The Owens Family

Calvin & Charlotte

2012-01-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Words of Wisdom

2011-01-25T18:58:00.001-08:00

This evening I turned the State of the Union address on briefly (on mute), and Calvin immediately pointed to the man on TV and said "Turn off!" (We did).

I love being a mommy

2011-01-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up to the sound of Calvin singing through the monitor. When I went in his room, he had all his stuffed animals lined up in his crib, and he said, "Animals singing!" I said, "Oh, what are they singing?" Calvin said, "Amazing Grace!" and we proceeded to sing it together.

Connecticut

2010-11-11T15:47:00.001-08:00

Calvin and I tagged along on Todd's first business trip to visit Sikorsky in Stratford, Connecticut, in September. Todd had to work some long days while we were there, but we did get to go out to eat at some amazing New York-style pizza places most nights! During the days, Calvin and I drove around and found a few parks we had all to ourselves, much unlike the parks in Gilbert that are teeming with toddlers and mommies this time of year!

I was hoping to see some of the East Coast autumn colors I miss, but we were a few weeks early for that. I did spot a few colorful leaves though!

Sticks in hand, as always...

No, he does not have static electricity in his hair; it just grows like that!

This park was built around a homestead from the 1600's!

According to their website, they are a popular place for weddings. I can see why!

This was such a relaxing afternoon. We drove around until Calvin fell asleep in his car seat (look in the rearview mirror), and I got to watch the waves and windsurfers and do some reading while Calvin napped.

Day at the zoo - here is Calvin ignoring the pheasants wandering the grounds while he hunts for sticks and leaves.

Another empty park in a prime location

I thought the seashells might interest him, but of course he only wanted to find sticks...

This was taken right before he fell in the water and we had to hike back to the car to change into his bathing suit!

Looking south toward Long Island

On our way back to JFK airport, we drove around Long Island and did some sightseeing. We saw some of the old mansions on the north shore that inspired The Great Gatsby, and we stopped by President Theodore Roosevelt's home (Sagamore Hill National Historic Site), below. We were hoping to tour it, but unfortunately it was closed because they had no electricity due to some powerful storms the previous night.

Our growing boy

2010-10-31T14:42:00.001-07:00

I have so many pictures from recent outings that I don't even know where to start! Usually this is what triggers my extreme procrastination in updating this blog, because it is so much work to weed through all our photos (I have over 13,000 pictures on my computer). I really do want to share them with you all though, so I will try to just pick a handful to post and stop overthinking it!

I joined a mom's group recently, thanks to my friend Molly's prompting, and we have been making new friends and going on lots of adventures and enjoying the beautiful weather! Here is Calvin at the "POCK!!" as he would say (park).

Getting ready to go down the slide (with our friends Ashley, Logan and Mason waiting in line)!

Calvin loves to read! I love when I find him sitting on the couch with his carefully-selected reading material all by himself.

At Jump Street - a great place for kids with lots of big trampolines. Calvin's favorite part, however, is the arcade games.

It was so nice to be able to spend some time with my mom when she was on fall break from teaching! Here she is trying to encourage Calvin to try the trampoline, but he wasn't quite brave enough to try it by himself. He just enjoyed bouncing while I jumped around near him.

This thing is huge! They have several of these inflatable slides for the kids. I actually can't believe Calvin is afraid of the trampoline but not THIS!

Remembering Emma

2010-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

October 3, 2010 - Emma's due date

We wanted to celebrate Emma's life on this day and remember her by doing something special. We decided to ask a few of our closest friends to meet with us at her burial site and release 40 yellow balloons. We had 40 balloons to represent the fact that she would have been 40 weeks old on her due date, and yellow is the color that will always remind us of her, and the color we would have painted her room.

Calvin's Nana brought him a special balloon to keep

Thank you to our wonderful friends who came to remember Emma with us. Your support and love means so much to us, and we thank God for all of you!

I Thessalonians 4:13-18

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."

I Corinthians 15:50-57

"I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Job 1:21

"Naked I come from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

John 11:25-26

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' "

Thank you, Father, for giving us the gift of Emma. We pray that her life would always be used to bring glory to your name.

The story of Emma's birth

2010-07-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

By now, most of you know that the last time I wrote about Emma was the night before she was born. How wrong I was when I said it looked like I wasn't going into labor anytime soon! "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." (Proverbs 16:9) On Tuesday, June 29, 2010, I woke up at 5:00am. I'm not sure which woke me up, but Todd's alarm went off at 5:00 to wake him up for work, and I was also having contractions. I could tell right away that these contractions were more intense than anything I had felt yet. I wasn't too concerned until I got up to use the restroom and saw all the blood. Todd called my nurse right away, who happened to be working that night by God's grace! She is a fellow believer, and we were so thankful that she was working the night shift (which was the first time in 18 years she had ever worked four 12-hour shifts on consecutive days - and now we know why she was called in to work at the last minute)! She checked my cervix and said I was fully dilated.

I was still trying to absorb the news as they wheeled me to a labor & delivery room. Just the day before I had been thinking that it was the first day in the hospital that I had really felt bored, and I was wondering what it would be like to spend the next 2-3 months on bedrest in a hospital. I was trying to comprehend how our lives would change if we brought our special-needs daughter home from the hospital. Suddenly those possibilities were shattered, because we knew that if our baby came at 26 weeks with her current heart problems then she had almost no chance of survival (short of a miracle).

