Look at me go with all my posting! :)

Adam's mom and brother came up to visit during the Memorial day weekend. We had a good time showing them the town where we have made our home for the time being.

A small anecdote...one of my favorite things we did was attend the Detroit Tigers vs. Texas Rangers baseball game. Two of the current Rangers players are Baylor alum. I decided it would be my goal to get both of them to do a "Sic 'em" --the bear claw hand sign of the Baylor Bears. Left fielder David Murphy gave me one from the field, and this picture is of Pitcher Jason Jennings in the bull pen. Murphy actually graduated from Baylor with Adam and I in 2004, but Jennings is a bit older. Great to know they're still proud to be Baylor Bears!

Such a silly prayer request...but we leave for Puerto Rico on Sunday early early morning. The weather report today indicates rain for every day that we are there. I really wanted to do absolutely nothing, relax, lay on the beach, read a book (FICTION!- not epidemiology methods texts!), and come back brown like a native. Even if I can't come back looking native, I would still like so much for the weather to be nice enough for us to enjoy some of the sights. Can't wait to post pictures when we return!

I passed my exam! I went a little crazy waiting for the results, but after all the anxiety and prayer, I was so relieved to finally have the results.

We received an email with a PDF of our official letter, which will be mailed to us at a later date. I had a weird feeling that they would come out on Tuesday, and I checked my email no less than a thousand times. I'm not exaggerating...I clicked over and over and over. Our little joke was that they would be sent at 4:59pm so they wouldn't have to listen to student complaints. My email was sent to me at 4:57:53pm. (Does the fact that I know the exact time- down to the second- tell you anything? I didn't even have to look that up.)

Here is a picture of me with my results letter...I had to read it about three times to realize what it said.

My Mom, Milt, Papa, and Sharron sent flowers with a sweet note as a congratulations. They are so beautiful. I feel so blessed to have people who love me and know my love language.

There are two steps to a PhD: the exam and the dissertation. One down, one to go! :) Thank you to everyone - I have a great group of family and friends who love and support me always, and I hope to not take that for granted.

My neglected blog...

I realize it's been a while since I posted anything! My exam is over, and I am still having a lot of anxiety about it. My logical part says "you can't change your answers now, so worrying is not going to help." My spiritual part says "be anxious for nothing..." And then there's just plain ol' anxious me. It's the "me" part I have to constantly battle, you know?

I am also going to come clean about the mess of my house. This is what my living room looked like after take-home part of the exam was over. My suitcase and backpack filled with textbooks I took to the in-class portion, papers and binders spread everywhere, a bag of pretzels by my seat on the couch, my open laptop, and of course Jake, my faithful companion trying to find a corner of the couch. A big "I love you" to my neat-freak husband who put up with this and supported me during my exam.

My Mom and Milt sent this sweet gift as a congratulations for finishing the exam. It was SO good and I cried reading the card. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness.


In an attempt to not think about you-know-what, I have been very busy. I am amazed by all of my newly-discovered free time. I had no idea there were so many hours in the day! Adam and I have been frequenting the batting cages, farmer's markets, restaurants, and flower shops. I also had time to plant the bulbs my mom sent in our Easter basket.


Jake is such a good little helper. :) Note the dirt-covered snout.


Did it snow AGAIN? Nope. It's just all the blossoms from the tree on the ground. Spring is really beautiful up here. We can appreciate it even more after a long winter.

Remember my mystery flowers? I took a series of pictures. I think they turned out to be tulips. (What do you think, Grandma?)

I am so excited to announce that I am finished with my exam! I just turned it in and couldn't wait to share the good news with my blog friends. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers over the past week as I worked on it. I was surprisingly calm last week, which- let's just be honest- is kind of against my normal behavior during stress. Can't wait to catch up with everyone soon! Love, Kelly

Note: This post is not meant to be in poor taste. I think the swine flu is serious even though I am relatively removed from the situation. I just think the picture is cute. :)

Swine Flu and Other Stuff

Well, I am almost finished with my exam...only two more days to go before I can turn this thing in and be done with the whole mess. I don't really feel like talking about my exam (yes, mother, that means I don't want to rehash all the gory details)...it was fine, don't know the results, won't know the results for a while, blah blah blah. Overall, I feel like I got hit by a bus. Hard.

I'm tired. Exhausted, really. But enough of that...

My exam was the reason for my brief departure from society, which was why I missed the initial info on swine flu, today's hip public health topic...which I can't resist posting about just now. I have heard many criticisms that the government is over-reacting to the problem, but I bet those same people would be completely upset if there was an inadequate reaction and their kid died.

A little about the biology: an antigenic drift is what happens from flu season to flu season...it is the gradual change or evolution of the virus over time. These small changes are why we include multiple virus variants in our flu vaccines each year and different ones from year to year because we have to guess what the changes will be to protect our population. Sometimes the vaccine is a great match, sometimes it's not. What is happening with swine flu is called an antigenic shift. A shift happens when the flu virus jumps species. It's what we really worry about because even though it's not always bad, it has the POTENTIAL to be bad. I haven't been glued to the news so I don't know what "they" are saying, but my guess with the pattern that we've seen is that the swine flu is more virulent from pig-to-person, but less virulent from person-to-person. (I love new viruses, apart from the death toll. If you're interested, one of my all-time favorite books is The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston. Reads like fiction but is a true account of some emerging viruses.)

So here are some unofficial public health tips from Kelly:

1. If you want good information, go the CDC website. http://www.cdc.gov/. It's a great website for any health problem. I use it weekly.

2. Wash your hands. Cover your mouth when you cough. Stop touching your face and eyes and mouth so much. Just like always.

3. Don't go to Mexico or any places that have an endemic wild pig problem right now.

4. Just like with the regular flu, go to the doctor if you're really ill and don't go out in public and infect others. See #2 if you are sick and must go out in public. Just like always.

5. And finally, DON'T LICK A PIG. This is not only gross but could get you quarantined right now, given the public's penchant for panic.

Disclaimer: I don't know this kid licking the pig. It's a random, hilarious picture from the internet that I've seen before and thought would be funny given the current events. But if you do know someone who has the swine flu or died from the swine flu or you yourself have it, it's not funny. I know. I'm sorry. But still don't lick a pig.