Habbakuk 1:5b

"For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told." Habbakuk 1:5b

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Take one and pass it on

So I have collected books from every corner of my house in the process of downsizing the piles we live with. These are books I have read and am ready to pass them on. If you or anyone you know are interested in these books, just leave a comment and I'll send them your way. Now I do not recommend reading all of these books, some I think are duds but a dud to one is a stud to another so take a chance. Now if you have lent me any of these and want them back, I have lost track of where most came from. Let me know that too and I'll mail them right back. First come first served and please when you are done, pass them along...

Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Waking the Dead by John Eldridge
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
The Watermark by Travis Trasher
Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
No shortcuts to the top by Ed Viesturs (non fiction about climbing the world's 14 highest peaks)
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Colony by John Tayman (non fiction about a leper colony on a remote Hawaiian island)
Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Piccoult
Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson
The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich
Smart Women finish righ by David Bach (non fiction about financial security/investing etc)
The First Time Investor by Larry Chambers (non fiction)
Life on the Color Line by Gregory Howard Williams (non fiction about a white boy who discovered in his teens the he was actually black)
The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (non fiction about the blizzard of 1888)

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

ahh the memories

I couldn't help myself but dredge up an old picture from that summer at Saranac. Here is me and the infamous Trey Tyson. Nice feathered bangs!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

An ode to Trey Tyson

16 years ago yesterday I made a commitment to follow Jesus. It was a rainy night at Saranac Village in upstate NY when during the 20 minutes (a time of silence at YL camp for kids to think about all they have heard about Jesus) I stood on the porch of the adult guest house soaking wet thinking and praying and crying and deciding. Yesterday I went running in my Virginia Military Academy shorts. I wear my VMA shorts in memory of my camp boyfriend, Trey Tyson (who went to college at VMA), who 'broke my heart' on that last day of camp by 'hanging out' with another girl from my school (who could remain nameless but won't, Sarah DeWan :-) ). My 'broken heart' is what led me to cry out to Jesus that night and decide I wanted to follow someone who would never break my heart. So here's to you, Trey Tyson. All the things I have done in the name of Jesus; all the people I have told about Jesus; all the ways in which Jesus has blessed and changed my life are indirectly because you were a schmuck to me at YL camp 16 years ago. I am eternally grateful.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

13 on her 14th

It is Regina Cross Country tradition to run a half marathon on the Saturday before school starts and to mark an end to the 'two a days' training week. Today is Gabby's 14th birthday and she ran 13 miles to celebrate. Bill and I volunteered to man the water station at mile 4/9 of the out and back course. So out of bed at 6 am we got, to Regina for directions and at our station at 7am. The coach left me some sidewalk chalk so I could decorate for Gabby.
Here is Gabby coming down the hill toward us at the 4 mile mark. The girls running with her said, "Look Gabby it says Happy Birthday Gabby" and she mumbled, "Oh I'm not paying attention". Apparently at 14 we are just embarrassing. At least I didn't put up balloons, make Bill and I wear matching shirts that said "It is Gabby's birthday" and have a cowbell to cheer her on. I think at this time in her life she would rather us wear matching shirts that say "We are in no way related to Gabby Iverson"
Bill sitting at our sweet water stand. Believe or not, the tablecloth was Bill's idea.
Here is Gabby coming back at the 9 mile mark.
She looks cute and adorable even after running 9 miles.
Happy 14th Birthday Gabby. We are so proud of you!


Friday, August 15, 2008

Why I do it

I left full time ministry to go into medicine to help save people's lives and to ease their suffering in illness and injury. I knew I could share not only the life saving grace of Jesus but the life saving (at times) power of medicine. Last night I was out to dinner with friends when this man came over to my table. He said, "Aren't you Katie Cook?" Surprised he recognized me with my hair jet black but I bet he recognized my voice first :-) . He said, "My name is _____ ______ and we were RAs together in college. You saw my mom at the Free Medical Clinic a few years ago and she was really sick. You referred her to the Iowa Care Program (health insurance for uninsured Iowans) and that has been such a blessing. You saved her life and I told myself if I ever saw you again I would be sure to say thanks."

