new news

Drew is in Grand Rapids this week to visit the family. Jaime, his sister, delivered her son, Sam who has hypo-plastic-left-heart syndrome. He was delivered C-section on the 16th. He looked perfectly healthy (7lbs 12 oz and 22in long). He had his first open heart surgery on the 21st and is now recovering from that. His chest cavity is still opened up in order to prevent any infection. Jaime and Steve's pastor came down the other day and baptized him...Drew said he totally lost it. I am not sure what the prognosis is at this point? I know Jaime is planning on staying in Ann Arbor by Sam while he is in the hospital (about 5 weeks). Drew left Ann Arbor this afternoon and said that Sam held his hand and opened his eyes (which is awesome!). Please just keep them in your prayers. If you want to see updates, Sam's caring page is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/samuelekkens

On a totally different, unrelated and not as important BY FAR note, here are some pics of our pup. She has been staying in the house alot lately and is loving the toilet paper. She somehow gets in the bathroom, grabs the toilet paper and walks all over the living room with it!
aww...

this is our neighbor, Annie. Annie, Emily, Abby, and Emma all come over to play with Maupin at about 3:15pm everyday after school!

she knows she is in trouble, but I am pretty sure she doesn't care at all!

ok...this is a photo i got from my mother!! It's dad on his new bike!! haha.

our new addition!!

Hey everyone! First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I told Drew he was going to have to get me a Mother's Day present now that we have our baby!! Yep that's right...we have a new addition to our home. Her name is Maupin De Vries. She is 13.5 lbs of pure greatness. I can't believe how much joy she has brought to our lives already (am I sounding a little lame or what?!).

If you haven't caught on yet, we got a puppy!! She is a Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix. Both of her parents were showdogs...so of course she is a hot little bitch...haha--quite literally. We went to pick her up on Friday night. By the time we got to the house, 2 puppies were already gone and the owner's kids had obviously been sobbing. aww. Maupin was in total chill mode in the car ride. When we got home she had some energy and was running all over the yard! Willow, Joe and Keri's German Short Hair puppy came over and they went to town for about an hour!

She is doing really well not peeing in the house. I think it's only been twice that she did pee-pee and same for pooping. We're glad because I'm sure our landlord doesn't want her new carpet all stained! Anywho...Drew and I have to get ready for church, but enjoy the pictures (sorry she is sleeping in all of them basically. I'll get her to be more photogenic later).
She finally stood up to Willow...we were proud!

cashed out all the time.

yes...this is a cat dish...she will outgrow it very soon I am sure!