Howard Family News

Mogan Gets a Book

2009-09-28T19:42:00.002-05:00

Morgan Smacking

2009-08-28T10:40:00.003-05:00

Morgan has started this smacking thing. It is really cute and every time we smack she smacks.

New Pictures of Morgan

2009-07-24T10:32:00.003-05:00

Morgan Crawling

2009-07-21T17:09:00.003-05:00

Morgan trying to crawl: July 9th

Morgan crawling: July 19th

10 Days makes a lot of difference. Since July 19t, she has gotten better and faster.

Morgan Saying, "Dada"

2009-07-21T16:46:00.002-05:00

We had been working with Morgan on saying, "dada" for a long time and she finally said on the fourth of July! Enjoy!

New Pictures From the Past Month

2009-07-14T19:35:00.012-05:00

Next Week!

2009-06-19T15:23:00.003-05:00

Well, next week is church camp. No, Morgan and I are not going this year. If Morgan could walk, maybe. But she is just so clingy right now it would make it very difficult to get things done there. So, tomorrow we are meeting Clint's parents in Ft. Smith for lunch and then Morgan and I will go back with them and stay until next Saturday. I am sure we will have a good time. It's amazing to me that exactly one year ago I stayed with Clint's parents while he went to camp but only I was pregnant. Time goes by so fast!

Adalyn's Birthday Party in Searcy!

2009-06-17T11:53:00.005-05:00

I can't believe that Adalyn is already 1. She turned 1 on June 3rd. She had a great 1st year birhtday party. We are so glad that we were able to go and share this day with her and Jenn and Taylor.

Morgan was very tired by the end of the party. She fell asleep in Jenn's lap.

Our Trip to MO and KY!

2009-06-04T10:37:00.004-05:00

Morgan got to pet a chicken, but I didn't get a picture of it. Her petting is more like pulling, so one time wa enough.

Elanya and Morgan.

At the rehearsal. She was tired.

VBS in Melber, KY.

My friend Rachel and Morgan.

Still atVBS.

Rachel's mother with Morgan.

Morgan got to pet a horse too!

We saw this tiny Walmart in Mt. View, MO. I didn't know they came this small or even used to be this small.

Chicago Trip Pictures

2009-06-03T14:40:00.009-05:00

These next few pictures, my sister was blowing her nose and Morgan's expression to it was funny.

We were putting Morgan's paci on her big toe to see what she would do.

At the mini-golf place.

My sister, Natalie with Morgan

The rehearsal - my brother walking my grandmother.

My brother waling my mother.

My dad and my sister, Natalie.

At dinner.

My sister, Rebecca, her husband Clint, and James, a groomsman.

My brother-in-law Kory, Evelyn his wife and my sister, and Matt, my brother.

Matt and Clint.

4 Generation pic.

Natalie and Steve with Morgan.

Everyone wanted to dance with Morgan.

Flower toss - Morgan didn't get them.

My dad with Morgan.

What a cute pic. She was really tired. This was about 10:00 at night.

These are the boxes I did for Natalie's reception. You can see some on the table behind my dad in the picture below.

Morgan Saying Mama!

2009-05-14T15:17:00.003-05:00

For the last few weeks, Morgan has been saying mama or mom, or mamamamama. We finally got something recorded. Enjoy!

Our Beautiful Morgan (and other pics)

2009-05-10T13:35:00.006-05:00

Morgan and Sara on Mother's Day!

Our cutie pie.

She looks so peaceful. She fell asleep eating, so we left her in her highchair.

Just chillin'.

Clint and Morgan.

Morgan playing with her babydoll.

We had Morgan outside while we were working in the yard. She was not this happy the whole time, in fact this was about the only time she was happy.

OUR NEW LANDSCAPING

Our hibiscus tree on the porch for Mother's Day.

Our miniture rose bush from a friend at church on our porch.

Our columbine plant in one of our flowerbeds from last year. It is the only 1 of 3 that has survived.

Don't know what these new plants are called but they are pretty.

We still need to get stone for this flowerbed.

The newest flowerbed, which is not done yet. A new picture will come when it is complete.

New Pictures and Updates of Morgan

2009-05-04T13:53:00.013-05:00

Today my friend Heather and I met at the part to go walking. It has been raining forever and today it wasn't supposed to so we decided to get our girls and her boy out and enjoy the sun. After walking for a little bit both girls fell asleep but Morgan woke up after a little bit. We got a picture of them together while Caleb and Heather went and fed the ducks.

In just a couple of weeks Morgan has been really trying to crawl since she doesn't mind being on her tummy now. She can get to where she wants to for the most part by rolling back and forth until she gets there and she also does like a army crawl (I don't know how else to describe it), but she doesn't get up on her knees. Anyway, she is really trying, and now we are finding that every once in awhile she will get up on her knees and try to crawl to where she is wanting to go, but it only lasts a few seconds and she doesn't get really anywhere. But it is definately a start.

Morgan has been tucking her legs under and rocking back and forth. She will even sleep like this.

Some cute faces of Morgan.

This is a dress my mother made for Morgan for my sister's wedding. She did a great job. It fits Morgan perfectly.

We went to the zoo on Clint's day off because we thought it was going to be in the low 80's. Well in Tulsa it ended up getting up to 93. So we were a little hot and Morgan got tired of sitting in her stroller, so we were only there about 1 hour. That is probably all a little baby could take anyway.

This is Jim. He is a friend from church. He and his wife invited us to go to a BBQ place in Bartlesville, OK the other night. Morgan wanted Jim's watch.

She likes his watch. We were with him again today and wanted his watch again. She didn't like it when he took his watch back though. I guess we need to get her a watch now.

Morgan is with Clint's Grandma Joyce and Jerry. They are from Washington state. They take a trip every few years and visit all their relatives. We had a nice little visit.

We are putting in some flowers around the 2 tress in our front yard. When it is complete I will put those pictures on here. Right now we have had to plant them a little at a time, because of all the rain we have had. In fact, I am going to have to do the mowing today because Clint has a meeting tonight and it is supposed to rain starting tomorrow until Saturday, and we have had rain everyday before today for like 5 days, so the grass is very tall. Anyway, here is some of the work for the flowerbed.

A Busy Weekend!

2009-04-22T14:42:00.012-05:00

Morgan is looking in the mirror on her ultrasaucer.

We went to Illinois this past weekend for my sister, Natalie's, bridal shower and to work on the party favors for her wedding reception. We stayed with my older sister, Rebecca and her husband Clint. We got in Thursday night around 7:30. Morgan did really well. We only stopped 3 times. Friday, Rebecca and I started working on the party favors for Natalie's wedding. We made 120 little boxes and stuffed them with tissue paper. I will put a picture of them on here later. I didn't think we would get done that day, but we did with the help of Clint, Rebecca's husband, Clint and my oldest sister, Evelyn. Later that evening we went to walk to get ice cream.

Rebecca's husband, Clint and their dog, Riley.

Me, Clint and Morgan

Morgan likes having her picture taken.

Morgan watching us work at the table.

SHOWER TIME!

Linda Yoder and Morgan

Clint, me, Natalie and Morgan

My family: Evelyn, Rebecca, me holding Morgan, Natalie and my mother

My mother and Morgan

Rebecca feeding Morgan

Natalie and Morgan

Evelyn and Morgan - Morgan face looks so cute in this picture

MORGAN CAN ROLL OVER NOW!

Because Morgan can roll over now, she loves being on the floor. I can just lay her down there now and she will just play and roll over and not get fussy. I think before she was so fussy because she got too frustrated because she couldn't get her toys. Now she just rolls over back and forth until she reaches them.

