Jonas Paul Maney

by Holly

Congratulations to Paul and Sarah on the birth of their son, Jonas Paul Maney! He was born on May 20th and is so cute! Check out their pictures on the link to the right, the Maney's. We hope you guys are doing well, we pray for the very best for you all as you adjust to being parents and also that little Jonas would grow and sleep and eat well and be a very happy baby!

What's New With Eli?

by Holly

So we've been hounded for more Eli pictures and updates. Honestly, I have been wanting to share these, and just received my first lesson on adding pictures to the blog. (Yes, I learn by being shown and am absolutely useless at teaching myself anything.)

Anyway, Eli is growing and changing, and oh so much fun! He will be 5 months old on May 21st, and we can't believe the time is going so fast. He has two teeth, the two bottom center ones and they are surprisingly sharp. He grabs your finger and has it in his mouth gnawing on it before you realize what's happening! He has been eating baby food for a couple of weeks, starting with carrots, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. I do believe we are starting peas tomorrow- a whole new experience with a different color. These pictures are actually him eating rice cereal which he started before the yellow veggies.

Eli started on the cereal, gained two teeth and rolled over all in the same week and my parents happened to be here visiting at the time. They were so glad to witness this fun stuff themselves. Justin was in Vegas for work and Mom and Dad came to visit and help me with Eli, while also giving Abbey a week off. The picture below is what happens when my dad has a little fun with Eli when undressing him for his bath. My bebe' looks French!

And finally, we drove to Lubbock this past weekend for my cousin's wedding and for Mother's Day and got to go to our nephew Jared's teeball game. It was so fun to watch the little guys play and they won 21-14! Go Mudcats! Eli sported his new shades, courtesy of Grandma Noble. He was a hit!

I hope to get back to blogging more regularly, but it seems each day passes so quickly, and another night of too little sleep is on us again!

Prayers Answered

Jackson did great through surgery and is recovering well. His tumor was BENIGN and it was a vascular malformation, nothing even remotely cancer related. He will have the same recovery as before, as the mass was removed, but there is no follow up in the way of chemo or radiation.

Read the Kolb's blog for all the details, but praise the Lord for his answers to prayer!!!

May we all rest in peace tonight as we thank Him for our loved ones and His provisions for us all.

Update on Jackson

by Holly

Thank you all so much for your prayers for little Jackson and his family! They feel the love and support of thousands of strangers besides their own family and friends, and it is awesome.

Please check their blog again for an update and some precious pictures of little Jackson. He is having surgery today to remove the tumor from his leg, which so far appears to be contained to the one area. Pray that it has not spread and that he will maintain function of his leg, that the surgery and recovery would go well, and that Seth and Kristen will have everything they need in the way of support and provisions. Seth will have to go back to work in Columbia in the near future, so pray that the timing on this will be okay and that God will sustain their family as they are apart.

Thanks for your love and compassion. May God bless each of you in turn!

Prayer for Jackson

by Holly

Please take a moment to read the last three entries on the Kolb family blog; the link is on the right. These are our friends Seth and Kristen who live in Columbia with their 9 month old son Jackson. Seth works for the State Department.

They learned yesterday that a lump on Jackson's leg appears to be malignant cancer. They are back in the States for medical treatment as of today.

Keep them all in your prayers as they go through this ordeal and stay strong for their son. Pray for fast healing/removal of the tumor, grace and wisdom for the medical staff, and peace for Jackson's parents and extended family.

Thank you all for your friendship and support. We thank God for you in our lives!

Earth Day

by Holly

Well, today is Earth Day! That may mean a celebration to some of you, or a reminder of what you already do, or maybe nothing at all. To me, it is a new beginning. I know there has been a lot of hype about 'going green', but honestly, its taken that much to get me to sit up and take note of what I am or am not doing, to make our family healthier, our waste less, and the environment cleaner.

I have been reading "Green Housekeeping" by Ellen Sandbeck and am captivated by just how much we live our lives according to what is advertised on TV and by what is convenient. So, I am going to share a few tips that I am incorporating into my lifestyle for the betterment of my family and the earth. Some of these may seem like common sense, but trust me, these are huge changes for me, and hopefully the beginning of much more to come!

* Buy reusable shopping bags at your local grocer. One WalMart reusable bag saves 50 plastic bags.

* Check out alternative cleaning products, such as using spray bottles of distilled white vinegar and then hydrogen peroxide for cleaning your kitchen counter, appliances and even your fresh veggies and fruit.

