Weathering Storms of Life

December 2010

2010-12-06T23:15:00.002-06:00

I hope that this will be the first of a few more updates. We are getting closer to when our next girl will be born. We also cannot ignore that it has been 3 year since we lost the triplets Amanda, Andrew and Katelyn. We certainly do miss them, but know they are happy with Jesus. We look forward to the birth of our 4th daughter, and know that God has blessed us beyond what we believed He could.

It does look like this first week of December will be a tough one for our family. On December 8, Amber will have the cerclage removed so we could have our next girl sooner than we think. December 7, my mother, Grammie will have surgery for a mastectomy. A small lump of cancer was found in her just prior to Thanksgiving. We pray for successful surgery, and a speedy recovery. We hope that Grammie will be well enough to travel here for New Year’s and to see the new baby.

I wish I could have a more joyful update now, but we keep praying and trusting God will pull us through these trials. We just want healthy grandparents (parents) to share these good times with, and the joy of another child in the family. I hope that you will read the other posts from our past year's happenings. I've been bad about blogging, but that is due to Facebook taking more time and attention. We also find it easier to post updates on Facebook than on this blog.

Picture 1 - Family at Bass Pro to visit Santa. This was the best picture.

October – November 2010

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October was busy with me going to Tuscon, AZ for the 2010 NWA conference. I was able to present my poster on some recent research. It was good to meet people and do a little networking which can be tough to do. It was good to see the latest research projects and what new technologies were tested for future use. It was good to meet with other NWS forecasters and discuss common interests and issues. Amber took Emma to visit Nana and Popa for the week so we had no worries about them being alone while I was gone.

The other big thing in October was our garage sale. This was a major effort in order to make room for the new baby. We need to free up space in the house and move Emma to her own room. We then made her old room the new baby room. This meant getting rid of some furniture and othe things that were just taking up space. The garage sale ended up being a big success as we made about $550. What we did not sell, we donated to our local Christian re-sale shop.

November was fairly low key as we continued to prepare for our next little girl. Our main problem is that we do not know what the name will be. The middle name will be Faith. The first name will either be Natalie or Addison. With the baby due in January, we need to decide on a name. We also learned that the cerclage will be removed on December 8. So really, the baby could be born any time after that. Our doctor also said the baby was measuring a week ahead of time so we may need to induce labor on December 21. So it looks like we will have our baby girl in 2010, not 2011. I like the tax credit, Amber is just happy to be done with the pregnancy.

We had a low key Thanksgiving holiday. I finished my last midnight shift. We watched Texas A&M beat up on the Longhorns in football. We had a good turkey breast cooked in our rotisserie, and had a family dinner just the 3 and half of us. We look forward to more family Thanksgiving dinners, and a bigger family.

Picture 1 – Emma just looking cute.
Picture 2 – Emma in her Dora the Explorer Halloween outfit.

August – September 2010

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August was a bit slower month for our house. Amber improved her condition and we found what we could do. We also found out what it was like to over extend our activities. It was good to have Grammie and Popa visit for about 5 days. It was good to have them help around the house and help us take care of Emma. Emma had rapidly learned to walk, run, and climb anything and everything. It was fun to watch her play and we got to take her out on the swing outside. We got to show Grammie and Popa the water table they bought Emma for her birthday. It was a good visit and we had not seen them since Easter. We missed them.

About a week later, we had some more ultrasound tests done and it was confirmed, we are having another girl!

September was busier for me than it was for the rest of the family. I was finishing up a couple of projects for work, one of which included attending the 2010 National Weather Association (NWA) annual meeting in October. I worked to put together a poster and presentation for the conference. I was also finishing up editing a manuscript on some research I had been working on for the last 4 years. The paper was accepted for publication and look forward to seeing it completed in the next month or two. Uncle Todd, Aunt Julie and cousins Allison and Ian came to visit for my birthday. We had a good time playing at the Kemah Boardwalk, eating at T-Bone Tom's, and Todd treated me to a round of golf. It was a good birthday visit and fun with the family.

Picture 1 – Emma in moma's shoes.
Picture 2 – Emma having fun in her chair.

June – July 2010

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Before we knew that Amber was pregnant, we planned a daddy/mommy get away to New Braunfels, TX and Emma would have a couple of days with Nana and Popa. We were going to spend a couple of days at Schlitterbahn Water Park, but with Amber pregnant, water rides and roller coasters were out of the question. So instead we used some Marriott rewards at a hotel in Shreveport, LA. We did some shopping and of course a little gambling for fun. Amber had a good time with the slots and digital roulette. Most of all we enjoyed our time together and got some good sleep without having to worry about Emma. And Emma had a good time with Nana and Popa. It only took us a couple of weeks to undo the spoiling of Emma during those couple of days.

The rest of June was spent watching World Cup Soccer from South Africa and taking it easy in preparation of the cerclage procedure for Amber. The US soccer team did well, but should have gone further in the tournament. After the soccer matches, I was more calm around the family, but got my thrill of top notch soccer. The cerclage procedure was done to make sure the baby would stay put and not have any complications like what Amber had with the triplets. It worked with Emma, and the doctor thought it would be the best thing to do. The procedure was done on July 6, and there were not any problems. The doctor was glad the procedure was done as Amber was slightly dilated already, about 1 cm.

The next couple of weeks were touch and go for Amber. We only had one minor complication that was taken care of by some bed rest until Amber could see the doctor. We then got the okay from the doctor that Amber was good and everything was good with the cerclage. We were also able to obtain a handicap parking permit since Amber was limited in walking and lifting heavy objects. This made taking care of Emma difficult, but we got to do what we got to do. The handicap parking permit paid off as Amber and I were able to attend the MLS all-star soccer game at Relient Stadium. The game was against Manchester United of the English Premier League. It was good to see a famous soccer team play against the MLS, only the MLS stars were not ready for the game. Manchester United won 6-2. It was good to see that many goals. It was a good date for Amber and I.

Picture 1 – Picture of Amber and I at the MLS v. Manchester United game.
Picture 2 – Our view of the pitch at Reliant Stadium for the MLS v. Manchester United game.
Picture 3 – Emma climbing on the step ladder.

Picture 4 - Night time on the river walk in Shreveport, LA.

April – May 2010

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April started out busy and slowed down and then got busy again. We got back from our Easter trip to Waco and had to get Emma more shots. We then had a second good zoo trip. We got to see more animals but we also rode on the Hermann Park train. Emma liked riding on the train the best and it was a lot of fun.

The end of April and beginning of May proved to be a stressful time for us. Amber and I had been praying about what to do next as we continue to build our family. We had given a year to take care of Emma, but we wanted to have another child. Whether we conceived naturally or adopted, well we left that up to God. Emma was such a miracle and a blessing from God. We just wanted to continue to see what God had. We both believed God could use us in adoption, but we also knew that God could choose for us to conceive again. We were getting more stressed about the situation the last week of April when we shared our prayers with our small group at church. We wanted a clear answer from God. In the past, we had not had such clear answers. Sure enough, five days later we had our answer from God. Amber took a pregnancy test and it was positive.

So the first week of May, Amber went to the doctor for more testing and also to get some medicine that our doctor prescribed for her the last time when Amber was pregnant with Emma. The week after that, assuming all was good with Amber’s hormone levels, we would get an early ultrasound to check for a heartbeat. This would be when Amber would be about 6 weeks pregnant. Amber was going to go on a trip with Emma to see family and friends in Tulsa, so before she left, we had the ultrasound done. The only problem was that the ultrasound did not show a heartbeat which is not all that uncommon, but Amber’s hormone levels were high. Not only that, there was no sign of a baby anywhere. The doctor thought it might be too early to see a baby, but with Amber’s hormone levels, there should have been something. We are devastated and think it’s the worst – a miscarriage. With our history, it was easy to think this. The doctor did not think it was an ectopic pregnancy, but we may need more tests. The doctor did think Amber could still go on the trip, but to be cautious, Amber waited in Nacogdoches for the results of the tests before going to Tulsa. So the next day, Amber is about to leave but the doctor wants her to go to the nearest ER for a high level ultrasound. Amber had time to drive back home with Nana, and Amber and I went to the ER. Four hours later, at midnight, we got to get the ultrasound. The technician could not tell us anything, but I did have a view of the screen. While I am not a doctor, having seen quite a few ultrasounds, you figure out what to look for. This time I did notice a sac for a baby where it should be located. So I at least had a little hope. The doctor later confirmed the sac, which ruled out the ectopic pregnancy. The ER doctor said it was too early to tell if there was a baby there or not. Our doctor wanted to come back another week for another ultrasound and for Amber to keep taking her drugs.

So a week later with Amber 7 weeks pregnant, her hormone levels still rising, we go to the ultrasound. We had been praying with our small group and family that there would be a sign of a baby. So as I looked on with the doctor and nurse, we found a sac with the baby! Not only that, there was a heartbeat! And it was a strong heartbeat! So through 3 weeks of waiting and stress, we saw God work another miracle. We had a baby that finally decided to appear healthily in the womb. The due date is January 4, 2011. The last week of May, we just took it easy and enjoyed watching Emma walk all over the place and even run!

Picture 1 - Amber and Emma in front yard.

Picture 2 - Amber and Emma on train at the zoo.

Picture 3 - Scott and Emma before small group party.

February - March 2010

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For much of February and March it was watching Emma crash into everything as she learned to crawl, pull up and walk on anything and everything. She also fought off several cold and ear infections. We took Emma to the zoo for the first time in March. She got to see lots of animals but mostly just liked watching all the people. Emma and the family celebrated her 1st birth day during March 18 through 26. First there was the birthday party with friends as well as Nana and Popa, Uncle Tommy, Aunt Jennifer and cousin Allie. We got pizza and had a birthday cake and cup cake for her. She had not quite figured out how good a treat the cupcake was, but still enjoyed making a mess. Her tow main presents were a Little Tikes shopping cart and a wooden rocking chair. The chair was her favorite and enjoyed pulling up into it to sit. She was up and down, in and out of the chair all day long. Then the week after the first party, we had another party with Grammie and Popa. They bought Emma an outdoor swing and a water table to play with in the summer heat. Towards the end of March and first week of April, we drove to Waco to visit Uncle Todd, Aunt Julie and cousins Allison and Ian. Grammie and Popa were also there to visit and was the first time our family had all been together in quite some time. We celebrated Emma’s birthday again, but also celebrated Todd turning 40. While there we went to Emma’s first Easter egg hunt which she seemed to enjoy. At first she was not sure, but finally got the hang of getting eggs. She had just started to gain balance and walk on her own. She just was not quite ready yet. Next year I think she will be roaring to go and have a blast. We all went to the Easter service at Todd and Julie’s church. We then had a family Easter lunch/dinner, and the next day we left to come back home. We had a good two weeks visiting lots of family and friends.

Picture 1 - Emma eating cake.
Picture 2 - Happy Birthday!
Picture 3 - Fun with a ball.

January 2010 - Can we all be well for once?

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After having a good Christmas with Nana and Popa, I learned that I was not the only one that was hurt. My brother Todd broke his arm sledding at my parent's house in North Carolina. He's had a tough recovery with some plates in his arm, but for the month of January, he is making progress. Not only that, but for New Year's I decided to take a good week off for vacation to get some stuff done around the house and to have some good time with Amber and Emma. It turns out that Amber got bronchitis, so I watched Emma for a good 2-3 days straight until Amber's Z-pack antibiotic worked. Well, Amber got well just in time for me to go back to work. Certainly not what I planned, but life happens. That seemed to be a common theme around here too. The next week we noticed that Emma had not been feeling like herself and pulling on her ears. This usually means an ear infection. Since we needed to see the pediatrician for Emma's 9 month check up, it worked out that her appointment was on that Wednesday. So we waited a day or two and since Emma was not doing better, it was good we could go to the doctor. Sure enough, double ear infection for Emma. So Emma was on a 10 day dose of amoxicillin. We found that quickly that Emma is not allergic to penicillin which is good, but her body does not handle antibiotics very well. Blowouts galore! Still, the medicine seemed to be working, but we noticed she was still not quite herself about a week later.

