Big Boy Room

Wow! Even though Luke's big boy room has been finished for weeks now, and he's been sleeping in his big boy bed like a pro for almost two months, I've yet to post anything about it. Well, here are some pictures of the transformation from slightly sophisticated French-style guest bedroom to Luke's construction machine-inspired blue room. Perfect for the kiddo who can spot a backhoe over a football field away!

The room began as our standard neutral that is throughout the rest of the house, and the whole room is now this great blue that is perfect for him. Of course, I'm not supposed to paint, so the tribute goes to my mom, my dad, and my wonderful husband!





Luke loves to sit in his big boy chair and listen to his music. He's becoming quite adept at controlling his CD player! He can turn it on/off, load CDs, skip tracks forward, adjust the volume, press "play" and "stop". Now we're working on the tape player! :)

Adoption

Has anyone else been really moved by the whole idea of adoption? Of the fact that there are many orphans without homes in our world? My whole life, I have ached with the characters in stories like "Oliver Twist" and "Anne of Green Gables", and rejoiced when they found homes. Now that L is a huge part of our family and little girl is on the way, my heart goes out even more for those little children without a home!

As a follower of Jesus, adoption has a particularly special meaning, since that is how I'm included in God's family. Jesus deigns to call me sister and I am counted a daughter of God because of what He did on the cross.

Please take a moment to watch the following video. Even though the website that it promotes is fictional, there is an organization called "The Shepherd's Crook" that is dedicated to international special-needs adoption. And pray for these dear children who need homes and to know the love of God through a family...

http://www.vimeo.com/12307403

First Roses of the Year

I've tried so hard to be original. Some ladies claim daises as their favorite flower, others peonies or daffodils. But for me, it's roses. It's always been roses. :) One of the best parts about our house (and worst in the heat of the summer) is the full sun that most of our yard enjoys. That means tons and tons of roses! I so enjoy scanning the Jackson and Perkins catalogs looking for new and interesting roses. For those of you who didn't know, roses come in four major varieties - climbers, floribundas, grandifloras, and the favorite - hybrid teas. I believe all are derived from antique roses, some of which are still in cultivation and available. I would love to have Teddy Roosevelt's favorite rose one day, but I need to have Chris dig out more flower beds. :) And, yes, this is a bouquet of my first blooms!

Right now, I have a yellow-red hybrid tea, one white and one purple floribunda, and a pink climber. I've also killed a white hybrid tea - oops. Learned an important lesson about the root bud with that one. I think I'll stick with those for this year and plan for next summer. This fall, I'll focus on my new favorite flower - the iris! :)

New little one

Now that I'm six months pregnant, I suppose that I should post an update that we are pregnant! :) We found out on December 14, 2009, meaning that many of our big events as a married couple have occurred on the 14th - married October 14, found out we were pregnant with Luke October 14, now again on a 14! Isn't our sovereign God amazing?

I do wish we had a scanner so that I could scan in some ultrasound photos of our beautiful baby, but alas...perhaps I will remember to take some to my parents' and use their scanner. This pregnancy has flown by, filled with general illness during the winter (flu, stomach virus, ugh, ugh) and work and church activity. Now that work is coming to a close, I hope to be a better blog poster. I do have some ideas for posts (which is usually a problem for me) and I'd like to keep a better record of Luke and little one's growth. What a gift that will be for them when they're older.

When we ask "where's your baby brother or sister?", Luke used to lift my shirt up and point to my tummy. Now he points to his tummy. Don't know where the confusion occurred. :) Today marks the second night that he's fallen asleep in his big boy bed, in his new room! He has done so very well! I'll post some pictures of the new room soon, since I need some ideas as to whether to paint or not. I think I'd like to - it would add more character. He really has not looked back to the nursery, though. "Whither Ernie goest, so I will go" seems to be his modus opperandi. Posts including Ernie the elephant are forthcoming as well. Turning over a new page... Ha!