Morgan rolling to her tummy.

I think she is getting ready to roll to her back now in this picture.

I found someone else who had a baby do what Morgan can do- crunches. She said her baby would lay there and lift her head up, just like Morgan. They used to say she had abs of steel. Morgan loves lifting her head. It is nice when I am changing her because when it is time to put a shirt on or off, she lifts her head for me. I don't have to do it for her.

MORGAN'S CUTE AND FUNNY FACES!

Morgan's Easter

2009-04-13T18:29:00.001-05:00

Just some pictures of Morgan on Easter.

New Pictures and Adventures!

2009-03-31T13:43:00.006-05:00

She has been able to touch her toes for a couple weeks now but, we are just now getting the picture up. She loves playing with her feet.

My mom and dad came last weekend along with my grandmother. We had fun playing games, and playing with Morgan. We got video of her trying to roll from her back to her tummy. Still nothing yet though. She has rolled from tummy to her back, but not the other way.

Such a sad face. She was tired.

Morgan with her grandmother.

Such a cute picture!

My grandmother, mother, Morgan and me! 4 generations. We did take a 4 generation picture, but the picture didn't turn out very well. Clint still has to fix it, if he can.

Morgan with her great grandma and grandma.

Morgan with her Grandpa and Grandma Minor.

THE FIRST DAY OF CEREAL AND FRUIT!!!!

The before picture!

Her face after a bite of cereal.

She liked the cereal.

More cereal.

The face after applesauce. She doesn't like the fruit so much.

After some advice we started mixing the fruit with the cereal. She is getting better.

More babyfood pics.

Our snow on Saturday. We got 7-8 inches.

New Pictures of Morgan

2009-03-13T12:39:00.008-05:00

Notice how she is laying in the picture.

She is trying to roll over to her right.

Now to her left.

By the time she is has tried rolling over so many times, she is in a different position than when she started.

I am not holding her, she is holding herself up with her right hand on the floor.

She is getting better about tummy time.

She is too cute!

She notices our dog now.

She likes to look at herself in the mirror as I make the bed in the mornings.

We have been taking quite a few walks since the weather was nice. It hasn't been for the past couple of days but it is supposed to warm up again soon.

She likes looking at her toes moving.

She is trying to sit up in these 2 pictures. It makes it hard when I am trying to change her diaper.

No, she isn't about to fall off the couch.

Our Craft Shelf - Almost Complete!

2009-02-15T13:05:00.004-06:00

This is almost finished. All that we have left to do is, get trim and stain it, get the shelving for my stamp pads (it will go in the area where you see the sunflower), get the peg board for my paper (that will be to the left of the stamp pads) and get hard board for my other paper trays and that will go all the way to the right where it is empty. I am also going to make a cover for the bottom 3 shelves. We will update a new picture when it is all finished. I am hoping it will be finished by the end of this month. We still need to buy the trim, hard board and fabric. This shelf has really added some room to the craft room and made it look a lot nicer. Things that I hadn't really measured but had a place for, fit exactly in the space. I couldn't believe how perfect it turned out.

More pictures of our sweet Morgan!

We found some shoes that fit Morgan. They are newborn and she is almost 4 months. I don't know if we will ever get to a size one.

Friday night we were supposed to go to a Sweetheart Banquet in Joplin. But Morgan was spitting up a lot so we decided since it was so far away to stay home. We were already dressed for it when we made the decision. I wanted an updated picture of Morgan and me. So Clint took some but couldn't get Morgan to smile at all. This was a good picture though for now. We are having our picture taken next week for the directory so maybe we can get some good ones.

Giggles

2009-02-13T17:34:00.002-06:00

This video is so cute. The first time she did this was on my birthday! We didn't have the camera out though because we didn't think she was going to do anything new, but she did. When we finally got the camera out she stopped doing it. But now we have it on camera.

Happy Faces!!

2009-02-13T12:59:00.002-06:00

Morgan After A Nap

2009-02-10T15:22:00.003-06:00

Today after Morgan woke up from her nap, she decided to make raspberries and talk, baby talk of course. She was just so happy when I went over to see her. I was suprised she wasn't fussy. Usually when she wakes up, it is because she is either hungry or needs a diaper change. This time she did need a diaper change, but she was just content in her swing making noises. She is such a good baby. We are so blessed to have our Morgan. I took a bunch of pictures of here after she woke up. See for yourself. She was even kicking in her swing so hard, she knocked her socks off.

I love this picture. She has such a big smile!!!

I like this picture of Clint and Morgan. I will get an updated one soon, when Clint has time to take one and Morgan is content. This morning would have been a good time, but Clint had to leave as soon as I took this picture. Good thing Morgan smiled!

Morgan's Raspberries

2009-02-09T20:08:00.002-06:00

More Pics of Morgan

2009-02-09T13:10:00.008-06:00

For my birthday this year, I asked Clint if he would make me a new shelf for our craft room. I made up the plans of what I wanted and all he had to do was make the shelf. So because Clint's mom and dad were coming, his dad brought tools and the wood we needed. They worked all day Friday and Saturday to cut the wood and get the main structure built. They got it in the house Saturday night and really all we have left to do is stain it. There is one section he has to finish but that is it as far as the shelf goes. A friend from church saw that they were making something and offered a panel saw to help. It made the job go a lot faster. Thank you John Graham. This is the panel saw.

They were working so hard!

The shelf in the craft room without the cross pieces in yet.

While they worked, we shopped and then Clint's mom made a skirt for Morgan to wear on Sunday for church. I decided to put Morgan on the table and let her watch her nana work while I was cooking in the kitchen.

She doesn't look too enthused in this picture but she did enjoy it for a little bit.

Nana showing Morgan pictures of herself.

Other random pictures of Morgan over the past couple of weeks.

Morgan is making raspberries - if you don't know what that means, it is just a technical term to say she is making tooting noises with her mouth.

She is getting better about holding toys.

A Long Week

2009-01-26T10:35:00.007-06:00

Well since the last post, we have been extremely busy!!! The day after the last post we had a little bit of snow. We usually have a little more than we have had this season but I guess that is how it is for most right now. We basically had a dusting.

Pictures of the snow:

A couple of days after we had snow, it got really warm outside. So we decided to take Morgan for her first walk outside in her stroller. We went to "Big Hill" here in Coffeyville. It is a big hill. It is a nice little trail that used to be an actual road called Roosevelt Scenic Drive. We like to walk this trail because not very many people walk it, in fact we have never seen anyone on the trail until this day. We saw 3 different people walking on it. We never went to the end of the trail before because first I was pregnant then and second we had no idea how long the trail actually was. So this time we decided to go ahead and walk the whold way and those other times we walked it, we were really close to the end of the trail. Because it is "Big Hill" there are a lot of ups and downs and not really any level places. So it is a definate workout. Morgan did really well. The only thing that was really the most exciting was seeing her face when she was dirting her diaper. I have never been able to get a picture of it until now.

