10/26/2007

Life....

I finally have a second to sink back in my office chair and breathe. My blog has been fairly photo heavy in the past month, for lack of time and coherent thoughts. I might still be lacking the coherent thoughts....but here is an update on… well life.

Eliza will turn four months this week. Nineteen hour days sure makes life move quickly. She started sleeping though the night last week and my sleep-deprived body is addicted. Oh that seven hours of sleep is heavenly.

Houston has two seasons; HOT and makes the Devil look good in a down parka HOT . We are just entering back into the mildly hot season and the under 90 degree weather is a relief. Our air conditioners only run eight-hours a day now and water out of the tap is no longer scalding. I am getting ready to pull out my winter sweater and corduroy pants, not because I have become one of those thin-blooded sissy Texans, but because I might, just might see temperatures drop into the sixties and I can sport my favorite winter clothing.

Jared is gearing up for upcoming missions and has found that he is a meeting rat. He had this mission off, which has been nice since he has worked the last five. In between meetings and his cubical cell he is getting ready to start grad school in the spring. He has also started playing touch football this fall. And he started running a few times a week, which makes think he must have rabies or some other disease that affects brain function, because Jared Renshaw does not run :)

Our family is growing once again….and no I am not pregnant. We adopted two, not one, but two male guinea pigs. They are about 9 months old and are pretty cute for being large rats. Their names are MECO (the NASA acronym for Main Engine Cut Off) and Leopold (after the great Aldo Leopold). Erin loves them and they are probably the best fed guinea pigs in the area. She tries to be very gentle with them but frankly she scares the heck (and sometimes the poo) out of them. She likes to dress them up and put them to bed. She’ll say “my piggies love me, they don’t run away”, when in reality they are widen eye and frozen from fear.
As for me, life is life. About two months ago I was called at the Young Womens president at church. I had served in the presidency for three years so the transition has been fairly easy, just a lot a reorganization, meetings, training and so forth. It’s going to really be a fun year. It funny how quickly forget how crazy the teen years were, attempting to find out who you were and where you fit into this great plan.

With the cooler weather my addiction to running has returned. Even after all these years fall weather makes e want to pound out five miles on a winding gravel road. Now I settle for a hard concrete path that winds through blue-dyed ponds and million dollar show houses. Either way a few miles under your feet puts life back into perspective.



10/13/2007

Heart Walk 2007

Today was the Heart Walk. The even raised over $85,000 for research and development and our team, Wild Beats, raised over $800.00 We really had a good time, thanks to all who donated & participated!


This is the design I did for Erin's T-shirt today


10/10/2007

Super Bunny

Erin is running around the house tonight as "Super Bunny". Erin was asked today to be the poster child for Saturday's walk. She gets to appear on stage with the Director of NASA to promote research and development.





This is one of the few photos where Erin and Eliza look alike. Who is who?

10/09/2007

Just a Few Days

A big thanks to everyone who has donated thus far. As a team we have raised $700.00. If you would like to donate, you can donate online through our team page and then click on the walker you want to donate to ( I have met my goal, so donate to others) . The walk is set for Saturday morning.

When Erin was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease at 20 weeks gestation. I had never heard of it. I had no idea it was the #1 major birth defect. And I had no idea what it would be like to put an infant through surgery. So many time people asked us what brought us to Houston, and typically the reply is, a job. What really brought us to Houston was the hand of the Lord. Our move to Houston three years ago placed us 20 miles from one of the three children's hospitals in the nation that had a successful pediatric cardiology surgerical program.

Because of medical intervention and early diagnosis, Erin's severe heart defects were corrected giving her a healthy childhood.

Congenital heart defects, both simple and severe, are structural problems with the heart present at birth. They result when a mishap occurs during heart development soon after conception and often before the woman is aware she is pregnant. It is estimated that 1 in 85 children have some types of congenital heart defect. 32,000 babies born in the U.S. alone will be born with a heart defect each year. There are over 35 forms of CHD recognized. Today CHD is the #1 major birth defect.
Erin was born with it....Erin Survived.
Help educate. Help save lives.

10/03/2007

Show Stealer

Ever wonder what life is like with two kids? Here is our typical nightly ritual. Eliza is starting to coo....if you can hear her over Erin.....

10/01/2007

Couch Potatoes

Eliza has found the TV. She will turn herself 180 degrees to see it. Not much new this week, lots of rain, just a few new pics of the girls hanging out at night. One day we'll burn our "ugly couch"(the one in all the photos), but then again its bound to come back into style any day now.