8.29.2008

.Film.

I finally got my film developed, back from that time I talked about using a roll of film in an experiment to find myself holga worthy. I love getting film back, even when the pictures aren't stellar, because the sensation is right up there with getting a letter in the mail. These were taken on my mom's fully manual Minolta from circa 1985. (I really like the first one, from Ernie and Alex's wedding.)
And because it was a friday in the office:

4 places I visit over and over

1. for a treat: Urban Standard
2. for goodness sake: Pepper Place
3. for community: 1701 16th Ave. S.
4. for lunch: Chipotle

4 people who call/email/text me regularly

1. Keith (duh)
2. my sister
3. Wardo
4. Cory

4 drinks

1. cold: fruity green tea
2. hot: actually chai lately, without even trying, I've avoided coffee for some time
3. fizzy: Dr. Pepper
4. new: Boathouse Farms "Perfectly Protein Hazelnut Latte"

4 places I'd rather be

1. in Guatemala or Spain (my heart longs for it)
2. in a hammock (deep in a misty wood)
3. someplace new and far away, on an adventure with Keith (oh to forsake the 9 - 5)
4. I actually love Birmingham, but I'd prefer to be with my pals, rather than at my desk on a Friday with no breathing things within a 30 ft. radius. (which compells me to do things like this survey to supplement my lack of human contact.)

4 movies I'd watch over and over

1. that I do: Little Women
2. that I would: Bella
3. that I did: Cool Runnings
4. ... I actually have quite an aversion to watching movies that I've already seen.

4 bands/groups/musicians

1. lately and locally: Wild Sweet Orange
2. for always: Over the Rhine
3. for my heart: John Mark McMillion
4. from my childhood: Amy Grant

8.26.2008

Oh, Gray and Tender Is The Rain

Everyday I appreciate the giant window that makes up one side of my cubicle. As I type I am perched up in the trees, and I have a butterfly that frequently lands on my window. But today, and on rainy days like this one, I love it most. Maybe because it reminds me a little of this: aka, our honeymoon in Oregon.

Catherine is doing well! They are even planning on taking her off ECMO today! Thank you SO much for all of your prayers and support. She still has a long road ahead of her, be we are so hopeful and encouraged and thankful. Keep checking Catherine's blog for updates from Donnie and Katie and the most amazing video you'll ever see of her opening her eyes!

Oh, gray and tender is the rain,
That drips, drips on the pane!
A hundred things come in the door,
The scent of herbs, the thought of yore.

I see the pool out in the grass,
A bit of broken glass;
The red flags running wet and straight,
Down to the little flapping gate.

Lombardy poplars tall and three,
Across the road I see;
There is no loveliness so plain
As a tall poplar in the rain.

But oh, the hundred things and more,
That come in at the door! --
The smack of mint, old joy, old pain,
Caught in the gray and tender rain.
~by Lizette Woodward Reese

8.25.2008

"under construction"

For all you google readers, sorry for the rando posts today. I know you know who I am :) I'm just trying to make my blog a little more functional because I have adopted a new format that only has one column to allow for bigger pictures. It's clean and pretty and I really like it, but it doesn't have columns for me to list things like "about me" and my all important list of blogs that we read. So, hence the random posts. They will be linked in my "nav bar" at the top of the page. So, there you go.

check it out.

8.23.2008

The beauty queen today.


There are more pictures, and a sweet new post on Catherine's blog.