Pictures of the walk:

A few days later, Tuesday, the 20th we headed for Lubbock, TX. The Sunset International Bible Institute, where Clint went for preaching school, was having their anual workshop. Morgan did really well on the drive down. We only had to stop 3 times. The adults were leaving the next day and actually stopped more than we did even though we had a 3 month old baby. Anyway, we got to see a lot of friends from school and church and one of my friends from working at Ann Taylor. Morgan got really tired though we were at the workshop though. On Thursday we fed her at 5:30 in the evening and when we got home around 9 we tried feeding her again but she wouldn't take any food she just wanted to sleep. We figured she would get up a little later to eat but she didn't get up until 6:30 that morning. We were really suprised. She has never gone 13 hours without food. I guess she was really tired. The next day I tried a lot harder to get her to sleep. Lately she has been fighting sleep really bad. So I found a recliner there at the workshop and rocked her to sleep 3 different times that day. I think it helped her a lot. She didn't do as well on the way back. We had to stop 6-7 times. One of our stops was to change her diaper and she happened to need that diaper changed right when we were about to come up on a place that I had always wanted to stop at but never had. When we got there I looked around and thought, "why did I always want to stop here?" There wasn't anything but 2 picinic tables. That was it. I guess in the past when they have a lot of rain there has been a little waterfall, but not this time. We took our pictures though and made the best out of the stop. We got back Saturday night around 9. It was a good trip and a lot of friends finally got to see Morgan. We had a lot of positive comments about her. They said that she smiles a lot and is a happy baby and she talks a lot for being her age. We love our little girl and are trying our best to be the mom and dad God wants us to be.

Pictures from the trip:

Pictures of Morgan:

Pictures of Morgan

2009-01-14T12:08:00.005-06:00

This is Sarah from church. We went to her house yesterday for a playday and for us moms to catch up from the holidays. She is 9 months. You might remember her from the picture from Halloween. She was the pumpkin.

I Love My Lips

2009-01-08T18:25:00.003-06:00

My sister, Natalie took this video of Morgan when she was here. I think Morgan discovered she had a tongue this past weekend.

Creative Memory Game

2009-01-08T14:59:00.003-06:00

I was catching myself up on other people's blogs today and checked a friend of a friend's blog. She makes things from pin cushions to baskets, and now she makes a custom made memory game. The link is: http://thismamashood.blogspot.com/ Check out the post from January 6th to see what the memory game looks like. At the top of her blog there is a link to her shop called Etsy Shop. There it shows other things she has made. The memory game would be a very nice gift for someone who has small children or even someone expecting. The price is good too, especially for being homemade. She is having a give-away on it too! You can win if you just check it out!!!

Visit from Natalie and Steve

2009-01-08T14:16:00.007-06:00

My sister, Natalie and her fiance, Steve came in on January 1 from Chicago. The drive took them exactly 10 hours. We went to Tulsa on the 2nd and looked at the bridesmaid dress she picked and she got to finally look at the colors in person to pick the one she liked. We got my dress ordered and then after that went to eat. We ate at Zio's, an Italian restuarant in Tulsa. They use paper as their tablecloth and leave crayons for you to draw with. As were were leaving we decided to draw a little something. It started first with just some eyes and then someone added a mouth and put a real banana pepper by his mouth and then someone added a nose, hair and ears. And this is what it looked like:

He's kindof cute, huh?

We did other shopping at Hobby Lobby, Best Buy and Mathis Brothers. Then we went home and my sister watched Morgan while I cooked dinner and the guys brother in the very heavy armoire. We played a lot of games over the weekend like, Hand and Foot, a very fun card game. They left Monday around 11:00. We really enjoyed their visit and look forward to seeing them soon at her wedding in May!

While Morgan was sleeping, my sister just happened to take this picture of her smiling.

The car ride to Tulsa.

It looks like she has a sweat band on her head.

My sister decided to take a picture of her like this!

She kept making this look everytime the flash would go off. It kind of scared her a little.

I love her smiles.

Morgan doesn't look so happy in this picture.

She is looking intently at Steve.

She is looking at me in this picture.

Natalie wanted a picture of us before she left. Our heads are a little cut off but that's okay, at least you can see allo of Morgan.

Christmas Pictures

2009-01-08T13:55:00.006-06:00

We had a very good Christmas in Arkansas. Morgan got to see her cousin, Adalyn 6 1/2 mo. (at the time) for the first time. Adayln kept trying to hold Morgan. They were so cute together. It was nice to relax for a few days and enjoy visiting with family. Morgan did really good on her first long car trip (6 hours). On the way down, we only had to stop in Owasso to feed her and us and fill up the tank and then we didn't have to stop the rest of the way. On the way back home we stopped in Conway, AR and fed her and shopped at Target and then we stopped in Tulsa before coming home to shop somemore. We were shopping for an armoire for our TV. We just had our TV out on an end table with all the cords out and we thought that eventually we should get something better and safer for when Morgan starts crawling and putting things in her mouth. We found a great deal at Mathis Brothers. We picked it up this last Friday when my sister and her fiance came to visit. I will put pictures of that visit on another post. Which you have probably already read because it is going to come before this post. Anyway...enjoy the pictures!

Don't they look cute.

My sister got this top which is actually a bib, but it doesn't really look like one. It was extremely cute on her. It's too bad it is a seasonal one, otherwise I would use it more often. The red part at the top is kind of plastic.

Morgan laying her in grandpa's lap. It looks like he is giving her a masage. She is actually really asleep.

Adayln, Morgan and Nana.

Adalyn and Morgan are holding hands but we

put their hands together.

December Pictures of Morgan

2008-12-22T15:13:00.006-06:00

She is reading with dad.

She is looking at the light on the ceiling.

She is so cute when she stetches.

She just woke up to get a picture with Santa. She wasn't very happy as you can see.

The good picture with Santa.

Morgan's Fun Weekend with Her Aunt and Uncle

2008-12-22T13:13:00.006-06:00

My sister, Rebecca and her husband Clint came this weekend from Illinois. This was their first time to see Morgan in person. They came in Friday evening and left this morning. We got quite a few pictures of her this weekend, from trying on different hats, to her 2nd month picture and a picture with her aunt and uncle.

Clint, Rebecca and Morgan.

This is a Minnie Mouse hat my aunt got her.

This is Morgan's "take home outfit" hat. I wanted to see if it would fit or not.

This is a hat that her Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Clint got her. As you can see, it is a little big! But it is very cute. It comes with gloves and slippers.

Morgan is exactly 2 months in this picture. She is getting so big! It might be hard to tell in this picture.

New Pics of Morgan

2008-12-08T12:52:00.004-06:00

Morgan is sneezing.

She is always making funny faces!

It is very hard to get a picture of her smiling since it happens so quick right now. She has such a pretty smile.

Here is another beautiful smile.

More Pics of Morgan!

2008-11-30T15:20:00.003-06:00

She is smiling at her grandpa.

Doesn't she look cute?

This outfit is still too big for Morgan, as you can tell.

Our Thanksgiving Weekend!

2008-11-30T14:48:00.004-06:00

Clint's mom and dad came for Thanksgiving on Wednesday night and left this afternoon. We enjoyed their company and help with Morgan. On Friday we had 2 highlights of the day. The first and most memorable one is that Morgan smiled on purpose for the first time!!!!! We have pictures of later that day when she smiled. The second is that we went and got our Christmas tree and Morgan's first ornament. When we got home we decorated the tree and Morgan got to put the first ornament up, with Sara's help of course. Saturday Morgan got her first bath in her bath tub. Before she was getting sponge baths. She didn't like it too much, she kept sliding in the tub so we need to figure something out to make her not slide so much until she gets bigger. When it came time to dry her off she was already fussy from sliding everywhere being a little cold and started crying. She doesn't like to be rubbed. After that we went and ran some errands in town and rented 4 movies, Madagascar, King Kong, Kung Fu Panda and Santa Clause 3. Sara didn't get to really watch Kung Fu (she already saw it anyway) because Morgan was extremely fussy the whole movie so she was in the kitchen walking with her and trying to calm her down. After that movie Clint's mom, Luann took Morgan and she finally calmed down and went to sleep. Sunday morning we all went to church and Morgan was doing pretty well until Sara went and changed her diaper. When she got back Morgan started acting hungry. She went to feed her and was pretty much unable to come back and sit down with the rest of us because Morgan was fussy again. She wasn't feeling very well. :( But now she is better. We had a good weekend and look forward to going to Arkansas for Christmas. Morgan will get to be with her cousin, Adalyn, for the first time.

