A Life to Love

Fun with Dad

2009-11-09T15:22:00.001-08:00

You can see more pictures at our picture website:

www.mmkelkins.shutterfly.com

WOOF WOOF!

2009-11-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

What a cute dog!

Gigi comes to visit

2009-10-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to spend the weekend with our Gigi. She had a conference in Austin last week and then came on over to Midland for the weekend. Our visit sure wasn't long enough. We went to Fiddlesticks Farms and had a great time! We got to go on a hayride to a pumpkin patch, we rode the cow train, mined for gold and other jewels, and went down a big slide! The wind was crazy and the sun was bright so we all look pretty crazy! We bought kettle corn and it was yummy! Even Keene had to have some! More pictures of our fun time are at: www.mmkelkins.shutterfly.com

A new snow suit!

2009-10-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, we know this is a little ridiculous that we live in the desert and we bought our son a snow suit. But....on the few occasions we do have the chance to get in the cold weather and play in the snow or go skiing, we wanted to be prepared and give Keene the opportunity to have some fun! He loves it...as you can tell!

For Danny Gramps

2009-10-20T11:55:00.001-07:00

Dear Danny Gramps,

Did you know that UPS can ship a whole live whale from near Japan to Atlanta? Could you ship me one? Ha ha! I wanted to be a UPS man for Halloween but the costume was too big. Maybe next year!

Love,
Keene

Atlanta

2009-10-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Atlanta and it was soooo much fun! Keene and I went with Mike to a mission conference he was attending. We went a day early, our anniversary, and Mike surprised me with a room in downtown Atlanta. We went to a great seafood restaurant and then the next day he surprised Keene and I with some tickets to the Georgia Aquarium! We all loved it and had a TON of fun! I kept looking for more things for us to do because I didn't want to leave! We went to the Coke museum as well. It was cute, but slightly boring. Then we spent the rest of the week at the conference with dad. It was cold and rainy most of the time, but it was really pretty where we stayed. Good to get away for sure.

Michigan

2009-10-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our time in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One of my best friends from high school, Mary, lives there and finally decided to get married (just joking Mar). We were blessed to be able to go and see her get married and dance the night away at her reception. Wish I could have spent more time with her, but a bride on her wedding day is pretty busy. We didn't get a single picture of how beautiful she was. Nothing. Forgot the camera at the wedding, left it in the hotel room at the reception. I didn't even get one of her and I together. I am quite bummed.
While we were there we got to go to a super cute petting zoo and Keene loved all the animals. He
was never really scared and didn't cried. He observed them quite a bit before giving them anything to eat. His favorite was the horse and the ducks. We also went to a farmer's market that had tons of pumpkins, mums, and yummy homemade goodies! We drank hot apple cider and ate fresh pumpkin donuts. It was a fun day!

For more pictures go to:

www.mmkelkins.shutterfly.com

Guitar Fun

2009-10-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is so cute! Just a small picture of what goes on a lot at our house. Keene loves to play the guitar with daddy. It is a special treat! Sorry the video is a little fuzzy!

Our Transformed Backyard

2009-08-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our newly transformed backyard. The pictures could have been better but oh well. When we moved in our backyard was horrible. If you have been to our house you would agree with that. There was no grass or landscaping,just dirt and rocks. The patio was ugly and had plastic on the top of it which soon got holes in it from a hail storm we had. With lots of work from the both of us, (more Mike on the grass and the patio), and with help from Mike's dad, Frank, it is what is today. It is a wonderful place of entertainment and rest for us. We love it!

More pictures can be seen at:
mmkelkins.shutterfly.com

Happy Birthday Bubby!

