In the ARMY!
Well, who'd have thought that this journey would bring me here, but as of Friday, I am an officer in the US Army. I was commissioned to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and have now entered into the Health Professional Scholarship Program. First to alleviate some concerns, I want to let everyone know that I will still go to medical school (most likely at IU School of Medicine) as planned. I will still get an M.D. and enter into a residency program to become board certified. The differences are that 1. I won't have to pay for medical school. (In fact, they will pay me to go.) and 2. the residency program will be at an Army hospital instead of a civilian one. In return for the scholarship, I will have a four year service commitment to the Army, during which I will be working as a doctor in Army hospitals, serving soldiers and their families.

Let me assure everyone that our family has been praying about this decision for quite some time now, and we are excited about the opportunities that we know God will have for us as we continue on this adventure!

So, now, I thought I'd share some pictures from my commissioning ceremony. I just had a small ceremony, but my mom and dad came up from Tennessee (surprising me!) and our friends Kevin and Mindy (along with their little Cora) came to witness me taking my oath.

Here is a picture of Mike pinning my rank on me. (When he was in the Army, I pinned his specialist rank on him at his promotion.)

Mom and Dad with Mike and me:

Me with The Flicks:

Captain Moore, me, Mike and Sergeant First Class Vanover:

They give you a cake when you join the Army...how about that?

One more picture of Mike and me...If there were those puffy thought bubbles over our heads, this is what they'd tell you we were thinking:

Shannon: Mike has been so supportive, I am so blessed!

Mike: This is great. I am SO retiring in four years!

OK, just kidding. He has been very supportive ;)

Well, that's it for now!
-shannon

Madeline's New Look

Well, Madeline decided to ring in the new year with a new look...complements of Aunt Laura. We drove over to Aunt Laura's shop, and Madeline got the star treatment; seeing as how the shop opened just for her, she got all the one on one attention with her stylist that a true princess deserves.

Her hair had grown to her shoulders, and after many mornings of putting in the much begrudged ponytails or braids, Madeline decided it was time to liberate herself with a bob =).

Can you not see in her eyes how much she loves her aunt as she looks up at her while she is getting shampooed?

Here she is during the big cut. She did really well, sitting pretty much as still as I have ever seen her in her life!

Trying to get a look at the new "do" for herself...too cute!
I can't believe how grown up my little girl has gotten!
And here she is with her very beloved stylist, Aunt Laura.
Thanks so much for the haircut, Laura Rose! You did such an amazing job, and we love it!

-shannon

Christmas Adventures....
I know this blog has been a long time coming, but I assure you, that I have uploaded plenty of pictures to make it worth your wait!

I'll start this by saying that our family has had so many celebrations, that Miss Madeline lost count about half way through them! We started out with Grandma and Grandpa Grismore's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Mom and Dad came up from Tennessee for the celebration; they even swung through Nappanee to take part in Timothy's Grandparent's Day at school.

Here's a picture they took of Timothy with his very special little girlfriend. These two play together all the time, and I hear all about her during the school week. It's obvious in this picture that he knows he is the man! =)
We made our way over to Ohio and had Grandma and Grandpa's reception. The weather, was much less than cooperative, and as we decorated and prepared, we wondered more than once if we might be the only ones brave enough to venture out in the snow and ice, but it turned out wonderfully! So many friends and family came to celebrate, and it was such an inspiration to see the many lives that they have impacted in their 50 years of marriage.

Yes, as a matter of fact I do know my grandparents look far too young to have been married 50 years! =)

So, in keeping with our camera gaming tradition, my sisters and I got out the digital media and struck a pose with mom...

Then we had the brothers-in-law do the same thing.....perhaps all the hard work was taking its toll on our mental faculties! That evening we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and celebrated Christmas with the whole family. Here's a picture of my cousin David who played some Christmas music for us to get the festivities underway.
The next morning we headed over to Mamaw and Papaw's house, since my mom and dad and sisters wouldn't be up again before Christmas, they had their Christmas with my mom's side of the family then. My cousin Sophia was very proud to give Aunt Pam the gingerbread house she had made for her.

