Our little horse
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Hooray for Fall!
We have definitely gotten more settled here in Cincinnati. Fall is in the air, and Emily is so excited to experience her first real fall since 2001. The leaves are changing color, and the air is becoming cooler and sometimes crisp. Since we last wrote, we found out we are expecting another BOY. We are excited!
We have done a lot of work on our master bathroom. David took out the toilet, two layers of linoleum flooring, shower door, cabinet/vanity, and baseboards. Emily chose and ordered all of the materials for our shower and floor to be tiled. Although we paid a professional (a German lady—a grandmother, and mother of 5 children—who did a great job, by the way) to put the tile in, we still feel like we get credit for this bathroom project since we did all of the preparatory and finishing work! After searching high and low (lower than we wanted) for a taller cabinet, it seemed better to have David build a base to raise our existing cabinet six inches higher to save his back from bending over so much. Emily touched up the paint, and David installed a new toilet, and put everything else back. It was quiet an ordeal. Emily and William in particular took countless trips to Home Depot for this project.
When he wasn’t working on our bathroom or working at the hospital, David delved into learning how to cook Indian food. He has tried multiple dishes, with Emily as his assistant. David has quite the knack for knowing how to spice things, so we have really enjoyed his cuisine. If this sounds good to you, you’ll just have to plan a visit to Cincinnati and we’ll make some for you. In August we enjoyed going to an outdoor big band concert. William was quite the ham—dancing and generally performing for those sitting around us. We also enjoyed our first trip to the Louisville temple about 90 minutes away. Labor Day weekend we had our first out-of-town visitors to our new home here. Emily’s sister Adrienne and her family stayed overnight, and we had a nice—but too short—visit. William had a blast with his five cousins. A few weeks ago, Emily and William were surprised to see three deer in our front yard. Emily ran to get the camera, but they were gone when she returned. After she put the camera away, she and William saw the three again with a fourth as they walked through our back yard. It is not unusual for us to see deer in our backyard, but if we happen to miss it, our neighbors are always sure to give us the “deer sighting report”.
David and Emily were finally given callings in our ward. David is an Elders Quorum instructor, teaching basically every time he is able to attend church. He and Emily were both assigned to serve on the activities committee. This is a calling neither of us has ever had. Our first activity to help with was an indoor “picnic and drive-in movie”.
It seems strange that we had to leave Texas to be affected by a hurricane, but that is what happened. Hurricane Ike moved up towards Ohio and collided with a cold front, causing an unusual dry windstorm for a couple hours. Cincinnati has so many trees and many were blown down, knocking down many power lines. 90% of the metropolitan area—over 500,000 homes—were left without power. We felt fortunate to only be without power for 3 ½ days, instead of up to eight like a few of our friends. We also feel blessed that the weather was so pleasant during that time, and that our freezer was so full, minimizing the loss of food. We felt like we were camping in our own home, going around with flashlights and candles, or even just sitting in the dark talking at night. We survived, but are very grateful for our electricity! We’re also grateful we don’t live in an area where hurricanes are more likely.
William now knows all of his letters and the sound they make. He is a very determined, strong-willed boy, who also has some sensitivity. William continues to be a very cheerful boy in general. He also is a jokester—really making us laugh with some of the things he says. For example, when asked why he is so silly, he responded, “’Cause I’m just 2.” William loves to “help” David with projects around the house and read dinosaur books with him. He also enjoys helping Emily cook/bake, sweep, mop, and vacuum. He wants to be involved in whatever he can.
We are very grateful that David has been unofficially labeled a “white-cloud” intern, meaning he doesn’t get a lot of difficult patients, and gets the ones he does have well enough to go home in a timely fashion. Ultimately that means he is home a lot more than he would otherwise be. He is really enjoying his work, and doing very well. He finished a month at the VA hospital’s ICU, then a month at University (of Cincinnati) Hospital’s gastrointestinal specialty service. David is really good to make time for Emily and William whenever he is home.
We are looking forward to the LDS General Conference this weekend, and hope you are doing well.