2009-08-13T09:32:00.001-07:00

So our little man turned one today. Sniff, sniff, boo hoo for mommy. I told Mike yesterday that I didn't want Keene to be turning one and that I wanted him to stay my baby forever. Mike said "Well, we can have another, hint hint." Too funny. Somedays it seems like it has been forever since he was a newborn and other days I feel as if he just entered our lives. And oh, do we love and cherish him! Here is a little info on him. He loves being outside and taking a bath, wrestling with daddy, eating any type of meat product, including hot dogs. He loves to pat me on the back when I am patting his to comfort him. He sings before he goes to sleep and when he gets up. He loves to play the guitar with daddy and help mommy around the house. He is a people person and doesn't know a stranger. He has the best smile and has so many different expressions and faces. He is soooo close to taking off walking. He takes 3 or 4 steps and then gently lowers himself to the ground. He is really fast at walking when he lightly holds on to something. One day, I will turn around and he will be in another room. He spent his birthday today with Mommy and Daddy and some visits from Papa Frank and Mernie (Grandma Mary). Mernie went to eat with us and took us shopping for a new car seat and picnic table for the yard. We thank God for such a wonderful blessing and for all the people that love our son. We are having his birthday party tomorrow and will post pics so you can see the fun that was had!

Oh, and I just put more pictures up on our photo website:
mmkelkins.shutterfly.com

Keenes first haircut!!

2009-07-23T08:44:00.001-07:00

Keene's First Haircut from Sarah Stepan on Vimeo.

Website for pictures of Keene

2009-06-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

So we decided to create a website for all Keene's pictures so you all can see every one of them,order them, comment on them, etc. We will still update the blog (maybe) and write stuff and give you preview of pics, but we will load all of the pics on the site. Hope you enjoy!

Here it is:

http://mmkelkins.shutterfly.com

Keene's new friend

2009-03-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Who is that boy in the Stove!!!?

2009-01-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

Look! Little teeth!

Five month reveiw

2009-01-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

Just threw this video together to give some highlights from the last five months.

Winter Pictures

2009-01-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

We had a friend take our pictures yesterday. She did an amazing job!!
Be sure and check out her blog @ http://www.sarahstepanphotography.blogspot.com/

Catching up with Keene and Christmas

2008-12-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

HO HO HO! I can't believe Christmas has come and gone! Here are some recent pics of Keene. Most of them are from Christmas. We had a wonderful time visiting with our friend Victor (he is in the pictures) and Mike's family. Hope you had a good one too. Keene is rolling over all the time now and started on rice cereal last week. Sometimes he even acts like he kind of likes it! I can't wait to introduce the veggies and fruits! Love all of you- The Elkins Fam

Another Update on Mike

2008-11-11T12:51:00.001-08:00

Here are the last two updates from the guys from their time in Sudan. Please pray with me for their travel home. I am ready to see my hubby! Please click on the two updates to make them bigger. Love you all! Meg

Mike in Sudan

2008-11-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! So Mike has been gone to Sudan for almost a week now and I am just putting something up on the blog about it! It is never to late to join me in prayer though, for him and for the two men that are with him, Jon and Adam. I have not been able to talk to Mike since he was in Uganda flying in to Sudan, but I have received some emails and the men seem to be having a wonderful time learning and teaching and growing in relationship with the kitchen and hospitality staff in Yei. Please pray with me for a strong finish to there time there and safe travel home. They will be home Wed. evening. God has blessed this team with restaurant expertise through Jon and Adam and it is their hope to help the new restaurant to be as awesome it can be which would help the Christian Women Empowerment Program and help fund the orphanages. Most of all they hope to bless and serve the people of Sudan and grow them in understanding what opportunities for acts of service and sharing the gospel God has given them through the new restaurant. God bless you all! Please click on the picture to make it bigger and more readable!

Fiddlesticks Farms

2008-10-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

So here are some pictures from our trip yesterday to Fiddlesticks Farms. It was so much fun! They had all kinds of fun things to do- there was a hay ride, a corn maze, a goat walk, corn and pumpkin cannon, hay jump, cow train, and pumpkin patch. This is something we will for sure go back to when Keene is a little older and will enjoy it more. Mike and I sure had fun though, and we had a good time taking pictures!