Once in the labor & delivery room, the doctor had me start pushing. After the second set of pushes, my water broke and then my contractions slowed down considerably. In fact, they slowed so much that my doctor decided not to make me push any more until they had given me Pitocin to speed things back up. They took us to a new room that was much bigger, which was very nice since some of our friends and family had started arriving at the hospital. We actually had a few hours then to wait. I'm so thankful for that time that we were able to spend together as the events of that morning sunk in, and I think Todd and I were able to mentally prepare a little more for what we assumed would happen next. The other reason I will always treasure that time is that we were able to listen to Emma's heartbeat for the last time. They had her on a heartbeat monitor the entire time I was in labor, and it was a wonderful reminder that she was there, alive inside of me, even though we couldn't see her yet.

Sometime close to 10:00am, my nurse came in the room to adjust Emma's heartbeat monitor because it wasn't picking her up. That didn't worry us too much, because they had monitored her every day I was in the hospital and she was always moving away from the monitors! I finally realized something was wrong when the nurse was moving the monitor all over my belly and still not finding a heartbeat. We all started to realize that Emma might already be gone. Then, for just a moment, the nurse found Emma's heartbeat again, and then it was gone. She went to get the doctor to do an ultrasound to look for her heartbeat. Everything happened quickly then. I remember holding Todd's hand the whole time and squeezing it with all my might. The doctor came in to put me on the ultrasound, and I was looking at the screen and couldn't see Emma. He said that she had already dropped down out of the uterus and that he couldn't see a heartbeat. That's when the tears really came, and I finally realized that our baby girl was already in the presence of the Lord, and that it happened sometime while I was sitting there in L&D room 1, holding Todd's hand.

Emma was delivered shortly after that. Her umbilical cord came first, and my doctor said that most likely it was her cord being pinched that caused her to pass away. I remember not being able to see Emma right away and being impatient to hold her. They finally put her in my arms, and it was overwhelming how tiny she was and how perfectly she was formed at the same time. I don't think I cried. I've never held a lifeless body in my arms before but it was really an incredible feeling to know that I was holding my daughter who had been living inside me for 26 weeks but that Emma's soul was actually with Jesus at that very moment. I've heard other people describe their stillborn babies as "born to heaven," and I like that. Emma's body was born at 10:27am on June 29, but sometime shortly before that, she was actually "born" in heaven, and it's the only home she'll ever know.

Emma's birthday was such a special day. We were able to see and cry with many dear friends. Our amazing friend Brittany took lots of pictures for us so that we would have memories of our time with Emma. We also were blessed to have a photographer come from Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, an organization of volunteer photographers who will come to the hospital and take beautiful black & white photos of babies like Emma, so we can remember how she looked. Even the hospital nurses took some pictures for us, and gave us a dress for Emma to wear because the preemie outfits we had were too big for her.

We left the hospital the next day around 1:30pm. Leaving Emma behind was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do, even though we knew it was only her physical body. The next few days were a blur of planning for Emma's memorial service. I don't know what we would ever have done without Heather Renee and my mom making so many of the arrangements for us, as well as all the help from many other wonderful people.

Now that some time has passed, some of our friends have said they aren't sure whether we want to talk about Emma or if it's easier to avoid the topic altogether. I know I can speak for both Todd and me and say that we love to talk about her. She was with us for such a short time, but she was still our daughter and we don't want to pretend she didn't exist. We loved her so much, and we always will, and we look forward to the day we will be able to see her again in Heaven. We are confident of this for two reasons: (1) We believe that God has mercy on the souls of babies who die and they are part of His elect; and (2) We believe that Jesus is God's Son and that He lived a perfect life on this earth, was crucified and died, and was raised from the dead. We believe that God's Word tells us that those who place their faith and trust in Jesus to forgive their sins will receive God's forgiveness because of Jesus' work and His alone. We are not trusting in our own lives or deeds for salvation, because we know nothing we could ever do would satisfy a holy God. "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:22-24). Because Todd and I believe we have been justified before God because of Jesus, we believe that we will spend eternity with Him in Heaven - "having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:7).

I wanted to say these things to explain WHY we can say that we will see Emma again one day. We aren't saying that just because it's the thing to say when you lose a loved one; we are confident of it because of God's promises. As Paul writes in I Thessalonians 4:13-14, "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep [die], or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep [died] in him." Christians have a certain hope of a bodily resurrection when Jesus returns. "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'

'Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?'" (I Corinthians 15: 52-55)

This is our hope. We are so sad that we have lost our little girl. We don't understand all the reasons, but we know that it was part of God's plan for Emma's own good (Romans 8:28). And we do truly have peace in the midst of this, because God never changes, and He always keeps his promises. We also know that God loves Emma even more than we do, more than we can imagine.

"He tends his flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them close to his heart;

he gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:11)

Your Hands

2010-07-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Your Hands

J.J. Heller

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
One day You will set all things right

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave You when...

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave...
I never leave Your hands

Emma Grace

2010-06-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Obviously, it's been months since I have updated this blog, and it would be a huge understatement to say that our lives have changed drastically since my last post! Since anyone still checking this blog already knows about our recent news, I will quickly summarize what's happened and then try to be more faithful about updating in the future.

We found out at the end of January that I was pregnant again, and we were overjoyed! My due date was September 25, which was then moved to October 3. We had hoped that our children could be close in age, and Calvin would only be 20 months when our next child was born! The beginning of the pregnancy was very typical. I did have some spotting that caused us some concern, but it went away after about two weeks. On May 12, the day before our fourth wedding anniversary, we went for my 20-week ultrasound and found out we were having a little girl!! We were ecstatic. After the ultrasound when we met with my doctor, she told us that they found some cysts on our baby's brain so they were referring us to a specialist to do a Level II ultrasound. She told us not to worry about anything and that the cysts are fairly common and don't cause any damage by themselves.

