The Next Chapter

Here's a photo from the archive; it was taken at our friends (Sean and Sarah) wedding in August 2006:

Shana, Samara, and I flew home on the weekend of April 28th so I could watch the NFL draft with my brother (a male bonding thing). This was Samara's first plane trip and I was sure to take several photos of the journey to and fro. The planes were small and we got to walk out on the tarmac; so, I asked if I could take a picture and they obliged! Here are some of the photos:

Samara was a perfect angel during both plane trips. I'm affraid that if we had attempted this when she was in her terrible 2's, it would be a different story!










While at home, Shana took Samara, Taz, and John for a ride in the wagon!







Samara and I have been hanging out at home for the last several weeks. We seem to take walks on a daily basis; this calms Samara. She enjoys being able to go out and explore, even though I direct where we go. On several occassions, she'll see someone walking on the other side of the street and yell out to them...her version of "hi"! One day, I decided to let her loose in the front yard and let her explore for herself. Needless to say, she put things in her mouth as well as those tasty pansy's. Here are some images of her adventures!








































































Samara has been developing nicely and has NOT been sick, thank goodness! Samara is now able to crawl up the stairs and slide back down on her tummy with amazing speed! She's also speaks words on a regular basis now and her vocabulary is growing on a weekly basis. Some words she uses regularly are: mum, daddy, bye bye, hi, hi kitty (when she wakes up in the morning and sees the cats), puppy, cat, stop, no no no, ...

I have added several new videos of Samara on our MySpace account; click here and then click on the "videos" link below Samara's picture. One of the videos I dug up out of the archives and is of her sneezing just after she was born. The other video is of her sliding down the stairs on her tummy!

She has also learned how to signal touchdown, throwing her arms up in the air for a few seconds, then bringing them down to clap in celebration (We are especially pleased at this coordination)!

Oh! Samara finally got her first tooth!!! Finally! No more gumming her food.









Lately, some people (and you know who you are) have been telling us that Samara looks more and more like me (Chris) than Shana. My response is typically, you are full of it! However, I must recant a little here. One day I was cleaning our computer room and found several photos of myself when I was a wee one...older than Samara though...and I noticed some striking similarities. So, I have decided to post several of those photos and photos Shana and I dug up of her youth. You be the judge...and let us know what you think!



Chris at 2 years of age...

Chris at 3 years...

Chris at 3 and a half years...

Shana at around 6 months...

Shana at around 2-ish with her older sister Stacey...








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Life seems like an endless battle to surround oneself with stability. And when there is an inkling of instability, we become a little frightened at what that might entail. When Shana and I moved to Colorado so that I could go to school, we had some of those thoughts that accompany a change in stability. Moving away from home, from friends and familiy, from the familiar; all of this was to be the challenge. At first, much of the transition was easy

Being away from the familiar was a little tough to deal with; especially now that we had started our own family. But, it was a sacrifice we were willing to wrestle for the next few years. Driving, or flying, back home as much as possible to make up for lost time. Life seemed like the bare minimum of family interaction; I am certain most everyone understands the complexity of what I'm attempting to explain.

Like most situations, there is not a clear black and white boundary; mostly grey's. And if you throw a little color into the spectrum, things can get very complicated. While we were coping with life away from the familiar, life at school was not rosey. Over the last several years, everything associated with what we had came to Colorado for, predominantly school, was becoming awash in muck. I was brought to Colorado to work on Mars related research and a time passed, I realized that my advisor had less and less interest in working on that type of research. If your boss isn't interested in what you're doing, then you'll be less motivated. I did not feel challenged and as a result, became really bored with school because research was going nowhere (however, classes were wonderful). There were a few other issues for instance, funding, connections with colleagues that had dissolved, etc etc. Essentially, I was unhappy and it was time to look for another "job". So, back in December, I gave my old chums at the OWRB a feeler and by April they had decided to hire me. So, we move back to Oklahoma City in less than a week and thus, start the "Next Chapter" in our journey.

We will miss everyone we have become accustomed to in Colorado and hopefully we'll be able to trek back for a visit. As we turn the next page in our book, we say "So long and good luck." Until next time.