22 weeks...

  Hope everyone had a great weekend! It was gorgeous here! It was sunny and in the 70's all weekend! I have been so ready for this weather! Yesterday Kris and I went on a hike. (Pictures below) The trails in Cedar Hill Park were closed yesterday, I guess because of the recent rain. So we decided to go down to the Nature Preserve and hike up in the woods where there were no clear trails. It was fun! I love to walk in the woods! Kris  enjoys it too. I think it reminds us of growing up in the country. We hiked up some pretty steep hills (for Texas anyway). The ground was a little soft so our tennis shoes got really muddy!  I enjoyed the sunshine and being out in the fresh air for a change. It made me very happy! We did both manage to come away with our share of cuts and scraps on our arms and legs. Next time we might need to take a machete! :)
   After our hike we went to celebrate Mia's (our friend Chad's little girl) 5th birthday! It is always entertaining to watch children at a birthday party. They get so excited! After that we went to dinner, rented a movie, and came home and I fell asleep on the couch (as always) and Kris watched the movie. Then today we went to church, ate at Cracker Barrell, came home and worked on the house, Kris went to hit golf balls, fixed dinner, and just enjoyed the rest of the day! We had a very productive weekend! I always get a burst of energy when the weather gets nice...so this weekend was a success!
  I finally made a decision about work also. Me and the rest of  my fellow neurophysiology team decided to sign on with Dr. Bruce Jenevein. Dr. Jenevein works out of  Texas Neurology and Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas where he practices neurology, neurophysiology, and the treatment of epilepsy. He will be taking us under his wing in hopes of starting a new company that is at least equally as successful as we have been so far. I am pretty excited that all of my team are getting to stay together. We were not so sure for a while if that was going to work out. Luckily, we are keeping all of our surgeons too so things are looking good as of now. It is still a bit of a risk, but we are all optimistic that with the help of Dr. Jenevein we will get everything in order as far as billing, credentialing, and contracts go, by May 1st. Thanks everyone for your prayers and encouraging words. Work stress is not fun at all and I definitely feel like a weight has been lifted knowing that we have made a decision.
  So that was our weekend. Special Congrats to Stuart and Melissa Herzog on welcoming their baby girl in to the world! Amelia Laine was born yesterday, weighing 5 lbs, and 13 ounces. I can't wait to meet her. I am sure it will make me really want July to be here in a hurry! :) I guess that is it for now. Have a good night everyone!

       Kris and Knox. That is one of the hills we climbed behind us. Lots of brush!

It looks like Knox was kissing my belly!

Anatomy 101

Hello all!  Kris again!  Jill is wiped out from being on the phone/computer all day so I get the honor of posting about our latest visit to the doctor.  Everything went really well today.  Jill and Scout are both doing wonderful.  We were 99% sure it was a girl after our last visit, but after today we are 100%.  Scout weighs 12 oz. and is developing beautifully.  She moves around constantly in her little home, and it was funny watching the tech try and track her down for pictures.  She has all her fingers and toes, and her organs are growing exactly as they are supposed to.  Jill has only put on 10 pounds so far and she looks beautiful as always.  We really like Dr. Stevenson.  For a quick job update......Jill is going to decide something this week.  She is down to the final two and we should know for sure by Thursday.  It will be nice to have this out of the way so that we can start enjoying this pregnancy a little more.  Please pray that we make the best decision and that Jill ends up with a company that will value her as much as her current one does.  I'm putting a couple of pictures from today below for everyone.  We appreciate all of your prayers, and we hope everyone is doing well.....P.S.  Stay tuned for our new weekly feature called Thoughtful Thursdays.  This was requested by one of our most avid followers, A. Smith :).

Hope

"When we are in the throes of some physical or emotional trauma, it can be difficult to appreciate the "gift"  of suffering.And yet, it is in the darkest times of our life when the light of God's love seems to shine the brightest, for it is at those times we depend upon it the most."

  I wanted to share with everyone about a very special family back in Tennessee that is close to my heart.  On November 27, 2009 Troy Parks  fell out of his deer stand paralyzing him from the shoulders down. Angie, his wife of 17 years, was expecting him to be home late morning, so when it got close to midday..her and their sons Dalton, and Levi went out to find him. " I never lost consciousness. I knew what I had done as soon as I did it because  of all the pain in my neck. But I couldn't feel nothing from there down and I couldn't move nothing. So I had a pretty good idea that I'd broke my neck and was paralyzed."
  Troy was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center and spent the next four days in intensive care. Luckily Troy was an ex-football player, and had managed to stay in excellent physical health, or else he probably would have died. Vanderbilt sent Troy to Shepard Center in Atlanta, GA. It's the top-ranked hospital of it's kind in the Southeast. Shepard Center focuses on spinal cord and traumatic brain  injuries. After Troy was stabilized he spent several weeks undergoing extensive therapy in hopes of re-gaining some movement in his upper body. They also trained Angie on different therapy exercises and how to care for Troy once they were released to return home. Since they have returned home Troy can now lift his forearms from the elbow, but he can not feel it. Doctors have not given him any guaranties about what he may, or may not be able to do because they don't know. The body is such an amazing machine. Every patient is different, and you never know how much or how little someone can accomplish. They have given him hope that he may progress a lot in the next two years , but it will take a lot of work. Angie works with him for 90 minutes per day using electrical muscle stimulation, stretching, and movement. Troy joked in a recent article in the local paper from my hometown that he used to lift a lot of weight and was pretty strong, but now he is down to lifting his hand.  Considering what he has been through Troy is a true inspiration! Since he has been home he has managed to attend all his boy's basketball games. The amount of drive and hope he has is amazing! They had a benefit honoring him and his family this past weekend in my hometown. Around five thousand people showed up and they raised a lot of money. Everyone I have talked to since the benefit has talked about how Troy has such a good attitude about everything. I am sure he has his dark days too, but it really puts things in perspective when you see someone go through something so traumatic and still manage to have a smile on their face!
   I wish I could be there to tell them in person, but I just want Troy, Angie, Dalton, and Levi to know that they are constantly in my prayers and I think they are amazing people! I think about how stressed I have been lately...and then I look at them and realize I have nothing to complain about. You guys are awesome and something tells me that Troy just may surprise us all!