May 19 at 7:30am we showed up for our next ultrasound. After about an hour of studying our baby's brain and heart, the ultrasound technician stopped and said "I'm sorry, but there's something wrong with your baby's heart." I had done a bit of research online about the cysts on her brain and what they could possibly indicate, but the chances that they actually meant there was a serious problem were so small that I had basically decided to stop looking into it and hope (and pray!) for the best. However, when she spoke those words, I just burst into tears. I know she was not supposed to say anything to us, but I'm so thankful she did. She was so kind and just patted my leg, said she was so sorry, handed us a box of tissues, and left to get the doctor.

The doctor explained to us that because of three major signs (the choroid plexus cysts, the heart defects, and the fact that our baby's hands were clenched), it was very likely that our little girl had Trisomy 18, a condition he termed "incompatible with life." He was very professional and kind and fortunately did not press the issue when he offered "termination" and we told him that wasn't even an option for us. After our appointment when we first got in our car, Todd stopped and prayed as he has after every single doctor's appointment we've had since I was first pregnant with Calvin. I don't remember now exactly what he prayed, but I do remember that he praised God for this trial and I remember thinking at the time that I wasn't there yet emotionally; I didn't feel thankful for this turn of events at all, but I knew in my head that Todd was right and that eventually we would see the blessing in all of this.

That was over a month ago now. The day after our appointment, we decided to name our daughter Emma Grace. I had thought all along that we wouldn't be able to decide on a name until she was born, like we did with Calvin, but we changed our minds when we realized that the time she spent growing inside me could be the only time we had with her, and we wanted to connect with her as much as possible during that time. The weeks following the news were full of friends - wonderful, faithful friends from our incredible church family who surrounded us in encouragement and prayer. We were truly overwhelmed to see Christ's love poured out on us through His people.

Our next appointment with the specialist (perinatologist) was June 17. We were told that we would have another ultrasound to take a closer look at our baby's heart. They did the ultrasound and when the doctor came in, she threw us another curveball we never expected. She said that my cervix was very short and I needed to be "admitted." Todd asked her to clarify what she meant; certainly she wasn't talking about going to the hospital! But that's exactly what she meant, and she said we didn't even have time to go home and get some of our things first. They sent us to Banner Desert in Mesa because they deal with a lot of high-risk pregnancies and they also have an excellent NICU. After being admitted and given a room, everything was going fine so Todd decided to go home to shower and pack some of our things. The nurses put me on monitors to check for contractions. A little while later, a nurse came in my room and said I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart and they were putting me on magnesium. I was able to call Todd just before they came to put the IV in me, and he rushed right back to the hospital. The magnesium did get my contractions under control, praise the Lord! Emma needs to stay inside me as long as possible!

I've now been here at the hospital for almost two weeks. Not much has changed. Some days I have more contractions and they adjust medication accordingly, but it doesn't appear like I will go into labor anytime soon. We are definitely praying that I just stay pregnant right now. There is so much more to say, but it's getting late tonight so I'll wrap it up. Our lives have changed so much in the past few weeks, and one of the most comforting things in the midst of this is knowing that we serve an UNCHANGING God! He is good, and He is faithful. I am learning, as I probably will for the rest of my life, that my joy should not be dependent on my circumstances, because my joy comes from the Lord! We have had days of tremendous sorrow, but "joy comes in the morning" and right now we can praise God for that.

Backyard Progress

2010-02-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

We finally put in our pool! Don't you just want to dive right in? :) Todd had a great idea to lay out a rope that is the length of our intended pool perimeter so we could get an idea of where the pool will go and how much space it will take up.

My sweet husband spent the majority of his Christmas vacation time laying blocks to build our raised vegetable and flower gardens in the backyard. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it's exciting to see something in our backyard now when we look out the windows! I can't wait to start gardening again!

Staking out the footers:

We also planted a lemon, tangelo, and sissoo tree. The tangelo tree has produced three ripe and delicious pieces of fruit so far, and the lemon tree is loaded with green lemons ready to ripen soon.

The large front bed will be for vegetables and the two triangular beds for flowers.

Working hard to make sure everything is level:

The next steps are to install a drip irrigation system and cover the concrete blocks with stack stone similar to this:

Calvin's favorite way to sleep

2010-02-14T15:49:00.001-08:00

No More Mullet: The First Haircut

2010-02-14T15:44:00.001-08:00

Before:

After:

Day at the park

2010-01-17T15:38:00.000-08:00

"What's so special about this leaf?" Well let me tell you...

It's a beautiful day at the park with our friends Michelle and Alexis. We stop to play in the soft green grass and take some pictures.

Notice the leaves in the grass? I didn't. Not until we get home, Calvin eats a snack, takes a two-hour nap, and I'm changing his diaper and notice him chewing on something. I fish it out of his mouth, and what do you think it is, oh wise blog readers? That's right. Next time I will know to check Calvin's mouth for leaves and other debris before naptime!

Calvin and Alexis on the swings

He loved this so much!

Calvin's first Christmas

2010-01-17T14:21:00.000-08:00

We really want Calvin to understand that Christmas is not about the presents...

