O-H..

I-O!! Surprise! It's the post you've all been waiting for. After much prayer, fasting, research, and pondering, Parker and I came to the decision that we should move our family to Ohio for medical school.

But lets start from the beginning of this adventure, shall we?

July 25th, 2014: Parker's MCAT Test. It was the day that we had been anticipating for so long. Parker had put in many so hours of studying for this test that was essentially going to determine our future and doomsday had finally arrived. His exact words after he took the exam were, "That was the hardest test I've ever taken." And then the month of waiting for results began.

August 25, 2014 (no idea if this date is accurate but it's the format I chose for this post so we're goin' with it): We got his results and they were lower than we expected. (They were still great scores though!! Hopefully he doesn't kill me for posting this.... idk if he actually reads my blog anyway). Because of the results we had to apply to some different schools than we had originally planned. If Parker had scored as high as he consistently was on his practice tests then we would have applied to a whole different set of medical schools. It was pretty obvious to us that Heavenly Father had a specific plan for us and that we needed to figure out what that was.

August - September 2014: Researching schools. Writing essays. Making comparison spreadsheets. Sending in applications. Parker applied to several schools all over the United States. Probably about 20. And then we waited some more...

October - February: Interviews! Parker interviewed at 4 schools. University of Utah in October. Marshall University in November. UC Irvine in January. And Northeast Ohio Medical School (Neomed for short) in February. At first I was hoping, hoping, hoping for Utah. It was familiar. We both have family in the area. And Parker's parents are moving to Montana next year so we would be able to see both of our families whenever we went North. It just seemed like the perfect school. But on that particular interview day, Parker just wasn't feeling it. Utah just wasn't his school.. Marshall LOVED Parker. They pretty much accepted him on the spot even though they technically couldn't do that. It's the school from the moving 'We Are Marshall' located in West Virginia. It's about a 45 minute drive to his parent's current home from the school so Marshall was definitely a strong contender as it was close to his family. I went with Parker to the Irvine interview and we spent the weekend in California. The whole time I was the one who just wasn't feeling it.. but I so wanted to feel it! It's 20 minutes from Disneyland AND the beach for heaven sakes! But I couldn't deny the feelings I was having while we were in Cali.. It just wasn't the place for us. Lastly, came Neomed. It's located in a small town called Rootstown and its about 45 minutes from Cleveland and 15 minutes from Akron/Canton area. Parker called me excitedly after this interview and said, "They're building a Chipotle here in the next year. I really like this school!" That was the first interview that Parker had been excited about so it seemed like it could be the school for us! Then there was more waiting after the interviews to find out whether or not he got accepted, wait-listed, or denied.

Don't know the dates anymore: Parker got on the wait-list at both UC Irvine and Neomed. He got accepted at Marshall. And didn't get into Utah. Then we waited some more to see if he would get accepted off of the wait-list of Irvine and Neomed. He obviously got accepted at Neomed :)

After waiting for what seems like forever we finally know where we are going to spend the next 4 years of our lives. Although this process has been long and has tested our patience, we know that Rootstown is where Heavenly Father wants us to be for the next little while. As tough as it will be to be so far from our families (because Parker's family is moving in January), I really am excited to begin this new adventure! I'm excited for the chance to start fresh, to rely more on Parker and Heavenly Father and to grow closer to them as I know I will through this experience.

Also, to make driving out to Ohio on Friday not seem like such impending doom, Parker (bless his heart) booked a trip to Universal Studios, specifically Harry Potter World, for me the week before he starts school. Husband of the year award goes to him, obvs!

I designed the graphics in this post. This little guy ^^ was for a gift for some high school graduates this year. We printed it, put it with a cute pair of sunglasses, and tied it together with some ribbon. I thought it was appropriate for this post too :)

Wish us luck with our new adventure!!