* Think twice before reaching for that paper napkin or paper towel- could you use a cloth napkin instead and then throw a load of them in the wash at the end of the week? Or even use inexpensive dishcloths for this same purpose.

* Place a small glass dish of either baking soda or a cotton ball soaked in vanilla extract on your kitchen or bathroom counter for natural air freshener.

* Take your own coffee cup to work instead of getting the styrofoam one. I'm actually using the last of my WalMart plastic bags to bring home my rinsed recyclable items since my company does not have recycling programs.

Whatever you do, think about the impact you may be having on your family and the earth, and enjoy! Its fun to learn new ways to love the Earth!

M.I.A.

I will forgo the song that is in my head about "We've been to ... ... ... ..." and just say we have been busy. First off we owe a big congratulations to my childhood and boy scouting friend Scott on his marriage to Laura this last weekend. Scott and I go way back. His mother has pictures of us in diapers. Laura found a good man!

After weeks (or months) of hounding, I have added pictures to our Photos de Eli link. There you will find two new folders, one of Eli and the other of our DC trip. The photos of Eli are in time order so the most recent are at the end of the group. Here is our cute little boy now....

More details coming soon!

Five Years

Five Years is a long time to be married. People will laugh, but it is true. A lot of people don’t make it five years. You add our five years of marriage to five years of dating and that is just genuinely odd. Holly and I have made it a tradition to get out of town to celebrate our anniversary. In recent years we have always celebrated in late March or early April due to a certain Scouting event and its propensity to be on our anniversary of March 15^th. This year we got lucky when I opted out of Twin Arrows due to Eli’s birth. We made the most of it with a trip to Washington D.C.

We left Thursday night with a goal of making it to Nashville and to overnight and catch the 6 am flight to Baltimore on Friday morning. When you are flying free you don’t want to fly on holidays or Spring Break. It is extremely difficult to pull off. We decided to break the golden rule. I had a great plan all worked out until our original flight from Dallas to Houston was delayed due to maintenance. Not good.

We landed in Houston with plenty of time to catch the connection, however; by the time we got to the gate all open seats had been given to other ‘free flying’ passengers. I was not happy as the agent technically gave boarding passes to people below us on the pecking order. Oh well. We quickly changed plans and decided to get to Jackson, Mississippi and overnight there instead. After some frantic calls to my dad and some hotels we canceled our Nashville room and found a hotel in Jackson. The next morning we left Jackson without delay!

We arrived in Baltimore and took a train into DC. This was our first time on a ‘train’. While not a true cross country experience, it was still very exciting for us. Unfortunately on the train is when we learned of Trigger’s death. After some tears and checking in with Eli and the grandparents we arrived at Union Station in DC in time for Lunch.

We stayed at Hotel George right next door to Union Station. It was a nice place, but overpriced for what they billed as boutique hotel. We checked in, scoped out the lay of the land and decided to make an afternoon run to Arlington National Cemetery. Unfortunately our guide said the Cemetery closed at 7pm, when in fact it closed at 5 pm. We wasted a good chunk of time making the run up and back. We decided to see if any tickets remained for a show called Capital Steps. They are a Comedy Troupe that makes fun of political situations. I knew Holly wouldn’t catch a lot of it, but I loved it. She said she enjoyed it and caught a majority of it.

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and made our way to the capital. We got our tickets for our capital tour and head to the Library of Congress. It is an absolutely beautiful building. I think my friend Jenise has it right when she says it is the most beautiful interior in DC. After LOC we walked around the capital past the Supreme Court and into the new American Indian Museum. Besides being a great building architecturally, they have a really good cafeteria serving food of native tribes from across the country. We left the Museum and headed over to the Capital for our noon tour. We had an excellent tour guide, which is always a plus. Following our Capital Tour we headed back out to Arlington.

Holly and I both said on our next trip we will allot a greater portion of our trip to Arlington. Besides the obvious, the cemetery is truly a national treasure full of great monuments. We simply did not have enough time to visit what we wanted to with before closing. We did get to see the changing of the guard and laying of the wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a must. After Arlington we went to Pentagon City for our anniversary dinner at a pub. We left the pub and then took the metro back to the city for a monument tour at night.