Esther Video post surgery

2008-10-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

We received a video update from Esther today!!! Some of you reading this may not know who Esther is, but she is someone I have come to care very much about. I first met her when I went to Southern Sudan with a friend of mine, Vernon Burger, and his church Stonegate Fellowship. Vernon and his wife had raised money to open up an orphanage there, and I came to do a medical/dental clinic as the children first moved into it. While I was doing a physical exam on Esther, I noticed she had a horrible heart murmur. It was so loud you could put your ear even a few inches away from her chest and could hear it. No stethoscope needed! I questioned her on how she felt, and she explained then that she had chest pain with exertion and shortness of breath. I knew something was wrong then, and decided, Lord willing, to find some help for her. I knew she at least needed more testing done to determine what exactly was wrong. There was nowhere nearby where she lived that could do this testing, and so the search began.

As the years from then to now went by and I searched for a way to get her some medical help, I became friends with Esther during other opportunities I had to serve in Sudan. I learned that she loves to sing. I learned that as she is the oldest girl at the orphanage that she is like a mother to them. When they are sick they crawl in her lap, when they need help doing something, they go to her. I watched her display a servant's heart. She wants to become a nurse and work at an orphanage like the one she is living in.

Last spring, I was discussing with a doctor friend of mine, that knew some doctors who worked with World Medical Mission and the Children's Heart Project areas of Samaritan's Purse. He put me in contact with the director of the Children's Heart Project and I requested there assistance for Esther. Praise God that Samaritan's Purse had doctors in Kampala, Uganda, and Esther was able to go there to have testing done to determine her diagnosis. Esther was diagnosed with having a hole in between the ventricles of her heart (the two lower chambers). They put her on the list as a possible candidate for their heart surgery program where they brought children with needs from around the world to the United States for surgery. So the process began to get Esther a passport and a visa.

When weren't for sure but had heard that we might have trouble getting Esther a visa to come in to the United States. However, we didn't need to even worry about that as I got an email from Samaritan's Purse saying they were sending a team of cardiothoracic surgeons to Kampala, Uganda and had Esther as a candidate for surgery there. Esther went to Kampala on the 25th of September, was examined by the surgeons on October the 6th, and was operated on October 10th! You see in the video that she is healing very well, and by now is probably out of the hospital. Praise God for all he has done! She is still in Kampala recovering and will be there for a few more weeks. Then she will return to Uganda every so many months for follow up. Mike is going to be able to see her we he goes to Sudan November 3rd.

Please continue to keep Esther and her healing process in your prayers! Thank you!

Fall Leaves

2008-10-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a ride!!! Does anyone else feel way too busy? Well, Keene and I just got back from Missouri last night after taking a quick and unplanned trip there. We went for very sad reasons, one being that my paternal grandmother had a stroke, and two that my maternal grandfather was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and was going to have it surgically removed. They feared a poor prognosis for my grandmother (the one I posted pics of her trip to midland on this blog), but as I just talked to her today she reports she is walking better now and having more and more movement to her left arm. Her speech is pretty much normal,except when she laughs, cries, or tries to sing, and her face is less droopy. Grandpa Kermit also made it through surgery very well...the doc thought he had removed all of the cancer and didn't see anymore in the surrounding lymph nodes (he took them out anyway). Grandpa will get his pathology report back soon to see what stage of cancer he has. He is back on the farm already. PRAISE GOD AND PRAISE GOD AGAIN! I was blessed to have the chance to go. First time I packed for the possibility of a funeral for my grandparents, and that was rather hard for me to realize.

But in the midst of all the craziness, I was able to torture my son by putting him on the cold ground, barefoot nonetheless, as it was drizzling rain down on him, for these cute pics! I felt like the paparazzi! Ya know,the people who chase the famous if I didn't spell that right. Click, click, click went the camera. Total shoot took...oh, maybe 5 minutes. Some of them turned out okay though, and we all, Gigi and Danny Joe included, had a great time. Thanks Danny Joe for raking up the leaves and letting us borrow his wheelbarrow! Keene is two months old exactly in these pictures. Does time fly!

