A BLOGGING WE WILL GO...

Faith

2011-03-07T07:51:00.000-06:00

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." -Hebrews 11:1

We were asked a question in our Life Group today... how would we describe what we believe about God? Responses included "He is sovereign", "He loves me", "He is in control", "He knows what's best for me", etc. When something bad happens to others, we hear similar ideas... "Everything happens for a reason", "It's all part of God's plan", "It's for the greater good". My response was that I didn't really know how to articulate it in to one word or phrase.

A skeptic or a cynic might say something very different... "If there's a God, that wouldn't happen" or "How could a loving God allow that happen?" On the heels of a second miscarriage, I can say that my mind has not gone there, and I pray it won't. I haven't found myself angry or in question of the reasoning behind any of it. But when it seems to be such a common occurrence, between other family and friends, and there are so many people dealing with similar or worse issues, I have found my mind wandering to dark places, allowing questions in like "What if this whole thing isn't true?", "What if it's all for not?", "What if it all really is all just chance and circumstance?"

In Philippians 1:21-23 Paul talks about "...to live is Christ, and to die is gain..." That sounds real awesome and inspiring, and all those phrases about "God's plan" and "He's in control" sound fantastic until I get punched in the stomach by life. The pill doesn't go down quite so smoothly, and if I'm not careful, dark thoughts from a dark power allow me to go to dark places in my mind. For me, these thoughts have only creeped, and I have not allowed them to take root, mostly through prayer. Our pastor preached 1 Peter 1:13 today, "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." A few of his points around this verse focused on how we are to protect our minds from distractions and hindrances. We have to work hard to prevent the pressures of life from clouding our focus.

I have yet to experience a time when faced with doubt, struggle, or temptation, where I stopped and prayed for reassurance or a way out, that God did not respond in some way. I'll give two examples from this week directly related to our current circumstance. First, after the first miscarriage in October, we were very moved and very encouraged by this video, which we have watched many, many times...

In case you didn't watch the video, the scripture at the very end is Psalm 73: 25-26, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." This past Wednesday, as we were getting ready to go to the hospital, I clicked on biblegateway.com to see what the verse of the day was and it just so happened to be Psalm 73: 25-26. Some might say it was just a coincidence. Maybe. Later that morning, a friend sent me a text of encouragement and suggested that I read 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10. It's long so I won't type the whole thing, but in verse 9, the Lord tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And Paul goes on to say in verse 10, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." I find great comfort and reassurance in these words. I read this passage with Em and her sister and we prayed together for it to be made so in us. I've been listening to a lengthy sermon series on Ephesians from 2003 in my car. I listened to the first 4 parts last week and didn't listen again until this Thursday when I went back to work. In part 5, the pastor preached 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 as part of his sermon. It blew my flipping mind and immediately relieved any doubts or uncertainty that were tempting me. I can not, do not, and will not believe that it was just a coincidence... just chance and circumstance. I believe it was His subtle, or not-so-subtle, way of whispering "I'm here... and I know... don't lose heart."

I do not believe that God made this happen. I do believe he allowed it to happen. Suffering comes in all shapes and sizes. And when it comes, we have a choice. We can get mad and shake our fists at God and say "how dare you?!" or "I don't believe in you!"... or we can put our faith in the idea that "He is sovereign", "He loves me", "He is in control", and "It's all part of God's plan". Our pastor said it well this morning, "We are not at the mercy of anything in this world because we have hope in Christ." That same faith that is so strong when things are going well has to hold up when things go badly, or it stops being faith. The bible is very clear that following Christ will likely involve suffering. Just ask the disciples. When I am struggling with doubts, questions, uncertainty because of suffering that just doesn't make sense, He is always faithful to reassure. It sounds cheesy and cliche to say that, but I've experienced far too many things in my own life and in the lives of others to write it off as coincidence. It's been a tough week, and we have certainly had better ones. But our faith is not shaken. God is good, even when things are bad. We may never understand why this happened, and we don't know what the future holds. We aren't promised anything. We're not promised tomorrow morning. But our faith is in the promise of something better to come, and so I think my answer to the Life Group question would be that I believe there is no way it's all just chance and circumstance. And Emily and I will continue to do our best to be faithful in both good times and bad.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T10:34:00.001-06:00

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

It's Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day 2010. But this year, it feels very different. We always celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family and Christmas with Emily's side, but this year, we are going solo. I think this is the first time that I've ever been away from my family on Turkey Day. This is Em's year in the holiday rotation at work so we were unable to go to the Woodlands with the Koelling clan. And with Mom's move to Oregon, we didn't have a lot of options. So as I sit here watching Abbott eat breakfast while Em is at work, it really just feels like another day. But I am determined to get in the holiday spirit and make it feel like Thanksgiving for us at home and I thought a good way to kick off the holiday cheer might be to write some things that I'm thankful for, so here goes.

First of all, if you're reading this, I hope you don't hear me complaining or pitying myself. It's just a little different and a little weird. I'm so thankful for all of my family and the fact that everyone is getting to celebrate together in some form or fashion. I'm particularly thankful that Mom is spending Thanksgiving with Charlie and the rest of her family up in the northwest. I'm so thankful that Em and I both have good jobs, even if they do keep us from doing what we want from time to time. I'm so thankful that we have a roof over our heads and a way to get from point A to point B. I'm thankful for the freedoms and the luxuries we have in this country. I'm thankful for the fact that we don't have to worry, at least for now, about if and what we are going to eat or whether or not Abbott is going to be provided for.

I'm thankful for my friends, of which I have many. Many of my best friends have been so since elementary school and remain so to this day. And many of my best friends I've gained along the way. I'm thankful for my family. Despite my parents' divorce, they managed to instill in us the values, morals, and wisdom that we have today. And because of that, I remain very close with my brother and sister and, despite all the turmoil, we've somehow managed to keep our heads on straight and work together with Mom and Dad to keep this family together despite it's division. I'm thankful that even though they couldn't work things out between them, they loved us enough to "raise us right" as my brother-in-law, Hudson, would say. I'm thankful for Emily and her family, because in the last decade they have been a source of stability for me when things weren't really stable on my end. I love them all so very much and am proud to call them my family.

I am so thankful for my beautiful wife and my precious daughter. And I am so thankful to the Lord for the blessings He has showered on my life through them. Emily is such an amazing strength in this marriage and family. She does so much and gives so much of herself that I marvel at times. Anyone that knows me knows exactly what I'd be doing if I had to work today, tomorrow, and over the weekend. It wouldn't be pretty. Yet I haven't heard, or even detected, a single hint of negativity or complaint from Emily. She's much better at removing her wants and needs from most equations than I am. And she's such an amazing mother. Watching her with Abbott makes me love her a little more every time. I'm so thankful for my Fridays off with Abbott, but it ain't a cake walk by any stretch. And for Em and all you other mothers that stay home with the kid(s) on a more frequent basis... wow! Anyone that would talk down at being a stay at home mom has absolutely no concept of the hard work it is. I'm thankful for wives and moms, and if any of you men out there haven't taken a minute to reflect on all the hard work they do while we are sitting on the couch, or at work, or doing "guy stuff", you should do it now. It's the perfect day for it!

Watching Abbott grow up, especially at this phase in life, is like watching an ongoing daily miracle. I'm probably a little biased here (just a little), but she is so smart. She catches on so quickly and she's so sweet and playful. Not the biggest cuddler, which has been hard on Daddy, but we have our moments. She is so expressive and funny, and slightly dramatic... I can't imagine where she got such qualities. It's kind of like here blond hair and blue eyes... what in the world is that all about?! Being a father is such a blessing. She has added so much joy to a life, marriage, and family that already had it's fair share. I hope and pray that we will have more children. And I would love to have a son some day. But having a little girl makes me kind of want more little girls. It's weird what happens to a man when a daughter arrives on the scene. I'm thankful for my girls, and I love being able to say "my girls".

