GOODBYE, MY FRIEND...

on saturday, january 16th a good friend of ours in wichita falls was killed when hit by a truck early in the morning when she was out for a run. terri otto (37) was one of those people that make you want to be a better person; she was theeee most Godly woman i've met-and it showed in everything she did...even while she was alive i wanted my personal walk w/ Jesus to be better-now that she's gone, i am on a mission to not only draw closer to Him, but also to share Jesus-with a 'holy boldness' as my mom says. terri was able to do that w/ a gentleness that never made anyone feel 'bad.' she just loved Jesus and wanted everyone to get to know Him like she did. in fact, in november, she'd told a friend that she just had nothing for what this world had to offer, that she wasn't of this world and altho she looooved her family, all she wanted was to be with Jesus! can you see why i want to be more like terri?

i could go on and on about the awesome things she did, but i don't want to make it all about her. as her husband said at her memorial-it's not about terri-she would tell you that herself, it's about HIM! i do ask, however, that you would add her husband dave and their three young kids (ages 7, 4, 3) to your prayer lists as i know the loss of their mommy/wife must be hitting hard right now.

my friend rebecca and i were able to fly to TX to be at her service this past week (yea kevin! he held down the fort like a champ-even when ethan came down w/ a double ear infection!!!) and even tho many tears were shed, i can't tell you the high i was on after her memorial! the Holy Spirit was there and i can guarantee you that the 800+ friends/family members who attended felt it, too! one of the MANY amazing stories regarding terri and her 'work for the Kingdom' took place in her final minutes of life: before the paramedics arrived at the scene, a couple drove by and stopped to help. they held terri's head as they waited and altho she was unconscious, they claim that they felt God in those minutes...once they learned of her death, they drove by the site where it took place and put a bear on the side of the road; when they looked up, there was a billboard that read "nothing's too hard for God." !!!! that couple says they were not where they needed to be spiritually and after her funeral, they decided to get back into church and their goal one day is to meet teri (in Heaven!!!) so even on her deathbed, terri was being used for her gracious Savior, Jesus Christ! isn't that awesome!!!

anyway, here is a picture of the site/billboard. if you would like to learn more or would like to donate money to either the otto family or the wichita falls Pregnancy Help Center (where terri volunteered, her passion was the sanctity of life), please let me know. oh and one other great thing...on the back of the 'program' (for lack of a better word) at her funeral, it read: "if this has stirred you and you would like to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, see Dave Otto" WOW!

JANUARY THINGS

on jan 3rd, we celebrated our 13th anniv!
a friend came over to watch the kids while we went to dinner and target, ha!


oooh-wee, look at her, FAME!
awwww, sweet boys
all 3 kids have loved this dancin turtle...ethan has to creep up slowly this time
gotta love it when you can make dinner & not worry about the kids.
our pretty myah
eli's doing a 'cool trick' like they do on Yo Gabba Gabba
happy head ethan
is he really that heavy, kev? looks painful.
oh yummy, daddy's head is good!
awwwww....
hi big guy!
myah enjoying a big ole puzzle she got for Christmas
the boys' matching jammies; i love mom-i love dad
the boys, working on a project; operation lost paci
emma and myah, in his crib-reading eli's bible that he LOVES!
if we could only have gotten them to smile...
a Christmas toy for ethan; he can't wait to ride it!
enjoying a beautiful day at the park
ethan isn't walking yet...but still has fun!
" daddy! 'mere, run! chase me!"
grandma patsy and myah, enjoying a movie together.
grandma patsy and eli playing outside
working hard with his tools...
ethan was listening to grandma & papa singing to him, cute!

'twas a long day. boys were fuuuuussy! this was the only way k could keep em both happy...

GUESS WHO'S ONE?!

