Acceptance Party #2

Since Derek got accepted to Med School we have been so excited. We had a little party with my family this past weekend to celebrate. I've never really had a party at my apartment because its so small but I had one anyway. I figure one of these days I'll have a spacious home and we can have something to reminisce about...our humble beginnings in a 700 sq foot apartment.



I have a ton of cousins, so many that I really don't keep tabs on most of the distant ones. My mother was always close to her brother Seleti so naturally we were close to his 6 children. We spent nearly every weekend at their home and we have so many childhood memories together. The sounds of Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" and the bland taste of boiled chicken, potatoes and mayonnaise (the Tongan condiment for every dish)remind me of the good ole times. It's fun to get together because we each remember different events. Last night we had a blast talking about the past. We concluded that Simi was the mischievous leader of all the ridiculous situations we got ourselves into. We laughed and laughed at some of the things we remember and embarrassed at some of the things that we regret doing.

The future Doctor Rodeback. When I made the cupcakes, I had left over blue marzipan Derek suggested that I make Viagra. It's a bit far but the pills on the cupcake are Viagra

The kids had a great time playing with one another.

Last but not least, I finally got to meet the new edition to the Fevaleaki family. This is little L.J isn't he so cute? These cute little kids make me excited to have children of my own.

Thanks everyone for all the yummy food that you brought. We should do this more often so that our children can have the same fun experience we had (minus all the craziness of course).

ACCEPTED!!!!!!

This is us today! This was after we went out to the Jazz game to celebrate, we had amazing tickets (row 20, too bad the Jazz lost to the Spurs) Were happy as ever (and tired)!! We so excited to be accepted to one of the top ten schools in America! I'm so proud of my husband:)

This picture was taken on the day of the interview, It was freezing so I couldn't convince my husband to take off his coat.


We skipped out on the inauguration to go site seeing around town. The building behind us is one of the first Carniege Halls in America.

Derek was accepted to West Virgina's Osteopathic Medical School today! We recognize the Lord's hand in our life we are so blessed and so grateful that the time has finally come. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

We will be hosting multiple celebrations for sure and your all invited:) Details to come.

Home Sweet Home

Derek and I flew out to Richmond, Virginia on Sunday night for Derek's interview for medical school. We met up with my old roommate Rochelle Flanigan and spent the night at her house. We were both excited for a break from the everyday rigors of our life, we're so tired of working and waiting to hear back from medical school. We flew in at night, so we didn't get to see much but the airport. Rochelle lives near the city, it pretty much looks like every other big city-lots of lights on sky high towers.



The following day we spent the morning and afternoon with Rochelle and her cute kiddos. Rochelle was my roommate my first year in college, the last time I saw her was before my mission farewell 6 years ago so we had a lot to catch up on. The town she lived in was influenced by the Colonial period. It was neat to see how different the homes were, they were tall and narrow, the road was cobblestone. I think of the movie "Pride & Prejudice", the beautiful dresses, the horse drawn carriages and their British accents.

Rochelle lent us her car, a luxurious a Volkswagen Jetta (compared to our car anyway). The seats were so comfortable, they were also heated! The car made our 3 hour drive were pretty comfortable. Before we left, Jamie (Rochelle's husband) told me there was nothing but bigots and malnutritioned children in West Virginia. His comment freaked me out but Jamie has always been a jokester, good thing I was able to see for myself that his comment was not true. If I could explain West Virginia in one word would be "hospitable". Everyone was so nice, I felt at home (minus the southern accent of course).

We visited the local museum and spoke to several locals. It was neat to learn about the local history, Derek's favorite part was the 58 lb gun used in the Civil War. Our tour guide Edna (what a southern name) even gave us her personal phone number to call her if Derek is accepted. She has connections to local housing.



West Virginia is beautiful.



On the day of the interview we were of course we were frazzled with nervousness. Derek and I had spent the night before in the hot tub reviewing potential questions. He tossed and turned most the night thinking of possible responses. At the admissions office, everyone was so nice, I've never seen so much energy and excitement come from a receptionist. The applicants from the city (most came from the East coast) thought she was unreal, having visited bigger cities I can see why they thought that.

We were taken on a tour of the school. It as freezing. I was impressed with their facilities, they had a room full of cadavers. Each cadaver has a pump so the fumes don't kill the med students because they spend so much time studying the cadavers. We interrupted students dissecting an optic nerve...I wanted to leave the room because it still stunk despite the suction tubes but I was getting a kick out of people assuming that I was the token brown girl applying to medical school. I think that experience inspired me to donate my body to science. I can't wait to tell my mom about that, she will freak out ( it's taboo in Tongan culture...or maybe just her culture).

I asked the tour guide about employment opportunities, he said " In a small town, you just have to take what you can get"...I guess I have to humble myself and work for Arby's...better yet Walmart. Lewisburg is small enough to not have any public transportation, not even taxis but big enough to have a Walmart. If or when Derek gets accepted, I will start sending out resumes right away. I'm determined to utilize the Bachelor's degree that I'm still paying for.

6 of the 8 students interviewing were women and they all looked so young. 3,000 people submitted application and West Virginia College of Osteopathic Medical School will be accepting 300 students this year. We've been praying like crazy, we want to get accepted this year, we're tired of wait lists and waiting to hear back from medical schools. Derek felt the interview went well, we don't want to get our hopes like we did last year. We will hear back from the school in a couple weeks, Tuesday will be the earliest.

