Strep Throat Round 4

Yep, Hannah has it again! We have the ENT appointment on Monday. It can't come soon enough! I told them when I got that referral (which was 2 weeks ago) that I would probably see them again before we made it to the ENT. I was right. I really hate the thought of her going through surgery, but we can't keep doing this either. She has had it every 2 weeks since February 12th.

They did some further sensativity testing and such on her culture last time and it showed that she has been taking the right anti-biotics after all. I was kind of hoping that they had been giving her the wrong medication, and that the right one would knock it out for good. I guess that is not the case. I'm trying not to get too worked up about the thought of it, but I'm afraid that might be too late. Hannah, on the other hand, has a great attitude about it. She doesn't even really feel that bad this time, because we caught it before the fever and all set in. Her throat is just sore and she is acting normal.

So, Monday we'll have some more answers and information hopefully. What is a mama to do except just pray?

On a lighter and much more fun note. Jamie is on his way to meet my sister to pick up 2 of my nieces to visit for the week.

On the Road to Debt Freedom!

This is the last day of the month. Also, the first month without a house payment hanging over my head. It feels very surreal and we are very grateful. I'm not really sure my feet have come down yet.

When we moved here, Jamie and I had decided that when things were better financially, that we wanted to be free of all our debt. We want to be good stewards of what God has granted us with. I think that being on a more restricted budget the past several years has taught us the difference between "needs" and "wants" and we spend accordingly.

I've been a careful budgeter for years now anyways. It is not unusual to see me every couple of days with my budget (in Excel, where every dollar is allocated), my checkbook (MS Money), and the bank account all popped up on the computer at once. The kids even know to leave me be for a few minutes while I'm doing this process, which is kind of funny in its own way, but also great for them to see.

Now that the house is out of the way, I tweaked our budget accordingly. We are hoping to be free of all debt in 2 years (more or less). It depends on how much "life" happens between now and then, but at least we have a game plan and I'm strangely excited. We are fortunante to not really owe on so much.

We have exactly 4 debts that we are currently repaying (no credit cards). None of which I'm ashamed of, but they are essentially robbing us each and every month. Debt is not really a "good" thing (an affordable mortgage aside) and my viewpoint has kind of changed about that over time. I think that we have sort of been desensatized as a society to just accept this as a way of life to have "things".

So, as we begin this next chapter of our lives, we do so prayerfully and contently. We know that God is going to bless us through this process. After all, it is all his anyways.

Happy Birthday Jamie!

I hope that Jamie has had a great birthday this year. He is off on Monday anyways, and since it is spring break, we got to enjoy a nice family day. The weather was beautiful and we were in no hurry to do anything (which is nice). Jamie got to sleep in, then we had a relaxing morning followed by an afternoon outdoors. We went biking and then let the kids play outside. Tonight I'm fixing some dinner that he had requested followed by Apple Dumplings (which is better than cake anyways).

Jamie, I love you baby. We aren't getting any younger, but I love growing older with you. And, what the heck...you are as young as you feel anyways. Right? Happy Birthday!

So....My Child Has a Purple Nose

This picture does not do it justice. The tip of his nose looks bruised. He decided that putting his nose into a drawstring bag and cutting the circulation off to his nose was a good idea. When I picked him up from Children's church, I thought he had marker on his nose. I asked him about it, then he proceeded to demonstrate this "fun" thing he was doing. Later we found out that people thought it was funny, so that only fueled it, and he saw himself and thought he looked funny too. Needless to say, he got a good talking to and got his drawstring backpack taken away for now.

Sometimes you just have to sit and wonder what goes through a child's head. Do they just think, "hey, let me see if pinching my nose off in this rope will feel good?". What is even the thought process there?

2 Students of the Month

Micah and Abbi both received the honor of "Student of the Month". Each teacher chooses a child that represents the character trait represented for that month. This month's character trait was "Hope". Micah's teacher told him that he always has a great attitude in everything, so that is why she chose him. Yes, Mr. Laid Back does have a great attitude. Nothing really seems to bother this kid much. Even my little Drama Queen is apparently happy-go-lucky at school (go figure). I'm proud of them both and they were proud of themselves too!

