Precious Little Things

Little things in life that are so precious, like the innocence of my child sleeping. And the joy of watching the older ones trying to carry on a ball game in the yard. And driving to meeting with my husband by my side, and the precious little ones in the back seat. So thankful for all things I forget to be thankful for.

Summer must be around the corner!

What a wonderful weekend we had. Beautiful weather, sunny, mild breeze, and temperature a high 90 degrees yesterday! Even today is super, with 90 again and bright blue skies.

We received so much to feed us at Sp.Mtg, and during our worker visits. Looking forward to another Sp.Mtg on Sunday. We had the privelage of having Norma J. and Dorothy L. for supper and night on Friday.

Noah didn't have such a good weekend. His croup seemed to worsen instead of getting better on the 3rd day. Must be because I thought I had it figured out! Noah, Shawn, and I had several sleepless nights. Friday night, actually Sat. morning, after a really restless night, when his fever hit 103.5 , and he was making a strange sound like a cough starting and not finishing, and he started "twitching", we decided I better take him to the E.R. for another round of steriods and an Epi breathing treatment. Shawn would stay home and get breakfast for the workers. :-), and also take care of the other 3. Noah and I got there at 3:30 A.M. The Dr. started the steriods and breathing treatment within a few minutes of our arrival. I also requested a chest x-ray to make sure there wasn't hidden pneumonia (been there with Zach). Thankfully that was negative. They did a horrible upper nose swab to make sure it wasn't whopping cough due to the fact its spreading through the community. Hope to get the results of that back in another day or two. Then we got to go home! Arrived home a little before 5:45. Noah was the only one being treated in the E.R. and I was thankful for the quick trip! Shawn did get breakfast for all of us, since 7:30 came and my alarm went off, but I didn't move according to Shawn. So, thanks, Honey, for taking care of us.

Sorry about the smudge. I thought it was the camera and would show up on the computer, then I found a baby thumb print on my lens!

Keeping Memories

When I decided to start a blog, I did it for a future reference for our children. Kinda like a diary they (and Shawn & I) could look back on.This post is for Noah. Poor lil buddy! He had to get a shot in his little thigh yesterday.He has croup. This A.M., he is really hoarse and barky. Dr. John told me yesterday that when our community was hit with whooping cough 2 wks ago(25 confirmed in one school,1 in ours), that for some reason, croup came along with it. I bet the reason croup is here is the drastic weather changes we've been having. Yesterday started a cool 42 degrees, mostly cloudy. Then a little sunny and 56. Then super windy and black clouds, more sun, then a mini hail storm, followed by heavy rain,then more sun.We closed the day with fairly strong wind and periods of rain. Down in the thirties last night, now today sunny and almost 60 @ 9A.M.!
So,, poor little Noah, I'm sorry you feel so rotten. As much croup experience as our family has, (hopefully you follow suit!), you'll be feeling better tomorrow. That will be day 3 after the Detcadrom, and that seems to be the magic number of days for the meds to work. I do think you like the way your voice sounds, since you are making extra inhaling noises and smiling when a whistle comes out.:-)
Last night we had the privelage of a mini Wed special mtg. We had 5 workers there! As far back as I can remember, we've never had that many for a Wed. meeting. So helpful with our study in Isaiah. Tomorrow we look forward to a visit with Norma J. and Dorothy L. for supper and the night. Lord willing, we hope to attend Special Mtg on Sunday.
Hoping to get a little mushroom hunting in this weekend.Hope for a success hunt.
Well, I need to get a load of laundry hung outside. Good day.

Good-bye, Little Maggie Mae

What a sad day today. Shawn had to take our little inside dog to be put to sleep. The children and I couldn't bear to do it. Sorry, honey, that's just one of the reasons I love you so, the way you take care of us. We've had her for a little over 12 years, since she was 3mos old. She was a part of our family before the children came along. I think Hannah was hit the hardest. She was so sad, and cried much of today. Mommy cried right along with her.

Today was a beautiful day outside however. It was 75 degrees today! Super sunny, great day to work outside. At 7 this morning, my brother started working on taking down some trees in our woods with an excavator. We want to make more pasture for the horse and goat. Tried to burn the trees tonight that have been setting for a year, still too wet from all the rain these last few weeks. Rain is forecasted for the next 5 days too.

We are looking forward to special meeting visits this week. I always looked forward to spring time/special meeting time when I was young. Hope my little children will too! I loved it when the workers visited, still do. So encouraging to me to watch my little ones eyes light up when we tell them the workers are coming for supper and/or the night. Josh keeps asking if the workers are coming tonight?

