We had Kate's 15 month check up yesterday. I can't believe she's getting so big! She loves going out to the store and Church, and anywhere else where there is people that will tell her how cute she is. She was the same way at the Doctor's office. She was just having a ball walking around the waiting room and waving at everyone and greeting them. The folks in the waiting room weren't so warm and welcoming as she. One lady actually picked up her infant seat holding an infant and stood up so that Kate was nowhere near the baby. That's when I realized I no longer have a baby....I have a kid. A kid that makes grocery store check out people go "Oh my goodness, please don't pick my line." Gone are the days of people coming up to the cart with googly eyes wanting to see my precious bundle. Don't get me wrong, I think she's precious as ever, but I am terribly biased. She is in the 87th percentile on height, 55th on weight, and 20th on head circumference. She is tall, skinny, and has a teeny tiny head! The doctor laughs every time. (Not maliciously of course).

Lately we have so enjoyed playing outside. It's been a little hot, but sometimes sweating is refreshing and it makes the house feel so cool and the water taste so good. We are still having some constipation issues (Kate, no one else), so we are giving her Mira Lax every morning. The doctor said sometimes it takes up to a year to get their system regulated. And it doesn't help that she won't eat a single vegetable. Not even the sweet ones! She loves grapes, bananas, blueberries and strawberries and chicken sausage. The sausage smells really bad (to me) but she eats it up and her burps stink the next day. Haha.

This is a frequent activity right now while it's so hot. We just turn the sprinkler on low and she sits underneath it. She LOVES water. We can only take showers while she's napping because she climbs in the bath tub with you...fully clothed.

We've also been playing in the backyard a lot. She doesn't like to walk in the grass but she will sit there and explore and pull up grass one blade at a time. Soon she will have a friend to play with in the backyard when we go out there...Jason got me a collar for a puppy for my birthday!! We are in the process of finding a Wheaten Terrier to adopt.

This is how I found her one day. Sooo, I have to be VERY diligent about closing the dryer door.

This is one of many pictures I took on my trip to South Sudan. The man that we stayed with is named David Kaya. He is on staff with e3 and he is from South Sudan. He is the pastor of First Baptist Kajo Keji(the name of the village we were in). The church is on a plot of land that also has huts nearby and these are some of the children from that little area. Most of the people that live around there are involved somehow with the vocational training school, the church, Seed Effect or the Seminary(all of which are on the property). It's a very close-knit little community, they all know each other and they all greeted us with warm welcomes and hugs. A few of the children, like the one in the red and white stripes had never seen a white person before just because of how young they are, and this little one in particular was VERY afraid of me. She kept looking away but the little on in pink was very congenial. =) We shared some candy and gum with the two older ones. Thanks for all of your prayers and support while I was on my trip. I talk about the experience more in our newsletter, but it was an incredible experience. I miss the people of the village and I'd go back in a heartbeat. Hopefully, next time Jason and I can travel there together. Blessings!!

Kate Elizabeth Morris is 10 months old!!

Hello everyone! It has been a crazy few months in the life of this Morris family. I am having so much fun being at home and Jason is adjusting nicely to his role at e3. Ministry has been a hard lifestyle thus far, but more rewarding than anything I could imagine. God's faithfulness is mind boggling and never ending. It has also been an amazing few months in our marriage. We are taking a class at our Church called Sacred Marriage. We are going through the book "Sacred Marriage" (by Gary Thomas, I highly recommend it). There are about 6 other couples in our group and just in 4 weeks we have grown to love them. Jason and I are learning so much about communicating and where we were going wrong. I am learning how to respect him better and more each day as the leader of our house and he's learning how important it is to me to be loved unconditionally. We love that the book is not "7 steps to happier marriage." It is practical and useful in our daily lives to be able to love each other better. OK I'll stop preaching. Kate is such a beautiful little girl I cannot even begin to describe her. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. We got to see some of our friends from college this weekend and spend some much needed face time with them. It was so refreshing to see them and to hear about what's going on their lives. Enjoy the pics

Her hair is getting so pretty. I love the way it flips out after bath time. =)

Sorry this one is sideways. Turn your computer over. =) She has learned to pull herself to standing! It's very exciting AND frustrating. She gets stuck like this in her bed during naptime because she's afraid to sit down. I told Jason it's because she's so tall!! She's scared of heights!

These are her little swimming bees that Meemaw and Pawpaw got for her for the bath. She LOVES them and laughs so hard when they swim around. I can't them away from her though until I can distract her with something else, like the lotion bottle. She loves lotion.

