Please excuse the reverse order of these photos... I've just spent over an hour uploading them onto this blog otherwise I'd try and arrange them in chronological order... (I'm not the best with technology... shocker, I know)

These photos do not capture all of the moments we've experienced the last few months, however we hope they will give you a glimpse into our new world...

For starters, a look at our new apartment. (Ward residence number three since getting married.)

Casey's "study"/ guest bedroom (Can't guarantee a high comfort level of the futon, but at least we have a place to put guests! Hint, hint... we'll take guests whenever we can!)
Can you say 'books galore'? The top two shelves are dedicated to Casey's medical school books, and the ones pictured don't include the one's currently in his backpack, and on the floor around the house

I must confess I am jealous of this gray chair. It gets to spend more hours with my husband per day than I do. Comes with the territory, I guess...

In the middle of the apartment photos, I know... Again, too lazy right now to rearrange!

The trio reunites, finally! After almost two months of living in Cali, I finally get to see my dear friends, Miguel and Christie... It is so good to be by you again, my friends!

The thing about living in California is that one gets to experience sunshine on a daily basis... With this comes the opportunity to use a clothes line instead of a dryer. Not only do I save 50 cents per load of laundry, but my patio gets to smell like laundry detergent as the clothes dry! We did have to compromise a bit, however, as Casey was not enjoying the scratchy feel of the line-dried towels... Now all towels are machine dried, as requested. :)

Look! Our plants are growing and not dying right away! I can't take credit, however, as Casey is the one that remembers to water them... I don't exactly have what one might call a "green thumb"

Our bedroom, both with a ceiling fan and an air conditioner!!!

Our one bathroom... very spacious!

The living room...

Kitchen

We gave Linus a hair cut to help him deal with the heat better...

Casey turned 28 on September 12th! My mom and dad flew in for the occasion, and Casey's brother drove out from Santa Barbara to celebrate! We had a party at our home with family and friends... We missed you Steph, pops, and Courtney! Next time...

Our friend Wayne...

Katie, Dana, Laura, and Brandon

Daddy-o!
He was awesome on the bbq... Thanks for all of your help, daddy!

Thank you mom and dad for coming down for Casey's party... how special you made him feel! And your help with the party was SO great! We loved having time with you...

Casey and the boys...

Happy birthday, old man!

Casey loves apple pie...

A day at Newport beach with Dana and Beth... two wonderful new friends of mine

Me, Beth, and Dana

Looking awesome after step class...

Beth, Laura, Dana, me, and Amy

Who would have thought that at this level of education professors would require assignments such as a scavenger hunt around campus? Hmmm... I must say, however, that I am grateful for whoever assigned this because I NEVER would have gotten Casey to go around campus and take photos of him at the beginning of med school! So yay for cheesy assignments! Here are some of the photos the boys took...

Casey, spicing up the photo

I didn't know Loma Linda was a country town...

I have to say, I love it when Casey wears his cowboy hat... you look hot, babe!

Casey and I zipped off to Newport beach for the day a few Saturdays ago... it's only an hour drive each way, and a much needed get away for both of us. (Especially myself, who has a slight obsession and craving for large bodies of water... not much of that in Loma Linda, you know)

Casey trying to read and me playing with the camera, being productive as usual.

Casey and Wayne hard at work...

Quick note on Wayne... some of my girl friends here asked me during the second week of school how long Casey and Wayne have been friends for. When I said that they just met when school started, they were all shocked. Casey and Wayne have totally hit it off, and they are already awesome friends. Wayne, you are an answer to prayer, I want you to know. Thank you Lord for this friendship...

Our first time meeting Wayne, at the White Coat Ceremony...

Katie is Wayne's lovely fiancee whom I worked with in Seattle... we adore her and can't wait for her to move out to this beautiful town we live in next year! (She lives in Hermosa Beach right now... four blocks away from the ocean, but I know she's jealous of our location...) ha!

How honored we felt to have our parents join us for Casey's ceremony... what a great way to begin this journey, surrounded by some of the people you love the most!

Since he was 10 years old Casey has been talking about being a doctor... and now here his parents are, with their son in a white coat... wow!

Praise be to God for this opportunity that we do not deserve, but rather we recognize as an extreme blessing... may we always treat this journey as such...

Casey and his classmates...

Getting his white coat placed on him by one of his professors

Mom, and you wonder why Lukey and I don't always have perfect smiles in photos... love you daddy-o!

Our wonderful mothers preparing dinner before the ceremony

Casey's official "First Day of School" photo! No, these photos do NOT stop after you graduate from high school!!!

Lukey spoiled us with a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant in Riverside... what a lovely date we had that night! Complete with calamari, and a margarita for yours truly!!! Thank you Lukey for your thoughtfulness and generousity...

Another quest for water... a day trip to Lake Gregory. It was great... we drove up above the smog line, and we were high enough in the mountains that it was actually green with pine trees! The lake was small, but a lake nonetheless. It was just fun to be away with my honey for a day... no books, just me and him.

Here is what I go through to get one good photo of the two of us... (The decent photo is the first one). Here is take one,

Take two,

and take three...

Yes I know I look gross and tired, but that was because I was gross and tired at the time. This photo marks our first ever dinner together in our new apartment :)

Oh, Seattle friends... oh how I miss you...

The girls put together an exquisite bbq at magnuson park for Casey and I before our departure. How loved you have always made us feel... you truly are so very missed...

Me and Shauna

Leann and Bennett

Last babysitting day with Bennett... miss you, baby boy!

Laurel's graduation party! Congratulations again, Laurel!!!

Karli and Zack's wedding... oh how happy we are for you two!

Another wedding shot...