Time to call it a night and get ready for meeting tomorrow. Good-night.

Brave or Crazy?

I thought I would post this quick question. Is it brave or crazy to take 6 children, 2 of whom are not yours, to Wal-mart? Well, I did it this afternoon. The looks we got in the store were rather amusing, you could almost see the wheels turning..."Look at that lady with the skirt. She has 6 kids!" I also saw an old friend. She was on the phone and started pointing and counting. Then she mouthed, "Are they ALL yours??" Funny thing is the 2 extra's, my niece and my daughters best friend, look similar, and look like they could belong to me. Dress and hair were the major differences. Ages are 10;9;8;5;3;and 1. It was literally like stairsteps. I was so very proud of each one of them however, not one of them asking for even one thing. SO,,, I think it was ok, not brave because there are folks out there with more children than that, and not crazy either!

Playing photo tag

Megan tagged me the other day. I will post my picture, however, since she is the only blogging friend I have, I guess the tag will stop with me. Sorry!

If I remember correctly:

1. Go to your 4th folder of pictures.

2. Look at your 4th photo.

3. Explain that photo.

4. Tag 4 other people.

That may not be exactly right, but anyway here is my photo.

I took this photo during a field trip for good behavior I went on with Hannah. The children were in a large room playing dodge ball, you can see Josh with his hand on his head. It was a very wild game, with the children having tons of fun.

Assortment of pictures

Kids picture taken with a celebrity!!!!

What a busy, wonderful spring break we had. On Saturday, we took our children to the zoo. While observing the elephants, I overheard someone say, "Look, Jack Hanna!" I turned and right behind me there he was. He generously let me take his photo with the children. That was the highlight of break.

We also enjoyed several "little things" with them, like a trip to the pet store to puppy play, riding an escalator :) , city folk we aren't!, and so on. We did something little, something fun with them every day. Shawn even had Monday off, so that sweeten the break.

Dad's surgery went very well, with the problem area of his heart repaired. The Dr did the scheduled surgery, with a heart cath and immediate secondary, unplanned surgery following the scheduled one. Thankfully, that all turned out normal. What a long day it was though, in the hospital with 2 little ones for 9 hrs. Thankfully, both my sisters and brother helped me with them. They both did very well. At least I think they did. I guess I could be wrong, as I have been told in a round about way that I lack good parenting skills. Oh well, at least today I got commented on how well behaved my children are. We were in town, and someone told me how good they were. I even had an extra with me, making that 5 children. The ages- 13mos, 3, 5, 8, and 9.

On a sadder note, it appears we will have to have our little dog, Maggie, put to sleep. She has several abdominal tumors, and one started to grow on her eye. Now the entire eye is glazed with a heavy film, and a large red growth protruding. She couldn't use her front leg last Sunday, after several days she started using it again, but she stopped eating yesterday. After she refused chicken tonight, we know her days are numbered. We don't want to put her down, but don't want her to starve to death either.

On a different note, Noah is cutting his back teeth. The second one trying to come in has actually bruised his skin. It is extremely swollen, and I couldn't believe it when he opened his mouth wide, that the entire swelled area is deep purple. I figured we'd be in for a sleepless night last night, and we were. Today he has spent most of the day sleeping. I have never seen bruising while teething before. Has anyone else?

Well, sorry for the length of this post. Didn't mean to ramble.

April showers brings...Snow!

How strange to watch the snow flying into your windshield in April! That was our experience last night. Today we awake to a dusting of snow. It is a chilly, windy 30 degree day, with lots of gray clouds. Amazes me to think again of God's mighty power, like snow in one area, tornadoes in another, earthquakes somewhere else, and probably beautiful sunny weather somewhere! So thankful even in all this, God is in control and faithful.

In other news.., I had a first experience last week. I actually built fence for our mini horse, and goat! It was a beautiful day on Thursday, temp near 80, and sunny. The grass has gotten so green, I thought the animals would enjoy fresh pasture. Shawn has been so busy at work, working Sat. and one Sun. that I thought I'd help him out. Not exactly the location of his choice, but hey, I'm new at this! Thankfully it appears his weekend work is finished for awhile.

Dad has his heart surgery today, after a night in our local hospital for a sleep study. Hannah gave us a fright last week, with severe headaches leading to bad nose bleeds. Turns out to have been a virus going around school?? So glad spring break starts this week!
Good day to each!