Oklahoma

We've been in Oklahoma for about three weeks now. Our arrival started badly, as the propane company seriously misled us about the cost of heating the beautiful 4-bdrm home we had planned to stay in. We simply couldn't afford it on our student loan budget, so we ended up moving into an apartment closer to where Dave is in clinic. It was an absolute nightmare having to move everything we own twice in 4 days without any help, but we'll laugh about it someday.

We're settling in pretty well now. The town is quite small, but has a Wal-Mart, and Joplin, MO is only a few miles down the road with everything you could want. We miss the mountains of southern Utah and Colorado dearly - outdoor activities around here consist mostly of fishing and hunting. Thankfully, the holiday season gives us plenty of activities to take the kids to on the weekends.

Dave loves the clinical experience he is getting. The clinic is very disease-heavy, and he sees a lot of rare and interesting conditions - he always has several stories to tell when he comes home.

The local ward is very small, but the members are wonderful - they have been so good to us, and have made us feel at home. We got together with a handful of other young families in our ward for Thanksgiving, and have managed to make a few friends already. We got invited over for dinner again at church today, so either the people here are sincerely nice, or they think we're really poor because we're students:) Regardless, the people are nice and we are enjoying experiencing a new part of the country.