Timothy had fun playing with Olivia too =)

Here are all the girls putting on a show with their new Barbie dolls.
And here is my daddy...I love him.

When we got home, we did put up our tree finally, even though we were only home to enjoy it a few days more! So after one more week of work and school (OK mostly Christmas parties for the kids) we had our family Christmas. Here are the kids after opening presents at home.
We headed out that night for Mike's parents house, and the kids were excited to get out their new games and have some fun with Grandma and Poppy.

Here's an impromptu family picture we took on Sunday morning after church. Can you believe Matt wore jeans to church??? Hannah has some work to do =)
We opened presents with Matt and Hannah, and the kids were excited about their gifts! Timothy got a Mario race car.
Madeline got a Littlest Pet Shop set, which she was very excited about!
Mmmm....mmmm.....good...sharing chicken noodle soup at Grandma's house.
We spent Christmas Eve Day at Mike's cousin Annie's house and had quite the family gathering! The kids had fun loving on all of the cousins and aunt and uncles. They sure do love their (almost) Aunt Hannah!

Mike's cousin Jarrod was very good to Madeline, who wanted to have a seat in the middle of all the video gaming.
All the Rader girls and their girls got together and talked wedding talk with Kristin =)
The video gaming went on pretty much all day.....they were bonding, right?
There were presents here too of course and plenty to eat along with our fellowship.
Of course we can't forget Grandma's birthday...Christmas Day!

Christmas morning we opened presents with the Renfrows...
Timothy was excited about his new game...
Madeline LOVES her Littlest Pet Shop journal....
and Mom and dad might have liked those pictures we got for them.....their grandkids are pretty good looking after all...
That afternoon we headed over to Mamaw and Papaw's. I got a kick out of seeing both Mike and my Uncle Doug trying to figure out their daughter's new gaming equipment....pink's a good color for them =)

The girls sure have them figured out!
Mom and Dad Renfrow even came over for Christmas dinner, and it was wonderful!
The kids had fun playing with new toys that afternoon. Here they are playing Hullabaloo....a game that Sophia got that day.
This picture is a little fuzzy, but it is of Mamaw opening the pictures and photo calendar that we got for her and Papaw for Christmas. (They loved them of course!)
That evening we went by Grandma and Grandpa Grismore's and brought pictures for them. We had a nice visit, and the kid's enjoyed some popcorn and a little tea party with Grandma!

After we wrapped things up in Ohio, we headed down to Tennessee and met Mom and Dad in Gatlinburg. Here are Madeline and Timothy at the Dixie Stampede! It was quite the show. Everyone enjoyed it, especially when they got to see Aunt Heather in the show!
Later that night we played some putt-putt...
This is our celebratory photograph, because- yes- the Renfrows were the victors in the evening of putt-putt!
Yup....that's me and Laura....
Can you believe these good lookin' guys brought us home with them anyway?

Timothy had some fun up at OberGatlinburg...
Madeline out shopping...
What happened here, you ask? I'll just say it wasn't Mike's fault =)
We went out for some pancakes before heading back to Murfreesboro....
Who are these crazy guys we met up with in the gift shop?

Our little princess.....
When we did get back to mom and dad's it was present time again, and guess who also loved pictures of their good lookin' grandkids????
Madeline Rose and Laura Rose =)
I told her right before I took this picture that her eyes were closed in the previous one I had taken.....she made sure they weren't for this one!
Loving her Hannah Montana PJ's and slippers...

watching Aunt Heather open up the delicous hot cocoa made with love by Madeline and Timothy...
We had to take a picture of the yummy banana pudding Aunt Heather made because she was sleeping when we all decided to dig into it!
We did eventually make it home, and there was plenty of snow to play with until school started back....at least until it all melted this morning!
And I guess you could call that December in pictures for us. We are truly blessed, and we know it! Hope your holidays were as wonderful as ours.

-shannon