Just kidding - the above picture is from our annual Christmas party, and the vast majority of those presents were not for Calvin! We started doing this gift exchange with our friends Larry & Annette and Alonso & Stephanie several years ago, and each year the quantity of gifts increases! I'm happy to say that we stayed under our $50 total budget - just goes to show that the best presents are not necessarily found in stores (they may be found around your own home, or at the previous year's Christmas party!) Here are the jolly party-goers:

Calvin prefers kitchen utensils to real presents

Christmas morning!

Stocking time

After Christmas morning at home, we were off to Nana's house

More from Denver

2010-01-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

I realized I didn't have many pictures of my brother Matt from our Denver trip. Apparently I only got the camera out when he was at the hospital! This video is probably better than a picture anyway - you get the full Matt effect.

Two months later...

2010-01-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures (finally) from our time in Denver with Matt, Heather and our little nephew Matthew!

Little pumpkin

Aunt Heather is the best!

One afternoon Matt and Heather drove us around a beautiful neighborhood that had deer everywhere!

Red Rocks

Matt and Heather's backyard after the first snow

My Aunt Beth was also in town at the beginning of our trip to see her daughter Anna sing in The Messiah at the Air Force Academy. We were so thankful that we were able to go! Anna is a very talented vocalist and it was fun to get to see a little bit of the campus, even though it was at night - with a wind chill that must have been below zero!

Deck the halls

2009-11-22T18:12:00.001-08:00

We are officially ready for Christmas, thanks entirely to my industrious husband who had the great idea to put up our decorations before we leave for our upcoming trip. If it were up to me, I would probably have procrastinated until Christmas Eve. We are flying to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with Todd's family and stop in Denver on our way home to spend a few days with my brother's family. Since we won't be home until December 9, it will be so nice to come back to a home that's already decorated! I kept thinking it was way too early to put up Christmas decorations (as it always seems when it's still in the 70's outside), but now that they are up, we are definitely in the Christmas spirit! We have been listening to Christmas carols (fortunately there is a wonderful iTunes radio Christmas jazz station so we aren't subjected to the same 5 songs played repeatedly by 99.9KEZ), drinking our pumpkin spice lattes and peppermint mochas, and starting to watch our usual lineup of Christmas movies - A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Nativity Story, It's a Wonderful Life, and, of course, Christmas Vacation. Now if only Calvin would stop trying to eat the Christmas tree...

Happy

2009-11-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

Family time

2009-11-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

Matt, Heather and baby Matthew came back to Arizona for a visit, and we were thrilled to get to meet our nephew and Calvin's cousin for the first time! He is so precious and we love him so much! We can't wait to see them all again in Denver in a couple weeks!

Costumes and birthday parties

2009-11-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

So we found a new bench that was exactly what we were looking for. It's black with nailhead trim that I love, it provides extra seating in the family room and it doubles as a toy chest for quick clean-up when we have company. Calvin was delighted when we brought it home and he had a brand new chew toy! Fortunately he is able to understand the word "no" now and doesn't chew on it anymore, but he loves to use it to practice standing.

All bundled up for the first cold spell! (A high of only 68...brrrr).

Guess what Calvin was for Halloween this year, all you Mr. Lobster fans! (The best part was that after we decided NOT to spend $30 on the lobster costume we saw in a catalog, we found the same exact costume at a garage sale for $1, as well as an armful of other baby clothes for $1-$3. Thanks again for the referral, Erin!)

Calvin attended a birthday party for the first time for his cousin Bailey who turned one! It was a beautiful day in the park for a birthday party.

We like the way this hat shows off Calvin's baby mullet look. Very trendy. :)

The giant cupcake for the birthday girl! Bailey was so polite, she didn't even make a mess with the icing for her mommy to clean up.

My favorite laugh

2009-10-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is an older video, but one I wanted to post because it showcases Calvin's infectious laughter! Only Daddy can really make him laugh like this. :) If you're having a bad day, just watch this video - you can't help but laugh right along with him!

Our Little Bike Rider

2009-10-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

When Calvin's joy really builds up, sometimes it spills out and he has to go for a "bike ride," kicking his legs and squealing with delight!

Da-da

2009-10-12T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hooray!! I have been trying for weeks to upload video clips on here without success. For whatever reason, it worked today! Here is Calvin having a conversation with his abacus about "Dada!"

Photo Shoot: Part II

2009-10-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

More pictures by Brittany:

Photo Shoot: Part I

2009-10-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures our wonderful and talented friend Brittany Carrillo (http://www.dtlphoto.com/) took for us a few weeks ago.

Simple pleasures

2009-10-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

1. Cardboard boxes

2. Tupperware

3. Naps

4. Spending time together

5. Wakeboarding!

Little Man

2009-09-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

Yep, I think he likes peas

This one's for Uncle Matt and Nana:

ASU shorts! (yes, those are the 18 month size shorts you bought, Nana!)

Calvin loves to climb into the coffee table

This is what I saw this afternoon when I went to check on Calvin during his nap:

Motherhood

2009-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

I think this is worth sharing.

Fall is in the air

2009-09-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

It's slowly starting to cool off here, and the anticipation of fall is in the air. Not that we have much of an autumn in Phoenix, but I still think this is my favorite time of year. It's starting to cool off in the mornings now - at least enough that I can take Calvin for a stroll without breaking a sweat, and I know that in other parts of the country the leaves are starting to change beautiful colors. Maybe this year we'll take one of these road trips to experience a little autumn scenery in the desert.