I'm very thankful for our church family. We joined our church a few years ago but have only started getting plugged in in the last several months. A door was opened up for us to get involved with the college ministry and it has been quite a blessing. And I'm thankful for Mary, the leader of the college ministry who is opening her home this afternoon to us and a handful of college students so that we can all spend Thanksgiving in fellowship with friends and loved ones. I'm thankful for TURKEY BALL (if you don't know, you should find out!). And I'm thankful for awesome traditions like Turkey Bowling (because my family is awesome!). And yes, we will be passing the tradition along this afternoon, as Emily has obtained a set of bowling pins from the bowling alley. Pins, check. Tarp, check. Frozen turkey, check. Awesometown, check.

I very much believe that all of these things that I have to be thankful for are made possible only by the grace of God. I am so thankful that because of what happened on the cross, I have been given the gift of grace, and through faith I can have hope in something greater than all of these things. I've had very few real trials in my life, but I'm not promised 5 minutes from now and I'm so thankful that no matter what happens, no matter how the tides may turn, no matter which way the wind blows, my hope and my faith and my fate don't terminate here on earth. I stumble and stray more than not, but the beauty of grace is that I don't have to run away from God and clean myself up. I can press in to Him and keep trudging forward with an assurance like no other. Grace and mercy are hard to wrap your head around sometimes, but unmerited favor in the eyes of God is a powerful thing to be thankful for and I probably don't thank Him enough.

"Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God." - 2 Corinthians 4:13-15

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you very much if you took the time to read this.

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

Fun in Phoenix!!

2010-06-29T14:33:00.005-05:00

Much fun was had by all in Arizona! We started the vacation with a tubing trip on the Salt River.
We left the kiddos with the babysitter and had a day of roasting in the sun on huge tubes. Now this was an event. It was like six flags, parking lots full of people taking buses to float. It was a riot, many, many different folks enjoying this event. We had a blast but managed to forget the camera so you'll just have to think in your mind what a good time we had:)

We had a great Father's Day! Abbott and Jake made foot and hand canvas' for their Daddies which were precious. We headed over to Chip and Kirsten's to eat and play with Amalie. The kiddos had a great time in the pool and Kirsten's parents cooked a yummy meal!!

Picture of the Year!

Marc and Dana were off on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday we headed to Sedona for some shopping and sight seeing! It was beautiful, as you can see in the pics!! On Wednesday, Dana and I took advantage of our hubby's babysitting skills, and went out for a day of shopping and Mommy time. Lulu Lemon will never be the same:)

Hmmm....think they look alike:)

Adam and I enjoyed time with Abbott in the pool and checked out a few restaurants in the area while the Charbonneau's were away. Kirsten brought Amalie over for a visit! The kiddos were so funny together! On Friday, the girls went out for a movie (Knight and Day) and the guys chilled at home.

The boys got away for the day on Saturday while the women braved a restaurant with all three kiddos! Now this was an adventure!! Saturday night the kiddos stayed with a babysitter and we ate at a local Sushi place.....amazing! Our flight was great on the way home. Abbott was a trouper the entire trip. She and Jake played like champs. By the end of the week he was calling for Abbott from his crib when he woke up! So sweet:) She and Amalie will be fighting over him in a few years:) What a lucky guy! And we are all so very blessed as parents to have healthy and happy children!!

I am sooooo tired Mommy:)

We love you Phoenix friends! See you in the fall in the "view!"

Giving Thanks

2010-05-03T21:00:00.002-05:00

Weeks ago I performed a swallow study on a precious 6 month old baby. She had a list of medical problems longer than most ninety year olds I see. Tears stream down my face just thinking of her and her precious mother. Her 5 year old son was there protecting his little sister by asking many questions of me and my job. He told me all about his little sister that he was quiet proud of. The Mom handed over her sweet baby into my hands with trust. I felt her tense muscles and constant twitches, her mother explained that she had severe epilepsy and the twitches were considered pre-seizure activity. Epilepsy was still on the minimal end of her extensive medical history. Most six months old would sit on Mom's lap or in a high chair for this procedure. This precious pea wasn't even close to attempting this. I used a positioner and prepared her bottle before starting her xray. Her little mouth had no concept of the usual "suck, swallow, breath" pattern that occurs with natural development of even a newborn. The material eventually spilled into her mouth and down her throat into her windpipe without even a cough. She aspirated everything we attempted. I explained to Mom what was happening and I could see her logging it away into her list of "abnormalities" that encompassed her daughter. Of course her first question to me was, "how long will she have to have a tube and when will she be able to eat?" I graciously told her that with time and therapy hopefully the muscles in her throat would get stronger. Given the child's history and presentation, I knew that there was very little chance that this sweet girl would ever eat normal. She was sobbing and talking on the phone to her husband while I spoke with her doctor who of course gave me orders to admit her into the hospital for placement of a temporary feeding tube until she could be transferred to Dallas. After all was taken care of, I walked into an empty xray room and began sobbing.

As a new Mom it was unfathomable to imagine my child in pain or incredibly delayed or sick. It made me sad when Abbott was teething or had a cold. The sweet baby from the swallow study has been on my mind for weeks. My heart breaks for her and her mother. We take so many things for granted. I squealed with joy when Abbott rolled over, sat up, crawled, cut her first tooth, and the list goes on. We go through our everyday routine of normalcy sometimes without thinking twice about the mountains that others face. Please pray for this sweet baby and her family. Mountains don't even begin to describe what they face everyday. I am so thankful for Abbott's, health, smiles, laughs, cries, and the perfect miracle of a tiny human's working body.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4

Hot Springs or bust!

2010-03-29T22:30:00.002-05:00

We headed to Hot Springs this weekend to meet up with Aunt Clare, Uncle Kyle, cousin Mandy, cousin Sarah and her hubby Grant. We had so much fun, as always when with his family! It was a beautiful weekend. We headed downtown and ate a Rocky's! It was one of mine and Adam's favorites in college! We walked downtown and did some shopping and sight seeing! Saturday night we headed to Fisherman's Wharf for a yummy dinner! Mom,Dad, and Ms. Cathy babysat at the condo. It was so good to see everyone and we are going to make a point to get together as a group every year in different places! Sounds like a plan:)

How do ya like my shades?!!

Home Again:)

2010-03-22T10:58:00.000-05:00

Abbott and I headed home to Crossett a few weeks ago when Adam was in Montana visiting Uncle Charlie. I love being in Mom and Dad's house. I love the smell, the look, and the comfort of being where I grew up. Yes....I am such a sap when it comes to memories of growing up. I think it's sweet that Abbott can sleep in my room in "Our Crib". It has now been used by Hud, Mer, Mason,Me and 9 grandchildren:)
We spent precious time with Memaw and Granddad. Anyone who knows my Grandparents, knows that they are truly the most loving, loyal, giving, and devoted people you will ever want to meet. I am so blessed to have them in our lives and so thankful that Abbott gets to spend time with them. In my job I see so many people who have no one to take care of them. They will be in the hospital for weeks without one visitor. This breaks my heart and I am constantly reminded of how blessed Adam and I are to have such amazing families. Mom and I were able to spend a whole week together. I love how much she loves Abbott (and 8 other little beings:) Anna Kate kept close tabs on Abbott. She is such a "little Mom" she wanted to be with her every second! It was precious. Grace was still figuring her out considering that Abbott pulled her hair and tugged on her every time she could get close enough. We went on several walks with Aunt Amber and helped Nana paint AK's room:) Fun was had by all......

Abbott, Checking Dedaw out:)

Pretty Girls!

Anyone else think Nana and Anna Kate look so much alike in this pic!!!

Can I borrow your paci Gracie??

AK loves Miss Abbott!

