The Free iPod Is Here!

Well, it's been a while, but we finally got our free iPod! We started way back in February and got 4 out of 5 referrals pretty quickly. Then it sort of stalled out and I figured we would never get our final referral.

Then we got our 5th referral a few weeks ago and Elise now has a brand new 30 gig black iPod! It is even one of the new ones that does photos and video.

You can get one of your own - click on the free iPod link on the right.

The Aspen Daisy

This happens to be my favorite flower. They grow wild on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains and I took this shot at the end of the summer on the Mantrip. We were in the Indian Peaks Wilderness of Colorado.

Kind of a random post, I know.

Vote for my Jones Soda labels!!!

I put a couple of my pictures on the Jones Soda website for consideration to be a label on a bottle of Jones Soda. Help the cause by clicking on both of these links and voting for my picture:

Picture #1

Picture #2


Thanks!

She's finally here!

Ok, I know it has been way too long since either of us have posted. We've been just a bit busy...

Announcing the birth of Amelia Clare Harkey!


Amelia was born at 6:32 a.m. on Saturday, November 5, 2005 at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, AR. She weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Friday, the 4th, we had a Community Group guys night at our house. A bunch of us guys went to eat wings at Wingstop, then we came back to the house to play some poker and Halo 2. After our poker game, those of us still around went downstairs to play some Halo 2 and after playing for about 30 minutes, Elise sent me a text message (from upstairs) telling me that she thought she might be in labor. I took a break and went upstairs to help her time her contractions while the guys kept shooting each other. Her contractions were not really very regular, but they were pretty intense, so we decided to wait a bit and see if they became more regular.

We had planned to take the kids to the Harper's house when Elise was finally in labor. Mike was one of the guys here playing Halo 2, so we thought if this was it, we would just send the kids home with him. By the time we had finished playing Halo 2, the contractions hadn't become any more regular, so we sent Mike home.

Soon after that, the contractions got more regular and intense.

So, we packed the kids and our bags into the car and headed over to the Harper's to drop them off. Then we were off to the Hospital. We checked in at about 3:15 and quickly they had an IV in Elise's hand and were making plans for the Epidural. This was going to be it! The Epidural went fine (I didn't pass out this time - you'll have to ask me about that) and Elise labored along with no pain. Then just a couple of hours later at about 6:00, they told us it was time to push. Elise did great and within no time, Amelia Clare was here!

Actually, Amelia _______ was here. We hadn't decided on a middle name yet.

She looked great and unlike our other girls, she was born with black hair! They got her all cleaned up, packed all of the stuff away in the room and then left us alone for about 1.5 hours of quality family time with our new baby girl.

The rest of the hospital stay was a blur of friends and family coming to visit. Sunday morning, they told us everything with Elise and Amelia Clare (we decided on her middle name Sunday morning), and so we could go home.

We got home at about noon on Sunday. Grammy (Elise's mom) had been there since Saturday morning taking care of Maitlyn and Elspeth.

We are so blessed by God to have 3 beautiful, healthy girls. Thanks to everyone who has prayed with and for us for the last 9 months.

A day with Tim Ernst

I attended a photography workshop with renowned Arkansas nature photographer, Tim Ernst on October 29. This was one of the shots that I took at the Buffalo River near Roark Bluff. As a part of the workshop, Tim processed one picture from each person's shots for the day in Photoshop to show how he processes digital pictures. I couldn't decide which of my pictures to use (I shot about 120), so I asked Tim and he chose this one. At the end of the day, I got a print of this done on Tim's Epson 4800 fine art printer that looks stunning.

Holy cow, macro shots are really fun.