So when you think it could not get worse, it does. Amber's grandmother, Nanny, had another stroke while Amber's mom was visiting in Tulsa. This time, it was not good, and it looked like she would pass away in the next week or two. It ended up being sooner, and on January 19, Nanny went to be with Jesus. This meant us packing up and driving to Tulsa on Thursday. The memorial service was on Friday the 22nd (Happy Anniversary to my parents!). We had a good visit in Tulsa and I left to come home on Sunday. Amber and Emma stayed with her mom a couple of days longer. But again, on Sunday, Emma started acting up, so Amber took her to an urgent care. Sure enough, the ear infections were not gone. So now Emma is on a Z-pack antibiotic for infants. So far this past week, it seems to be working. So, January has been a rough month trying to get well and healthy for the whole family. We are also saddened to see Nanny go to be with Jesus, but we know that she is in a better place and no longer suffering from Alzheimer's. During our week at Tulsa, Emma had decided that she may want to try walking. Right now she has a push cart toy that she loves to walk with. We'll see how long it takes, but I do not think it will be long. She is growing up quick!

Picture 1 - Kline/Overpeck family.
Picture 2 - Emma at memorial service with Popa.
Picture 3 - Nana and Popa and Emma.

December 2009 - Christmas Time!

2010-01-29T14:43:00.002-06:00

The busyness of life continued right on into the Christmas holidays. I returned to work after a break for Thanksgiving on December 1st. I sat down to work on the 7 day forecast for SE Texas. After evaluating the current conditions and trends in the weather patterns, it was time to analyze the computer model forecasts. Could it really be that we will have, what's that "S" word, snow? In SE Texas on December 4? Naaaa. Last year it snowed on December 10th, surely we would not get snow two years in a row for the first part of December. This would break the record for the earliest winter season snowfall in Houston two years in a row. I decided to hint at the possibility but leave it to Tuesday to maybe put it in the forecast if the model data had not changed. Sure enough, on Tuesday, the forecast data still supported snow. So, now that it was going to snow, how much snow would there be. I held off on issuing a winter storm watch just yet because I did not think we would get widespread 4 inches of snow. But on the morning of December 4, several snow bands set up across the area and there was anywhere from 1-4 inches of snow across Houston. At our house, we had a dusting. We tried to get Emma out in it, but it was cold and the snow was not sticking to the ground. Some areas of Houston had enough to make snowmen. I was jealous. Still, glad to know the forecast panned out. Houston Intercontinental Airport reported 1 inch of snow which is in the record books.

So after a busy week at work, I had a nice weekend off. Amber, Emma and I drove to Hewitt to visit my brother Todd, Julie, Allie and Ian. We had a good visit although it was rough by the fact that Emma cannot sleep in the same room as us. She gets too excited that we are in the same room as her and she will not sleep. Well, she'll sleep but wake up every 2 or 3 hours ready to play more. We were able to go to the Hewitt town Christmas parade in which Ian participated. It was cold which was nice to have some winter weather for Christmas. December actually proved to be a cold month. We even had low temperatures below freezing when it snowed and lows in the 30s for Christmas down where we live in League City. After the parade, we had to leave to go back home. Amber and I were able to get a baby sitter for another Texans football game, so it was nice to have time for us to have a date. This time the Texans won 34-7 over the Seattle Seahawks which sparked a 4 game win streak for the Texans to end the season 9-7.

Christmas time was good but also tough. I had gotten sick during and just after our trip to Waco. Over Christmas time Emma and Amber started to not feel very well, but would have good days and some bad days. Amber and Emma went up to Tulsa, OK to visit grandparents and extended family. Amber's grandmother, Nanny, had not been doing well because of the effects of Alzheimer's disease. She had suffered a stroke or two and had not been doing well. It was good for Amber and Emma to visit with Nanny and Granddad. They got back home before Christmas with Popa and Nana (Amber's parents). We had a good Christmas. Amber and I got too much toys and books for Emma. It was fun being able to give Emma so much, but not a lot of fun getting the toys out of the packaging. Why do they insist on using these heavy duty zip ties to hold the toys in the packages!? I unfortunately stabbed my hand with a pocket knife trying to cut one of Emma's toys loose. Amber was trying and said, "What do you have to do, cut your self to get the toy out?" I had some success on earlier toys and said sarcastically, "Yes you pretty much have to stab yourself. Here, let me do it." Sure enough, I stabbed myself. Since it was on Christmas day, we had to go to the ER since none of the urgent care clinics were open. About 1.5 hours later and 2 stitches, we were back home for Christmas dinner. I felt like an idiot. I should have used a sharper knife. Oh, ya, right, those scissor things work well too. Still, we had a good Christmas. We remember the birth of Jesus and remember through Emma what it was like to be a kid again with all the celebrating. We cannot wait for next year to see how Emma reacts to Christmas. We hope she learns that it is all about Jesus, not Santa.

Pictures 1&2 - Emma at Christmas time.
PIcture 3 - Emma, Amber and snow on December 4.
PIcture 4 - Emma at 9 months.

November 2009 - Thanksgiving Family Time

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The first half of November was fairly quiet. That was good because the last half was busy. On November 15 we had family dedication at our church. It was good to have Amber's parents Paula and Denny come visit to support us. My brother's family (Todd, Julie, Allie and Ian) also made the trip down from Waco to support us. It was good to see all our family and have a good time together. After that a week later we had Thanksgiving. I took a few days vacation so we could drive up to Nacogdoches to have Thanksgiving with Amber's family. Her brother Tommy, Jenn and Allie also drove up from Lake Charles for the visit. Again, it was good to have time with our family. Emma showed that she is in fact a hand full when it comes to keeping up with her. Since then, nothing has changed, and in fact, she gets into anything and everything. By Thanksgiving, she was crawling well, pulling up on things and just having a grand ol' time!

Sadly, November 29th marked that Amanda would have been 2 years old. Amber, Emma and I went to our park to remember Amanda as well as Andy and Katelyn. It was a tough day since it started to rain some and the mosquitoes were still bad. We had to fight to keep them away from Emma. To help ease our pain, we went to the Colts/Texans football game. It was a good game, but the Texans lost 35-27 after being ahead at half time. Peyton Manning was incredible and one of the reasons we wanted to go to the game. We had a good time, and a good way to escape what the day was really about even if it was for a couple of hours.

Picture 1 - Emma at 8 months.
Picture 2 - Emma and cousin Allie at Thanksgiving.
Picture 3 - Family dedication.
Picture 4 - Fall portraits.

October 2009 - Trip to North Carolina

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The first week and half, Amber, Emma and I packed up and flew to North Carolina. Flying with a 6 month old could have been worse, but we got to the airport early, waited, and made a safe trip. The security lines could have been worse. Always good to fly in the morning if you can. The first weekend, we visited Scott's uncle Gordon and Aunt Nancy, and cousins David and Jeff. All of our families got together to celebrate Gordon and Nancy's wedding anniversary. It was a good time to see everyone, and catch up on our families. We missed my brother Todd and his family joining us there.

On the way home, we stopped by the summit of Mount Mitchell which is the tallest peak in the North Carolina Appalachian Mountain chain. It was 45-50 degrees with fog the whole time. It was quite windy as well. The pictures did not come out as well since it was so foggy. We eventually made it back to the mountain home in West Jefferson, NC. We did have a couple of down times but we did do our usual sites and shops. This meant pizza at the Mellowmushroom, shopping at the Mast General stores in Valle Cruses and Boone, NC. We also did a driving tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway to see all the fall foliage. We hiked a 2 mile trail of Linnville Falls off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was cool and cloudy, but a good hike. The waterfalls were amazing. By far, the most fun was a 3 mile hike down the Virginia Creeper railroad. Normally you bike this 20 mile trail, but we hiked 3 miles of it pushing Emma in the stroller. We were able to take lots of pictures, and had a wonderful time having a lunch time picnic. It was quite cool there as well, comparable to Houston in the winter months. It was nice to wear jeans, jackets and sweatshirts again. Overall it was a great trip and lots of fun with my parents, Grammie and Popa.

The end of the month marked Emma's 7th month. With Emma's reflux improving, we decided to put her in her crib to sleep. This was a success, but we had to put the crib mattress all the way at the bottom. Emaa learned quickly to pull herself up and stand up in the crib. She had already learned how to pull up and crawl some, but after this, we knew we are in for some trouble.

The first picture is just a good one of Emma. The second picture is me on the Virginia Creeper railroad trestle. The next picture is the Blue Ridge Parkway Via Duct. The next picture is Amber and Emma at the Linnville Falls. The last picture is Amber and Emma at the summit of Mt Mitchell.

Rest of September 2009

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September really was not all that busy of a month, but got a little crazy towards the end for certain people's birthday. Well, yes, my birthday was on the 30th and I (Scott) turned 35 years old. The week before that though, Emma got her 6 month shots as well as a flu shot. She was not a happy camper, but survived. Two days later, Amber and Emma went to Sulphur, LA to visit cousin Allie, Uncle Tommy and Aunt Jennifer. You see, Allie was born on the 30th as well and turned 2 years old. So the whole family was together to celebrate. They all had a good time, unfortunately, I was stuck working the midnight shifts. Oh well. It was worth it, because our family made a trip out to North Carolina the first week of October. More on that later. But to close out September, we celebrated birthdays and this year I got a Houston Dynamo replica jersey. Now I can go to Dynamo soccer games in style.

This picture from Halloween will have to suffice for a 6 month old picture. In the October updates, I'll post pictures from our trip to North Carolina.

Labor Day Update

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It is hard to believe that Emma is no 5 and a half months old and we are headed towards the fall season. August proved to be a busy month. Our driveway became a parking lot for our parents. Grammie and Popa Overpeck drove here to visit for a couple of days before flying out to Alaska for two weeks. They enjoyed their trip and got plenty of pictures of the whole experience. The pictures of Mt McKinley were impressive. Nana and Popa Kline took a quick trip to San Francisco. Both started back teaching school the next week and wanted to get in one last vacation trip beforehand. We managed to juggle the cars around and enjoyed our time with them.

My dad who has been battling Ramsey-Hunt Syndrome is improving. The shingles are completely healed, although he still has some issues. He still cannot hear out his right ear, and has been having some slight issues with the palsy. The good thing is that in the two weeks before and after their trip, Amber and I could notice improvement in that. We hope and pray he continues to get better.

Last weekend we visited Uncle Tommy, Aunt Jenn and cousin Allie. It was good to see them and enjoy a couple of days with them. While there, Emma learned or just began to sit up on her own. She has gotten better at it and does not fall over very much at all. It was fun to take some pictures of her just sitting up. She has also pushed through two bottom teeth. It seems that she may be working on a top tooth too. Overall, she has not been that fussy, but has a bad night every once in a while. The teething tablets work really well. Emma is also starting to eat baby food. She has already been eating a rice cereal to get in the practice, so we will see how well she likes pears, carrots, apples, sweet potatoes and green beans food. Hopefully she likes them enough to stick to eating them later in life. Overall, Emma continues to grow and we enjoy having her happy personality.

4 Months Old!

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We had some very good visits with our friend Gaelle who came for two weeks from France. We had a good time showing her around Galveston and Houston for a week while the other week was spent with Amber's parents and visiting Tommy and Jenn in Lake Charles. Life has slowed down some since then and we are getting ready for a couple more visits. My parents will be coming for a couple of days before leaving to go to Alaska for a couple of weeks to tour around. My dad has recovered enough from Ramsey Hunt syndrome that he can go on the trip. The shingles have healed but Dad still struggles with the Bell Palsy that is affecting his face. Please pray he continues to get better. While my parents are gone to Alaska, we will see Amber's parents and dog sit for them while they go to San Francisco for a long weekend. So the first part of August will prove to be a little busy, but not too bad.

Emma is now 4 months old so enjoy these pictures at that age. Emma is getting more personality and has lots of joy. She will get her 4 month shots tomorrow so, that will not be a happy occasion. Emma is now sleeping in her own room for most if not all the night. She continues to grow and get stronger. She has figured out how to grab my necklace, so we have to be more careful when holding her.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T11:36:00.002-05:00

Yet another federal holiday I get to work. At least I get paid more. Working the 4pm to midnight shift allows me to have some family time. Looking forward to some good ol' Ball Park hot dogs before work.

Our friend Gaelle from France arrived safely yesterday for a 2 week visit with the Klines/Overpecks. Unfortunately British Airways forgot to put her luggage on the plane with her. We hope that it arrives today sometime. Still we will have some good times despite the minor inconvenience.

Finally, Amber and I joined the world of Facebook. Good times. We will probably be putting more updates on Facebook than here, but likely keep the blog going for monthly updates.

Lastly, I have to include a Independence Day picture of Emma. She's a cutie!

