Merry Christmas - New Entries Added...

This time last year, I was married. I also had one daughter, Brianna, who was completely manageable. She could barely sit up and she loved her boppy. We had two dogs and they took daily walks. We went places, we were mobile, we ate out - as evidenced here by Brianna's first In 'n' Out Burger back in November '07.

And now?

Merry Christmas 2008 from Elise, Hadley, Mia, Dan, and Brianna.


Below are some visual milestones of the last year:

January 22nd - Gotcha Day! I went to China to bring home our eldest daughter, Mia Grace.


February - Big Month



1st: Elise met her oldest daughter for the first time. We call this "love is patient!"

2nd: Mia and Bri become friends

3rd: Elise starts to feel sick, takes Z-pack
5th: Elise still feels sick, blames the doctor.
7th: Elise feels especially bad in the morning.
9th: Elise finds out she's pregnant, then passes out.
21st: we celebrated Elise's bday by driving to hospital

* March - May: an epoch of time I affectionately call "The Dark Days". Elise threw up daily, the girls learned to walk, and the free church meals expired.








* March: Mia had a staph infection in her right ear and was hospitalized for 3 days.







10 days later, we celebrated her first birthday! We also were able to miraculously purchase our church's new facility!











* April: doublebaths - twice as long. We also introduced our lettering system to tell them apart.






* May: Elise and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 10th. On the 11th, Mia and Brianna were dedicated to the Lord by the Brawners. Their friend Eva was also dedicated - why she got a rose, we'll never know. On the 12th, we celebrated my birthday (I think).








* June: the girls learned the art of staying cool. Also, our church did the neatest thing - for 4 weeks, we became a church with two other churches in town and called it "What if the Church..." We served together, worshipped together, and pulpit-swapped.







Mia also had her 2nd ear surgery.

* July: we took our first "real" family vacation to a dude ranch in Arizona. Elise had a blast. Six months pregnant, no electricity, two girls under 16 months, and mice.

I fell off "Turk" but had a sermon illustration.

We also celebrated

Bri's first birthday!

* August: we celebrated our annual baptism at Kill Creek Park. 88 people went down into the waters, declaring their faith in Jesus. Nothing like it. I also mooched some killer bbq from the various hcc tailgaters. Pastorperks.

Bower also had surgery on his left knee. Poor guy got accidentally kicked down the stairs and his knee kept popping out of joint.

September: we went on our last date.

* October: the global economy tanked AND Hadley Barton Deeble was born. Butde and Papa came for 6 weeks and built us a new house.

Oct. 20th: Bri also fell facedown on the bathroom tile. Her forehead popped right open like a melon, it looked like she had two pair of lips - one on her mouth, the other on the upper left side of her head. Children's Mercy glued her up just fine.

October 21st: Mia received her official U.S. citizenship papers!!!

* November: Mia got glasses, now making Sarah Pallin look like a fuddyduddy.

We went to Elise's parents for Thanksgiving, prompting her siblings to take birth control a bit more seriously.

* December: our girls can't wait to open their wrappings and boxes so they can play with their wrappings and boxes.

Also, we finally finished "baby-proofing" our house - myself included. I had a vasectomy on Friday, taking one for the team.

Merry Christmas Dear Friends!