Countless Blessings

The pile is growing....

2012-01-16T13:27:00.001-06:00

It has been quite a while since my last post. I keep trying to be better at posting more regularly, but then either nothing that I think of as "noteworthy" happens or I just get too busy that I forget. Most of the time I feel like I am under a pile of life "stuff" that boggs me down, and lately it seems to be growing. Here's hoping that this year will bring time to MAKE things noteworthy!

I found out last fall that my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. My grandpa had been diagnosed in the '90's so my dad was getting his PSA levels checked regularly, thankfully. This is the reason that it was caught so early, and the reason that he was able to have robotic surgery to remove his prostate and required no further treatment. I didn't accept the news all that well when my parents first told me. For those that really know me, it is no surprise - I don't initially handle bad news all that great if it deals with life & death, and have not always handled death gracefully. Once I really absorbed what they had told me and got all of the pieces of information, I was able to realize that this was not bad news. Yes it was cancer, but the bottom line is that it is not a bad cancer to have and it was caught so early that he had options. The day came and my sis and I stayed with my mom while dad was in surgery, chatting and perusing the hospital gift shop. Everything came out great and the pathology showed that it was all contained and removed, THANK YOU GOD.

He had 6 weeks to recover and then he was to undergo his second surgery/hospitalization of his life (quite impressive really that both happened within a few months of his 65th birthday), a 3 level spinal fusion. Spinal stenosis has been causing problems for him for a while and after working with a neurosurgeon for almost a year it was decided that surgery was his option. Once again we found ourselves in a hospital for what was this time a very long day. Surgery went perfectly and after wearing a collar for a month he got the OK to take it off this past Friday, and he is once again able to drive! That made my mom's day more than anything ;-)

Christmas this year was a lot of fun with E. He definitely knows how to unwrap presents, but we enjoyed watching him so focused on what he was getting that he would forget he had more to unwrap and I would have to finish for him while he played with his new toys/books. By the third family celebration he was finally unwrapping all of his gifts instead of the first one or two. I try to keep the amount of toys we have down to an amount that he can play with everything he has - I never want him to have so much that he doesn't know what he has and doesn't play with half of it. We got a lot of great books this year and a few great toys too.

We continue to want to expand our family, but there have been some issues this time that forced us to take a month off of treatment. Hub has also (during that month) started seeing a neurosurgeon for his continued back problems. His latest MRI showed something his doc didn't care for, so the referral process began. Thankfully, the neuro they sent him to was dad's surgeon, so I had met him and got a great first impression from him that day. Surgery is an option, but they are trying everything they can before they bring that to the table. We spent an hour last Wednesday in a pain management center while he got an epidural to help the sciatica he has been suffering from. As of this morning a shot that should have helped him for 2 weeks is no longer helping, and barely did at all anyway. He has been limited in the things he is allowed to (or can) do with/for Eli and that has really been bothering him. Hoping and praying that something gives soon so he can restrengthen the bond he and E have! More tests and whatnot in the immediate future and hopefully a decision will be made by the beginning of next month what to do to help him. Not sure what that means for the baby thing for us, but I have faith that if our family is meant to expand then it will, when HE says it's time.

E is growing SO much. He is starting to get a little bit of an attitude at times, showing us the "twos" are right around the corner. At the same time though his independence is rapidly growing too. Once he learns he can do something on his own he does it repeatedly and does NOT want help with it, no matter what. His vocabulary is off the charts - we have officially lost track of what he knows because there is just so much. He is the parrot that I never knew I always wanted ;-)

Hope you all are healthy and happy and had a wonderful Christmas and New Year full of blessings!

Been There, Done That

2011-10-18T15:24:00.000-05:00

I have been really and truly enjoying motherhood since day one, well truthfully as a whole since maybe the end of week one or beginning of week two (once we started formula since I wasn't producing anything). Part of me thinks that since it was difficult to get to motherhood that God blessed me with an easy ~~child~~ baby. The older he gets the less easy he is. Don't get me wrong, he is a passive soul (much like his father) but he is definitely at the beginning of tantrums when he doesn't get his way or when he feels like it. We are taking it all in stride though, because even his tantrums are still cute to us....for now ;-)
Once I got pregnant with E I heard from so many people how their bodies kicked in and started working properly once they gave birth and they didn't have to get help to have baby #2. I held onto a tiny piece of hope that that would be us. Once E turned 1 we decided to stop preventing and see what happened. BIG.FAT.NOTHING. Turns out, I am not like all those other people - my body did not get the message after all. While I was a little bummed about not being able to do things ourselves (and for free) I have at least come to the conclusion that at least we know this time around that we CAN have a baby and what it takes to get there.
So the journey to becoming a family of four has begun. After speaking with my OB a few weeks ago I was once again referred to the wonderful Dr. R. Consultations get to be skipped this time around (yay!) and the drug regiment was started after a brief phone conversation with Dr. R's fabulous nurse. I am almost 2 weeks in and had forgotten how crappy these meds make me feel. Hub & I are supposed to go to Mexico for a belated anniversary trip next week so I am hoping that I actually feel good enough to enjoy it....AND that I don't get a visitor while we're there - THAT needs to wait until we get back so I can get an ultrasound on day 1 to prepare for IUI again!! I am excited and stressed at the thought of expanding our family - but becoming a family of 3 has been so freakin' awesome that how can becoming 4 be anything less? I am so in love with my sweet E and being his mother - THIS is my purpose.
While all of this has been going on we have also been dealing with family troubles. My dad is having some health issues, fairly big ones, and that has hit hard. E will be staying with them when we are gone next week so I know that will be good medicine for him right before his surgery. Hoping and praying the recovery is easy on him, as he then turns around and has another surgery for a nerve problem in his neck that is causing him to lose his grip - one week before Christmas! Things will be interesting this year - that recovery is supposed to be pretty hard. Anyone reading this - please stop and say a prayer for him (and for my mom/family) - that God guides his surgeon's hands and that recovery isn't just awful. And for a VERY successful surgery (especially the first one!!) It is going to be a busy and probably long holiday season for our family, but hopefully next year will be a healthy one for all of us - and maybe we will have a new member of the family around.......you never know!!

A to Z of ME

2011-10-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

Got this from my friend Blair's blog, Life of a Mamarazzi and figured I would do it too. Don't post as much as I'd like these days so maybe this will give you something new about me that you didn't know before!

A. Age: 32 and 363 days. Wednesday I once again become the same age as my hub - I always enjoy the 9 months of him being older ;-)

B. Bed size: KING!

C. Chore that you hate: Floors and/or cleaning the showers/tubs. Our shower feels so closed in so I REALLY don't care to clean it (don't worry, I do it anyway, I just don't like it)

D. Dogs: Love dogs when they are someone else's. We had a dog growing up, but it wasn't very nice so I never really became a dog lover. Plus I married a man allergic to dogs and we had a son that is allergic to ALL things furry so I am pretty sure we will never have a furry pet.

E. Essential start to your day: I have to see E. I am not a coffee drinker and rarely drink pop even, so caffeine is not a thing for me. When we are at home living normal day-to-day life, I have to go in and whisper goodbye to E if it is not my day to take him to Grandma's or "school" and he is still asleep when I leave for work. If i leave without doing that, I feel wrong all day long.

F. Favorite color: I am not sure I can answer this really. My love of colors is fairly broad and ever-changing (as far as my color obsession of the moment). Right now, I guess it would be a teal kinda green-blue color. Wanting to redo my living room (without spending much $$) and use that as a accent color!

G. Gold or Silver: I am usually silver or white gold, but I have warmed up to yellow gold lately - totally depends on what I am wearing

H. Height: 5'9"

I. Instruments you play: I took piano for a few years when I was younger (2-4 grade I think). I can still kinda read sheet music enough to play my old Christmas Carol books and some past recital pieces ;-)

J. Job title: Art Dept. at my paying job and MOM at home ;-) oh, and wife of course!

K. Kids: So far we have Eli who is 18 months and the absolute joy of my life. He is my happiness personified ;-)

L. Live: In a suburb of OKC

M. Mother’s name: Helen - so thankful to have such an amazing role model and friend in her!!

N. Nicknames: mama, Jules

O. Overnight hospital stays: When I had Eli

P. Pet peeves: When people are stupid and don't think before they do or say things

Q. Quote from a movie: totally blank.......man......I really need to watch movies more often

R. Right or left handed: Right!

S. Siblings: Brother, Gef, who is 7 years older. Sister, Lisa, who is 4 years older. (and then a whole slew of brother and sister-in-laws)

T. Time you wake up: Well, I WAKE up at 6 every morning - I don't GET up until at least 6:30 most days - Thursdays and weekends if I am lucky I get to go back to sleep until 8ish

U. Underwear: yes ;-) no particular brand, but no thongs!

V. Vegetable you hate: Mushrooms!!!

W. What makes you run late: If E isn't cooperating and it is just him & I. If he is in a mood it makes me run late getting ready and it spills over until I am am late to where ever we were going

X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, knees, hand, fingers, foot (MRI of neck/upper back/spine)

Y. Yummy food that you make: I like to pretend everything I make is yummy ;-) I follow a recipe quite well, but my favorite lately is Cinnamon Sugar Bread!!

Z. Zoo animal: Monkeys and giraffes!

Is there something in the water?

2011-07-19T11:37:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or are more and more people having infertility issues these days? Perhaps my own experiences have just made me pay more attention, or maybe it's just talked about more? It is crazy how many people I know that have had to have the help of an RE (reproductive endocrinologist for those that don't know) to have their dreams of having a family come true. (I have just been thinking a lot about this lately and needed to purge my brain so I could actually get some work done, so here we go!) I can't help but wonder if there is some environmental factor in play here. It is just odd how many people in my life have had to experience difficulty or loss when it comes to having a family. And most of those people are my age.

I have had family members (myself included) and numerous friends from college struggle to have a family or to expand their family, all for various reasons and with various procedures and medications used. The majority that I know have had success, some still struggling and doing everything in their power to have that dream realized. People don't realize how much it can affect you mentally, emotionally and physically to want to get pregnant so badly and to try and try have nothing happen. I was near depression and my dear hub was suggesting we stop and I go to therapy because I was struggling so much. Needing a lot of help to even ovulate so the possibility of getting pregnant could even be in my future changed me. I am so thankful that I found that combination of pills and procedures to help me get there. I was terrified to get my hopes up so I think I had planned for the worst, expecting nothing to work. We had even discussed selling our house to pay for IVF or adoption if/when it came to that, and as much as I wanted to carry our baby I wasn't sure I was strong enough to try IVF and have it not work. But for us it didn't come to that and we were blessed with a wonderfully perfect-for-us little boy. I really feel like the journey to him makes me love him differently than I might if I had gotten pregnant right away and on my own. (Now, this is NOT to say that I love my kid more than anyone else loves their kid(s) - this is just me talking about my feelings pertaining to my family. Please no one be offended!) I feel like I look at every little milestone and every little experience with him in a more thankful way, like I appreciate it more. Perhaps my experience was put into my life to teach to truly be thankful and not take anything for granted - that is what I like to think anyway. Mind you I will love whatever sibling Eli has some day (hopefully) just as much as I love him whether we have that baby on our own or with help again. I think Eli just opened my heart up a little more and allowed me to love the people in my life a little deeper and to be more appreciative of their presence in my life.

For any reading this, I have four special friends (at least, there could be more that I don't know of) that are currently either expecting or working with their own REs to have babies. All have been having their own troubles, some have had VERY long and hard roads and some are at the beginning of their journey - all of them want desperately to have a baby though and all of them would be or are tremendous mothers! Please pray for my friends, that they may know the love that I have come to know and probably couldn't survive without. My journey to Eli was, in a twist, one of the best things to happen to me. I pray that my friends can say the same thing someday when they look at their children. The love you feel for your child and from your child is like no other....

Where did my baby boy go?

2011-07-15T14:32:00.001-05:00

I know I constantly say that I don't know where time is going, but I'm sure all parents have felt that feeling that once your kid is born time speeds up and never slows down again. I still feel like it was last month that we had our last IUI that brought us Eli, and here we are and he is 15 months old and turning into a true little boy. He is walking all over the place, even starting to run more as he showed me his skills IN HIS CRIB last night (as visions of him smashing his face into the railing as he went down danced through my head - he isn't very sturdy when he's tired and despite the running he was tired).

We had the pleasure of turning his carseat around this past weekend. They changed the recommended age a few weeks before his birthday from one year to two years and as much as I don't necessarily agree with it I figured I would wait and ask his doc. I forgot when we were there for his 1 yr so at his 15 mo. last week I asked and his doc responded saying that those guidelines are based on size and that I have a kid that is plenty big to be safely facing forward - SCORE! I have to admit, it was getting difficult to get him in and out of that thing with it rear-facing, but if his doc would have recommended we stay that way I probably would have listened. However, we were told we could/should turn him so now he has the pleasure of facing the front! You would think most kids would be excited to see where they were going instead of facing a seat back but not my kid. He may like it, but if he does then he hides the excitement really well. I think he has raised his hands like he was riding a roller coaster two or three times for a few seconds and squealed, but other than that he sits very stone-faced staring ahead, it kinda cracks me up. He weighed in at a wonderful 28 1/2 pounds and is 33 inches tall by the way, 90+% on both ;-)
He is also expanding his vocabulary on what I feel like is a daily basis. Ball I think is his favorite word and toy, along with his cars. He points at every ball he sees, no matter where we are, and announces to us that he sees it (which I really love) and even manages to find the balls hidden in pictures as we read. His appetite is steady as ever, he really loves having family dinner with G and I too, he just sits there and smiles and looks at us as he eats....melts my heart every time!

I went back to work another day a little while back. I miss my Tuesdays with him now, but the extra money is nice (got a raise for giving up a free day too!) and will come in handy to save up for creating a sibling for E someday (if we have to go back to our RE for assistance that is). Besides, I still have my Thursdays off to get some mommy & E time! I would really LOVE for him to have a younger sibling, but if it isn't meant for us to have another baby ourselves then maybe we'll revisit adoption - that is a discussion for G and I to have if/when that time comes though. Neither of us really want him to be an only child (no offense to those out there, we have both gotten to reap the benefits of having siblings though) but we are not in control so I guess we shall see.

I should probably get back to work now. I have just gotten SO bad about writing anything on here, mainly because I am not sure who in the world would want to read about my daily life these days, but I decided that I didn't care and am going to try to get back to it anyway. It's cheaper than therapy!

E is 1!!

2011-07-15T14:32:00.000-05:00

I know I am past his birthday by a good two months, but I am a little slow keeping this current these days. We had my favorite photographer (CAT Photography) take E's one year pics the weekend before his birthday and they turned out great! Here are some of my favorites....

As well as one last pic from his birthday party, where he polished off his chocolate cupcake....the ENTIRE thing....

