May to August 2018

Well this is not the year for my blogging. Time is just going too fast. So to catch up with this year, I will continue doing bullets.

• Fitz had to wear ear molds, had to be dilated twice a day, and did great with everything. Tara did not fare as well. She had a rough 8 weeks of recovery. I am not for sure if Fitz was ever put down the first 10 weeks of his life. I think someone was holding him around the clock.
• Fourth of July was a blast as always. Greg and Isabel came in on June 19. Lisa brought Anja the weekend, and then she went back to Tennessee to work. Jenna and her group came both weekends. Diana and I cooked daily for the group. It varied from 12 to 48 people coming through the kitchen on any day. Chad came the first weekend without Tara and Fitz. They came the second weekend and stayed through July 6. We had babies everywhere - Anja, Marlow, Molly, Jackson, Isabel, Fitz. Then we added Kelle's twins and David Dunn's baby - Rhodes. At our house every bed and couch was full several nights with all of Greg's, Chad's and David's families plus Rick and I. It was wonderful.
• After everyone left, Rick and I went to the New Mexico cabin to check out the wild fires that had burned 35,000 acres between Ute Park and Cimarron. Amazing! We drove the circle Taos, Red River, and Angel Fire.
• July 20 Fitz had his reconstructive surgery. Diana and I went to Houston for four days. He did very well. On of the interns was a Beta from Lubbock. Chad took a new job and left NOV during this time. He will now be working for Cougar Oil.
• July 27 Rick had his rotator cuff surgery. This was much harder than he expected. He missed work Thursday and Friday. He laid around until Monday, when he went back to work. It took him three weeks before he started feeling good. We watched more movies these three weeks than we have in years.
• Cheryl had both hips replaced this year, so we did not get to have either one of our first two ladies' trips this year, so we are behind on traveling. Diana did take Rick F. to Colorada in their rig.
• August 4 we had a Streetman-Harris reunion out at Roger and Teresa's at the lake. All were there but Kevin and the triplets, Drew, and Kendall's family.
• Rick sold the lake houses this summer. This was sad to me, because this was one of our first projects we did when we started dating. He did buy his dream car - a 67 GTO.

God is good all the time - All the time God is good. Still blessed.

Fitzgerald Carl Davis - April 30, 2018

Monday morning I got the call that I had been anxiously awaiting for four weeks, however, I was not ready. Things started flying, and forty minutes later I was dressed, car was packed, and Diana and I were on a road trip to get to Houston before Fitz was born. About an hour into the trip, Chad let us know that it would be an all day event, so the stress level went down a little. We got there and the waiting game began. Mark, Penny, Russ, Blake, and Diana made the waiting room our home away from home for the next four days. Fitz was born about 5:40 PM. We got to see him about 8 PM for a few moments. He was much larger than guessed - 8 pounds 4 ounces. Diana and I went to Chad and Tara's to stay the night. Blake and Mark went to Dallas. Niki came in during the night. Then we got the early morning text, everyone dreads. Fitz has some issues and had to go to the NICU. He would be facing surgery. Again we dressed and fought the Houston traffic to get back to hospital. We found out that the things that develop the 7th - 9th week after conception can be affected. So the many tests began. What we know for sure is that there is a cyst on his ears, they fold over, and his anus is not developed nor can he be circumcised at this time. Over the next several days he was tested for hearing, eyes, spinal column, bones in his arms and legs, and his heart. We knew on Wednesday that we were not going to get to see him anytime soon, so we drove home Wednesday night. Fitz finally passed all his tests, the parents passed the dilation test, and so he got released on Saturday night. He will be facing several surgeries in the coming months. Even though Fitz had an emotional start, God blessed us and prayers were being answered daily/hourly. He is a beautiful little boy that has many of his father's characteristics -  his looks, he likes his buppy, and he already moves a lot. Maybe Chad will see why we called him "the worm" by the time he was two weeks old.

Pictures to follow!

January, February, March... Where did it go?

Here it is the end of March, and I am awaiting the birth of Fitzgerald Carl Davis. I have no idea where these three months went. I can assure you that I blinked, and time moved on. I did much better in 2017 with posts. Looks like to catch up I will just do the bullets to highlight some of the events:

• Rick and I did a road trip in February to Tennessee for us to see Greg and the girls. Lisa was out of town. It rained most of the time we were there, but it was good to be with the girls after 5 months. Rick helped Greg with a building project in his basement/garage. 
• We got Bro, Rick Ballard as a pastor, and Tim Posey as a music director. Both are fantastic.
• Rick and I are helping with the children's program at night at the church.
• Greg, Lisa, and the girls came home for Easter. Diana had all her kids. We played in the park. went to the church for the Easter Egg hunt, had our own egg hunt and firework show.
• Tara was put on light rest at 34 weeks so they did not get to come Easter. She had dilated to a three. So her North Texas showers were canceled. 
• Rick and I went to Houston for the Mecum Car show. This ended up the same weekend that Blake had moved their family shower to Houston. I did not go to the shower because of the show, but we did meet up with all of Tara's family at their apartment. Rick did not get his GTO. 
• We are still going to baseball games, basketball games, and track meets of the grandkids. Sunday night meals are still a family ritual.
• Diana and Rick got a new Montana fifth wheel. It is very, very nice. Marlow is sassy as ever, and Jackson has started walking.
• Jerry came back from South Texas.
• Rick and I went to Lake Travis with several from the church to work with the Baptist Builders on a Camp Retreat site. We gutted a trailer house, then started building it back.
• We did not get to go on our Spring Break girls' trip, because of Cheryl's hip replacement surgery.
• Don Hankey passed away.
• Brandi took the computer job at the Elementary school for this spring. Mindi and Jeremy have separated. 

Life is going on. Hopefully I will add pictures to this post and will do better the next three months. So far now, God is still good and blessing us daily.