Opening Post

Dear family,

It has been a while since we last wrote everyone! We are now counting down the weeks until our son will be here…just under 8 weeks remaining. It has been exciting to see and feel our baby’s increased activity.



We have some interesting stories since we last wrote. First, we learned at the same time that you don’t have to be in Jakarta to live among beetles, and that black-eyed peas are not so lucky around New Year’s as people may think they are (this is a southern tradition, I believe). Anyway, I’ve gotten into black-eyed peas in the last year or so, and tried a new brand that was on sale for New Year’s, and David and I were eating them one evening. We were both taking our first bite, when David noticed a beetle floating in his bowl. I couldn’t eat any more, but David amazingly finished his bowl anyway (minus the beetle), but when we looked at the pan on the stove, we stirred around the remaining portion and noticed yet another beetle from the same can!!! Needless to say, I will no longer be buying that brand again!

We made two major purchases for our baby so far. We bought a stroller as well as a crib, and to bring it home, we asked our friend Joe Davidson to borrow his truck. While he and David went to Young Men’s, I carefully drove the truck [please, no comments about living in Texas!] about a half-hour drive up to the store to get the crib, but while I was on the crowded highway amidst very slow traffic, I looked at the windshield and noticed that there was no state inspection sticker. When I got off the highway and onto the side roads, I soon got pulled over. I was puzzled why this might be since I was not going fast at all, and didn’t recall any other traffic violations. The officer said, “I pulled you over because your headlights were off.” I said, “They are?” I had no idea! When I had gotten in the truck, I turned the switch and saw the front panel lights come on, and thought I had headlights on. I was around enough traffic, though, that I had not noticed they were off. Of course the officer then noticed my missing state inspection sticker and proceeded to issue me a ticket for not having the sticker. Once I did make it home, David put the crib together. It’s neat to see it set up in the room.

Aside from a 2-day ice “storm” that kept many away from work in December, the weather has been remarkably mild. This is my 4th winter here, and by far, it is the warmest. We have rarely had the heat on, and even turn the air conditioning on in the car frequently. Ironically enough, David’s winter coat was brought out for the evening last week, and got stolen. So we had to buy him a new one last night. We just hope that whoever has it now will get some good use out of it. ☺

David has been busy with school. He had respiratory and gastrointestinal systems in class recently, had a clinic in rheumatology, and has begun seeing patients under the supervision of a resident once a week. A couple weeks ago we went to a reception for the poster he put together on the research he did last summer.


It was neat to see his work. He has also enjoyed exploring Google Earth recently, particularly areas where he served his mission. He has been quite nostalgic about it all.


We enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Clarks, including Grandpa Clark. For Christmas we drove up to Kansas to spend it with Dad and Mom Miller, Clark, Kim, and little Jaron, and the Dangerfields. We very much enjoyed seeing the new Joseph Smith movie the Church produced at the Liberty Jail visitors’ center. We got back home in time to hear Matt speak in Church before leaving on his mission to Bolivia January 4th. We will miss him (especially David!), but know he will be a great missionary.

December was busy with various parties, including our ward’s “Christmas in Nauvoo” night, the medical school Christmas social, a (separate, additional) dinner for married medical students and their spouses, and an informal game night at our home with 3 other couples. I was busy performing Christmas music at 2 different stake crèche exhibits with my “Classic Strings” group. At one of the performances, we performed with the Dallas/Fort Worth LDS auditioned choir (called Evening Song), then heard the performance (in our chapel) by a black Baptist choir. They were something else! They sing with such enthusiasm and heart! We’ve seen a few movies lately. The first was Harry Potter #4 with David’s high school friends. Then at Thanksgiving time we saw Pride and Prejudice with David’s family (David and I highly recommend this one!). And last week we got around to seeing Flight Plan at the dollar theater, for which our neighbor Deborah joined us.

We hope everyone is doing well!

Love, David and Emily

P.S. You can take a look at our latest photographs at our website