I am trying to do a better job at keeping current pictures on the blog, and I'm reminded every time I realized Calvin has already changed since my last post! He is a bona fide crawler now, finding new fascinations in some unexpected places. This afternoon he was mesmerized by the spring door stop in his room and the vibration it made when he swung at it. His favorite toys right now are tupperware containers and plastic cups, which is fortunate since we have plenty and both are virtually indestructible!

Farmer Calvin:

"Can I help you?"

Daddy and Little Man comparing "guns" in their muscle shirts

My new favorite shirt

Beautiful flowers Todd gave me

Prayer

2009-09-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from a study guide by Tim Keller:

KINGDOM-CENTERED PRAYER

Biblically and historically, the one non-negotiable, universal ingredient in times of spiritual renewal is corporate, prevailing, intensive, kingdom-centered prayer. What is that?

It is focused on God’s presence and kingdom. In Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, Jack Miller talks about the difference between “maintenance prayer” and “frontline” prayer meetings. Maintenance prayer meetings are short, mechanical, and totally focused on physical needs inside the church. But frontline prayer has three basic traits:

1) A request for grace to confess sins and humble ourselves;
2) a compassion and zeal for the flourishing of the church; and
3) a yearning to know God, to see his face, to see his glory.

It is quite clear whether these traits are present when listening to a prayer meeting. Most interesting is to study biblical prayers for revival, such as in Acts 4, or Exodus 33, or Nehemiah 1, where these three elements are easy to see. Notice in Acts 4, for example, that the disciples, whose lives had been threatened, did not ask for protection for themselves and their families, but only boldness to keep preaching!

It is bold and specific. The history of revivals shows one or a few or many who take the lead in praying fervently for renewal. Their pattern is Moses (Exodus 33), who pitched a tabernacle outside Israel’s camp where he and others prayed for God’s presence and to see his glory. Such prayer need not (indeed, usually does not) begin as an organized church program. Rather it is a private field of strong exertion and even agony for the leaders. The characteristics of this kind of prayer include:

a) Pacesetters in prayer who spend time in self-examination. Without a strong understanding of grace, this can be morbid and depressing. But in the context of the gospel, it is purifying and strengthening. They “take off their ornaments” (Ex. 33:1-6). They examine their hearts for idols and set them aside.

b) They then begin to make the big request — a sight of the glory of God. That includes asking:

1) for a personal experience of the glory and presence of God (“that I may know you” [Ex. 33:13]),
2) for the people’s experience of the glory of God (v.15), and
3) that the world might see the glory of God through his people (v.16). Moses asks that God’s presence would be obvious to all: “What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

This is a prayer that the world would be awed and amazed by a show of God’s power and radiance in the church; that it would truly become the new humanity that is a sign of the future kingdom.

It is prevailing and corporate. By this we mean simply that prayer should be constant, not sporadic and brief. Why? Are we to think that God wants to see us grovel? Why do we not simply put in our request in and wait? But sporadic, brief prayer shows a lack of dependence, a self-sufficiency; and thus we have not built an altar that God can honor with his fire. We must pray without ceasing, pray long, pray hard. We will find that the very process is bringing about that which we are asking for — to have our hard hearts melted, to tear down barriers, to have the glory of God break through.

Little Man Update

2009-09-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

Calvin has entered a whole new world of culinary delights! He ate his first solid food (rice cereal) two weeks ago and has also tried oat cereal. Tomorrow we are going to delve into the wonderful world of vegetables!

The first bite - YUM YUM YUM!

I've got this down now!

Calvin is working on tooth #6 already. He will chew on anything available, but his very favorite items are tags and straps and buckles. We realized this when he started being able to get around by rolling - and would always roll straight to his swing, where he figured out that he could pull the strap through the bottom of the swing and chew on the buckle. Other top picks

include the strap on his changing pad, the strap on my leather change purse, the tag on his Boppy pillow, and the camera strap, as seen here.

It seems like every week he is reaching a new milestone. First he was able to push himself into a sitting position from his stomach, then he started pushing onto his hands and knees, and then he was crawling before we knew it! A week ago, on his 7-month birthday, we found him

standing up in his crib, on top of his crib bumper, hanging onto the side railing! As I type this Calvin is pulling himself up into his bouncy seat going after the most desirable object in the room - the strap on the seat, of course!

A little late, but nonetheless

2009-09-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

More pictures from California

Little Man in the big city! Calvin wasn't sure what to think of the cable car ride. The first leg of our trip we were all a little claustrophobic since we sat in the enclosed part of the car where it was hot and stuffy and jammed full of people, but the return trip we got to sit outside in the fresh air where the views were breathtaking!

Even though it was a clear day, the Golden Gate Bridge was still shrouded in fog.

More wedding photos

Something to chew on

2009-09-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly I'm not talking about the latest object to finds its way into Calvin's mouth! I read this quote yesterday in an article by Norman Podhoretz in yesterday's Wall Street Journal and thought it was worth sharing. Feel free to comment if you agree or disagree:

"The great issue between the two political communities is how they feel about the nature of American society. With all exceptions duly noted, I think it fair to say that what liberals mainly see when they look at this country is injustice and oppression of every kind - economic, social and political. By sharp contrast, conservatives see a nation shaped by a complex of traditions, principles and institutions that has afforded more freedom and, even factoring in periodic economic downturns, more prosperity to more of its citizens than in any society in human history. It follows that what liberals believe needs to be changed or discarded - and apologized for to other nations - is precisely what conservatives are dedicated to preserving, reinvigorating and proudly defending against attack."

