Merry Christmas, BABY!

Well the news is breaking and the word is out, Baby DeVore is on its way and should arrive early in June! All of you know how long this has been on our heart, how long we have prayed and asked for this addition to our family. God is so good and already this little baby is a beautiful representation of His endless love and blessings. We trusted in God and are simply enjoying watching the miracle unfold on a daily basis. The timing is not what I expected, but completely perfect. Not being surrounded by our family and friends in NW Arkansas during the pregnancy and birth at first seemed so odd and sad, but living in a major medical hub where my risks are dealt with everyday is so wonderful and reassuring. This baby being born a Texan? That we're having a little trouble accepting, but if God made it so then longhorn it is. Lowery is already loving this baby and sharing this with her is something that has given Steve and I more joy than we could imagine, drawing our family closer together everyday.

So there is our early Christmas gift, and a wonderful one it is. Surprise #2? We already KNOW if it's a BOY or GIRL! Stay tuned. . .

SNOW in Dallas???

And here we thought snow would not happen for us this year since we weren't in NW Arkansas! To our shock, surprise and thrill, we awoke to huge, gorgeous snowflakes this morning. The good, wet kind that look beautiful (but don't cause road problems). Lowery was very excited - actually, we all were! What is it about snow that's so magical? We were all running around the house at 7am crazy, like we had never seen it before. But it was beautiful and a special treat. We decorated our Christmas tree last night. We were to go to Springdale to get Christmas decorations from the house last weekend, but after our very tough Thanksgiving week we just didn't have the energy. So we decided to let Lowery pick out a live tree and decorations herself. BAD move. We of course ended up with rainbow lights, hot pink and blue ornaments. And no star or angel for the top, she is making a special craft herself for that. It was tough for us to let her pick out everything, but we had promised. So, we decked the halls last night while listening to Christmas music on XM. And get this - while we were listening, a man called in from Dallas, Texas and said he wanted to wish his parents in Springdale, Arkansas a Merry Christmas. What are the odds? It was a fun night, topped with the special snow this morning. We are definitely in the Christmas spirit - and surprise, more snow is expected for Friday!! Who said we don't have winter here in the Big D? So far, so good!!

Trip to San Antone

We decided to make a trip down to San Antonio for the weekend (which helped us avoid Halloween craziness and still give Lowery something fun to do). We had a blast and love that city. Old, historic and lots of charm, San Antonio is one of my favorite places to visit. Ever since Lowery got a Disney CD with the Davy Crockett song on it, she has been fascinated with Davy and his history (why who knows). We told her about the Alamo and she has wanted to go. Add in a little Sea World and Riverwalk and you've got the makings of a great weekend. And after swine flu survival we all needed a pick-me-up so it was a great time to go.

We went to Sea World on Friday and Saturday. Friday was excellent because we literally had the place to ourselves - I honestly think we were one of 15 people there, kind of bizarre. We were able to do everything on Friday, we just went back for half a day on Saturday to repeat our favorite things. It was a ton of fun and the weather was beautiful so it was great just to be outside. The dolphins were our favorite, along with the Viva show (which has divers, acrobats, synchronized swimmers, dolphins, whales - the works). Lowery got to ask a ton of questions to all of the workers since it was so deserted - they even took us back to see a new baby sea lion. They had a fun trick or treat event for the kids at night so that worked out perfectly. We also had a great time at the beautiful Clydesdale horse exhibit. Our family picture in front of Bud the horse was excellent and was prime Christmas Card material, except for the whole beer thing so we culled the idea.

We did the Riverwalk boat tour and had a great dinner Halloween night. Sunday we had an outstanding breakfast at an old Mansion in the King William District (the house belonged to Guenther, the man who opened a mill which became Pioneer flour). Lowery made lots of friends with the locals. Then we moved on to the Alamo. We stayed for an hour and a half and Lowery intently listened to the entire guide. Every exhibit, every bit of it. Needless to say I think she is going to be a history nerd, she was fascinated. The highlight of the Alamo experience for her? Her tie-dyed, Peace Love and The Alamo t-shirt she chose at the end of the tour.

All in all it was one of our most favorite little trips together and we had lots of fun!