8.22.2008

Sweet Little Catherine

Thank you all SO much for all the prayers and support! It means so much to Katie and Donnie and all of us here with them. (We average around 15 to 20 in the waiting room! It's great.) Today we all got to go in , two by two, to see little Catherine. She is so beautiful even with all her tubes in medicine. She's doing well. On Tuesday night she was placed on the ECMO machine, which bypasses her heart and lungs and manually filters oxygen into her blood. It's giving her heart and lungs a break so they can grow and get strong. So, at this point, we are just praying that she can stay stable and get strong enough to be able breathe and pump without the machines. They hope to be able to do the surgery to fix her diaphragm and get all of her organs out of her chest in two-to-three weeks. Keep praying! Pray that God makes Catherine strong and mends her little body. He is the great physician. Pray for the doctors and nurses to act in wisdom. Pray for Katie and Donnie as they support and hope for their sweet girl, and as they travel back and forth from Richmond to Charlottesville. Thank you! A fun side note: My pastor from Clemson and his wife Miska and their little boys just moved up to Charlottesville 3 weeks ago! Keith and I got to spend some time with them today, which we were very thankful for, and I think that they may be able to be a great support for Donnie and Katie! They even have some friends who work in the NICU. I would say that it is such a small world, but I know that God takes care of us in such specific ways, it's no coincidence. He's good! Pray pray pray! (Nikki has some good pictures, I'll post them soon.)

8.21.2008

Baby Catherine Update

Catherine is a fighter, but she's having to fight very very hard. Please pray with us!
Yesterday things started out well, but as the day went on she became less stable. The doctors also discovered that her heart is having to work so hard to get blood into her lungs, and it is struggling as well. Because of this, they decided that Catherine needed to be somewhere where the right kind of cardiologist was, as well as a place that had a machine that could put her blood on bypass to get it the oxygen she needs if that is necessary. So last night they transfered her to UVA in Charlottesville, which is about an hour from here. Please continue praying for Catherine and Katie and Donnie. Thank you so much!

8.20.2008

Catherine Marie is here!


Quick update before we go back to the hospital: Our niece, Catherine Marie, was born last night around 10:15, just a little bit ahead of schedule. Luckily we caught an earlier flight too, and we arrived soon after she was born. She is doing well! When she was born she was nice and pink, and she even cried a little bit. She is still very sick, but she's got two tiny lungs and lots of friends and family supporting her and praying for her. Hopefully they'll do surgery to put everything where it needs to be in one week. We're so thankful to be here. We even got to glimpse at her through a little window. She is precious! Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support. Keep it coming! 

8.19.2008

day three, four, five, etc.




The weekend at Wardo's lakehouse was a success...after driving aimlessly down dark country roads and a few slightly unnerving encounters with the locals, we made it. The time there with Dwight and Cory involved lots of reading, blueberry pancakes, a little wakeboarding, pictures of barns, and a lot of good conversation. On Sunday we parted with Dwight and Corey, who went back to Bham for church and work and spent the day on the boat reading again, this time with a little more sun. On monday we were off for a much anticipated camping trip in the area where we got married, which just so happens to be where Keith grew up going camping with him family. We drove through east tennessee, ocoee, north carolina...one of the most beautiful drives. Then right around the time we reached Blairsville I started feeling a little queasy. It wasnt too surpising, mountain roads considered. Even after a bout on the side of the road we pressed on. Got to the camp site and the ol' stomach started at it again. This time involved hands and knees on the forest floor. But still, we pressed on. Three strikes and we were out though and we decided to go home(to Kelly and Misty's house), and on the way back to the car Keith was yelling, "elaine! not in the poison ivy!" So the camping portion of the trip was not a success :( We're chilling at Kelly and Misty's, I'm sure poor Keith is bored out of his mind as I try to keep down the saltines I had for lunch. Tomorrow we head up to Virginia! Thanks for the prayers!