Balloons

A trip to Publix is a weekly event in our household. Sometimes, it becomes biweekly; other times, it is triweekly; you get the picture. Luke is a good helper as we shop, pointing out "grapes", "flags" (yes, they do have a flag inside the store), and, most importantly, "balloons". Our son LOVES balloons, a feeling that was compounded around his birthday as he was surrounded by colored balloons that he could chase! Publix, being the wonderful store that it is, kindly gives children free balloons and cookies (we try to skip the latter)! Now Luke knows that the balloons are found at the end of the produce section, so he starts asking "please" somewhere around the bananas and flowers. This green balloon spent the afternoon following Luke around everywhere. Unfortunately, they only last a day before the helium escapes and the balloon drifts to the floor. Then, they aren't nearly as interesting. :)

Pancakes

This post is quite delayed, since pancakes are a Saturday ritual in the Morris household. Thus, the pictures are from last Saturday. These are not any common box-mix pancakes...these are the Swedish pancake box-mix pancakes! Chris grew up with his mother making them and introduced them to me when we first were married. I do not generally like pancakes, but these are so thin and small that I love them. Particularly, I like to roll them up rather like tortillas and dip them in syrup. Mmmmm.... Luke adores them as well, as evidenced by the pictures. The box mix is only available at our local Fresh Market, so we have to make regular trips to stock up, which also provides Chris with the visual reminder that fresh roses win high marks with his wife. :) He has become such an expert at Swedish pancakes that I prefer his above all other pancakes I've tasted! Luke and I are looking forward to this Saturday! :)

First Fig

For those of you who are literary types, Edna St. Vincent Millay was an amazing poet. She lived around WWII and was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry! I LOVE literature and poetry; I first read her poems in high school American lit. What does this have to do with figs, you may ask.

We ate the first fig off of our transplanted fig tree last summer, and wondered what would happen this summer. With all of the wonderful rain across the Southeast, our two "fig sticks" turned into the beginnings of a proper fig tree. We're actually going to have to move it away from the house before it starts tapping on the window! Not only did more shoots emerge, but we also ate more than six figs straight from our tree this year!

Last year, when we ate the first fig, I recalled Millay's poem of the same name (First Fig):

My candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night.
But, ah, my foes and, oh, my friends, it gives a lovely light.

Her poem, Second Fig, is also intriguing but with questionable morality:

High upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand.
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand.

How amazing to be able to eat fruit straight from a tree in your own yard, and a fruit that is constantly mentioned in God's Word! Till next summer, and another display of God's provision...through simple figs.

Packing

I have not yet introduced the remaining two members of our little family - two more boys, Benny and Nick. No, they are not twins, nor are they human. They are our first "children" - the two cats that Chris and I adopted when we were first married. They are amazing cats, both affectionate and independent. We swiftly realized that they have many methods of communicating displeasure. To the left is their favorite way of boycotting any upcoming trips. I write this because we just made a quick trip to see Chris' brother and sister-in-law. Nick (the gray cat) slept under/on the suitcase the whole day before! He has found multiple other strange places to sleep, including a decorative bowl that we had on our coffee table before the coffee table became Luke's play table! They certainly keep us on our toes and make us laugh loudly. Luke loves them as well - we really think his first true word was "dat". :)

Bread

Ah...bread. The ideal food to extol for any foodie or microbiologist. Seeing as Chris is one (I lovingly tease him about being a "food snob") and I am the other, we decided to attempt our own foray into the world of yeast-based baking. Chris adores sourdough bread (I prefer seedier versions...wait that didn't come out right...), and he found detailed instructions, interspersed with ravings about the purity of sourdough, on a website. Within minutes he is culturing airborne yeast and other microbes using a concoction of flour, water, and...other stuff. He could tell you. We begin talking about "hooch" and "the sniff test". Unfortunately, the instructions weren't so thorough, so the bread turned out flat, after a VERY late night for Chris. I so wish we had pictures...next time! Because the yeast culture lived on after being divided to make the bread, we named it Sullivan. Today, Sullivan's life ended with a short trip down the drain. He had been sadly neglected by Chris and I and was stinking up the fridge.

Next time...pictures and instant yeast packets!

