Famous Last Words (from me to Cara)..."I'm sure you don't have Mono"...

Man, I'm glad I took Cara to the doctor. Turns out she has Mono and a staph infection in her throat/tonsils! She is on good antibiotics for the infection and just needs rest, rest, rest for the Mono. I would have sworn she didn't have mono....Oh well, Now we know that she doesn't "just have allergies", which we have been saying all along, just couldn't c0nvince anyone to look into things more. I guess her sinus infection is better in a way, but she still has alot of "gunk" in her sinuses. Whatever that means. So anyway, under doctors orders she can sleep in as long as she wants, and can only do light duty with school work and chores, which has her all bummed out (not really). And no sparring at karate (which really does bum her out), since apparently when you have mono, your spleen is enlarged and you can't get hit hard. Actually she probably should take a few weeks off karate completely, I'm sure. Where she got mono, I have no idea. I know it wasn't from kissing boys. :-)
So other than running Cara around to doctors and CT scans, etc., I've been packing up (and cooking up) for 9 people to go camping for a week. I'm sooooo tired. One more load of last minute laundry and I can head to bed. To the Redwoods we go.....

Busy, busy, busy!!!

This has been a busy and crazy week. Our car went in the shop, Jackson got a bad cold, and of course he shared it with Cara, which isn't hard to do, and hers turned into coughing up green stuff again (sorry, yuk!) and I ended up taking Cara to the doctor again yesterday. (But God had it all worked out and I got the car back just in time to take her, and "luckily" Danny had the day off and was able to take me to get the car and then keep an eye on the other kids so I didn't have to take them all--I love watching God work things all out like that). The doctor has given her another antibiotic and we are also doing some other tests so maybe we can find out why she is always sick. I bit the bullet and took her to the doctor I love (that doesn't take insurance--I have to bill my own insurance and since he isn't in their "group", they don't cover as much) and we were there for over an hour and a half, and that is why I love that doctor. He is very thorough (and a Christian, which is very nice too). I understand why he doesn't deal with billing insurance. He called my insurance company for me to ask a question about pre-authorization on a CT scan and we sat there for a good 15-20 minutes while they jerked him around and were very rude to him. In the end, after all that, they told him we didn't need pre-authorization. I will probably get about half of what I paid for that appointment back eventually, and it was so worth it to me to feel like he really cared about Cara and she wasn't just a number to him. Oh well, I'm done rambling now. There just aren't alot of doctors I respect, but that's me. :-) Cara was just happy because he told me to let her sleep in longer in the mornings. (Teens need 10 hours of sleep, ya know).

Today I have to grocery shop for our trip and Samantha and I have eye doctor appointments. (I've just gotta break down and get some glasses so I can see to drive at night, and those words just keep getting smaller on the overhead screen at church too!) Oh, and Karate is tonight too. Tomorrow we pack, pack, pack, and also fit a CT scan and some blood work in, and some cooking for the trip, and.......well, there's more, but you get the idea.
So why am I on here? I better go get busy!

Sunday Happenings

Jackson and Joey have little fevers and sore throats and aren't feeling too well, so Ralph made the sacrifice to be the one to stay home from church with them. (I'm sure the fact that this morning was the Indy 500 had NOTHING to do with his quick agreement to be the one to stay home...). When I got to church, there was fluid dripping underneath the suburban (the suburban we just spent $725 on). The kids thought maybe it was just water from the air conditioner, and though I wasn't convinced of that, I couldn't fix it anyway so we just went about our business and went to Sunday school and worship service and even went downstairs for some awesome barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs prepared by some of the men of the church. When we got home, Ralph looked and, yep, there's either a hose or a fitting broke, he's not sure which. Well, Ralph doesn't work on cars, and sooo it looks like we will be staying here at home til we can get it into the shop, which obviously won't be tomorrow since it's a holiday. Oh well, no church for us tonight. We WERE going to go and see my parents tomorrow, and we WERE going to meet the Hoffmans at the park on Tuesday, but it looks like God has other plans for us.

This morning there was special music and Cara had a solo on one verse and it was really good. Maybe I would have videoed it for my mother, if one of my sons, who will remain nameless, hadn't ran my camera batteries dead making stop-motion animation on the computer with little Lego men. (You know who you are, Nick.) :-)

Well, Jackson would like a little love and so off I go for some rocking time.

Peru?