I'm sure it was pure coincidence that 2 of my kids just happen to get it on the same day, but you can imagine that it caused some hurt feelings on Hannah's behalf. She cried for a bit, but I reminded her that she had received some recognition herself and that she may get it another time. My heart went out to her. I know that things don't always feel "fair"

Another Birthday, My New Wheels, and Children's Choir

So, I have yet another year under my belt now. Sometimes I think about how old I am and how I used to think that people my age had things figured out by now. But, as I grow older, I've realized that you never really figure anything out. It is all just one big adventure that God holds in the palm of his hands anyways.

This year I got some extra special birthday gifts. I really got the best birthday present probably in my adult life last Friday when we sold our home. It was just the hugest answer to prayer for us. I feel as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and just a general sense of relief. I don't even think I realized how stressed I was until it was all over. Now I feel like I can move on and Jamie and I can work on the next exciting challenge of becoming debt free (more about that later)

Saturday, Jamie and I went shopping for new wheels. For a few years now, I have wanted to take up biking. The time was just never "right" to do it. So, we went and got us some bikes and a trailer to pull Hannah and Chloe (Micah and Abbi can ride independently). I love that my bike is pink and white. It is the same colors as the bike I had as a child. Of course, minus the cool early 80's banana seat, basket, and horn.

Saturday we all went on our first little adventure and Chloe and I have gone twice this week by ourselves when everybody is gone during the day. I'm sure it was some evil person that decided to make all the long steep uphill climbs on the way back home. After biking 3 or 4 miles and the last bit being up hill, I come in with jell-o legs. It is fun though and a great way to exercise and blow off some steam at the same time. The weather is just perfect outside!

Even with those 2 great birthday gifts under my belt, I still was blessed with some cards, a birthday sticker (which Hannah proudly made me wear to church), and headphones/memory card for my new phone to use the MP3/radio features. Jamie was a good husband and avoided buying me chocolate truffles (which is his "go to" present for me)! We've done great with this new "healthy in 2009" thing (more about that later too).

The kids sang last night in children's choir too. It is always so sweet to see children singing praises to the Lord. This just topped my birthday off with a cherry. A mommy always loves to see her little ones up on stage.

So overall, it was a great birthday even if the number is getting bigger and bigger. I can't stop time, but I can stop and soak in what is happening in my life at this moment. That is all any of us can do!

The last piece is in place and now we can finally exhale!

It has been 10 long months of waiting. Waiting and waiting and just when we didn't think we could wait any more, we did. We've had a couple of close sells where our hopes would be built way up to only have them dashed in an instant. We've had moments of raw emotion, and many many moments of prayer and looking for answers.

When we moved here, we knew that our house was going to be our greatest challenge. Every piece of the puzzle had God's hand all over it last year. There are just too many things to even list. There was no question that we were suppose to be here. Then we come to the house, which was a big piece. In that one piece of the puzzle held our finances, emotions, and our physical attachment to Murray.

Have you ever tried to do a jigsaw puzzle to only find that one piece was missing in the box? That is kind of how this house felt to us. No matter how hard we searched, that piece was still missing. It was frustrating and I'll be honest and say that it was rather hard for me to emotionally move forward from that. My heart will always be in Murray, but I felt like I had a foot stuck there too. Kind of like I was straddling a fence and I was 3/4 of the way over on this side, but there was still something tugging me the other direction no matter how hard we tried.

A couple of weeks ago (I don't remember when), I was sitting here in the living room and no one was around me, which is unusual with 4 kids and a husband. My mind had kind of wandered to the worry of this house like it sometimes did when I was alone in my thoughts and prayers, but all of a sudden it was as if God whispered in my ear plain as day, "I will take care of you". I thanked God for the affirmation of what I knew was already true and that kind of stuck with me through the next several days.