Such a Slacker

2011-03-30T08:58:00.003-05:00

Well, I have been enjoying life too much I guess to take the time to sit and update this thing. Busier than I have ever been, that is for sure. So now, as my precious E sits and finishes his cereal & bananas for breakfast before "school" I have a minute. I am in awe at how fast this year has gone. We struggled for what seemed like forever to have a baby and when we finally have one a year passes in the blink of an eye. My baby boy is going to be ONE next Friday - what?! How can that be already? I sit and watch him now and sometimes have trouble remembering how he was before he moved - not that I couldn't look at the thousands of pictures and videos we have ;-) It seems every day he is learning some new "trick" or skill and I am constantly amazed at this kid. His former reluctance for real fruits and veggies has almost gone and he has been enjoying bananas, strawberries, blueberries, edamame, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. We still have a few more staples for our house to work on, but I am enjoying this part of eating so much! He might not be too far from walking - he certainly cruises the furniture and has even started walking a bit holding only one of my hands instead of both! He's not completely sure about that yet, but he does it for about 5-10 steps before he reaches out for the other hand. What a kid ;-)

Just Shy of 8 Months

2010-11-26T18:55:00.001-06:00

I seriously cannot believe how fast time is going. Eli will be 8 months in a little over a week and that just blows my mind. I spent today putting up the Christmas tree and decorations and even though he was sitting there watching me while he played I think it really hit me when I put his stocking up - we get to have Christmas as a family of THREE this year!! He is SUCH a happy and laid back little boy and he is growing like a weed. He had his first sickness this past week (an ear infection) and at his doctors appointment he weighed 21 pounds 10 ounces - yikes! He is getting chubbier and chubbier since he is content not crawling and just laying or sitting and playing and rolling around if he wants something, but he is still really active. He is the absolute joy of my life, even in his most trying moments. This is going to be one heck of a Christmas!!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T16:54:00.002-05:00

Yes, I realize I am MASSIVELY behind in posting. Someday I hope to get back to it, but right now is not the time as I am about to feed the kiddo and head out to a carnival with our little Yoda! Hope you all have a great halloween!

Three Months plus some

2010-07-27T14:59:00.005-05:00

Three and a half months have passed in the blink of an eye. Every single day this little boy amazes me by doing something new. He goes to town jumping in his jumperoo, he can sit with the help of his bebe pod or some pillows, he can roll from his belly to his back, he is a little chatterbox and he eats like no three and a half month old I have ever seen. His pediatrician had us start adding cereal to his bottle three times a day to hopefully help fill him up a little better so he doesn't gain as much weight as he has been. His daily meals consist of three bottles that are 4 oz. formula and 4 tbsp. cereal and one bottle that is 7 oz. formula. Half of the time he drinks an extra 2 oz. of formula after his cereal because he is still hungry - yet even with all of this food my little guy isn't a big chubby baby! We have tried eating the cereal off of a spoon, but he isn't totally ready for that yet. His problem is he eats fast so when I feed him off of a spoon he can't and that makes him very mad. We keep trying though and he lasts a little bit longer every time we try. He is such a happy baby - he LOVES to play with his frog toy bar on his carrier and he laughs and laughs. Some people focus on the things they gave up when they had children, but I don't even remember those things. I look in his face and it just makes me so happy to know that we have this little boy in our lives. I would give up everything every single day if I had to just to have him in my life. I have never loved someone so completely before - even my husband whom I love and adore with all of my heart. A mother's love is a different kind altogether.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T22:36:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone has (or had) a safe and happy 4th of July!!

Two months old

2010-06-10T17:07:00.011-05:00

I am in complete disbelief that two months have gone by. I mean, I have a two month old son, that is craziness! He is pure sweetness though, isn't he?! How could you not love that face?? This has been an interesting past two months. I have to say, we have been very blessed with a child that sleeps well and eats very well and is healthy and happy - we really won the lottery with this kiddo! E is eating a ton - at least 6 bottles a day, 5 1/2 to 6 ounces a bottle. Over the past month he has gone from 9 pounds 15 ounces to a whopping 13 pounds 8 ounces (yep, you read that right!) and has shot up from 21 3/4 inches to 23 3/4 inches tall. He is in the 80th percentile straight across the board for his 2 month check-up! He is sleeping at least 6 hours at night, sometimes more, which makes mama very happy! His pediatrician said that if his weight gain stays this steady and he is over the 95th percentile next month then we will probably be starting cereal after next month's check-up to keep his weight gain and calorie intake under control. He got his first round of shots today and he did really well, although I am a little fearful of tonight because he has pretty much been sleeping all day since we got home so this could be a really long night!

Motherhood is so much better than I ever could have imagined. Maybe if I had a kiddo with more normal eating & sleeping habits I might not be as in love with it as I am, but I am a person who has NEVER considered staying at home with my children and I now wish more than anything that we could afford for me to so I could spend more time with him. I am so thankful every day for the opportunity to be this little boy's mother. He is truly amazing and I love every minute that I get to spend with him. This life of mine is going to be one wild ride ;-)

One Month

2010-05-08T18:51:00.001-05:00

One month ago today our lives changed and this great little guy entered the world. Life these days is a little slower, but much sweeter. Eli is getting bigger every day. He eats between 4 1/2 and 5 ounces each feeding, sometimes as much as 7 1/2! He loves to play on the floor, especially laying on his tummy. He turns his head from side to side and lifts his leg like he's practicing for the day when he's ready to roll over. We love to watch him observe his surroundings and coo and smile. Most of all I love when all he needs to relax is to snuggle on my chest - we know how precious these days are and we are loving and cherishing every moment with our little boy.

our precious little boy

2010-04-19T21:43:00.002-05:00

So Eli had his first real photo shoot last Thursday on his one week birthday. He was SO good and didn't fuss a bit. If anything he was maybe a little more awake and curious than she was expecting, but we couldn't be happier with the results. Here is a sneak peek at a few of the pictures:

Boys N Berries Photography

Welcome to the world, Eli!

2010-04-18T11:32:00.002-05:00

Elijah Royal Burks was born on April 8, 2010 at 4:57pm. He weighed a surprising and whopping 9 pounds and was 21 3/4 inches long - quite the big boy!! We are home and he is now a week old - time is already flying by like the blink of an eye. We are adjusting to life as a family of three, but loving it all. It is amazing how much your heart grows when you meet your child for the first time - Greg and I never could've imagined loving someone so much that we were just meeting.

The end is in sight!!

2010-04-07T10:13:00.004-05:00

Well, I have spent the past 3 days laboring to have this baby and my body apparently has other plans. After having contractions ALL day Sunday and all morning Monday my doc sent me to triage to be monitored and check on Monday afternoon. After spending a few hours hooked up they determined that while I was having really good and regular contractions, NOTHING was changing. So they sent me home and I spent all day yesterday having regular contractions and continue to have them this morning. I did have my appointment this morning though and while I am STILL having regular and good contractions (that have gotten stronger mind you) only a tiny bit has changed. Since this is the case and since it is making me uncomfortable and unable to go to work I am getting checked in to the hospital tonight so they can give me some meds that will move along the effacement process and then tomorrow morning they will induce and Eli will join the world sometime tomorrow!!!

It's about that time....

2010-04-01T14:29:00.004-05:00

Well, I have about 10 days left until my due date. I am still in shock that it has gone by so fast! At my appointment this week I was dilated to a 1, but he is still sitting high and I was not effaced at all so she didn't want to schedule to induce just yet. She said to wait and see what the next week brings and we'd revisit the idea next Wednesday. I was having contractions while I was there though, which was nice because she was able to tell me that they were real ones and not Braxton Hicks like some of the others I've been having. I continued to have them all Tuesday and Wednesday, varying from 45 minutes apart to 5, but not consistent enough to matter. They have kind of tapered off a bit today, I have had a few, but not as many as the past two days. I do have a lot more energy today though and feel better in general, so maybe that is a sign that labor is on it's way? Greg and I are sure ready for Eli to be here though.

Last night we finally installed the base to the car seat in my car so if he should come we can bring him home now anyway ;-) Greg's car will be done later - after it's cleaned! Eli's room is all ready to go and so is the cradle in our room, so we are completely just waiting now. There are a few things we could still do around the house, but I just want to try to relax a bit until he's here - we've been so busy with one thing after another for months now it seems, so we might as well get in some down time while we can! We have been making a point of going out to eat, just the two of us, once a week for the past 2 or 3 weeks so we can get some good quality time together. It has been nice to sit and chat over dinner, usually we eat at home and then split off to do our own things around the house for the rest of the night. Greg has been awesome though, making sure I don't over do it and taking charge of the laundry and such so I don't have to worry about it. He is such an incredible husband, I can't wait to see him with Eli - he's going to be FANTASTIC!

Well, hopefully the next post will be about Eli's big arrival! If not, it will be about the planning for it, including a date. Either way, we're pumped and can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives!

Eli, are those your toes....in my ribs?

2010-02-16T10:01:00.005-06:00

I am 32 weeks along this week - 8 more to go! I am still enjoying pregnancy, although the feeling bad part is hitting me fairly frequently these days instead of early on in the pregnancy like a lot of people. I am nauseous a lot and get sick very suddenly with the only warning of a sudden acid reflux kinda of feeling. I have started having problems with my back, which I feared from the start since I hurt it almost 4 years ago. And then there is laying down.....I can't really breathe that well when I pay down so last night I started sleeping on my back with my head/chest propped up in a reclined position. I have to say, I feel like I slept better last night than I have in a while - only waking up twice (thanks to a full bladder) and quickly going back to sleep (which is unheard of lately)!

I went to the doctor last Wednesday for the start of my twice-monthly appointments. She had some suggestions for my recent issues, and I have started taking her latest advice and so far, so good! I get the pleasure of wearing a support belt from now on to see if it helps my back, but it doesn't get delivered until today so we'll see in a few days or so if it helps. I get to take Z.antac once or twice a day as needed to help with the acid issue - and boy does it help! The only day I've gotten sick since Wednesday was Sunday and I think that was because I forgot to take a Z.antac that morning - not anymore, I'm taking one every day from now on!! Unfortunately my blood pressure has been a bit high the past two visits with her, so I got to do a 24-hour urine collection on Sunday (yes, it's as glamorous as it sounds) and have labs taken yesterday for her to use as a baseline in case it keeps going up. They can also test for a protein that I think can indicate if preeclampsia is a possibility (if not it could just be gestational hypertension)....either way, oh goody! So my dear hub has been doing his best to make sure I take it easy and stay as stress-free as possible......he is truly a blessing and such an incredible man....he will be a phenomenal dad, even if he's unsure....I can just tell! So now I just get to wait and hope I don't hear from the doctor's office....no news from them means good news for me!

We got a call last night that told us our new crib was in, so we made our way to B'R'Us to pick it up after dinner......I think we are going to LOVE it! Greg didn't feel up to putting it together last night, so that is on tonight's agenda....unless he decides to do it today while he is off work. Either way, Eli's room will get put back together tonight and I will be able to take some new pictures! In case you haven't figured it out, we are naming our handsome little guy Elijah Royal Burks, Eli for short. Royal is after Greg's grandfather who passed in October - he was a big part in Greg's life and was thrilled to hear in September that he would be having a Burks great-grandbaby....unfortunately he passed before we found out it was a boy or had any pictures to show him, I know they would've loved each other!

Eli is very active still.....this past week it has felt like he has moved from the lower left side of my belly and taken up residence right under my rib cage. All morning I have felt the bizarre sensation of something on the bottom of my ribs.....I can only guess it's his fingers or toes playing around in there! Such a strange feeling, but still so very cool! Greg will put his hand on my belly when Eli is being active at night and just sit there commenting on how strange that is - and I respond by telling him he wouldn't disagree if it was his belly moving. Very natural feeling to me, but there is still something a little strange about it!

On a different note, he has finished his main PT sessions and they have asked our insurance for approval to do 24 more sessions with him. He had a new x-ray done last Friday so we are hoping they can tell if there has been any improvement. He has had hardly any lower back pain at all since he's been going, but now his upper back is hurting more so we're not sure if that is just the PT working it to strengthen it or what. Hopefully though he does good.....he's actually been taking it easy when he hurts and using a heating pad like a normal person instead of ignoring the pain like he usually does, so that in itself is improvement to me!!

sweet baby E

2010-01-15T22:28:00.002-06:00

beginnings

2010-01-11T09:32:00.002-06:00

I have been really bad at keeping up with posting, as my cousin so lovingly points out from time to time ;-) Well, she's just got a better way with words than I do, and more to say I guess. Hopefully this year will inspire me to write more, I'm sure I'll have a ton to day after my little love arrives in April. I ended last year with a trip to Alabama with my family to see my Grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin who met us there from Mississippi. My cousin's hub couldn't make the trip and neither could mine, but it was the closest thing we've had to having the entire family together in a while. It was really great to see everyone, although I did miss joining in on the late night wine drinking and chatting - I still chatted, it's just not the same without a glass of wine in hand! We enjoyed a bit of sight-seeing at a local Frank Lloyd Wright house and stopped by Helen Keller's birthplace for a picture, but mostly we just enjoyed being together.

Christmas was an adventure this year. Christmas Eve started things off with a bang by bringing Oklahoma their first blizzard (at least the first on in my lifetime). It was crazy, snow blowing everywhere with drifts in front of our house over 2 feet tall! We managed to make it to mom & dad's for the afternoon for Christmas with my family, although it took us 30 minutes to get there where it normally takes about 7. Gef had a windshield wiper break on the way there so he dropped his fam off and headed to the store to get a new one. Lisa's significant other got stuck on dad's driveway so the men spent a good deal of time in the cold trying to get his car out, eventually succeeding and allowing Mike to get his boys to their mom's for their Christmas with her. We got stuck backing out of the driveway and had to have dad and Gef push and rock our SUV to finally get us moving, only so we could get home and not even be able to get up our driveway! Christmas Eve in Norman with Greg's dad's side was cancelled but his brother caught a ride home from work and got dropped off at our place to do our annual Christmas Eve movie night and spend the night since his SUV was stuck at work. Christmas day started off a little better with the weather clearing up a bit and roads becoming easier to manage. Greg's mom, stepdad and older brother came over to do our normal Christmas day activity. I got a headache shortly before they got there and ended up in bed by 3 with a migraine that wouldn't go away. Greg's family stayed until around 6:30 and then got stuck a few blocks from our house and Greg had to go pick them up and bring them back to wait for a tow truck, which finally arrived around 8:15. Christmas in Norman was rescheduled for the following Tuesday, which ended up bringing us more snow. Luckily this was just wet snow so it didn't cause any travel issues and we were able to have a nice Christmas with the Burks family.

New Years Eve was quiet for us, which is fine by me. Greg painted the ceiling of the nursery and got the walls ready for me to paint on New Years Day. His older brother came over and we had another movie night and rang in the new year before heading to bed. Quiet, but great. New Year's Day I painted the nursery and in the days to follow we moved the furniture back in and put the bedding on and installed a new closet system. It looks like an actual nursery now!! If I were to have him now he would have a room to come home to ;-) I catch myself standing in the doorway now just staring, in disbelief I'm sure that this room will be inhabited in a few short months by a little person that we made!! I will post some pictures soon, they are at home.