PLAY

2010-03-20T14:54:00.001-05:00

We turned our breakfast room into a playroom for Abbott last weekend with Nana's help!! Abbott loves it!( she told us)

I bought this book shelf in Hot Springs last year. Got the bins from Target ($6.99) a steal!! The little plaques at the bottom are painted with chalkboard paint so you can label the bins!

We painted the canvas and then rubbed it with stain. Those were plain white letters from Hobby Lobby of course, that I painted then stained and attached them to the canvas and waalaa.....

More fun letters from HL that I painted and put on a canvas.....

Painted chalkboard paint on the wall and hung a frame over it! Mer was the brains behind this idea!
Turned out so cute!

Little tin sign ($3 bucks) at HL, hung it over a canvas that I painted. I also bought one that says "his" just in case it's needed later in life!

Found this sweet little "happy" sign and couldn't resist it! If you had to describe Abbott in one word it would be a BIG red HAPPY!!

PLUS ONE

2010-02-28T20:57:00.002-06:00

We are one up this week with the Gman moving in. His folks took an adventure to Colorado Skiing with the Girlies:) No need to worry he is in good hands. We've been going non stop and he has certainly taken care of Abbott. His question of the hour is,"baby Abbott otay?" He has been talking his little head off.

Grab a Toy:)

Sky.....

Hi Mommy:)

Headed Home!

Tired baby...

Garrett and Baby Abbott

Hee Hee Hee

No words....

The Gman last year during ski trip, I detect a pattern:) I was 3 months pregnant with Abbott.

Have fun on your ski trip, hello to the cousins and see you soon!

Em, Adam, Abbott, and Gman!!

Dear Aunt Mer

2010-02-15T09:56:00.011-06:00

Dear favorite Aunt Mer,

Thank you so much for taking care of me for Mommy and Daddy's Valentine's date:) Also Mommy's blog makeover looks amazing! You are SO creative and giving of your time. The pictures you took of me are adorable as well....I'm just sayin:) WE love you!! Abbott Clare

Disclaimer: "favorite Aunt" status subject to change based on competition from other Aunts.....baa haa haa

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T15:30:00.004-06:00

Snowbaby

2010-02-12T21:38:00.000-06:00

4 inches of snow in East Texas....Probably won't see that again for another 15 years:) I headed to work this morning on the slush covered streets COMPLETELY jealous of Adam and Abbott's Snow day. We took some pics before I left for work and he continued to text more throughout the day which made me smile:) He of course created the biggest monstrosity of a snowman on the block! Abbott and I were very impressed. She loved being outside (because she told me), what a great day!!

BURRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Thoughts on God

2010-01-29T16:48:00.001-06:00

Back in October I was engaged in a conversation about politics in an email thread with some friends. It inadvertently turned into a conversation about God, primarily because my friend Blake, who is actually the younger brother of one of my best friends, kept turning everything back to God and faith and prayer. At the time this was very frustrating for me. If I'm being honest I'd have to say that up until that point, my attitude towards church, and religion, and ultimately God, had been somewhat cynical. I should be clear... I've always believed in God. I've always been a Christian. Since I was little. That doesn't necessarily mean I always understood what it meant and it certainly didn't mean I had a relationship with God.

I'll spare the long details of the email conversation back in October, but something very significant happened to me on October 22nd, which was a Thursday. I was in between patients and got in my car, eager to check my email and see if anyone had responded to the thread, and there was an email from Blake. He had sent me a very long email basically telling me his entire testimony. One thing in particular that resonated very deeply with me was a story about how one of his friends came to him and was in great need spiritually. Blake arranged for them to meet his bible study leader at Starbucks and he sat back and watched the guy lead his friend to Christ right then and there. As they were leaving, his bible study leader asked Blake "what makes you happy in life?" Blake remained silent because he knew his answer would be some typical "guy" answer. He then looked Blake square in the face and said, "I fish for men's souls". Blake explained to me about how that moment changed his life forever and he committed himself to doing the same right then. This was approximately 2 years ago and now he turned up in our email conversation and was addressing me.

His email was very long and very encouraging. He told me all the ways that he used to look up to me when he was younger and pointed out things in me that he saw as strengths. As he told me about his faith, he encouraged me in mine and as I read his email I found myself overcome with emotion. It was kind of like a sucker punch. I'm going along, minding my own business when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the Holy Spirit jumps out of the bushes and punches me right in the chest! It was awesome... and weird. I believe that God used Blake that day to renew my spirit. It wasn't one particular thing, or even a number of things. But I had basically reached a point where I simply wasn't involving God in any aspect of my life, much less my family's. In that moment I had this overwhelming notion of "it's not about me" and "nothing else matters". I called Emily and told her that I felt like God was working on me and I asked her to pray. I then proceeded to drive 30 miles to my next patient's house in utter silence. Just kind of pondering everything.

Since that day, I've had an undying desire to grow closer to the Lord. I have a goal and desire to get in the Word everyday, and I'm failing miserably, but keep trying. I have a goal and a desire to pray everyday, alone and with Emily, and I'm failing miserably, but keep trying. As I dig in the scriptures, and discuss God with others, and listen to sermons, I understand a little more each day that the only thing that matters is a relationship with Christ. Good behavior, morality, rules, regulations, they're all great, but they don't bring salvation. Christ brings salvation, and with salvation comes change. A change of heart and mind. I am a human. I am a man. I am a Christian. I am not God, and therefore, I am not perfect. I fall short every single day of His glory. How can one not, especially in today's age of technology, entertainment, sports, television, celebrities, and the internet? No matter which way you turn, there is a distraction or a temptation. But the beauty is the cross, and the fact that Christ came here and faced those same distractions and temptations so that I would have an empathetic savior and so that I would know that I always have a way out when faced with sin.

My reason for writing this is not to be preachy. It is because I have a desire to talk with others about God. I want to share, I want to discuss, I want to learn. And I want others to see God's grace and mercy and salvation through me and my family. It just so happens that this is a particular area that I've never been comfortable with. And I think a lot of people struggle in the same way. I think it comes from a worldly fear that I'm going to offend someone or that someone is going to think I'm odd. Well that's my problem and my sin. I'm encouraged every day by people like Blake and my friend Austin. Both are guys that are like little brothers to me, yet I find myself looking up to them in their walk with Christ. I'm encouraged by people in my life that are dealing with divorce, cancer, death of a loved one, or just hardship in general, yet rather than shake their fists at God, they are digging deeper in to His grace. I'm encouraged by people like Matt Chandler, the lead pastor at the Village Church in Dallas. He's only 3 or 4 years older than me and has a wife and 3 kids. On Thanksgiving he had a seizure and it turns out he has a brain tumor. Surgeons operated but were unable to get all of it so now he is going through radiation and chemo. Here are 2 videos that exemplify, not only God's grace and mercy, but also why he has had such an impact on my life.

Before tumor:

After tumor (sorry, couldn't embed this one):

Video from Matt

I have been truly blessed throughout my life. I have wonderful parents. I have a brother and sister that I love. I have a small group of best friends that I have known since childhood, all of whom have a sense of loyalty and brotherhood that a lot of guys my age can't understand. I have a secure job. I have a beautiful house. I have all the toys I could possibly want or need. I have 3 awesome dogs. I have in-laws that I actually adore, and I think they are pretty fond of me. And I have the most amazing, beautiful, caring wife there is. And we have the most amazing, beautiful little girl on planet earth. Sorry, it's a fact. I have everything, but it's all nothing without Christ at the center. I mentioned before that I have a goal and a desire to pray every day, and that I'm working on it. When I pray, I ask God for things like wisdom, guidance, clarity, understanding, strength, and ability in my personal life, in my marriage, and as I read the scriptures. I thank Him for forgiveness, grace, mercy, love, and faith. I pray for guidance for Em and I as parents, so that we can lay a foundation for her to learn and understand the grace of God, and so that when God decides it is time, He will light a fire inside her and she will believe, and He will save her soul.