New Pictures of Morgan

2008-11-18T14:54:00.004-06:00

Whenever Morgan cries or makes a noise Gabi likes to go check it out.

Because Morgan has reflux pretty bad, we have to sit her up after every feeding so she doesn't spit up as much. This seat is called a Bumpo. We aren't actually supposed to use it until Morgan is 3 months, but it works when we stuff blankets all around her to sit her up. She likes it okay.

Gabi gets pretty jealous. She wanted to be in the picture too! At least they are all looking in the same direction.

Drinking Chalky Stuff

2008-11-11T11:00:00.003-06:00

We took Morgan to the doctor yesterday to figure out why she has been spitting up and the doctor suggested an x-ray be done to rule out pyloric stenosis. Her appointment was 9:30 this morning. She couldn't have anything to eat 4 hours before so the last time we fed her was 3 this morning. I thought she was going to be extremely fussy this morning but to our amazement, she wasn't! Clint went back with Morgan to have the x-ray done. The x-ray techs. gave her a bottle of barium to drink. The barium reflects the x-rays, and as she drinks it, it lets the doctor see her esophogus, stomach, and small intestine. The doctor is looking for any blockage between the stomach and small intestine. The barium is a chalky liquid. So anyway, the x-ray showed that she does not have any blockage, which is what pyloric stenosis is. This is the good news, but the bad news is she has a lot of reflux. We are waiting for the doctor to call us now to see what we need to do. Our doctor did give us some meds. yesterday to help with the spitting up, so right now we have that to get us by, although, we have not seen any improvement with it yet. We will keep you posted when we find out more. Please keep her in your prayers as we are still waiting for more news.

Trying To Figure Things Out

2008-11-06T15:30:00.002-06:00

Well, we have been having feeding and spit-up issues with Morgan. When we were in the hospital we learned that Morgan might be allergic to cow's milk, when she had to be on formula while I was in ICU, because she was spitting-up alot. So we switched to soy formula and didn't have a problem with that at all. Once I was out of ICU I started feeding her and things were going okay, except that we weren't sure that Morgan was getting enough. So, the doctor told us to supplement after nursing with formula or breast milk to make sure Morgan gets enough to eat. But, then Morgan started spitting up more and more. A little spit-up is normal, but Morgan was spitting up quite a bit. And her little tummy was always rumbling and gurgling.

So, we did an experiment. Yesterday all we fed her was soy formula. She did so much better: only a little spit-up, and we noticed her tummy was much calmer. But, to be objective and finish our little experiment we went back to nursing today...and Morgan went back to spitting up. It seemed like she spat up nearly everything she had eaten the first time I nursed her this morning. So, we are back on the soy until we can discuss things with the doctor to see where to go next. Hopefully we can get things figured out.

Morgan's 1st Halloween Night!

2008-11-01T12:57:00.006-05:00

This is our friend, Heather, from church along with her six-month old baby, Sarah. What a difference six months can make!
Heather and Jeff brought their three kids over Halloween night to trick-or-treat and show off costumes. Bet you can't guess what Sarah is...

Morgan is 10 Days Old

2008-10-31T18:55:00.002-05:00

Her shirt says, "Daddy's Little Pumpkin."
The hat, mittens, slippers, and pumpkin were made by Clint's mom, Luann.

Doesn't she have a pretty smile?

Learning to suck her thumb...

More Pictures of Morgan!

2008-10-29T11:59:00.006-05:00

Clint coming down the hall with Morgan.

Morgan is sucking her thumb!

Taking Morgan home, Oct.25th.

My Mom and Dad with Morgan.

Morgan's third bath! She is getting dried off.

MORGAN FAITH HOWARD

2008-10-29T11:46:00.002-05:00

Well, childbirth is not the easiest thing in the world, but it could have been easier for us...

It all started on Monday, October 20th (actually about 9 months prior to Monday...but, for the sake of time I am skipping ahead). Sara went to her regular pregnancy checkup where she was informed by our doctor that he would be leaving town for a week beginning Friday. Our due date was set for Saturday. We faced the possibility of having Morgan while our doctor was out of town (along with the doctor who would normally back him up). So, the doctor gave us an option...he said we could try inducing on Tuesday, the 21st. Later, when we talked to him about the induction prior to making our final decision, we learned that another reason he was making the suggestion was because Morgan had not grown much over the past couple weeks. He didn't know the reasons for this, but said that it would justify having Sara induced (since there was the possibility of a problem).

So, after gathering some information, asking for advice from several wise people, and praying for God's guidance, we decided to go ahead with the induction.

We arrived at the hospital Tuesday morning around 8am. After all the preliminaries and preparations our nurse (Sonya) started the labor-inducing drug around 9am. Things started out promising. The monitor on Sara's abdomen showed that she was having regular, though weak, contractions. In fact, Sara could not even feel many of them, and those that she did feel were not painful at all. These kinds of weak contractions are actually normal, and take place through the last few months of pregnancy. The promising thing was that Sara's contractions gradually became regular, just like they needed to be.

But, we waited...and waited...and waited. Our doctor had already warned us that they may have to induce up to 18 hours before labor really takes hold. So, we weren't all that discouraged. Besides, Sonya checked on us regularly, and assured us that Sara was progressing well since her contractions were do regular.

After several hours of this we began to notice that the baby's heart rate monitor was registering spikes and drops. We did not think much of it since when the baby moves around the monitor can have errors. But, around 2pm Morgan's heart rate dropped into the 60s (beats per minute...normal would be around 120-160). At first we thought the monitor wasn't picking her beat up well, but Sonya quickly figured out that the number was right. She immediately had Sara rolling onto her sides, up on all fours, doing everything she could to move the baby around. Sonya explained that sometimes the baby can lay on the umbilical chord, cutting off the blood flow. She paged our doctor and told him the problem. He made the decision to do an emergency c-section, let Sonya know over the phone, and headed up to see us.

Our doctor was in the room in a matter of minutes, but, fortunately, by the time he arrived Morgan's heart rate had come back up to the 150s. This was fortunate for a couple reasons. Obviously it meant that Morgan was still okay, but it also meant that Clint was allowed to go back with Sara for the c-section. This is not normally allowed in emergency c-sections, but since ours was not so urgent they made an exception.

Sara was quickly prepared for surgery and taken back to the surgery room for final preparations while Clint was given scrubs to change into and instructions about what to expect. After Sara was all preped they allowed Clint in and the procedure began. from the first cut to when they had Morgan out on the exam table took less that 5 minutes, and she was born at 2:55pm. The doctors did a wonderful job, Sara was doing well, and Morgan was doing very well. In fact, there are some routine checks done for every baby immediately after delivery; the nurses assess alertness, color, senses, etc., and then give the baby a score out of 10 possible. Morgan was an 8. Sonya later told us that she took off 2 points because Morgan was a little blue to start out, and remained that way by 5 minutes...this was to be expected in Morgan's situation, although we did not know it yet.