Love,
David, Emily, and William
We have done a lot of work on our master bathroom. David took out the toilet, two layers of linoleum flooring, shower door, cabinet/vanity, and baseboards. Emily chose and ordered all of the materials for our shower and floor to be tiled. Although we paid a professional (a German lady—a grandmother, and mother of 5 children—who did a great job, by the way) to put the tile in, we still feel like we get credit for this bathroom project since we did all of the preparatory and finishing work! After searching high and low (lower than we wanted) for a taller cabinet, it seemed better to have David build a base to raise our existing cabinet six inches higher to save his back from bending over so much. Emily touched up the paint, and David installed a new toilet, and put everything else back. It was quiet an ordeal. Emily and William in particular took countless trips to Home Depot for this project.
When he wasn’t working on our bathroom or working at the hospital, David delved into learning how to cook Indian food. He has tried multiple dishes, with Emily as his assistant. David has quite the knack for knowing how to spice things, so we have really enjoyed his cuisine. If this sounds good to you, you’ll just have to plan a visit to Cincinnati and we’ll make some for you. In August we enjoyed going to an outdoor big band concert. William was quite the ham—dancing and generally performing for those sitting around us. We also enjoyed our first trip to the Louisville temple about 90 minutes away. Labor Day weekend we had our first out-of-town visitors to our new home here. Emily’s sister Adrienne and her family stayed overnight, and we had a nice—but too short—visit. William had a blast with his five cousins. A few weeks ago, Emily and William were surprised to see three deer in our front yard. Emily ran to get the camera, but they were gone when she returned. After she put the camera away, she and William saw the three again with a fourth as they walked through our back yard. It is not unusual for us to see deer in our backyard, but if we happen to miss it, our neighbors are always sure to give us the “deer sighting report”.
David and Emily were finally given callings in our ward. David is an Elders Quorum instructor, teaching basically every time he is able to attend church. He and Emily were both assigned to serve on the activities committee. This is a calling neither of us has ever had. Our first activity to help with was an indoor “picnic and drive-in movie”.
It seems strange that we had to leave Texas to be affected by a hurricane, but that is what happened. Hurricane Ike moved up towards Ohio and collided with a cold front, causing an unusual dry windstorm for a couple hours. Cincinnati has so many trees and many were blown down, knocking down many power lines. 90% of the metropolitan area—over 500,000 homes—were left without power. We felt fortunate to only be without power for 3 ½ days, instead of up to eight like a few of our friends. We also feel blessed that the weather was so pleasant during that time, and that our freezer was so full, minimizing the loss of food. We felt like we were camping in our own home, going around with flashlights and candles, or even just sitting in the dark talking at night. We survived, but are very grateful for our electricity! We’re also grateful we don’t live in an area where hurricanes are more likely.
William now knows all of his letters and the sound they make. He is a very determined, strong-willed boy, who also has some sensitivity. William continues to be a very cheerful boy in general. He also is a jokester—really making us laugh with some of the things he says. For example, when asked why he is so silly, he responded, “’Cause I’m just 2.” William loves to “help” David with projects around the house and read dinosaur books with him. He also enjoys helping Emily cook/bake, sweep, mop, and vacuum. He wants to be involved in whatever he can.
We are very grateful that David has been unofficially labeled a “white-cloud” intern, meaning he doesn’t get a lot of difficult patients, and gets the ones he does have well enough to go home in a timely fashion. Ultimately that means he is home a lot more than he would otherwise be. He is really enjoying his work, and doing very well. He finished a month at the VA hospital’s ICU, then a month at University (of Cincinnati) Hospital’s gastrointestinal specialty service. David is really good to make time for Emily and William whenever he is home.
We are looking forward to the LDS General Conference this weekend, and hope you are doing well.
Love,
David, Emily, and William
Monday, September 22, 2008
Some fun pictures
Having fun on one of our many trips to Home Depot
Silly Willy (no, we never call him Willy)
Silly Willy (no, we never call him Willy)
Sunday, July 27, 2008
WKRP in Cincinnati!