Last weekend, we went to Murray for a visit with no real reason, but to just catch up with family. When we arrived, Glenn (Jamie's dad) handed Jamie an envelope with a check and note inside. It was a down payment on our house. You see, we hadn't been told that the sweet lady that purchased our home had even been looking at it, much less wanted to buy it. He didn't want to tell us until he was 99.999% sure that it was going to be a for sure deal so that we didn't have another letdown. Now that I look back and think about God's message to me, I wonder if the timing coincided with this lady looking at our house. I will probably never know.

So, we made a round trip to Murray today and made the transaction complete. It was really quite surreal as Jamie and I traveled back the 2 and 1/2 hours and discussed our future plans. It was a long day with a lot of driving, waiting around, and paper work. We did squeeze in a little family time too. Oh, and we picked up some Bar-B-Que in Murray. There is nothing quite like it to my tastebuds!

But now I'm sitting here in my home and I can finally exhale and breathe again. That chapter of our life is closed and I want to move forward here and I know that God has even bigger plans on the horizon.

Scarlett Fever and House News

This is a first for our household. Hannah got diagnosed with strep yesterday afternoon (The 3rd time since Feb. 12!). Before the appointment, she was telling me her neck and head itched. My first thought was lice. Well, I looked around and saw nothing to indicate lice, so I just told her that maybe her scalp was dry. I didn't think 2 more thoughts about it.

After I picked up her medication, I gave it too her. She told me at that same moment that she was itchy all over. I took her shirt off and sure enough, she was polka-dotted from the neck down. So, I get on the nurse line and the lady was really nice, but convinced she had an allergy to the medication. I'm not saying that it couldn't be true (she is already allergic to Amoxil), but to be broken out and itching within 5 seconds didn't seem right to my mommy instinct.

We also knew that strep can also lead to scarlett fever, which...guess what....has itchy red dots. So, I kind of knew last night that my instincts were leading this direction. To be safe we gave her Benadryl, we avoided the anti-biotic this morning and Jamie took her back in to see the doctor. Turns out, my mommy instinct was right and she has Scarlett Fever. So, we are continuing the medication that we bought yesterday and hopefully she'll be fine tomorrow. It sounds a lot worse than what it is, I think. I also think that Mommies should get some kind of honorary Doctor's lisence. I'm getting pretty good at this diagnosing thing.

So, she is home today and bouncing around like nothing is wrong. Go figure! She has never run a fever with this round of strep though, so that helps with the way she feels. An adult would probably be laid up in bed for 3 days!

But, at the doctor's yesterday, they did do a more thorough culture to send off to the lab. They will check for sensativities and see what is making this strep bullet proof. She is also getting a referral to an ENT for another opinion on this whole matter. I should hear something today or tomorrow.

So, that is kind of where we are at right now. Kind of in limbo. I think we may have some decisions to make about Hannah's health in the next couple of weeks and I'm praying for discernment on that matter. It isn't always easy to know what is best for our children.

On another note, we did have some good news yesterday. Looks like we are headed to Murray on Friday (maybe as late as Monday) to sell our house. I'm not sure that it has all hit me yet. It has been 10 long months.

Hannah is Headed to the Doctor This Afternoon AGAIN! And Micah is Home From School.

She started complaining about her throat yesterday afternoon and her tonsils looked a bit swollen to me, but she had no fever or anything, so we went on with our activities, because she wasn't "sick". I checked on them before bed and early this morning and they still look very swollen. What is that dangly thing in the back of the throat called? Hmmmmm....that is a question for Google I guess, but whatever it is, her tonsils are touching it. Literally touching that thingy majigger (I'll just call it that for now).

So, I sent her onto school, because she felt fine otherwise. Really, if I kept her home every time her tonsils were swollen, she'd never be out of this house, but we are headed in this afternoon after school to see what could be going on. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster with her. I just want her well!