After Morgan was quickly cleaned and assessed, they brought her around to where both Clint and Sara could see her. Sara then had to stay while she was sewn up, and she was later transferred to isolation for about 2 hours after the c-section. Clint, however, got to carry Morgan all the way down the hall to the nursery where Morgan was put in an incubator.

Morgan had been a little blue because her blood-oxygen level was low (80s instead of normal 90s). They blew oxygen into her incubator to get her levels up. It took a little longer than normal for her levels to stabilize, but she was calm and very alert the whole time. Later we found out that the reason her heart-rate had dropped and the reason her oxygen levels were low after delivery was because her placenta had begun to detatch from Sara's uterus. This normally happens immediately following birth, but in 2% of cases it begins happening early. Since the placenta is the baby's lifeline to mom, if the placenta begins to detatch then baby will be in serious trouble.

God certainly was looking out for Morgan. We had a wonderful nurse who noticed the heart-rate problem and acted on it immediately. We had wonderful doctors who made the right decision to perform a c-section and who delivered Morgan safely. And, even though Sara was scared for Morgan, she was amazing. The ordeal was pretty startling, but it wasn't really scary until after it was over, when we learned how serious the condition really was.

Sara was able to see Morgan right after delivery in the surgery room, and then through the nursery glass just before she went to recover in isolation. So, it was at least 2 hours after delivery before Clint was able to see Sara, and about an hour more before Sara was able to get a good look at, and really touch, her baby. Before Morgan went to see Sara, while Morgan was getting her first bath, Sara had a scary moment. Clint was down at the nursery filming the bath, and Sara's mother had just left the room to go see the bath, leaving Sara alone. Suddenly, she felt very light-headed and nearly blacked out. She called out to her mother who had only gotten part way down the hall, and then she found the nurse-call button on her bed. Our nurse was the one bathing Morgan, and was almost done when Sara hit the button. She finished up quickly, and she and Clint went down to check on Sara. Sonya checked Sara out, and found that she had an extreme drop in blood pressure. Sonya was great, again, and she immediately started Sara on extra iv fluids and oxygen, and she called the doctor.

Sara's pressure came back up pretty quickly, the doctor came and checked her out, and although he wasn't sure why she had such a sudden drop he did say that it wasn't totally unexpected from a patient who had just been through the trauma of major surgery. Since she was stable again he left her on the extra fluid and the oxygen and left to make his rounds.

Finally, about 30 minutes later, Sara was able to bond with Morgan. Sara couldn't hold Morgan because of the surgery, but Morgan lay in the bed right next to Sara. The nurses helped Sara breast-feed Morgan for the first time, and everything was going well. But, then, Sara started to black-out again. Clint took Morgan, and the nurses went to work on Sara. Again, she had a severe drop in blood pressure, and, again, they upped her oxygen and iv fluids. Sonya called the doctor again, and, although he wasn't able to come right away, he gave her some suggestions for repositioning Sara in bed to prevent the drop again.

Within a couple hours Sara's pressure dropped for the third time. This time it went down to 60s over 20s (normal is about 120 over 70). Sonya called the nurses station to have them page the doctor. The nurse at the station said, "Dr. Miller is speaking at an event. Is it an emergency?" Sonay then said, "I have blood pressure of 60s over 20s." That's all it took to get the doctor called away from an event where he was a speaker...that's how serious it was.

The nurses got Sara stabilized again, and the two doctors who did the c-section arrived to look her over. They agreed that she might have some internal bleeding, and they decided to re-open her c-section incision to "take a look around." This time Clint was not allowed to go, so he waited for a couple hours while the doctors preped and checked Sara. Finally, a nurse called the waiting room to say that Sara was okay and that the doctors found and fixed the problem. The doctors later came to tell him what had happened.

During the c-section one of Sara's veins got a hole in it. They didn't know how...maybe it got stretched or nicked, but the surgery left a very small hole. In fact, it took the doctors some time to find the leak because it was bleeding so slowly. But, they found it and put a stitch in it, but not before she had to have 5 units of blood to replace what had been lost...in addition to the liters of fluid she had already and continued to receive.

After surgery Sara had about an hour recovery time and then she was moved to the ICU around 11pm (still Tuesday). Clint was able to follow and stay with her for some time, but eventually he went back up to the OB wing to check on Morgan (who was doing just fine) and to get some sleep.

The next afternoon Sara was moved back to the OB, and she was able to hold Morgan for the first time. Everything was back on track...we thought. But, Sara had a fever. It wasn't severe, but enough to be of concern since she had just had surgery and was at risk for infection. They did some blood work and found that her white blood cell count was high, meaning that her immune system was fighting some kind of infection. They also found that her platelet count was low (platelets make your blood clot, and low count could result in excessive blood loss). This was concerning because Sara has had a blood disorder that caused her platelets to be destroyed, and we were afraid that something could trigger that past problem. The doctor was concerned, as well, but he explained that probably this happened because of some of the pain medicine they had her on. So, he took her off that, and boosted her iv fluids. He also started her on iv antibiotics.

He also ordered a chest x-ray because he thought she might be developing pneumonia....it turned out he was right, but he caught it very early. The x-ray showed some fluid in the lower left lobe of her lung, but the antibiotics kept it from progressing, and cleared it up in a couple days. But, the fever persisted. They informed us about the third day that she would not be able to go home until she was fever-free for 24 hours. Her fever broke on Thursday morning, but came back later that night. Her fever broke Friday morning, and threatened to come back Friday night...but her temperature stayed slightly elevated, but did not move high enough to be considered a fever (100.4). Finally, it looked like we were going to be able to go home.

And, on Saturday, they released Sara. The funny thing is that Morgan was actually discharged on Thursday, but was able to stay with us with the nurses helping, weighing, and checking on her even though she technically was not a patient anymore. In fact, the only thing different about her being discharged was that they didn't keep records anymore. This was a blessing because we had the nurses' help, but we will (hopefully) avoid any problems with the insurance company for having Morgan in the hospital longer than they would allow.

But, poor Sara was not discharged until Saturday afternoon. We packed up, washed up, and finally went home. And when we got home Sara's fever came back. So, we called the nurse who discharged us and she called the doctor. He instructed us to give her Tylenol and call if her temp was over 101. So, here we are. Sara is still fighting an off and on fever, although she is feeling so much better. But, she has a ways to go with c-section recovery and blood-loss recovery...oh yeah, and we have a baby she has to feed through the night.

God was and is watching over us, though...more than we know, we are sure. We had a wonderful nurse, Sonya, who stayed on top of all the problems. We had wonderful doctors who made the right decisions quickly, and saved Morgan and Sara. We had wonderful care as Sara recovered. We had Sara's parents to comfort and help with errands. And now we have Clint's mom to help around the house as Sara recovers and we adjust.

You need to know a little more about Sonya...she wasn't supposed to work on Tuesday (when we first went in for the induction), but she had been called in because they needed extra help. But, she was there and was great...and she stayed very late when she didn't have to (she was hoping to go home around 6 or 7pm.....she was still there to check on Sara after her second surgery, about 10:30 pm). She also worked days on Wednesday and Thursday, and she took great care of us...she even stayed late again both of those nights to make sure we were okay. She didn't work on Friday, but she still came by to visit us that afternoon, and she even spent nearly an hour helping us despite our attempts to convince her that it was supposed to be her day off. She also arranged for several of Clint's meals to be free. She really was a blessing from God.

So, that's the story so far. We could have lost Morgan and Sara both, but God has blessed us.

Please keep us in your prayers...thank you for your love and support and prayers so far.