Modern medicine cannot do it all. Modern medicine sometimes makes mistakes. Sometimes we use modern medicine to prolong suffering. Sometimes we use modern medicine as power to think we are gods. But sometimes we get it right. Sometimes the right amount of compassion meets the right resources and someone's life is better because of it. Thinking of my grandma being ill and my mom looking toward losing her mother and then thinking of one day losing my mom which makes me want to stop breathing, I am so blessed to have been part of that family's life and giving them their mom for that much longer. That interaction made me smile and reminded me again of why I do it.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

No need to come visit

For all of you who think about coming to visit me at work in the ER, I'll save you the pain of an injury, the worry of illness or the large bill which is accompanied by walking through the front door. Here is a vitual tour of our new ETC narrated by the 'big man' himself, Dr Dickson. Enjoy and don't come to visit.

http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/emergencymedicine/etc/etcvideo.html

Saturday, August 9, 2008

We could be in trouble.

Here is Gabby in her homecoming dress. Help! We could be in trouble. She looks too old for only 14.

Friday, August 8, 2008

8-8-08

All eyes were on Beijing. The opening ceremonies were being televised in America, but it was the Iversons in Durant who were coming home with a silver and bronze. Our eyes were on the northwest corner of the park in Durant Iowa as local girl sang the National Anthem into a bull horn before the start of the Durant Dusk Hustle 5K. It wasn't quite dusk when we started. It was still wicked hot and humid. We went with our friends, Amy and Brian Boelk, Brian's parents and his childhood friend, Mike. Bill's sister Susie also met us there. Nile ran the mile in a personal record time of 7:23. I felt terrible during the entire race. My mouth was so dry and even chomping on gum wasn't helping. You know that feeling when your throat is so dry that all you want to do is swallow to moisten it but I just couldn't get any saliva. My stomach ached and I was really hot. I was sure I was running like a 15 minute mile. 1 mile mark 8:21-- the fastest mile ever I have run but after conferring after the race we think that first mile was short and the second mile was long. I know I was suffering but I ran that second mile in 10 minutes and I don't think I slowed down that much. However I was at 18:21 at the 2 mile mark but put me on track to get my PR. Susie was right behind me. I felt like stopping and laying on the street. I don't remember suffering this much during a race ever. But I kept putting one foot in front of the other and saw the clock as I came down the home stretch; 27:55, 27:56, 27:57. I am going to do it. I am going to beat my old PR of 28:18. I sped up as I came around the last turn. Everyone was cheering loud. The girl in front of me thought they were cheering so loud for her so she raised her arms in a Rocky pose. I think they were cheering for me sprinting around the corner fighting only the clock. I did it. I crossed in 28:10. Glory. Victory. Success. I took my popsicle stick with 91 on it to the score table. I was fourth in my age group; just out of the medals I thought. But the top girl in my age group won the whole thing so that pushed her out of individual medals to the big trophy so I got the bronze. She finished 9th overall in like 19 minutes something. Bronze medal on 8-8-08; it is on a red/white/blue ribbon. I may as well be an Olympian!
Here is me getting my medal. Sexy skinny running legs if I can say so myself :-) Bill blew his PR out of the water getting under 20 minutes for the first time ever. His hard work has been paying off. He finished in 19:45 in 11th place overall. He got the silver in his age group. We didn't wear matching post race shirts on purpose but don't we look so cute??
Here is our whole group. From the L-- Brian's mom who got the gold in her age group, Brian's dad who got the bronze, me, Bill, Amy (who got like 4 minutes faster than she thought she would so she was quite pleased), Mike (Brian's friend Mike was apparently 280 lb in January and started working out every day and has lost almost 100 pounds. He tied his fastest 5K ever. What an amazing success story of hard work and perseverance) and Brian who got bronze in his age group. Susie had left by then and she got 4th in her age group.
Us with Nile after the race. The family Iverson who all got our PRs at the Durant Dusk Hustle on 8/8/08.

p.s. after the race Brian's mom was quizzing Bill all about where he grew up etc. She is an occupational therapist in the Quad Cities. She kept saying what is your sister's name again? She looks familiar. Turns out she did some OT in the elementary school Susie teaches at. Do you have any other family in the Quad Cities? Bill said no not really and then Nile piped up, your sister Sarah. Bill's other sister, Sarah, is severely and profoundly mentally retarded and lives in a group home. Turns out that is the sister Brian's mom knows best. She was Sarah's occupational therapist for years and knew Bill's deceased mom really well. Small world.