I did miss Mike and I's first wedding anniversary and that was sad. I kept thinking how much I was going to miss hearing him sing "My Love" by Lionel Richie to me but the day got to busy and I didn't even ask him to sing it for me. He sings it to me like all the time, but I really wanted to hear it on our day. Oh well, maybe tonight.

Posting again soon,
Meg

Family Visits and Birthday Party

2008-09-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a couple of weeks! Well, we have been very blessed with more people we LOVE coming in to see Keene. Since our last update, my Grandma Rosemary (my dad's mom) came down to see Keene and was here for five days and it was wonderful! Keene loved her instantly-her softness, her singing, her rocking...just everything about her. She helped out so much and taught me (Megan) how to make homemade cinnamon rolls and chicken fried steak. YUM!!! I think we all gained 5 pounds while she was here. She is one of my most favorite people and always has been! Then, two days after she left my dad, Danny Gramps to his grandchildren, and my stepmom, Peggy, came into town for the weekend. We did many fun things and Keene loved being out and about with them. We went to the "Oldest Harley Dealership in Texas" in Big Spring, then ate BBQ at KD's, then on to the Harley Dealership in Midessa and on in to Odessa to visit with Mike's mom (Mernie to Keene, and Mary to the rest of us) and Dennis. It was a very fun day. It was good to have my dad here to meet our baby. It meant alot to have him come all this way. There are some other random pictures in the slideshow, but my favorites are the last few. We just went tonight over to our friends, Janet and Chuck Hamilton's, house for Chuck's birthday. We had a great time visiting with Chuck and Janet and two other friends Denise and Todd Roberson.

We can't believe our little boy is already 5 weeks old! Time flies and I can hardly believe we have been blessed with him for that long! We are going to Possum Kingdom next weekend for a Birthday Weekend and so we will have more pics up with Mike's family hopefully! His Grandma Josephine is turning 84 (or something close to that) so the family is getting together. Okay, enough for now. Leave us a comment! We would love to hear from all of you!

One Year Since Kenya

2008-09-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

So this blog update is dedicated to updating everyone on Isaac, the sweet boy Robin and I took to Kijabe, Kenya last year at this time for surgery. Please look through the pictures, and at the end of the slide show you will see what his arm looks like as of June of this year. And you will also see how much he has grown! Even though I have been so very much in the moment with my new little one, I have not forgotten to look back on last year with a heart overwhelmed by the love all three of us received (Isaac, Robin, and myself) from the Lord while we were in Kenya. God was so faithful to us and lead us every step of the way. I don't know if dates are important to you all, but they seem to stick with me most of the time. I remember my due date with Keene was the same day, a year later, than when we left Midland for Kenya, or that the day I had Keene was the day we arrived to Kijabe. This last Saturday was August 30th, and that was the day last year we were discharged from the hospital and were able to spend the rest of our time in Kenya healing in the hotel. All of this is so dear and precious to my heart.