We called the school and told them to send a message to her teacher to keep a watchful eye on her and to call us if she gets puny or something. I'm sure I may kick myself for sending her, but sometimes it is hard to make those decisions as a parent and so early in the morning too. Especially when she was perking along fine.

Micah is home today too. I think he got up with a migraine or something. We are also keeping an eye on him, but he tends to get migraines every so often anyways. Hopefully that is what it is, and he'll be fine later today. He is already perking up a bit.

Edited at 11:00--Micah is feeling fine and we are taking him to school. The nurse just called and said that Hannah is now not feeling well, so we are trading out sick kids. We are headed to the doctor at 3:00 to see what is up with her.

Murray and Crazy Hair Night at Awana

Friday night and Saturday were spent in Murray. We got home around 10:30 last night and it was overall and good trip. We got to visit and chat with our families and sometimes we just need that. We were tired, but took a nap to 'catch up' today, so all is well.

While we were there we got some potentially good news, which was delivered very sweetly. Still holding out on doing any 'celebration' just yet, but very hopeful that God has a wonderful plan in store within the next couple of weeks for us. Praying that this may be the best birthday present I've ever received (hopefully a little early)! Whatever the case, just keep this special blessing in your prayers.

Tonight was "crazy hair" night in Awana. Well, you can look back on past posts and know that we can certainly do some crazy hair around here. So, with some more pipe cleaners and rubber bands, we set out on our new hair creation. Micah was a bit trickier, so he just wore his in a faux hawk. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids (even the grown-up kids) with all the crazy hair tonight.

Heading to Murray for a Night

Today, when the kids get out of school, we are heading to Murray until tomorrow evening. It has been since Christmas since Jamie and I have been back. As we began to look at the calendar for the next few weeks, life is going to be getting busy (what else is new), so we kind of made last minute plans to make a visit.

The kids are excited and I'm busy today cleaning and packing up. Should be a piece of cake. I'm becoming a packing pro!

My Latest Creation

My front door was still sporting my Christmas wreath until last week. Yea, I have other wreaths, but I was just tired of them all, and needed a change, but didn't really know what I wanted to do either. So, I decided just to stay "Christmasy" until spring was here. Well, spring has sprung (almost), and I had to get busy. I wanted something different than my usual grapevine wreath with flowers stuck in it. You know, like every wreath in my collection, so it was time to do some googling to get a new idea.

I came up with this rag wreath. It was different, fun, homey, easy to make, and cheap, so it fit the bill perfectly. I found the "H" and painted it and threw it on for an extra effect.

So, basically you take a wire wreath. I found one at Hobby Lobby (one of the best stores in the world), but you could easily bend a coat hanger into a circle. Then you cut strips of fabric and start tying them on close together. The closer you can get the strips, the fuller the wreath will be. It was more time consuming than sticking flowers into a grapevine wreath, but not too bad. I had it done in an evening while watching TV.

Here is the view from the front:

Closer:

And even closer:

A Fun Saturday

It was a beautiful day yesterday and just the perfect weather to enjoy being outside. We have all been longing for that all winter, and who knows if it will last this time of year, so we spent the majority of our day outside. So we headed to a park to spend the afternoon.

We started out by going through walking trails and bridges into the wooded area. It was a lot of fun and interesting to see the damage to the trees from the ice storm. Here are 3 of my children enjoying their little walk.
Here is my other child being dramatic and convinced that the bridge would fall and that trees would fall on her. She did walk along with us, but she was not a happy camper. This was her expression during most of our little adventure.
Chloe was able to keep up with us. We walked for quite a ways, so I know her little legs must have been tired, but she never complained. She said she liked hiking.

Here is our fearless leader. Well, he was usually straggling behind, but that is typical for Micah.
Hannah was enjoying the view.

