Oh, where, oh where did Gillian go?

Oh, here I am! Brad got on here the other day and told me I needed to update this thing; I knew that already!

So...what have we been up to lately?

Well, since I last said anything, we've had a visit from the grandparents, Christmas, and new year began, and a month of it passed, a bunch of visits to the doctor, and we made a really long trip on an airplane.

How 'bout I start at the beginning?

On December 23, my parents came to see the baby. Not me, not Brad, maybe Juliana, but mostly just to see the baby. Of course, while they were here, the furnace quit working properly, (during one of the coldest weeks of the year) so Daddy got to work on that for us. They spent a week, and then headed back to Tennessee on the 30th. It was fun having them with us.

We spent part of Christmas day at home with Mom & Dad, then we all packed up and headed to Jennings to eat gumbo with the Sarver side of the family. We had Christmas with all of them at New Years and played games with all the cousins and stuff.

One night while Trent was down, he wanted to grill out, so we went over for that; well, Juju went outside to play with Uncle Tent, and apparently wasn't watching where she was going and wiped out on the concrete. She cut her lip pretty bad, and busted her nose all up - the lip healed up quickly, but she still has a decent-sized scar under her nose from it.

Also, during this time, (actually, from right after he was born) Jonathan developed a rather severe case of jaundice, so I had to take him to the Dr. every few days to have that checked on. Thankfully, they didn't have to put him in the hospital under a light, but we did have to go back every week until it cleared up completely, which took until the middle of January!

Finally got him all better, and Juliana got sick. High fever for several days, throwing up for a couple... I finally decided to take her to the Dr, and that very day, wouldn't you know it, she was miraculously cured - the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her! :-)

Now for the really long trip on the airplane.

Sometime in December, Bro. Bob Barker called and asked us to come sing for their revival. At that point we didn't know if we could do it, because it started the end of January, and the baby wasn't due 'til the 1st, so if he was late at all that would make for a really long trip (22 hours if we drove) with a really small baby. We alsom weren't sure about driving that far in our vehicle, as it isn't in the best of shape, and this time of year in Colorado, it's kinda cold and snowy. We figured if the Lord wanted us there, He'd have to work everything out!

I guess He wanted us here.

Last Thursday we boarded an airplane headed for Grand Junction, Colorado! That sounds simple, right?

Wrong.

Thursday morning, we started for the airport in Houston in plenty of time. We arrived - still with planty of time. We went through security. I set off the metal detector. Apparently, those things don't like hair pins - just a warning for those of you who wear them and intend to fly in the near future. So, they had to pat me and the baby down and run the wand thingy over both of us. Aafter determning that we weren't any threat to National Security, they finally let us go through. Still with plenty of time.

We boarded the airplane. So far so good, right?

Did I mention that there was a big storm moving through the country that day?

Yeah. That.

We were ON THE RUNWAY, engines on full throttle, getting ready to take off.

And they told us we couldn't.

Apparently the storm was headed for Dallas, which is where we were going.

So we sat there for an hour - on the plane - with two small children. Oh, yeah, and the plane was packed - no empty seats. After an hour, pilot came back and said that because the weather had delayed so many flights, they were trying to get everyone rerouted, so we had to wait for another hour.

Finally, after 2 hours on the runway, they let us take off. It was about an hour flight, but boy, was it rough! There were a few times that the plane was bouncing and bucking rather like a roller coaster - if you hadn't had your seatbelt on and been holding on, I believe your head would have hit the top of the plane! Of course, my dear hubby, who gets carsick riding around town was puking after a couple good jounces.
Thankfully, we made it to Dallas safely, and our flight there had been delayed, too, so with the help of a very kind man who took pity on us with our kids and bags and helped up get where we needed to go, we boarded our flight there and had a rather uneventful flight into Grand Junction.
Juliana enjoyed looking out the window - there wasn't much to see since it was so cloudy, but that didn't bother her!
It's been a good week, other than for being sick through part of it - I got what appeared to be strep throat at the beginning of the week, and just as I started getting over that, Brad got sick, but other than that, we've enjoyed it immensely. The Barkers have been very kind to us, and Juju's taken to calling them Grandma & Grandpa.
I'll try to post new pictures of the little guy before too long. I don't have my camera cord with me, so it'll have to wait until we get home, but he's growing like a weed, and has just this week discovered his smile! It's an awful sweet little grin, but them I might be just a teensy, weensy bit prejudiced. Maybe. :-) We're rather fond of him, and I THINK we've decided to keep him. I'll let you know I we decide otherwise! (If nothing else, he'll make a good tax deduction!!!:-)