Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow...

Where have I been?  I just realized I haven't blogged in a long time... time for an update!

We spent the weekend working on the barn.  The months previous we (we = the boys) had cleaned out the barn... of thirty plus years of someone (many someones) junk!  The barn has two sides, the left side had a dirt floor and the right side had a wooden floor.  The wood was rotten and termite damaged so we removed it.  Mr. Lonnie came Saturday and Monday and he and Tony and the boys (and Matt when he got off work) rebuilt the one floor and built a floor on the dirt side and repaired the roof.  Yeah! 

There's still a little more to be done but hopefully it won't take long.  Then we can move all of our stuff from the 20x24 storage building and begin renovations on that!  We are going to convert that into a little bedroom/living room/kitchenette for our oldest little birdies. 

What else has been going on... let me think... June 2 was Luke's birthday, he's 12 now!  We celebrated his birthday on May 31.  Tony took him out for the traditional 'Birthday Breakfast with Daddy'.  Luke wanted to wait until Matt got home to have his party so we had a supper birthday party.  Luke wanted Legos and a fishing pole, and he got a few other small things.

June 2 we left for Virginia and we were gone until June 8.  We took Jennifer up for her best friend's wedding.  Susanna's (the bride) grandparents go to church with us and we took them up also.  It was a really fun trip!

Next we had Father's Day.  Jennifer made a special breakfast for her hubby and her 'dad' :)  It was much enjoyed! 

Then Jennifer's 20th birthday on the 21st... we had supper and a little party for her.  She wanted a strawberry cake so I modified my favorite white cake -- it was pretty good.  When I perfect it I will share the recipe.  Matt surprised her with a laptop :)  We got her a waterproof camera for the beach.  She's such a shutterbug but doesn't want to take her good cameras to the beach ;)

Tony's birthday is July 1.  We had a supper party for him too :)  He also wanted strawberry cake so I made the modified one again with another change.  I like the first one better.  And this time I made a Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing which was preferred by all to the Strawberry Buttercream I made for Jennifer's cake. 

July 21 is Molly's birthday... guess what kind of cake she wants?  LOL

The Week of The Virus

Last Monday night Nehemiah spiked a fever.  We treated with ibuprofen and it went down some.  I assumed it was teething-related.  He had a fever again the next day.  By Wednesday he was fine.  Saturday he woke up with a rash on his face and Sunday it had spread to his abdomen.  I spoke with Sherry at church (she's a PA) and she reminded me that a mystery high fever followed several days later by a rash is a typical virus symptom.  I knew that - why didn't it come to my mind?  We had several episodes like that when our older children were younger.   She also said that teething related fevers are never over 101, a fever over 101 is an immune system fighting fever.  We didn't give much thought to it being contagious or anything and figured it was all over.

Sunday afternoon MaryVance was complaining of a stomach ache.  She also had a slight headache but no temperature.  That was the beginning of The Week of The Virus.  :)  Landon, Joseph, Sam, Isaac have all had the spiky fever, Landon has gotten a slight rash.  MaryVance, Molly and today Luke have had the headache with stomach ache. 

That leaves Caleb and Elijah... and all the adults.  I wonder who will be next?

Life since vacation...

has been busy and blessed. 

Let's see... we got home on the 27th (Tuesday) and were joyfully welcomed by our "oldest children" Matt and Jennifer (& Landon, of course!)  They stayed here and 'house sat' for us and took such good care of things.  It was so nice, after such a long drive, to walk into a nice, clean, good-smelling home!  The animals were all well-tended and happy :)  They are such a joy to my heart and I am so thankful to the Lord for them!

So we spent the rest of the week in 'vacation recovery mode', ya know how that goes... While we were gone Danny and Brandy were blessed with the opportunity to rent a lovely large home that is only 20 minutes from us!  The children and I spent Monday helping them with a little of the moving.  The plan was to paint the new house and then move in room by room.

Meanwhile Danny and Brandy's son Evan had been having some concerning symptoms and they had taken him in for bloodwork on Monday.  Their doctor called Tuesday and said "Evan's platelet count is 8000 -- I want him in the hospital right now.  They are waiting for you."  (Normal platelet count for a child is 140,000 - 450,000).  Danny called and told me and then brought the other children (minus the baby) to us.  Matt and Jennifer were still here and were a huge help during this time. 

Wednesday Molly, Jennifer and Matt watched all the children and I took Caleb, Sam and Ashley with me and we worked on getting the kitchen moved.  Tony had taken Wednesday off and he and Carol (a friend from church) worked on painting the house.

Evan was discharged from the hospital Wednesday evening.  We spent Thursday painting and moving more stuff.  The Nissleys brought their truck and trailer over and moved some appliances.  It's Friday now, M, J and I are here with the children and Tony is helping move a small load.  We'll all go over tomorrow and spend the afternoon painting and moving stuff around. 

It's been a busy week but such a blessed one.  We are so thankful to the Lord that Evan's initial diagnosis of ITP is treatable!  I am thankful for such helpful children who don't mind hard work.  I am thankful for Matt and Jennifer being so willing to just step in and do whatever needs to be done.  I read a saying recently that said "Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves".  I think that is so true and I am thankful that the Lord has filled our lives with such good friends who are family to us!