I don't really know how to wrap this up so I'll say this. I mentioned my friend Austin earlier. He started a blog yesterday and I read it and felt very inspired and encouraged to write this. Ultimately, I kind of copied him. He's a great guy so if you want to be encouraged and inspired as well, check out his blog. There's a link over to the right for Smith Family Blog. I'll end with Blake's closing remarks to me in his email. He said...

I’ll leave you with this…………………This world is an evil place and Godly men are a dying breed. We have to seek God’s will daily in order to fight the evil that stands against us. If you believe God exists and His only goal is to have a loving and compassionate relationship with you, then we also have to believe that the devil exists and his only goal is to destroy your walk with Christ, your marriage, your family, your friendships, and your peace and joy. Fight the good fight my brothers, take a stand today because we aren’t promised tomorrow.

So 3 Months Later...

2009-10-21T20:05:00.022-05:00

WARNING! This is ridiculously long. I've been doing this post for 4 days. It's tough to stay motivated when the browser crashes every time you try to upload multiple pics. Oh well, it's done now. Hope you enjoy it, if you make it all the way to the end! Also, I'm fully aware of the shameless self-indulgence exemplified by the absurd number of pictures... and I'm ok with it. Have fun scrolling. Here goes...

"For this child I prayed..." -1 Samuel 1:27

It's hard to believe that it has been 3 months since my last post, which means it is also hard to believe that Abbott is 3 months old! Where to begin, where to begin? How about this:

And now with a little more pizazz!

Before I proceed, let's get one thing straight... I'd be lying if I said I didn't go through my Limp Bizkit phase in college. Come on, you know you did too. However, I currently think they are one of the most terrible bands of all time, so that is in no way an endorsement of Durst and Co. That said, the song seemed appropriate.

So a lot has happened in the past 3 months, and Abbott is changing every day. Perhaps I'll summarize each month separately.

August:

We spent most of the first month home just getting used to having an additional family member. Fortunately adjustments were minimal because Abbott was a pretty easy baby right out of the gate. Our main focus was trying to get a pattern established and letting Em get as much rest as possible. We had many visitors and Abbott got to meet lots of friends and family. Kyle and Julie stopped by, and Gwendolyn came to visit for a few days. So did Mason, Amber, Anna Kate, and Grace. We got to see Nana and Papoo, Moninny, and Poppy and Dovey as well. Charlie, Oriana and Clare and Kyle were also here for a few days. It was the first time that I've seen my brother since May of 2007 and we finally got to meet Oriana! We had a blast with them just hanging around the house and playing some serious Wii Disc Golf. Here are a few pics from August... just a few.

September:

A very eventful month. We didn't get to go on the annual Gulf Shores trip this year, seens how the baby was only 2 weeks old. However, Hudson, Melissa, and the kids met us back down there over Labor Day weekend and we had a blast. And Abbott did great on the 8 hour car trip, which actually ended up being about 11 hours! Both ways! Around 1 month, she really started being responsive, cooing a lot and smiling at us and to our voices. She also started tolerating a little tummy time, but only a little. She experienced her first football Sunday with Dad too. Oh, and lets not forget that first round of shots. That was not fun. Em and Abbott took a little road trip to Crossett one week and then I met them with Nana and Papoo in Hot Springs for the weekend. Abbott got to go out on the barge, but she pretty much hated her life vest. The picture should explain why. Here are some more pics from the month... just a few.

October:
This has been the least eventful month since Abbott arrived, yet it has still managed to be a blast. Of course, how can every single second not be an absolute blast when you have such an amazing, beautiful, perfect child? We haven't done much. We haven't gone anywhere. I spent a Sunday with Mom a few weeks ago for Family Day with her church and had a great time. She's been over a few times for dinner, which we've really enjoyed. Abbott loves to see her Moninny. We've spent a few Sundays with Chip and Kirsten for football. It's become tradition on the weekend when we're all in town. Dad and Deb came over one Saturday for a few hours as well. It's been really great for Abbott to get to spend so much time with all of her grandparents, on both sides. It's truly a blessing. Here are some pics from October so far. Marc and Dana are coming in on Friday for a long weekend. We are super excited! This will be their first time to meet Abbott. We'll post more pics afterwards... but just a few! Enjoy!

If you've managed to make it this far, then thanks for taking the interest. Now that I've proofread it, it actually isn't that long, there's just a lot of scrolling with all the pictures. Maybe it felt long because it took FOR-E-VER to get all the pictures uploaded and arranged. Ironic, since I decided against doing slideshows because they are so time consuming! We'll keep the updates coming, and it won't be 3 more months. I made a home page to serve as kind of a central hub for this blog, both of our Facebooks, and our MobileMe gallery. Feel free to bookmark it for quick access: www.emmyadam.com

PS-I just want to make it perfectly clear to all who read this how truly thankful I am for my beautiful wife and daughter. I don't know yet what God's will for my life is but He has, at the very least, given me a taste of what fulfillment is.

Our First Day Home

2009-07-25T20:43:00.002-05:00

We're home! The doctor gave Abbott a clean bill of health and we got discharged this morning around 11:00. First order of business was to introduce her to the dogs. Sam, Frodo, and Lola were very excited to see us since we've been gone for 3 days, but they were also very curious about the baby. After some sniffing and licking, everything seems to be great. Frodo seems to have taken to her the most. He has been very curious all day and he keeps lurking around whenever we hold her. He likes to sit next to me in protective mode. Emily got a long nap today and I hung out with the sleeping beauty on the couch. She spent a lot of the day in the cradle that Em's dad made for us. Not much else has happened today. Max grilled some awesome filets on the Green Egg and went ahead and rewired and installed a few light fixtures... just because. I just wanted to give a quick update and let everyone know that we are home, Em and Abbott are both doing great, and we couldn't be more thrilled. I've put more pics at MobileMe so check them out when you get a chance.

Abbott Clare

2009-07-24T21:11:00.004-05:00

Where do I even start?! How about... I'm a DAD! Words cannot describe the last 48 hours. Once Em was fully dilated, which happened super fast, the doc wanted her to "labor down" so that she wouldn't have to do a bunch of extra pushing. So about an hour and a half past 10 cm, the nurse came in and got the party started. (NOTE: I'm fully aware that this post, and probably the rest of my life, is going to be full of cliches about childbirth and feelings that every first time dad has... and I simply do not care.) Obviously, I'm not going to go into detail about the birth, but it was absolutely amazing. Emily was a true champ! It was my first rodeo so I don't have anything to compare to, but she made it look like a piece of cake. I'll say this too, for any of you dads-to-be... watch the birth. I don't care what you think now, or how queazy you are, it's not gross, it's freaking amazing. So Emily pushed for about an hour and 10 minutes and at 2:22 pm on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009, Abbott Clare arrived. And as soon as she did, there was a huge gasp of amazement throughout the room when we all realized how big she was! 9 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long! Are you kidding me?! She is the most beautiful thing on planet earth, I don't even know how to describe it. All the stuff they say about your life changing instantaneously is absolutely true. The rest of the day was spent putting Abbott through the ringer... poking, prodding, pushing, pulling, cameras, tons of people, bathing, screaming, crying... sounds awesome. Both of our families were here for the event and we have had waves of visitors. Things wound down last night around 10:30 and it was finally just Mommy, Daddy, and Baby. Once it was quiet and just us, the reality and emotion and joy of the entire day came crashing down on both of us. We kept her in the room with us until about midnight and then called the nursery to take her for the night so we could sleep. And sleep we did. They brought her in around 3 am so Em could feed her and then took her back. Speaking of that... so far, Em and Abbott are taking to nursing very well. We pray it will stick! We both slept great and then this morning they brought her back in and we've spent the entire day with family and visitors. Mer came by with Allie and Mary this morning because they've been dying to hold Abbott. My mom surprised us by dropping in this afternoon and Em's dad got here around 5:30. The pediatrician is gonna clear us to go home in the morning so we're crashing here one more night. But the room is nice and big and the service has been top notch the entire time, so it's actually not that bad. It has been a whirlwind and we're pretty beat, despite the good sleep last night. Now we're just ready to get home and start the next chapter. Emily and I want everyone to know how much we appreciate you all. We have been inundated with phone calls, voice mails, text messages, Skype chats, and visitors. Technology has made it possible for us to share this with so many people. I feel like there is so much more to write about, but I'm beat and slightly distracted by this little piece of perfection next to me. I will say this... this has been the greatest birthday of my life. Here are a few pics from the last 2 days. To see more, go to my MobileMe gallery. I'll also get an album up at emmyadam as soon as I can.