Do I need to wear a hat?

I had many successes and failures when I was on Young Life staff. I told hundreds of kids about Jesus and to my knowledge only two of them actually believed me and chose to follow Him. (disclaimer- the Holy Spirit works in everyone and there may be much more fruit out there from my time in Canastota and Hingham but I am skeptical). So for now I pin that the only fruits on my tree are Lizzie and Katie. Lizzie went on to be on YL staff in London and Katie is in grad school for athletic training in Maryland. I (correction my mom and dad) flew them both out for my wedding which was great.
Now Lizzie is getting married to a wonderful Christian man named Phil. She 'bagged herself a Brit" and gets married in London in October. I am flying over to the wedding. I'll be on the ground for like 70 hours and the sticker shock on the plane ticket is enough to make your head spin but there are exactly 7 people in the world I would do this for and she happens to be one of them. So off to jolly ol' England I go. I bought a dress for it yesterday. A cute little dress make of very packable material which require neither an iron or nylons, but I had a shocking thought while in the dressing room of Ann Taylor Loft. Do I need to wear a hat? Luckily Lizzie has a Vonage line so I did the math about the time zone difference and called her in a panic. I look terrible in hats or in these random side yarmulkes with feathers. I think these princesses (or soon to be princess/queen) below look ridiculous thing. I mean I think no one actually laughs at them because there are still beheading at the Tower for stuff like that. I think freedom from these 'hats' in something we fought for during the Revolution. And Lizzie says no. I don't need to wear a hat. Her mom is threatening to wear a cowboy hat which is just like her mom. She said it is casual and I can wear flip flops. That is why I love this girl. If she could import Dunkin Donuts for her wedding cake, she would and that is why we are friends!

and I even worn nylons

I had a job interview last Friday. I haven't even posted about this being an opportunity so I am sure some of you are shocked to hear it. It was an interview to be the on the PA school faculty here in the College of Medicine. It was for the Clinical Director who is the person who works closely with the 2nd year students to get all their rotations set up. I would be doing a fair bit of direct teaching but even more administrative work. I think I am too young for this job, only 4 years out of school. I think I have so much more to learn. I was pretty reluctant to put in my CV for the job in the first place and all of a sudden found myself in the second interview phase with it down to me and one other candidate. The interview went well; it wasn't really an interview at all because I know the faculty so well that it was just like being with family for a long day of talking in nice clothes. This job is probably were I want to end up in the next 5-10 years. I right now am so content and fulfilled at my current position. I work only 3 days a week, get paid a lot of cash for it and enjoy having those days off. I have so much flexibility. I took 8 weeks of vacation last year without using any vacation time. This job would be back to 5 days a week, bringing work home etc. I would still work in the ER one shift a week. I really like teaching, but get to teach as students come through the ER and I am a clinical mentor for one of the 2nd year medical school classes. I love the mix I have right now of flexibility, clinical work, teaching and free time. I kept an open mind during the interview but came home thinking it just isn't the right fit for me right now. I hated having to make the call to the program director and tell him that I don't think I could accept the job even if it was offered to me so to please take me out of the process. I didn't want them to do all the paperwork to actually give me an official offer if I was just going to say no and having had wasted all their time. It was a hard call to make but I feel so at peace with the decision. The program director sounded on the phone that he expected me to call. He said he thinks they may have pushed me into it too early and that he hoped I would consider it again in the future. I am glad I went through the experience and I even worn nylons (Bill thinks that is an old fashioned word and I should say pantyhose but that doesn't sound much better).
p.s. I helped the faculty out with grading the first year students doing their physical exams yesterday. it was really fun and not awkward and reassured me that I made the right decision.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

