Hey everyone.  Again...sorry for the long pauses between posts ( I could make a medical joke here about apnea, but I'll save that for the medical people here).  So above you see a picture of some of the vessels of the abdomen which supply the pancreas, duodenum, stomach (reflected up in the picture), spleen, jejunum and part of ileum.  Right now in lab we are actually looking at this stuff.  It's pretty amazing to see it, identify it, trace the loops and branches.  The intestine is lengthy.

     God has been very faithful to me this semester.  This past Mini exam was an answer to prayer.  Mini II was, far and away, the most material we've had in any one stretch so far.  This semester we often have lecture from 8-5.  It doesn't leave a whole lot of time for study.  Coming to the Mini I was really needing to do well in Biochem.  Neuro was worth less and my grades in anatomy and neuro have already been very good, so I wasn't concentrating on them as much.  I asked God is he would pick up the slack and help me through anatomy and neuro (not to mention Biochem, physio and histo).  Neuro has been particularly difficult for me.  There are a lot of pathways to memorize and many of them intersect and do multiple things.  Hard to keep it all straight in your head.  I got a C in anatomy (which was fine) an A in physio, high B's in histo and Biochem, and an A in neuro.  There really is no other explanation than God's help there.  Most people (including myself) spent less time studying neuro because it wasn't worth very much.  God is good.  He gives us beyond what we expect and hope for.  I am thankful.  

     I wanted to ask for your prayers in the coming five weeks, in two particular areas.  The first is with school.  I am feeling pretty tired as most of the week I see 16 or 17 hour days.  Not only do I need energy but also motivation.  The second is at the end of this semester we have something called "Shelf" exams.  It is a test in each subject that looks at the entire 1st two semesters of med school.  It is going to be difficult and it is worth 20% of our grade in each subject.  Please pray for diligence on my part and  high scores.    

     Hope everyone is well.  Thank you for reading.

           John