8.15.2008

Little Catherine Marie

Hello everyone. I wan't you to meet our sweet niece, Catherine Marie Davis. Isn't she beautiful!? She's -1 week old! Next Thursday, Keith and I and all of our family will be there with Catherine's mommy and daddy, Katie and Donnie, to welcome her into the world. We're so excited to meet her! We can't believe that she'll arrive in less than a week, but we know Thursday is going to be a hard day, especially for Catherine who will have to fight very very hard for her little life. You see, back in April, when Katie and Donnie found out that they were indeed expecting a little girl, they also found out some sad news. Catherine (who got her name the moment her daddy saw her tiny image on the ultra-sound) has a defect called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). This means that there is a hole in her diaphragm and her stomach and now even her liver have decided to move up into her chest and crowd her delicate lungs, not giving them very much room to grow. In her mommy's tummy, she is so safe and happy, but her first encounter with air will be a difficult one. There is a lot that the doctors can do to help her out, and we know that they will do everything. Ultimately, God is, and will be, in control of that day and all of Catherine's life. God has been so sweet to her whole family, especially her mommy and daddy, walking with them through all the waves of sadness and joy and trust and fear and anger and hope. They are keeping a blog where they write letters to her, and I know that if you read it you will see how faithful our Father is, and find out more about her story.

Please pray for us as we travel up to Richmond, Virginia to be with them. Pray that God will work a miracle in Catherine's body and fill her lungs with His breath and her body with His strength, to fight and grow up healthy and beautiful. Pray that Katie will be safe throughout the delivery. And pray that no matter what happens, all will worship Him because He is good.

(Donnie, Katie, and Catherine Marie)

8.14.2008

The Quilts of Gee's Bend





Last night I accompanied some girl friends in their new home to watch a documentary made by the woman who owns their beautiful house. The film was about the Quilt Makers of Gee's Bend, Alabama.
It's hard to know where to begin when telling about these remarkable quilts and the women who made them. I first saw the quilts a few years ago at an exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta. I guess I'll begin with what stuck me first, the quilts. They are truly incredible pieces of modern art; patterns, colors, and compositions that speak to what art is. Elements of design that are taught at institutions, made by women who received very little, if any, schooling in their lifetimes. These quilts really made me rethink art, this magnificent creativity flowing out of these women--who, until someone told them, had no idea what they were making was art. They were just expressing their hearts, and as they said in their own words, their joy--providing warmth for their families and adding color to their homes.
The quilt makers of Gee's bend come from an area of Wilcox Co., Alabama that was once the site of a major plantation. The descendants of the slaves on that plantation remain there to this day. At one point, during the depression, this tiny area was the poorest place in the country. The quilts of this time reflect the poverty, made mostly out of worn down blue jeans. The women there had always quilted, mostly for practical reasons, and never really thought much of it. Quilting was as natural, and as expressive to them, as the gospel songs that constantly flowed from their lips--sewing joy and sorrow and prayer and song into every piece. One woman described how, after her husband died, she made a quilt out of all of his clothes to wrap herself in when she missed him.
The quilts have now been discovered by art historians and taken from beds in modest homes and hung on the white walls of art museums all over the world, made into stamps, even displayed on posters in the Whole Foods in Mtn. Brook.
I recommend checking it out.

8.13.2008

.day two.


These are some old ones from a day that Keith and I went to the McWayne center. They got overlooked the first time I uploaded the photos, but today I really like them. We love to go to the McWayne center and just play with all the free stuff in the library. I highly recommend it for a great, creative date...and you could even pay to get into the main part. The rates for both the museum and the IMAX are greatly reduced on Sundays. Anyone want to go?

In other news:
  • Last night we went to a "married couples dinner" with Redeemer. It may have been our first official "married" event, and It was quite fun. It's a little shocking to my social skills sometimes I think, to go from feeling really old in Clemson to feeling really young around these parts, but I'm so thankful for the community at Redeemer and the oodles of couples who are a few steps ahead of us, and whom we are learning a TON from. (Not that you guys are old. I promise, that's not what I meant.)
  • I am LOVING this rainy weather. I feel so cozy at work, cuddled up to my cup of coffee in my little cubicle, looking out over the rain-sprinkled trees.
  • The most interesting and entertaining, non-friend blog I read is GOOD magazine's blog. Frequent, short updates on everything from important, breaking news, to random pop-culture trivia. Check it out.
  • Less that 3 days and counting until the first official K&E Davis vacation!

8.11.2008

.day one.