They were able to take a little break. Abbi is a little happy here, because we were finally off of the bridge and onto a regular trail.
And, well, the next thing was a swing bridge. Her expression quickly changed to terror and Jamie had to carry her across. Later she informed us that in the Horton Hears a Who (movie) the bridge like that started breaking. She thought it would come true even though we tried to tell her that cartoons aren't real and that it was safe.
When our walk was complete we let the kids run and play on a couple of playgrounds.
Much happier hanging upside down!
And, Jamie and I joined in the fun. I have to admit that zip thing on the playground was pretty fun. Notice the little boy in the background. I'm sure he was like, "who is this crazy guy"
And...one of the highlights of the afternoon!

And, the Videos of the Performances

Hannah



Abbi (she is behind the chicken)

My Little Actresses

Hannah and Abbi both had their performances last night at school. They both did great! I had the cutest little owl and duck in the whole show! Of course mommy isn't partial at all!

Kindergarten was up first and Hannah opened and closed the program with the her solo in part of the theme song for the play. She did really good and she was so short that she had to stand on her tip toes to reach the microphone. Here is a picture of her getting ready to sing (not singing yet).
And a picture of her waving to us from the stands.
Abbi had a little speaking part and I was nervous for her. I know how she gets in front of people (just like me). But, even though she was scared to death (we found out later), you would have never known it. She got up there and I was so glad that she was able to face that fear.

Here is a picture of Abbi saying her part. Notice how her hands are folded in front of her. That is classic, "I'm nervous and scared" Abbi body language.

Here is Abbi in the music stands during the play. One good thing about having kids that are shorter than all their peers is that they get to stand on the front row!
I got a note on Friday that Abbi needed to wear yellow pants. I walked my legs off Monday trying to find something for her to wear. I was so miffed at the school for only giving us a couple of days notice about this "wardrobe" when they have been practicing for a month! Finally, we just decided to dye some tights and be done with it. They actually turned out the right color and things worked out in the nick of time.

When we got home last night, Abbi was crying. She was crying, because "she doesn't like speaking parts in plays". I couldn't figure out why she was crying after it was all over. I said, "aren't you proud of yourself for doing so well?" She responded, "No, I never want to be in a play again" Ok, so this may a first and a last. Who knows! Girls are so dramatic!

Hannah spiked a fever last night too (again!). She took a nap after school yesterday, and wasn't complaining and did not have a fever. But by the time we got home from the play, she had 102 fever. I don't know what is up with her, but I'm tired of her feeling bad. So, she is home today. She said she felt fine, but yesterday was a long day for her, and I want to watch her and make sure she is OK before I let her loose. Her fever was pretty low grade this morning, but we'll see how things go as the day progresses. It is always something to worry about!

Jamie took video and I will try to get them loaded soon of their performances.

Strep Throat Round 3

Well, Hannah was diagnosed with Strep throat again! This is the 2nd time in 2 weeks, and the doctor was alarmed. I do realize it is "that time of year", but can my little girl catch a break, please? If she gets it again within a small time frame, they are probably going to refer her to an ENT. She has always gotten Strep several times a year, but this was some kind of record for her. But, we were able to get both her doses of meds in her system yesterday and she felt fine today and is at school. That is a great thing, because she would have been broken hearted if she had to miss her solo in the school play. That is tonight and I can't wait to see both of my girls shine!

It's Shania's Dress

About 11 years ago, I bought this jumper for my youngest niece, Shania (who is now 13). It was a Christmas present and I even remember buying it, because I was torn between the navy blue and a khaki one. Well several years ago, when I started having girls of my own, my sister gave the dress back to me to be worn again (and again and again).

So, whenever I have put any of my girls in this dress, I can't help but think of Shania when she was itty bitty like this. Now she is a grown up girl that I literally have to look up to now that she is several inches taller than I am. Ok, who am I kidding, I'm only 5'1 and I have to look up to most people, but she is still suppose to be itty bitty, you know?

As I was about to snap Chloe's picture this morning, she gave me her fake, "I'm not happy" sad face. It is one we are seeing often lately. It is mainly used to get out of certain situations. She makes her upside down face and tries to look as pitiful as she can. Don't let her little schemes fool you though, the other day, I got her to laugh while making this pitiful face. So I think she will be the next actress in the house for sure.