An All-Around Fantastic Day!

Today was the day my Board Certification status was going to be posted online.  I woke up early with Jude at 5 a.m., and checked to see if the results were posted (it was 9 a.m. CST), but no such luck. Amazingly, I was able to fall back asleep, but when I got up at 630, still no results.  Just before Cris and the girls left the house, the results were posted, and I discovered that I am officially a Board Certified OB/GYN!  Most specialty board examinations are written, but the surgical specialties still require an oral examination. I think one of the purposes of the exam is to see if you will buckle under pressure.  And Pressure it is!  The candidates are each  taken into a small room, with a computer, a desk, and 3 chairs.  The examination is a total of 3 hours, divided into 1 hour sections (obstetrics, gynecology, and office practice).  For each section, 2 examiners walk into the room, very briefly introduce themselves, and then for a total of 1 hour rapid-fire questions at the candidate. Some of the questions are random, and some of them are based off the "case list".  The case list includes every single surgery, and every single delivery that we performed in the period of a year. If there is a glimpse of hesitation or uncertainty about an answer, the examiners jump on the opportunity, and bump up the grilling until sweat is dripping. At the end of the hour, a buzzer goes off, and even if it is mid-sentence, the examiners get up, leave the room, and 2 more examiners come into the room for another hour of grilling.  It is quite intense.  Needless to say, I am thrilled that I don't have to go through that ever again!

This afternoon the girls were super super excited that we were finally going to visit the "kupunas at pohai nani!" I picked them up an hour early from school, and they were bouncing off the walls with excitement!  I was a little uncertain about how they would do once we were actually at the Care Home. I thought they might get really shy, or not be very interactive with the residents. Boy was I wrong! There was a rousing game of Jingle Bell Bingo going on when we arrived, and the kupunas welcomed the girls into the game. The girls were absolutely thrilled, and jumped right into the game! They LOVED being the center of attention, and Nova gave out a hundered "Nova SuperStars" (that's what she calls it when she makes her gigantic smile, and lights up a room!) The girls and the kupunas become instant friends, and I couldn't have been a more proud momma.  Twice Juneau broke into a spontaneous chorus of jingle bells, and the entire Bingo game went on hold while everyone sang. It was so stinking cute! At the end of bingo, everyone had cookies, and Juneau sang "Go tell it on the Mountain", Nova sang a Christmas song she learned at school, and then the girls led a chorus of Shine Jesus Shine, complete with motions.  I got to sit nex to Ruby, who has a touch of dementia, and we worked on her Bingo card together.  Every time Nova would say something, Ruby said "Oh, that one learned to talk!" Ha! She must have said that phrase 30 times! My very favorite moment of the afternoon was watching Grace (a very elderly, but witty lady who is completely blind) touch Jude's tiny feet, count his teeny little toes, and rub his soft head ever so gently :) Amazing how easy it is to touch a heart in an hour....and I think our hearts were even more touched than the ones that we went to minister to. What an amazing opportunity to show the girls that when you set out to do something kind for someone else, you often leave with more joy than you came with!