As you might recall, we planted some tomatoes and herbs a few months back. We really just sort of hoped we could get by with the cheapest and easiest attempt, and we had never tried to grow anything before. The pots were too small, the soil wasn't the right pH balance, I put an egg in the bottom of the pots because I read something online; we didn't stake them right, and many times they've gotten so dry and thirsty that I thought they were lost. I didn't have too high hopes for the little guys. Now, our crop may be modest to say the least, but we're so excited. This morning I picked the first ripe one. It's about the size of a ping-pong ball. We haven't tasted it yet, but I predict it will taste like love. Yes, growth and the producing of fruit are pretty amazing and mysterious things. 

Monday Musings

Keith and I went to a lovely wedding this weekend and shared with our good friends Ernie and Alex as they became united in wedded bliss. It was really beautiful and an encouraging and challenging weekend for us. Ernie and Alex will be on full-time staff with IHOP Atlanta (which means International House of Prayer, not the pancakes, which would be a very different lifestyle indeed.) These guys, and so many of there friends from IHOP Atlanta and the original in Kansas city, are so passionate and have truly dedicated their lives to prayer and worship. And really, I think in one form or another we are all called to dedicate our lives to those things--obviously not necessarily in the form that Ernie and Alex have, but none the less...we learned a lot and were challenged by the way prayer, worship, and speaking words encouraging words to one another flowed so easily in and out of, and were intertwined with, their "normal" activities. I took some pictures on film, so hopefully I'll share them soon.

As we mingled, to my surprise, several people said to me, "I love your blog!" or "it's so great to keep up with you through your blog." And really, I had no idea that these people were reading. I have to admit, that in my little blogging world comments are great encouragement for keeping up with posting, so I'd love to know if you read my blog! All you phantom readers out there...show your face! It would be really encouraging to me, whether I know you or not, if you just said, "hi!"

In other news:
  • It seems like everyone is doing this, and I don't want to do it just to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm thinking about doing a photo-a-day-for-a-month deal. I've been carrying my camera around with me everywhere lately, but the creative juices just are not pumping, and I haven't been snapping much of anything. I'd write about the pictures too, and I think overall it would be a good creative exercise. Lame or not-lame?
  • I picked our first home-grown tomato this morning! Pictures coming soon.
  • Interesting factoid of the day: Really smart people made a circuit board our of feathers and soy-goo. What will they think of next?

8.01.2008

Bonjour!:busuu.com and jumping into the water from very high heights.

I decided to learn French this week. As if I needed another distraction, but what's the harm of brushing up on my old middle-school foreign language choice? And I think the site is a pretty great idea. People from all over the world help others learn their native language while getting help for a language they are learning. And the site has useful units with audio, flashcards, and sample dialogs. I will always be an advocate for foreign immersion, but I know not everyone has that opportunity. This site has interaction with native speakers, even talking to them live if you so choose, so it just may be the next best (free) thing. I can't wait till they have Chinese!

In other news:
  • Speaking of French, have you seen The Diving Bell and The Butterfly? You know, that film (true story) that unfolds through the one eye of a man who after and sudden brain injury is paralyzed completely save for his left eye. Can't speak, eat, move, etc, but he is absolutely conscious and coherent. Oh yeah, and he writes a book by blinking out every letter.
  • We're trying to take some steps to live a little greener. Baby steps. Using cloth grocery bags, being really diligent about turning off lights, recycling, trying to ride bikes or walk a little more. It's been fun. And even more fruitful are the thoughts that have gone along with it on "creation care" and guidance from God's word. More on that soon.
  • A bunch of my friends went to go jump off a cliff on Saturday, so I couldn't help it, I went too. That peer pressure...
  • Don't forget!! Today is a Sales Tax holiday in Alabama. Keith and I are going Shopping!
  • Countdown till the OLYMPICS...8 DAYS. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the Olympics? I love it! Diving is my personal favorite. Maybe I'll scan in some pics from my own diving career back in the day. In the meantime, check out how far the sport has come in 70 years, and whet your appetite for the games!