Now we are into this year, getting ready to celebrate Greg's birthday tomorrow and to see our sweet boy's face on Friday when we have a 3D ultrasound! I am not sure I could be any more excited for Friday - I will post all of the good pics we get from our session so you can see his precious face too! He's really a mover - if that's any indication of things to come after he's born we are in for a crazy ride!!! I hope you all had safe and happy Christmases and New Years and that this year brings you a whole new world of possibility, I know it will for us - this year is the beginning of a whole new world!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T17:32:00.002-06:00

I have been REALLY bad about updating this thing lately! I only have a minute right now, but I do intend on posting about our (well, my family's & my) trip to AL to see the rest of the fam (Elizabeth I'm sure you're disappointed in me) and Christmas and all that goodness......hopefully tomorrow. In the mean time, I hope you & yours had a VERY Merry Christmas and that you are all staying warm!

a typical day

2009-11-20T14:08:00.005-06:00

As unusual as this morning has been, it feels so routine at the same time. I spent this morning going to 2 doctors offices and a hospital to get blood drawn for testing and to get a Holter Monitor (basically a portable EKG) put on. It all started about 2 months ago when I asked my OB if it was normal to be laying down and suddenly feel my heart pounding so hard - the answer was yes because my blood volume has increased being pregnant it can do that from time to time. Perfectly normal and nothing to think about unless my heart rate also raises above 100 when I'm laying down. Normally it just beats hard and eventually calms down, but the other night it decided to play around with me a bit. I had been laying down for about 10 minutes or so and it started beating hard as it does sometimes, then it felt like it threw a few extra beats in there, and then my heart rate went up. Not high enough that I thought I was having a heart attack or anything, but fast enough that I knew I'd have to be calling my OB. I was having issues watching the clock & counting the beats myself (you wouldn't think it was very hard) so Greg came to my aid. He sat me up and had me take some deep breathes and he took my pulse after it had calmed down a bit. Well, it was 100 then so I'm not sure how high it had been. After it finally went back to normal he had me sit on the couch with my feet up for a bit to make sure I was okay and when I could finally muster up the energy (the ordeal zapped my energy completely) I headed to bed. The next day my OB told me she wanted to check me for anemia, thyroid problems and possibly an arrhythmia. So today I went and got blood taken for testing with her, had a consultation with my Primary Care doc to "order" the Holter Monitor, and ran by the hospital to get all plugged in. I have to keep track of any abnormal feelings I get whether I think they are heart related or not (except my little guy moving) and what time they happened according to this device. I also have to keep track of when I sleep and if I get up in the middle of the night so they can understand the declines & increases in my heart rate when they print out the report this thing is recording. When it has run for 24 hours I get to take it off, stick it in a baggie with my data sheet, and drop it off the ER. Fun times ;-)

On a slightly different note, Greg finally has some answers about the pain in his leg lately. He had an MRI last week (our hospitals love us lately I'm sure) and it turns out that he has dysplasia of the L4, L5 & S1 vertebrae and the S1 is sitting on a nerve, causing the pain down his leg. This is good news and bad news. It's good because we finally have some answers about his back/leg issues AND because this MRI has finally shown something his past MRI's haven't. Now we can get cracking on treatment and hopefully have a new man by the time this kiddo arrives next April. The bad part is not huge, it's only a possibility really, but it's still not great. He begins specialized physical therapy daily starting next week, which is probably going to cause him some pain until he gets used to it - that sucks. They are hopeful that it will help the problem and get him to a better point than he's been in years - that is great. There is a chance that it won't be enough, which we will know 2 weeks after he starts, and if it's not then they do surgery - that SUCKS. I am hoping and praying that the therapy (and the drugs they've given him) will be all that it takes to get him on the right side of things. I pray that it doesn't come to surgery, but that if it does I can stay calm during the ordeal and that he can recover from it before the baby comes. He wants so badly to be able to play on the floor with his son and run around or play ball when the day comes, but that couldn't happen as things are now. Only time will tell how things turn out.....

So that's us in a nutshell lately! I DO get to start the baby registering today though!!! My beautiful sis and I are going to the store after work today and will be picking out all of the fun and necessary things for her favorite nephew!! That right there could make the crappiest day great, I'm so excited!!

snips & snails & puppy dog tails...

2009-11-04T14:52:00.005-06:00

Well our ultrasound was this morning and all signs point towards a BOY! The little booger was being stubborn at first and had his legs smashed together so the tech went about her business checking all of the things she needed to check. When she finally came back to the gender he decided to cooperate and showed her his goods few times! The he decided to be stubborn like his daddy and kept turning his head away or sticking his hand in his face every time she went to get a good profile picture - needless to say we didn't get one! We got a few pictures, probably as good as any ultrasound pictures are. I am looking forward to January when we go do a 3D ultrasound and really get a look at his precious little face! He looked healthy and strong - his heart rate was a strong 156 and they estimate his weight for now around 9 ounces already (YIKES!)

I am SO excited to really start planning now - finalizing bedding, painting & decorating the nursery, picking out his name (not sure I'm looking too forward to that one though, it's so hard!) Greg and I just couldn't be happier - it's so surreal when I think about where we were just 5 months ago and where we are now. Every time I hear his little heart beating or see his picture I just couldn't be happier!! Such a huge blessing we've been given, one I wasn't sure we'd ever get, but already couldn't imagine life without.

17 weeks!

2009-11-02T15:50:00.002-06:00

Well today marks 17 weeks for me! It is either the shirt I am wearing today, or I reached the point where I wake up and go "WHOA! I actually look pregnant!" I guess we'll see if I still look this way as the week progresses ;-) We have our big ultrasound THIS WEDNESDAY - as in less than 48 hours from now!!! I will post any news we get later that day or shortly thereafter, and some pics of munchkin! Still in disbelief how fast this is going, but I am so ready to see and hold this little blessing!!!

a little fun with baby

2009-10-16T14:30:00.002-05:00

So I decided that I wanted to try the old wives tales that can sometimes predict the gender of your baby. I was hoping to get some consistent results that I could compare to the ultrasound in a few weeks but no such luck. Here's what I did get though:

Chinese Gender Chart - Tie
I tried a number of these, mainly ones that didn't ask for you to use any formulas to figure them out. Out of the ten that I tried (maybe a little overkill, but I was trying to break the constant tie), I came out with a tie - five boy and five girl.

The Drano Test - Inconclusive
There is actually an over the counter test you can buy at the drugstore that is similar to this so we decided to try it. Unfortunately the box clearly states that is you have PCOS (which I do) that it won't give you clear results. We tried it anyway but as the box says, it was not clear which way it should read. We decided to try the actual Drano test too, but it turned out the same way.

Heartbeat Test - Girl
I had an appointment this morning (just shy of 15 weeks) and the heart rate was 157 and beating strong. Apparently this points towards girl.

Cravings - Girl
I guess they say if you crave sweet the it's a girl and if you crave sour it's a boy. Well, I never really have like sour and that hasn't changed. My sweet tooth has gotten significantly worse though, especially where candy is concerned ;-)

Wedding Ring Test - Inconclusive
SO I tried this on my wrist and on my belly. Once we stabilized the ring we waited, and waited. It never moved.

Husband's Opinion - Girl
Greg has been positive it's a girl from the start, no question about it. Of course he has said that he doesn't prefer one over the other and is just excited to have a baby in general, but he just feels that it's a girl this time.

General Opinion of Friends/Family - Boy
So far according to the poll I have posted on the left, more people feel it is a boy that a girl.

Well, that is all that I have tried. I guess more say girl than boy. I don't really have a feeling one way or the other. We are both SO excited to find out though, so I hope that this munchkin cooperates on November 4th!!!

well hello second trimester, so nice to see you!

2009-10-13T12:54:00.003-05:00

I am still in shock at how quickly this pregnancy is moving so far! Yesterday marked the beginning of my second trimester - already! Life is just so wonderful right now. Today is my 31st birthday and the bible passage on the top of this lovely blog today says: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” SO true......there couldn't be a more perfect passage for today for me. I have already gotten so many birthday wishes from friends & family - thank you all! I am so blessed in so many ways and it just becomes more & more obvious with each day that passes.

On a different note, I have tried the old wives tales for gender prediction for this little munchkin and I hope to have a moment to post the results in the next few days. I'd do it now, but my list is at home ;-)

12 weeks and counting...

2009-09-29T11:50:00.002-05:00

Well as of yesterday I am 12 weeks along - already!! I can't believe how fast this is going - I mean we've now known for almost 8 weeks that we're having a baby. My next appointment is coming up in 2 1/2 weeks, at which point I will be at the start of my second trimester already - holy smokes! At this point I am still feeling good for the most part, weekends are kind of rough sometimes (it's like my body knows that fun occurs on weekends and decides it wants to feel sick instead have fun), but overall I am doing great! I am really wanting the next 6 weeks to go by so we can find out what this little munchkin is - I want to know so bad!! Speaking of - I am starting to experiment with some old wives tales that predict the gender of your baby to see what they all say, and then to compare it to the ultrasound when we find out. Nothing like having a little fun to pass the time ;-) I have added a poll to the blog so that I can get everyone's opinion on what we're having - I can't wait to see what you all say! I will post the results of all my experiments after my next appointment (I want to see if I can get a heart rate for the baby first) and then we will see in November who's right!

Oh, and a quick shout-out to my cousin Elizabeth - hope you had a fabulous birthday yesterday and birthday weekend full of celebration! Wish we lived closer so we could've helped you celebrate, but we'll see you in December for sure!!

moving right along

2009-09-19T09:45:00.002-05:00

Well yesterday I had my first appointment with the OB that will deliver my little love in April. My normal doc retired the end of August, so unfortunately I have to start all over with a new doc during pregnancy. Although, that is a lot of appointments and getting to know her, so I suppose it will be a fairly quick way to tell if I really like her or not. So far so good - she was very friendly and informative and made sure she answered anything questions I had (which of course I'd forgotten them all - I really need to remember to make a list next time).

Everything looked good to her. She tried to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler but "we" weren't cooperating, so no such luck this time. She did however give me a free ultrasound (apparently my insurance doesn't cover OB ultrasounds) so we could watch the little heart beating since we couldn't hear it - nothing like seeing that little heart blinking away to give you peace of mind. It was so fun to see that little body, it's arms & legs on that screen - this kiddo is growing and changing so fast! No picture to take home with me this time though :-( My next appointment is a few days after my second trimester starts - the Friday after my birthday! Eight weeks and we should be finding out if my little love is a boy or girl - November can't come fast enough!!

It's really true!!

2009-09-08T15:22:00.003-05:00

After a long and hard road, Greg and I are finally having a baby!!! Our prayers have been answered and mid-April (the 12th) we will turn into a family of three!! Because of our situation we have had multiple doctor's appointments with our RE so far including 6 week and 8 week ultrasounds and everything is looking great! We have been released to my OB and will start "normal" pregnancy appointments next Friday. We couldn't be more thrilled and I can't wait to share this journey!

Slacker!

2009-08-06T14:36:00.006-05:00

I am still alive - I promise! No tragedies or anything - just life and all that goes with it keeping me too busy to blog! I can't even remember the last thing I wrote about - oh I just had to check (how sad) - apparently the subject matter was a lack of free time - HA! Here is the best recap I can come up with of what had been going on since mid-May:

family vacation to Disney and a Disney Cruise: It was an incredible trip, but Greg and I have decided it was not a vacation by our standards because that to us means relaxation and this trip was way too busy for that! We had a great time overall and have made some wonderful memories - but we are glad to be home! The best day was spent at the Atlantis resort in Nassau - we have some pics on here but I will be getting some more of our Dolphin encounter shortly. Greg kissed a 23 year old girl named Michelle and I have a picture to prove it (don't worry, so did I......did I mention Michelle was a dolphin??) I went a little crazy and have a grand total of 319 pictures I uploaded to my shutterfly page tonight....and that is after going through them and deleting a bunch. Greg got a hold of the camera a few times on the boat and was playing with settings so if you notice any random pictures (or multiple pictures of the same thing) I'm sure those are probably his doing! Here is a link to my Picasa album, which has all of the pics I took (the ones with captions) and eventually everyone else's will be there too

New Addition: my SIL Diana got married in a beautiful evening wedding in her dad's backyard in Norman. I was an IDIOT and got the wedding invite & reception invite cards mixed up and we ended up missing the wedding all together! We realized this as we were walking out the door - and we thought we were running early!! We still went to the reception though to congratulate the happy new family (their daughter Isabella Grace turns 2 next Wednesday!) Couldn't be happier for them - welcome to the family Patrick!
4th of July: we had no spectacular plans other than watching the fireworks from our backyard as we do every year!
30 Vegas Style: my best friend (and her husband) turned 30 this summer and they had a big casino party at her parent's house. We got to play blackjack, craps and Texas Hold'em - I enjoyed a little Hold'em and then went on to learn craps - it was a lot of fun! Glad we were playing with fake money though - even though I enjoyed myself I still don't think I'd really gamble if we went to Vegas
Another Year Older: more summer birthdays in the family include my nephew (turned 3 on June 20th) - my mother (I won't tell how old she turned on July 26th - she doesn't look or act it anyway!) and my niece (turned 5 on Aug. 3rd)
FORE! I took golf lessons at the beginning of the summer with a good friend and have really taken to it. Mind you, I still suck, but I think it's fun and it has been something I have enjoyed doing. I go every Saturday morning with my parents (and occasionally my sister and/or Greg) and Greg and I enjoy playing 9 holes in the evening during the week at a short course near our house. He bought me my own clubs and everything! He has really enjoyed me getting into golf and has been able to play with me for the first time since he originally hurt his back! I love the time we get to spend together!
Oh baby: things are still going for us in the baby department - lots of doctors appointments and pills trying to expand our family! Hopefully soon one of these treatments will work and we will have a little one! In the mean time, I have found out that one of my very best friends is expecting her second!! I've got a few other people from high school, college and my current circle of friends that are expecting either their first or second too! And some of the most exciting news is one of my sister's best friends is FINALLY getting her baby girl from China - they have been in the process to adopt for YEARS and I am so happy that they are finally getting their baby!! Babies, babies, everywhere (almost)!

Well, I can't think of much more that has been going on. Lots of work, golf, cleaning, laundry, doctors and then more of the same! Hope everyone is doing well - I'll try to keep up with this more!

Free time, what's that?

2009-05-18T11:24:00.006-05:00

Well I haven't posted in a LONG time it seems - things are just so busy! Let's see - a quick overview of things that have been going on since my last post......my MIL had a birthday on April 7th - hope it was a good one! I went to the Pollard Theatre in Guthrie with my parents, sister, nieces & nephew to see Beauty & The Beast. We had a really good time and I think the kids did too ;-) Our friend Patrick got married on April 25th so we spent that Friday night and Saturday in Norman celebrating with them - congratulations Patrick & Katie - the wedding was beautiful!

The beginning of May I started a new drug so we are anxiously awaiting the end of May to see if it's working or not! May 5th I started taking golf lessons!! It was a random, spur-of-the-moment thing that popped up because a friend of mine was going to start them, but I am really enjoying myself! My wonderful & loving husband took me on a date night to go see the Lion King on May 6th - it was FANTASTIC!! Granted we had incredible seats (row D, center!!), but the show itself was just really well done. From an artistic standpoint I loved being that close because I could see all of the intricacies of the costumes and set decoration so I was in heaven the entire show! I hadn't even noticed that the kid sitting next to me threw up until lights came on at intermission - thank goodness it didn't stink or I might've too! I got yet another sinus infection so I had to miss our postponed bunco from April that my friend Stephanie hosted on May 8th - I was rather peeved about this because I love my nights I get to socialize with the girls! Mother's Day we met Greg's mom & stepdad after church for lunch and then spent the evening with my family. The ladies in my family had spent the day before together too going through my mom's closet (she has us do this about once a year so we can help her rid her closet of things that are out-of-date or that don't fit her anymore) and then shopping for new bedding/accessories for their back bedroom. I LOVE to shop for that kind of thing - especially when I'm not the one paying for it! May 11th I started back to the sand volleyball league I used to play in - it has been 3 years since I played but I actually didn't suck! I love the team I play with though (a bunch of my friends) so that always makes it fun! We did pretty good - we won the first game in 2 sets and then won the first set of the second game only to lose the other 2 sets. This past Saturday I got to see my cousin Jenny who was in from NYC for her baby shower. It was so nice to see her and the others at the shower that I hadn't seen in a long time. Yesterday while Greg had to work (ARRGG!!!) I rode with my parents, sister & her kids up to Tulsa for another cousin's daughter's baptism. My cousin Jenny was the Godmother so that is the primary reason she was in town. ANYWAY - we went to Georgia's baptism and then back to Liz & Gavin's house for a brunch. Thank goodness our two weeks of rainy, crappy weather ended and we had a gorgeous, sunny day to celebrate! We had the patio doors open and just roamed from indoor to outdoor enjoying the weather.

