Life at a breakneck pace

I am so sorry it's been so long since I've written. I last posted on Thanksgiving; which seems like just yesterday, but somehow we're only 8 days away from Christmas. In the past few weeks, Gillian has grown so much. She can sit on her own for a little bit and is doing her level best to crawl. We still think she's a few weeks away from being mobile, but it won't be long...

We have been dealing with quite a bit of weather over the past 2 weeks, and luckily everyone that we know here in Kansas city has avoided the worst of it. Unfortunately, 2 of Michelle's siblings and their families were hit pretty hard with the ice storm and were without power for a time. You can see more pictures and read a narrative of the storm on Don's website. Mother Nature is truly amazing sometimes; I just wish we could have the picturesque scenes without the hardships that are endured as a result of the storms.

This past weekend, we spent our time in Iola at the Smith family Christmas. This is my mother's side, and all of her sisters were present with most of all of their children present. Gillian was able to visit extensively with all kinds of people. She was especially excited to see her second cousing Caitlin. They had not seen each other since cousin Eric's wedding.

I keep thinking of things to write about, so I apologize if this doesn't flow very well....last week, Gillian was at the babysitter and her friend Campbell decided that Gillian was being a pest, so Campbell bit Gillian on the face, directly below her eye. We took some pictures, but the pictures really didn't do it justice in hindsight. Other than the initial shock of being bitten, Gillian is showing no ill effects from the incident...however, that being said, you should see the other kid :). Just kidding, no retaliation was taken in this incident.

On a much more serious note, the family of the girl who bit Gillian experienced a great loss this morning around 3 am. Their house burned in Kansas City, KS. At this time, I do not have any more information, but please keep their family in your thoughts and prayers, especially during this special time of year. I will post any more information that I may receive.

In addition to all of this, I saw something today that deemed worthy of posting. George Martin, former NFL defensive end for the New York Giants is walking across the country. Unlike so many other efforts, this is not to gain notoriety for performing such a feat. He is doing it to help raise money and awareness for the heroes of 9/11. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of individuals who are suffering from the toxic combination of dust and airborne particles that accompanied the Twin Towers' collapse in lower Manhattan 7 years ago. You can read more about George Martin in Peter King's column for SI.com; or you can visit George's website. An extremely interesting read....