Just a little something else I thought you might enjoy!

As it turns out I think this video might be a better depiction of me.

Year One Over and Done

Hello friends! It has been a little while and here I am alive and done with my first year of medical school. Can you even believe that? I can't! I can honestly say this past year has been one of the hardest and most amazing of my lifetime. As many of you know, I have gone through a lot but I can now say with confidence that it has all been worth it. This realization came upon me the other night when I woke up after my fever broke (in case you didn't know, I am currently recovering from Swine Flu). When I woke up, every thing I have experienced raced through my mind and I realized without a doubt that it was all worth it. I would have done it all again a million times over if it meant getting to know all the wonderful people I have had the privilage of getting to know this past year. People like Marius, Gheta, Flourine, Teo, my Romania girl, Jeff, Emily, my family, Sara Wilson, Trenton, Lindsey, Alex, my kids at cancer camp, and ultimately, myself. In fact, I think the price I have had to pay for all that I have gained has been very small indeed. But the strange thing is, at the time it seemed like the greatest price in the world. These are my thoughts at the moment, and I hope someone can find some greater understanding in them...what really matters though, is what we do with what we learn--and only time can tell what results these lessons might bring. Well enough of my blabbering on about the woes of med school and the life of a med student.
I have some lovely Haikus that my best friend Nikki wrote for my Mother and I earlier this week in order to help us heal:
I.
Sneezing Bushman girls
Worry Capitol friend, both
Vomiting, pleading

II.
Still incredulous
Angriest virus around
Swine Flu despair, quick

Needless to say Nikki is a very talented lady.

So now for closing I would like to include a little movie... Please do not think I am an egoist but it is a little something I put together during the school year. I took these pictures everytime I felt like I was not alive to remind myself that I in fact was. I supose it was a last stitch to remind myself that despite the isolation of medical school I am alive and that inspite of myself I am an artist. So please do you best to enjoy! Know I love you all and wish I could be with you more often.

as always elisa

Upon Request my Life

Hello all of you out there that have nothing better to do than read about my life! This is my blog, which I will now be updating periodically due to some requests. (I just hope you Romania girls know how much I love because I am morally apposed to blogg’in). As it turns out, for some reason, people think that my life must be interesting because I am in medical school but I will be the first to tell you that is a farce, unless of course you consider hanging out with text books and people just as nerdy as yourself exciting. Don’t get me wrong I really do love it! All I am trying to say is that shows such as “scrubs” have really made it seem much more exciting. So I fear dear friends who read my blog thinking Elisa’s life must be exciting because she “doing things with her life” will most likely be asleep by the end of this entry and lets hope you never read this blog again.

It all began with a white coat ceremony! That is a ritual they do in medical school where they give you a white coat at a pre-graduation like ceremony in hopes that when you encounter patients they will see you in your white coat and believe what you say is true. I personally am very grateful for the coat due to my youthful appearance. I need all of the believability I can get.

Next I ran away from life to DC. While there I stayed with my most amazing friend Nikki Christensen. We have been best friends since the 7th grade when I first met her while she was wearing a pair of jean overall shorts. Truly an amazing out fit… speaking of it I have always been mean to suggest bringing it back. If anyone has the nerve it is for sure Nikki. Needless to say, as you will see from the pictures, Nikki is now much more stylish than I will ever be. I just really love her and for those of you that do not know her you are truly missing out. While in DC we had the most wonderful time with a beautiful bike theme. It all began when Nikki picked me up from the airport on her bike upon which she pumped me and my bags back to her apartment. I could not stop laughing the whole time. We had a lovely time riding our bikes to all of the monuments and Roosevelt Island. It was exactly what I needed. Nikki was truly the best hostess in the world and she saved me quite simply from going crazy. It appears that she always does that for me. Although the trip was just drenched with lovely things like home cooked meals from Nikki best part was when she cried when I left. And then she called me crying a few hours latter from the lawn. I don’t think I will ever have a friend that loves me that much again. Oh yes but one more thing while we were there we happened upon the most amazing Jim Henson exhibit! I truly am such a sucker for the Muppets. And what made it the best is that everyone was so happy to be there. At the end of the exhibit there is a film playing of clips of his work. I sat on a bench between and old man and a young girl that were grinning from ear to ear. And it struck me that although Jim did not cure cancer he truly did make the world a better place simply with puppets! What a wonderful way to change the world!

Washington Monument

Lincoln Monument

Good Old Mark!