When Danny was around 7 years old, he had to make a missionary folder for AWANA. At that time, he told me he was going to be a missionary. Well, that little boy grew up, and found other loves. There was the train phase, then came Jessie the love bird who we ended up calling the hate bird because he liked to bite, a few fish tanks (cumulating in his prized salt-water tank), various electronics experiments and contraptions, ham radio, and finally Physics and Engineering, and I guess forgot all about the whole missionary thing......UNTIL, one day around last October, God got ahold of his heart. Danny told me that he knew God had something for him to do, but he just didn't know what it was yet. So I prayed for him alot and he prayed alot, and soon he came to me with the idea that maybe God was calling him to Peru for a 2 year mission trip. Two years????? Was he crazy?? And before he was finished with college? But God's calls, they just don't go away, and this conviction that Danny has that this is what he is supposed to do, it's still here. So this August, provided God provides the needed funds and works out all the details, my first-born plans to go to Peru----did I mention for 2 years?

When I think of it, I can hardly stand the thought of the things we will miss having him for--2 Christmases, 2 of his and everyone else's birthdays, 2 years of his siblings growing up, Cara's graduation from high school, and so much more. (Not to mention all the things he fixes for me. Who's gonna do that?)

But I brought him up to follow Jesus and serve Him. How can I tell him I meant, you know, serve Him here where it's safe, where his family is, where you can get a burger and fries when you need them? The answer I always come back to is I can't tell him that. I want him to follow the Lord, where ever the Lord leads. And so I step back and see what God will do.

I am so proud of him and his love for the Lord and his willingness to follow Him when alot of people will say he is crazy for going. I am so scared to let him go. But I really don't have a choice, and I know in my head that the center of God's will is the safest place for him to be. I just need to convince my heart of that and we'll be set. :-)

So anyway, please pray for Danny to clearly know God's will and for God to work out all the details, as only God can.

This is Danny the day he was baptized.

A lot about nothing much....

Our little deck garden is growing. Jackson is faithfully making sure that the gates are closed at all times. He is very diligent about his job as gate keeper. Actually, maybe he is a little bit on the neurotic side, but anyway, the gates are staying closed so far and the deer are staying away.

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This is the time of year I pour over homeschool catalogs, planning our next school year. So far I have changed my mind a couple of hundred times, but I think I'm getting close final decisions on a few things. Some women get excited about new clothes, or something new for the house; I get all happy over new books. Weird, I know. :-)

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We are getting ready for a week long camping vacation up north (Humboldt Redwoods State Park). Danny has the week off too, and this may be the last time we have a whole family trip til who knows when? So I just want to cherish our time together as a family and thank God for all that he has given us.

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Danny had all his finals yesterday, and he thinks he did well. Yea Danny!

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Tomorrow night is the awards night for Awanas. Everyone finished their books for this year and so will get awards. They worked hard at memorizing all those scriptures and I know those verses will stay with them and God will bring them to mind as they need them. I know, because he does that for me with verses I memorized as a kid.

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The suburban is in the shop getting a new fuel pump (and we replaced that only two years ago) but I don't want to talk about that.....

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Did anyone notice I updated the kids pictures on the side?

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I guess that's all for now.

:-)

Joey's baptism pictures

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a special Mother's Day. My parents and Ralph's mom came up to church to celebrate with us and Joey got baptized! After church, we went downstairs to eat a nice meal that I didn't have to cook, so, yeah, it was a good day. :-)

My kids got me practical things (which I love--I'm weird like that and I got it from my Mom, cause she's like that too. That's why I got her flowers to plant and gardening gloves). They got me a big wooden planter barrel, dirt, and tomato baskets. :-) My husband gave me 2 Christian music cd's, which I love too.

Happy Mothers' Day!!!

~

She rocks her crying baby

In the hours before dawn

She whispers words of hope

To help her husband to hold on

She takes time for the children

Making sure they know she cares

She's more then just a Momma

She's the answer to their prayers

Cause you know heroes come in every shape and size

Making special sacrifices for others in their lives

No one gives them medals

The world don't know their names

But in someone's eyes they're heros just the same.

* from the song "Ordinary Heroes", by Paul Overstreet*

I don't know why I haven't been posting

I've been:

~teaching school

~reading 47.8 million books to Jackson (actually only about 10-15 books, but over and over and over again. Currently, he particularly likes The Cat in the Hat and Wacky Wednesday. I must have read those particular books a bazillion times over the last almost 20 years!)

~driving kids to doctor appointments, Awanas, karate, etc.

~cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping.......

~planting things in the dirt

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There's more, but you get the picture. I guess sometimes real life gets in the way of bloggy world. :-)

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One of these days, maybe I'll think of something interesting to say. Right now, it's time for lunch.