Great Expectations

MEMORANDUM: We are expecting!
That’s right, we are expecting a baby in the Meister household, due May 24th, 2012 and we couldn’t be more excited! Coincidentally, May 24th is also our 4th wedding anniversary…kinda fun.
We call the baby M&M for Mini-Meister and even told people at our church’s annual Fall Festival using that theme…
Many of you already knew we were expecting, but we have tried to keep it out of the public forum until we knew what my job situation entailed…now that we’re “public”, yes that means I have a job and am gainfully employed! 
Let me just tell you a little story about how God worked out everything in His timing to glorify Himself through this entire process…
I graduated in May with the expectation of a job in pediatrics that subsequently fell through. I spent the summer faithfully pursuing job opportunities, contacting everyone I knew in pediatrics and trying to fill my time.
Kurt and I had always known that when I graduated, we wanted to have kids. We thought August would be a good time to start trying, under the assumption that I would have a job at that time. My body was not cooperating and we weren’t sure it would even be possible to get pregnant when we did but God surprised us with his perfect timing…in early September. But I still did not have a job…
A good friend of mine had been working with a pediatric practice since graduation, and thus I never pursued this practice. However, God provided her the perfect job elsewhere and when she turned down the first practice, she gave them my resume and told them they should interview me. This is the only reason I was considered for the position.
It had become clear that this practice would be a great fit for me, a full time, 4 day per week position. However, in light of the recently developing human inside of me, I had been praying that they might be open to me asking for 3 days per week upon returning from maternity leave. My ever trusting and full-of-faith husband decided to pray that “they would offer you 3 days per week and you won’t even have to ask”. I smiled but was thinking in the back of my mind that “it doesn’t really work that way”…
Well, it might not “work that way” but God does, because soon after that, I received an email from the practice that they were changing the position to 3 days per week and wanted to be sure I was still interested. Needless to say, there were lots of tears, rejoicing and worshiping the God who is in control of ALL things!
We want to thank all of you who have been incredibly supportive of us during this time…we cherish our friends and family so much!
Check back often, I will try to post updates to this blog in order to keep you updated on life, work, babies and more!

Summer Days...

It has been absolutely forever since I last posted and I don't have a good excuse!

We've had a great summer, had lots of time together and with friends and family and it's been great!





After graduation, I took the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistant (NCCPA) Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE)...aka my boards. I passed and thus received the epic PA-C designation meaning that I am now "certified" to practice as a PA! I also obtained a license to practice in Colorado shortly thereafter.

So what does that mean exactly?! A Physician Assistant is not an assistant per se and there is actually a movement to change the title back to it's original one of Physician Associate as many feel that more accurately represents our scope of practice currently. I am licensed to practice medicine on a team of healthcare professionals, including a supervising physician and I will practice within the scope of that supervising physician's practice. I will see my own patients, write prescriptions and do minor procedures.

I am hoping in the future to do a regular "A Day in the Life Of..." blog telling stories of my escapades in medicine. I have journaled some stories from my training and have told many of you heartwarming, hilarious and embarrassing stories that are just "A Day in the Life!"

I say in the future, though, because that would require a job practicing as a PA! Most of you know that I had a job lined up which may still work out at some point but that I kicked up the job searching and networking after graduation and I'm waiting for God to provide that perfect job! My training is in pediatrics and I would love to see kids in an outpatient office or in a hospital setting, particularly in Ear, Nose and Throat or Cardiology subspecialties.

So - our summer has been filled with projects...

family time...

which always includes Fro Yo!






...spending time with Josh while he lived with us home from school for the summer and his wonderful girlfriend Amy...









...parties...









and job searching!

You can certainly be praying that my timing and desires would be the same as God's will for me and that I would be content to wait upon him, knowing what jobs to pursue, who to contact, and how to proceed each day.

Colorado State Flower - the Columbine
Taken on a hike in Evergreen

Thanks for your support and prayers, we love hearing how each of you are doing as well, keep in touch!

These are the days...

These are the days that I've been missing

These are the days that bring new meaning

These are the days of endless dreaming 

These are a few of the lyrics from a great song by an artist named Jamie Cullum called "These Are the Days" that has been somewhat my theme song over the last few weeks. So much so that I included it in the graduation slideshow I put together for my class graduation from Physician Assistant school. 

Yes.....You read that right.......I said GRADUATION!!

I will be graduating in TWO days, Thursday May 26th at 1:00pm. This ceremony will be the ending of a long, difficult, challenging, rewarding, fun, amazing three year journey to achieve my master's degree and become a Physician Assistant, PA for short. I will be writing a blog soon with more about what exactly a PA is, what my profession is, and what I will be doing (I just have to find out exactly what that is first!!)

For now, I just wanted to thank all of you for your love, support, and encouragement over the last 3 years. I really couldn't have done it without some of you. Thank you for believing in me, for trusting me, for being proud of me and for celebrating with me!

Heather
PA-"soon-to-be-C"

New to Blogging

Let me preface this by saying...I am not a writer. I don't claim to be a writer. I don't want to be a writer.

I have journaled before but those have never been shared with anyone.

The reason I have started a blog is so that I can keep up with my family and friends, share stories, pictures, links, videos and news without burdening you all with a newsletter. I want you to know all of things that are going on but we are so busy that our available time to communicate is not always the same! So here you go, a blog about us - the Meister's. Just the two of us, loving living life and serving our Lord and Savior!