Next big thing was for sure going with Nikki’s family to Spring City over Christmas Break! I would go off about it but words could never express just how much I love the Christensen family. It was perfect. A highlight for sure was when Nikki was band from listening to Dolly Parton… which was a true shame because I really do love her so much.

So Craig and Susan

I love Nikki

Ladies

The most recent wonderful thing that has happened to me is for sure visiting my dear wonderful Kelly Kronk Johnson. Kelly and I just had a wonderful time running around Pittsburgh. She truly is just the post “precious” person in the whole wide world. I think what I loved best about being there was just feeling so loved by my dear Kel. I also loved seeing Frank Lloyd Wrights “Fallingwater”. It was amazing and since I am such an architecture/furniture nut I just loved every second of it. It was one of those things that were just not built up too much, which is really saying something because it is rather built up. I also had a blast hanging out with Kelly’s family! I just love them so much! Not to have favorites but I am truly a sucker for Rebecca Kronk, Kelly’s mom. Not that I don’t love the rest of you Konks but Kelly’s mom’s hugs just do me in. She is one of those people that when she hugs you you just feel so loved you want to cry. Needless to say it was just a magical visit.

Fallingwater

Baby Annett

Good Old Best friends!

Kelly's Amazing Attic

This is it!

Hello world… well in just one hour and 2 min from the moment that I started typing this email/blog I will start on my way home to you, well at least most of you. This past week might have just been one of the best in my whole lifetime. Literally this week consisted of one blessing after another. I am not sure why it happened with way but it did and I could not be more grateful. I honestly have done every single thing in Romania that I wanted two… I find myself leaving with no loose ends. Let me tell you about some of these little wonders that have happened to me.

The week started out with more Visa paper work. My dear friend Teo, who is helping Marius get to America, has been so worried about doing everything just right that we have all found ourselves spending a lot of time working on getting stuff ready for the big Visa meeting this Wednesday. On Monday while we were reviewing paper work I told Teo not to worry about helping me see my kids from last time that have been moved to another orphanage. Although this was a hard thing for me to do I realized that we had just run out of time and helping Marius was much more important at this point. The next this I knew Teo come running back in to the room and told me we had to go right now. Teo had lined up my going to Glata, the orphanage where my kids have been moved to without my knowing. She truly is such an amazing person. When I got there I could not have been more happy to see my little boy Flourin that I had worked with last time I was here. He is now 14 and comes up to my shoulder but is still the same old Frourin in his own little Autistic world. Of course when I saw him I could not help but cry as I hugged me little boy. He just looks so good and seems so happy. (I just read over those last few lines and am sorry that they have done a very poor job expressing what I felt. I wish I was a great writer so I could tell you how time stopped when I saw him but alas that is just not in the cards. Please do forgive me.) Teo also took me around to see some of my other kids and it was just amazing. I tried to thank her when we left but I just started crying but my dear Teo knew what I was trying to say. She just looked at me and said Elisa I know.

On Tuesday I got to spend the day with Marius’s older brother Inout, which was absolutely amazing. After only a day both Mindy and I totally fell in love with him. When we told Marius he was not very please and informed us that we were his friends not Iount’s. Inout truly is an amazing person. We helped him great ready for his big trip to the Visa office in Bucharest. The elders donated some clothes and Mindy and I got to pick out the rest. Needless to say we absolutely loved it and he thought we were totally crazy as we tried to speak to him in Romania. A real high light was when by accident I asked him if there was 6 million people in his town… as it turns out there is only 400. I thought he would die laughing. When we sent Inout and Teo off on the train both Mindy and I got all teary eyed. It was amazing how after only a day we loved him as much as Marius. Teo called me the next day totally exhausted to let me know that they got the Visas after a lot of convincing. When Inout found out Teo said he started dancing in the street, a beautiful moment.

On Wednesday I went to go visit one of my boys from last time in his foster home. This was also due to the work of Teo. I loved going there and I got to take a lot of really great pictures. More then anything I just loved seeing how happy he was. Seeing him there reminded me yet again that happy ending are out there.Mihai (age 15) with his 15 year old brother Alex

Last of all I want to tell you about one more of the millions of amazing experiences I have had this week…. Here goes this might be the highlight of my whole trip. Well Marius has started walking by him self now. He is so independent! He just wants to do every thing by himself and he is always so excited to show us just how much he does not need us. Today he was walking around being very careful not to fall. I was sitting there watching him on a bunch just thinking how hard it was going to say goodbye in a few minutes. When my dear little boy stepped over and put both of his arms around me and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Simply this was one of the biggest tender mercies of my life. Marius made my heart skip about one billion beats and I knew that without I was meant to be here.