Tonight I am looking forward to playing some volleyball in the sunshine - we always seem to get so few sunny days that aren't scorching! Tomorrow I have my last golf lesson and will finally have a sunny day for that too! Friday I am going with one of my oldest & best friends to a stage production of Steel Magnolia's - I am looking forward to a girls night out with her - we are both so busy I hardly ever see her! And then this weekend is, of course, Memorial Day. No spectacular plans for us - maybe some golfing for me with my parents on Saturday morning. Besides all of this stuff going on our work schedules have bother been kinda crazy - I'm losing a coworker in a week (she's going to work for her BIL - we didn't have any lay-offs) and Greg's work has been CRAZY busy! As always, we are hoping things calm down a bit - but my theory is they won't until we die so we might as well live it up ;-) We leave for vacation in 19 days so we are ALL excited about that! Someday maybe I'll have time to post some pictures.....until then I hope you all are doing well and enjoying some nice weather!

a quick little note...

2009-04-12T21:47:00.002-05:00

Happy Easter everyone! I hope that you all had as nice a day as I did, surrounded by the ones you love!

Pita Pit!

2009-03-26T13:37:00.004-05:00

So last night we went to Friends & Family night at The Pita Pit in Edmond to celebrate their opening. This is my friend Jen in the picture with me last night - the girl has been around forever and been with me through it all - I'm lucky (and surprised) she's kept me around! Her sister's boyfriend is the owner so we got to get the sneak peek. I was really impressed with the location, the store itself and the food - it was delicious! I highly recommend anyone that likes a good sandwich go eat at the Pita Pit. It's on 5th St. between Boulevard & Broadway in Edmond. GO EAT AT PITA PIT!! Sales pitch is now over :-)

Tonight we have our monthly dinner with the Taylors, Blake & Stephanie - we are trying out a new Mexican joint by the lake. And then tomorrow night is my monthly bunco night - I have really lucked out and only had to cook dinner two nights this week!! Next week Greg wants to start "dieting" with me. It's technically a diet, yes, but more importantly it's a lifestyle change so it will be something that we will stick with. I have been doing it (WW) since this past November and have lost over 20 pounds so far. I was going to stop there, but I decided why stop if I'm not pregnant - so I'm going to keep it up until that happens! We are starting our daily/every other day workout on Monday too. This next week is going to be a big week for us (more for Greg, but for me because I'll finally have someone doing this with me!) I've also decided to start playing in a sand volleyball league with some friends. I used to play but I quit the year I got married - I hurt my back right before the season started and then I only had a few months before the wedding and I didn't want to get hurt anymore than I already was so I stopped and just never got back into it. But, no sense in sitting around waiting to get pregnant - I'm going to do all I can while we are "waiting" for this to happen. So I'm looking forward to the next month of getting in better shape with my hubby at my side and getting back into outdoor sports. Today I am just looking forward to the beautiful spring weather coming back - a winter mix in late March, really??

college hondos

2009-03-06T09:16:00.007-06:00

So two weekends ago I had my girls weekend in Stillwater Oklahoma. Not the glamorous destination most people would think of for a girls weekend, but a perfect spot to catch up with college friends without spending an arm & a leg for flights and hotels and such. My 'little' (little sis in the KD house) flew in from DC on Thursday night - she was SO excited to be home! We hung out all night and chatted and enjoyed some Mazzio's (her request for dinner) before turning in. The next morning we got up early and drove to Moore (her hometown - about 30 minutes SE of us) to surprise her best friend from HS who just had a baby a few weeks earlier. It was a really neat surprise - her friend had no clue, but her husband was in on the surprise so we were really able to pull it off. After visiting with their family for a whole we drove back to OKC to meet up with the other Baltimore girls that were just arriving for lunch at Ted's. Ted's is an awesome Mexican joint for those that don't know and it is a must for these girls when they come home because as they put it "the east coast doesn't do Mexican food right!" After lunch we hopped back in the car and headed to Edmond to visit my little's SIL who was in town from DC and at her parent's house recovering from back surgery. We visited there for a bit, got to see their BEAUTIFUL little girl, and then hopped back in the car yet again to head to Stillwater.

Driving into town was very strange for me. I had not been back to Stillwater since December of 2002 when I graduated. Everything is SO different! There is a nice new WalMart that they built on the highway as you come into town where there used to be nothing. Neighborhoods are gone and in their place are hotels, restaurants and new parts of campus. Things have been built up everywhere! After stopping by HES to see one of my little's former professor's we all went to the KD house to check it out. Some of the girls laughed as we asked questions about how things had changed - the fact that we were shocked that the house was all wireless and everyone had laptops now was particularly funny to them! We would've stayed a bit longer and chatted with our housemom, but she left shortly after we did and is a housemom in some other state for the Theta's of something. Mom Judy was the greatest!

We went to the hotel, got settled and met up with the KC girls before heading to dinner. Pizza at the Hideaway and then drinks at Murphy's and Dirty's Tavern. Our usual spot, The Wormy Dog, is no longer there - but the manager from our day (and a friend of all of ours) is now part owner of Dirty's so we got VIP treatment. I hung out for a bit, but only really have one beer on these meds. Bars aren't my thing really, and this weekend just confirmed that. After getting a horrible headache (courtesy again of my meds and unbeknownst to me an oncoming sinus infection) I headed back to the hotel to turn in.

The next day we went for lunch at Joe's (Eskimo Joe's for those that know it by it's proper name) before heading to the OSU/Baylor basketball game. I have been craving Joe's pasta salad for years now and I finally got to enjoy it! At the game we befriended a five year old boy who was sitting two rows in front of us (we had pretty bad seats, but it didn't matter) and spent about half the game talking to him or his dad. After OSU's victory we headed back to Joe's for a drink or two and then to the hotel to veg out. We decided to lay low that night because the Baltimore/DC girls had to fly out of OKC at 8:15 the next morning, so we had to hit the road by 6 to get them there. We got together one last time for dinner at El Vaquerro, a usual spot for some of us in college for some good Mexican. After dinner a few of us ran over to catch up with an old friend from the pledge class above us (an old roommate of mine) who lived in town and is a few weeks away from having her first baby. It was great to see her, she's been going through some rough stuff lately but is looking fabulous and doing well. The we gathered in one of our hotel rooms for a bit longer to chat some more before we all headed our separate ways.

All in all I had a great time getting to catch up with everyone in person instead of by email for once. I totally vote for more of a spa weekend next time or somewhere that has other things to do than bar hop. It was still nice to see everyone though and to see how much everything is changed there, but Stillwater is just not for me anymore. I have some pictures, but still need to get some from the other girls. Once I get them I will stick a link at the end of this post!

same 'ole thing

2009-02-16T08:54:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted in a while because there just hasn't been that much going on. Greg has been working extra lately and I have been lucky to make a full 40 hour work week - things are a bit slow for us right now. We (and by that I mean "I" because Greg was working) had the pleasure of helping the Taylor's celebrate Molly's 1st birthday and then the next day I celebrated my niece Kayden's 6th birthday with her & my sis. It was a weekend of birthdays! In the midst of all of that we had some visiting to Greg's stepdad in the hospital. He had a kidney stone (rather large) that had gotten lodged and had to be surgically removed that same weekend so we spent the evening after Molly's party visiting with him and my MIL.

My "little sis" is flying in on Thursday to stay with us for the night and the two of us are heading up to Stillwater for a girls weekend on Friday with a group of ladies from my pledge class. I haven't been back to Stillwater since I graduated so it'll be a bit strange, but it will be really nice to see everyone. We have girls coming in from the Dallas/FW area, the Kansas City area, the Baltimore/DC area and then 2 of us from the OKC area. I think the last time I saw a decent-sized group of us together was at Brooke & Adam's wedding (which was 2 months after mine) so it'll be great to catch up. I'm sure I will have something to post about after this weekend and maybe even a few pictures. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

just a little praise

2009-01-28T16:18:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to take a minute and praise God for bringing Greg into my life. He is the most incredible husband - fun to be around, really rather funny (apparently there is a side of him that has only been seen by yours truly!), he has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know, family oriented, has a good work ethic, knows how to be lazy if the need arises, knows how to make me smile when I need it and how to make me think about anything but what is troubling me at any given time after talking me through it. He has truly been my rock in quite a few instances and I'm not sure how I would've made it through those times without him by my side. I am not worried about anything that the future might hold because I know in my heart he will be there to make the journey with me.

The other day I had a really low moment (lots of moments rather) and he turned my day around by merely being there and sitting next to me. We are taking a path that we expected to take, but that is still hard to handle sometimes. He has been really beyond incredible in "handling" me and my emotions so far! I have never felt so blessed in my life as I have since he walked into it! Anyway, enough gushing on him, I just wanted to take a minute to "shout it from the rooftops".....thanks for asking me to be your wife, it's the best decision I've ever made!

a few more hours

2009-01-18T17:18:00.006-06:00

UPDATE: Kate lost her battle to cancer about an hour ago and has joined her brother in heaven. Thank you for your love & prayers for this family. God has gained an incredible angel today.

Well Saturday Julie updated Kate's CarePage to tell us that Kate's left lung doesn't work anymore, leaving breathing up to her right lung, which is plagued with tumors. She has told her mom that she is ready to go, and has been comforted by Julie's thoughts of her daughter finally being reunited with Ryan (Kate's brother) in heaven, which made her smile. At Kate's request, she has been put in a drug-induced coma that will put her out of pain until she goes and allow her to rest and be able to breathe. It will be soon, probably today. She told her mom, dad, step-dad and brother that she was ready to go, so they called the doctor to get things started. She can't sleep anymore because her breathing is so bad that just as she falls asleep the breathing trouble wakes her up. She is very, very tired because of this. She said her goodbyes to each of her parents and her brother, and the process got started. I just can't imagine.....God, please bring them peace and comfort.

keep the prayers coming

2009-01-12T08:32:00.005-06:00

Kate at the start of her fight, summer 2007

So now that I've gone to the happy side of today I will go to the not-so-happy side. Please keep the prayers coming for our niece Kate. Pray not that she will recover, because she won't, but instead that she and her family have some peace at the end. Pray that she won't be in pain anymore. We got the latest update this weekend, it wasn't pretty. This will probably be the last update on Kate that we get....

Posted on CarePages 2 days ago:
"Hello dear praying friends, I really don't have my thoughts together like I would like to but Kate is sleeping sound and I will say a little more than I have. Kate's oncologist, made a home visit this week. He has been a fantastic doctor to her. They love to smart off to one another and Kate always has the last remark. He stayed and talked with her for about an hour, which was the most she has done in at least a week. He then spent time with us. He confirmed she does have fluid in her lungs, and does not think she will be here with us till the end of the month. I really expected him to say not even one more week, which may well be the case. She drifts in and out of sleep, and from time to time feels panicky because she can't breath right. She has been so sweet, and is putting things in order for those she wants to leave something with, like photos in frames and her car tag signed to Shane. There is no resistance to life, she just wants to sleep. I know she has given something to all of us, without handing anything to anyone. In our heart talks I have assured her of this,and she will never be forgotten. She is worried about me, but I told her to remember how God gave peace after Ryan went home to be with the Lord. There is no time for depression and withdrawing from living. There is great pain of separation, but I can truly smile at the thought that my children had a happy life, though short, and are already in the presence of the one who created them in the first place. I will use these experiences in life for the Lord in some way as He shows me how. One of the songs that goes through my mind often because of the lyrics is I Surrender All. "All", includes my children. I can't close without saying Thank You for everything that is done for us! I will keep you posted. With deepest love, Julie"

Greg and I were talking last night and we are just in awe at the faith that this family has. We think of ourselves as strong believers in Christ, but neither of us think our faith would be this strong in a situation such as this. We should all strive to have such faith in any situation. We think of you always Sullaway/Langford family, I just wish the next time we see you wouldn't be for such a sad reason.

last photo of Kate before paralysis, Winter 2008/2009

counting backwards...

2009-01-12T08:28:00.000-06:00

Greg is usually still in bed when I leave for work in the mornings. Occasionally I will try to start a conversation with him, which isn’t very nice because he is usually still half asleep and can say some pretty strange things. I find it funny though - most of the time, mind you, I am really trying to ask him something important before I leave and sometimes I will get a good answer and sometimes I can tell he’s talking to me as if I am in his dream. Sometimes I will TRY to get something funny though, just because his comments are usually so random and sometimes make no sense whatsoever. So this morning I lean in to wish him a happy 31st on my way out the door and he replies with “I’m 29”......so I try to see if he’s awake or asleep still by saying “oh, what....you spend one year at 30 and then you work your way back down huh?” and without missing a beat he just lays there (eyes still closed and the way he mumbles I honestly can’t tell if he’s awake or not) and says “well yeah, I’m counting backwards now”.....

Okay hun.....good luck with that! Hope you have a happy birthday babe - I love you!!

Baby, it's cold outside....

2008-12-23T09:04:00.010-06:00

Wow, today is actually going to get above freezing!! If it's going to be this cold the least it could do is give us some snow! So there has been a mix of a lot going on lately and not a lot at the same time. More often than not I end each day trying to figure out where it has gone - I am constantly busy, yet most of the time I can't remember what I've been doing that's been keeping me that busy. I have been very bad at keeping everyone updated on what we've been doing so I will try my best to think back and catch everyone up!

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we had our first appointment with our R.E. He started me on a new drug (metformin) and told me to give it until the first of the year to see if it starts working. He also gave us a game plan of sorts that lets me know what to expect if each thing doesn't work, which is really nice. So far all the metformin has done is made me sick (gotta love side effects!) and made me lose extra weight that weight watchers didn't take off. I am hoping that in the next week something happens, but I am really expecting to have to go on to Plan B which is more metformin with a chaser of clomid. This will be my forth round of clomid - hopefully taking metformin with it will help it work because the previous three rounds have done absolutely nothing but give me more side effects to deal with.

The first weekend in December we took a trip to Alabama to see my Grandma. She moved there shortly after my Grandpa passed away and we hadn't made the trip to see her new place. We have had the pleasure of having her here to visit us for 2 weeks though, so it's not like we haven't seen her. Anyway, this trip was really nice because it involved almost my entire family on that side - my brother's family couldn't make the trip. My aunt & uncle from Hattiesburg (MS), my cousin & her husband from Jackson (MS), my Grandma from Decatur (AL), my parents, my sister & her kids and Greg & I all made the trip to Huntsville (AL) to invade the Fairfield Inn for a weekend. It was SO nice to see everyone - I really wish my brother & his fam would've been able to make the trip - hopefully next time! The weekend was full of watching the kiddos swim, a small amount of shopping, food, family & a bit of drinking. It was a great way to spend a weekend between Thanksgiving & Christmas and I hope that it is made an annual trip from now on!!

We drove back from Alabama on Sunday (the entire way - what a LONG day!) so we'd be back for my FIL#2's surgery on Monday (for my uncle Rick - FIL#2 = Greg's stepdad). He was diagnosed with prostate cancer almost 2 months ago. Anyway, he had decided to skip the radiation and go for removal of his prostate instead, so he was scheduled to have that done on Monday. Surgery went well, a bit longer than we'd expected due to his size, but well. Recovery has been a bit of a bumpy road so far. He was kept in the hospital a day long than he was supposed to be, his drain tube is still in and still draining (it was supposed to be removed a week ago) so I'm not sure if that's bad or indifferent. He can't comfortably sit normal, so he does best in a semi-reclined position and spends the bulk of his day in his recliner. My MIL#1 (Greg's mom) has been taking great care of him and going a bit crazy from staying at home so much I think. She did go out the other day to get him some books so he'd have something to do. Hopefully his recovery will start to go a little better and he will get to go back to preaching and his usual activities - I know he misses it all!

