Gage Charles

Many of you know Gage Charles(above singing at Guy & Elaine's wedding), Guy's brother. Gage sang at our wedding and has been battling ulcerative colitis for many years...George battles with this same ailment. I just got an email from Elaine and thought I'd share it:

Dear Friends and Family,My brother-in-law, Gage, has suffered from ulcerative colitis for the past 4+ years and has recently had a severe bout with it for the past 6+ months. Due to the severe pain and discomfort and him trying every possible healing agent prior to surgery, he has decided to get surgery. He will be getting the J-pouch surgery on December 11th in Dallas. While the surgery is pretty major and he will be in the hospital for about a week, I pray that this is the beginning to a new way of living for him. He is only 22 and has not been able to leave the house in months. Please join us and pray for him going into surgery, for a successful surgery, for quick healing time, and any other needs that are placed on your heart. Gage is such a wonderful man and we believe that the Lord has wonderful plans for his life and hope that this is a big step to help him achieve all the great things God has in store for him. Thank you and hope all is well.

In Him,Elaine

Baby news

At my weekly doctor appointment yesterday they said I've started to efface but no dilation yet. She is about 6.5 lbs right now with 3 weeks to go. I've started receiving guesses as to when she'll be born and how much she'll weight. Here's the guesses so far:

Nana Dorsey December 29 weighing 7 lb 4 oz
Grammy Plagge December 15 weighing 6 lb 6 oz
Kelly Butler December 17 weighing 7 lb 2 oz
Walker Plagge December 18 weighing 7 lb 14 oz

Feel free to add your own guess to the mix.

Amelie Gabrielle Dorsey

born November 19, 2007 at 2:20 am. She was delivered by c-section and weighs in at 5.13 lb. 18.5 inches. Congratulations to happy parents John Paul and Tracy!

I'll have some pictures soon.

Update: Please remember Tracy in your prayers...she went into kidney failure, has been throwing up all night and into the day today. She is stable now but she may have to stay a little longer in the hospital.

3rd Wedding Anniversary

Today marks three years since Walker and I committed our lives to each other. Unfortunately I haven't uploaded all our wedding photos to the computer yet, but it's on my project list. Here's one to mark the occasion.

We're getting up early and going to breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Plano before I head off to Denton for class and Walker heads to McKinney for a dental appointment and then heads to work.

What's in my water?

In a couple of classes drinking water contamination has been mentioned and it sparked my interest in exactly what I'm drinking in when I take a drink from the faucet.

The comments made in class were to the effect that the Denton County water supply contains trace amounts of prozac and birth control pills with every sip. There are many other prescription meds found in trace amounts...these two are just the most prominent. And we wonder why great quantities of fish are being found androgynous or male with female parts.

After researching this a bit I've found that it's a national problem, not just in Denton county. Due to the hyper-prescribing of certain medications as a community we are collectively polluting the water.

I found some useful information at the EPA's website



I also found the Frisco Water report published in August, which had a 'superior' quality rating, but the traces of things in the water still grosses me out. I don't want to resort to buying bottled water all the time...for several reasons:

1. the plastic container contains chemicals that can leach into the water
2. the cost in oil of shipping the bottled water to the store is about 1/5 the cost of the water...so to save oil/ promote an ecofriendly environment it's more considerate to drink tap water.
3. I have a Pur filter system...I just wonder what it filters and I have a feeling it doesn't filter my neighbor's prescription drugs.
4. Some bottled water companies have been found just bottling tap water.

Another concern is this: if farmers are using this same water to irrigate plants for food, are the trace amounts of these drugs absorbed into the plant systems therefore being reintroduced to our systems when we eat them?

There...now I can go back to sleep. I've been up thinking about this and it's interrupted my sleep for two days. For now the best I can do is drink tap water using my Pur filter, until I find a better solution.