Tacoma, here we come

I will be doing my year-long internship at the VA American Lake, near Tacoma, Washington.

Tacoma, here we come

we're going on internship this year!

At 4:30am this morning I received the following email:

To: ELIZABETH

This message provides you with your Match result for the APPIC
Internship Matching Program for internship positions beginning
in 2008.

Congratulations! You have been matched to an internship position.

Information on the specific program to which you have been matched
will be available on the Matching Program web site beginning at
10:00 a.m. EST on Monday, February 25, 2008. This information will
also be sent to you by e-mail on Monday morning, February 25, 2008.

We're going to go on internship this year!!! (which means I'll finish my degree in July 2009)
Thank you, God, for this opportunity.

january journeys

These pictures tell the story of the Ramquist's journeys this January of 2008.

My brother's engaged!

My sister and I had the privilege of throwing an engagement party for my brother and his wonderful Bethany. Here are some pictures from a lovely night.

Thanksgiving & Fall

Being proud pass-holders at Disneyland, we took some pictures by the annual delights: the ever-changing color of the letters of "California" outside of Disney's California Adventure, Sleeping Beauty's castle decked out in blue lights, and the huge Christmas tree on Main Street.



We were able to go on our 3rd annual Thanksgiving Vacation. This year, we went to Santa Barbara and enjoyed the delights of crisp air, a beautiful ocean, a clean outdoor mall, and Black Friday sales without the craziness or early mornings.

drumroll please....

The last hurtle has been cleared and now it's a long wait to find out if my time was good enough to finish the race this academic year.

Okay, enough with the analogy. I finished my 17th and final internship application tonight!!! Now I wait for interview invitations, and then I will find out in late February if I get an internship this year and where it will be. This stretch from May to now has been a constant sprint, with my feet stumbling under me many times.

These internship applications totaled more than 1000 pieces of paper, 6 printer cartridges, and a whole lot of postage!

At this point I feel peace about what God will bring into our lives. It could be such a variety of things. Wow. I'm finally done. Four years ago when I began my doctoral program, I could never have imagined that I would actually get through my comprehensive exams, professional qualifying exams, and write dozens of essays for internship applications. But...I am at this point only through God's grace...


Tomorrow I'm taking the day off and going to Disneyland.

-a tired Elizabeth

the beauty of home

So, since Shea and I are mentally preparing to move sometime in the future (possibly as soon as 8 months), we are being intentional about enjoying the beauties of the terrain near our home. On a day off, I went to my favorite city park in Orange County - "Central Park" in Huntington Beach. It was late September and fall was just rolling in. Here are a few shots of what I photographed.