Visit from the Boverie Family

2008-10-11T16:18:00.003-05:00

On Thursday Oct. 9th some friends from Colorado, Brian and Deborah and their 3 kids, Catilin, Colton and Colin, came to see us. We went to church with them when we lived in Greeley 4 years ago. They weren't able to stay very long, just about 30 minutes. They were passing through Coffeyville on their way to Arkansas City, KS to see Deborah's grandmother. We were so glad they were able to stop for a little bit and chat though. Clint and I really hadn't seen them for almost 4 years now. Their kids have really grown up. It is amazing what 4 years can do, especially for kids.

Upcoming Events!

2008-09-15T19:31:00.002-05:00

Well, this weekend is going to be an exciting weekend for me and Clint. We are having a baby shower from our church on Sunday afternoon. Both of our families will be there, which is really exciting. My family will be coming on Friday and Saturday and Clint's family will be coming on Saturday and Sunday morning. My friend from high school, Rachel, will be there too! It will be a busy weekend, but a very memorable one. Just six more weeks left until her "due date". It has gone by so quickly and hopefully it will keep going by quickly. I am really ready for Morgan to be here. There are a few things that have to be taken care of, but if she were to come tonight, we would be ready for her. Hopefully next week I will have some pictures from the shower to share.

A Trip to the Zoo!

2008-09-02T15:11:00.007-05:00

Early Saturday morning our dog, Aspen started howling because of police sirens and it woke me up for good. Well, when I am awake but don't really want to get out of bed yet, partly because Clint is still trying to sleep and I wake him up if I get out of bed, my mind starts thinking about all sorts of things. I got the idea that we needed to go to the zoo. I figured well, this will be 0ur only chance to get to see the Tulsa Zoo without baby interruptions and it also allows us to get some pictures for Morgan's room. Once I knew Clint was awake I told him my great idea for the day's events. I was surprised he was okay with it. But I guess he is used to my spur of the moment ideas. I think he just wanted to go the Guitar Center. Just kidding! I really think he wanted to go; he said it would be fun. We did end up going to the Guitar Center but that was after the zoo. Anyway, back to going to the zoo. So, we get to the zoo around noon time. It was a little hot that day, but it was fine. A little crowded but we expected that since it was Labor Day weekend. We didn't go see everything at the zoo but we did see the gorillas, 1 bear, the zebras, and the giraffes and some other animals but those were the major animals we saw. We got a couple of good pictures of the giraffe for Morgan's room. We enjoyed our visit to the zoo! We left around 2:30 so we could run the other errands in Tulsa to get back home by 5:00 so we could rest up before going to the Coffeyville College football game at 7:00. It was a pretty busy day but we both had fun!

Lamaze Class

2008-08-25T17:02:00.003-05:00

Well, we took our Lamaze class this past weekend. There were 2 different class time options. One was to do a weekend class starting on a Saturday 9-4 and ending Sunday from 1-5. The other option was a 6 week class on Tuesdays from 7-9. That class wouldn't have started until September 9 though and that would have put it really close to our due date so we did the weekend class. There were 3 other pregnant ladies there. Clint was the only man though. Two of the women brought their mother and the other brought her friend. I felt bad for him but I felt blessed too, to have him there with me. I wish the other women could have had that. We watched 11 different birth stories and one of those was a C - section birth. I wish I didn't see any of those, except the c- section one because the regular birth videos made me more nervous. I already know where the baby is going to come out, and that there is pain and I will survive so why do I need to see someone else going through labor and birth? Just teach me how to breath and get through the pain and tell me what to expect without me watching some dramatic video. That is just my opinion. So besides the videos we learned how to breath when we go through contractions and how to relax ourselves when we are in pain. They made us hold an ice cube in our right hand for 1 minute while distracting us and after that we put another ice cube in the other hand while it was silent. We were supposed to see if it was better to be distracted or quiet. For me, I liked it better while it was quite so I could concentrate on my breathing. We also went over infant CPR, infant care and breastfeeding. We got to tour the OB unit too and see "the birthing bed"! Because I have been reading a lot lately, I already knew a lot of this stuff but it was still good to relearn it. So if you ever get a chance to do a class, regardless of how much you know already, take the class anyway. You never know what else you might learn and it is always good to get a different perspective. We really enjoyed our class and we got a lot of freebies too, like 6 newborn diapers!! That will last us about half of the first day home. One can NEVER have too many diapers!

Our Little Girl's Name

2008-08-21T15:42:00.002-05:00

We have chosen a name for our little girl! Morgan Faith!

New Progress in the Nursery!

2008-08-21T15:25:00.004-05:00

Well, we painted the walls in the nursery a couple of weeks ago and today we put up the chair rail. It looks really good in there. Just a few more things I am working on and then it will pretty much complete except for not having a baby in there yet! But we are definately getting closer to that too! I start my eighth month on Monday! Yay!

Gabi our Kitty

2008-08-18T10:52:00.004-05:00

Our cat, Gabi loves to be wherever we are. If we are in the kitchen, she will be in the kitchen, if we are in the office, she will be in the office. She can't just not be with us. Right now she is laying on the couch next to me. Saturday when we were working in the baby's room, of course, she was wanting to be in there and normally we don't let her in there but we had to have both doors open so I didn't want to hassle with constantly trying to keep her out of the room. So we let her roam in the room. I was sitting in the rocking chair and she was wanting to find a place to lay down. Well when I got up she got in my chair and decided to make herself at home in the chair as you can see from the picture. Then when I would get tired of sitting on the floor or standing I would move her and get back in my chair but then Clint would need me to do something for him and so I would get back out of the chair and guess what? She would get right back in my chair. We were fighting each other for that chair all night. It was kind of cute and funny but also aggravating at the same time. She really is a good cat and very spoiled. Clint and I both don't know how she is going to handle a baby taking all the attention because she is used to getting it. I guess she will have to get over it sooner or later.

Updates to the Nursery!

2008-08-06T17:01:00.003-05:00

We got our crib this past weekend and set it up. The bear is a "Build - a - bear" that we got from Clint's cousin for the baby. We dressed her in our baby's "take-home" outfit. We, well, I had to visualize what it was going to look like. So I wanted to put it on one of her stuffed animals. Now you can visualize too!

Our Baby Girl

2008-08-06T10:59:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures of our little girl. We had our 3D/4D ultrasound done on Monday. Later this week we will put some of her video on here too. So you will just have to check back. Click on each picture to get a closer look!

Her leg is right next to her face. You can even see her knee!

It looks like she is smiling in this picture!

She is sticking her tongue out!

She is wiping her face and you can see her little fingers!

By the end of our session she was really tired and this is her sleeping very peacefully!
Doesn't she just look peaceful?

We think we made her pretty sleepy because we got to bring our own music and it was lullabys so maybe that did it. Or maybe it was just because she wanted to sleep. Who knows? Anyway, we got some good pictures and if you ever get a chance to do something like this, do it! If I had one of the machines to take pictures like this, I think I would look at her 24/7! It is truly incredible what they can do these days.

3 Months Left! (give or take)

2008-07-25T10:15:00.003-05:00

Well, can you believe it? I can hardly believe it! I start my 3rd trimester today, which means - exactly 3 months until the due date, that is, if she comes on her due date. It has flown by so fast. I guess summer activities make it fly by. Everything has been good so far. She is moving like crazy though. We tried getting a little video clip of her from our camera, but it was hard to see. Maybe soon we can capture something really good so you can see her move, because she does move a lot. Clint thinks she is going to be a soccer player. We will just have to see! We still don't have her name picked out yet but I think we are getting closer to having one!