Father's Day and 3 Months old!

2009-06-28T23:28:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was Father's Day. It was a good Father's Day especially when you have a baby daughter as cute as Emma. I took a couple of days off for a long weekend so that Amber, Emma and I could go up to Tulsa with Amber's parents to show Emma to her great grandparents and extended family. We had a good time visiting with family, eating plenty of food, and just being proud parents. Amber's dad, a few family friends and I played golf Sunday afternoon. I was able to shoot a 99 with the new clubs I had partly purchased (thanks dad for picking up the tab on the rest!). It was hot but not as humid as Houston, so that was good. Overall it was a good trip and got a few pictures with the family.

Emma is growing. We figured out that over Memorial Day weekend that Emma has a sensitivity to milk. So after a few weeks of Amber keeping dairy out of her diet with only a couple of interruptions, Emma was doing much better. Still, this was very trying for us all, and during our trip to Tulsa, we decided to give Emma soy formula. This seems to be working very well. Emma is very happy and so is mama. This makes me happy with both of them happy. The move to soy formula has helped us out and given us a chance to do more, not worrying about a feeding schedule quite as much, plus we can take the formula with us if we go out for the afternoon. Emma is getting stronger holding her head up, kicking around on her floor mat, and has even rolled over from her stomach to her back. She smiles a lot at us and just is very happy.

The tough thing this month has been keeping our prayers going for my dad and his bout with Ramsey-Hunt sysdrome. Basically, he is having some shingles in his ears/eyes/throat areas, as well as some Bells palsy which causes the skin on his face to sag. Dad is doing better, but the doctors are still saying his recovery will be slow. Please continue to pray he gets better and improvement in his health/strength continues to grow.

Right now that is about all the updates I can think of, but it is late tonight. I had hoped to actually set up a facebook account and join the rest of the world. I guess that will have to wait a little longer. In the mean time, enjoy the picture of Emma as she learns about being an Aggie! (The Sooner fans in the family will have to wait.)

2 Months Old!

2009-05-24T16:14:00.006-05:00

So what happened to 1 month old? Well, that came and went pretty quick. I can't imagine why. I suppose it has something to do with a new born baby girl learning to eat, sleep, poop, and smile, laugh and coo. Overall, Emma has been a good baby and a joy to have in our lives. She is a true blessing that has tested Amber's and mine will power, patience, and stretches us to trust God even more. After the first few weeks, Emma had started to just cry after each feeding. We seemed to think it was a reflux issue, so we talked to our doctor. After a week of one medicine, we switched to Prevacid which is used in babies to treat GERD or a fancy name for acid reflux. THANK GOD FOR PREVACID!!!! After a good couple of days of using Prevacid, we have a happy baby that can now sleep through the night! Now don't get me wrong, we still have some of those nights with out a lot of sleep, but overall, Emma is doing much better now.

So, with that solved, it is time to work on issue number 2 - green poop! Overall changing Emma's diapers has not been too much of an issue. I'm glad that mom's milk keeps the stinch down, but still, it can be gross. I thought that the mustard colored seedy poop was bad enough. Not compared to when it turns green. So, after keeping an eye on this for a few days, we head to the urgent care pediatrics doctor, especially when we noticed some small streaks of blood mixed in the poop in the diaper. The good thing is that Emma overall has been a happy, normal baby that seems to be healthy. The doctor looked at the poop in the diaper we brought. After checking Emma out and looking at the poop, he went through the list of possibilities. We suspected that Emma has a sensitivity to milk, perhaps not a full allergy. Going through all the possible infections and viruses, he seemed to think it may be a sensitivity to milk as well. Just in case, he took a culture and we'll have lab results some time next week. In the mean time, we headed to Nacogdoches for Memorial Day weekend to visit Nana and Popa. The doctor did suggest a little experiement. Amber is not eating any dairy products like milk and cheese. The milk part is not hard since Amber does not like it and had an allergy to milk as a kid. Thinking this may also be Emma's problem, Amber needs to cut out cheese. Cheese is one of Amber's staples of her diet, so it has not been easy to give up. But on the other hand, we have noticed that Emma's poopy diapers are back to that mustard colored seedy poop like before. Every once in a while she may have a green poop, not nothing like we have seen before. It appears our experiement is showing that Emma may indeed have a sensitivity to milk. This means that Amber has a big choice to make. She either stops eating dairy foods until we switch Emma to a formula, or we switch to a soy-formula now. I think Amber is not too fond of the former idea, so we may have to switch to a formula. We see our doctor for Emma's two month shots on Thursday, and will probably ask what she recomends.

The other pain in the backside over the last couple of weeks was dealing with a small auto accident. Yes, Amber went with Emma to run a few quick errands while I mowed the grass. Before I started, I got a phone call from a paniced Amber. She was rear-ended at an intersection that turned onto a feeder road of the interstate. It was a stop sign that Amber stopped at and edged out from a little bit to get a better look at on coming traffic before pulling out. Thinking Amber pulled out into traffice, the driver behind her decided to move up behind Amber. This led to the other driver hitting the Highlander on the back driver side crushing in the bumper. This amounted to probably damage less than $1000. I arrived on the scene and remembered to take a few pictures with my camera phone. Amber got all the insurance and driver information while waiting for the policeman to come write up a report. During all of this, the driver's two kids try to talk Amber out of calling the police. Why? The driver does not speak english and wants to leave the scene. It seems they may have tried to pull this, "We don't speak English, so we are trying to get away with not taking any responsiblity for this accident." Ya, that didn't work on Amber having been a teacher with parents that didn't speak English. Once the policeman came and took statements, it turns out that the driver only had her Texas ID card with her, not her driver's licence. It turns out that she did have a valid licence, just not with her. No telling where exactly that is either. So, the next day we can the other driver's insurance company (thankfully she had insurance!) and filed a claim. They took about a week to rule on the claim since they could not contact the other driver's insurance, which they were not going to talk to since she did not speak English. The insurance also needed to get the police report if there was one. We were able to fax in the police report since it was available online 3 days later. Sometimes the internet is a beautiful thing! So finally we get word that they will repair our Highlander and provide a rental car. The week before Memorial Day weekend, we took the Highlander in for repairs. Fortunately they fixed the Highlander by Thursday and we were able to take it up to Nacogdoches. Having a 2009 Nissan Altima as a rental car was a good deal, but would not have helped for our trip. We were glad to get our car fixed, and life back to normal. Overall, everything went smoothly, but we just hated the fact that these people think they can get a way without taking responsibility because they do not speak English. Well folks, learn to speak some English if you want to live in this country (and no they were not hispanic)! I'm all for other ethnic people living here, but at least be respectful enough to learn some English. Actually, I just wish people would take responsibility for their actions, and not use any excuses. Okay, how do I get off this soapbox? There we go...

Finally, the above pictures of Emma are from this weekend. Our little girl is finally outgrowing some of her newborn clothes. Yes she is up to a full 8 pounds 12 ounces and can finally fit into 0-3 month clothes. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

1 Week Old...

2009-03-31T10:45:00.002-05:00

Emma continues to grow little by little. Amber and I have been able to get some sleep this past week since Amber's parents were visiting. This week we are tag teaming it. My parents are coming to visit Friday and will stay till next Wednesday. Always nice to have proud grandparents help out. In the mean time...here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday. Enjoy!

Emma Hope Overpeck is here!

2009-03-23T21:16:00.002-05:00

Amber's labor started to go quickly after about 2 or 3 PM. After the epidural, Amber dilated from about a 4-5 to 10 in about 3 hours. So after about 30 minutes of pushing, Emma was born at 622PM. Emma weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces, and was 18 inches long. She came out literally bright eyed and bushy tailed. Well not bushy tailed. Still Emma was wide awake and gave a couple good cries. She is adorable and love her so much. She is in good health and alert looking around. We may be possibly coming home from the hospital tomorrow, but more likely on Wednesday. We are thankful for your prayers, and praise God for our wonderful Emma!

At the hospital!

2009-03-23T09:49:00.002-05:00

Afternoon Update - Amber continues to progress in labor and has dilated to about 4cm. The doctors and nurses think she should progress another 1 cm every 1-2 hrs. She had an epidural done around 315pm so Amber is feeling some better. I'll try to post another update later tonight and hope that we'll announce Emma's arrival!

Morning Update - Amber and I along with her parents are now at the hospital. We got here bright and early at 6AM to start the process. At 9AM, the doctor checked Amber to see how things were progressing. The doctor thought it was a good time to break the water. So, Emma is on her way. Amber has had more contractions, so hopefully Emma will come later this afternoon. It is just a waiting game at this point. I'll try to keep things updated as I get time.

Emma's Room!

2009-03-15T20:04:00.002-05:00

Amber and I put on the finishing touches on the baby room for Emma. We still have a few more things to do, but for the most part, the room is ready to go. Having an early childhood education degree, Amber wanted to make sure we had some bright colors and an overall cheery decor. She really liked the Alphabet Soup theme by Cocalo. The crib and dresser/changer combo unit are made by Baby's Dream furniture. We then brought in a recliner we could use as a rocker so that we could fall asleep when the baby does. We also got a night stand and bookcase from Target. Amber is most proud of the letters for Emma hanging on the wall. On the lower right corner of each letter for Emma is a letter spelling out Hope so we got her middle name in there also. Here are a couple of pictures so you can check it out. I certainly felt like the Daddy putting together the crib, bookcase and night stand. Thankfully the dresser came all assembled.

We are down to one more week. The doctor on Friday said Amber was still doing fine and looks like we may be more on track to induce. We'll see how things pan out. I know Amber is ready for this to be over, but just really excited to meet Emma. We all are!

2 Weeks to go!

2009-03-10T18:48:00.003-05:00

As the title of this entry says, we have no more than 2 more weeks to go. After our doctors visit last Friday to follow up the removal of the cerclage, we were informed by our doctor that we will be set up to induce labor on March 23 if Amber does not go into labor before then. Since Amber had the cerclage to hold everything, it is possible that Amber may not dilate properly. This means the doctor may have to do a C section to deliver Emma. So with that in mind, our doctor thinks it would be best to induce labor. March 23 marks 39 weeks so Emma will be just fine. This is a week before our official due date. We are actually happy to have a March birthdate because at this point, Amber is ready for Emma to come. Amber has finally started to swell and has made up for lost time. She is hanging in there, but the swelling has made getting around a little more difficult. We are ready for Emma to be here!

We did finally get our baby furniture which included a dresser/changer combo unit and a matching crib. We have a small bookcase, a recliner for rocking the baby to sleep, a swing and travel system. Travel system is the new word for stroller and carrier/car seat. The only thing left to find is a small night stand table to place a lamp by the recliner. Hopefully in the next week we will have all this together and I'll try to post a couple of pictures of what our baby room looks like.

We are counting down the days until March 23!

Success!

2009-03-02T11:02:00.003-06:00

This morning Amber went to the hospital to have the cerclage taken out. We are back home with the cerclage taken out without any complications. There were no contractions afterward and everything is still in place. Our doctor thinks Amber will make it full term, and in fact, may have to induce labor towards the end of March. We go in to the doctor on Friday for a follow up appointment, but for now, all is good. We thank you for your prayers and support so far.

This past Saturday Amber had a baby shower. Amber had a blessed time, and were thankful for all the gifts. We will certainly have everything ready to go for when Emma decides to come. Amber was excited to see everyone from our small group as well as a few old friends that she has not seen in a while. Amber was very excited to see them, and really had a good time hearing everyone's advice. A special moment was when she read the letters written by our mothers to Emma and us. The letter serve as a great reminder of how blessed we are to have loving parents and hope to be the same to Emma. The picture is of Amber with the hostesses of the baby shower. Again we thank you for all the wonderful gifts for Emma!

At Last...32 Weeks!

2009-02-05T20:48:00.002-06:00

Amber and I celebrate another marker of 32 weeks! We know that should Emma come early, she will most likely live a normal life despite being pre-mature. According to Amber, this has been the longest pregnancy in the world. When you think about it, I can understand where she is coming from. Amber was pregnant from July 2007 to December 2007 and then again from July 2008 to now. Our doctor joked that Amber has been pregnant for like 2 years. That sounds just about right.

