Knowing is Half the Battle

We found out what the seh of our child is this month. Yes, I said seh. Our family has an inside joke that we don't say sex because it is a bad word. Instead we just say seh. That has kind of morphed into other uses such as call me on my seh phone rather than cell phone but I digress. Anyway, Kuulei and I went down for an ultra sound Dec 14th the Monday after I came home from Grenada. I had a huge smile on my face just like cookie monster always does when he sees cookies. I saw a head, arms, legs, and then we got down to the nitty gritty to see if it was a boy or girl. I saw what seemed to be a boy then all the sudden the ultrasound got into focus and there was no doubt we were having a girl! I was very happy and excited but at the same time I thought, "heaven help me when she is a teenager". I am sure I will be one of those dads. We had Ezekiel as a name for a boy and Alette for a girl's name so looks like our daughter is going to be called Alette Ke'Alohimaikalanimai Harker. I have been practicing saying her middle name. Kuulei's eldest brother came up with the middle name for us, it means the shining brilliance from heaven here upon us. I thought that was quite fitting because that is how I feel about the whole thing. Our little angel, I can't wait to see her in person.

All Now Rejoice the Long Night is O'er

It was a funny feeling, Jan 11 I usually head back to Grenada for another round of school. This time though, I stayed here. It wasn't because I couldn't get a flight, nor was it because I was sick. Ok well, I did have the flu that week but that isn't why we didn't head back to Grenada. We stayed in Utah because I finished all of my work in Grenada!!! 5th term was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. Of course you can't go through a semester of medical school without a lot of stress as well so I experienced a lot of that too. As most of you know Kuulei got sick with morning sickness and had to go back to the U.S. so I was stuck in Grenada to fend for myself. I found joy in cooking treats for neighbors that were always so kind and helpful to me, and I also enjoyed hosting weekly BYU football games. We were fortunate enough to have some classmates that had slingbox so we could catch the Cougs in action. Without cooking and football I had nothing to look forward to each week other than the Sunday night skype with the fam and Kuulei. 5th term was fun, I enjoyed pharmacology and did well in that class. I didn't like the way pathophysiology was taught and I especially didn't like the way we were examined in there either but I figured out a few tricks that helped me do well enough. I won't comment on clinical skills for 5th term, they know what they did and I hope they make the changes for the other incoming 5th termers this semester. Shame shame shame. Anyway, I actually did the best grade-wise in 5th term. I also got to go to the hospital on rotations once a week and it was fun to see how the hospitals ran, or didn't run, in Grenada. I always enjoyed meeting patients and it was fun to see that I am actually able to kind of piece together some of the things I am learning in school to actually help people feel better. I am glad that I am done in Grenada, but I already miss some things. Coke, ting, sitting on the bus and chatting with my pals and who could forget going to church! It was a long tough two years but I find great joy and satisfaction in knowing I accomplished something like that. I believe we all have the power to accomplish great feats no matter what it is if we are tenacious, hard working, and never give up.

All Apologies

Well we have kind of slacked a little here on our little blog. For those of you who like to follow along we are sorry about the lack of updates. For those of you that don't like to follow our blog, don't worry about it because you didn't even notice! Kuulei told me to tell everyone how the end of my 5th term went and about our baby update. I have written about both of these on my own personal blog nickolasharkermd.blogspot.com. However, maybe not everyone follows along there so I will post about these two stories here. I hope you enjoy the news!