Dear family and friends,
Maybe we could say WKRP stands for “We Know Real People” in Cincinnati now. Since we last wrote, we have successfully moved all of our belongings to Cincinnati, OH, where David is now gainfully employed at the University of Cincinnati Hospital as a neurology resident. We felt very blessed to have sold our home swiftly, and for not much less than we had originally hoped for, given the market situation. In May we went on a house-hunting trip to Cincinnati, and were able to find a home, negotiate a contract, and get it inspected in 4 days. We returned to Dallas to enjoy David’s graduation from medical school May 31st. Much of David’s family was there for the occasion, and Emily’s parents were able to come down as well. After the festivities, we packed everything up and left Irving June 7th. We closed on our new home June 10th, and David began his orientation June 16th, so there wasn’t too much time to get settled before things got busy again. Then we managed to get away to Nauvoo, Illinois for the family reunion of the Miller family for a few days. We had a great time visiting with family and seeing the LDS historic sites there. David's first two weeks of residency were night float, followed by two weeks of emergency department. To “celebrate” having finished his first month of residency, David ripped out our master shower. Now we need to figure out what to do about replacing it!
We are excited to be expecting our 3rd child on January 7th, and Emily is relieved that the morning sickness is mostly over. She and William ventured out to a blackberry field in northern Kentucky (about 45 minutes away), and managed to pick 16 pounds of blackberries! William was a great help, and we had a fun time. Emily made 5 batches of freezer jam, and we froze the rest of the blackberries to enjoy other ways.
William can now count to 20 (almost), knows his colors really well, knows almost all the alphabet (not by sight), and is making progress on potty training. William’s two latest obsessions are tools of all kinds and blocks. He also recently got a tricycle from his Great Grandpa Clark, which he enjoys trying to figure out, and was given an old toy lawn mower by our neighbor, which was an instant hit. He also enjoys playing in a sandbox we put together for him. Since we’ve moved to Cincinnati, he has figured out how to open doors with child locks, so we have had to be more creative in keeping him out of certain places.
David has been thrown right into the medical care arena. He did about 18 days of night float, where he admitted all the patients after 8pm and before 6am. This got him into a rhythm very quickly, and he has cared for those with alcoholic withdrawal to pulmonary hypertension to heart/kidney/liver failure. Every third night he took cross-cover calls, where he took care of everyone else’s patients after they went home. David figured he was responsible for over 100 patients on these nights. Next he worked two weeks in the ER, where he sewed up a knee, casted a broken arm, drained a three-inch boil, and lost count of the gynecological exams he performed, among many other things. His most unpleasant patient was a lady who had not been able to have a bowel movement in seven days. He spent six hours trying to chemically and digitally dysimpact her. The wildest patient was a man who shot up with some “bad” heroin and went into respiratory arrest, after which his drug-buddies did CPR on him for more than 20 minutes before he came back. He was embarrassed about it, and though he was sick, he didn’t come to the ER until three days later. When David saw him, he had anoxic injury to his brain and was in kidney failure in addition to having had cardiac damage. David has just started his next rotation in the VA medical intensive care unit.
We miss all of our Texas friends and family, but are enjoying this beautiful city and cooler weather. If any of you are ever in the area, we would love to have you come for a visit!
Love,
David, Emily, and William
Maybe we could say WKRP stands for “We Know Real People” in Cincinnati now. Since we last wrote, we have successfully moved all of our belongings to Cincinnati, OH, where David is now gainfully employed at the University of Cincinnati Hospital as a neurology resident. We felt very blessed to have sold our home swiftly, and for not much less than we had originally hoped for, given the market situation. In May we went on a house-hunting trip to Cincinnati, and were able to find a home, negotiate a contract, and get it inspected in 4 days. We returned to Dallas to enjoy David’s graduation from medical school May 31st. Much of David’s family was there for the occasion, and Emily’s parents were able to come down as well. After the festivities, we packed everything up and left Irving June 7th. We closed on our new home June 10th, and David began his orientation June 16th, so there wasn’t too much time to get settled before things got busy again. Then we managed to get away to Nauvoo, Illinois for the family reunion of the Miller family for a few days. We had a great time visiting with family and seeing the LDS historic sites there. David's first two weeks of residency were night float, followed by two weeks of emergency department. To “celebrate” having finished his first month of residency, David ripped out our master shower. Now we need to figure out what to do about replacing it!