We are trying to get the nursery together. Right now we have all our old furniture put away to make room for the crib and baby furniture. The crib and dresser/combo unit are on order and should be ready to pick up in another week or two. The crib bedding and theme has been picked out and purchased. The stroller or "travel system" was once purchased, but was returned because of a possible recall for safety. It seems that just about every car seat and stroller go through yearly inspections in January. We hope to make another purchase towards the end of the month to see which ones we like are available. It seems the only think left to purchase are a swing which the main dilemma is to get one that works on battery power or plugs into the wall socket. Then there is the all important baby monitors. The video ones look really cool but geez they get pricey. So, really all that is left is to put together the nursery after the furniture on order comes to the warehouse so we can pick it up.

It is only a month away, but Amber is scheduled to have the cerclage taken out on March 2. Emma could come at any moment, but our doctor seems to think that Amber will go to full term. Amber's due date is April 2. Amber has already run out of patience so hopefully Emma will come sometime in March or else I'll lose the rest of my hair!

28 Weeks!

2009-01-08T11:31:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we had another doctors appointment. We made it through the Christmas and New Year holiday without incident. We are also happy to be at 28 weeks which means should Amber go into labor early, Emma will most likely survive after spending time in the NIC-U. We now set our sites on two more dates - 32 weeks and 36 weeks. The 32 week mark is the beginning of February and marks that if Emma were born early, she would not only survive but also not have any developmental issues. At the 36 week mark, or the first week of March, Amber will have the cerclage removed. This means that after that, Emma could be born at any moment. We are now getting the house together and baby room organized. It is time to buy the baby furniture and bedding. You can certainly say that Amber is beginning to nest.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-08T11:12:00.009-06:00

Amber and I wish everyone a happy New Year for 2009. The year 2008 certainly had its downs dealing with losing Amanda, Andy and Katelyn, but in review, we had many blessings. Amber and I were able to travel quite a bit with trips to Orlando, FL, North Carolina to visit my parents, and of course Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We are very thankful for Amber's pregnancy with Emma. Despite our trouble, God has and will continue to be faithful. It is hard to say at times, but that does not stop it from being true. If you just read the rest of the blog, you will know what we have been up to this past year.

Since our snowy night, we have finally gotten our new fence and minor roof damage repaired from Hurricane Ike. Yet, I still wait patiently for insurance money from Texas Windstorm to replenish our savings we used for the new fence and roof. Don't get me started on how bad Texas Windstorm is.

For Christmas, we celebrated the birth of Jesus with my parents that were in town for a week. We then went to Lake Charles, LA to visit Amber's family for a few days before the New Year. New Year's Day was quiet since I had to work, but still a nice time for just Amber and I to relax.

One of our main Christmas gifts was going to the Nutcracker ballet performed by the Houston B allet at the Wortham Center. We went with my parents as that was part of their Chirstmas gift as well. We had an enjoyable time at the ballet. Amber enjoyed going to see the Nutcracker as a child, so it was fun to share this experience with her. It has been about 4 years since we had gone last. Overall, we had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year holiday.

The holiday still has some sadness to it. My grandfather Popa Hickernell, my mom's dad, passed away this past Monday. He was 93 years old and had lived a long life. He is survived by my grandmother, Mimi, who is 92 years old. Amazingly enough, she can still swing a golf club better than me as well as drive around town (which scares our family). Popa's memorial service will be this weekend. Our prayers are with our family as my parents will be driving up there today and remaining about a week or so to help take care of other family business.

Pictures - Amber, Scott and Drew and Sally at the ballet.

Houston, we have...

2008-12-11T17:39:00.004-06:00

SNOW!?!? Houston, TX and snow usually don't go in the same sentence, but they did yesterday. We had about 1.5 inches of snow at the house, enough to cover the grass, car, roof top, plants, and cover the deck. It started to snow about 5 or 6 pm and lasted till about 11 pm. There were a couple of times where we had a good burst of snow, but most of it was fairly light. Amber took quite a few pictures to document the event. We wish Emma was born so she could see the snow. It might be a while before she'll have another chance. Still, it seemed like the whole neighborhood was out looking at the snow and kids playing in it even at 9pm. Don't worry, school was not canceled but quite a few districts had a 2 hour delay. A lot of the snow had melted when I got up in the morning. The temperature overnight had stayed right around freezing or a degree or two warmer. The ground was still warm, so most of it had melted off the ground. The roads were mostly clear although there were quite a few overpasses iced up around Houston. There were plenty of wrecks to go around.

So what led to this early December snowfall along the coast in Texas? Well, let the meteorologist in me explain as it is not that simple. Usually, you need a cold airmass with freezing temperatures in place ahead of the storm system. Not only that, you need some moisture hanging around in the lower and middle parts of the atmosphere. Well, down here in the Houston area, we had a strong cold front come a day in advance of an upper level storm system. The airmass was colder than forecasted a few days in advance so it made the forecast quite challenging. We also had moisture in the atmosphere from the surface up to about 18000 feet. This allows for snow to develop in the clouds and fall. Usually the snow will melt as it falls because it enters a part of the atmosphere above freezing. Sometimes it will melt and then fall through another layer of air below freezing. If this layer is deep enough, sleet will result which is just the re-freezing of melted snow. Sometimes a warm layer of air is just above the surface. This melts the snow and rain results. But since the surface is below freezing, the rain freezes and you get freezing rain. If the whole column of air is below freezing, you get snow falling. In our case, we actually had a airmass below freezing but not right at the surface. So, this is how you can have snow and the temperature be just above freezing. The snow will typically be a wet snow. One of the main reasons why this temperature profile set up for snow is because of the strong lift in the atmosphere due to the upper level storm system. This storm system helped cool the air above the surface, and when combined with the moisture, we were able to get snow on the ground. Usually with time, the surface temperature will gradually drop to freezing. After the storm system passes, the surface may actually warm a little above freezing, as was the case last night. This allowed the snow to melt enough though it was night time when the coldest temperatures typically occur.

This is actually pretty cool stuff, and why I like enough my job. It is challenge to forecast because so many parameters have to come together at an exact time and place. In Texas, those parameters may not come together until the very last moment and the next thing you know, you have snow and you busted your forecast. Those parameters usually do not all come together in Houston, TX, so forecasting snow is often missed unless it becomes obvious the day before (i.e. forecast models agree on what will happen). It is weather like this that puts us forecasters in place because we are forced to realize there is a God, and we are not Him. Sorry for the long explanation, but if you were to ask me why it snowed, this is what you would get.

A Time to Remember

2008-12-07T11:05:00.002-06:00

Amber and I went to remember Andy and Katelyn as they were born a year ago. We wish them happy birthday knowing that the life they live is one of joy with Jesus. We again went to our park by the bay to drop a couple of roses, and said a prayer. We miss them.

Thursday we went to the doctor's office for another check up. Things are progressing well, and Amber is getting bigger. Emma seems to be very active and kicking pretty good at times. She seems to like music. This is just a quick update, but we are thankful that Emma is growing strong. We are thankful that Amber continues to have strength.

Thanksgiving...

2008-12-01T11:25:00.004-06:00

If you have read this blog, you know that it started one year ago. It has been amazing how time goes by and how we've healed since then. We are thankful to be where we are, and we are only here by the grace of God. After losing Amanda, Andy and Katelyn, our lives could have fallen apart even more than it did. I credit the healing to all of your prayers, and a God that loves us more than we can fathom. Saturday, November 29, Amber and I along with her parents had a little ceremony to remember Amanda. We went to where we spread their ashes and left a pink rose for Amanda. We miss her as we do Andy and Katelyn. This coming Sunday, we will again drop a rose for each of them.

We are thankful to look to the future. At the beginning of the year, if you told me would Amber and I would be expecting a child of our own, I probably would have scoffed. At the same time, I'd be a fool to say that I did not hope for a child. Amber and I still hoped to have children be that through adoption or on our own. We are just amazed at how God has worked through all of this that we are expecting Emma in late March. We know that Emma is a common name, but oddly enough, we do not know any. It turns out that in some baby name books, Emma means all encompassing. We chose Hope to be her middle name, but little did we realize that Emma's name would mean all encompassing hope when put together. I just love how God puts things like that together.

While we had our sad moments, we really enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday (except for a certain football game Thanksgiving night, but par for course on that for the football season). Nothing like a little Cajun turkey, corn stuff, mashed potatoes, green beans, and stuffing for a meal. Top it off with a little pie and you are good to go. Friday Amber and her mom hit the stores for Black Friday. After getting back, the report was to never go to Wal-Mart on Black Friday. Umm, duh. Denny and I did venture out that afternoon to Academy sports and outdoors, and Fry's Electronics. Fry's was selling flat screen TVs like Tickle Me Elmos. There sure did not look like there was any economic recession there. It was the epitomy of gotta have it now microwave generation consumerism and have it your way capitalism at its finest.

That night we went to a Christmas concert featuring Casting Crowns, Natalie Grant, Avalon, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, and Michael English. I like Christmas music, but Amber is a Christmas music junky. This was right up her alley and she enjoyed every moment of it. I also enjoyed it more than I thought. Christmas music speaks to the soul more than any other song I can think of, especially when sung by someone who knows Jesus. It was also our Christmas gift to Amber's parents and it made for an enjoyable evening.

This week Amber goes in for another check up with the doctor. Amber will be 23 weeks pregnant tomorrow. So 13 more weeks until the cerclage comes out. Please keep us in your prayers as we keep on going.

It's a GIRL!

2008-11-14T18:59:00.004-06:00

As the title indicates, Amber and I are going to have a little girl! We went to the doctor's office for our level 2 ultrasound. The ultrasound tech is pretty certain it is a girl as the pictures show. The baby is in good health and is growing right no schedule. We are happy to have a good report, and hope the pregnancy progresses as well as it can. We did have a slight hitch in that about two weeks ago we had to go to the emergency room. Amber had some really bad stomach and back pain which felt like contractions. After going to the ER at 1AM (Amber was only 18 weeks along, so labor and delivery would not see her), the doctors did some blood tests and an ultrasound. Everything looked good and nothing wrong with the cerclage. They then sent us home with some medicine to help relieve the pain. Later that day, Amber was feeling much better but sore from the cramps. We tend to think it was something she ate that made her sick, and combined with a little constipation (normal for pregnancy), the pain was just bad. Otherwise Amber is doing well and the baby is doing great.

As for names for the baby girl, we have chosen Emma Hope. We know Emma is a fairly common name, but we don't know any. We just really like the name and feel like that is the name God wants her to have.

Other than the visit to the ER, we have been doing well. We think we may have found a church home, but it will take a few more visits to confirm this. We continue to meet with some of our friends from our former church for bible study and prayer. We've really enjoyed the time with friends. I've been able to build some of our fence back, but it will be a long project to complete. Maybe I'll be done by the time the baby comes. Amber had a good time at a baby shower for her friend Sarah in NW Houston. Amber really had a good time making a patch quilt for Sarah's little boy. Amber's parents came to visit us that weekend so her mom could go to the shower. Amber's brother Tommy, Jenn and 1 yr old Allie came to visit this past week. It was good to see them and spend time with them. Hopefully my brother Todd, Julie, Allie and Ian will come visit in a couple of weekend before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving we look to have Amber's parents visit as I take some time off for a long weekend.

Finally, we continue to ask you pray for us over the next two months. We are coming up on our one year anniversary of losing the triplets and it is becoming increasingly scary for us. We do not one to lose this baby. Please pray that we continue to trust God each day and take it one day at a time. Pray that we can remember our 3 kiddos in heaven, and remember the time we had with them although it was short.

Pictures - our baby girl with her parts showing and a picture of her face.
Edit - added second picture.

Operation Christmas Child

2008-10-28T11:35:00.006-05:00

This blog originally started because Amber and I were expecting triplets a year ago. Towards the end of November and beginning of December last year, we lost the triplets due to what was later diagnosed as an incompetent cervix. Fast forward this year, Amber had the cerclage procedure to prevent an incompetent cervix. The coming months will be difficult for Amber and I as we are with child, but we also want to remember our children in heaven.

I have always admired and supported the ministry of Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse. Here is an organization that really takes to heart the needs of the world, seeks to meet them, and oh ya, do it all for the name of Christ. This goes from feeding the worlds impoverished, disaster relief for areas hit by hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The one outreach that has always had a place in our hearts is Operation Christmas Child. What I love about it is that it is so simple, yet the impact in people's lives cannot be measured. It is a ministry to the world that God bless beyond our imagination. During our summer trip of 2007 to visit my parents in North Carolina, we visited and toured the Samaritan's Purse facility and Operation Christmas Child warehouse. My parents live about 30-45 minutes away from Boone, NC where it is located. It is an amazing center and well organized. We toured the warehouse and saw how the put together many flats of gifts for children that normally would not get a Christmas gift. One day Amber and I hope we can get there to volunteer on the lines to sort the shoe boxes before they are shipped.

