Summer 2007

Dear family and friends,

It has been a long while since we wrote everyone. David survived his 12-week-long internal medicine rotation, studying very diligently and working very hard the whole time. He has now begun his neurology rotation, which he has really looked forward to since that is what he would like to go into. David even got to do a spinal tap on his first day. He still manages to spend some good time with Emily and William, help with the Young Men, and help out some around the house. David and Emily enjoyed celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary by eating out at a Brazilian churrascuria (did we get that right, Clark?) restaurant.

William is now 15 months old. He walks faster and faster, but is not quite running yet. His latest tricks are walking backwards and spinning in circles. William jabbers constantly, and has made some decent attempts at words, but does not seem to like to continue using them, except for “Daddy”. His understanding is definitely increasing, though, and he loves to have books read to him. He can also point to his toes, ears, and hair when asked. We really enjoy watching him discover and learn.



William is also our little beaver. We discovered that he gnawed all along the top of his crib rail. Now we know the purpose of crib rail guards! Too bad our crib didn’t come with one. He enjoys chewing on his fingers and other sundry things as well, but hasn’t gotten any new teeth lately. Sometimes we feel like we live in a high security area, having to close one door before we can enter another, to ensure that William won’t get into the most “dangerous” parts of the house. He loves to reach up and get into anything he can find. We’re often amazed at what he can reach. Lately we have lost some things, only to find them later where William has taken them. We’ve also discovered that he loves to put things, including some of his toys, in the trashcan. Recently he started holding the phone up to his ear as if he’s talking on the phone. He is a great help around the house—he actually helps Emily with the laundry and with collecting the trash from around the house. William loves the vacuum, broom, dishwasher, and motorized drills. Whenever he hears anyone clapping or laughing (even on the radio), he joins in excitedly. One of his favorite things is to be chased by his daddy, and he is also very affectionate and loves to give us hugs (especially when he wants to try our food).



Emily has kept busy chasing after William and cleaning up his messes. One week in June she helped carpool her Cub Scouts to and from their day camp, and even went one half day to help her den there. Emily especially enjoyed the archery part, during which she got to shoot 10 arrows. One of the men was giving her a few pointers before she started, then was shocked when she got a direct bull’s eye on her very first shot! The other 9 weren’t bad either. Emily brought William to the family lunch on Friday, and even though they only stayed about one hour, poor William got 16 mosquito bites on his little legs.

Emily got a new calling today to be the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. She is excited about the new assignment, but will miss working with the Cub Scouts. She enjoyed taking William to the Irving parade on the 4th of July while David was studying. William even caught some candy (it landed in his stroller).

For any who may not know, we are expecting another baby boy in September. Ten weeks ago we had a sonogram which revealed our little boy is not developing properly. His brain has developed almost completely outside of his head in a sac called an encephalocele, and is expected to live a few days at the most. This was quite a shock to us, but thanks to the prayers and fasting of many family and friends, we feel peaceful that this is Heavenly Father’s will for us and for our son. We chose the name Aaron David Clark. Since that sonogram, we’ve had some meetings with specialists to get some direction and a better understanding of what to expect. We will be delivering at a different hospital that can handle Aaron better, and have also had to change obstetricians. We realize even more what a miracle all births are, and are especially grateful for William.

We hope this letter finds you well and happy.

Love, David, Emily, and William

Spring is here

Dear family,

We’ve enjoyed a nice spring this year. David finished his obstetrics/gynecology clerkship having been directly involved with 25+ deliveries at the county hospital. We then all enjoyed a good two-week spring break visiting Mom and Dad Miller in Kansas and college friends in Oklahoma on the way home. We posted some great photos we took at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and in a field of bluebonnets on the side of a road near our house on our photo site. We also did a little spring-cleaning and yard work.



William is constantly increasing his keep-ahead-of-mom-and-dad skills. Though he is continuing to walk with us holding his hand and along furniture, when he really wants to get from place to place, he switches to his turbo-crawl. He is also starting to mimic what we say and realize that words mean things. We had a little birthday celebration for William with much of the Clark family here in the area. He enjoyed tearing open his presents and had cake for the first time.



David has started looking more seriously into neurology as a specialty, and is encouraged the more he finds out. Last week he met with the director of the UT Southwestern neurology residency program, and felt right “at home” in talking to him. Though we doubt we will stay here for residency, the director did guarantee him an interview.



Beside all this, David is staying busy with his 12-week internal medicine clerkship, Emily is busy with her Cub Scouts and violin student, and William is just busy.

Love,
David, Emily, and William

The new year

Dear family,

A lot has happened since we last wrote. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with the David’s parents nearby in Fort Worth. It was especially nice for David to have the weekend off from the 90 hours surgery weeks! (Yes, 90 hours.) During his two-week Christmas break, we saw a couple movies and enjoyed our first Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with our little family in our home in Irving. For the remainder of Christmas Day we joined David’s parents and saw Chad and Melissa Kidder, a college friend of David’s and a former roommate of Emily’s who happened to have gotten married before we met. A few days later we drove to Tennessee to visit the Fullmers, who graciously entertained us by taking us to the zoo and showing movies in their new home theater.



We hope 2007 is off to a good start for each of you. Having survived the 8-week Surgery rotation at the end of 2006, David has nearly completed the 6-week Psychology rotation. Most of it has been spent in the adolescent clinic at Children’s Medical Center seeing patients with eating disorders. One perk of this rotation is that he gets to eat free meals with the patients every day, and he often comes home not hungry, much to Emily’s chagrin. David keeps busy between school working with the Aaronic Priesthood/Scouts, playing with William, working on his novel and music, and spending time with Emily.

William, now 10 months, has had the most changes since we last wrote. In addition to having two bottom teeth, he now crawls, waves, claps, and climbs all over. He is even cruising around the furniture and pushing his new walker/car all the way down the hallway. William has become very social—smiling at all of the strangers in the stores and at church. He now eats three meals a day and is growing like a weed.



Emily manages to hold down the fort. She still teaches her one violin student and has her weekly Cub Scout Den meetings. She is excited that one of her Cubs recently advanced to Bear. Early in January, Emily joined all her siblings in Kansas City to surprise her dad for his 60th birthday. They had prepared a special book of memories for him and really enjoyed being all together again.

That’s about it for us. We hope you are doing well.

Love,
David, Emily, and William