San Francisco and Monterey

2009-09-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Calvin's first plane ride was on a Boeing 737 from Phoenix to San Jose. They let us take some pictures in the cockpit but the airlines (at least the one we flew) no longer hand out wings to kids on their first flight. So our very sweet friends contacted the airline and had them send Calvin a pair of wings in the mail!

Our first day in San Francisco was cold and foggy. Here is Calvin trying out his cool-weather clothes for the first time ever.

The next day we went to see some redwood trees at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

After the redwoods we drove to Santa Cruz for lunch and then on to Monterey. This is at Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey with Aunt Beth, Aunt Blenda, and Uncle Kem.

New Beginnings

2009-09-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

My brother and his wife had their first baby, Matthew Curtis, on August 20! Here he is with his overjoyed parents, Matt and Heather!

The same week that baby Matt was born, we were in CA for my cousin Jared's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding for a fantastic couple! Here is Jared with his bride Jesse.

With Grandpa and Grandma Wenger

Fun with Mirrors

2009-08-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

Calvin loves checking out that cute baby in the mirror!

Missing Daddy

2009-07-30T15:20:00.001-07:00

Todd accurately predicted that during his trip to Asia last week he would miss probably the best (worst?) week of monsoons we've had so far this year. It started the day he left - in fact, on my way home from dropping Todd off at the airport, I drove through the worst dust storm I have ever seen. There is a mile-long stretch of road near our home that runs along a field that had been recently plowed, and with the dirt blowing in the wind from the dust storm, I could not see an inch in front of my windshield. I know they tell you not to stop if you ever lose visibility in a dust storm, but I didn't know what else to do. I just prayed and prayed that God would protect Calvin and me in our car, and He did! It felt like the longest mile I have ever driven in my life, inching along a few feet at a time, knowing there were cars in front of me and behind me that I couldn't see, and gripping the steering wheel as if my life depended on it. I am still amazed and so thankful that we did not have an accident!

While Todd was away, Calvin and I were busy taking lots of pictures to send to him so he would remember to hurry home! :) Here are a few of the pictures:

The Asia trip

2009-07-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Last week, Todd had to travel to South Korea and Taiwan for work. It was hard being apart for so long, but we were very thankful the trip was shortened to a week instead of the original two weeks it was going to be! I think our anticipation of being apart for a week was almost worse than it actually turned out to be, because the time went so quickly. Overall Todd had a good trip, and was able to do a little sightseeing in between meetings.

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a display of old Korean War photos in Seoul. My grandfather fought in the Korean War, so seeing these pictures had extra significance to me. I try to refrain from writing about political topics on this blog, but I think these pictures speak for themselves, so I don't need to add any commentary.

July Pictures

2009-07-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

"Oh Dad, I love you!"

"Can I eat your nose?"

Showing off the first two teeth

Playing in the pen

Five months old!

Summertime in the City

2009-07-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Pictures from June...

My brother Matt graduates from podiatry school

Calvin ponders whether he would like to sample Aunt Heather's dinner

So hard to find a spot to chew on this ball...

Little Obi Wan

Calvin keeps an eye on daddy working in the garage

Recent Activities of Little Man

2009-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks, Calvin has...

...celebrated Easter

...held a tea party protest

...checked his email with Daddy

...chilled at the pool with cousin Bailey

...discussed the economy with Daddy

...and taken many naps!

New Photo Album

2009-04-08T07:56:00.001-07:00

I have posted some recent pictures of Calvin in a new album. Just click on the photos link on the right side of this page and click on the album "Calvin - April 09."

Enjoy!

Uncle Matt & Aunt Heather

2009-04-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we had to say goodbye to my brother Matt and his wife Heather, as they are moving to Denver for three years for Matt's podiatry residency. We are going to miss them so much!! Heather is one of my closest friends (and not just because she has such an awesome name!) and really is like a sister to me. It will be hard to be apart, especially with their baby boy on the way in August, but I am so thankful that we were able to live fairly close to each other for a few years.

I'm so thankful to have such a great brother and sister-in-law, and we are sure hoping that they still want to move back to Phoenix once residency is over!! Calvin can't wait to have his cousin close by, and Todd and I are so excited to have a nephew! :)

A Carefree Day

2009-04-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Calvin went on his first road trip two weeks ago when we were invited on a day trip to the town of Carefree with Calvin's cousin Bailey, Bailey's mom Erin and Aunt Rebecca. Bailey and Calvin slept the whole way there. (Don't you just love those cheeks!! We think Calvin's weigh about a pound each.) :)

We ate lunch at a restaurant called The Horny Toad, which was a favorite of my Great Aunt Jo's (Bailey's Great-Grandma). She used to always get the Reuben sandwich, so Rebecca ordered that and Erin and I each had a bite. I never thought I liked Reubens, but I changed my mind after sampling it. The French dip and fried zucchini are also delicious, if you ever find yourself at The Horny Toad in Carefree!

There are lots of cute shops in Carefree, so we walked around a few of them but spent most of the rest of our time taking pictures of the kids. Calvin tried out his sunglasses from Aunt Beth for the first time, but they are still a little big for him. Bailey loved them though!

Calvin Robert

2009-03-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well this time I have a decent excuse for taking so long to update our blog! As most of you probably know by now, our baby was born right on his due date, February 12, 2009! It seems incredible to think that was five weeks ago! He weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21 inches long, and is the spitting image of his daddy (with his mommy's chin, poor thing). We named him Calvin Robert Owens. We chose the name Calvin somewhat because of John Calvin, somewhat because of Calvin Coolidge, and somewhat because we just liked the name! Robert is Todd's middle name and Todd's dad's first name, and I think we like the idea of sticking with family names for all our children's middle names.