We're both so exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. We estimated that 30 hours of the trip was spent traveling to Virgina, from Virginia to West Virginia. Our flight home was 12 hrs counting the lay overs, right after the flight I had to rush home, shower and teach my Spanish Home buyer class at work. I didn't return home until 9:30pm. We're still recuperating, we just barley picked up our dog, we missed him so much but we haven't bothered to unpack.

We appreciate all the support, many of our friends and family prayed for us, several attended the temple with us before we left. We are so thankful for such great people in our lives.

P. S. Pictures will be posted later...I'm too exhausted right now.

Life with Skofield-Part 2

Yesterday was so beautiful, it would have been a waste of a sunny day if I didn't go for a run. When I mentioned my plans to Derek, he suggested that I take Skofeild with me. I decided to take my husbands advice, after all I need to start training Skofeild sooner or later. Skofeild is about 50 lbs now and he can nearly pull me off my feet. He has so much energy, he jumps wags his enormous heavy tail whenever I open the closet door because he assumes that he gets to go on a walk. Our attempt to run yesterday was frustrating at the time but humourus to think back on. I tied his leash around my waist in order to have more "control" of the walk/run. Skofeild is protective he'd launch out in loud, deep barks at anything that got near me, I almost fell flat on my face several times. I finally gave in and took him back home so that I can actually run a real run. I plan on running a half-marathon in April and a Marathon in May...anyone want to join me?

I don't know if it's the climate change...or maybe his rapid growth spurt but Skofeild is shedding like crazy. It drives me nuts because his fur is everywhere! It's on our couch, on our clothes, in our car and embedded in our carpet. I can remember how hesitant I was to sit on a fur infested couch when I was a mission. I definitely didn't want visitors to feel that way at my home. I found myself steam cleaning our carpet 2x a month. When I'd vacuum I'd pull up mounds of fur...it was like a whole other dog! We finally gave in and purchased a Dyson (the most purchased vacuum in America). It's known for it's durability and great suction power...hooray now I have clean carpet. It was an investment worth making!



Skofeild is still a puppy but he's as big as a full grown dog! This was taken last week...can you tell he's craving affection?

Medical School Update

After 5 months of silence (+ a few rejection letters) my husband was finally invited to interview! Derek actually received the email on December 23, 2008 but we stopped checking his email daily because it became depressing. Derek will be interviewing for West Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in January!




We were surprised to get an invitation because it was such a prestigious school. It was voted top 10 by US News for 10 consecutive years.



I was so excited and I of course let all of our family know. Most responses were "Wow thats so far!" but we are honestly just so excited after so many months of waiting. I plan on flying out with Derek this time, I'd like to be a support and tour the school with him.



I'm glad that I have family and former roommates in the East coast. Hopefully we get in this year...I'm sure I can go through this again next year ( I will if I have to of course though).

Life with Skofeild

Skofeild is almost 6 months old. He's grown so fast and physically, he is so big that most people refer to him as a dog rather than a puppy. Life with Skofeild is interesting, at 2 months he knew how to sit, shake and lay down. We were so proud of him, we would show off his intelligence at any chance we received. At 6 months he has regressed, he rarely makes an effort to please us with obedience unless we have a treat. Lately Skofeild has been having "Potty" accidents in the apartment (although he was pretty much house broken at 2 1/2 months). He has either broken or destroyed our most treasured possessions...well my treasured possessions. When Skofeild ate my glasses I didn't get too upset, I figured it was my fault for leaving them in an accessibly range. When he pulled down Derek's Apple laptop by its cord, I figured it was my husbands fault for rough housing with him but when he ate my shoes I was furious. I gave him a good spanking, similar to the ones I received as a child; the kind that I know were done out of anger rather than love. I felt bad later, for the remainder of the day Skofeild avoided me by running into the bathroom and jumping into the tub. It's funny to think that his behavior resembled mine after I received a spanking from my wicked step-parents. I really don't plan on spanking my kids for that reason. Skofeild really is preparing me for parenthood. I get so frustrated but I know that I need to stop humanizing him, but he lives with us, he's indoor 99% of the time I tend to feel bad when I don't give him enough attention.





The other day was my breaking point. I had returned home to pick up my drivers licence before taking my mother to the airport. When I saw Skofeild with his little sad puppy dog face, I felt bad that he had spent nearly the whole day in his cage. I decided to let him out although I would be absent for some time before I returned. I picked up everything that he could possibly get into before I left. Upon my return, I opened my bedroom door and there was tissue, ripped pieces of cardboard scattered everywhere. I scanned the room trying to figure out what it was and it turned out that he had found a hidden Christmas present that my husband had hidden underneath the bed. I boiling! Not only did Skofeild rip through the bag and the two boxes, he got to a brand new pair of boots! I was so ticked I called my husband in frustration, I said " I love my boots too bad theres bites marks all over them!" The worst of it all is that they don't fit, what normal store would take them back? So for any of you interested in some way cute boots size 10 ( not true to size, more like a 9 1/2), come and get them! (As long as you don't mind bite marks on them).

p.s The pictures above are not the boots I was supposed to receive for Christmas, I'm still depressed about them so I couldn't post pictures of how ridiculous they look now.

WorkaHolic

I've been working a lot. I didn't think anyone would notice my lack of posts but after a concerned email from my buddy Jolynn, I guess it's time for an update. I'm a full time employee at CDC and a part time employee at Youth City. After a 12 hour day the last thing I want to do as look at my computer. I guess I could blog at work, but I'm way too busy getting billions of phone calls from distressed people who are about to lose their homes. At my evening job I'm too busy trying to keep the teenagers in line. I've had a lot of fun adventures that I plan to post in the future.