The Waiting Game...

2009-07-23T10:29:00.002-05:00

Well, it's finally here! We're having this baby whether we like it or not. We got to the hospital last night around 8 and got settled into our rather large room. By the time everything was done and Em was all "patched in to the system" it was almost 11. They gave her an Ambien and it knocked her right out and she got a few hours of sleep. Her water broke about 1:45 this morning so there was a lot of activity for a while. The contractions really started getting her attention after that and they gave her the epidural around 5 am. Some tiny spurts of shuteye was all either of us really got once her water broke. Em's mom got here around 7 this morning and Mer around 8. The doc checked her around 8:15 and she was dilated to 4 cm. Another check around 9:30 and she was at 6 cm, so it looks like things are moving along. Her contractions are pretty strong and fairly regular, but she doesn't really feel them. Her biggest issue has been some nausea, which the doc says is a good sign and very normal. So we're just waiting now. Uhh... the nurse just checked... 9 cm! Looks like she's coming way sooner than expected! We'll keep you posted.

Super Baby Shower Extravaganza Weekend!

2009-06-09T21:53:00.005-05:00

Hello all! It’s been too long since a post has been... posted(?) about the goings on in the Koelling household. My last post was on January 31st and Em’s was on February 7th. Sad, sad, sad. It’s been the most eventful year in our 7 years together and I haven’t written anything about it. Hopefully everyone knows by now that Emily is pregnant. And although you can’t tell by looking at her, she’s due in basically a month. July 16th is the official due date and so far, everything has gone pretty smooth. I know I can’t speak from “I have a baby growing inside me” experience, but I don’t think that Em would disagree that her pregnancy has been pretty perfect so far. Not until about 3 weeks ago did she really start showing any true signs of discomfort. My first taste of it was a few weeks ago when I called her at work and she answered the phone breathing very heavily. I said, “Em, you sure are breathing hard.” And she replied, “Yep, I’ve been walking.” That, for me, was the tide turner, if you will. But MAN... she’s just about the cutest little pregnant thing I ever did see! So needless to say we’ve had a lot going on, from remodeling our house, making baby preparations (nesting, I’m told it’s called... see, I’m learning!), and being gone or having people here every weekend, the last 8 months have flown by and here we are just 36 days away! There are several “events” that have occurred that I want to write about and share with everyone, and I’ll do it in a retrospect kind of way; however, this post is to kick things off again and share the great weekend we had last week. It was Emily’s baby shower and there was a great turnout. We had so many friends and family come in for the whole weekend and it was a blast. We definitely scored on supplies and the house is all “babied” up. Em has done a great job on the nursery and the closet is packed full of clothes. We aren't going to have to buy clothes for a while, that's for sure! I know, I know, famous last words. I've already bought shirts since the shower. One has the Star Wars lettering on the front and it says "Barf Vader". Yeah, it's not exactly girly, but it was $6 at Walgreen's and I couldn't pass it up. But I digress. The shower was incredible. Em and I feel very blessed to have so many friends and family that care so much. I think we're about as ready as we can be. I'm very excited about being a dad and can't wait to see Em as a mom. We just got back from week 2 of our childbirth class at the hospital. Tonight it was all about labor itself and it did not pull any punches. I turned to Em during the video and said "yeah, good luck with that." She starts her weekly appointments on Monday. Up to this point, everything has looked great. Friday marks 35 weeks... we are definitely on the home stretch! I'll do my best to keep everyone posted and I have full intentions of posting more often now. I'm certainly gonna have plenty to write about, the question is, will I have the time?! We had a great time with everyone last weekend. Thanks so much to everyone that was there and thank you all for the wonderful gifts. I've posted a few pics here, but if you want to see them all, click on the link below. I've started a website for us to post pictures and info, etc. I'll keep blogging here, but pictures, videos, and random stuff will be on the site. Enjoy!

www.emmyadam.com

Sweet Baby=17 weeks

2009-02-07T09:44:00.006-06:00

We went for a ultrasound yesterday and saw one very healthy and sweet baby. He/she was flip flopping all over the place it was hilarious. There was strong evidence of a girl but the tech was a little hesitant to "call it" at 17 weeks. I say we are having a "don't paint the nursery yet girl!" But Adam says, "now she said that we still have to confirm that in 2 weeks." Anywhoo.....exciting time all around. Traci (the xray tech that I work with) spent so much time looking and taking pictures, it was really neat. It is crazy to see how much she has grown over the past 6-7 weeks. Enjoy the pics...get ready because they are too sweet:)

Bye Bye Baby

2009-02-07T09:31:00.004-06:00

We have had the best time with Garrett this week:) Pretty uneventful but I did take him to the doctor at the beginning of the week. I promptly called Mer after the appointment and informed her that "we both did very good!" He has been so funny and
oh my goodness does he love Adam (I know who doesn't:) Every time Adam even walks in the room, Garrett starts flipping out..it's pretty funny. If it's not obvious, the puppies loved him too and followed us everywhere!

A Week With Garrett

2009-01-31T21:00:00.005-06:00

Em and I are keeping our nephew, Garrett, for the next week while his mom, dad, and two big sisters go skiing in Snowmass. What can I say, we need the practice! He's incredibly easy to take care of and we're having a blast. We've only had him for about a day so far, but trust me, that's been plenty of time for a nice handful of throw up, snot, and poopie diapers! But it's ok, because all the laughing and playtime makes up for it. Hope you guys are having a great time on the slopes. Garrett misses you, but he's in good hands. See ya next week!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T16:09:00.012-06:00

So once again, Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye. I can't believe it's already been over a week! Em and I went to Crossett to spend the holiday with her family. We had a blast hanging out with all the kids and the 3 new babies. Here are some highlights from the week.

I think I should point out that there is a certain "opening presents" aspect of Christmas that still makes me giddy. But I was pretty surprised on Christmas morning when I was pretty sure I was more excited than Olivia and Maxwell. Those kids came out, with the rest of the family watching, and stood there and stared. The first thing Maxwell did was walk right past, and over, all of the Santa presents, which included a Wii, and check to see if Santa ate his cookies and took his signs. Of course, Santa did not disappoint. After some encouragement from the grown-ups, they finally dug in and started opening their presents. We had a great Christmas lunch with all the traditional goodies and enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation with our family. 5 days of sleeping in (if you call waking up to children giggling at 7:00 in the morning sleeping in!), eating good food, and too much of it, playing Wii with the kids, and sitting by the outdoor fireplace. We also celebrated Memaw's 80th birthday with more food, family, and fun at the Pope house. Happy Birthday Memaw!

A big highlight of the week was on Friday after Christmas. Emily got another sonogram and we got to see the baby. It's amazing how much it has changed in the 2 weeks since her first one. Although it looked a little alien-ish at the time, there were eyes, arms, and legs as clear as day and that kid was moving like crazy! It was very surreal to see the baby moving around, surreal and amazing. See?!