We are excited to be expecting our 3rd child on January 7th, and Emily is relieved that the morning sickness is mostly over. She and William ventured out to a blackberry field in northern Kentucky (about 45 minutes away), and managed to pick 16 pounds of blackberries! William was a great help, and we had a fun time. Emily made 5 batches of freezer jam, and we froze the rest of the blackberries to enjoy other ways.
William can now count to 20 (almost), knows his colors really well, knows almost all the alphabet (not by sight), and is making progress on potty training. William’s two latest obsessions are tools of all kinds and blocks. He also recently got a tricycle from his Great Grandpa Clark, which he enjoys trying to figure out, and was given an old toy lawn mower by our neighbor, which was an instant hit. He also enjoys playing in a sandbox we put together for him. Since we’ve moved to Cincinnati, he has figured out how to open doors with child locks, so we have had to be more creative in keeping him out of certain places.
David has been thrown right into the medical care arena. He did about 18 days of night float, where he admitted all the patients after 8pm and before 6am. This got him into a rhythm very quickly, and he has cared for those with alcoholic withdrawal to pulmonary hypertension to heart/kidney/liver failure. Every third night he took cross-cover calls, where he took care of everyone else’s patients after they went home. David figured he was responsible for over 100 patients on these nights. Next he worked two weeks in the ER, where he sewed up a knee, casted a broken arm, drained a three-inch boil, and lost count of the gynecological exams he performed, among many other things. His most unpleasant patient was a lady who had not been able to have a bowel movement in seven days. He spent six hours trying to chemically and digitally dysimpact her. The wildest patient was a man who shot up with some “bad” heroin and went into respiratory arrest, after which his drug-buddies did CPR on him for more than 20 minutes before he came back. He was embarrassed about it, and though he was sick, he didn’t come to the ER until three days later. When David saw him, he had anoxic injury to his brain and was in kidney failure in addition to having had cardiac damage. David has just started his next rotation in the VA medical intensive care unit.
We miss all of our Texas friends and family, but are enjoying this beautiful city and cooler weather. If any of you are ever in the area, we would love to have you come for a visit!
Love,
David, Emily, and William
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Spring Has Sprung
Dear family and friends,
We’ve had a few developments in the last few weeks that we would like to share. First of all, March 20 we found out that David matched with the University of Cincinnati neurology program! We put our house on the market the next day, and are gradually figuring out options for our new home. We will likely make a trip to Cincinnati to look at houses in May, and hope to be moved-in by mid-June.
David has been on his final spring break the last two weeks, and we have tried to make the most of our remaining time in Texas. We’ve taken William to the Dallas Arboretum and the World Aquarium (see photos), and visited David’s Grandma Evins and Grandpa Clark. While visiting Grandma Evins, we saw the Azalea Trail and rose gardens in Tyler, and while in College Station with Grandpa Clark, we saw the Texas A&M Campus, the George Bush Presidential Library, and went on a tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. We also got to visit with David’s brother Matt, who lives with Grandpa.
When we returned home, we celebrated William’s 2nd birthday with David’s parents and sister Lisa. His cake was decorated with a vacuum cleaner, since it remains his obsession.
William is now learning colors and making baby steps in counting and recognizing letters. His physical activity continues to increase! It is a challenge to keep him from jumping on the couch and spitting out his food, among other forms of mischief. The week before we put our house on the market, William decided to help with our home repairs with his wood hammer. Before we could intervene, he had shattered a pane in his bedroom window. We are still enamored with him and really enjoying our little 2-year-old.
Love,
David, Emily, and William
We’ve had a few developments in the last few weeks that we would like to share. First of all, March 20 we found out that David matched with the University of Cincinnati neurology program! We put our house on the market the next day, and are gradually figuring out options for our new home. We will likely make a trip to Cincinnati to look at houses in May, and hope to be moved-in by mid-June.