Her room is coming together now. We just received her bedding set last week and used that to match paint colors. We are going to paint the bottom half of the wall a sage green color and have wallpaper border above that and then above the wallpaper border leave it the khaki color it already is. When it is done we will post pictures. It probably won't be done for a few weeks though because we still have to order the wallpaper border. We also bought her rug and a lamp. She will get one more lamp but we haven't bought that yet. Her room doesn't have any windows so we were wanting 2 lamps, in case you were wondering why we needed another lamp. Soon we are going to move the pew bench in her room and move the futon out of her room. I can't wait to get it all finished. Right now her room is my favorite place to go even though it is pretty empty. Maybe her room will be done or at least close to done by the beginning of September. Maybe wishful thinking, but there is nothing wrong with that!!

VBS Pictures

2008-07-23T14:53:00.012-05:00

Well we helped with the VBS for the Nowata, OK congregation last weekend. The decorations turned out really well. The kids seemed to enjoy them!

This is supposed to be the Pacific Ocean!

You guessed it - a treasure chest!

These next 2 pictures are supposed to be the South Pole.

These are supposed to be in Egypt!

This girl attached herself to Clint the whole night.

As you can see he is carrying her around!

Clint is teaching! He did such a great job! He is sooo good with kids.

Now we just have to wait another week or so and do this again, but we add one more scene to our VBS - Mount Everest! This Saturday we are going to pass out 500 fliers around neighborhoods! Hopefully we will have a good turnout!

Still Working on VBS

2008-07-16T13:15:00.003-05:00

Well, I am still working on VBS stuff! Our church is helping a church about 30 min. with their VBS. Clint and I are incharge of decorating and man, have we really been working on it hard. Most of the items are things we didn't have to make they were things people already have, like, rope, pails, tents, book bags, things like that. But there are some things we are having to make and it is starting to wear us out. Good thing VBS is Friday, because that will mean everything will be done. Our VBS is August 3 -7 so we will have a week or so to rest up before hitting it again! It has been fun getting ready though. I look forward to helping where I can. I will try to take pictures so you can see how it looked once put all together. Please pray for these VBS's. Hope everyone has a good rest of their week!

It's A Girl!!!

2008-07-09T21:39:00.011-05:00

This is our baby girl! No we don't have a definite name picked out but there are 2 in the running. We will let you know what it will be when we know ourselves! She weighs 1 lb. 12oz. and her due date is still right on - October 25th. Please continue to pray for our baby girl and her health and that God prepares us to be the parents He wants us to be! (If you click on the pictures it will zoom in for you.)

Dresser/Changing Table

2008-07-07T16:40:00.003-05:00

We got our dresser/changing table last week. I thought we were never going to find one we like but we did. We found it at an antique store in Benton, Arkansas. Clint's parents still have to bring it to our house though, so we don't have it yet but we will soon!

Oh, and by the way, we find out tomorrow if we are having a boy or a girl, that is, if our baby will let us see! Our appointment is at 3:00! I can't wait!

Our First Niece

2008-07-07T16:36:00.004-05:00

Taylor and Jenn were able to bring their baby, Adalyn, home on July 3rd. We went to their house on the 4th for dinner and got a beautiful family picture of them!

Baby Shower!

2008-07-07T16:11:00.014-05:00

We had our first baby shower June 22nd in Sheridan, Arkansas. Some ladies from the church Clint's parents attend hosted the shower. Clint was unable to be there because he had to preach and also go to camp which started that afternoon. The shower was for me and Jenn Howard, my sister-in-law. She was due Aug. 1st but had her baby, Adalyn, June 3rd! Clint and I and our baby have been so blessed by this shower!

Taylor, Jenn and me (Taylor is Clint's brother and Jenn's husband)

Jenn and I laughing! I thought this was a funny picture of us!

I thought these were very cute outfits!

Priscilla, me, Diane, and Rachel (Diane and Rachel are friends from High school and Priscilla is their mother)

Me, Luann (Clint's mom), Jenn, and Cheryl (Jenn's mom)

Cake to our babies!

Jenn and I standing infront of our gifts in the truck!

Our baby's gifts from the shower!

Camp Workday!

2008-06-16T10:25:00.012-05:00

On Saturday, about 10 people came out to our camp to have a workday. The major work to be done that day was mowing and weed-eating. I worked a little in the kitchen because there was mold all over the place. I guess because of all the rain and it being really warm this happens quite a bit. Anyway, I wasn't in there very long because some people thought it wasn't a good idea for me to be working with bleach. So mom and Luann, you should be very pleased to know that there are plenty of people looking out for me and our baby's well-being. It made me feel good to know that some were looking out for me. So after that I went outside and started pulling weeds from the volleyball court. But then Jim, one of the guys that came out started spraying weed killer on it and I was told to get away from there when he starts getting really close. So unfortunately, I felt pretty useless after awhile. But that is okay, I was able to do some things at the beginning, which I'm sure helped some.

While some of us ladies were waiting for the men to be done, Jim was going to check on something and his foster child, Nolan found a big snake. In this picture they are holding their

arms out to describe how long it is, but their arms are both out all the way so I am sure it was longer than that. A little later, Nolan wanted to be the adventurous one and try to find the snake again! His foster mother and I were trying to tell him he shouldn't be playing with snakes and that if something were to happen to him he would be missed. We were trying to scare him so he wouldn't want to go and find snakes but it didn't work. He went to look for it and found it but made sure we knew that he didn't touch it or mess with it at all! He is a silly little boy!!!

After another 30 minutes went by and there was still no hope of leaving anytime soon, one of the ladies and I went to see what the guys were up to. And just so you know, it was past lunch time, and being pregnant and hungry is not a good combination. Well the guys were in the boys dorm, how appropriate, and they were fixing some pipes in the bathroom. It was a little cooler in there! I decided to take some pictures of the guys working some and of course, Clint didn't take a nice picture. He feels he must make a face in just about all of the pictures I take of him. I haven't quite figured out why that is. Maybe after he sees this one on the blog he will start taking

nice pictures for you all.

Well it wasn't shortly after this that we finally were able to head home. We were extremely exhausted. We are going to go back out this afternoon to work some more. I am going because there is another young girl going and I think she will be the only one, so I am going to hang out with her so she doesn't feel so alone. I probably won't be able to do much but that's okay.

VBS Workday

2008-06-16T10:17:00.003-05:00

Well, our VBS is from August 3rd- August 7th and Clint and I are in charge of decorating. We had a workday on the 13th for those who could make it, which is usually just me and 1 or 2 other people. This day it was Ron Akin. He helped me color some of the murals. We still have about 3 1/2 more to do. We were going to have a workday today but the lady who was going to come had to cancel because her son is still running a low-grade fever and didn't want to take a risk of getting me sick. So tomorrow Ron and I will work on it again in the afternoon! We are making a lot of progress!

Weeks 14-20 Progress

2008-06-09T18:00:00.007-05:00

WEEK 14............................... WEEK 16

WEEK 18................................. WEEK 20

Well I am now 20 weeks. It has gone by extremely fast. Half way through. Clint and I find out if our baby will be a boy or a girl in 6 weeks. Also the first week of August we will be going for a 3D/4D ultrasound. Check out this website for more info: www.anticipationultrasoundstudio.com We can't wait for that either. On the 22nd of June we will have our first baby shower too. It will be in Arkansas with Clint's brother, Taylor and his wife, Jenn. If you are interested in where we are registered it is at Wal-Mart and Babies R Us.