Most people that know me know how much of a Star Wars nerd I am. So you can imagine what a proud uncle it made me to learn that Maxwell has begun learning the ways of the Force! I was envious of most of his Christmas presents, and might have played with some of them more than he did. Fortunately, I was able to get some great footage of Maxwell in his Star Wars garb. I prize the following video as one of the funniest I've seen. I call it "Jedi-In-Training" and I must say... the Force is strong with this one.

We came back to Longview last week and finished out the holiday season with a very low-key New Year's celebration. Our friends, Chip and Kirsten had us over to their house for fajitas and some Trivial Pursuit. Chip's fajitas were awesome and Trivial Pursuit is ridiculously hard! At 11:30, all of us were falling asleep on the couch, struggling to ring in the new year. Em and I left and got home just in time to watch the Ball drop. On New Year's Day, we slept in and then laid around watching movies all day.

Emily and I are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year in 2009!

Great Friends

2009-01-05T13:23:00.007-06:00

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. Marc and Dana are some very good friends of ours that we met when we lived in Shreveport. We were in grad school with Dana and she and Em hit it off immediately. I met Marc through her and it didn't take long for us all to become close. When we graduated, Em and I moved to Longview and Dana worked in Shreveport while Marc went to grad school. Once he finished, they both moved to Longview. We were pretty much joined at the hip with them during their 2 years here and they have become some of our best friends. Marc is one of the funniest people I've ever known and Dana has one of the biggest hearts there is. Most of our weekends were spent together, we had "dinner night" several nights a week, and we were all fortunate enough to work together. We took trips together, ran 1/2 marathons together, worked out together, watched movies together, pretty much did everything together... so Em and I were saddened to see them leave when they moved to Phoenix at the beginning of October to be closer to family. About 6 months before they moved, Dana found out she was pregnant and on December 2nd, baby Jake joined the cast. Em and I flew out to Phoenix on December 4th and spent about 4 days with them. He's a great looking kid with a head full of hair and he performs all his baby "doodies" well! We wanted write about Marc and Dana so we could share a little about them with those that don't know them, and to let them know how much they mean to us. We miss you guys terribly and can't wait to see you soon! Here are some pics from their going away party and our trip to see them last month. Enjoy!

Party

Phoenix

My Brother the World Traveler

2008-12-16T21:52:00.004-06:00

For anyone who is interested or doesn't know, I'm the oldest of 3. My sister, Clare, is the youngest and lives in Conway, AR. My brother, Charlie, lives in Missoula, MT; however, he and his girlfriend, Oriana, spent the last few months in Oregon working on her family's ranch. They did this so that they could save up enough money to spend the next few months in Asia. Charlie has always been quite the adventurer and he and Oriana left last week for Bangkok. If anyone is interested in reading about their journey, check out their blog at gonethai.blogspot.com or click on their link under my Blog Buddies titled Sawadee... It's been tough over the last few years to see him very often, and the last time I saw him was in May of '07 when my dad and I went up there for his college graduation and a week of man time. Below is a picture from that trip. Love you bro, you guys be safe and keep us posted!

Wake Up, I'm Pregnant!

2008-12-15T21:34:00.010-06:00

So it's been 3 months since my last post and a lot has happened in that time. I kept meaning to post some updates, but the longer I waited, the harder and more overwhelming it got. Leave it to a life altering event to provide me with the proper "kick in the pants" I needed to finally get after it. I know I tend to be wordy, and people have always said that I make a three ring circus out of everything... well, I have no intention to do anything different here.

It was Friday morning, November 7th, and I was asleep. Emily was up getting ready for work, which is typical. What was not typical was the way she kept asking me when I was getting up. I still had like an hour to sleep and she was all "hey when are you getting up?" "I'll get up in a little while." A few minutes passed... "so, when are you getting up?" "Babe, I'll get up in a few minutes." Another few minutes pass and she says "Hey, are you gonna get up?" "Seriously, how many times are you going to ask me that question?" Then the light comes on and I opened my eyes and saw this:

Then, after I rubbed my eyes, I saw this:

Needless to say, we are both very excited. Emily told her family pretty much right away because she knew that she wasn't going to see them until Christmas, but we waited and told my family over Thanksgiving. We told Dad and his wife Deborah, my sister Clare, and the Walkers (Dad's sister Debbie and her family) when they were here in Longview, and then we went and had brunch with Mom in Tyler and told her. My brother Charlie lives in Montana and we called him with the news. Everyone is very excited. This will be Emily's parents' NINTH grandchild, my parents' first, and my Aunt Debbie just became a grandmother too. In fact, she had just flown back from England where Abbey and Clark had Caleb.

It's been really fun over the past month as we gradually got to tell more and more people. We've definitely started the "preliminary" stuff. Our friends Marc and Dana just had their baby, Jake, in Phoenix and we visited them last weekend. Emily is doing great given the situation, although I don't think she tells me how she's really feeling most of the time. In her case, the whole "morning sickness" thing should just be called "sickness" because it seems to be pretty constant. She's a trooper though and isn't letting it keep her down too much. Last Thursday was her first official check-up with the baby doctor. I met her at the office and he came in and did his thing. After some questions and a little calculation, he said we were at about 8 1/2 weeks, when we were thinking it was more like 7 1/2. We weren't even sure if he was going to do an ultrasound, but he was all for it. When he gelled her up and put the transducer on her belly we could immediately see it. It looked like a little jellyfish and in the middle was the heartbeat, as clear as day. I've heard all the stories about how having a baby will change your life and I think I have a healthy respect for that concept, but nothing can explain the feeling I got when I saw that little thing fluttering away. Total joy and emotion. When I got to the doctor's office that day, I didn't even know if we were going to have an ultrasound, much less see a beating heart! What a surprise!

So here we are now, almost 9 1/2 weeks into pregnancy. It's so weird, because it seems like we just found out yesterday. I made a comment to a friend of mine tonight about how it was still pretty early, and he said "not really, you're almost through the first trimester, that's 1/3 of the way". WOW! Time really does fly by. July will be here before we know it. By the way, July 16th is the projected due date. My birthday is the 24th, so it should make for an exciting month. I told Emily she might have to hold out and have the baby on my birthday... she didn't like that idea. People keep asking me if I want a boy or a girl and my response is that I just want a healthy baby... and when he gets older he'll be the best big brother ever. Wait... um... I mean she'll make a great big sister. We'll know somewhere around 19 weeks when Em has her first full ultrasound. Until then, the doctor has said that everything looks 100% perfect and all we can do is pray that the baby continues a healthy development. We'll keep everyone posted on the latest goings on. Please keep Emily and the baby in your prayers.

Cyber Rose

2008-09-18T22:39:00.006-05:00

I would have liked to post this earlier today but it was not possible. Today is September 18th, 2008, which means that Emily and I have been married for 6 years and 4 months. Isn't that adorable?! It's our month anniversary! (insert teardrops here) During our dating years and for the first few years of our marriage I religiously gave her a long-stem rose on our little "anniversaries". Not a huge deal, just something to make her feel special and let her know that I was thinking about her. I'm almost ashamed to say that my little tradition has all but fizzled. Well today I just wanted to something to show her and everyone else how much I love her. I can not imagine a better wife and friend. I'm a very lucky man so I thought I'd list some reasons why.

First I'll start with 5 things that I love about us and our relationship. 1) We share, or at least endure, many of the same interests. For example, I cried during The Notebook and P.S. I Love You... yeah, I said it... and she came with me to the 13-hour Lord of the Rings movie marathon and the midnight premiere of Indiana Jones. 2) We love spending time together, but have no problem doing our own thing. 3) We rarely argue, and if we do we always talk it through and it usually ends in laughter. 4) We share many of the same morals, beliefs, and opinions when it comes to religion, politics, discipline of our future children, etc. 5) We make each other laugh... a lot. We were sitting on the couch the other day and one of us said something that made us both laugh and Emily looked at me and said, "I'm so glad we're fun." I agree.

