God's Hand -- Medical Mondays

Home sweet future home.

It's amazing what happens in a year.

Last spring, Charles and I were anxiously and eagerly obsessing over residency programs. He had 99% decided on family medicine, but choosing programs to apply to was something akin to finding a needle in a haystack. There are literally hundreds of programs out there.

A chunk of our (we approached this as a team project, so it has always been and will always be, a "we" thing) list was based on geography -- programs that were close to home in Arizona, or close to Charles' family in Colorado. A few programs on the long-short list were programs that had a good reputation for whatever reason. Sifting through the options, we felt overwhelmed, and as if the perfect program just.didn't.exist. And, of course, it doesn't. But we hoped for a perfect program for us. We were on a mission.

Last April, due to a series of coincidences, we talked to some new Church friends from Wichita. She mentioned that there was a program back home that she was familiar with that we should look into.

I was driving home from an event that day, and Charles was reading up on the program on his phone. As he read off one program feature/benefit/highlight after another, we (and especially he) got more and more excited. It was like checking off item after item off of a dream program checklist.

He emailed the program that weekend to see if, by chance, there was any way he could still get a sub-I (a sub-internship; an away rotation to allow him and the program and to check one another out). They let us know that they were already full, but that he was on a waiting list. We figured that was that; the odds of making it off of a mysterious waiting list seemed long. We moved on with plans for our already planned trip to St. Louis and Denver.

In May, it all turned topsy turvey when Charles was offered a sub-I position in October. Of course, we jumped all over it! But there were still a million things to figure out, including housing plans, which were slow to pan out.

In July, we found out that I was pregnant, and through another series of coincidences, our friends from Wichita found out that we would be there in October. Since they were planning to be away during that time, they offered to let us stay at their house, which ended up being just wonderful in all ways.

While we were in Wichita, in addition to a great program, we found the potential for a great community (city, residency community, Church) for our family for the residency season. The experience left them heads and tails above everyone else in the running.

Throughout interview season, and the turmoil-and-anxiety-filled months that followed, we knew that the Wichita program was our #1 choice, but we did our darndest to keep our dreams and expectations in check. It felt natural and like a long-shot, all at the same time.

Then, we got the emails:

Matched.

Wichita.

We couldn't believe it. A dream come true. Answered prayers.

It was clear to us, as each step unfolded in a way that was more and more unbelievable to us, that God's hand was guiding us and Divine Providence was opening doors and windows that we just couldn't expect. We're so excited for the next step of the journey, with all of its challenges and unexpected twists and turns around the corner, and excited to see where God leads us next.

Wichita, here we come!

Linking up for Medical Mondays with From a Doctor's Wife and Your Doctor's Wife.