Maybe all of you don't know the story of Isaac, so I will share a bit of it and try not to ramble. For more details of our time in Kenya, you can go to www.sudanskids.blogspot.com. It is an older post, so you might have to dig back a bit. So on with the story....I met Isaac a little over 3 years ago now on one of my mission trips to Sudan. He was burned at the age of 3 in his tukul (hut) after his father, who was a member of the army, brought home ammunition the caught fire. He has since then until the surgery had severe impairments to his left arm and is was chronically bent in a flexed position to his shoulder (as you can see by the pictures). There was much damage to his hand as well, which the scar tissue never allowed it to fully grow. I had always hoped to help Isaac, but it wasn't until after a later trip that it was on the hearts of others who loved Isaac, and of his church EPC, that they wanted help for him as well. So a friend of mine, Rachelle, and myself started looking and dreaming for ways to help get him surgery. We hoped he would one day have two arms to help him work. He was getting to the age soon where he would have to start earning money to live. God brought us a wonderful doctor and his wife, Louis and Anne Carter, who met Isaac, Robin, and myself in Kijabe, Kenya for surgery last August. We were there a total of 5 weeks, and in this time Isaac had two very long, hard surgeries and many dressing changes. We were able to go back with him to Sudan and Isaac got to go on his first plane ride ever! God blessed us with an occupational therapist who was a missionary there to do therapy with him and do his dressing changes after we left to complete the healing process. Today, Issac has wonderful shoulder, elbow, and wrist movement. He is still limited on his fingers and hand movements, but has so much more than he had before!!!! I praise God for showing His love to Isaac in the way he did. I watched Isaac cling to the Lord during his surgery and recovery time, and I only hope there was much growth in his relationship with the Lord that he will never sway from the One who loved and cared for him so tenderly.

Please, if you think of it today, or now while you are reading this, send up a prayer for Isaac. He is a teenager now, 14 and soon to be 15, and is meeting many challenges in his family life and also in making right choices. Thank you. Megan

More pics!

2008-08-31T22:18:00.005-07:00

Tons of Visitors, Tons of Fun!!!!

2008-08-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

Emily, Kendall, and Elizabeth Elkins

Gigi (Grandma Glenna-Megan's mom)

Grandma Josephine, Keene, Papa Frank, and Daddy

Kelly

One week after first tie shot

Grandma Josephine (Mike's grandma) , Keene, and Mike

So I am finally posting some more pics. Sorry it took so long! I (Megan) am updating the blog for the first time. Mike is showing me the ropes, and hopefully soon I will know how to make a cool slide show like he made for the first post. We shall see! This post is dedicated to all the wonderful company and help that we have had the first two weeks of Keene's life. We were blessed to have our sister-in-law and two nieces (top pic) here for two months of this summer and they were able to be here to greet Keene into the world. Sadly they had to leave to go back to Japan just one week after he was born. We already miss them! Gigi also came and was able to be here the first week to help me learn a little about being a mom. She was wonderful to have here and to go through this time of life with her. It was special to share the birth of Keene with her, and I know that I sure do value her more now after being a mom myself.

Mike's grandma Josephine also came for a few days to meet Keene and visit with us. I was able to hear her life stories as we sat and looked at Keene together. We were glad to get some 4 generation pictures with her. She is such a wise woman and has been (and still is) such an encouragement to Mike in his walk with the Lord.

Kelly (one of our very favorite people) came to visit us for a weekend as well with her very sweet boyfriend, Frank. Sorry Frank, but I realized we didn't get a picture of you! Bummer! We had a wonderful time talking it up and playing with Keene. It is amazing how a child can entertain you so much! Mike and Frank made us supper, and Kelly got to hear all my wonderful stories and experience some new things with me. LOL!

We also took another picture of him with the tie onesie on so you can see how he has changed. He doesn't seem as big to me in the second pic. He had lost a few ounces but had increased in length. Now he is back up to his birth weight and is eating like a crazy man!

Needless to say, we are having a wonderful time learning to be parents. We are getting the hang of things more and more as the days go on and are learning much about Keene's like and dislikes, cries, etc. What a sweet little man!

Well, I will let that be all for now. I will update again soon. Yes, I said soon!

Love to everyone-

Meg, Mike, and Keene

Keene has arrived!!!

2008-08-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

Click on Keene to see hospital pictures.

Keene Owen Elkins
August 13th, 2008
9 lbs 9 oz
21-1/4 long

Click on scrolling pictures to right to see more

Our desire to please the Lord

2008-07-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Life has a wonderful way of never being boring, and with this wonderment we’ve been given a purpose.

The purpose to love God and love all the incredible people he has placed in our lives.

Love is all we have been given love is all we can give.