Christmas in August?

For all of you sitting at home brainstorming about what you will get me (Jon) for Christmas, I am here to whisp your worries away, for I have just the gift. The "Bibliochaise"...



Have you ever seen something more beautiful before? Apparently, Katie has. She keeps saying "It's ugly. Plain ugly." I have no idea what she is talking about. More pics (including an ottoman!) here: http://www.nobodyandco.it/sito/images/gallerybiblio/gallery.html

(HT: Sets 'n' Service)

In other news, Katie is in the middle of the roughest stretch probably since she's started intern year. She's in the middle of 12 straight day of working, including a nice 19 hour day Saturday. Three days more until a day off!

While she was struggling through those 19 hours, I had the rare opportunity to meet up with some old friends from Rutgers - many whom I haven't seen in years. 6 of us from our freshman dorm floor happened to all be here on Saturday, so we had a nice time going to dinner (some awesome Thai food), playing some Nintendo Wii and hanging out.


The Rutgers Metzger 3 crew (with a couple friends).

Medical Ethics

CNN had an interesting article yesterday called "Death and Dying: When is it time to let go?" The article claims that "End-of-life issues top the list of medical ethical dilemmas", and in the short 8 weeks that Katie has been in the hospital, she has found this question to definitely be the most difficult and most controversial one.

Coincidentally, Times interviewed Billy Graham last week in the wake of his wife Ruth's passing. The article had this to say:

We asked him whether, with all our advanced medical technology, we perhaps fear death and fight it too much. "I think we often do," he said. "I'm convinced that in some cases we aren't so much prolonging life but prolonging death." Over his long life he has endured some serious medical crises; he now has Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer and a shunt to drain excess water from his brain. "I'm thankful for the incredible advances in medicine that have taken place during my lifetime. I almost certainly wouldn't still be here if it weren't for them," he says. "And I believe God has given them to us because he loves us and wants what is best for us, both in this life and the next. But death is a reality common to us all, and for me as a Christian it isn't something to be feared, because I know what lies ahead for me beyond the grave."

We thank God that he has placed Katie where she is and the opportunities that she has had and will have to encourage and comfort those in their last days as well as the families there with their loved ones. Pray that she will have the knowledge of how to best encourage those in these tough times and the wisdom for the difficult decisions ahead.

Visitors

We had a busy last few days here in Boston, but they were excellent with the privilege of having a number of guests visit (Katie is a great host!). As mentioned in the last post, Katie's roommate Amy from college visited with her boyfriend Andrew.





They had a layover in Boston on their return flight from South Africa (via Madrid) with a final destination of Montana. There were in South Africa doing ministry as part of a requirement for Andrew who is finishing his MDiv at Asbury Seminary in Orlando and by partnering with YWAM. They shared with us some of their adventures and stories which we know were just scratching the surface of their experience.

Amy showing off her "I love Jesus" hat - a gift from someone in South Africa.

Thursday night we had a couple (Aaron and Susan) over from the community group we've been attending (part of CityLife, the church we are going to). It was a very smart group, between the four of us we averaged one doctorate per person (Katie and Susan have MDs and Aaron has a MD and PhD. I (Jon) asked him if I could have one, it seemed most fair. But, apparently things don't work that way). One of the greatest parts of being involved with CityLife is the large number there in the medical field. Our community group alone has at least 7 MDs in various stages of their career. It is a great encouragement for Katie going through intern year knowing other interns who are Christians as well as those who have made it to the light and are on the other side of residency (not to mention an encouragement for Jon knowing spouses going through or have made it through their husband/wife's residency)!

And that's the Boston Buzz.

Virtual Tour

Today we thought we'd give everyone a brief virtual tour of our humble abode. We started to do a little cleaning today in anticipation of some visitors tomorrow. A good college friend of Katie's will be in town tomorrow after being in Africa for two months on a mission trip with her boyfriend. We are excited to see them and hear about their experiences!

But back to our apartment... We're living in a third floor apartment in a 105 year old victorian house above our landlords. The windows at the top of the below picture is our place.

We have a little bit of a weird situation. We have to go through our landlords house in order to get to our apartment. Therefore, we enter the back pictured here, and go through the door in the center.