Calvin is such a blessing from God and has brought us so much joy! The first few weeks already seem like a blur, but the one thing that will always stand out in my mind was how immediately and intensely I loved this little baby. I just knew the instant I held him that I would always love him and would do anything to protect him from harm and from all the evil in the world. I will never be able to love him perfectly, but now that I'm a mom I feel like I have a better understanding of God's love for His children. It is overwhelming sometimes thinking about what an important task it will be for Todd and me to raise Calvin, but at the same time it's reassuring to know that God entrusted him to us for a reason. And we will pray every day for the grace and wisdom we so desperately need!

Calvin started smiling back at us a few days ago and is quite the little showboat!

He likes to stick out his tongue too. :)

We have so many pictures of Calvin, it's hard to decide which ones to post! If you'd like to see more, please click the link to our photo albums on the right and you'll see a new album with some pictures of Calvin's first few days.

How many people does it take to assemble a Graco Pack 'n Play?

2009-02-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

2 engineers

1 business owner

2 stay-at-home moms

1 three month old cousin

Mr. Manager!

2009-02-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

Todd got a promotion last week to Senior Program Manager!! He is such a hard worker and I am so proud of him! It says a lot to get a promotion in the middle of an economic recession when the company is doing everything possible to cut costs. We are so thankful for all God's blessings!

Having breakfast at home before heading out to host customers at the FBR Open...

Is it February already??

2009-02-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new home

Christmas Day rainbow

Well a whole month of 2009 has come and gone, and I haven't written once! Somehow January already seems like a blur. Here is a quick summary to bring you up to speed... After moving into our new house in four hours flat on the day after Christmas with the help of some very gracious friends, we spent several weeks unpacking, organizing, cleaning, painting, decorating, redecorating, and of course, getting the baby's room all ready! We are very thankful for our new home and are also thankful to be just about finished with home projects for the present time. Putting together 5 ceiling fans, 3 bookshelves, and a baby crib, among other items, presented a great opportunity for Todd and me to hone our electrical and carpentry skills, as well as improve our communication (since my job was to read the instructions while Todd did all the real work). I think we can assemble a ceiling fan in about 20 minutes flat by now!

Our new home

It's been a blessing to be so busy making a house into a home, because now the hard part is kicking in...waiting around for February 12th, our baby's due date! I think I'm a little more impatient for him to arrive than Todd, but maybe that's because I've been lugging him around for almost 39 weeks now, and because Todd is concerned that the baby have all the time he needs to stay safe and nourished in the womb. :) I can't wait to hold him, and finally see what his little face looks like, and oooh and aahh over his tiny fingers and toes!! We found out last Thursday that I'm dilated about a third of the way (although no contractions yet), so that really made things start to sink in that we're going to be parents soon! We're not sure if that means he'll come early, but I'm hoping at least it means my labor will be a bit shorter than it could be otherwise. And at the very least, it was good motivation for me to finish packing our suitcase for the hospital and pick out some outfits for our little "Beeper" to wear home!!

For all you Lobster fans

2008-12-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

Well since Mr. Lobster was such a hit with all you faithful blog readers, we have an update for you. If you read my previous post and were wondering if Lobster got to go along to the cabin, wonder no more! One of his many passions is traveling, so naturally we took him along, and we took many photos to document his experiences.

Here he is entertaining Calvin with war stories from his younger years:

Lobster giving out hugs in the kitchen to Thomas:

Calvin liked Lobster so much I figured out he was plotting to take him home. I couldn't blame him, but as Lobster's guardian, I had to hide Lobster away to keep him safe until Beeper is born.

Lobster sees his first snow:

It's almost Christmas!

2008-12-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the lack of recent updates! December has been a busy month for us. One of the highlights was getting to spend a weekend with our friends Tommy and Tracy and their kids at Tracy's parents' cabin in Overgaard. This was the first time either of us had really been to the Mogollon Rim, and it was beautiful. The cabin was as cozy as could be, and they even had a Christmas tree and Christmas lights up. I used to picture a cabin as pretty much a one-room little building with a fireplace where you sleep on the floor in sleeping bags, so I was quite surprised to find out that this was more like staying at a bed & breakfast with a full kitchen, two bedrooms and a loft, and two full bathrooms!

We arrived on a Friday night and stayed through Sunday morning. On Saturday the kids wanted to go sledding so we drove out to the White Mountains to the Sunrise ski resort (which was not yet open for the season) and found some small hills for sledding. Todd enjoyed pulling the kids around on their sleds and I enjoyed staying warm in the winter coat my friend Cathy let me borrow since all our winter clothes are in storage! We had forgotten what winter weather really feels like. On Saturday night when the kids were saying their prayers before bed, they asked God to send snow. Less than five minutes later it started to snow/sleet and we fell asleep to the sound of the wind howling in the chimney and woke up on Sunday to a blanket of snow outside. It was beautiful and truly felt like we had a little "white Christmas" - Arizona style!

We decided to drive home a different way, so we continued east to Show Low, where they had much more snow than in Overgaard, and Todd was so happy to try out the Yukon's four-wheel drive in the gas station parking lot that hadn't been plowed. :) We headed south from there and the snow quickly disappeared as we reached lower elevations. We drove through the Salt River Canyon which was another first for us. It was a long windy road with lots of switchbacks and a number of rocks that had fallen from the cliffs above. The canyon itself is gorgeous and looks a lot like a mini-Grand Canyon. We'd like to go back sometime in the summer to go white water rafting.