Now I'll list 5 things that I love about Emily. 1) She has the biggest, most amazing heart. Any of you that know her know what I'm talking about. Em always puts others before herself. A quality that many people, myself included, do not always possess. 2) She is an AMAZING cook! Which works great for me because I don't really like to cook and I'm not very good at it. 3) She is extremely supportive and always manages to cheer me up and help me see the positive side of things if I'm down. She is like this with friends and family as well. 4) She is freaking hilarious and has the best laugh of anyone I know. If you are around her when she laughs, you will instantly be in a good mood no matter what. 5) She is freaking gorgeous! Are you kidding me? Just look at the picture.

So there you have it. A handful of reasons why I feel very blessed. I guess this is my cyber rose to you this month. I love you Emily, happy mini-anniversary!

P90X Update.

2008-09-01T01:16:00.004-05:00

Well, I originally intended to give an update on our P90X adventure every week but it hasn't really worked out for me. That doesn't mean that we haven't been getting after it though. Yesterday marked day 1 of week 7, which means that we are halfway through the program. I'm proud to say that we have not missed a workout yet... well, with the exception of yesterday. It was a 5 hour drive back from Brownwood and we didn't get home until almost 9pm. We were pretty exhausted and decided that since we are both off for Labor Day, we will do both workouts today. We've been very consistent (we even took it to Gulf Shores!) and since we won't actually be missing a workout, we agreed that this was acceptable and not "skipping".

As far as the program goes, here are some of my thoughts. P90X is the absolute real deal. It is intense, it is hard, and it is doable. You absolutely get out of it what you put in. The hardest part was making time the first week but now it is just part of our daily routine. We both enjoy it very much. I've never looked forward to getting up in the morning, or getting home from work in the evenings to work out. I think it is because of the results. I can feel the difference in my body, and see it in the mirror a little more every day. We both can. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Those of you that we've talked to about it, thanks for your support. I'll try to update a few more times before we're done and I'll for sure post at the end, maybe even some pics... if Em will let me! :) Now I'm going to bed because it's 1:30am and I have to get up early if I'm gonna hack it with Emily.

What's that Smell?!

2008-08-31T21:55:00.007-05:00

From baby humans to baby skunks (see slideshow for more info), the last two weekends have been really fun, interesting, and kinda stinky for me and Emily. We got to spend both with very good friends that we have not seen in a long time. Last weekend, Gwendolyn and John came to Longview with their 4 month old girl, McCollum. Gwendolyn and Emily met at OBU and have kept their friendship strong over the years. She married John a few years ago and they live in north Arkansas now. I've only been around John a handful of times, but he's a great guy and we hit it off right away. They are definitely two of our favorite people and we wish we could see them more often.

This weekend we went to the big city of Brownwood, Texas to help Dalton and Kristen break in their new house. They just moved there from Columbia, Missouri and are about to have a baby. Kristen is teaching biology and Dalton is coaching tennis at Howard Payne. Dalton's family and Kristen's mom were there as well. Dalton and I met in college. We pledged S together, roomed together for most of college and then for a year after college in Little Rock. We were groomsmen in each others' weddings, and he's one of my best friends on earth, but I consider him more of a brother. Kristen, Gwendolyn, and Emily were all Chi Deltas at OBU.

Here are some pics from both weekends. Enjoy!

John, Gwendolyn, and McCollum

She's a cutie!

Sushi at GZ's

McCollum got to kick it with our nephew, Garrett, while we were eating.

Brownwood, Tx.

John and Gwendolyn, McCollum is beautiful. Dalton and Kristen, I'm sure that bun-in-the-oven Hutchins will be too! We had a blast with you guys the past few weekends. Thanks for being such great friends. We feel really blessed.

Gulf Shores 2008

2008-08-19T21:15:00.005-05:00

Every summer the entire Pope family packs it up and heads to the beach. It's been a family tradition since Max and Margaret got married and I believe they've only missed one summer since. And for anyone that knows Max, this is the only week out of the year where he actually does nothing. I know it's a shocker, but he actually defines "relaxing" when we're there. We always say Gulf Shores, when in actuality, we usually stay in Orange Beach. Gulf Shores is a few miles down the road and is better known in the Pope clan as "Nerd Beach". Speaking of the Pope clan, just look at the picture below and you'll see what I mean.

It's a pretty routine vacation that I know Em and I really look forward to every summer, and I'm sure everyone else does too. Things have mellowed out in the last 7-8 years, with 8 kids and all, but we have an absolute blast regardless. And Liz is a big help and great relief to some of the parents. Entertain the kids for a free trip to the beach... no brainer. To give everyone an idea of what a typical week at the beach is like with our family, I'll just share a few things from this year. There is a show that comes on HDNET here called Beachgoers Exposed. I saw an episode recently and they did this whole bit on families/groups that go to the beach and take everything under the sun with them. They claim an area, they set up tents, and they pretty much live on the beach. Well we've always had a tent set up, but after this year, I think the verdict is in. We are officially "those people". Eighteen people, a giant wagon carrying 2 coolers, beach chairs galore including 4 super high tech "zero-gravity" chairs (eyes rolling), a kiddy pool, kites, 2 little baby tents, and four 10'x10' party tents put together to make one massive shaded area. Once the "structure" is up, activities include laying in the sun, relaxing in the shade, napping, visiting, iPodding, reading, trafficing kids back and forth from the pool, building sandcastles, and flying kites. I think Faber read about 10 books on the beach. I read half a book and Emily actually read an entire novel in one day. I'm such a proud husband. Mason and I flew our stunt kites and schooled some guys in the group next to us that had no idea how to fly theirs. Amateurs. A little bit of shopping, a movie, eating out a time or two, it was a great time. The water was pretty murky the first 2 days... lots of seaweed and jellyfish. It cleared out the third day and the waves were still pretty big, so Mason and I managed to get some nice body surfing in. The water was very clear and calm the rest of the week. We got some good pics, but the slideshow function will only let me include 50 pics, so I made two. Here is the first one.

It is inevitable that whenever we are around all of these kids, there is always a "question of the month". Well it was a 3-way tie this time between Anna Kate, Maxwell, and Olivia & Maxwell. I don't think I've ever heard a kid ask "why?" as much as Anna Kate. "Adam, what are you doing? Sitting down. Why? Because I'm tired? Why? Because I played on the beach and built sandcastles all day? Why? Because I wanted to. Why? Because it was fun? Why? It just was. Why? BECAUUUUUUUSE!!!" And every single time a plane flew over with an advertisement banner, which was approximately every 20 minutes, Maxwell asked "what does that say?" He was very enthusiastic and determined to know the information that those planes were carrying. And between Maxwell and Olivia, I think I heard "Adam, can we build a sandcastle?" about 200 times. And of course by "we" they meant "me"! As you'll see in the pictures, they were really excited and motivated to help for about 5 minutes, but somehow always ended up "supervising and/or spectating" with Papoo! It's a good thing I like building sandcastles. We had a wonderful time this year. My only complaint, as usual, is that it always goes by too fast. But then, next year will be here before we know it.

P90X-Week 1 Complete!