Swabbing the Rover

Ahhh, how times have changed! My husband and I continually praise God for His many blessings at this stage in our lives, and try to grow in our trust and faith knowing that more difficult times may be ahead. For instance, about two and a half years ago I was starting this blog as an outlet for the frustration and impotence I felt with my pharmaceutical job. Not two months later, I'm actually working for a NASA contractor doing some very interesting technology development.

I basically write proposals for a living, along with scientific journal articles. I design scientific posters and review laboratory data also, but by far one of the coolest things I have yet done was field testing this past week at Johnson Space Center in Houston. I and three colleagues collected cotton swabs of surfaces of the new lunar rover mock-up - surfaces that we had pre-cleaned with ethanol or isopropanol. We then waited until their field ops were complete and swabbed the same surfaces. So very interesting, exciting, and thrilling to see that piece of equipment in operation! The data worked out all right also. :)

Drawing Near Another End

Well, so much for keeping the blog updated with tidbits from work! It's been almost six months of silence...primarily due to the hectic schedule of the spring season. In the government, many financial and budgetary decisions are due in order to determine funding levels for projects for the next year. Right after my last post, I became deeply mired in all these financial type decisions, which was quite interesting but a little tedious. I did long to be back in the lab...or at least interacting with those in the lab.

Not long after the crazy financial schedule came two back-to-back proposal writing sessions! For those of you unfamiliar with proposal writing - it is engrossing, absorbing, and all-consuming. Imagine your high school research paper...no, that's not even remotely close, never mind! Suffice it to say, I was very grateful to be in my second trimester when all this was going on - plenty of energy, feeling great, etc.

In March, Chris and I took a trip to the Cape to see the launch of STS-123 (Endevour) as part of the Marshall Space Flight Center Director's group of guests! While down there, we went on a private tour of many buildings with one of Chris' friends who was down there for a few months working on the solid rocket boosters. When we went to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF - NASA acronyms remember), we actually got to go INSIDE the orbiter Discovery that they were preparing for launch in May!! VERY few people actually get to do this! I and little one even got to sit in the commander's chair in the cockpit of Discovery! It was so memorable...a story I can tell little one in years to come...

As I write this, I'm only about 2 1/2 weeks away from little one's arrival! I just started my maternity leave and Chris and I think that it would be so cool for me to go into labor when Discovery launches tomorrow! :) Actually, anytime that Discovery is in orbit would be pretty cool to me! Check out some pictures of me and Chris and the Cape and me sporting the baby bump. More soon...

New Year

Well, the final prediction in the last post came to fruition. Not long after resigning my pharming title, I took up the mantle of NASA contractor. For nine fascinating months, I have been working on an interesting project managed by NASA. This prospect is a dream breathed life, since I have long spoken of working for NASA (as many friends can testify). To increase the complexity, I and my husband (now both at NASA, remember) are pregnant with our first! Yes, I am four, almost five months along. Alongside posts regarding work at NASA, you'll also hear detailed accounts of pregnancy, which so far has been marvelously smooth. Praise be to our Lord, Who brought about this amazing position, and this amazing new little life!

The End

Yes, as I mentioned in my last post, yesterday was my final day as a pharmer. Though I was only there for two months, I am glad to set aside that title, hopefully exchanging it for something more interesting. Perhaps the "pharmer" might head to space with NASA as well! :)

Stud Bunny

Well, I have resigned from pharming. More on that later... For now, I must relate the funniest of my supervisor's stories! She tells supurb stories with aplomb, but this one trumps them all. My supervisor had three rabbits (Bun-Bun, Silly-Willy, and Cookey-Lookey). Bun-Bun is too mean to reproduce, while Silly-Willy is really large. Cookey-Lookey, however, it quite small and cute. She wished to breed Cookey to have small bunnies to give away as presents. So, she called up a man that she knew sold rabbits. He answered her questions, saying that yes, he had a male rabbit of the same breed as Cookey. Then she asked if this rabbit was a stud bunny. Pause. Pause. She repeated her question, asking what his stud fee was. The man finally found his voice, "Uh, ma'am, we don't really do that." When asked why, he replied that most people just purchase the rabbit, and if they don't want him afterwards, they kill him. My supervisor was shocked! Then, she concluded that she had been raising racehorses too long. :)

Just last week, as an Easter gift, her boyfriend bought her a little male rabbit of the same breed as Cookey (Dweeble-Weebles). Yes, Cookey finally found her stud bunny.