I say if you are going to view the monuments in DC, do it at night. Not only are crowds less, but they have a completely different feel at night. Plus they are practically the only thing open 24 hours in DC. Do the daytime only stuff during the day and leave the monuments for later. We visited the Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, DC WWI Memorial and the WWII Memorial. All amazing. We have to go back to get the other side of the tidal basin!

Sunday we slept in a little and made our way through the rest of the must dos. We started by actually going through the American Indian Museum. We made a quick pass through the Air and Space Museum. We then headed over to the National Archives to view the Bill of Right, Declaration of Independence and Magna Carta, the highlight of the day for sure. We closed our time in DC by eating and partaking at a place called Capital Brewery.

Monday morning we caught an early train back to Baltimore to catch a connecting flight through St. Louis back to Dallas. I headed home and Holly headed to Lubbock to pick up the kid. All in all it was an extremely exhausting, rewarding and active anniversary trip.

Sorry for the long post, but it has to be detailed right? We will post pictures in the next couple of days.

My Heather

by Holly

I would like to welcome a new addition to our friends listed on our blog. If you look to the right you will see "Heather" who was my college roommate and very dear friend. Please check out her blog and let her know you've seen her site.

Heather is an artist and designer and lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She is a beautiful, talented woman and I am blessed to call her friend. Welcome Heather!

The Passing of A Legend

It is with very many tears that we announce the passing of Trigger. We will postpone our full post about our anniversary trip to DC for a few days as we deal with the loss of our kiddo. He wasn't just a cat to me or Holly. He was a member of the family. It is true that his place in the food chain changed when Eli came along, but we still loved and cared for him deeply. He passed while at the vet being boarded for our trip. We already miss him deeply.

2 Year Blog-aversary

Two years-whew...

Who knew we could come so far. Now it is the primary tool we use to stay in touch with so many of our far off and close by friends. In two years we have had a child and shared they joys of that news through this amazing new medium. In two year we have had our ups and downs and journaled them all here. In two years we have come a long way.

Through blogging we have learned that some friends in the Carolina's read but chose to remain silent. There are others like the east coast friends, say our friend at Audelia and 635 or the person who sits across the cube wall at work. You know who you are, and there are others.

A few blog stats:
156 Posts
"Secret Stairwells" had the most comments with 21

Thanks for reading and Happy Anniversary to US!

Texas Weather

This week's weather has been particularly amusing to me. Monday morning I went to work knowing that it was going to be a cool day. With highs in the forties and a chance of rain. They said there was a small chance of snow, but with no accumulation.

Now normally with the slightest chance of the possibility of the isolated probability of one snowflake causes TxDOT to jump into action, the news station put the sorry saps outside in the freezing rain and all we talk about is how it MIGHT POSSIBLY think about MAYBE have some ISOLATED showers. Not this time. For once in their life, the news didn't overreact. The funny thing is, they were wrong.

I was at a Company event until 9 p.m. on Monday night. I left the Nokia Theatre with HUGE wet snowflakes falling from the sky. It was so beautiful. You native Texians know how special snow is to us. It wasn't sticking, but it was pretty. On my drive home I was driving 60 mph in Plano. Five miles later in Allen the roads were slick. The overpasses were icing and I was driving 30 mph. Oops.

The following morning Holly and I carpooled and it took us about an hour to do thirty minutes of driving. Now this Tuesday morning was cold, by Texas standards. But the afternoon high was 55. By Wednesday the temperature was a nice and balmy 65 degrees. From snow to 65 in two days.

Now the big flip happens again. They are predicting snow again for tonight and tomorrow. Fear not, the news won't be caught off guard again. They have crews stationed "around the metroplex for complete Team coverage". Oh boy.

A bombing occurred in Times Square this morning. I listened to fifteen minutes of weather on my way in before it was mentioned. Even then it was a "developing story that we are following, now back to Brad Barton in the KRLD Weather center." I turned it off.

Snow twice in a week? Must be Global Warming...

Now I am off to buy a snow shovel.

Remember the Alamo!

Fellow citizens and compatriots: I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna--I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man--the enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison is to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken--I have answered the demands with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the wall--I shall never surrender or retreat.

Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and of everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country--Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis,
Lt. Col., Commander.

March 2nd, 2008: 172 years after Texas Independence we still stand proud.

Happy Texas Independence Day.