One of the last times I saw Lindsey before she took off for Uganda... I love you, LFG!!! Miss you so...

Casey, my mom, and my possee at work suprised me on my last day at Children's... the tears did start to flow a tad... I can't tell you how special it is to work with your mom and your best friends!!! I pray that some day I can experience this again...

Oh how I miss you...

Thank you, mom and dad for a beautiful farwell party at your place... what a gift it was to have so many people that we care about and love in one place so that we can hug them all and say goodbye! Thank you for the memories...

Amber and her sweet babe Avery...

More photos from the bbq thrown by my sweet friends...

Avery's starting young...

You girls are so precious to me. Thank you for the gift of your friendships.

And for now I must be off... more to come soon. Hugs to all of our loved ones. Know that we are grateful for you in our lives, and that we think of you often. With much love, Chelsea (for Casey and I both :) )

Embrace change... these words offered by one of my wise professors in nursing school have been ringing in my head for several months now. I am not always opposed to change, and in fact, I like to think that I am an individual who welcomes it in many cases. However, as we have moved two states away, left priceless friends, changed jobs, started medical school, became land lords, and now live in a desert that some call beautiful and others call pure misery, I find myself wondering why change is so great.
Although I have moments of sadness when I think of my friends and the time that I am no longer spending with them, and my parents whom we cannot see as often, I am so very grateful for the chapter of life that we are living in right now. I have struggled most of my life with genuinely living in the moment, and not only living in it, but experiencing all that it has to offer, giving it all that I can offer, and extracting the joy that inevitably is waiting to be taken from it. I am a planner in the truest form... as a young child I would pretend to breast feed my stuffed animals, place them in a small crib I had for them, or even walk around with them in a child-sized baby carrier. I long to be a mother. In high school I wrote letters upon letters to my future husband, dreaming of where he was, who he was becoming, and all that we would do together. I am so fortunate to be married to my best friend. In college I would wear scrubs and place my stethoscope around my neck, pretending that I already held my RN license. I now feel privileged to hold this title and to be able to care for the little ones that I love so much. And of course now I cannot wait to get out of my scrubs at the end of a long shift and get into "real people clothes." Since I was in high school I have wanted to adopt a child, and thank you Jesus for preparing my heart and Casey's heart for this, as Casey has desired for the same since before we met. Over the past year or so, adoption conversations have increased in frequency and depth as I have been able to share this desire with not only Casey, but two of my dear friends, Shauna and Chandra. Both of them are safe places for me to dream of our babes that we will be able to nurture some day. And Shauna's "some day" is just around the corner... she is currently #1 on the waiting list to receive her sweet babe from Ethiopia! Auntie Chelsea can't wait to meet you and hug you, sweet Maeve! And over the last seven years, minus some time taken for a teaching career detour, Casey and I have been discussing the idea of him becoming a physician. Here we are in Loma Linda, California and what do I find myself sitting next to but a huge stack of medical textbooks and a charcoal gray stethoscope with Casey S. Ward, MD engraved on it. Wow.
So while planning has its place, I want to strive to dwell in the now, because I am a believer in the idea that none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow. And it is for this reason that I should with each day strive to love others' with the unconditional love of Jesus, demonstrating compassion, respect, forgiveness and kindness. My life has been in four year blocks for quite some time... four years of high school, four years of college, four years of living in Kirkland and working in Seattle, and now we are jumping into four years of medical school in hot, sweaty Loma Linda. If I think carefully back to each of those four year blocks, they each feel so full of memories and for this I am grateful. And yet simultaneously they feel as though they were only a few weeks long, that they have somehow sped by without my knowing. Perhaps this dichotomy is inevitable, and yet I can't help but feel that I should have slowed down more, enjoying even more what each day in each week, in each month, in each year, in each four year block had to offer.
I take this mixture of feelings forward with me now into this next "chapter," striving to enjoy and learn from each season that we will go through on this journey. I would be naive to think that it will always be easy-- that I will never resent LLU for requiring so much time and energy from my husband, (even though it was our choice to attend!), that I will never question our decision to embark on this journey, that I will never feel lonely, that I will never feel jealous of the other students for getting to spend more awake hours with my husband that I do, etc. And yet while naivete would be the root cause of most of the above feelings, sheer stupidity would be the root cause of a lack of gratefulness and humility, of a thankful spirit for this incredible privilege of attending medical school, and the privilege I have of supporting my best friend through this time. Never do I want to forget the two and a half years that Casey poured himself into receiving an acceptance, and never do I want to forget those of you who supported us, prayed for us, encouraged us, and listened to us when we needed to talk about the stress involved in embarking on this journey. We are so blessed, so honored to have had the support that we have in all of our friends and family. You all have shown us God's love and encouragement through your words and actions; we are humbled by your selflessness, and are ever grateful.
I asked Casey the other night what his greatest fear of starting medical school was, and what he was most excited for. He answered "I am most excited to be able to do what I was made to do." Casey and I believe that we were made to serve our Creator and that one way to do so is to love and serve the people that he has created...everyone. For several years we have had a note that I wrote for Casey taped in one location or another in our bathroom... it reads:

Casey,

"I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant', I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:9-10

How grateful we are that we are not on this journey alone.

So if you are holding a glass of some sort, raise it up. Here is a toast to today, to the moment that we are consciously choosing to experience and dwell in. To the day that we have been given... today, not tomorrow. To learning from all moments, even those that may frustrate or hurt us. To looking forward with anticipation, looking backwards with thankfulness, and all the while remembering that the moment we are experiencing right now is a blessing, and to treat it as such!

Hugs from the southern portion of the country,

Chelsea (for Casey and I both) :)