Saturday, December 29, 2012

Asher turns 1 month old


Oh how fast the time goes by. Asher turned 1 month old, and we have loved every moment with him. He is sweet-natured, calm and rarely cries. He is a good eater and he patiently puts up with his sister's hugs and "kisses" (a.k.a. headbutts). Unfortunately he's still only sleeping 3 hours at a time (vs. Reese who slept 6 hours straight after only 2 weeks), so I guess he's a typical newborn in that regard. So fingers crossed he'll soon start to sleep through the night!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas 2012!


Sunday, December 23, 2012

Asher's newborn photos

Here's a link to a sweet video that made me cry! Asher Allen {newborn}

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas comes to Ark of the Rainbow students and families


Thanks to generous donations from friends and family, the students and families of Ark of the Rainbow enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration. The children received toys, dolls and backpacks, while the parents received useful toiletries and other household items. Everyone feasted on a special meal while the 30 kids performed the nativity story and a number of dances. We are so grateful for our wonderful teachers and the kindness of loved ones who have opened their hearts to help support our school and the numerous underprivileged families in India who are benefiting from its activities. What a year 2012 has been... we can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for Ark of the Rainbow!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Asher's Birth Story


The morning of November 28 I had an appointment with Dr. Berry Fleming, my OB-GYN. He said I was dilated 4 cm, which was how far I was when I entered the hospital to deliver Reese... so quite a head start this time! That night, Dana stayed up very late working. He came to bed around 2 AM and we chatted for awhile before he fell asleep. At 2:30 AM on November 29, I started having contractions. They weren't too strong or painful (more like cramps you'd have with your period), but they were consistent and I knew that false contractions weren't supposed to be painful, so I started tracking them immediately. Thankfully I found a handy little iphone app that helped me do this, so I didn't have to do math or think too hard about this in the middle of the night while half asleep! My contractions quickly got closer and closer together and by 3:30 AM I knew for sure that we were heading to the hospital. I finally woke Dana up and told him to take a quick shower. Luckily we had JUST packed our bags for the hospital after procrastinating for weeks... so we were pretty ready to go. At 3:50 we gave Dana's parents, who were staying with us to help out with the baby's arrival, a heads up that we were leaving and they were now officially in charge of Reese (who was 15 months old at this time). We arrived at Baylor Frisco hospital around 4 AM, just as my contractions took a turn and decided to get PAINFUL! Thankfully, I had my epidural about 90 minutes later so I didn't have TOO much pain (I know, I know... I was very lucky. But at the time, it didn't feel like it!). After the epidural took effect, we relaxed and tried to nap for a couple hours since things seemed to slow down. Just like he did with Reese's delivery, Dana tried to make the delivery room as comfortable as possible with dim lights, (flameless LED) candles and soothing music. It was quite nice. Around 8 AM Dr. Fleming decided to break my water. At 8:30 AM he and the nurse told me to start pushing. I couldn't feel a thing due to my awesome epidural - just the way I like it : ). I pushed for about 10-15 minutes and little Asher was born! We stayed 2 nights and enjoyed yummy food (they have a 5-star chef) and sweet visitors (the Cavins, the Wannemachers, Emily from our church small group, Dana's parents... and possibly others that I've forgotten in my sleep deprived, epidural fog). All in all, it was pretty easy. I'm thankful that we have an amazing hospital pretty much across the street and that epidurals are readily available in the U.S.! Most of all, I'm thankful for a healthy baby. Thank you God : )

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Getting ready for Christmas in India


We have big plans this year for Christmas at the Ark of the Rainbow school. With some appreciated contributions from friends and family, we'll be providing blankets, sweaters, toiletries and toys to children and families in need this Christmas in India. Here is a recent pic from the after school Girls Club. The school continues to grow and prosper! It has been an amazing year watching God's blessing upon this school. We are so blessed to be a part of it.

Asher turns 1 week old


It's been forever since I've updated our blog, but I really do have intentions about going back and filling in the blanks one day (or at least some of them)... so for now I'll keep it short and sweet and say that we had a great day today. Asher turned 1 week old, and we had a newborn photo shoot with Melissa from Cherished Memories photography. She's INCREDIBLE and I know we're going to end up with some amazing shots. Asher was a perfect angel and slept the entire time. Reese was a bit distracted by a big giant plastic duck that she found in the prop room and wanted to play with, so she was not so engaged - but she did look darn cute! We'll see the proofs in a couple of weeks - can't wait!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Celebrating Alberto's 75th birthday!


Christine's dad turns 75 this year, so we celebrated with tapas over Thanksgiving at Cafe Milagra in downtown historic McKinney. Reese doesn't look too happy in this photo, but we all had a great meal before we walked around the annual holiday festival in Mckinney Square. Alberto is now the oldest living male in his recent family lineage. We hope he has many more happy years ahead!