Eli's First Day with Abbey

by Holly

Well, today marks the beginning of a new chapter in Eli's young life. Its his first day staying with our nanny. I'm not sure 'nanny' is the right term, but its the best I can come up with. What do you call the person who you trust to care for your baby, to feed him and change him and love him and teach him new things, when you can't be there to do it yourself? Abbey is one of my best friends and I love her dearly. That is why it isn't harder to leave Eli and come to work. He's in good hands and will love going to her house 3 days a week. Abbey has two children, a daughter who is 3 1/2 and a son who just turned 1. I foresee lots of fun to come!

It was crazy getting out of the house this morning, and hopefully it will be better tomorrow. I had the 'first day of school' jitters for my son, even though he was just cooing and smiling all the while. At least one of us was calm! I also had a paper sack full of stuff, a diaper bag full of stuff, Eli's nebulizer, an insulated bag with frozen breastmilk, the extra car seat base, and the car seat with the baby all strapped in and tucked in tight with his fuzzy car blanket. And that was all for him! For me, I had my purse, lunch, breast pump, to-go cup of water and a glass of milk for breakfast on the run. Oh, and our diaper bag in case I needed something between Abbey's house and mine this afternoon. Whew! I know that most of his stuff will stay there and I won't have to deal with that daily, but please say a prayer for me tomorrow morning around 5 a.m.!

We left our house at straight up 6:00 and got to Abbey's at exactly 6:30. After 15 minutes of instruction and thank-you's, I left at 6:45 and got to work at 7:10. Not too bad! We'll see if I can shave a few minutes off tomorrow.

Eli is feeling much better, although he has a lingering cough and sore throat. He had his two month checkup yesterday and got 5 shots and an oral vaccine. Poor baby! Justin said he screamed for a while and was fussy the rest of the day. I think I would have cried; Justin just treated himself to Jack in the Box and muddled through. We're still doing the breathing treatments, but hopefully that will be gone soon.

Hope you are all doing well! I hope to get back in the blogging world soon!

Eli is Sick

.Well it was bound to happen eventually. Eli has a "reactive airway". Now I don't really know what that means, but he is wheezing and couching deep in his lungs. We took him to the doctor Saturday and now we are doing breathing treatments every four hours. Poor baby. Holly goes back to work Monday and she was not looking forward to leaving her healthy baby with the sitter, it is even worse now.

On a brighter note, I have uploaded our month two pictures. It includes our trip to Friona. Click the Photos de Eli button above!

Format Changes

So it seems that my last format couldn't stick. Every time I went to the blog it wasn't working in a different way, without me tinkering with it at all. Alas, I have changed it again. Please be aware that with every change I loose the link section of the blog. I tried my best to track down all the links, but if you are missing please feel free to email me. Let me know what you think of the new layout.

Water is not Hypoallergenic

By Justin

A friend noted that if I wasn’t married I should title this blog Justin’s Rants. If you feel I have mislead you on the purpose of our blog, sorry. I honestly feel that our life is pretty ordinary and bloging about ordinary just isn’t much fun. I would rather point out the crazy and rant about it

I am not a germ-a-phobe. Never have been. I think it might be impossible to be a Boy Scout and be a ger-a-phobe. I do have a minimum standard of washing your hands after using a restroom, particularly a public restroom.

As part of my researching for my rant I have become increasingly aware of people’s hand washing routines in the bathroom at work. Guys are the worlds worst at washing hands after a restroom stop. We all know it. I have classified three types of hand washers:

First the ones that actually wash their hands, soap and all.

Second the non-hand washers.

Third the guys that turn on the water, but don’t use soap. Now these guys are interesting, some how they have taught themselves that water is naturally hypoallergenic. By simply turning on the water and running their hands under it, they are clean. You can tell these guys simply by listening to the amount of time they have the water on. There is simply no way you can get soap on your hands and wash it off in less than three seconds. What really makes me laugh is they are not only wasting water but the paper towels to dry their hands off with as well. It is a double slam on the nonrenewable and renewable resource side. Maybe that is the cause of “global warming”, Trey?

I will say that I encountered a new low last week. While doing my business I heard the water come on and turn off in a matter of one second. Litterally. Do it in your head right now. SHHHHHHt. Then I didn’t hear the paper towel dispenser. CSI Noble jumped into action. I washed my hands, with soap, and got my paper towel. Before I completely pulled open the door I ran the paper towel down the handle. Sure enough, there was no moister on the handle. So we can reasonable conclude that this guy turned on the water because I was in the restroom to make me think he washed his hands. Wow. Save the water next time bud, I am on to you.