This year we wanted to give Christmas gifts to our children, but we cannot. Instead, in honor of Amanda, Andy, and Katelyn, we will be making 3 shoeboxes, 2 for girls and 1 for a boy to give towards Operation Christmas Child. I guess you can say we are making this a family Christmas tradition. We hope that our child on the way will join us and we will add an additional shoe box for next year. We invite you to join us in donating a shoebox gift to Operation Christmas Child. We ask that if our family wanted to give a small gift in remembering Amanda, Andy and Katelyn that you simply donate a shoe box gift. The shoe box gift is just a shoe box with whatever toys, clothes, and food you can cram in it (there are restrictions, link below). You can spend as much or little as you want. OCC does carry a $7 donation to cover shipping costs which you can make online if you want. Below are a list of links to help you get started. Once you are done making your shoe box, take it to the nearest collection center. National Collection week is November 17-24. We will be taking our boxes to Sagemont Church in SE Houston, and if you live near us, we will gladly take your shoe box for you to the collection center. We hope that you all would join us in donating a shoe box as we remember Amanda, Andy and Katelyn.

Operation Christmas Child main page.
How to pack a shoe box (what to put in, what not to put in, gift ideas).
Drop Off Locations
EZ Donations (online donation)
FAQ if you have questions

18 Weeks

2008-10-28T11:22:00.005-05:00

It has been about 4 weeks since Amber had the cerclage procedure, and everything is still good. We had a doctors appointment last Friday, and the baby is doing well. It was just another quick check up. We go back next Tuesday. Our doctor will do another ultrasound at that time to check out everything and make sure Amber's cervix has not thinned. The week after that on November 12, we have a higher level ultrasound and we should be able to determine the gender of our baby. Amber still thinks it's a girl. I'm fine with either, I'd just like to have a kiddo. After those appointments I'll try to post some more pictures.

All systems go!

2008-10-18T15:33:00.002-05:00

It has been a week since we last saw our doctor. Our doctor checked Amber out and made sure the cerclage is good to go. The ultrasound showed that everything looked good and normal. The baby is doing well. The picture is from that ultrasound and you can actually see the arm. While we were checking out our little person, we could see it scratch its head. It was kind of cool. We have our next doctors appointment next Friday. Our next major ultrasound scan is on November 12. We should know whether we have a boy or a girl at that time.

I continue to try to figure out what to do with our damaged fence. The insurance adjuster did finally come last week. I'm not sure how much money we'll get to replace the fence. We may end up having to just build back what we can and replace what we can't so we can save money. We may only get enough money from insurance to do that. I guess I will have to learn how to build a fence. I may only start out small and do a little at a time. While that is happenning, I hope I can get some estimates from fence builders. I'm sure they are charging a premium, and then there are the scams to be aware. At least we have our DirecTV back. I had to work with them to fix it for no charge, and also came away with a credit since we did not have service for a month. We also got some free movie channels for three months. Not a bad deal. At least I don't have to go back to evil Comcast (If you have had success with cable companies, I applaud you! I have not!). For now, we do have a temporary fence up to let out the dog, but that is about all that it is good for.

We appreciate people checking on us with the blog and appreciate the prayers for the baby. Please also pray that we find a church to serve. We have been able to be apart of a small group made up of friends from our old church in hopes of finding a new church. We know we may not end up at the same church, but it has been a good time to encourage each other and pray.

Re-Scheduled

2008-10-01T13:49:00.002-05:00

As you can imagine, ever since Hurricane Ike, lots of things have had to be re-scheduled. The last 2 weeks have been crazy, but are settling down some. Mainly, I've had to re-schedule our insurance adjuster coming a couple of times since our damage is not as bad as compared to others. I just hope he comes. For us, medical care has been crazy.

Amber's OB/G and clinic were closed for a week. Thankfully we were able to get in rather soon to see our OB/G. Our OB lives and works on Galveston, so she has had to deal with living in a new apartment while trying to get the house prepared for re-modeling. The UTMB hospital in Galveston will not be operational for quite some time. Christis St. Johns Hospital had significant roof damage (located across from NASA/JSC) and will not be fully functional for another 2 or 3 months. We did find out that we had our 1st trimester ultrasound rescheduled for September 24th which was the next day. The scanned picture is from that screening. The ultrasound with the blood work showed that our baby had a very low chance of Downs Syndrome so we are thankful not to have to worry about that possibility. We talked with our doctor about when we would be able to re-schedule Amber's cervical cerclage. Our doctor said we had some options she was exploring, and possibly have it done in a week or two at Clear Lake Regional since it was fully operational. The problem was that our doctor needed privileges to work there. She would check in to what would be best. If nothing else, she could call some friends in the Medical Center and have it done in Houston.

Monday ended up being somewhat crazy because we get a phone call from St. Johns asking Amber about her upcoming procedure on Wednesday. That was the first we had heard of it, but sure enough, we were to go in on Wednesday October 1st for Amber's cerclage. It turns out there is an OR at St. John's nearby sports injury facility and they were using that area to double for other out-patient procedures like for Amber. Tuesday we went to our doctor for our scheduled appointment and she reviewed everything with us. So, we were to be ready to go at 7AM Wednesday.

So, this morning we got up, and went to the clinic. They got Amber all prepped and about 830AM she had her cerclage done. After some recovery, Amber and I went home around noon. So, I have not been home very long, but everything went smoothly. Amber still has some cramping and spotting which should continue for a couple of days. The babies heartbeat is good and strong so no complications there. Amber is resting and will not be moving much for the next couple of days. So far, God has worked everything out for this to happen. I kind of think He knew this would be a good time to have this done and we are thankful. Please continue to pray that we get our house and fence put together with a healthy recovery for Amber.

Yikes! Ike!

2008-09-15T19:25:00.005-05:00

The last week has been quite crazy for me. Since weather never stops, neither does my job. Hurricane Gustav came close to impacting our area of SE Texas, but counted our blessings that it did not. Hurricane Ike developed in the Atlantic Ocean while Gustav was moving through Louisiana. Ike moved around the edge of an upper level ridge in the Atlantic (sorry about the weather jargon) and through Cuba. At that point, we started to prepare for a possible landfall again along the Texas Gulf coast. I had been working midnight shifts and working on our 7 day forecast package. I could see that we would be under the gun as far as where Ike will impact. The way Ike was beginning to track across the Gulf of Mexico, the forecasted tracks of Ike slowly shifted towards Galveston. Wednesday last week I decided that Amber needed to go to higher ground in Nacogdoches. At this point, Ike was expected to track towards Matagorda Bay, but given how the forecasts had changed, I still felt like we needed to get Amber to a safe place, and prepare the house for Ike. Thursday, the tracks started aiming at Freeport and then Galveston. Thankfully, I would be safe in our building that houses the Galveston County OEM as well. It is built to withstand a category 5 hurricane. I just hoped that our house that was built to 2003 housing code for hurricanes would hold up. I had all the storm shutters put up, and everything ready to bunker down for the storm.

Operations at work were crazy and maybe I will post more on our operations later. Thursday was supposed to be my last midnight shift, but given the hurricane I would work 2 more mid night shifts including a 12 hr shift Saturday (midnight-noon). Hurricane Ike made its presence felt early on with storm surge Friday. The track of Ike had also shifted enough that perhaps Nacogdoches was not safe any more either. After a gut wrenching decision, I asked Amber and her parents to leave Friday night for Tulsa. They were able to get there well in advance of the storm. Given some of the data of storm surge I had seen, I had called Tommy (Amber's brother in Sulphur, LA) to get him thinking about leaving. Around midnight I text him to get out. Tommy, Jenn and Allie made it safely Friday morning to Deridder, LA where Jenn has family. So, with family out of harms way, I had to focus on my job which was a 12 hour shift with a landfalling hurricane.

I was able to get some nice video of the storm while at work. I was able to go outside as the eye of Ike passed over the office. More than anything, I was just trying to keep focused, and do my best to get out any warnings and statements on the storm. Ike's western eye wall passed over most of our area and the SW part of the eye was stronger than other hurricanes. Our office worked well off of generator power and we never lost communications. Even our radar did not fail while facing hurricane force winds. There was going to be a lot of damage considering the winds, storm surge, and rainfall. We had about 12 inches of rain in our area and at the house. After my 12 hr shift, I was able to get out for an hour to check on the house since I only live a couple of miles a way. Fortunately, there does not seem to be any structural damage to the house, and not even shingles missing. We did lose our entire back fence except a few spots. We had a couple of trees down that I ended up replanting. The retaining pond behind our house did not go out of its banks even with some surge through area bayous and 12 inches of rain that were not able to run off properly. We are thankful that God has blessed us with this house and that we only had damage to the fence.

We are without power so Amber will stay in Nacogdoches a little longer. The storm moved through Nacogdoches and Amber's parents only had a few limbs and branches down in the yard. They were without power until it was restored this afternoon (I'm writing this in Nacogdoches). They drove back home Sunday after the storm passed. I drove to meet them Sunday evening after working around the house. So, we are all safe and well, although I am very tired still after working 9 mid shifts in a row and 20 hours of OT. I am not a big fan of 60 hour work weeks.

Please also be praying for Tommy. Their house had some water in it after the storm surge in Sulphur backed up the drainage and sewers. Pray they can get their house restored.

I will try to update the blog more when I can. I have lots of thoughts on this whole event, and will use the blog as a way to de-compress from it all. Pray for us as I work this week and we figure out how to take care of Amber and the baby. Our medical plans talked about last post are on hold since our hospitals took a good hit from Ike. Thank you for your prayers! -Scott

Pictures are of the house after Ike. I like our lake front property.

Gustav not so much a threat

2008-09-03T18:21:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was a tad busy in my line of work. Gustav was bearing down on the Gulf coast and we had to help support decisions on evacuations. Given the quality forecasts from the NHC, we were able to provide necessary input for our area not to evacuate as Gustav would move into Louisiana. This was also good because it meant that Amber could stay put here. Fortunately Gustav was not as bad as it could have been for the folks in Louisiana. We had little impacts with may be a few showers from the rain bands.

Amber had another doctor appointment for blood work. The doctor checked the baby again, and it is alive and well. The heartbeat was good and steady. We go to UTMB in Galveston for a major ultrasound on September 18. I'll try to post a picture on another blog entry afterward. On September 22, we will go to the hospital so our doctor can close up Amber's cervix with a cerclage. It is done with general anesthetic, and Amber should be able to come home later that day. From there, it will be about a week of bed rest. After that, she should be good to go, but we will not try to over do anything. Still, hopefully the morning sickness will have waned enough that Amber could have a more normal pregnancy. The cerclage will be removed at around 36 weeks or around the beginning of March 2009. From there, it is wait and see when the baby comes!

Doctor's Appointment 3

2008-08-26T19:22:00.002-05:00

Today Amber and I had another doctor appointment. Everything showed up well in the ultrasound, and our baby is growing. The heartbeat was good and strong. Our little guy was even moving around a little bit and waved his arm. While I refer to the baby as a boy, we will not know the gender until sometime in early November. Still, things are going well. Amber is still sick as can be taking the Zofran to help. Our doctor gave her a prescription for 4mg of steroids which should help kick the nauseous cycle. It seems to be helping some today. Next week we go in for some blood tests so we'll update you all more then.

Only other news is I have to keep an eye on Hurricane Gustav. Yep, part of the job, and my job could get a whole lot busier by the end of the week. Still think the storm will move into the Gulf and make landfall east of Louisiana. Still plenty of time to keep an eye on how it moves. Always crazy how the media tends to over-hype storms in my opinion.

Houston, we have a heartbeat!

