The Thanksgiving Saga

Ahh, finally the Holiday is over. We actually had a good Thanksgiving day, we spent it with good friends and gathered for our annual orphan dinner, as we all lack family here. Jared's sister came down from the city and stayed a few days, as always it was fun to have her here.
Our saga started two days before Turkey Day. I was at the store getting food for Thanksgiving Dinner and some shopping Nazi chart-checked Erin. She completely plowed Erin over and didn't even say she was sorry. We got home that night and Erin said her leg was a bit sore when we put her to bed. When she woke up the next morning she couldn't put weight on her left leg. Being the day before Thanksgiving we couldn't get into the pediatricians until 4pm. In the meantime I took her to see "Enchanted" at the theater and carried her around all day. We spend Thanksgiving eve in the E.R. waiting for x-rays.

But Thanksgiving morning she made a miraculous recovery. She severely bruised the muscle, but no breaks. We spend most of Thanksgiving day at Anderson's. We had a fantastic meal and even better desserts.

Friday Jared got up at 5 a.m to shop the black Friday deals. He got a really nice laptop and a bunch of things to deck it out with. He got everything he needed by 6 a.m and then Brittany and I ventured out. Best Buy and LNT were a nightmare and I don't do crowds, they make me want to curl up in a ball and hyperventilate. So we went to Half Price Books for free canvas book bags and donuts. They were giving out $5.00 gift cards so we each got a free book.

Then we stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up supplies to build our own wreaths. We were really happy with how they turned out, both being wreath building novices. We put up our tree, which finally looks decent this year, thanks to a 50% off sale on ornaments and called it a weekend.And it actually felt like Thanksgiving, we had temperature in the mid 50's this week, yuppie!

Party Hardy

Erin turned three on Saturday and had a "princess party." You forget what its like to anticipate your birthday. For a week all I heard was how she wanted a pink party and how she would wear pink socks, and pink shorts, and pink shirt, and pink underwear (we are still working on the sidell rule of, just because its the same color does not mean it matches). And that everyone would bring her beautiful presents (vain eh?). By the way, Erin is madly in love with the boy in the photo above. Their family moved here a few months ago and he swept Erin off her feet with his dashing good looks and kindergarten maturity.

So Saturday came and she jumped out of bed to open her presents.
We got her an art easel, grandma and grandpa got her light up LED butterflies for the garden, Uncle Max got her a farm set and she got lots of princess dress up things and jewelry.



We had a good sized party (9 kids and 17 adults) at the house Saturday night for friends and parents of friends. Just good old fashioned cake and ice cream, none of this spend $500.00 and rent out the zoo crap.

And I am happy to say all the kids survived, as did my furniture and walls.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the night, except for Eliza who just kept getting dressed up by the girls.

Beggars Night Gone Dixie

This was really our first Halloween we celebrated down South. Our first year we didn't know anyone and lived in an apartment and last year Erin and I were home for my uncle's funeral. Last year it was about 30 degrees in Iowa and Erin was freezing cold (and probably a little young to understand the concept) and didn't enjoy herself too much.

Last Friday we went down to the Kemah boardwalk. You could go trick-or-treating in the shop stores. There is nothing more nerve-racking then attempting to herd a dozen kids though a glass specialty shop without them breaking a $200.00 vase just to get a tootsie roll.
This year she showed little fear. She would run up to a door, ring the bell three or four times, knock on the door, ring the bell again, get her stash and run to the next house. We went with a group of friends and we all have little girls - they were fun to watch.
When we moved here it kind of surprised me that a lot of Christians down here don't celebrate Halloween at all because its a pagan holiday. I just thought, hello, do you put up a Christmas tree? But the ones that do take it pretty seriously. The weather is still warm here and so a lot of people set up a few chairs and a table with candy in their driveway and just sit outside their houses and chat with people as they come and go to trick-or-treat. Its a great tradition, I really enjoyed talking to people.

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.

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

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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?

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.

TEAM WILD BEATS

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.....

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.

Four Years

Today is our 4th anniversary. Four years ago it was about 50 degrees colder than it is today (in Houston.)

In four years we have experienced....

* Living in a 400 sq/ft apartment (and survived to laugh about it)
* One Christmas Tree that puts Charley Browns to shame (Imported from a field)
* Toured Central America (and a parasite to make it memorable)
* Two degrees (and the student loans to prove it)
* Moved 1200 miles aways from home (understood that being farm kids is a good asset)
* Learned the art of city driving
* Stared blankly at over $400,000 in medical bills (and realized the blessing of good insurance)
* Had two kids (put one through heart surgery and almost had one in the parking lot)
* Participated in the nations largest mass evacuation (Caught in grid lock running from a CAT 5 mega storm
* Took on a strapping mortgage (and its worth every penny)

And who said married life is boring?

Its been four great years, who new life could be this good?

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Camera is Back

Finally got my camera back again..... Eliza has changed a lot in a few weeks. She is watching football with dad today.

2007 Heart Association Walk

This year we are putting together a team to walk for Erin. Hard to believe its been three years.....hard to believe this was Erin.

Help us raise money for R&D and education.

If you want to support the cause you can donate online or send a check to us by Oct 10th.

LINK TO RENSHAW'S Donation Page

THANKS!

Missed by Hurricane Humberto

Humbert shifted northeast last night and is moving up the Texas coast. The shift put us on the "dry side" of the storm. We did get some rain and wind out of it. It was pretty cool to see the outer bands of the storm come in - the sky looked like some sci-fi movie.

Humberto was classified as a CAT1 hurricane early this morning, with winds up to 85mph

Ahoy Mate ~ Tropical Storm Humbert Hits Tonight

This will be the first tropical storm we weather since our move to Houston three years ago. We participated in the mass evacuation for Rita two years ago, but Rita turned north at the last minute, sparring us and devastating Beaumont. Rita was huge, it would have been the hurricane of the decade if it wasn't in the shadow of Katrina.

Tropical storms don't carry the wind sheer or storm surge of a hurricane, but flooding is a major concern. In 2001 a tropical storm dumped 18 inches on Houston in 48 hours causing massive flooding and damage costing in the billions.

Humberto is showing a similar pattern, large and slow moving - only six mph. Total rainfall is expected to be anywhere from 6"-16" in the next 48-hours on top of an already rain saturated area. Storm is expected to hit the Houston mainland at 10p.m. tonight. We are already seeing the outer rain bands.

So......here is my rain song for the night.....

row row row your boat gently up the street,
hope my flood policy is in effect
when Humberto comes ashore......