May 15 has come and gone

Apparently I am terrible at this blogging thing. I haven't done an update in 5 months! Well there, is a lot to update. For the past 3 years, I had May 15, 2009 marked on my calendar. Well, that day has finally come and gone. On May 15 I graduated as a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Washington University. My parents and Jeff's parents all came to town for a long day of graduation ceremonies (2!) as well as some fun things around St. Louis.

Here is a picture from that day...love the green attire.

Spending some time in Forest Park

Well, 4 weeks from today Jeff and I will be relocating to Grand Rapids, MI. It was a very long spring, as we had some tough decisions to make about what we were going to do this summer, along with some disappointments. But we are happy that the decision is made. I will be starting a new job on July 1 in Grand Rapids, while Jeff continues to look for teaching jobs. We are very excited to start this new chapter in our lives, although it means that we will have to say some tough goodbyes in the next few weeks.

Hopefully I will do a better job of keeping this updated!

2009!

It's 2009 already!  When I started grad school 3 years ago, I never thought the year 2009 would ever come.  Now it's finally here and I'm anticipating graduating in May.  The year 2009 also means a lot of changes for Jeff and me.  We have so many important questions that will be answered in the next couple of months.  Where are we going to live next year?  Will Jeff be able to find a job teaching social studies?  What area of physical therapy do I want to practice?  When can we get a dog? (Haha, that's not really an important question, but I really can't wait until we can get a dog.)  At this point, God is teaching us to be patient and to trust in Him to open up doors for us.  We're praying that God will only open up one door so that we don't have to decide between different places.  But we also trust that God will lead us to make the best decision, regardless of whether we have more than one opportunity to choose from.  So please pray for us throughout the next couple of months as we make some important decisions and seek out God's will for where He wants us to go.  Happy 2009!

Christmas 2008

We just returned from a wonderful trip to California for Christmas.  We spent 10 days with my family.  While it rained for the first few days, the last few days were beautiful.  Jeff lamented the fact that there was no snow on the ground on Christmas day, but I will take 65-degree weather any day!  Below are some pics from the week.

Heather and I at the San Diego Zoo.

The kids in front of the giant Christmas tree at the Hotel Del Coronado

Jeff returns to school on Monday, while I don't start school again until January 12.  It's nice for us to have a few days off to spend with each other before the chaos begins again.  We hope everyone has a great New Year's!

Oops!  I just realized we haven't written anything on this blog for over a month!  It's time for a little update from the Schippers.  We recently spent Thanksgiving weekend with Jeff's family in Michigan.  The weekend including lots of family get-togethers, good food, and of course plenty of playing the Wii.  We recently got a Wii (Jeff can you tell you how we got it, if you haven't already heard), and so we brought it with us to Michigan.  

Grandpa Schipper learning how to bowl on the Wii.

The "kids" table at Thanksgiving dinner (yes, we are still considered kids, since we don't have children of our own yet).

I am winding down at my last clinical - the last time I ever have to pay to work again!  I am so excited to be joining the work force in a few months and to actually get paid for what I do.  Jeff and I are looking forward to a much needed break coming up in a few days.  Jeff has 2 weeks off and I have 3 weeks for Christmas.   We are flying to California on Saturday to be with my family for 10 days.  We are looking forward to some warmer weather!  That's all for now.  We'll try to be better about updating this more often!  

Where do you think the largest collection of mosaics in the world is? Istanbul? Venice? Jerusalem? Believe it or not, the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica is the largest collection of mosaics IN THE WORLD.  On your next visit to St. Louis, I suggest checking this out rather than another trip up the arch.  I feel ignorant that it took me (Jeff) two years of living in St. Louis to realize how special this Cathedral really is.  When my parents came to visit a couple of weeks ago, we spent an hour admiring the beauty and precision of the thousands of square feet of mosaics covering the walls, ceiling, floor, and almost everything else in the Cathedral.  These pictures certainly do not do this masterpiece justice...

Now do you want to visit us in St. Louis?

Some pictures from fall...

It has been too long since our last post!  We have been enjoying the beautiful fall weather here in St. Louis.  Jeff and I have gone on several hikes near the city and we have really enjoyed seeing all the fall colors.  Here is a picture from one of our hikes:

Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from Jeff's parents.  The weather was perfect, so we toured some wineries and checked out the Katy Trail.

We recently had a fall harvest party with our friends.  We enjoyed some fall foods and carved pumpkins.

The finished products!  Most of the carving was done by the guys.

I enjoyed my last two weeks off.  The first full weekend I was home Jeff and I drove to South Bend, IN to visit some friends.  In South Bend we took a tour of Notre Dame and spent the rest of the time playing games and catching up with our friends.  On our drive back home, we met our friends from St. Louis to go apple picking.  This past weekend, we were up in Michigan for a wedding.  We packed in a lot for two days.  We made sure to visit with everyone we could in two days.  So between driving back from Colorado, driving to and from South Bend and to and from Michigan, we put over 3000 miles on our car, and I logged almost 40 hours of traveling in the car in the past two weeks.  Now it's back to reality.  I started a new clinical yesterday in a hospital in St. Louis.  The first day was a little chaotic and I feel a little lost, but I'm sure it will be a great learning experience.  Today I am enjoying my day off, but I also have to work on Saturday this week. :(  Oh well, here's some pictures from the last two weeks.