2008-07-28T14:32:00.007-05:00

Emily and I started a workout program last Sunday called P90X. The name stands for Power 90 Extreme and it is 90 days of some of the most hard core exercise I've ever done. Em heard about it through a family friend in Crossett that has been doing it and is apparently getting major results. She has been talking about if for a few months but I was resistant to it at first because I didn't want us to spend the money on something that was just going to sit in the closet. After all, we all know how my Bowflex quickly became the Noflex! Not to mention, it's six days a week for at least an hour and, last time I checked, we have other stuff going on, like jobs, sleeping, breathing, etc. So when were we gonna have time to do it? But Em was pretty persistent and seemed really motivated so after some deliberation we ordered it online. I never really planned on doing it because I work out fairly regularly with a friend, but when we got it in the mail, I was pretty impressed. It's very high quality stuff. Guides, books, charts, "how-to's", recipes, workouts, DVDs... everything we would need to get started from an information standpoint. It's all home exercise so all we need is dumbells, bands, and a pull-up bar. We already had the bar and bands, so we just picked up some dumbells. After reading through everything with Em that first night, I got kind of excited too and we decided to do it together. Quite a committment, but a great way to keep each other motivated. We're following it to a T as much as we can, the workouts for sure. We're kind of doing our own thing on the nutrition side, but eating healthy and feeling great. Last Sunday was day 1 and we picked Saturdays as our "off" day. So yesterday we officially started week 2! I can honestly say that in a week's time, we both feel great and are already visibly noticing changes. The workouts are very intense, but in terms of time, we've just made it part of our daily routine and it hasn't been a big deal. We are both getting home each day, or getting up in the mornings, excited to pop in the next disc. Emily has been working really hard and is doing great. I'm really proud of her. I'm sharing this info, not to brag, but so that friends and family know what we're up to and can offer words of encouragement if they want. Every little bit counts. We'll keep you posted on our progress every now and then.

The Big 31

2008-07-28T13:56:00.004-05:00

Thursday was my 31st birthday and I thought it would be a good idea to throw myself a party. I say I threw it, but Emily pretty much did everything. She prepped all the food and made the house look pretty. I had to do all the really hard stuff like make the the invitations and set up the Wii in the living room. The party was Saturday night at our house and I think we ended up having around 20-25 people. I had a blast and I hope everyone else did too. We grilled burgers, visited with friends, and played Rock Band and Wii Tennis til the cows came home. It never ceases to amaze me how, even in a group of adults, if you break out those games everyone turns into a kid again. I got to see some childhood and college friends from out of town that I haven't seen in a long time and it was a great chance for them to meet some of my Longview friends. Em and I are really lucky to have so many great friends and I wanted to share some of our fun with everyone. Enjoy the pics!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

2008-07-10T20:35:00.008-05:00

Em and I went to Atlanta over the 4th of July weekend to see Hudson, Melissa, Olivia, Maxwell, and to our surprise, Abigail! The doctors said she wasn't due until sometime this week, but apparently she had other plans. Baby Abigail "Graced" us with her presence (sorry, I couldn't resist) around 3:17 am on July 4th, 2008. Hudson picked me and Em up at the airport and took us straight to the hospital. We hung out there for a little while before he took us and the kids back to their house. After a 2 hour nap, Hudson went back to the hospital and we wouldn't see him, Mel, or Abigail for another 24 hours or so. That's when the fun began. We took Maxwell and Olivia to see WALL-E, which was pretty cute in a "political comment on the sad state of humanity disguised as an animated kids movie" sort of way. Then we went to Chic-Fil-A for dinner and headed home to play Wii, where Maxwell proceeded to destroy everyone in bowling! This kicked off a weekend full of playing Wii and resulted in the question of the year, which was most definitely "Adam, can we play the Wii?" If there is a world record for the number of times that question gets asked in a 3-day time span, Olivia and Maxwell SHATTERED it! It actually worked out great for me though, because most of the time they wanted to watch me play instead of play themselves. Who knew? It was cloudy and kind of rainy most of the time we were there, but we got a little sunshine and Emily and I had really been looking forward to taking the kids to the pool. I almost fainted when we said "hey let's go to the pool" and the response was "Noooo! We want to play Wii!" We practically had to beg them to go swimming!

I know this post is long, but we had so much fun and there's so much to say. So from here on out, I'll try to summarize everything else we did and then explain the reasoning for the title of this post. We hung out, watched TV, played Wii, ate ribs that Hudson made on the Big Green Egg, swam a few times, played more Wii, went to Dick's Sporting Goods and Marble Slab, looked at baby Abigail, ate watermelon, held baby Abigail, played some more Wii, did sparklers and snappy-pops (well, some of us did), looked at baby Abigail some more, and got pounced on very early every morning by two crazy kids! Oh, and did I mention we played Wii? So during all of this activity, when you're with Maxwell and Olivia, you're bound to hear some funny stuff. I thought I'd share a few comments that made me laugh. I already mentioned the question of the year... well, the quote of the century was when Emily was working on Abigail's letters. She was sketching the design on a piece of paper and there were these little paisly, swirly things. Olivia walked up and said, "That looks like germs." That made me laugh very hard and I wrote it down right then so I wouldn't forget it. Another good one was when we were at Chic-Fil-A. Maxwell really wanted a brownie with ice cream for dessert. Well, his brownie was probably big enough to satisfy all four of our sweet toothes (Or is it teeth?). He gets about halfway through the ice cream and is full, turns to me and says, "Adam, I think next time I'll just get the brownie without the ice cream." Hilarious. And last but not least, we're sitting at the table eating ribs and somehow get on the subject of eating meat. Olivia makes a comment about being a carnivore. I asked her if she knew what that meant. Big mistake. She replies, "Yes, a carnivore is someone that eats meat." I told her I was impressed and she said, very matter-of-factly, "I learned that in pre-k." I'm sure there were many other comedic moments, but this is getting ridiculously long so I'll leave any others to Mel.

We had such a wonderful time in Atlanta. Hudson and Melissa have 3 beautiful children. Olivia and Maxwell are so well behaved and so much fun. Maxwell has such a sweet heart. I've never seen a 5-year old that thinks so much of others before himself. And Olivia is so smart that it's almost hard to believe. They are going to be such good examples for Abigail to look up to as she gets older. Thank you guys so much for having us. We can't wait to see you at the beach!!!

He's trying so hard!

Surprise!

2008-06-29T12:03:00.023-05:00

Our friend Dana turned the big THREE O on the 15th, but she and Marc were on vacation so we celebrated last night. It was a surprise party and I have to give Emily credit for the planning and execution. Dana thought she and Marc were coming over for dinner with one other couple when, in fact, there were about 20 people. Hiding that many cars is not easy, so I had Marc tip us off when they were en route and we all stood out in our front yard and waved as they came up the street. Dana didn't catch on to the surprise until they were actually in our driveway. GREAT SUCCESS! I'm pretty impressed with Em too, because she's terrible at keeping big secrets and she held on to this one for 2 whole weeks! Impressive. Everyone had a great time. We grilled burgers and dogs, visited with friends, and played Wii and Rock band like there was no tomorrow! Hope you enjoy the pics. Happy Birthday Dana!

Weekend in the Big "C" to see baby Grace.

2008-06-22T19:29:00.001-05:00

And by big "C" I mean Crossett, Arkansas. So Emily's sister Meredith and both of our sister's-in-law are/were pregnant at the same time. Mer had baby Garrett in May, Amber had baby Grace last week, and Melissa is due with Abigail in July. Three up, three down. Once they're all here, that will be a grand total of 8 nieces and nephews, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren in the Pope family, depending on your perspective. Like I said, all these kids have been great practice; however, some might say they've been great birth control too! I'm not saying that, but some people might have. Anyhoo, I hadn't seen Grace yet, so Em and I made a trip to Crossett this weekend to see her. Meredith was there with Garrett as well. Here's som pics... enjoy!

Baby Grace

Emmy and Grace

Grace and Garrett
(They did this pretty much the whole time we were there.)

Every dog needs a newborn for a pillow.

Seriously, that's enough. Get that camera out of my FACE!

The Plunge

2008-06-21T20:35:00.000-05:00

I've always had an interest in doing a blog, but not enough to take the plunge. Emily's sister Meredith and my cousin Mike have been doing family blogs for a while now and I guess you could say they've inspired me. Em and I are going to try and do this together and see how it goes. Hopefully we'll have enough to say to keep family and friends interested in life at the Koelling house. I'm sure things will get more interesting whenever we add some rugrats to the mix!