Upon entering our apartment, to the left at the top of the stairs we enter our kitchen. It's a fine example of a 1950's era kitchen. Unfortunately, there are no modern menities such as temperature settings on the stove, but Katie somehow still produces delicious meals!

Where is the refridgerator you ask? Well, one would have to go out into the hallway for that. In the below picture looking from the kitchen you can see the fridge on the right, the bathroom on the left, and at the end of the hallway, taking a right leads to our bedroom and living room.

The bathroom:

And bedroom:

And here we are back in the hallway, looking at the same corner from the opposite side.

Turning about-face we come to the living room:

The best part of the apartment, our new chair and ottoman!

And finally, a view into our study...

And that brings us to the end of this virtual tour. Incredibly exciting, I know. That's all for today from here in Almost Boston!

Boston Escapades Part Two

After Mom and Dad left, our "vacation" was coming to a close and the start of residency was on the horizon for Katie. Fortunately, Beth Israel Deaconess eased Katie into the process with orientation and a few outings which they were even so kind enough to allow spouses to join. The first of the outings was a dinner cruise on the Boston Harbor.

Boston Skyline at dusk.

We were given one last day off before Katie started her intern year, so we took the opportunity to head north to Hampton Beach to visit Mark and Jocelyn Scott who were there helping run a summer project for Campus Crusade college students. We spent the morning picking strawberries with the Scotts and spent the afternoon catching some rays on the beach.

Turned out we were there during the annual sand sculpting competition.

Enjoying one last relaxing day!

After the trip, Katie jumped into her internship with seven straight days of work followed by a 93+ hour work week! She is still recovering...

In the midst of the craziness we are still finding opportunitites to have fun (and remain sane). This has been helped with some visitors from home, the first being the Cruz's. Adventures included the Sam Adams brewery, a trip to Cambridge, a stop for dinner and jazz at the top of the Prudential Center and of course... the Freedom Trail (notice a theme with visitors).

Katie and Jon with John Harvard on campus

Our final visitors for July from NJ were Katie's sister and family (Tara, Dave, Savannah, Alexander and Jillian). This time we did the tail end of the Freedom Trail with a visit to the USS Constitution. The kids were ready to take 'ol Iron Side out to sea.

The kids scouting the seas for any signs of pirates...

Jillian and Aunt Katie ready to head out to sea.

Apparently the Navy said something about the Constitution being 210 years old and not for pleasure cruises, so we had to settle for the ferry across the harbor.

Boston skyline at daytime.

Savannah and Aunt Katie, the catch of the day.

July finished with a mini-Pepperdine reunion at Quincy Market where Katie got to meet up with some old friends.


Kelly (visiting from exciting Salt Lake City), Katie and Theresa (a Boston native)

So been an exciting first few weeks here in Boston. In addition to our fun with our visitors we've been enjoying the awesome food, making friends and taking advantage of the great weather we've had so far (as seen in the below pictures taken at the Esplande).

Katie enjoying some much needed rest!

So that's a few snapshots from Boston! Back to work...

Welcome to Boston

After being here in Boston for 8 weeks, we decided it would be nice to keep everyone back home and around up to date on what's happening in our world. It's been a great first few weeks with visits from friends and family and both of us settling into our new home. Here is a whirl-wind tour of our first few adventures.

Moving Day! Dave was very gracious after moving two 20' trucks of a persons house on Saturday to help us move on Sunday, then drive to Boston and help us unpack on Monday (we probably should have mentioned that we live on the third floor of an old victorian house before hand). Here we are on a post-move tour of the city at a stop on the Freedom Trail.

Our first visitors to our apartment after the move were Katie's mom and dad. It was a fun few days with a dinner in the North End (aka Little Italy), a tour along the Freedom Trail, a trip on the historical swan boats and of course a stop at the local cemetary - Mount Auburn Cemetary.

Mom and Dad on a cool Boston day at Paul Revere's final resting spot.

Mom and Dad before impressively doing a job on their seafood platter.

View of Boston from Mount Auburn Cemetary.

Katie and Jon having some fun at the cemetary.

In front of a momument of George Washington in the Public Gardens.

Katie and Jon in Boston Commons with the New State House in the distance.

The Swan Boats.

OK, so this blogging thing takes longer than expected. Further posts to come!