smiles and ice packs

Ok it has been a week since the unraveling of the Vineyard Community Church Co-Ed Slow Pitch Softball team. I am not quite over it yet. If I think too hard or too long, I get demoralized all over again but I'm coping. Here is a funny story about what happened at work the day after. I missed a good-bye party for a colleague that night because of the games. Here's a transcript:
gal at work: "where were you last night? you missed Kevin's party"
me: "my life was unraveling"
gal at work: with a really concerned look on her face "what happened?" (I am sure thinking that my mom died or Bill and I got in a huge fight or my house got blown away by a tornado)
me: "well my church softball team was in the finals and we were up by 7 runs in the last inning... (you know how this story ends- and I made it sound really really dramatic and drawn out and long as only my story telling can)
gal at work: "seriously Katie, you gotta get more in life to worry about"
here is our team all smiles on the outside and all frowns on the inside after we got our trophies
and the aftermath because I'm over 30 and got hit with three line drives playing second base... I sulked while icing my legs with bags of frozen vegetables on my legs. It is not always so glorious behind the scenes.






Saturday, August 2, 2008

A demoralizing unraveling to a glorious season

Ok so I have blogged in the past about your church softball team and league but here is a little background. Three years ago we had our first team, lost every game except one, lost all those games by double digits and just played terrible. We didn't even know the rules of this league and made general fools of ourselves every week. In response to that, Everett and Aryln- Mr and Mr Baseball in our church- became our coaches. We practiced and learned our positions and had strategy. Last summer we were good. We won games. We ended up second in our league. We got a trophy. So this summer we had high expectations of doing as well or better. We were preseason ranked #1. We added another great guy on our team named Kevin to go with the Kevin we added last summer. Our congregation is doing a good job of inviting folks to church who are not only cool to hang out with, but are ringers for the softball team :-)
We won a bunch of games this year. We only lost two- one to Gloria Dei Lutheran who has a really great pitcher who puts this spin on the ball so we affectionately call him 'the spin doctor' and Church of the Nazarene who we always play really close. Two weeks ago was the end of the regular season when we were out of town. The game would determine the regular season winner. They had to forfeit so we won. WE WON THE REGULAR SEASON; only two years after going 1-11 or whatever. That was glorious!!!
We got a bye for the first round of the tournament and had the end of the tournament last night. In the semifinals we had to play the Nazarenes. I caught a popfly at second base off their best hitter. That was glorious!! We played really close again and in the bottom of the last inning we came from behind, scored two runs and won the game. That was glorious!!!
Now we are in the finals and have to play the spin doctor. We lost to them at our last meeting 15-5. We start the game great. I have this awesome hit (my only really good one of the season) which landed in the hole behind third base. I get on base every time I am up. I walk a run in. We are clicking. We had a tight defense. I got pelted three innings in a row by the left handed batter playing second base and have mighty bruises to show for it. We were up 15-4 at one point and 15-7 going into the last inning. Everett had an infield home run which ran in 2 other batters. He had an amazing slide at home. That was glorious!! That is when the unraveling began. It started when our first baseman took a popfly to the nose. Bleeding during church softball never is a good thing. He recovered, jammed tissues up his nose and we kept playing. They scored one run. We are still up. We get two outs. One more out and the GIGANTIC traveling trophy will come to our church. One more out and we will be tournament champs. One more out we couldn't get until they scored 11 more runs. ELEVEN MORE RUNS! everyone made errors. no one is to blame. it is church softball. it was demoralizing. one more out is all we needed. we unraveled. we did get last ups, but only scored one more run. the final score was 19-16. it was humbling and miserable and terrible. we had a trophy ceremony after the game. we got a trophy for being regular season champs and one for second place in the tourney. i couldn't help but feel yoda green with envy when the Lutherans walked away with the giant traveling trophy. i replayed the last inning over and over in my head as i went to sleep. i woke up wishing i had made that out at second and stopped the unraveling. i am demoralized. it is only church softball. we are supposed to be in it for the fun and fellowship and not for the huge traveling trophy. forgive me, Jesus, for coveting my neighbors huge gigantic traveling trophy.