A Date By the Pool

2008-11-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful November evening in Gilbert tonight. We decided to make it a date by having a cookout by the pool. The apartment complex where we are living right now has a beautiful pool area with two outdoor grills that we hadn't used since we moved here in April. We do have our own grill out on the patio, but tonight we chose to grill our hamburgers on the community grills and save our propane. It was a lovely and relaxing evening - relaxing for Todd because he got to sit in the hot tub (I'm not supposed to, being pregnant) and relaxing for me because I didn't spot any black widow spiders (which seem to be everywhere around our apartment complex - but fortunately they have all been outside).

Fall = Pumpkin Pie!

2008-11-19T18:54:00.001-08:00

I don't even like to eat pumpkin pie, but I do like to take pictures of the ones I make that actually turn out right! Good thing it's one of Todd's favorites, so it didn't go to waste. :)

A New View of Roosevelt

2008-11-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

We have gone camping at Roosevelt Lake probably at least six or seven times over the past three years. It took us a several visits to learn that camping in the summer in Arizona is not the best time to go. Sleeping in a tent when it's 105 degrees for the overnight low along with a sticky, humid, monsoon drizzle on the tent tarp is not the best way to have a restful night. Eventually we figured out that spring and fall are the best times to camp, since it's warm enough in the daytime to go wakeboarding but still cools off to the 60s or 70s at night.

Last weekend, however, was by far the most comfortable camping trip we have ever had at Roosevelt, since our "camp" was actually a three-bedroom house complete with a kitchen, fenced-in backyard, charcoal grill, firepit, and most importantly, bathroom with indoor plumbing. If you've ever been to Roosevelt Lake and seen the dam that makes life in the desert possible, you may have noticed a small cluster of houses overlooking the dam. The houses were built around the turn of the century when construction of the dam began, to house some of the workers. (Some of these houses are now submerged under the lake). SRP now owns the houses and only SRP employees can rent them out. Our friend Jeff who works for SRP decided to rent one of the houses, so six of us got to spend a relaxing weekend at Roosevelt Lake with all the conveniences of home.

Highlights of the trip included: a salmon and steak dinner Saturday night; picking out constellations and counting shooting stars in our lawn chairs at night; pumpkin cheesecake for Halloween; playing various trivia games to pass the time, including naming the state capitals and naming cities in Arizona that start with every letter of the alphabet; getting a new stamp in our national parks passport at the Tonto National Monument cliff dwellings; and my personal highlight of the weekend was successfully driving the boat onto the trailer for the first time by myself. It was a much-needed boost of confidence to my boat driving skills, although it was certainly made easier by the fact that there were no other boats in sight and there wasn't even the slightest breeze to blow me off course.

The view from our backyard:

Mr. Lobster

2008-10-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

So last Valentine's Day, Todd took me to this seafood restaurant called the Salt Cellar. It's in Tempe and I'm sure I've driven past it a hundred times and completely missed it, because it looks like a little building that's maybe 50 square feet if that...but that's because you have to walk in the little building and down the staircase to the restaurant which is actually underground! Todd said we could go all out since it was Valentine's Day, so I ordered a lobster with filet mignon, and I'm pretty sure I ate the whole thing. It was my first time eating an entire lobster and not just the tail, and I have to admit, we were both a little weirded out by this huge, whole, dead lobster sitting on my plate with his antenna and everything. Todd seemed really nervous when I would turn the lobster to face him, so of course I kept doing it so he had to face his fears of this thing we came to call "Mr. Lobster."

We had mostly forgotten about our little Mr. Lobster joke until a week or so ago, when a package arrived in the mail from our friends Aaron and Melinda in Alabama, which included, among other things, a giant red stuffed floppy lobster from Maine! Aaron and Melinda's little girl has one too and loves it, so they decided to send us one too for baby Beeper. The trouble is, Todd and I are having so much fun with Mr. Lobster, I'm not sure we'll be able to share him when Beeper comes into the world in February. We might need a lesson first in parental selflessness and sharing your toys with your children. On second thought, maybe we should just go to Maine and get a second Mr. Lobster...

Anyway, we are having a blast with Mr. Lobster while he's still ours, and he does pretty much everything we do. For example, here he is updating his blog, just like me!

Picture Problems

2008-10-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Three postings in three days...I seem to be keeping up with this blog better than I thought I would. It's pretty fun to write stuff on here not having any idea who is reading it besides Todd!

I've been trying unsuccessfully to post several pictures at a time on here. If I try to upload more than two per post, my computer freezes. If you have any suggestions on how to get around this problem, please let us know. In the meantime, I've posted a link over on the right labeled "Photos" that will take you to some photo albums we have on Picasa. Most of the pictures are from 2006 or 2007, but we'll be adding more recent ones soon.

Ultrasound

2008-10-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Baby "Beeper" Owens

Welcome to our new blog!

2008-10-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

With all the changes coming our way (new baby, new house), we thought it might be easier to keep friends and family updated by keeping a blog and posting pictures here. Plus, those of you who don't want to have your email inboxes inundated with baby pictures can browse here at your own pace.

Here are a few of our recent photos of the house. Estimated completion date is December 9, and they are building it at a remarkable speed.

Here is Todd standing in front of the garage:

The soon-to-be nursery:

More pictures to come...