2008-08-13T16:52:00.003-05:00

Tuesday Amber and I went to the doctor for a check up. We are at about 6 and a half weeks along, and were hoping to see a heartbeat. Our doctor came in the room and said, "Let's skip the foreplay, and get to what we all want to know!" So up on the ultrasound monitor came our baby, and sure enough, you could see the hear beating away. So, that was very much a relief. Unfortunately, Amber is already starting to feel the effects of morning sickness. In Amber's case, this will be hyperemesis. When we had the triplets, it was really bad, so hopefully with just one baby, it will only be a third of the last time. Our doctor seems to think so. Still, Amber is already popping some zofran to help with nausea. She has not thrown up yet, and we hope to keep it that way. We are just praying she can continue to drink and eat enough. Fortunately, she was able to make it through the Texas pre-season football game against the Broncos. It was a fun game and more fun since we had not been to Reliant Stadium. Anyway, hopefully Amber will have a relatively normal pregnancy this time around. Our doctor has been nice enough to see us every 2 weeks for check ups, and even see her if we need to for peace of mind. We are blessed to have a good, caring doctor, plus health insurance that will take care of everything.

Right now we are very thankful to God for this blessing. We are still scared, but taking one day at a time. I cannot thank God enough, and just hope He will give Amber strength through all of this.

Oh ya, forgot to add. Due date is April 2, 2009. It is a little deja-vu for us since the triplets' due date was April 2.

-Scott

Picture - Scanned picture from the ultrasound.

Exciting News - August Update

2008-08-08T17:05:00.002-05:00

Hopefully you have been able to read through the rest of the blog before reading this, but if you haven't, I suggest going back to February and read from there. I've done a lot of recent updates, uploaded some pictures and hopefully catch everyone back up to speed with what is going on with Amber and I. It has been a busy, crazy summer.

The last couple of weeks of July, we were able to settle back down although Amber took a trip up to Tulsa to visit friends and family. This was the last week in July. The Tuesday before her trip I was awoken to Amber saying, "What would you do if I said I was pregnant?" Huh? Where did that come from at 6AM? Amber goes on, "Either I'm pregnant or something's really wrong, so I took a pregnancy test. Do you see another line?" After rubbing the sleeps from my eyes, yes, indeed I could see another faint line next to the test line. So, we got up, ate breakfast, and went to the doctor office that morning. It is amazing what an OB/GYN office will do once you explain that you lost triplets and think you are pregnant. They squeezed us in and sure enough Amber's doctor was out sick. Still, she did another test and they took some blood to confirm. The next day, sure enough, tests came back positive. Amber is pregnant. They had her do one more test before she left for Tulsa and that one came back with a stronger result. So Amber and to get some medicine to help things and we scheduled an appointment on August 12 to do an ultrasound and a check up.

This is a scary and exciting time for us. Yes we are excited to be expecting. Yes, Amber is pregnant and no it was not done with the help of fertility treatment. We are only expecting one baby. Our pregnancy is already flagged as high risk, and I think we will be given a little extra special treatment. The whole doctors office is pulling for us. We did have to go into the office due to some cramping Amber felt. They did an ultrasound and the baby is right where it is supposed to be and progressing nicely. The cramping they think is from Amber's ovaries which actually ovulated. So we are happy that it is nothing more than that. We are looking forward to next Tuesday for our doctor's appointment. We hope to see a heartbeat!

Now, I know what you are thinking. See, if you just adopt, you'll get pregnant. Okay, so you see, we were trying to de-bunk that suggestion. And it still is a myth. It is not my fault God chose to do things this way. In fact we may still end up adopting. It is just that we will be putting that on hold for now. Still, going through the adoption process did not make Amber ovulate. Although, I guess something can be said for going on a honeymoon in Mexico! This is a total God thing, and we praise Him for it. We thank Him for this gift. We are humbled, but scared as scared can be. We have to take one day at a time, and trust Him each step. We hope that towards the end of March 2009 we will have a child to bring home. So you see, we have birth mom, just that it is Amber. Amazing how God works.

-Scott
I hope to be doing more frequent updates, and will keep you posted on how Amber is doing!

Update - July 2008

2008-08-08T15:33:00.004-05:00

Things settled down some in July. We did find a nice leather sofa and love seat to replace our old couch. They are very comfy! We just need to find some end tables to go with them. I was off work for the 4th of July so we went up to Nacogdoches to visit Amber's parents. We watch fire works at the city festival. We also took a trip around the lake in Denny's new fishing boat. It is a fun and smooth ride. We look forward to more trips to the lake and some fishing. We had a good extended weekend with them.

The next weekend Amber and I left for Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This was a quick 4 night getaway for our 5th wedding anniversary. We stayed at the Occidental Grand Hotel Xcaret. It is next to the Xcaret ecological water park. In fact, part of our hotel cost included a one day pass for each of us to the water park. We flew into Cancun, and then took about a 50 minute drive south to the hotel. We arrived around 1pm and figured we would get to the hotel at 3pm in time for first check-in. Well, it took us about 90 minutes to get through customs and immigration. We then waited another 30 minutes for our shuttle van. So we left the airport at 3pm. Not only that, there were two backed up police check points, so the 50 minute drive turned into a 90 minute drive. So 3 and a half hours later, we got to our hotel at 430pm. We get to check-in desk and the lady says, I need to get my manager. Amber and I look at each other and say, this could either be really good or really bad. With our experience so far, we were expecting the bad. Sure enough the manager comes out and explains that they booked up our junior suite with king bed. So we had two options, we could downgrade to a regular room with double beds and they refund us the difference, or we could upgrade to a room with double beds in the Royal Club - for FREE! So, we quickly took the free upgrade to the Royal Club. This turned out to be a very good thing. So the next day we got our transportation back to the airport confirmed, and lined up a half a day snorkeling trip on Sunday. So we went around to the various beaches and pools at the hotel, eating great food and having as much strawberry daiquiri's and Coronas we could drink. No we did not get drunk and since Amber can't stand alcohol, she'd get virgin strawberry daiquiri's instead. The waitress would say, "This is Mexico. You on vacation. You not want alcohol?" It was worth a good chuckle. The Royal Club at the hotel would be the really nice expensive, we do whatever we want part of the hotel. We had our own pool, own beach area and own restaurant with fine dining. We could get free room service and anything we wanted. We were spoiled, which is what you want for a honeymoon. The next day we went to the Xcaret park and had a good time. We snorkeled through underground rivers, walked through aquariums, and saw sea turtles. It was a lot of fun and enjoyed our time there. The next day after that we went snorkeling for half a day. We had a good trip and enjoyed everything. The tour group picked us up at the hotel and provided a snack for us. We brought our own underwater cameras to take pictures of fish and coral. It was a good 3 hour snorkel trip but not as much fish as we were expecting. Maybe next time we'll go to Cozumel for snorkeling. The rest of the day we were relaxing by the beach, enjoying some nachos and a beer. That afternoon there were a few showers coming off the Caribbean. One storm got more organized. Next thing I know, I think I see a funnel coming out of the updraft base. About that time, Amber asks if that is a waterspout. Sure enough, a waterspout had formed under the storm. The funnel only went down about a quarter of the way from the cloud base, but you could see spray from the waterspout on the water. We watched it for a good 15 or 20 minutes. Then it started to lightning and we went back to the room. I'm not sure how many pictures I can post, but I'll post a couple from the trip. Monday we had to fly back to Houston. Our shuttle picked us up, and it only took 50 minutes to get to the airport. We had no problems flying back to Houston and got through customs fairly quickly. Overall, it was a very good trip and look forward to going back. It was a very good way to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

The day before we left for Mexico, we learned from our adoption agency that we were approved and now a family in waiting. All that is left is for a birth mother to pick our profile. The wait begins! Please pray we don't have to wait long, but more than that, we just want God's best in this situation.

-Scott
Picture of Denny in his boat. Picture of our hotel and a picture of the waterspout.

Update - June 2008

2008-08-08T14:41:00.003-05:00

Looking back on it, June was a crazy month. The weekend after Memorial Day we went to Waco for our adoption seminar. We were able to turn in our formal application at that time. We had a good seminar explaining adoption from a couple of different perspectives. We had a doctor and the lawyer for the agency discuss the medical and legal aspects of adoption. There were a couple of willing birth mothers that shared their stories. I have a huge respect for them, and just like losing 3 kids, I can not imagine all they went through to place their child for adoption. Adoption is truly a God thing, and God wrought. We also heard the stories of adoptive parents that adopted through Generations. One even had a disrupted adoption, but amazingly, God brought along the right mother and situation for them to adopt. Again, Amber and I felt this is God's plan for us. Adoption is not for the weary, and we know it will be a long road. The journey will be tough, and it has been tough enough for us. Still, we will do what God asks us to do, and leave the results to Him.

About a week or two later, we had Father's Day. We had Amber's whole family here to visit us. I had to work over the weekend, but still got in some good family time. Amber and I decided to boycott Mother's Day and Father's Day - just too hard losing the triplets. We had some time eating out and walking around Kemeh. Allie continues to grow more and more.

A couple of days later, Amber and I left for North Carolina. It was good to visit my parents and have some relaxing time in the mountains. It was very relaxing. We woke up every morning to temperatures near 50F and it would maybe warm up to 75 or 80 degrees in the afternoon. We enjoyed the local shopping, hiking along the Blue Ridge parkway, canoing on the river, and cooking s'mores on the grill. Oh ya, we ate a dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, our favorite pizza place. We did have some good thunderstorms one day which actually hailed on us for about 20 minutes. The largest we saw was penny to nickel size. Still, it made eating lunch at the bakery a fun experience. Thanks Mom and Dad for a relaxing vacation.

The action did not stop when we got home from North Carolina. Two days later we had our home study for approval by the adoption agency. Everything went smoothly, and did not have any issues. It was not as tough as I thought it was going to be. But our social worker had questions for the both of us, and then questions for us individually. We also had a garage sale the last weekend in June. We found some things we wanted to sell, namely some furniture and extra baby stuff we had gotten for the triplets. We were able to make about $290 from the sale, and the only thing we did not sell was our futon which is still in good shape. Now we need to shop for a new couch, love seat, and end tables.

-Scott

Pictures of the family at Kemah and the hail drifts at the bakery in NC.

Update - May 2008

2008-08-08T14:26:00.002-05:00

In May, we had some good family times. My brother Todd, Julie, Allie and Ian came to visit us from Waco. We had a good time but busy. We drove down to the beach in Galveston and had some good beach time. It was hot, but windy enough that it wasn't too bad. The surf was not too bad and it was a good cool down. We had a good picnic on the beach and then left for home. Todd and I then hit some golf balls on a par 3 course. It has been a long time since I hit a golf ball. Our play was not pretty. We then went to the Houston Dynamo soccer game against Chivas USA. The Dynamo had several good scoring chances but came up empty. The game ended in a scoreless draw. It was a good game, physical and action packed, just no scoring. Some drier air had pushed into the area which made for a pleasant evening at the game instead of hot, humid and sweaty.

The middle of May we went to visit with Generations Adoptions to start the process. It was a 2 hour introduction meeting where we got the formal applications and the director explained to us the process. Amber and I came away very encouraged, and really felt this was God's will for us. We have been praying about this and felt an overwhelming peace about the whole situation. It was a good meeting and felt we were headed in the right direction. The next step is a 8 hour seminar in June.

Update - April 2008

2008-08-08T14:02:00.002-05:00

After our trip to Lake Charles, we had some more time together. We started to discuss our options of building our family. We looked hard at doing fertility treatments again. We found several problems with this option. First, it is hard to try this again knowing the problems Amber has. First, it will put lots of pressure on us and Amber. She will have to go back to charting temps, and ovulation predictors. We could try IUI again (inter-uterine insemination), but with an incompetent cervix, having multiples is out. That is usually likely with IUI. We do not believe in IVF (in-vitro fertilization) for moral and biblical reasons. So the only other option is to hope we get pregnant on our own. Since we tried 20 months before our IUI for the triplets, we had no success on our own, and the odds were very low. So we turn to adoption. We see this as our best option and something we will begin to pursue. Basically, we plan to do infant adoption with a Christian agency called Generations Adoptions. It is an agency located in Waco, TX where my brother lives. My brother and his family actually know the director of the agency from church. We did not actually decide until May that this is what we wanted to do, but we at least got some of the pre-application done so we could go to some adoptions classes and seminars in May and June. After we decided to do this, I could see Amber change. I could see her breath and relax. I could see that she had no more fear or anxiety over another pregnancy. We just do not want to face another lost pregnancy.