Another Busy Month

2007-04-29T16:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been a little behind on posting events. In March my two sisters, Natalie and Rebecca drove from Illinois to come and visit us. We had a great time. We went to Wichita and drove by our house that our parents built. We saw our next door neighbors and talked with them a little while. We saw the schools we went to, (Maize, KS) and how much that town has grown. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Last week we had a couple of friends from church from New Home, TX drive out and see us. It was a short visit but it was a good visit; that's all that really matters. It was great that we could catch up on things.
This weekend, Clint's cousin got married in Ft. Smith, AR and then after the wedding a couple from Sunset, the school Clint just came from, followed us back home. He and his wife are trying to raise support to go do missions in Siberia, Russia. He preached this morning and also this evening. They are a great friends. If you would like to help them with their support, let us know and we can give you contact information.
I've had a job for about a month now. They are really flexible with me. At first I was working about 20-26 hours/week, but I thought I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted for people in the church, so they worked it out to where I work in the mornings and now I can visit people with Clint in the afternoon. I am so thankful that I can still meet people in the community and be able to share my time with those in the church. God has really blessed us!
Clint and I have been really busy with church. Over the past month we have had 3 showers and 1 graduation dinner. Our lunches on Sundays have been going well. This next month we will have a break, due to us traveling. (Clint officially graduates from Sunset May 19th in Lubbock, TX. My brother graduates from High school May 26th in San Antiono. We will be traveling for both of those events. My younger sister graduates from college May 12. Unfortunately we will not be able to make it for that one but she will have the rest of our family there. We are so proud of her.)

Busy Month

2007-03-21T12:30:00.000-05:00

Well, we have been busy over the past few weeks. Aspen has been a very good dog. Clint has been taking him out and working with him in the field next to our house. Aspen is a quick learner. Due to being very busy, we haven't taken him out in the last couple of weeks. The lunches we have been having for the church on Sundays have been going pretty well. We have enjoyed getting to know people better. On March 8th, Clint's parents came to visit us. They were going to come in February for my birthday but his dad was sick. We had a great visit. On Friday we went antique shopping. Clint's parents found a great rocking chair. We didn't really need anything so we didn't find anything to buy. Although, now I am looking for shutters for the house. So next time we go, I have something I can look for. On Saturday we went to the Air and Space Museum in Tulsa. That was pretty neat. We then visited with Clint's aunt, who lives in Jenks, close to Tulsa. We ate at this quick service Mexican restaurant, Tin Star. It was really good. We had a great time. This weekend, my sisters will be visiting us. I am excited to see them. We are planning on going to Wichita. I'm sure we will have a good time.

Last weekend, we went to dinner and a movie with a few friends from church. I can't remember the name of the movie we watched but it was a funny one. It had John Travolta and Tim Allen and they were in a biker "gang" called the wild hogs. Maybe that was the name of the movie. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and if you want to watch a funny movie, I recommend that one!!

As for me, I had an interview yesterday at V & S Family Center. It is a small store that has a little bit of everything and a pharmacy. We also rent videos there. The job would be part-time and I would do a little bit of everything, from working in the pharmacy to cashier to video rentals. I am still thinking about taking the job. So far it looks like I will take it. They offered, it is just a matter of me calling them on Friday. We don't really need me to work, but it would be good to pay off some bills quicker and get to know more people in the community, and it gives me something to do, not that I don't have anything to do, but... Well, Clint has been giving good sermons, ones that make you think and examine our relationship with God. He is also now teaching in the adult class on Sunday mornings.

That's what has been going on in our lives for the past month. Hopefully next week I can post more about our weekend we had in Wichita.

Our Newest Family Member

2007-02-22T18:59:00.000-06:00

This is Aspen! Aspen is a Weimaraner. He came to us yesterday evening. He was interested in the female dog, Uno, (if you get the picture) we are keeping in our backyard temporarily. He caught Clint's eye so we gave him some food last night. He was a little skiddish, being a stray dog. I think the only reason he would even be close to use was because of the Uno in the backyard. After awhile he let Clint pet him while he was eating. Luckily he stayed around all evening and even into this morning. Clint was giving both dogs the last of the food we had and it apparently wasn't enough for Aspen, because when Clint left to go get food at Wal-Mart, Aspen left. We went ahead and filled his bowl with food. We thought surely he would be back. Well, 3:oo came around then 4:00. We thought he probably lost interest in the Uno and wasn't going to come back. Well I was outside looking to see if he was out there and all the sudden I see him. I start yelling to Clint, "I see him!" We got outside and start calling for him. He comes over to Clint and Clint showed him the food we left for him. Meanwhile, I was putting a leash on the other dog. Finally we get Aspen in the backyard. I am watching Uno while Clint is trying to earn Aspen's trust. He finally came up to Clint and licked his hand and let Clint really pet him. We had treats for him too, but he lost interest after awhile. He really is a good dog. Very calm and not aggresive at all. We let him come in the house to explore a little. We put a rope on him and let him walk around a little bit. We want to try to get him used to it since we will have Uno for awhile and we need to put Aspen around the tree outside the fence. Whenever we leave Aspen outside, he now howls for us. It is really cute and we have to be stern with him so I let Clint do the discipline for now until he is used to us.

As much as we are attached to him, we will look in the papers to see if anyone has lost a dog recently. If he doesn't belong to anyone, probably next week we will get him fixed. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Clint at Work!

2007-02-21T16:49:00.000-06:00

I decided to take a picture of Clint and show you his office and him working. He works very hard. His hours are M-W, F: 9-12 in the office, and 1-5 are for anything else that comes up, and of course Sundays. His days off are Thursday and Saturdays. On the second Thursday of every month he helps with the Sharing center. The Sharing Center is like a "Goodwill" store but everything is free. People from the community and church donate clothes, items, etc. for peolple in need. I went this last time, it was great to meet people from Coffeyville and help them.

Some of you might not know, but 2 and half weeks ago Clint officiated his first funeral service. He did a great job. God has really been using us in this community since we have arrived. Thank you for those who helped in preparing us and helping us get through Sunset International Bible Institute. We look forward to the things God holds in store for us in the future.

Valentine's Banquet

2007-02-21T16:11:00.000-06:00

On Friday the 16th at 7:00 pm, Clint and I went to a Valentine's Banquet in Seneca, MO. Every second Monday of each month, elders and preachers from the area get together and have a devotional and just fellowship with each other. Valentine's Day was this month so they do a Valentine's Banquet in Feburary. Elders, preachers and their wives were all invited. Before dinner, Clint did the devotional. He did a wonderful job, as usual. After the devotional the ladies got in line for the meal. The picture to the left is of the room where we ate. They had it nicely decorated. A hispanic woman from the church there made athentic mexican food. When we walked into the building when we first got there, you could smell the food. It filled the whole building. She had 5 sons and one study abroad student help serve. It was very delicious. I tried things I had never had. They all did a great job. We enjoyed ourselves and visiting with other people from the area.

Our House

2007-02-14T15:27:00.000-06:00

Our house is 3 bedroom if you count the office as a bedroom, with 2 bathrooms. We have a pretty big livingroom and 2 dining areas. The office was/is a sunroom. We have a fenced backyard. We live right next to the church, which is great. Sometimes we drive though, but that is because we pick up a friend. I have added pictures of the house for those that have not seen it. As we take more pictures, we will add them. Enjoy!!

Clint taking picture of livingroom, while

I'm emailing!

Sara