David has been on his final spring break the last two weeks, and we have tried to make the most of our remaining time in Texas. We’ve taken William to the Dallas Arboretum and the World Aquarium (see photos), and visited David’s Grandma Evins and Grandpa Clark. While visiting Grandma Evins, we saw the Azalea Trail and rose gardens in Tyler, and while in College Station with Grandpa Clark, we saw the Texas A&M Campus, the George Bush Presidential Library, and went on a tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. We also got to visit with David’s brother Matt, who lives with Grandpa.
When we returned home, we celebrated William’s 2nd birthday with David’s parents and sister Lisa. His cake was decorated with a vacuum cleaner, since it remains his obsession.
William is now learning colors and making baby steps in counting and recognizing letters. His physical activity continues to increase! It is a challenge to keep him from jumping on the couch and spitting out his food, among other forms of mischief. The week before we put our house on the market, William decided to help with our home repairs with his wood hammer. Before we could intervene, he had shattered a pane in his bedroom window. We are still enamored with him and really enjoying our little 2-year-old.
Love,
David, Emily, and William
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Winter Whassup
It has been a long time since we last wrote. On September 21 our son Aaron David Clark was miraculously born and tarried with us for a few hours before passing away. Though we were saddened at his passing, we had much relief that he had a peaceful life without pain or suffering. We are grateful all four of our parents could be there to meet their grandson. We had a brief graveside service for him on September 24, which was attended by our parents, Grandpa Clark, David’s sisters, and Emily’s brother Nigel. We feel very blessed to have had so much love, support, faith, and prayers from so many of you.
In October we made the rounds in Texas to visit David’s Grandma Evins and Grandpa Clark on the way to his second major board exam in Houston. After a brief stop at our home, we then drove up to Rochester, Minnesota for David’s 4-week rotation in neurology at the Mayo Clinic. Emily’s sister and family live in town and were gracious enough to put us up in their basement for the month. This was an excellent experience for David career-wise, and the whole family enjoyed the visit with family as well as the different weather. We raked quite a few leaves and also saw some snow, and William went trick-or-treating for the first time. After a few houses, he got the routine down and was knocking on the door. We spent a few days in Kansas City around Thanksgiving visiting Emily’s parents in their new home, along with Emily’s two sisters and their families. It was fun to be together.
David interviewed for neurology residency from November to January, going to Rochester, Atlanta, St. Louis, Nashville, Iowa City, and Cincinnati. We will find out March 20 where we will go. He had most of January off, and is in the middle of a Radiology rotation right now, which is rather light. We have really enjoyed having David around so much more the past few months.
At the end of December David’s sister Melanie moved to Lubbock, Texas to start a new job at Texas Tech in its architectural library. She has been happy to finally be on her own after earning her master’s degree.
Early in January we were happy to welcome David’s brother Matthew back from his mission in Bolivia. It was fun for William to meet him for the first time. Matthew began his semester at Texas A&M the very next Monday, and is doing well.
William has made many new developments the last several months. He now climbs all over, shakes his head “no”, opens doors, eats with a fork/spoon, does somersaults, and is learning new words every day. William can now say his name quite well, and has started putting two words together. Just today he learned how to give us kisses, just in time for Valentine’s Day! He also loves to give us hugs, but he is 100% boy—being into cars, trucks, trains, blocks, destroying things, running and jumping, and playing outside.
Emily’s favorite recent incident happened last week when she left the kitchen for a couple minutes. She returned to find William sitting in a chair, shaking chili powder (that she had left on the kitchen counter) into a bowl. When he saw her, he said, “Happing! Happing! [Helping]”. He really is a good little helper—loving to sweep, vacuum, put his shoes and clothes away, and put his dishes in the dishwasher.
We had a big scare this week when we found he was missing from the backyard. After an eternal three minutes of sheer terror and a 911 call, Emily discovered him in the car. He had gotten in, closed the door, and started playing with the CDs. We didn’t even know he could open the car door on his own.
In anticipation of moving, we have taken on some home improvement/remodeling projects, including resurfacing and painting our bathroom, installing a new toilet, repairing the backyard fence, and painting several other rooms.
We were saddened to learn of the passing of our dear prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, but were happy to sustain President Thomas S. Monson as the new president of our Church today in our Stake conference.
We hope you are all doing well.
Love,
David, Emily, and William
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