The last week in April and the first part of May, I went to Norman, OK to work a week at the Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) at the National Weather Center. The center is home to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service Norman, OK and the OU school of meteorology. I worked with other meteorologists to investigate the use of high resolution numerical models to forecast severe weather. Basically, I played with a bunch of computers to help forecast thunderstorms that would become severe or tornadic. I really enjoyed this opportunity and got to see some up and coming technology that hopefully we can take better advantage at the National Weather Service. On May 1st, I was able to do a little storm chasing. We finished doing our forecasting and thought that parts of central Oklahoma would be prime for severe weather. Turns out that at 6pm a severe storm developed right near my hotel. I had my laptop so I was able to get internet and GPS to help chase. Unfortunately the only camera I had was my cell phone camera. It is a 2mp camera and actually did quite well. I ended up chasing a supercell that produced a couple of funnel clouds, but no tornadoes. It was a good storm to watch and had amazing structure. You can see the striations in the clouds as it was rotating. The picture above is one of the better ones I took. This was my first time to chase since 2006. It was good to see some storms like this.

-Scott
Picture of storm east of OKC.

Update - March 2008

2008-08-08T13:45:00.003-05:00

After getting back from Orlando, we took some time to just be ourselves. We went to church and began connecting with our small group. We had some good fellowship although there were tough times. We had to explain everything that happened to us so others would understand. More and more, we realized that people try to understand, but unless you deal with infertility or have lost a child, you really cannot understand. I don't want to sound arrogant or anything, but the only people that come close to understanding are those that deal with infertility and infant loss themselves. We truly appreciate our friends trying to understand and overall they have done a great job of praying and supporting us. We have been grateful for our small group and the friends we have here. Amber and I would be very lonely with out any of our friends.

At the end of March, we made a trip to Lake Charles, LA. Amber's brother, Tommy, who helped set up this blog originally, moved to Lake Charles to be a discipleship pastor at a local church. It was good to see Tommy, Jennifer and of course baby Allie. Allie and I share the same birthday, September 30. Sometimes I like to remind our family of that fact. Anyway, we had a good time visiting them and Amber's parents came as well. It was good to have the family together. We just had good family time watching the basketball NCAA tournament and had dinner with friends and the pastor of Tommy's church. We had a good cajun fish fry. Good catfish and scrimp. Or so we thought. Somehow Tommy and Jenn managed to escape the food poisoning, but the rest of us did not fair so bad. Amber had flashbacks of her nauseating pregnancy and threw up a couple of times. Amber's parents also had issues. I managed to get away with a stomach ache and a bout with the big D. Fortunately the Imodium cleared things up for me. About a week later, Amber and her parents started to feel normal again. Still, it was a good visit and enjoyed seeing our family.

-Scott

Pictures of our niece Allie in her swing, and the girls playing with Allie.

Update - flashback to February 2008

2008-08-08T10:44:00.002-05:00

As you can see it has been about 6 months since I last made a blog entry. So, either there has not been a lot going on with Amber and I, or I just stink at posting entries. The later is more likely. So, we will take it month to month and update you on what is going on with Scott and Amber.

We had a good memorial service, but Amber and I realized we needed some time for us. We needed time to re-group and to recover. So the weekend after the memorial service, we took a long weekend to Orlando, Florida. We decided we needed some play time as well. We booked a room at the Comfort Suites near Universal Studios. We spent a day touring Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure roller-coaster park, Wet n' Wild water park, Sea World, and Busch Gardens in Tampa. We bought the 5 park passes so we could go to all of them the 5 days we were there. We were exhausted after the second day which was spent at Islands of Adventure. We had lots of fun on the roller-coasters. We also ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and Bubba Gump Scrimp. Emmeril's restaurant was a bit too dressy for us and more expensive. It still would have been a fun dining experience. We enjoyed every bit of fun at the theme parks and hope one day we can take our own family there. The picture of us is in front of Universal Studios.

Memorial Service - Part 2

2008-02-19T12:01:00.003-06:00

Saturday ended up being a good day for a memorial service. It was humid, cloudy, and a bit windy. We decided to meet to have the service at 11am instead of 1pm like we originally planned. The hope was to have decent enough weather to not have any problems. Given the threat for thunderstorms and cloudy conditions, the lake was relatively clear. We had a couple of showers of rain come over, but nothing too bad at all. We found a quiet spot along the shore near a park in Clear Lake, and had the service there. Steven our pastor shared a couple of Bible passaged and were good reminders of how much God loves children. Amber and I love kids, but going through this whole experience really emphasizes how much God loves children and cares for them. I think everyone on the boat came away with a new appreciation for kids. The only hiccup would have been docking the boat back at the boat slip. Fortunately the wind died down enough that it wasn't a problem. Right after docking, the wind picked up again. It was like God knew. While the weather was good for us, it was not good for others. If the weather had been sunny or cleared up enough, there would have been more boats and people on the lake. It worked out that we were able to have a nice private time. God certainly knew what we needed and provided the perfect conditions for us to have a service. We were able to finish by 1pm and about an hour later it started to rain more with showers coming off the Gulf. Fortunately the rain and severe weather held off till that evening, and the storms weren't too bad. -Scott

Edit 8/8/2008 - added a picture of Shay's boat named 'Dis is Heaven. Appropriate don't you think!

Memorial Service...

2008-02-15T14:09:00.003-06:00

This weekend we plan to have a small memorial service for Amanda, Andy and Katelyn. Tomorrow we have arranged for our pastor to do a small simple service for us. Our neighbor has a boat and is willing to take us out on Clear Lake, or weather permitting, go out to Galveston Bay. We will release Amanda, Andy and Katelyn there into the waters. Ironically, our neighbor's boat is named "This is Heaven". We appreciate our Pastor Steven and Shay being so willing to give some time out of their weekend for us. Amber's parents Paula and Denny will be joining us for the service. So far, it looks like the weather might behave enough in the late morning that it should not be problem, but me being a NWS forecaster, knows that it will get rather nasty around here with the possibility of a severe thunderstorm outbreak. We'll see how it unfolds.

Again we thank all our friends and family's support and prayers. Last week was a tough week as that would have been week 32 for our kiddos. We would be looking for Amber to deliver three healthy babies. This week we hope to have some closure with the memorial service for them. It seems like this was supposed to be the weekend God wanted us to have the service. It was a year ago this weekend that Amber and I flew to North Carolina for may late Grandmother's memorial service. I'm sure Grammie and Papa are having a great time with Amanda, Andy and Katelyn in the presence of Jesus.

While Amber and I are looking forward to what God has for us, we will still remember our children. While their lives were short, the tears that we shed are of sorrow with an overwhelming joy and peace. This last month Amber and I purchased remembrance rings. Amber's is a simple 3 stone diamond ring - an oval cut diamond for each child. I have a silver ring from James Avery with the children's initials engraved on it. I wear it on my necklace. Lastly, our doctor and her office graciously bought us 3 azalea bushes. Two are white for the girls and one is red for our boy. They originally wanted to get us rose bushes, but we thought we might be able to keep the azalea bushes alive throughout the year. Amber and I aren't exactly the best gardeners!

Edit 8/8/2008 - added a picture of the planted bushes.

Family Visit

2008-01-22T13:41:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was the first time we have left the Houston area in over 6 months. We went to Waco to visit my brother Todd and his family. This was going to be a tough trip for us as we hoped our next visit to Waco would be with 3 kiddos. Still, we had a good time playing with Allison and Ian, and good family time out to eat. Julie took Amber out for some pampering. Amber came back with manicure and pedicure. It was relaxing for her, and a nice gift from Julie. We had a good time and even made it through a Sunday visiting a church with only a few tears. It seems like any song mentioning heaven gives us trouble. Despite the tears, we still know we will see Amanda, Andy and Katelyn again.

Amber and I are getting into some sense of a routine. We started a membership at our local YMCA, and have been a couple of times to exercise and shed a few pounds. Amber also went to her first Beth Moore bible study meeting this morning. It was tough to go through introductions with everyone else talking about their children, but Amber held it together. Amber is also looking to getting her application done for substitute teaching. She will likely start that in February or March depending on scheduling of sub orientations. Otherwise, we are still taking it one day at a time, and hanging in there. We still are trying to see where God would have us serve and what God would have for us next. Please continue to pray for us and God's leading in our lives.
-Scott

It is a New Year - 2008

2008-01-04T20:31:00.000-06:00

It has been 4 weeks since we lost Andy and Katelyn and 5 weeks since Amanda. While we had a blessed Christmas and New Year's holiday, we are still working through our loss. This is where it gets tough. We have been blessed to have Amber's parents and mine stay with us, but they are back home. We just started our time alone. It has been a roller-coaster and will probably not stop until we reach a new normalcy in life. We are to the point where we ask ourselves, "Where do we go from here?" It is a good time to start again with the New Year, but where?

This question can be applied in many different ways. First off, we need to get back to being involved in life and people's lives. I have it easy - I go to work, forecast the weather, and can interact with people. Amber on the other hand is left to figure out what to do. We've figured out that it would be good for her to substitute teach, but when to start is another question. We want to do bible studies, but again, when to get involved and which study. We want to exercise but need to check out the new local YMCA and 24HR Fitness Centers. Hopefully these activities will keep us busy that we are not thinking about our loss as much, but also allow us to face it daily and not have to cry all the time.

We still have time, but "Where do we go from here?" also applies to our dream to have a family. We do not know if we need to start the process for adoption. Do we try getting pregnant on our own without fertility? Do we try fertility treatments again but how much do we do? We need lots of prayer and God's wisdom on this situation.

Lastly, we still need to say our good-byes to Amanda, Andy and Katelyn. We have our ideas on what kind of service to have, but still some logistics to work through. We have had a couple of ideas, but need to find out what will work best for Amber and I.

We just ask that if any more people still read this that they would pray we can figure out where to go from here, and what God's plan if for us as we push forward. I hate that we have to start over, but we do. We can only do so through trusting God. -Scott

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-26T11:07:00.000-06:00

This Christmas season has been bittersweet for Amber and I. We are happy to celebrate the birth of a baby boy 2000 years ago that eventually grew up into the Savior. I unfortunately had to work Christmas Eve so I missed our church's candlelight service. Amber and her parents went. It was a well done service and explained the whole Gospel. Jesus was born to die for our sins and rise again so we may have life. After all Amber and I have been through, that message rings home more than anything. We know the pain the Father must have felt to see his Son die. We also know the joy the Father had when His Son sat down next to Him after all was finished. We believe that one day we will see our kids, healthy and playful. That is our hope. We hope also that all our family and friends have had a merry Christmas. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Amber is doing better health wise. We were able to rent a wheel chair to get Amber around town and do some shopping. Today that is no longer needed. Amber cannot walk far still, but is doing much better walking through stores. We are both still sad and will probably grieve for a long time. I get the feeling this will be a new part of our life for the next year or two. Possibly longer. We still hope for a family and what God would have for us. We will explore all our options once again which will include adoption and natural birth. We do not know if another try at fertility treatment is in our future or not. Please pray for us to have wisdom and seek God's will in all of this.

Other than this...we have had a happy time with our family celebrating Christmas. Amber's brother Tommy and his family came to visit a couple of days before Christmas. It was hard to see Tommy and Jen's baby girl Allie, but we are very proud aunts and uncles. Allie's favorite toy became a Glow Worm that Amber's mom had bought her. It was fun to watch Allie smile and giggle at it. Amber's parents will be leaving for home tomorrow and my parents will be returning for New Year's. It has been good to have family around us. We appreciate everyone's help, support and prayers.

What Happened?

2007-12-17T19:36:00.000-06:00

While I am not an M.D. this is my best attempt to piece together what Amber went through medically. There is still a few things we do not know, and I'm probably going to get some terminology wrong. Still, here we go. If you do not want to know details of what happened, skip below to another post.