Anecdotes

With the start of a new week, I suppose I should record some anecdotes from "pharm" life. Number one I shall entitle "Safety on the Job". My boss has her EMT license, which is qualification enough in our industry to warrent her appointment to the safety staff. She has been enlisted to monitor fire extinguishers, difibrillators, etc., as well as to administer first aid when necessary. The difibrillators have presented an interesting conundrum though, since the only one available in our building is located in "Steve's office". "Who is Steve?" one asks. Apparently no one knows, since the difibrillators office residence is vacant, implying that "Steve" has moved out and moved on. Some speculate that "Steve" now presides over another building, while others say he left years earlier. Regardless, our one means of defining the location of this life-saving device is by a moniker that is at best outdated. My boss was beside herself. "How is anyone to know where 'Steve's office' is, if no one knows who 'Steve' is?" No appropriate answer was given. She is still resolving this issue...

Number two is "The Hostage". Pipettors come in many shapes and forms. They are the "measuring spoons" (albeit expense ones) of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and research fields. They are extensions of our hands, but they must be kept in precision shape in order for them to remain useful. One of the micro lab's new pipettors was held hostage by a chemistry laboratory technician who claimed she could not release it to us until the SOP (see Day One) was changed from "Eppendorf pipettor" to simply "pipettor". You guessed it. Our new tool is not made by Eppendorf and so was out of specification for this "pharming" industry! Instead of paying the required ransom (obsequious groveling at said lab tech's feet), we daringly air-lifted the captive pipettor from its prison and began using it again. We can hear the storm brewing...

Week Three

Well, week one was survived, and melted into week two in a blur of liquids finished products testing. I have certainly learned much about pharmaceutical microbiology and reincarnated some once-known methods and assays. I find myself to be much like I imagine weather people to be - bored most of the time, until something "goes wrong". For the general populace, it's severe weather or bacterial growth in a medicinal product. For those studying weather or bacteria, it's a flurry and frenzy of excitement and activity as our minds are finally allowed to engage a project!

Now into week three, and the working conditions have not improved. If anything, they've worsened slightly. But as long as I am learning, enjoying my lab mates, and feel that I may have some small skill to offer, I'll stay on a little while longer. Plus, where else would I get to isolate Gram positive, catalase positive bacilli? Let alone quantify them!

Since I'm afraid the tenor of some of these communications has been sardonic and jaded, I MUST state that I really am VERY grateful for this opportunity to learn some new techniques, to be back in the lab, and to meet great new colleagues! I do hope that it becomes even more interesting when I take over preservative testing or when I start antibiotic testing. :)

Background

Well, day two on the job. So, a little about my background...I have spent much of my adult life in the laboratory and REALLY enjoy lab work. I have a Master's degree in Molecular Microbiology, having first entered a Ph.D. program and transitioned to the Master's. My graduate school lab uncovered an amazing story that was recently published in a top tier scientific journal (Science magazine), and resulted in two other papers. So cutting edge research is something I know that I enjoy.

The transition to the pharmacological world was stark. Not sure what life is like at Pfizer, but I hope it's not like this. "Routine" and "oppressive" are the words that spring to mind, for the working environment is subpar, certainly. However, bright points do exist - my co-workers are quite fun, and the benefits are nice. We'll see how long I'll be "pharmer"! :) As long as the Lord wishes, for I do desire to do His will above all else!

Note: Please do not judge NASA by the recent soap operatic publicity coming from Florida.

First day

While "pharming" - the title I am now using for working in the pharmaceutical industry - one must quickly learn the acronyms. And since my husband works for NASA (hence the title of the blog), acronyms are, well, like my middle name...or my initials! TAC - total aerobic count, TYM - total yeast and mold. And my favorite, or at least one that y'all will be hearing much about in the future, the SOP - standard operating procedure. More later, must run to arrive at work on time!