Greg & I have just been working and getting ready for the holidays. I've gotten to spend quality time with my girlfriends at Bunco and my friend Jen's annual Ornament Exchange. We had the pleasure of watching Kayden & Bella in their school Christmas program. They did SO great - Bella even had a solo and she just blew me away!! I can't believe how grown up she is becoming - she's almost 8!! I really love this time of year and the family time that comes with it. If only there was one more day to Christmas so I could have one day per family and not have to rush around so much. Sunday we did get the honor of seeing our friend's son Henry get baptized - it was such a special day and a wonderful celebration to start off Christmas week!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas & a Happy & Blessed New Year!!

I'm still kickin'.....just haven't slowed down to write about it yet

2008-12-11T11:34:00.010-06:00

So I have been told that I am very behind on posting. Things have been crazy busy and I haven't been home a ton, hence the lack of posts. I PROMISE to get back to it, hopefully in the next few days. Until I have time to sit, think and write here is a little Christmas survey fun...I needed a quick break from work!

Wrapping paper or gift bags? most of our gifts are for the kids so definitely wrapping paper - I love to watch them tear into it!!
Real tree or Artificial? fake....and not just any fake, a pre-lit fake!
When do you put up the tree? usually the day after Thanksgiving
When do you take the tree down? oh somewhere around the first week of January...I'm going to get as much out of that thing as I can before I have to pack it all up!
Do you like eggnog? I have honestly tried it but I just don't like it
Favorite gift received as a child? not sure if I have ONE favorite....every Christmas was awesome and I got so many wonderful gifts....if I had to pick I'd say the manger/backdrop for my nativity...my dad built it and painted it and I absolutely LOVE it!
Who is the hardest person to buy for? either my parents or one half of my in-laws...there just isn't much that they need
Who is the easiest person to buy for? the kids...especially Reed right now - give the boy some tools and he is entertained for months!!
Do you have a nativity scene? yes, the Willow Tree nativity.....I got it piece by piece over a few Christmases , including the manger for it to sit in/on....it's one of my very favorite possessions ever!!
Mail or email Christmas cards? real paper mail, absolutely no question about it!
Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of one
Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, It's A Wonderful Life
When do you start Christmas shopping? we do most (if not all) of our shopping on Veteran's Day....Greg's parents started that tradition - it's a bank holiday so the men had it off anyway.....Greg and I started doing it our first Christmas together and it just works out so great....everything (except a few stragglers) is bought and wrapped by the time the tree goes up on black Friday!
Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? um, no
Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? my most favorite is pumpkin bread - it's SO good!!
Lights on the tree? absolutely! I'm an all white light kinda girl though....colored lights bother me (on my tree, not on other people's trees)
Favorite Christmas song? I have too many favorites...Tracy Chapman's version of O Holy Night is up there though
Travel at Christmas or stay at home? stay home.....Christmas is hectic and exhausting enough as it is with all our families being in the same general city, I can't imagine if we were just here visiting for a few days for Christmas....I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be
Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen...and Rudolph
Angel on the tree top or a star? we have a star...I'm not totally fond of this particular star, but I'm more partial to a star
Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? wow.....um, we do presents on Christmas Eve with Greg's dad's side, Christmas Day with his mom's side and either Christmas Eve or before with my family
Most annoying thing about this time of the year? people being "politically correct" and saying that Christmas shouldn't be celebrated in schools because church and state are supposed to be separate.....it's CHRISTMAS for crying out loud - it has never been a problem before, why is it now - why are people suddenly getting so offended by things like school Christmas parties, plays and such? Changing Christmas Parties to Winter Fesitvals and banning nativities from school Christmas programs? If we are really going to be THAT P.C. then shouldn't we not even call it CHRISTmas, shouldn't we change it's name too?!? Can't people that don't these things just not attend? I am ALL for freedom of speech and religion and not making people participate in things against their culture or beliefs....why can't we still have all the things we always have and still call them all the same things and those that are offended by them can just not go see the play, or not go to the Christmas party or to see the living nativity? wow...got a little worked up there...I just don't understand people these days....
What theme or color are you using? what, on my tree? it is mainly silver & ivory.....Greg & I add a new ornament every year that has the date on it and we've always gotten silver ones
Favorite for Christmas dinner? we have beef tenderloin for dinner every year with my Norman in-laws....YUM!! I am not really a turkey fan so I am all about non-traditional dinner!
What do you want for Christmas this year? for the drugs to work and for all of the side effects and needle sticks and early mornings to be for something......to give me my family

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T15:52:00.003-06:00

Life has been crazy as always and I haven't really had time to post lately. I am hoping to make time over the holiday weekend - we'll see!

I at least want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving though - hope you all enjoy the holiday with your families!

happy halloween

2008-10-31T11:58:00.002-05:00

So I'm not big into Halloween, I haven't been since I was a kid. I don't really like dressing up and we are never home enough (most of the time) to decorate or carve pumpkins. We at least usually hand out the good candy, but this year we are closed to the trick-or-treaters. We are taking the first chance we have gotten to go visit some friends and we are taking dinner with us (they had their first baby a little over a month ago). We are both really looking forward to this, but I can't help but feel a little, tiny bit bad for the poor neighborhood kids that are disappointed by the house being dark. There's always next year. I do look forward to seeing all of my nieces, nephews and friend's kiddos all dressed up though - that is by far my favorite part of this day!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

my six things

2008-10-22T09:19:00.005-05:00

This is courtesy of Jennifer

List 6 things that make you happy:

My faith. Not my religion of choice, but my faith in God. I was raised Catholic and now attend a Presbyterian church with my husband. He was raised primarily as a Baptist and religion/church has always been a hot topic for us. I have never felt that the faith in God that my parents instilled in me was ever exclusive to the Catholic faith, much to my parent's dismay. Before Greg & I got married we had decided that we were going to find a church that we both felt comfortable in, and that is where we would go and raise our family. It just so happened that our friends, the Greens, had tried this church and told us about it. Since Liz was raised Catholic like I was and Greg and Bernie were both raised Baptist we really valued their opinion on the matter. For us it is the perfect fusion of what I am used to and looking for and what he is comfortable with and looking for.

My husband. I have been truly blessed to have this man ask me to marry him and pledge to spend the rest of his life with me. I warned him from the get-go, divorce is not an option with me, he can only be "rid" of me if I die, but he responded by agreeing that he felt the same way. He has been my rock during the most difficult times I have ever known, he has been a wonderful uncle to my nieces & nephew, he is my best friend and my love. We talk about everything, our hopes, dreams, feelings, so much that I'm not sure that there is anything we don't talk about (unless it's a surprise for the other person.) He is the yin to my yang, without a doubt. We bring out the best in each other and I can't imagine my life without him.

My family. I am very close with my family. My parents are also my friends, as are my brother and sister (and SIL). I absolutely adore my nieces and nephews and I thank God for bringing them into my life. They make my heart smile. My best example to date - last night I had to run by my brother's house to pay for Girl Scout candy. While I was there my two nieces told me that they were going to ask their teachers and class to pray for my FIL (Greg's stepdad was diagnosed with cancer yesterday) and for his family because they "bet Uncle Greg is sad and his mom is sad too" When I heard those words come out of their mouths I started crying and went to give them a big hug & kiss. I don't know what I'd do without these kids either - my life is that much more complete because they are in it.

My new car. That may seem kinda of materialistic, but it is totally one of my favorite things! I just traded in my 10 year old Expedition for a 2008 Pontiac Torrent.

It is about the same size as Greg's Escape, but longer (the back seat has a freakish amount of leg room built in) I really lucked out and found one that was loaded. Sunroof, leather seats (heated leather seats), 6 disc in-dash CD player, headphone jack so I can plug my Zune directly into my car to play it, and it has remote start!! And the gas mileage is really good, which never hurts! Honestly, I didn't figure I would find a car that was this new with under 13,000 miles on it for the budget I set!! I have had it for 2 1/2 weeks now and absolutely love it!!

Bunco. I honestly used to not be a fan, but I have changed my mind! This is a great opportunity to see the girls once a month and eat some good food and just chat & catch up. Everyone is so busy these days with jobs and kids that it serves as a break for us ladies! Thanks Candice for starting it up!

DVR. It may be silly, but I do love to watch some shows and I am NEVER home when they are on. Whoever invented the DVR is a genius in my book ;-)

Now to pass on the "award" to those that haven't gotten it yet.....tag, you're it: Elizabeth & Emily

30 years, seriously?

2008-10-13T15:49:00.003-05:00

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) This was the daily Bible verse on my 30th Birthday. For as frustrated as I feel lately with thinking about the future, this is something that I need to remember. Last Monday I turned 30. When did that happen? While I may act like I am in my 30's most of the time it just feels like I'm lying to say I have been alive for 30 years.

I had a wonderful birthday. Greg had the day off anyway because my birthday fell on Columbus Day this year (bank holiday), so I took the day off as well so we could spend it together. We slept in, went to check out the new Yukon Target (!!!!), went to lunch and went home to veg on the couch and catch up on all our shows we've DVR'd and haven't had time to watch. It was a wonderful, low-key day - just what I needed! My parents stopped by that evening to wish me a happy birthday and give me a present ($$) and then they went on their way. Tuesday we had dinner with Greg's dad & step-mom for my birthday. It was great to see them - Greg sees them a lot more often than I do because he goes to lunch with them every so often. Thursday evening was spent having dinner with Greg's mom, step-dad and 2 brothers to celebrate my birthday. This has truly been a birthday week! Friday night I had the honor and privilege of spending time with Miss Molly Taylor while Jen & Bob drive up to Stillwater to go to walkaround for homecoming. I have been dying to babysit her since she was born and I finally got my chance! Jen was afraid she would be a bit fussy because she didn't get e good nap that afternoon, but she was a angel! She played well and gave me lots of smiles, ate dinner very well and fell asleep during her bottle before bed. I could've put her straight to bed but I wanted to brush her teeth so I set her in her Bumbo chair and started brushing. It woke her up a little, but it was probably better because she had fallen asleep a little earlier than she should have anyway. After that I held her for a few minutes then put her in bed. She didn't fuss a bit and just played for a few minutes, listening to her music, and then fell asleep! She was truly a joy to spend time with - you can't be anything other than happy around her when you see that smile!! Saturday night we got to spend over at the Taylor's again, this time for a small cookout with a few friends for my birthday. I wanted to keep it small and not at all about my birthday so we just did 4 couples (counting Greg & I) and the Taylor's hosted because it was already baby-friendly and easiest for the moms. It was nice to see some friends and to have a social evening with no agenda. We played with kiddos, we ate, we visited and we all went home to go to sleep! Sunday was my family birthday celebration. After church Greg dropped my off at my parent's house. I went with my mom and sister to meet my SIL at Mistletoe Market, a holiday shopping extravaganza that has over 100 booths full of holiday decorations, gifts, clothing & food. I was lucky enough to do some Christmas shopping for my nephew and one of my nieces, as well as a birthday present for a little man that is about to turn 1! Later that afternoon we had 2 soccer games, both Kayden and Bella had games within half an hour of each other, so we all watched those. Then we met Greg up at Yamato for a delicious Asian meal! Before going home to go to bed Greg & I helped my parents finish emptying out the kitchen cabinets at their house - they are remodeling this week!!

I had a truly wonderful birthday week and I can't thank my friends and families enough for all of the cards, calls, text messages, myspace/facebook comments, emails and gifts. I am really blessed.

it never really slows down

2008-10-02T11:09:00.002-05:00

I have come to the conclusion that once you get married your life is forever busy and never really slows down until you die. Don't get me wrong - I am grateful for every crazy-busy day, but a break every now and again would be nice.

Not a lot of fun has been going on the past week & a half, but we've tried to squeeze some in where we could. Tuesday I did something out of the ordinary - I went out to lunch. My only close friend from the KD house that still lives around here lives just a few miles north of me, and sadly we never see each other! So Tuesday CC and I went to have lunch with another friend from college, Rick. He actually lives a few blocks from the Greens (good friends of ours that live about 3 miles from us) and I haven't seen him since college. It was a nice break from the madness that is my job and a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends! Tuesday evening our friends Jon & Candice welcomed their first born to the world (CONGRATS!!!!). Samuel Alex Mason arrived after a long day of labor for poor Candice. Thanks to her epidural I think she did pretty well through the whole thing. We went to see them on Wednesday evening - he is SO cute! He is a fairly big baby (8lbs. 13oz.) but still so tiny - I always forget how tiny newborns are! Before heading to the hospital we went to eat with one of my best & oldest friends Jen, her husband Bob, their 8 month old daughter Molly, and another couple (Blake & Stephanie). We always seem to be busy and it feels like we never see anyone, so it was nice to spend some time with friends. Plus I can't get enough of Molly - she is the cutest darn thing!! Thursday Greg finally got his new company car, so we spent that evening playing with it and re-situating the garage so both cars could fit. Hopefully someday soon his new car will have my new car to stay in the garage with it. Jen's dad is my car dealer and he has begun the search for my next set of wheels so it is only a matter of time I hope! Friday was our monthly girls night of Bunco and socializing. The last Friday of every month we go to a different person's house and they cook dinner for everyone and then we chat & play Bunco. Megan was our hostess this month and she made a delicious Mexican casserole and dessert enchiladas - Greg would love them so I totally need to get the recipe! It was like a Mexican version of apple pie, which I don't even like, but this was awesome! Saturday was spent with the ladies again, this time celebrating the upcoming arrival of our friend Jackie's first born in November. She seemed like she had a great time at her shower and she got a ton of great stuff! All I can remember about Sunday is church that morning and then my day goes blurry. Life has been so crazy since mid-July when my supervisor left - we got slammed with work about a week after that and it hasn't slowed down any. Don't get me wrong - that's a good thing because I get paid time and a half for every minute of overtime I do - but it also sucks because it means I to work 1-2 hours of overtime each day, and have been for the past 2 1/2 months!! It just makes me so tired at night. Plus we are trying to get my MIL's house in Norman finished so the sale can go through and we can all be done driving back & forth! We are so close!!

My parent's left last Friday for a 2 week vacation in the New England area with my aunt & uncle from Iowa (my mom's little sister). I believe they were flying into Boston and then renting a car and driving all around from there. I chatted with my dad for a minute earlier today and they were on their way to Niagara Falls. I would anything to go on vacation right now. Greg is trying to find a good deal for a tropical vacation toward the end of this month - kind of a 30th birthday trip for me a few weeks late. I can't believe I am turning 30 in 11 days - I don't feel like I should be 30 already. It seems like just last week I was graduating college, not 6 years ago. Oh well, as they say, time flies when you're having fun....

what a great weekend

2008-09-21T22:08:00.005-05:00

This was a really great weekend. Friday night we went on a double date with Blake & Stephanie, first enjoying dinner at Primo's and then coming back to our house for drink & games. Well, Stephanie and I kicked the boy's butts in Turbo Cranium AND Scattergories - it was GREAT!!! Saturday started off with soccer games. Kayden and Bella are both playing soccer this year and both had games on Saturday morning so I decided to go watch. I only made a little bit of Kayden's game, but they were so cute out there! Bella began her game by scoring a goal. She has never played before and has now scored 1 goal in each of her 2 games so far! After the games I went with my parents to talk remodel. They are getting ready to remodel their kitchen and wanted my opinion on the granite, backsplash, appliances and all that good stuff. I totally LOVE shopping for that kind of thing when it is for someone else and with their money - I should've been a personal shopper! After shopping and lunch we went back to my parent's house and my dad taught me to drive his MGB!! I was so excited, I've always wanted to learn to drive a stick and we didn't have one, but now that my dad has his MGB I've gotten the chance. I had such a great time that I told him I am going to have to take it for a drive every time I come over from now on - I think that made his day! Today has been spent organizing the shed and working on the garage. Greg is supposed to get his new company car on Wednesday so he wants to have a garage spot for his car too - I always get one because he's sweet like that! Now it's just off to bed and back to the daily grind. This is going to be a BUSY week!