While my Aggies were slapping around the longhorns Friday after Thanksgiving, Amber starting having some discharge with a little blood. She called the doctors and nurses. At halftime of the game, we left for the hospital. I am glad we did. We drove to the UTMB John Sealy Hospital in Galveston which is only about 30 minutes for us. We got into an examining room and the doctor did her examination. It is usually not a good thing when the doctor goes, "Oh No!" That was the case for us as well. Amber was having some small contractions, but what we thought was pre-term labor was not the case. It turns out that our little Amanda's sac was coming through Amber's cervix. The doctor used the word "bulging" to describe this which does not help either. They pulled over a hospital bed and moved Amber from the examining bed to it while keeping her flat. Over the weekend, Amber was on her head in the bed, basically tilted back on a slight decline in hopes to keep the sac from bulging more. After several doctors looking at her situation over the weekend, the common opinion was that Amber had an incompetent cervix. Why use the word "incompetent" to describe it, I have no idea. You would think that there was some other more sophisticated word to describe this conditions, but no. Amber's contractions slowed some over the weekend, but the sac broke on Monday. Doctors tell us it should have broke earlier and it was inevitable. Amanda held on for three more days and was stuck with her hand. On Wednesday, the doctors were able to somehow reposition Amanda so her hand was put back and was turned head down. Early Thursday morning, Amanda was delivered naturally. I cannot believe what my wife endured for that. Amanda was born at 22 1/2 weeks but was well developed for that stage. Unfortunately, her lungs were not developed. The doctors were able to tie off her placenta and put it back in hopes of keeping Andy and Katelyn in place. Over the next weekend, Andy began to take Amanda's spot and his head was down. We hoped he would not go any further. On Monday, Dec 3, his head was right at Amber's cervix and ready to come. By Friday, his sac started to bulge through the cervix and it became apparent he was coming out. Friday afternoon, Amber delivered Andy. Katelyn was not far behind as well. They both made it to 23 1/2 weeks which was not quite far enough along to survive. Andy was close. It turns out that Katelyn's placenta had separated and may have had a blood clot as well. We know we and the doctors did everything to save them. We hoped for a better ending, but this is what God had for us. Unfortunately, there was no indication of Amber having an incompetent cervix as ultrasounds a 2-3 weeks before showed everything was fine. This is just one of those things that you find out about after the fact.

From here, we hope to still have children of our own, but will not pursue fertility treatment. God could change that, but Amber and I both feel God has something else planned for us. We will try to get pregnant on our own, but adoption seems to be the path for us. We do not know how all of this will unfold, but we trust God. We have no choice but to do so. Thanks for reading my ramblings. It has been good to process all of what has happened. -Scott

Thank You!

2007-12-17T19:32:00.001-06:00

Again, we would like to thank our friends and family. We appreciate the thoughts, prayers and "I'm sorry" comforts. The cards and flowers have brought smiles to our faces. Thank you.

I know it is hard to say anything when you so much want to say something. We understand if you don't know what to say, we would not know what to say either. All I can say is just saying, "I'm sorry for your loss." or "We're praying for you." is quite enough. We appreciate that people care and want to express that. Other than that, there is not much else to say. -Scott

Last Week...

2007-12-17T19:17:00.000-06:00

This past week has been good at times and tough at times. Amber continues to slowly recover. Health-wise, she is doing better. She is still weak in her muscles and cannot walk far or very long. She continues to improve in that. Amber has lost a lot of weight as well. I don't recommend her diet to anyone, but she has lost about 40 lbs from her pre-pregnancy weight. She gained weight mainly due to fertility drugs and the stress of moving to the Houston area. The doctor seems to think she may lose another 10 lbs mainly just due to recovering from the hospital and hormones balancing out over time. The good thing is that Amber continues to improve and is getting stronger. We hope that next month we can get her into an exercise program to build endurance in her muscles.

Emotionally, the past week has been a roller coaster. We each have our moments, but Amber still takes it hard as she should. We try to keep her in a safe environment with family around and doing simple things each day. It has been good to go to our church life group and yesterday we went to church for the first time since leaving the hospital. While difficult to see everyone, it was good to hear the Word preached. It is this kind of medicine that will help us emotionally as well as spiritually.

Spiritually, we are strong and weak. We have a good God. We believe we have a good God. We know that God has a plan for us and our family. We have no idea what that looks like, but we push forward with faith in Him. We cast our anxiety on Him each day. We still wonder why this happened and why us. We do not wish what we went through on anyone. Evidently God thinks we can handle this, and will do so through depending on Him. We have discussed all the 20/20 hindsight situations and scenarios, and keep coming back to the same conclusion. This was going to happen regardless of any circumstance. We still do not know what God is trying to teach us other than we have no other choice but to trust Him for a family. We are weakest when we think about why God would let someone who does not want kids to have them, and why ours were taken away when we want them so much. The Lords ways are not our ways, nor can we understand them. We have to trust that even though it is hard. The only thing we can do is cling to His Word. Psalm 34 and 73 have been helpful in that regard. We hope these psalms are encouraging to you as well. -Scott

Back Home...

2007-12-08T14:57:00.001-06:00

Amber's health improved overnight as she had a low grade fever. She was doing better this morning and we were able to go home. We got home and had lunch. She is now sleeping this afternoon and will slowly recover her strength. Full recovery will be slow, but will get easier each day.

Again we appreciate everyone's comments, prayers and encouragement. I'm not sure how much more we will update the blog, but I think we may have a few more entries this week. It has been helpful to write out our thoughts on all that has happened. Thank you again for reading and keeping up with us.
-Scott

Hope until there is no more reason to hope...

2007-12-07T20:25:00.000-06:00

One of our kindest doctors said to hope until there is no more reason to hope. Sadly, we have come to that realization. Amber started to bleed more than usual early this afternoon. By 2pm, she was ready to deliver Andy. The contractions were not bad, but she still had an epidural to help. Andy was born at 239pm this afternoon. Katelyn followed shortly after that at 250pm. Andy was at a decent size but still too small to survive. Katelyn was even smaller than Amanda was. Andy might have had a chance to make it, but probably would not have made it out of the NICU. It turns out that Katelyn's placenta had separated partially, and there was a blood clot in it. Amber is now recovering tonight in the hospital and we hope to go home tomorrow. We are thankful for doctors that have done everything they could to save our babies. Amber was a strong trooper through the whole thing. She did not quit at all.

We thank you for your prayers and support. I wish there was a better outcome, but we know that Amanda, Andy, and Katelyn are with Jesus. We praise God for this. We will post more later and also try to call close friends when we find time tomorrow. Thank you again for your prayers!

Do not grow weary . . .

2007-12-07T10:32:00.001-06:00

Dear friends and family,

Amber received her second of two steriod shots today. These shots are meant to help develop the babies' lungs. God and these babies just continue to defy all that seems medically possible. Please continue to pray for Amber, Scott, Andrew, and Katelyn. Your prayers and God's mercies are keeping us afloat. Physically, Amber is miserable. When we feel we have found the solution to one physical problem, that solution creates another problem. It is truly amazing how interwoven the parts of our bodies are. Only the one true and all-powerful God could make a human body intricately. Specifically, continue to pray that Amber will be as confortable as possible, that she will not develop an infection, that the contractions will remain irregular, and that the babies will grow, grow, grow. Thank you for going this way with us. - Paula

In one week...

2007-12-06T10:17:00.000-06:00

A week ago Amanda came into our lives and sadly left just as quickly. We miss her but know she is in a better place. We will see her some day. In one week after her coming into our lives, Andy and Katelyn have stayed put. Amber had some stronger contractions last night, but the doctors gave her some different medicines to calm things down. She has been sleeping off and on this morning. The good news is that the doctors think Andy and Katelyn are far enough along to get a steroid shot to help their lung development. Amber was given the first shot this morning and there will be another tomorrow. While we remember that a week a go we lost Amanda, we still have hope for Andy and Katelyn. We will continue to hope for one more day that each of them stay put and hope this is God's plan for us. This is all in God's hands, at his feet, before His throne. We trust Him no matter the outcome. Please continue to pray for Amber, that the contractions will stay at a minimum for as long as possible, the babies will continue to develop, and there will be no infections. Pray that we will continue to hope until there is no more reason to hope. Thank you all for your comments, support and prayers. It has been all overwhelming and humbling. Thank you! -Scott

A little walk outside...

2007-12-05T20:05:00.000-06:00

Today has been a good day for us with only a few minor hiccups - going potty is not all that fun. Despite that, 2 of the nurses traced out a route to wheel Amber outside in her bed. Yes, she has to stay flat in the bed, but we managed to get her outside. We wheeled her to the elevator, went down 3 floors, and walked out the main doors. We went around the corner to a quiet area with trees. There was a little breeze but bright blue skies. Amber had her sunglasses on and was able to enjoy the fresh air. We took picture of all of this so maybe we can post some pictures. This brightened up the day for a good hour or so. Amber had a good time outside and it was a blessing to enjoy some time outside.
-Scott

Day 2 Day...

2007-12-05T11:39:00.000-06:00

It is another day and so far so good. Amber is doing well, and maybe better than yesterday. We'll see how it goes. We are lucky to have a room with a window. While the room is small, we can let the sun shine in and see the blue skies. It has been good to have the sun even though Amber has been dozing off a lot. She is quite the trooper and so proud of her no matter what happens.

Today I remembered James 5...not to worry about tomorrow, but we will do today what the Lord has for us to do just to paraphrase. Not only that, it was encouraging to read about perseverance and how God blessed Job because of it. What an amazing God we have no matter what the end result is.

I am thankful for my job and appreciate their support. I hate for them that I've had to take off work from mid shifts; I wish mid shifts on no one. But I've needed to be here for my wife. I miss my work as I love the weather and love forecasting. But there are more important things right now. Thanks again for your support!
-Scott

God's mercies are new every morning

2007-12-05T09:43:00.000-06:00

God continues to amaze the doctors by keeping Andrew and Katelyn safe and secure. If we can hang on for two more days, the doctors will give Amber a steroid shot that will help the babies' lungs develop. We are so blessed to have Christian doctors and nurses who quote scripture and pray for us. Your continued love and prayers are appreciated.

Uncharted Territory...

2007-12-04T11:50:00.000-06:00

Each and everyday is a God thing. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would get pregnant with triplets, and when we found out, we knew this would be different from any other pregnancy. We thank God for the good days after Amber made it through a long period of "morning sickness" or as I called it, everyday sickness. God knew this was going to happen and we have been amazed at how He has given us the strength to make it. When Amanda was going to come into the world, the doctors did everything they could to save the other two. What they did was something that only has been done a handful of times. Again uncharted territory. We know that God wanted Amanda for His kingdom, and we hope that Andy and Katelyn will continue to stay put. At the same time, we know this is all in His hands. Whether Andy and Katelyn come the next couple of days or not, God holds us. I know He is saddened for us, but it is still all about His Glory which I cannot understand. We do not know what His plan for us will be, but we gladly push forward with His strength. I wish there was something I could say to encourage us all in these dire yet hopeful times. There is a peace that surpasses all understanding. We hold onto our Savior and hope for the best. Pray for us to have stregnth to carry on as we wait for what God has for us. Psalm 23. -Scott

Still holding

2007-12-04T08:38:00.000-06:00

Good morning family and friends,

Amber and the babies are still holding at this point (8:40 a.m.). I think the anticipation/waiting is getting to all of us. We go from sorrow and hurt to maybe there is a chance and then back to sorrow and hurt again. Amber and Scott are handing things so amazingly well and are quite a great witness to God's love and support. I personally have seen staff here touched by Amber and Scott's faith and trust in the Lord and their kindness toward the staff which could have only come from the Lord at this time. We are learning that it is not just "church talk" that He will give you the strength you need when you need it. He is good - all the time.

We love you all and treasure your prayers.

Sad news

2007-12-03T12:34:00.000-06:00

Amber had a high definition ultrasound this morning which did not give a positive outlook for the babies. Truly, it looks as if the Lord might want Andrew and Katelyn to join He and Amanda in heaven instead of living here on earth. Nothing is definitive yet and all things are possible, but your continued prayers for Amber and Scott are needed and appreciated.

Our love to you all.

Where we are now.

2007-12-02T14:29:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, we lost little Amanda Grace on Thursday, November 29. She was beautiful. She weighed 13 oz. and was 10 1/4 inches long. Every attempt is being made to keep the other two babies "tucked in" for as long as possible. The doctors cannot give us percentages on their chances because we are in "uncharted territory." Should they deliver prior to December 11, chances are that they will not make it. Although chances for survival are still slight at December 11, there is a chance. Each day after that increases their chances. We would like to make it to at least January 8 which is 28 weeks.

Please pray specifically for these:

1. That Amber and Scott will feel God's love and the love of His people as they mourn the loss of Amanda Grace and that they will have a peace about Andy and Katelyn.

2. That Amber's contractions will continue to remain at bay.

3. That the sacs of Andy and Katelyn will not rupture.

4. That Amber will not develop a uterine infection. This is a very real possibility and would be a danger to the babies and to Amber.

5. That Amber's miserable side-effects from the medications will ease.

Thank you to all of you who are praying and loving on us.

We will be updating this blog as often as we can.

You may post comments to Amber and Scott by clicking on the comments button on this blog.

2007-12-01T16:03:00.000-06:00

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1