Well my dearest friends and family I must least you now but know I love you very much! And also keep praying for my girls they have two weeks left and they have so much to do. Thank you for sticking through this with me. I cannot begin to tell you how much your support has meant to me. I love you all.

-elisa thelys bushmanOur last group pictures! I love these girls! I will miss them!

Someone got their visa today!

So Marius got his visa today and he along with the rest of us are super happy! It truly has been a miracle process! I just feel honored that I was able to be part of this. I wanted to post this video for all of Marius's girls friends. You know who you are. Ladies we are so lucky to have this boy. I hope you enjoy this video as much as we do.

sticky hands

Passports!!! the most amazing day!

Hello family and friends! So this week has been an odd one because as each day ended I became more and more aware that I have one day less left here. As a result I have been focusing a lot on the use of my time, which has in turn slowed time down. I am not sure if this is a good or a bad thing but I think in the future it will be a good thing. I will have just that many more memories.

Life here in general has been great. I find myself each day leaving the orphanage thinking that things just could not have gone better. Our workers really like us and the girls are just so confident and comfortable with their kids. I guess that really is the catch-22 of this program. As soon as we get really good at what we are doing it is time for us to leave. I sometimes can’t help but wonder if us being here is really good for the kids. After a lot of thought I have resolved that we really do more good then harm it is just sad that harm does happen. This week in particular I have been able to see just how the Lord uses us to make a positive difference…

All of the girls with the exception of Mary, Melissa and I went to spend a 4-day weekend at the black sea. Although it sounded like a lot of fun I realized I would be way too anxious if I spent any more time away from my kids then I already have. So I opted to stay and as a result Melissa and I have almost worked ourselves to death trying to make up for their absence. As I write this I realize that it seems like I am complaining but in all reality I have absolutely loved it. When I get anxious hard work is just the thing I need to balance myself out and I got my fair does this week. Melissa and I have been spending a lot of time getting things ready for Marius to leave to America. On Thursday at the orphanage Teo informed us that Inouts (Marius’s bro) was coming to Iasi so they could get passports made for the three of them. She asked us if it would be ok if we got Marius a pair of pants, shoes, and a nice shirt for his picture. Needless to say it did not take any convincing. Melissa and I could not have been more excited to get the job done. I told her we could be done by 1 so as soon as we were done with the orphanage we booked it to the mall. After a lot of debating we got Marius the cutest blue button up shirt that we thought would just match his eyes perfectly along with a pair of pants and some sandals. Just as we were ringing up our order, at 1:03, I got a call from Teo asking us where we were. I guess we were not the only ones who were excited. When we got to the hospital Melissa and I booked it up the four flights of stairs to Marius’s room. Just as we got to his room a nurse came over and tried to stop us from entering because there was to many people in the room. Usually we take the time to talk to the nurses and get them to let us go in but today was just not the day. We just ran right past her into the room and got Marius in his new clothes and place him in the foldable wheel chair the orphanage was nice enough to let us barrow. Marius just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Not only did he have a new outfit but also he had a hot new ride. I think if the day would have ended right there he could not have been happier but of course it just got better. As we all piled into the taxi Marius just got this huge grin on his face that would not go away. He kept hugging his big brother who he adore as he asked us about all of the things outside. At that moment I realized that not only was this Marius’s first time away from the hospital in 8 months but it was also the first time he had ever been in a city. You seen the town he is from is about the same size and the village I told you about last week. He had never seen a tram nor ridden in a taxi. He just loved it! As we waited at the passport office while Inouts and Teo filled out paper work Marius played the DS to keep his mind off of things and the people who kept looking at him. Truly yet another way that DS has been a blessing (Pete you were without a doubt directed to get that for him). It only took us and hour to get the passport, which blew Melissa and me away. It was so ironic that the most inefficient place I have ever been could get a passport done in an hour just mind boggling. Marius was so excited about the passport he would not let anyone else hold it except for when we fed him his first Swarma (the Romanian version of a kebab). Truly it was the most amazing day. I just feel honored I was there witnessing it. That smile on Marius’s face when we were in the taxi is something that has forever changed me. I think I witnessed an emotion that has never before been defined something much more brilliant then joy.

As for now wish me luck on my last week and I will see most of you soon!

-elisa

simply the cutest boys hand I will ever hold
even though he is not smiling he is happy I promise.