansville or South Bend, or somewhere else hours away. However, it was still a rough and unexpected turn that I wasn’t ready for, especially since we were due to have our first child in just a couple months. I would have moved to Muncie with him, but I didn’t think anyone would hire a teacher who would need a maternity leave right away. We ended up getting Ryan an apartment in Muncie where he would spend the majority of the week, then come home on the weekends. To say that the last two years was hard would be an understatement. It was exhausting working full time, raising a new baby, taking care of two dogs, and keeping up with all of the groceries and housework practically alone throughout the week (and we all know new moms don’t get the best sleep). I do have to give a quick shoutout to mine and Ryan’s parents for all of their support, whether it was feeding Kinsie and I dinner, helping me clean or run errands, or simply encouraging me when I was overwhelmed. I appreciate it more than I can say! It was hard too for Ryan being away from his family during the week and spending most of his time studying in a lonely apartment. As challenging as it was…I know that God’s hand was on us. It turned out the be a blessing in disguise for several reasons. While I would have much rather had Ryan at the Indianapolis campus, he would have been in a much larger class. Instead, his Muncie class had 24 people, who have now become his best friends and an AWESOME support system for our family. I can’t thank them all enough for being there for all of us and welcoming me and Kinsie like we were family. Ryan being away also made us cherish our time together as a family. When he was away, that was his intense study time. When he was home, he would be fully engaged in us and did his best to be a loving, hands-on daddy and husband. I think being away from each other made us appreciate one another much more than if he were home each night. There have been many times in my life where things take an unexpected turn and I questioned God and wondered how I was going to handle it. But this situation proves that things are not always going to go according to our plan, but God has a better plan. We may not understand God’s plan, but it is ALWAYS better so we need to trust Him!

Kinsie and I are SO happy to have Ryan back home. He’s been home since the beginning of May, but he had to spend practically every second of his time studying for his STEP 1 Boards. This test is a big one and will determine where he can get into residency, so he made sure he studied hard. Even though it was difficult, I supported him needing to study all the time because how he does on this test will affect our future. Kinsie wasn’t quite as understanding…she would often shut Ryan’s laptop, hand him a book and climb up on the couch for him to read it to her. He took his test on June 3 and we were all thrilled for him to be done. The next step in his med school journey is clinical rotations for two years. Most of these will be in Indy, which we are relieved about! After 2 more years, he will officially be an M.D. However, then comes residency. Depending on what he specializes in and what score he gets on the STEP 1 will determine where he will go for residency. We are hoping to stay in Indianapolis, but he will need to apply all over the country. Wherever he goes, Kinsie and I will be going with him!

In other news, I have completed my 3rd year of teaching! It was a really rough start of the year with many administration and student behavior issues, but those issues were resolved and it turned out to be a great year for me. I got really close to my class, which made it hard to send them off to the middle school. But I’m sure you can imagine how excited I am to be on summer break and get to spend more time with my sweet girl!

Ryan only had 4 days in between his test and the start of his clinical rotations, and we wanted to take a little trip, but obviously couldn’t go somewhere too far since we only had a few days. We decided to go to Bloomington…home of our Alma Mater, Indiana University. We LOVE this town and there are so many fun things to do and see. We loved getting to show Kinsie all of our favorite spots on campus. We went to Wonderlab Science Museum, went hiking at Cascades Park, walked around Kirkwood Avenue and showed her around campus. Her favorite part was the clock tower at the Student Building near the Sample Gates, which she called the “big girl clock.” She would belly laugh and squeal whenever the bell would ring on the clock! We had some awesome quality family time before Ryan had to start “work” full time. It was a much needed mini-vacation!

Exploring IU’s campus

Obsessed with the “big girl clock!”

This was her face while the clock was ringing

Fun at Wonder Lab

Cascades Park

7Oct2013

Welcome to our lives!

Posted in General by klmatthews16

Welcome to the Matthews family blog! I have always wanted to write a blog, but I thought, “who would care to read about my life?” Well, now that I have a beautiful baby girl and a husband in medical school, not only did I think more people would be interested in reading about our lives, but I wanted a place where I could document our journey and be able to look back on it in the future. When I was in college, I started writing a journal, which I still write in today. Looking back at the older entries now, it is incredible to see how much I grew as a Christian woman over just a few years. I went through a lot in college, both good and bad, and to be able to go back and read my raw emotions at the time, and to see how I overcame it and how I grew, is such an amazing experience. So that’s why I finally decided to write this blog. Even if nobody reads it, I will use it as my own journal that I can look back on and show my daughter when she is older and show her how we grew together as a family.

For those of you who don’t know our situation, I am a 5th grade teacher, and my husband, Ryan, is in his first year of medical school at IU Muncie. I cannot even begin to explain how proud of him I am for everything he’s accomplished so far. We started dating when we were 14 years old, and even then, he has always dreamed of being a doctor. In college, he worked his butt off taking 19 credit hours, working full time at Wishard hospital, coaching soccer, being involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters, and much more. We didn’t get to see much of each other and when we did, he was most likely sleeping. From the beginning, I knew that being Ryan’s partner in life would not exactly be easy because of everything he had to do to pursue his dream career, but I knew that he was worth all of it. Once we found out he got into IU Medical School, we were thrilled, because we didn’t have to uproot and move out of state. However, I was not so thrilled when we found out he got placed at the Muncie campus, which is 1.5 hours away from our home in Avon. While this wouldn’t be such a difficult situation in normal circumstances, I was pregnant with our first child due in September. We both knew it wouldn’t be possible for him to drive back and forth every day with all the studying that would be required of him, so we decided to get him a one bedroom apartment in Muncie, and he would come home on weekends. With this arrangement, I would be able to keep my teaching job at Mill Creek (besides, who would hire an 8-month pregnant woman who would need an immediate maternity leave?), and still be close to both of our families for them to help when the baby came. This was definitely not an easy transition for me, but I did feel very blessed that he was placed in Muncie instead of Fort Wayne, Gary, or Evansville. It turned out that this was the best possible situation for him because he has a smaller class in Muncie which he has become very close to. They have been extremely supportive and helpful through our situation, which I am very grateful for! When Ryan is home with us, we cherish every second together. He is such a hands-on dad and does everything he possibly can for me and our daughter. I cannot imagine going through life with anyone else!

I constantly have to remind myself that we are incredibly blessed with so many wonderful things happening in our lives, because we really are. Even though I wanted our situation to turn out differently, I trust God completely that this is the way it happened for a reason. He has never led me wrong before, and I know that He is on my side no matter what. As long as we keep God as the support system in our lives, we have faith that He will help us get through it!