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when you get a chance, read this article. it's matt's story thus far.

i'll keep pictures and an update on my gparents hopefully tomorrow. that's another amazing story.

thanks for the prayers.

prayer request

hey guys.

just a quick prayer request. we had a major ice storm go thru the area over the past two days...didn't really affect the metroplex but the texas panhandle and southern oklahoma and north got hit pretty hard. my grandparents live in southern oklahoma in a little town, altus. they live in the country and this storm hit them hard. they've been without power since thursday. all of the surrounding cities are without power too. the hospital has shut down and is only taking people with life threatening emergencies. the only places in town with generators are the hospital and the nursing home. they don't even have generators to allow people to pump gas. the roads have been closed due to ice--the power lines had about 3" of ice on them--no wonder they came down! a few of the trees on my grandparents property fell down. one of them fell and is keeping them from being able to get my grandpa's truck out of the garage--this poses a problem if they were able to get ahold of a generator...they wouldn't have a way to go get it. and at some point, this tree is going to have to be cut up and the wood moved--hard work for my grandpa, who is 83. so, currently they're huddled up next to the fire. they sleep in their recliners and take turns keeping the fire going. their fire wood is very limited. they have some family further down the road that's bringing them fire wood, but they're almost out too. they have candles for light, and batteries to get updates from their radio. all of these things are going to run out at some point--hopefully not before the stores open back up!

luckily, the phone line still works...the blessings of keeping a land line phone with cords! :) currently my grandpa has driven into town to see if anything is open. they've got minimal food in the pantry because it wasn't grocery day yet. they've been reheating things to eat over the fire. last night they had cottage cheese and fruit for dinner...this morning they had peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, and for lunch today they reheated some soup. normally, i'd say, "well, good. sounds like they just might be ok". but being in their 80s, i'm VERY concerned. some of the reports are saying it could take up to two weeks to get power back on--in the city. who knows how long it'll take all the way out at their place.

they're very resistant to leave because they're worried about water pipes bursting...not like they could do anything to prevent it though! my mom has been calling around trying to get pricing on generators and fuel to take up to them. and we've also thought about just going up there and forcing them to come back down here with us until power is restored. our only concern is the roads...they're still pretty icy. they had shut the highway down leading to my grandparents house because of the power lines and trees all over the road.

so please just say a prayer for them! pray that my mom and i will figure out what to do to help them and that they'll be willing to accept the help and our suggestions. and pray that the power comes back on SOON because they aren't the only ones in this situation. pray for safety, health, and a heat wave! :)

thanks guys, i'll keep you updated!

giggles

i have so much to write about, but i'll just give you this for now.

please excuse my pjs--i hadn't showered yet, but you can probably tell that. thank you, drew, for BARELY getting me in this video. otherwise it could've been REALLY embarrassing! :) haha.

here's just a blip of how much fun we have with our little girl. we're so happy to be able to share her joy, the joy she brings us, with you!

frustration and panic

today lana is home sick with a cold/fever, so i'm searching the internet like crazy trying to get help on eating!

yesterday, the ladies at the daycare told me lana is perfectly ready to transition to her next class room. the only problem, is that she's extremely picky about her foods and has this thing with weird textures--she starts gagging. this translates into lots of work for us at home. i need help trying to get her to eat more table foods. we have about 6 weeks until she moves, and that's not a lot of time to get her completely off baby food and 100% on table/finger foods. any ideas? HELP!!!!

i'm kinda thinking babywise wouldn't be ready for this--or for her to drop her morning nap at less than a year (GRRR!) but i don't have a choice since i'm working. we have to follow the daycare's rules. and just so you know, it seems like all daycares have these same rules. boo!

any advice or little tips you could give me would be fantastic!

oh yah!

it's 1130am....we're now up to 20 degrees outside. i LOVE it! :) drew even let me use the truck this morning so lana and i wouldn't freeze as i crawled into the backseat to get her out of her car seat. oh the joys of a 2 door car. i believe it'll get much easier when we can face her seat forward (in less than 2 months!).

by the way...count down to my birthday has begun. as of today, 6 weeks and 6 days. and because i'm worlds greatest mom, i guess i'll count lana's birthday down too. 7 weeks and 3 days. :) it'll be here before you know it! cake two weekends in a row! woohoo!

NYE Videos of Bambi

just for kicks...

we had some friends over to play games on new years eve...here's bambi singing along with one of her fav songs....on the tv. oh yes. our night was interesting! :)

we have such great friends!!! how lucky we are to be able to go to church with and live near them!

Happy 2010!

christmas break

hese are just some pictures from our christmas break. i already wrote about our oregon christmas. we did the mcdonald family christmas on new years day. my sister's family came up from houston and we all had a great time! lana got some quality cousin time with cousins from both sides of the family the past 2 weeks.

lana playing with a toy from her great-grandparents

lana and i waiting on our plane at love

playing with noah

judah

isaac

oops! i found some presents early!

amber trying on drew's golfball finder glasses

studly

and jake tryin them on

merry christmas!!

oregon christmas

oh boy. i think i have my work cut out for me getting all of these posts together.

drew, lana, and i went to oregon for christmas this year. we flew southwest on an amazing deal and ended up on the flight to oregon almost 7 hours...close to what it takes to get to hawaii! but, we couldn't have been more pleased with lana. she was a rock star. she didn't have any trouble going or coming. just the normal i want my bottle, or i'm sleepy fussiness that usually lasted about 20 seconds. it was amazing.

we got to drew's parents house and had a great time with cousins, grandparents, and aunt kim & uncle scott. she never adjusted to the west coast time, though. we weren't wanting her to, but what ended up happening was lana was never on a schedule. it was tough. she wasn't sleeping, she had a hard time eating...but it was so much fun to visit that we got over the difficulties of a time zone pretty quickly. small sacrifice to be with family.

the trip went by very quickly and before we knew it, we were back on our way home. we can't thank drew's family enough for making lana's first christmas so special!

here are a few pictures...head over to our babysite to see the rest.

opening presents on christmas day

riding the horse with corbin and grandpa

napping with nana

playing in corbins new megahut

dinner with nana and grandpa