2005 was another year of big changes. Bevan and Evie had bought a beautiful house in Moore, OK but had decided to move back Tulsa so Michelle & I decided to move to their house in Moore. We both were working at DHS in Oklahoma City. We were sad to leave McCullough Street, but happy to be in house with a jacuzzi bathtub and walk in closets. After about a month my friend Miranda moved in to the third bedroom. She was in her last year of dental school at OU at the time. The three of us had so much fun! The funny part of it was that we all had boyfriends named Matt while we lived together. So that could be confusing at times. Miranda loved themes, so we always had “Sunday Funday”, “Taco Tuesday”, “Wednesday Friendsday”… every week… It was great.

But most importantly this year the love of my life was born. Sweet Samuel Douglas Houston made a surprise appearance August 10th. He and Evie gave us quite a scare though. I’ll never forget that phone call the morning Evie went in to the hospital. We were all excited because this was the first grandbaby… my first time to be an aunt. We were all so thrilled. Evie had HELLPS Syndrome and her blood pressure was through the roof. HELLPS is a combination of three things, blood pressure, kidneys and liver problems. There are risks of seizure and stroke and kidney and liver failure. So they did an emergency C-section 6 weeks before her due date. After Sam was born Evie’s health started improving and thankfully she had no lasting problems from it like many can have. Now since Sam was born so early he didn’t have time to finish developing his lungs. He was in the NICU because of his lung problems and low birth weight of 3lbs 7oz and he was 16in long. After a week in the NICU they discovered he had a valve in his heart that never closed. So at one week old he had his sweet little heart operated on. But praise the Lord he everything worked out great. He was in the NICU for 5 weeks and then they were finally able to bring him home. He had more prescriptions and monitors than I could imagine, but he was a healthy baby!  Poor Evie though became a recluse because he couldn’t go in public for 8 months until RSV season was over. I think she probably hugely relieved when April came around and she could rejoin the land of the living. 2005 was a hallmark year, Sam Houston was born and he quite possibly might be the coolest kid in the entire world.

I moved back to Tulsa late that fall. Decided to move on from OKC and work towards something new.

Matt & I in Santa Fe for a friends wedding

The first time to meet my LOVE Sam!!

Mommy & Daddy with Sam 20 days old.

President: George W. Bush
Vice President: Richard Cheney
Population: 296 million

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No. 1 Song the week of February 12, 2005: Let Me Love You by Mario

Nobel Prize for Literature: Harold Pinter (United Kingdom)

Random Facts:

• Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on the Gulf coast; more than 1,000 die and millions are left homeless. Americans are shaken not simply by the magnitude of the disaster but by how ill-prepared all levels of government are in its aftermath.
• The Terry Schiavo case becomes the focus of an emotionally charged battle in Congress.
• Millions of Iraqi voters ratify a new constitution.