OK. There is the rant. Wash your hands. Just please use soap. At least while I am around.

Pay it Forward

Holly and I refinanced the house on Friday afternoon. Why it takes a mountain of paperwork to say yes we will pay, we agree to how much we will pay, and you can kick us out if we don’t pay, I will never understand. It is truly legal and government craziness gone amuck. Now we have two stacks of useless papers in the filing cabinet, one from the original contract and now the refinance.

As is now customary in the Justin and Holly marriage world, any major item is celebrated with a good meal. While driving around in a relatively unknown section of the Dallas suburbs to us we ran across a place called La Hacienda Ranch. It was some delicious Tex-Mex fare. They had a very diverse menu and you could spend as much or as little as you like.

We had Eli with us. He just slept the meal away. Holly and I did what too many fat Americans do; ordered much too large of a plate plus an appetizer. I was still stick to my stomach the next morning. It was just too good to put down.

We were at the restaurant at 4:30, long before any crowd had started. We were actually the only people in our section for a long time. After our appetizer came a couple that were in their late 50’s early 60’s came in. We made eye contact and the gentleman made a whimsical comment to the hostess that I chucked and smiled at. I might have even said “good evening” as he passed by, but I can’t remember.

As our meal was winding down the waiter came by and dropped the check. I wasn’t quite finished with my meal so I didn’t look at it, and I just sat it on the edge of the table. Two minutes later he came back by picked it up and said he was sorry but he needed to do something. I figured that he forgot my refill on my adult beverage.

Two or three minutes passed and he came by a few times. It was clear we were waiting on our check and the waiter told us that the check had been paid. We were very confused. I asked on the house? He said something like that. It took me about ten seconds to realize that the couple in the corner had paid for our dinner.

I ran the waiter down and he confirmed that they had but he insisted that they didn’t want us to know that and to not acknowledge it. I made sure to inform him to express our deep deep gratitude after we left.

I was curious why someone would do that. We didn’t look struggling. We were eating a nice meal. Holly was dressed to get out of the house. Eli was in a name brand car seat. I wasn’t wearing my holey jeans. Maybe they wanted to celebrate Eli with us. Maybe they just are nice people who have means and like to spread the love. May they are Christians and heard a sermon on helping your fellow man. Maybe they just like to try to impress people.

I think they are amazing. I don’t even know their names, but I have prayed for them to get back everything they have given so humbly. I am on the look out for a situation I can do the same. To “pay it forward” and “pay it back” the same kindness that happened to me. How the world would be different if we all did what this kind couple demonstrated.

One Month Down

by Justin

Well we have made it this far. We are transitioning well. Learning the difference between wet diaper cries and hungry cries. More importantly we haven't inflicted any known harm on Eli for a whole month!

I have uploaded some one month photos on the web album link. Here is a sample.

Otherwise things are just going. Holly returns to work on Feb. 15th or there abouts. I have started my new ten hour day schedule. It is taking some getting adapting too. We have made a few decisions as of late. We are refinancing our mortgage into a low fixed rate. We have had an adjustable rate mortgage that has paid off well for us, but now is the time to lock in for awhile. We have also decided that we are going to celebrate our five year anniversary in March in D.C. I have started scoping out the best place to stay and how long we should stay. If you have any beta on the location feel free to pass it along. Lastly for my dad's birthday (Jan 11) I decided I would schedule a trip for the two of us instead of gift. Is there a better gift than the gift of time. I am scoping out a few places but I am thinking Big Bend in April or May is a good idea. If you have any good camping ideas pass those along too. All right....good day all!

EPA = SUV

While driving down the highway on my way home yesterday I noticed a Dodge Durango with government plates driving in the HOV lane. I ran up beside it to look at the logo on the door and guess who it was? The Environmental Protection Agency Region Six. I started laughing.

How ironic is it that the Federal agency in charge of cleaning up our air and keeping the environment protected drives a Dodge SUV. I decided to do some research. The Dodge Durango gets about 15 miles per gallon. On the EPA’s website [www.epa.gov/greenvehicles] it is well below the top twenty five “greenest” SUVs. In fact on a ten point scale, with ten being good, the SUV gets a 6 by EPAs own standards.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I get grief all the time for driving a Ford pickup and how economically unfriendly it is. I guess I will consider getting rid of my ride…oh who am I kidding, I love my pickup!