I'll never understand His plan......

2008-09-19T12:04:00.002-05:00

Here is the latest news on our niece Kate, not good......please continue the prayers, we all certainly appreciate them!!

Posted on CarePages 9-19-08 12:00 pm:
"Hello friends, Just another update, I am beginning to not like sitting down to this screen because I seem to post bad news more than good news. Kate and I left Wednesday morning at 3:00 am to head to Houston for a day of chemo, scans and consultation. Our original plans were to have a 3 day trip and take care of all the scans we needed, but hurricane Ike changed that for us by leaving power shortages everywhere, so we had no place to stay. Dr. Anderson wanted to have a chest CT done now and get started on the new chemo. This chemo is an IV infusion lasting 3 hours and it does not make her sick. It can have a side effect of a rash\burn on the palms of your hands and bottom of your feet, so they put hands & feet on ice for the 3 hours you get your chemo - not to the point of frostbite, but uncomfortably cold. We then met with the Dr. to go over scan and were told the cancer continues to metastasize and is now in both lungs with 6 small tumors that we could see. She has 3 on her left and 3 on her right. For the next couple of months we will continue with oral chemo at home and once a month chemo at MD Anderson followed with another chest CT and the MRI and PET scan next month. Kate handled the news just like all the other news, just fine. She is doing out patient therapy 3 times a week and continues to get stronger in the legs but still cannot walk without holding on to something. She is still in a wheelchair and is very independent in it. She is such a blessing to me. It may be hard to imagine how much we laugh together through such crap. We truly enjoy each day. I know this is the love of the Lord shinning through and giving us strength. I will close for now, Kate's calling. Love, Julie"

let's go out to the movies...

2008-09-15T12:08:00.002-05:00

So my hub and I went out on a date last night and went to go see Burn After Reading. Here's my review: Don't waste your money. We both enjoy black comedies and expected it to be funny but it had absolutely no flow to it and it just wasn't funny. Brad Pitt can play a pretty funny goofball but they showed all of his best parts on the commercials so that sucked. The best part was J.K. Simmons (Chief Pope from The Closer) and he was only in 2 or 3 scenes. Very disappointing.

life or something like it

2008-09-11T14:55:00.004-05:00

I feel like a lot should have happened since my last post, but that really isn't the case. It's kinda strange, we've been really busy but I guess just not with any noteworthy events. Let's see - since my last post here is a little recap of the main things that have happened....my BIL bought a house & moved in (freeing up the parts of our house/garage that were his storage units!!), my dad had a birthday (62 - wahoo!), Greg & I celebrated our 2nd anniversary as a legal version of "us", I hosted bunco and I managed to go yet another month with no progress in the family department. If the measures being taken would only make something happen I could deal with us not holding up our end of things, but so far it's not working at all and that is a bit frustrating. Enough of that.....

On a brighter note, Kate is doing better. She is home (for now) and is using a wheel chair/walker to get around. The damage is most evident in that she cannot get her legs to go where she wants them to - which I'm sure is terribly frustrating for a 16 year old girl! She did good through the PT, chemo & radiation and managed to keep her spirit strong and disposition happy! The doctors said they will not know how extensive the spinal cord damage is and if this is permanent for possibly up to a year and a half because it is a delicate area of the spine. She is continuing with outpatient therapy at home and will go back to MD Anderson for a new infusion of chemo in about a week. Please continue to keep her in your prayers!

Our anniversary was really nice and low key. We decided to go celebrate on Sunday night (2 days early) and have dinner at the Melting Pot. We picked Sunday because we'd heard that an evening there will take a while. They seated us in a secluded area and even gave us a card that the staff signed wishing us a happy anniversary. Our waiter was phenomenal and we enjoyed our meal, but especially dessert! Banana's Foster fondue - it was incredible!! Neither of us are fans of the cheese fondue, but the Coq Au Vin cooking style for our main course was so delicious!! It was just a wonderful evening all around. Then for our actual anniversary we did Chinese takeout and cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie - it was a perfect anniversary!!

That's about it in my world! My allergies are getting the better of me this week, but other than that no major complaints!

Prayers for Kate - tell everyone you know!!

2008-08-04T12:58:00.003-05:00

Greg and I have a niece (his stepbrother Shane's stepdaughter) that has been battling cancer for the past year. Things have been looking up lately, she's been doing well. Then we got this message from her mother on their CarePages site :

"To the Family, Hello to you all. The Lord is our source of strength and we are going to need that strength starting now!!! Kate, Alex, and David (her bother & dad) just got home yesterday evening from a trip to Wyoming to Yellowstone. She took lots of photos and said,"Wow" how beautiful it was. Of course they did lots of walking on trails to take in the splendor of some of Gods creation that He has lovingly made available for us to see. But she also began having trouble with her legs. They just did not want to work right for her. She also had some numbing from the hips down. We watched her closely last night and were alarmed by what we saw. I called her Houston doctor and he said she needed to be in the emergency room and have an MRI and CT scan at Cook Childrens. So that is where Shane, David, Kate and myself spent the day. We did not get good news. Her tumor is back and has infiltrated the spinal column and pressure is building on the spinal chord, interrupting the signals from the brain so she cannot walk easily. They also see a lesion on the lung. So we are to be in Houston first thing Monday and go over the scans and discuss our options. Pray us through as it feels like a storm is surely coming our way. We Love You , Julie"

She is such a great girl. They spent the night at our house in May after my FIL's birthday party and I sat and talked to her for quite awhile. She was so excited b/c her 16th birthday was 2 weeks away.....she is just such an incredible spirit and this is just heartbreaking news. Please, please, please pray for her and for their family!! This has already been such a long and difficult road for them, and I have a feeling it is only going to get harder.
Thank you - hope you all are doing well.

UPDATE:
I just got an update from Shane about Kate. They are back at MD Anderson and she has just finished having her scans - here is the gist of what is going on:

Posted on CarePages 44 minutes ago:
"They (the team of doctors) are now preparing to go into surgery. Very touchy surgery. Their intent is to go into the spinal column and get the pressure off of the spinal cord. Right now the tumor is pressing the spinal cord all the way against the left wall of the spinal column. The result of this is Kate is not able to walk and has very little function in her legs. For you medical folks, she's at a T6 functioning level. Surgery should start somewhere around 2 hours from now and will last 4 to 6 hours. We met with her oncology doctor this morning, around 9am, and his only comments to us was to get this surgery done to give her a chance of some return and worry about the next plan of attack, on the cancer, later this week."

have you seen me lately?

2008-07-28T10:26:00.002-05:00

So nothing is new really, just crazy busy life as always. Same sh**, different day! A few friends have had their babies (welcome to the world Connor & Landon), more working on the Norman house (although not very much - and rumor has it it might be sold!), my BIL Kev bought his first house (and luckily only 3 miles away from us) and my mother had a birthday (happy b-day lovely lady)!

These days have been filled with running around like a headless chicken trying to make it through each day before losing my mind - so far so good! We have been helping Kevin get his house ready so he can move in - he bought a foreclosure so the house is needing a LOT of love. Lucky find though - it has original wood floors all over (except the kitchen/dining area) so a lot of focus lately has been on replacing broken boards and pulling up tack boards/nails. He is off work today and sanding them with one of his friends. Something about being sealed up in a house with no A/C on a day like today (it's going to be around 100 today) just doesn't sound very nice - good luck guys!

And then there's work - my supervisor resigned on the spot after having a meeting with my bosses earlier this month (the 18th). I was at the dentist so I didn't get in until 9:15 and he was gone by the time I got there! There have been a lot of issues with him so this is a good thing - although I have been working more everyday since and a bit on weekends with Greg in here b/c this guy was also in charge of keeping software licensing up to date and doing the back-up on our server. Turns out he hadn't been doing any of that and we didn't have a complete back-up of our server......since FEBRUARY! Good damn thing it didn't crash - we'd have been in serious trouble!! So my darling, sweet hub has been stepping in until they find an IT person and getting the back-up system running as it should have to begin with, better really. Bless his heart, as if he didn't work too many hours already between his job and all this house work we're doing for everyone - now he has to add my office onto his list! He's an angel!!

We had a great afternoon with the family after church yesterday. We got together and had a little cookout for mom's birthday, sans Lisa & her kids as she is cruising around Mexico right about now! We got mom a Wii Fit for her birthday....she's been talking about ours and the fact that they wanted one too so we figured why the hell not, she has everything else! She loved it - we set everyone up on it (except Greg & I - we have our own & I didn't feel like getting weighed and measuring my BMI in front of my family after eating lunch!) and then watched Bella hula hoop for a while. Quite a site to see - her hula hooping isn't so much moving her hips around in a circle as it was this strange shape. And her movement had some attitude in in, so we were all cracking up! It was a good end to a good day!

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times

2008-07-11T14:33:00.003-05:00

So yesterday was a pretty darn good day. My friend Sam had her baby boy - Landon Charles Lybarger was born at 2:06pm yesterday by c-section. He is 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches! Then we went to Norman for dinner with Greg's dad's side (his sister Diana was here from CA with her boyfriend & their adorable daughter Isabella). We enjoyed a wonderful home cooked dinner (thanks Candy!) and us ladies had a really nice time chatting and drinking some wine afterward(1 glass had me buzzed - that's how long it's been since I have had a drink!!). Then Patrick took Diana aside toward the end of the evening and proposed - it was really turning out to be quite a day!!

Then today happened. Not really the worst of times - that (so far in my life) was last May - but definitely on the bad side of things. Not even work related - work has actually been okay. My BIL Kevin got MORE bad news about his upcoming closing on his first house - we're not sure if he is going to continue to deal with this crap or if he's going to just walk away. Poor guy has been on quite the roller coaster with this house situation! It is constantly changing and I'm not sure if he will know or believe he is actually getting this house until he is in the process or signing the papers! I feel for Kevin, I truly do, and I know how much he wants this house and quite honestly it's perfect for what he wants and it's close to us which is awesome. I have to admit that part of my irritation in all of this is that we have an entire room and 1/3 of our garage that is a storage space for him until he gets his house and I hate to say it, but I want my house & garage back! There is so much I want to do and I can't until he moves out! But I feel bad for even thinking about that....

And then there's our roof. We had to replace the west side or our roof within the first year of owning this house - a little wind damage, but it wasn't bad enough to claim insurance or anything. So last week I look at the roof as we are pulling up to the house and I notice there are some dark spots on the south side of the roof - we have shingles missing! We called 2 roofing companies (the one we used last time and then one that has been on a constant stream of replacing roofs in the neighborhood) and they both came out today to check it out. Bad news - we have wind damage that needs to be fixed and the builder hired a crappy roofer to begin with and so the roofing job is less than stellar to begin with. Apparently that is a common occurrence in our neighborhood - hence all the new roofs that have been going up. This is a big one, so I called our insurance company to get things going. I hate to claim insurance, but this is most likely going to be a more expensive venture than me buying Greg's car from the fleet company! RIDICULOUS!! And the best part is that they don't make the color of shingle that we have anymore so the new roof we had put on less than 2 years ago (the one we had to match to the existing shingles) will now have to be replaced too! I am SO GLAD today is Friday.....

a little about us

2008-07-09T11:00:00.003-05:00

1. Who is your man? GREG ANDREW BURKS
2. How long have you been together? STARTED DATING IN JANUARY OF '04
3. How long did you date? WE WERE LESS THAN A MONTH FROM OUR 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WHEN HE PROPOSED
4. How old is your man? 30......HE IS ALMOST EXACTLY 9 MONTHS OLDER THAN ME....HIS BIRTHDAY IS ON THE 12TH AND MINE THE 13TH
5. Who eats more? GREG
6. Who is taller? GREG BY A FEW INCHES......MAYBE 5
7. Who sings better? DEPENDS WHAT WE ARE SINGING ;-)
8. Who is smarter? I USED TO SAY HE WAS BUT HE MADE A COMMENT TO HIS LITTLE BROTHER A WEEK OR SO AGO ABOUT HOW GLAD HE WAS TO HAVE AN EQUAL WHEN IT COMES TO INTELLIGENCE......I ALMOST CRIED!
9. Whose temper is worse? PROBABLY MINE
10. Who does the laundry? BOTH OF US
11. Who takes out the garbage? MOSTLY GREG BUT I DO SOMETIMES
12. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? GREG
13. Who pays the bills? ME
14. Who is better with the computer? GREG....THAT IS HIS JOB AFTER ALL! I'M REALLY GOOD THOUGH - HE WAS IMPRESSED TO SEE MY SKILLS!
15. Who mows the lawn? BOTH OF US DO, BUT HE DOES MORE....I AM THE WEED EATER / EDGER.....MOWING CAUSES ME TO USE MY INHALER & GREG DOESN'T LIKE THAT
16. Who cooks dinner? BOTH OF US
17. Who drives when you are together? EITHER OR.......HE DOES MORE OFTEN, BUT IT'S HIS COMPANY CAR
18. Who pays when you go out? EITHER - IT ALL COMES FROM THE SAME PLACE ANYHOW!
19. Who is most stubborn? I THINK WE ARE EQUALLY STUBBORN!
20. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? WE WILL BOTH ADMIT IF WE ARE WRONG, BUT IF THE OTHER ONE MAKES A FEDERAL CASE OUT OF THE FACT WE DID THEN WE STOP
21. Whose parents do you see the most? WE SEE THEM ABOUT THE SAME......EXCEPT HIS DAD & CANDY - WE SEE THEM THE LEAST B/C THEY LIVE IN NORMAN AND ARE OUT OF TOWN A LOT......WE HAVE DINNER THERE TOMORROW NIGHT THOUGH ;-)
22. Who kissed who first? I KISSED HIM.......THE NIGHT HE ASKED ME OUT - I SURPRISED HIM!!
23. Who asked who out? HE ASKED ME
24. Who proposed? HE DID.......I WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN THAT AWAY FROM HIM....HE WENT TO LUNCH WITH MY DAD TO ASK FOR MY HAND AND EVERYTHING
25. Who is more sensitive? ME.....MY HORMONES PLAY A PART IN THAT THOUGH
26. Who has more friends? HE WOULD SAY ME, B/C OF MY KAPPA DELTA LADIES! BUT AS FAR AS FRIENDS THAT WE SEE AND DO THINGS WITH THEY ARE MUTUAL FRIENDS WE BOTH KNEW BEFORE WE KNEW EACH OTHER

the silver lining

2008-07-08T15:05:00.001-05:00

I decided to look at my daily passage when I was finished with the previous post and this is what it is:

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

I needed that today.....

Time flies when you're having fun......or not

2008-07-08T14:36:00.004-05:00

So I guess it's been a while since I've posted.......it's sad when you have to look at the calendar to remember what has happened in the past few weeks. Father's Day came and went. We all got together the night before to celebrate with my family. It was nice - us ladies took care of dinner and dishes - all the men had to do was show up! I did get to go to a beautiful shower in honor of Mr. Connor Joseph Benson whom is scheduled to make his arrival on July 21 or 22nd....I can't remember. I am so excited to meet him and to know that he is here safely - he's been giving his momma a hard time! My beautiful little nephew Reed turned 2 on the 20th - 2!! He had a party and I got to spend the day with him.....I have a ton of pics of him playing, I'll try to post them later this week.