Today we were playing outside and I was..on my phone (go figure) and I looked down and she was eating a mouthful of dirt! I called my mom immediately because I had no idea what to do and she simply said, "Wash her face and give her some water." Haha, I love these pictures!

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My Heart is Happy

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted anything! I had resorted to just emailing pictures and stories since I'm CONSTANTLY on my phone, but I found that I was leaving people out and it doesn't archive the posts like the blog does. Well, I'm in one of my favorite towns doing some of my favorite things. In Stillwater, visiting Jonathan and Candice (and lots of others). Everyone went to the game, but I sat this one out because it costs $60 for my baby to go! Isn't that insane? She doesn't even take up a seat!! Anyways, it's good to have some alone time. I'm an introvert, so instead of being energized by being with lots of people it tends to wear me out. I'm watching FRIENDS, eating candy pumpkins, drinking a diet coke, and relaxing. =) Life with Kate has been so fun. Rolling over is almost automatic when you lay her on her back, and squeeling is a way of life. She talks and squeels when we're riding in the car and we can hear her from her crib in the mornings. It's so cute. She's very reactive now and likes to grab at things. We were at a restaurant today and I was having to move things out of her reach because she was knocking things off the table. I KNOW this will get very frustrating, I just was so excited for a new milestone! I know, I know, I'm not supposed to hold her at the table ( I say to the voices in my head), I just don't know what else to do when she's screaming from her infant seat and everyone else is trying to have a nice meal!! Hopefully this will get better when she can sit up in her own seat. Fundraising is going well. It is slow, but steady, and each day we are reminded that God has provided today what we need to get through today and He always has. We are learning the hard lesson of discerning between wants and needs, but it's so great. Jason is doing amazing staying focused and on task. He's so good at meeting new people and sharing what he's passionate about. It's so clear that this is what God has called us to do. I'm just excited for him to be able to do it full time so pray that the up front funding will come in quickly!! We've been seeing lots of both sets of G-parents and that has been a blast. It's so nice to have them around because it means Jason and I get lots of breaks! And we enjoy the company. =) Pray for us as we are having an appointment with our pastor from our old Church in Stillwater in hopes fo getting some more referrals. Monday we are headed to see Josh and Lindsey and the kiddos. We are so excited to meet Jada!

Trial Run

I'm trying to figure out how to post on the blog from my phone. So we'll see if this works!

Well, it's the end of Kate's 7th week of life. I can hardly believe it. People kept telling us "Enjoy them in the first few weeks because it goes by so fast!" Well, I have decided that it goes by fast because you don't realize it ever happened, not because you're having so much fun and time is flying. It's because you're so busy and exhausted that you have no idea what's going on!! I'm not saying it wasn't fun...it was and it's getting better every day! It's just been way harder than what I was prepared for. I told Jason that I have had to persevere through more trials in the 7 weeks of being a parent than I have my whole life it feels like, but it's all so much more rewarding than anything else. Jason is doing amazing with raising support. Our trip to Duncan was huge success and much thanks to Grandad for setting up some of our appointments. Speaking of perseverance, we need your prayers for us to persevere over the mountain of raising the rest of our support. We had a long conversation and redefined each others' roles in the process and redelegated (sp?) some of the responsibilities. Our goal is for each of us to stay on task and follow through with what we say we will do. Also, Jason is headed to Sudan the first week of August and will be gone for 2 weeks. It will be the longest that we have been apart since we've been married! Kate is growing beautifully. She continues to lose her hair which bothers me more than it does anybody else. I keep wanting to cut it in the back and Jason thinks I'm crazy. =) Don't worry I won't cut it. We drove 3 hours home from Duncan yesterday and Kate was a trooper. We left an hour after her feeding so she went 4 hours without eating (an hour longer than usual) and didn't make a peep till we got to Allen and had to stop at stop lights. She HATES it when the car stops moving and will cry when we stop at a red light. As soon as the car starts moving again she stops crying. It's really funny. Here is a random assortment of pictures and videos from the trip to Duncan.

I have been letting her sleep on her tummy during the day since I'm in and out of her room to check on her. She sleeps really well this way and aparently migrates because that's definitely not the way I laid her down.

This was after her 7am feeding. She's always the happiest and most alert in the mornings. We had a blast.

This was when we pulled into the garage after the drive from Duncan. She was such an angel! Not fussy at all.

She was so content to lay on Pop's chest. She fell asleep for a long time. He's a natural. =)

Kate's first trip to the pool...I was a basket case!! Just ask the other Morris clan..we were only there for maybe an hour because I couldn't stand it any longer. Thank you James and Kinley for putting up with your Nervous Ninny auntie! James and Kinley on the other hand had a blast! K wanted out of her boat the whole time oblivious to the repercussions and way to go J for going down the slide!!!