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, BABY ETHAN IS ONE! GRANDMA PATSY FLEW IN FROM TULSA TO HELP CELEBRATE AND WE HAD SOME OTHER FRIENDS OVER TOO. HE WAS PRETTY TIRED, BUT MANAGED TO STAY AWAKE LONG ENUF FOR CAKE AND PRESENTS! HAPPY BDAY, SWEET BOY!

our Christmas review

this isn't the pix we used for our annual santa hat C'mas letter pix, but similar. i had to add this one on the blog just cuz of eli's fun laugh.
k and i before his Christmas party at a downtown hotel. we went w/ our good friends neal and bec.
and here was the highlight of the evening. i was chosen (from about 700 people) to play w/ 11 other people-to play a game of scavenger hunt. i won third place-which was totally thought-out and master-minded-ly planned by k, in order to win this Wii. ha! we still can't believe it.
we let the kids open gifts from us the few nites prior to us leaving for oklahoma. here's our little drummer boy eli.
and here's myah, rockin' out on her new barbie guitar.
here's our pretty C'mas babe-before her C'mas program at school (sorry, the pix from the actual program were too dark).
a fun little train ride at the mall...

k packing up the tahoe at about 11pm the nite before we left. oh my!
ethan having fun with the hotel mirror.
eli watching TV in the hotel.
finally in enid, okla at my parents' house. my dad took eli to get donuts at a gas station when they were here for e's bday back in sept. ever since then, any time eli sees a gas station, he says "papa, me get donuts there." so here he is, in papa's truck, going to a gas station for donuts. ha! my dad said he smiled practically the whole way; unless he was talking-that is-saying "go fast."
yummmmmmy! enjoying those scrumptious donuts!
oh yes, he's a two-year old indeed!
our beautiful blue-eyed little ethan.
poor, poor myah. our second nite in ok, she got a fever and it kept her down the whole time we were in enid. here she looks okay and actually mustered a smile to take a pix w/ her cousins, but 99% of the time, she was sleeping-burning up-and of course, not even able or wanting to take part in all the C'mas food/fun. poor, poor myah hope!
okay, i promise! she really was a very sick little girl!
gramma betty reading to hanna and myah.
see! here's proof of m not feeling so well. even tho she's smiling, you can tell she was not quite there. this silly hat w/ hair was picked out by hanna and aspen when shopping w/ gramma a few months ago. they couldn't WAIT to give it to uncle kevin, hee.hee.
meeting cousin Jessica for the first time! awwww, look at those sweet, sweet china dolls!
again, forced smiles from myah. she barely talked and really wanted to just lay down.


my cousin Julie w/ daughter Jessica and myah and mommy. too bad they live in arkansas and we won't be able to see them for a long time!
change of plans!!! it snowed so hard on C'mas eve, that instead of driving to k's parents in tulsa-we opted to stay off the dangerous roads and spend another nite in enid. here's eli and gramma 'resting', NOT napping, of course next to the window in order to watch the snow come down.
love this of eli watching the snow come down. i so badly wanted to make a snowman w/ the kids, but myah was in no shape to be out in it-it was way too cold on that first day-and soon after, ethan got what myah had and we ended up leaving oklahoma early...
what we saw a lot of on our drive from enid to tulsa on C'mas morning.
the big kids konked out on the drive, but this little dude was wide awake!
myah started coming around once we were in tulsa, whew! poor thing!
okay, so if you haven't noticed yet-ethan (like daddy and eli) has a big head. sometimes it's easier just to give him a rest b/t yanking his tight shirts off, ha!
Merry 1st Christmas, our little baby boy ethan!
eli and bowling. one of his absolute fave gifts. played nonstop! uncle charles was his "set up" man and he played and played and played.

we should have clued in by the color of poor little ethan's cheeks; and yup! he had a high fever, bad cough, nose-running, no-sleep, miserable, crying nite when that nasty bug got a hold of him. that's what made us make the decision to get home before it got any worse...poor gordon kids!
super why, i mean, super eli...thanks uncle charles and aunt kay.
eli loooooved gramma patsy's choo-choo ornament and loved listening to it real close.
aunt rhonda reading one of m's new books to her. i took several pix of the kids and cousins playing Wii, but i couldn't ever get a still shot; they were all blurry. but again, the Wii made for some fun times w/ the kids. thank you papa Gordon for having this for them!
myah and eli did pretty well sleeping together. we'd put em down together, then k and i would each take a kid and sleep w/ them in a bigger bed once we were ready for bed.
here's m's "M" pancake made special for her by good ole uncle charles. next time, i'll be sure to get him in the picture!


we had a great time w/ family over Christmas and were very sorry we had to cut it short at the end...thanks to everyone for the wonderful food, gifts, and fun!