We had a relatively nice 4th of July. Greg & I spent that Friday as we spend most of our evenings lately - working at the house in Norman. My MIL's house she grew up in - we are in the process of getting it ready to sell. And a HUGE process that is too.......the people that have lived there the past few years, we'll call them tenants, didn't take care of the place AT ALL and it is just in crap condition. They blame it on the "landlords" but the fact of the matter is they just didn't take care of it themselves and it was just dirty and torn up and the yard was totally neglected. So needless to say Greg & I have been making the 45 minute drive quite a bit lately (today will make the 6th day in a row) when we get off work to go try to make some progress down there. It is quite a chore and a bit of a headache, but it needs to be done. My MIL & FIL go down and work during the days so it's not like we're the only ones doing it, we just have a lot that is up to us to do. And we're tired.....tired of driving down there, tired of having to neglect OUR house, tired of not having free time and just plain tired. Hopefully the house will sell quickly - there has been a LOT of interest in it as we've been working - and my MIL & FIL can get their house sold and get into a new one!

A quick rant on the subject of buying/selling houses..........my BIL has been looking for a house for a while. He wants a fixer-upper, just 3 bed, 1 1/2 bath....nothing grand, just one he & 2 friends can live in, fix up and sell. He found the perfect house and is 1 week from closing and the lender has suddenly come to him and told him that he has to have $7000 in the bank or he can't have the house anymore. That is RIDICULOUS!! I know the bank is trying to cover themselves (the house has been off & on the market a number of times, all because financing has fallen through....well now we know why it keeps happening!!) It's only a $65,000 house.....It just pisses me off that they can yank him around like that - he has been jumping through hoops to get this house and now as he's a damn week away they screw him over like that......just because people in other parts of the country are getting in over their heads and can't afford their houses doesn't mean that everyone is like that - he shouldn't be punished for the mistakes of others!!

Dinner in Bricktown

2008-06-18T18:57:00.001-05:00

Meet Margaret

2008-06-12T11:50:00.005-05:00

So this is my Grandma Bice, my last living grandparent (except on the Burks side of course). I will get more pics of all of us at our dinner her last night here (hopefully soon) and pop a few on here.

Happy Birthday Margaret!

2008-06-11T09:40:00.005-05:00

Well today is my Grandma's 85th (I think) Birthday. Not that she reads this, because she doesn't, but Happy Birthday to her! Dad drove her home on Monday - it was sure nice having her around here for a bit though. On Sunday the family (everyone except Greg & I) went to the Barnum & Bailey Circus and then we met them afterward at Toby Keith's in Bricktown for dinner. It was a nice way to get together one more time before she left. Dad took pictures of the grandkids/great-grandkids with her after dinner - if I am ever able to get any of them from him I will post some. Other than that I spent practically all day Saturday in Tulsa/Broken Arrow for Sam's baby shower. It was a nice day - Jen & I had some great conversation in the car and we got to see Bernie. Oh yeah - congrats to her & Adam - they are getting married!!!! We got to meet her future mother-in-law and one would think that Bernie and her are mother & daughter - it's bizarre! She's wonderful and she loves Bernie as much as we do I think and is SO excited to have her as part of the family! Let's see....Bernie is running in the NYC marathon on Nov. 2nd (CRAZY!) and they hope to be getting married sometime mid November!! Looking forward to celebrating with them - I love weddings/wedding celebrations!!

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." - James Dent

2008-06-03T14:13:00.003-05:00

Memorial Day weekend - most people think of going to the lake or having a cookout or something fun. Greg and I, we're gluttons for punishment! We had both taken Thursday and Friday off work, thinking we'd be uber-productive over a long weekend like that and be all the happier for it. Well part of that thinking was right.

We decided to have at least ONE fun day, so Thursday we went to Moore to check out the new Warren movie theater that was just built. We had planned to see the new Indiana Jones movie and have lunch. You see, they have a balcony area that is 21 and over with seats grouped in twos and little tables and waiters/waitresses. They have a full service menu that is connected to the diner on the ground level of the theater (anyone can eat there anytime, not just for movie-goers) which includes alcoholic drinks and an entire pages of desserts. The theater was freezing, but lucky for me the balcony area's big cushy seats are also heated! We enjoyed our movie with free refills and our own waiter - and lunch was delicious. We will definitely be returning to that theater on occasion!

Friday we headed to Norman to work in the yard of the house my MIL#1 grew up in (for reference my #1 in-laws are Greg's birth parents and the #2 in-laws are his stepparents - so MIL#1 goes with FIL#2 and so on) My older BIL used to live there but has since moved back to OKC so my MIL wants to sell it. Greg & I worked in that stupid yard all afternoon and the only thing you could tell for sure was that the front yard got mowed - that was at least my doing :-) He spent most of the time in the back cutting down tree limbs that were hanging over the power lines and such. There are so many twigs in that back yard that we have to rake them up before we can mow or we will ruin my younger BIL's new mower. I hate that yard.

Saturday and Sunday we worked at our house in the yard - mowing, edging, tearing out a bush, ripping out flower bed borders and redoing some of them. Oh yeah, and planting our plants and flowers, finally! We got half of it finished that day, but we were exhausted and decided to stop. After stepping back and looking at things we decided the stones we had bought to line the edges of the beds just wouldn't look the way we wanted it to look, so we decided to have concrete curbs poured and stained for our flower bed borders instead. I'm excited - they're going to look fabulous - the downside though is I have to wait until mid-July to get them. Ah, what can you do...

Monday was FULL of laundry and straightening the house. My dad called Monday afternoon to tell me that my Grandma was coming to visit and they were all getting together at my parents house that night. After a LONG weekend of work we head to my parent's house to visit with the fam and play with the kiddos. It was a very nice ending to a hectic weekend. Well, most of it was hectic. I did make time to play my Wii Fit every night for at least 30 minutes.......I love that thing!

Time flies

2008-06-03T14:02:00.003-05:00

Long time no talk! Wow, it seems like a ton has happened since I was last on here but I'm not sure how true that is. I'll pretty much do a big overview of everything that's happened since the end of April......here we go:

• Our friends Jon & Candice found out on May 2nd that they are having a boy (shout out to little Sam - can't wait to meet you!!)

• Mother's Day - Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there (and you mothers-to-be too!)

• My FIL#2 (that is Greg's stepfather for those that don't get my abbreviations) turned the big 70 on May 13th (Happy Birthday to you big man!)

• I bought a Wii Fit and am now addicted ;-)

• Memorial Day Weekend - (I'll elaborate on that later)

• My Grandma Bice came back to OK with my brother & his fam after they visited her in AL over the holiday weekend - she's here until June 9th

• My cousin Joe was ordained as a Catholic priest on the 31st (congrats Joe!)

• My cousins Gavin & Liz had their ultrasound to see what they are having but the Dr. couldn't tell!!

That's the gist of what's been going on. There's been a LOT of work intermingled in there too - nothing spectacular - just everyday life!

I went to Cantler's and all I got was crabs

2008-04-29T15:49:00.007-05:00

So Friday morning I got up at the butt-crack of dawn so I could get to the airport on time. I was really very lucky - I had found 2 tickets for a phenomenal price - and it couldn't have come at a better time.

I arrived at BWI after a non-stop flight from OKC around 12:45. So far things were great, my flight left on time and I arrived 10 minutes early which was awesome since I was needing to find the shuttle to take me to the MARC station and I'd never been to BWI before. I found my way rather quickly and hopped aboard for a quick ride to the train station where I bought a ticket (for $6!!) and patiently awaited the train. It was nice to ride the train from Baltimore to DC - I hadn't been in that area in years and it gave me a chance to stare out the window at a lovely change of scenery. We arrived at Union Station (it's HUGE - it's a mall & train/subway station all in one!) on time and I took it all in as I went to meet my little in the Main Hall. It was in the 80's and I was dressed too warm for walking around, so we grabbed lunch & headed to her apartment in Eckington. After relaxing for a bit and walking around the neighborhood we got dressed and headed to Dupont on the Metro to meet 2 more friends from college for dinner that lived in Baltimore. We went to Lauriol Plaza which is a great Mexican restaurant in DC (and quite the happening bar too) and visited with Brooke & Erika for a few hours. They had delicious food there and the drinks weren't too shabby either! After dinner we headed back to my little's place (they gave us a ride this time though so they could see her place before heading back to Baltimore).

Saturday morning started early - I woke up at 6:15 (remember - we're an hour behind DC) and then dozed off and on for an hour or so before getting up. She made pancakes for breakfast and then we doused ourselves in sunscreen and headed for the Metro. We spent a few hours just walking around the National Mall, occasionally stopping to sit for a while on a bench & people watch. It was in the mid-80's so it was the perfect day for this! We had to be back to meet another friend of hers around 2 so we walked home through China Town and continued to enjoy the weather. I decided to skip out of the walking tour of the rehabbing that the city was doing to the neighborhood, so I stayed home and took a cold shower and a catnap while they went ahead on the walk. When they got home we piled in her car and headed to Maryland for dinner. Before moving to DC my little lived and worked in Annapolis, so we were going to one of her favorite restaurants with some of her former co-workers/friends for dinner. It was awesome - whole steamed crabs that you pick apart and get every last ounce of meat out of!! After dinner we walked around the "downtown" area and got some gelato for dessert - so delicious! Then we headed home and crashed.

Sunday I slept in (until 8:30 EST!) and then got up and started packing and got ready for church. I went to my little's church in Virginia with her. We stayed and joined the potluck lunch after service and sat around visiting with the pastor and the other members. It was a wonderful afternoon - they are all very welcoming and friendly people - I certainly didn't feel like a visitor! After a few hours we headed back to DC and prepared to head to Baltimore so I could catch my plane home.

I had an amazing time - it couldn't have been better timing for myself or for my little. I am so blessed to have her in my life and can't wait to go visit again (maybe this time I'll take Greg though - it's so beautiful there!) As much fun as I had though I am happy to be back home with Greg - I missed him!

Seven Random Things

2008-04-21T09:56:00.002-05:00

1. My skin color is unpredictable. I am one of the whitest people I have ever known and usually don't get much color-if any-anymore (I USED to tan beautifully). I am so used to getting nothing from being in the sun. So I sat outside on Saturday afternoon for an hour and my chest and face are BURNT (nothing else even looks like it was outside). I just never know what to expect from myself :-)

2. I hate my job. I am just too indecisive to do anything about it!

3. I check my email about 50 times between the hours of 8 and 4, but rarely after that or on weekends. Internet Explorer is just open all day so it is SO EASY to look at the tab bar and see if there is a (number) next to Gmail. It's a bit OCD, but I just really like to get distracted from work sometimes!!

4. I love bell peppers. I think they are my favorite snack. Green are my favorite - they are tasty with tortilla chips and especially with chex mix (that is the best!!) I love to eat them in salads, on burgers, on turkey sandwiches, on nachos and by themselves of course.

5. I really enjoy working outside and planting flowers & plants, but I am not necessarily fabulous at keeping it all alive. It's hit or miss really, sometimes things thrive and sometimes I just can't seem to get them going.

6. Greg & I both have back problems. He threw his back out while playing pool 6 or 7 years ago and I threw mine out 2 years ago this Mother's Day while putting my youngest niece on the floor (I was even squatting!!) He is pretty much forever screwed up unless he has surgery - I went to physical therapy for a few months and was taught some tricks to help it if it acts up again. Even though I do have problems if I stand too much or walk a lot without wearing good shoes, the tricks Mary Jo taught me have helped tremendously and I have pain less and less. I at least know what causes it and what to do if I do start hurting!

7. I am a never ending hair-twirler. I don't know why, but I love to twirl my hair - it is just soft & I do it whether it is straight or curly - I always have.

Thank goodness for "storage" rooms

2008-04-15T08:15:00.005-05:00

Well last night I became truly thankful that my younger BIL hadn't found a house yet. You see, he has 1/3 of our garage (good thing it's a 3 car!) and a whole room full of his belongings (ranging from furniture to appliances to decorative items to cookware) stored at our house. I have been a bit anxious to get his things out so I can organize the room & garage, but the fact remains until we are turning that room into a nursery it's serving a purpose. See, last night Greg & I broke our bed, well a piece of it anyway that caused my side of the mattress to go crashing to the floor. Luckily we had a set of box springs for my BIL's king-sized bed in that "storage" room. So the last part of my evening was spent taking all of the rails off of our bed, setting up the box springs (it has to sit on the floor so we still have a bit of tweaking to do) and putting the bed back together. On a bright note though it makes the mattress sit lower now like we had originally had with our foam mattress and it gave me the chance to put our new bedding on!! I LOVE it! Here's what it looks like...

That time of year

2008-04-14T08:57:00.002-05:00

This past week I have been wishing I was my hubby. He had last week AND this week off of work, vacation time galore! He spent the week last week doing odds and ends around the house. He fixed the heater on the hot tub and we bought a new cover for it - our last one had been blown over the fence and ripped in half by a wind storm! It kind of ugly (it's greenish/dark teal) BUT it was on sale (a good one too) and just happened to be in stock and the size we needed (which they don't normally have in stock - this is one someone ordered last year and never picked up). AND it was the sloped design we were wanting (sloped down from the center so ice/snow won't sit on top of it) so I decided to overlook the color and just deal with it - it was too good a deal to pass up, and besides, it's something that sits in our backyard! So on the day that it poured rain we met at the spa store on 39th by Greg's office and picked up the cover and went home to put it on in the rain!

I can't remember that much else this past week. We did watch Last King of Scotland on Thursday - very good movie and totally not about a King or Scotland really. I'm not sure what kind of movie Greg was expecting, but I was thinking it was an old school movie - kind of like Braveheart - and that it was about the last King of Scotland. Silly me - I obviously hadn't heard or seen any previews for it prior to watching it - it was a very good movie though, we both enjoyed it. Friday night Greg went to help Blake for a bit (he was working on his floors) while I stayed home and made dinner. We spent the rest of the evening playing Yahtzee and hanging out together.

Saturday rolled around and we got up decently early and spent the day working outside - me in the flowerbeds & Greg in the garage. We took a break from our respective jobs and cleaned out the hot tub and refilled it - the weather this week is so perfect for a night or two of hot tubbing before closing up for the summer. After working outside all day we ended up being invited to the Green's for dinner, so we went over for burgers and all the fixings and got to hang out with them and visit for a bit.

Sunday morning we went to church - we have kind of gotten out of the routine of going and we both wanted to start back again so this Sunday was the day. We say the Green's there - Henry was SO good during church, even when another baby started crying and had to be taken out he was just content and quiet. I think he slept a bit, but I peeked back at them once or twice and he was just looking around being cute little Henry. I can't get over how fast he's growing up! After church we picked up Robbie and headed home to gather supplies and change clothes. We then headed to the Norman house. This is the house my MIL#1 grew up in and my BIL and his wife lived there until they got divorced - so now we are cleaning it, fixing it up and selling it! I worked in the yard - using the weed eater to chop down the huge weeds that had taken over the lawn. Not as nice looking as mowing, but we didn't have the mower with us b/c the ground was still too wet (there were so many weeds we would've had to do this before mowing anyway!) I'm sure the neighbor's were all just happy that it looks taken care of now. While I did that Greg & Robbie made up a list of all the electrical that needed to be done and took care of some branched that were hanging on the electrical & cable lines out back. There is a LOT of work to be done to that house - we'll see what all comes of it! We finished up for the day and headed home, stopping at Johnnie's for dinner on the way - a nice treat after such a busy weekend! We attempted to watch a movie after dinner, but I was exhausted and fell asleep (as we both knew I would) while Greg watched the movie....a typical end to a busy weekend!