This is kinda boring but it least you can see her in action!

This was the day we went to visit Jason's old workplace. She ruined that outfit shortly after we left the house. I had to change her and all I had was a gerber onesie. =( She looked like a boy.

She's getting to where she LOVES baths. It's really fun.

Well, I had to go to the doctor yesterday because of some pain that I was having at the "trauma" site. And speaking of trauma...I had to take the baby with me to my appointment. When we parked the car I was sure she would be asleep in her seat after a 30 min. car ride, but she was wide awake. We got in the elevator to go up and she started fussing a little bit, but I was sure she would fall asleep any second. When we sat down in the waiting room she started screaming so I took her out and held her until they called me back, which was fine except everytime I had to put her back down in the infant seat she screamed bloody murder. I have no idea why she was so fussy (she was full and dry) except that she knew mom was in a vulnerable situation and wanted to make it as uncomfortable as possible. Once we got called back by the nurse there wasn't a room available so I had to sit in this tiny little hallway with my humongous stroller and i was totally in the way. Then I started to smell something coming from her diaper and there was not a changing table in site. I had to wait until I could get a room and then change her on the exam table, then I had to keep the dirty dipe in the diaper bag so as not to make everyone else in that room miserable for the rest of the day. During the exam I couldn't even talk to the dr. because of Kate screaming so they called a nurse in to hold her through the whole thing. She was very pleasant as long as someone was holding her. (Thanks a lot PaPa, I blame you). ANYWAYS, as soon as we got on the elevator to leave, she fell asleep and slept the whole way home. The kicker was when I went to get her out of her seat, I totally forgot to buckle her in. I was horrified and so thankful to say the least that God protected us all the way home. Long story short, turns out I have an infection so she gave me some antibiotics. Please pray for a quick recovery, I'm ready to be back to normal.

Finally we have the time and concentration to sit down and do something for ourselves! It's been a long road these last two weeks. My whole life I have wanted to be a mom and had NO clue what that entailed until recently. It has been emotionally, physically, and spiritually the biggest challenge I have ever faced. I have had to make more snap decisions than I ever have in my entire life. Thanks to Lindsey, I have realized that deciding to feed Kate at 3pm or 4pm thankfully has no eternal significance! Either way she eats and gets nourishment and in turn is a growing, healthy, baby girl! It's just my need to control the situation that needs to be put under the microscope. Thanks to all of you came to see us and helped us so much in making the transition with Baby. We have been feasting on all of the wonderful treats that everyone left in our freezer. Everytime we sit down for a meal we are reminded of how much we are loved! Jason has been so amazing with helping me feed Kate at night and with staying calm. I had to make a really hard decision about breastfeeding vs bottle feeding and finally had to pray hard and just make the plunge. I won't go into a lot of detail, but anatomically Kate and I are not a good match for nursing. We thought we would be able to overcome it, but I started to dread every feeding because of how much pain and tears were involved. I wasn't bonding with her and felt nauseous every time I heard her cry, because I knew what was wrong...she was hungry and I was the only one who could feed her. I did a lot of research and asked for lots of advice and have decided to pump as much milk as I can from myself and supplement the rest with formula. It has made for a much happier household since mom is not constantly in tears. Satan still grips me with guilt sometimes about not nursing so I still need you to pray for God to help me overcome that. On a lighter note, I am posting a few pictures of Kate's first few days of life. We have been in kind of tizzy with our three-hour rotating schedule and have forgotten to take a lot of pictures, so some of these might be repeats, but some of us haven't even seen her yet! Sorry for such a long post there's been a lot going on lately!!

Jason had said right before she was born, "I hope she grabs my finger." And she did. =) This was right after she was born and they laid her on top of me. At the time I was still smiling, but in about 5 min they had to take her away from me because my blood pressure dropped significantly and I didn't have the strength to hold her or feed her right away. I was very sad that I couldn't do those things. That wasn't the way I had pictured it. They kept me in labor and delivery for a few hours after her birth to keep doing blood tests to count my blood cells. We are so thankful that I did not have to have a transfusion.

She was SCREAMING the whole time, it was the most beautiful sound ever. Not so much anymore.

Thank heaven for epidurals.


She was immediately calmed when daddy was holding her.

I had just had a shower...I have never enjoyed a shower that much in my life. I wanted to be clean for our first family photo.

Go to the blog to see this video