Girls weekend - here I come!!!

2008-04-07T12:03:00.003-05:00

So not a whole lot has happened in the past week - we went to Eichen's with the Taylor's, Blake and Stephanie on Monday for dinner - it was so good - Jen & I even drank a beer!! It was the first time in a long time (only the second time since my Grandma's funeral last May) that I have been down to Okarche - it was a little strange feeling considering it used to be a trip that was made every other week if not every week since I can remember. The time with friends was nice though - we never seem to get good quality time with friends anymore - everyone's lives are so busy! The Green's seem to be the only people we see on a semi-regular basis and I'm not even sure how that happens as much as it does! Our schedules just seem to cooperate with theirs whereas it doesn't with most of our other friends.

The week went on as it usually does. Wednesday the women in my family (and the little girls) got together for our annual pedicure (and toe painting for the little ones) while my dad watched my nephew and kept him entertained. After, we all got dinner together - Greg was working (big shock!) so he couldn't join us :-(

Friday night was the start of our movie night. We decided that we wanted to see all the movies that have ever won "Best Picture" at the Oscar's, giving us 80 movies on our list. We also decided to add a few that we wanted to see that hadn't won, such as Casablanca, Citizen Cane and a few other "classics". Greg's older brother Brian came over and we grilled burgers and ate dinner and then watched the first movie "Wings". It was a 1927/1928 silent film that was a love story taking place during WWI - it actually wasn't bad, although it was about an hour too long! Over 2 hours with a huge chunk in the middle primarily of dog fights, all aerial shots....it got a little old after a while. Other than the length though it was a good story we all thought - much better than we had anticipated considering it was the first silent film any of us had seen!

Saturday we had planned to help Jon finish the laminate floors by installing the bedroom flooring. About 5 minutes before we were to leave Greg got called into work in Norman so our day got postponed. I started some laundry and decided to wait and see how long he'd be gone before calling Jon. After about 20 minutes the phone rang and I got called into work too - which NEVER happens!! They had a salesman that REALLY needed a job on Monday and so they needed to have it set and have plates run that day so it could be picked up on Monday - so I went in to work (they offered me 2 "bonus" hours of overtime plus however long it took me to do the job if I'd do it - I wasn't going to turn that down!) So I went in for an hour and got the job to the press and headed home. I had called Jon and left a message as I drove and he called me as I pulled into the garage. I told him if he would come over & help me load the saws in my car then I would come over and we would get started without Greg. Shortly after Jon arrived Greg called and said that there was a chance he'd be flying to Phoenix so we decided to get started and do what we could. Greg ended up at Jon's house by the time we had a little over 1/3 of the floor done and found out a bit later that he would be staying in OKC and starting his vacation time as scheduled (today is the start of 2 weeks of vacation for him!) By 8:30 the flooring was done and the room was put back together with everything being cleaned and the bed being made too! We kicked some serious butt on Saturday - and my leg muscles are killing me to prove it!! I was trying to be good and take care of my back - and I must have succeeded because I was lifting with my legs and squatting down so much my quads and hamstrings are SO sore!! Oh well, it's good for me, right?

Today is the start of another week. I just purchased my plane ticket to DC for the end of this month so I am VERY excited about that! My "little sis" lives there and a few friends in Baltimore so I am flying into Baltimore on Friday around 1 and then spending the weekend in DC with my "little" before flying home late Sunday night. It'll be a fast trip, but it'll be nice to get away and get my head clear and stop dwelling on things that I have no control over. It'll be Greg's first time to stay home without me since we moved in - I told him to have a poker night with the guys or something - we'll see if he misses me as much as I miss him when he's gone!!

Green may be the color of money, but that's almost the only thing going for it

2008-03-31T13:28:00.005-05:00

I just purchased the new bedding for our master bedroom!!! I'm SO excited to finally be getting a start on "decorating" our room!!!! As soon as it comes in then I can start to figure out paint colors and the ugly green walls can finally be gone!!!!!!!

A little funny to start the week....

2008-03-31T09:45:00.001-05:00

BOOMER.....(that's the only time you'll hear me say that)

2008-03-31T08:55:00.004-05:00

Thursday night we were over at the Green's house (we took dinner over since we couldn't spend Friday with the birthday boy) and my cousin called - they had just passed the exit for OSU on I-35....holy crap!! You see, my cousin Justin & his wife Sadie were coming down from Ames, IA for a visit and they were supposed to be driving to KC on Thursday night and then the rest of the way on Friday. Well, they had decided to drive the whole way that day and had called me at about 7 when they were still in Kansas but my lovely phone didn't bother to tell me :-( So, we finished out visit and headed home - good thing we had finished cleaning the guest bathroom already!! We picked up some beer and Greg dropped me off (he had to head into work for a bit) around 10 and less than 10 minutes after I get home I hear suitcases rolling on the sidewalk - they were here!!! I am very close to Justin and Sadie is like a sister in a former life - I don't think I ever laugh as hard as I do when she's around! The Anderson family & Bice family used to take summer vacations together every summer - those three are the same ages as my brother, sister and I so we all became very close over the years. Anyway, Just & I popped open some beer and the three of us sat there talking for a bit, with Greg joining us shortly after they arrived. before we knew it 1 AM had reared it's head & we all headed off to bed so Greg and I could get up for work on Friday.

Friday night was spent hanging out at my brother & sister-in-laws with the rest of my family. Lots of beer drinking was involved (this weekend was the first time I've had beer in probably over a year!!) and a rousing game of Loaded Questions was played......my family + alcohol = freaking hilarious answers!! We left around 12:30 and finally made it to bed around 1:30 again.

Saturday night we went to the Big XII championships for women's gymnastics. My cousins are neighbor's and friends with the ISU coaches, so we got to be on the coaches list and get in for free! The meet was awesome (I am a huge fan of gymnastics though!) - Greg even enjoyed it! It was OU, Mizzou, Nebraska & Iowa State. ISU was the worst ranked team out of the 4 - this was a rebuilding year for them and they weren't expected to finish high at all. Well the girls really brought their A game and they lost the championship by a tenth of a point!! OU had a near perfect vault (9.95) that won it for them - ISU had come so close and done so well that they were ecstatic though!

Sunday was Molly's baptism!! It was a happy day, but a sad day all in one. Brian is Molly's Godfather so Rick stood in for him, which you could tell was really hard. You can tell by his face that he is still having a really, really difficult time adjusting to life without Brian, as I know they all are, his is just so evident in his face. Landmark events like this will be terrible for a while, but they are a strong family and they will get through it together! It was nice to be able to share in this event with them! After the baptism there was a reception/party at Rick & Cindy's house - lots of food and socializing!! It was nice to be able to spend time with them all for a happy reason, even though the mood wasn't the typical happy baptism mood - there was still an air of sadness for everyone there I think. Afterward we went over to check out Sean & Makaria's new house.....it's great! They have a wonderful new house with great bones to transform into their first home together - such a wonderful and exciting time that is!! We're looking forward to the housewarming party in a few weeks!!

The week ended with storms. Golf ball sized hail was the worst we got at our house. No damage that we can tell - the cars were in the garage so they're good. I went to sleep after it passed us and hadn't fully woken up yet when my brother called this morning. Apparently there was a small tornado that was around 178th & Penn and had hit a few houses in Valencia. Jenny & Buddy moved into their new house in Valencia a few months ago. The Benson's are on the NW corner of 178th & Penn, my brother and his fam are on the NE corner & my sister and her kids are on the SE corner - so everyone was in the closet or laundry room last night!! I talked to everyone this morning though and so far all that is wrong is missing trash cans....hopefully after a good once over that is still the only thing wrong!! All in all it was a great weekend - exhausting, but great!!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-24T09:48:00.003-05:00

Things have been crazy as always since my last entry. Thursday we were set to take Bella her birthday present and run some errands on our way home - well God had another plan for us! As we were preparing to leave our house & head to Edmond Greg got a call from his mother - his older brother had been taken to the emergency room via EMSA b/c his blood pressure was 170/180!! He has always had heart problems so I got a bit nervous that something was SERIOUSLY wrong. We decided to wait just a bit and see if we could find anything out before deciding what we were going to do. She told us a few minutes later that no one could see him for a while so we went ahead and ran to Edmond to visit with my brother & family so Bella could open her present. After visiting with them for a bit we headed up to Baptist and went to see him. I wasn't truly relieved until we walked in and saw him sitting there. That range is high enough to have a serious heart attack or a stroke and he has had open heart surgeries as a child and the whole situation just freaked all of us out I think. It turned out he was dehydrated and suffered from heat exhaustion (as well as a pretty wicked sunburn) - they released him shortly after we got there with strict instructions. Thankfully he is fine now, but man that gave us all a pretty good scare!

The weekend has been much better than the week was. My neck/back pain that I have been having all week finally bothered me bad enough to call my doctor. After talking to him and having him check out how limited my range of movement was he determined that I have a bulging disc in my neck that is putting pressure on a nerve and causing the referred pain in my back. I have steroids, muscle relaxers (to help me sleep at night) and pain pills to take (the last 2 only if I really need them). I was told if it wasn't better by Monday to come in again and I would start physical therapy and if it was worse then I would come in for an MRI. Oh joy. So I started my 6-day treatment after I got off work and then we went to get a new pillow (I have to sleep on a pillow that doesn't prop my head up at all - for those of you that know me I love pillows and have about 5 that I use in some form or fashion). I decided to try a memory foam contoured pillow after sleeping on one flat feather pillow and hating it - the jury's still out on the new one though - I can't decide if I really like it or not. We visited some friends on our way home Friday night and then put in a new fan in our living room no Saturday (well, Robbie technically put it up - neither one of us can work over our heads!) We FINALLY have light in our living room again and it is brighter than it ever was (and can be dimmed of course!) - I'm going to LOVE it!! Saturday night we went out to a nice dinner with Jen & Bob....Bob's parent's had come over to stay with Molly and the four of us went up to Edmond for a nice dinner & conversation. We had a really great time and can't wait to celebrate Molly's baptism this coming Sunday with the family! Then we spent a bit of time with our families yesterday to celebrate Easter. The Burks boys (and, well, me too) went to join JE & Jerry for Resurrection Sunday service and his church in Cashion and then we headed over to my parents house for lunch with my family and the Sisters. After a delicious (and filling) lunch some of us cleaned up and did dishes while my sister & Greg hid the Easter eggs for the kids to hunt. That was fun to watch!! When they were all done I helped the younger ones hunt for eggs and reach those that were too high.....everyone had a wonderful time! I even got a movie in with Greg last night - we ate dinner in the living room and watched a movie on our movie screen and relaxed together. It was the perfect end to a hectic yet wonderful weekend!

Busy, Busy

2008-03-20T08:24:00.003-05:00

Well it has been a crazy few days since Greg has been home! He FINALLY got in around 1am Saturday morning - and I was still awake! We spent Saturday running errands - picking up a Wii for my uncle in Iowa, buying my niece Bella's birthday present (she turned 7 yesterday!), checking my parent's mail (they were out of town), and visiting with Greg's mom & stepdad. We got home and then headed over to the Green's house, as they had invited us for a homecooked dinner! Monday we were actually home - we are not big fans of celebrating St. Patty's day - no green beer for us! The past two days we have spent with both sets of my in-laws - Jane Ellen & Jerry and that gang on Tuesday and John, Candy & Kev last night - to have family birthday dinners for Kevin's 25th. Two delicious meals two nights in a row that I didn't have to cook!! Tonight we will be taking Bella her birthday gift b/c she is having a sleepover tomorrow night for her birthday party (my poor brother!) We have been going non-stop since he got home and we will probably continue to do so, that's just what we seem to do - we're always busy doing something! Hopefully sometime soon we'll get a vacation in, even if it's just a weekend in Decatur visiting with my grandma. No rest for the wicked and the saint's don't need it......well, we need a rest!

Blessed

2008-03-12T10:54:00.002-05:00

Last night after work I had the pleasure of going ot the Jones' house to deliver Molly's birth announcements. The fam was just hanging out with Molly in the living room and I got to sit and hang out with them all for a few hours and visit. On my way home I decided to call Liz to see how they were doing. Turns out, she'd called my home phone and left a message inviting me over for dinner since Greg was out of town. So instead of a boring rest of the night at home I had the pleasure of joining the Greens for a nice visit and dinner. I got to see my 2 favorite babies in one day and spend good quality time with good friends. Yesterday was a hell of a day - man we are blessed!

Independence

2008-03-11T12:31:00.004-05:00

I think I am an independent person. I've never minded living alone and I can fend for myself with the best of them. Then why is it when Greg goes out of town I feel lost? This week is the longest he's been gone yet - a full work week. Most people would probably moan and groan at that telling me "that's nothing", and I am fully aware that 4 1/2 days isn't much compared to some business trips others take. The fact is though that we haven't ever been apart this long. Don't get me wrong - I'm not all depressed and moping around the house when he's gone - I fill my nights with household chores that never seem to get done with him around, or visits to family or friends that don't happen often enough - stuff gets done. My problem - nothing is nearly as enjoyable as it is when he's here. Sleep isn't as good, dinner seems pointless to cook for just me, and I miss the dozens of hugs and kisses that he showers me with on a daily basis. I just love being around him - he makes the most boring task fun and he makes the gloomiest of days brighter. My life changed that cold night in January when he asked me out, and it will never be the same.

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. ~ Thomas Campbell "Hallowed Ground"

2008-03-04T16:15:00.000-06:00

Why? A question so many people ask themselves when the light of someone's life is extinguished. He was too young. There is no answer, at least I've never found one. I have known Brian practically his whole life. Being friends with his sister since kindergarten, I have watched him grow, struggle, succeed, find happiness and know love. He was in such a good place in his life - he had such a promising road ahead of him. He knew what was important in life - something so many people his age haven't figured out yet. You could tell what kind of person he was by things he had written on his myspace page. Under the very first section he had this:

"All we have is today.........have fun everyday and smile everyday! Enjoy your friends and family and love them with all your heart!"

He loved God. He believed the Bible would teach you anything that you needed to know in life. And he loved his family - totally and completely. And his niece, Molly. Merely finding out he was going to be an uncle excited him more than words could describe. Then when he found out that it would be a niece he announced it to the world and days after her birth he posted 72 pictures of her on his page to share that new found joy with everyone he knew! It was a new kind of love he'd discovered, and it would've been one that would've grown beyond imagination.

It's unfair - such a young life - this isn't the way that things should happen. They shouldn't be burying their only son, he should be burying them when they are old and gray and have lived a full life watching all three of their children grow up and have children of their own. Such a tight-knit family - they should've been able to spend their lives together. There is SO much more he had to do in life, so much more he had to see. It just breaks my heart to think of the void that will forever be in this family, the pain that will probably never go away. He won't be there for his younger sister's wedding, or to watch his future nieces/nephews grow up, he won't experience the love that comes with marrying your best friend and having a family with them, and he won't be there to comfort his sisters when they need him. I can't imagine the devastation that this family is feeling right now - nothing can make you feel like you did before you heard those awful words.

I fully believe that God has a plan for each of us, whether we like it or not. There is a purpose, we just may not understand it until our time comes. He will never give us something that we can't handle, no matter how difficult it may be.

I loved Brian like a brother, and I love his family as if they were my own family. I pray that God will give them the strength that they need to get through this, that they come together as a family and be a support system for each other. I last saw Brian the day after Molly was born. He was a very proud uncle and would've made a wonderful godfather for her. He was a wonderful son, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew and friend. He will be missed, but never forgotten. He will live on in the hearts and memories of those he leaves behind, so he will never truly die.