Christmas

Hello all...yes, we did survive Christmas. I figured I better get on here soon or you would all think we didn't make it through this year. This will probably be a rather lengthy post and may become 2.
Rachel's party went rather well on Friday night. Everyone had a good time, I think and only 1 minor burn with the glue guns that were being used to make the crafts. Rachel and Jackie were still awake, talking, when Mark & I went up at 11:30. They actually slept with the light on because they fell asleep talking.
Big brother's package did arrive on Friday as was expected and then the second package arrived from Dad on Saturday. Thank you to you both. The kids thoroughly enjoyed them. Nate, you must not have been able to get their lists but you actually hit an item on Rachel's. I couldn't get their list on the internet either. I'll find out more about why next year. I have to tell you though, if you continue to get him science kits dealing with electricity and other forms of energy, you really need to move closer...so he can do them at your house, just in case!
I went out early Christmas eve to finish up the last minute shopping. Mark's bonus didn't even make it out of the first store. Then I made sure we had all we needed for groceries before heading home. My shopping also made it possible for wrapping to be done but then I had to help with other wrapping when I returned home. Mark made a nice turkey potpie for our dinner before we headed to church for our candlelight Christmas eve service. We did our traditional ride around town to look and lights (which wasn't very impressive this year since it started raining on Friday and continued on Saturday). Then it was home for our telling of the nativity and checking NORAD for Santa sightings.
We let the kids open one present each on Christmas eve this year. Gramma had made them all new pj's so that was what they got to open. I sort of figured it would help everyone look a little nicer in our Christmas pictures with the new jammies. Mom did a good job on the sizes for not having the kids around to fit.
It was 10:00 before we got the kids to bed and could finish our preps. I had to finish the sewing projects that we had started which I can now tell what it was. I had bought beanbags for all the kids to use in the living room. I really didn't like the covers on them though and decided to make my own covers to go over the originals. Mom and I had completed 2 before she went home so I just had to put Rachel's together. I finished in about 2 hours without much of any problems. But when we went to put all of them into their covers, we made a discovery! Evidently, Rachel's wasn't as full as the boys' and we used hers as our model! It took both Mark and I working together probably 15 minutes or so to coax each of the boys' into their covers. Rachel's slid in incredibly easy! Of course, Rachel really needs the largest one. What we are probably going to do is to open them up and take some of the boys' beans and put them into hers while they are all sleeping.
After finishing the bags, then we had our other wrapping and Santa duties to take care of. We were up MUCH TOO LATE! Mark even wrote a note to Rachel from Santa expressing disappointment that for 2 years now she hasn't left him some of her birthday cake.
I came downstairs about 7:20 and Rachel and Stephen were already up. I thought they, especially Stephen, might melt down before Joshua and Dad got up but they all survived. We were able to get everything opened without major rushing and eat some branmuffins before we headed to the 10 a.m. service at church.
After church, it was home to make biscuits and gravy. The kids asked if they could have a "pajama party" so they spent the day playing and watching DVD's in their new pj's. We got The Polar Express for the family. Mark also worked on his "3" puzzle that he received. I started charging my new cordless phones that I received (was top of my list).
It was actually rather quiet and relaxing...a very enjoyable holiday! When Mark has to be at work on the 26th, travel just isn't feasible. We do miss not being with family during this time of year but also enjoy the time of just being together without rushing around. (We do enough of that at other times.)
I think that about covers it for now. We are busy today with cleaning and laundry. Tomorrow is newspaper day and Rachel is supposed to go to Jackie's in Newaygo for a sleepover.

Rachel's party

It's almost time for Rachel's birthday party. Even though her birthday was Tuesday and we did a celebration with Gramma here, tonight is her friend party. One guest is here, Jackie from Newaygo. The other friend we have to pick up in about an hour. The cake is done and the kids are quiet....wait a minute, maybe it's too quiet! Actually the girls are watching Rachel's Samantha (the American Girl) DVD that we got her for her birthday and the boys have either joined them or are in the basement playing foosball. I have even partially cleaned up the kitchen.

Of course, plans have changed several times in planning this. We were going to make gingerbread houses. I have 2 kits here plus a Longenberger mold to make more. I thought the boys should make one and the girls each have their own but that would have entailed making 2 from scratch. Mark thought the boys could do one another time and just let each girl make their own so that meant making one from scratch. Then I realized I hadn't bought the real butter required to make the recipe (and I'm avoiding taking all 4 kids into Meijers myself just for butter)...well, we'll just go with 2 houses. Then a light went on...I had some craft kits stored away from previous years that I had used for our preschool dept. at church. 1 of them had never been opened because they are "Shrinky Dinks" and could only be baked in electric ovens and I had gas at the time. There are also kits to make bell doorhangers, angel and tree bells. Rachel said that these would make a fun activity for her and the girls tonight! Whew! The gingerbread houses will be something for next week of vacation.

So in the middle of all the rush to get everything ready for Christmas, we take a break and focus on birthdays! Like we need more to fit into our schedules.

We received our first package of 2 we knew were coming from Dad on Wednesday. Thanks for the ornaments. Pretty soon we are going to need 2 trees and 1 will be strictly dedicated to NASCAR. Big brother's box is supposed to arrive today but when I was tracking it on Wed. it didn't indicate that it had left Utah yet. Now the email with the tracking number is not in our inbox so I can't see if it is coming or not. It hasn't made it yet. The package coming from JCPenney's from Mom arrived yesterday and was promptly stashed away. I haven't even started any wrapping yet.

Well, I better run. I need to get out some glue guns and a few other last minute preps for the party before we officially get under way at 5:30.

Time

Dad says it's time to blog again but I just haven't had the time. I actually only have a minute or 2 right now. I have my own 3 kids home plus 2 of a friends because she had a medical appointment. After they are picked up, we will have lunch and go do our paper route.

Mom has been here since last Wednesday and we have been busy all the time. She left this morning to head back to Alpena. I probably have her rather worn out...going all day with kids and errands and sewing into the night on a project I'm working on for Christmas. I didn't plan on having her do so much of the sewing but I'm glad she was here or I probably wouldn't have finished the projects. We were working our own design and ran into some kinks I might not have been able to work through without us talking through them together.

We went to the Festival of Lights at Calvary Church on Friday night. It was as beautiful as ever. We have gone more over the last 15 years that we have known about it then not going. I didn't think it would be going on last weekend because it is usually the first and second weekend of Dec. but found out it had been moved this year.

The kids did great in all their programs this year. Both had one for school and then the church one which was Sunday evening. Mom was going to watch the school ones on video but we were so busy we never got the camera hooked up to the VCR.

My shopping isn't done, my sewing isn't done, holiday baking is unheard of in this house, and I have AVON customers that need their orders. Guess I better get busy. Oh yeah, there is also a birthday cake to get baked and decorated for Rachel when her friends come over on Friday night. More about her birthday later.

Wish Lists

Just a quick note to let you know that we have taken the kids to Toys 'R Us and had them do their wish lists for this year. Joshua has been done for a couple of weeks but we just got Rachel and Stephen there today. They are starting to have a lot of fun doing them each year and ask when they are going to get to. Their lists, do not include a couple of items they would really like though, because we couldn't find them at that store. No one would be disappointed if they unwrapped The Dukes of Hazzard seasons 4 or 5. We have 1, 2, & 3 and they absolutely love it. Mom & Dad don't mind the memories from our teens either.

I'll have to get on later and give you my wish list. Actually the top item is already covered. I kept telling Mark that a dumpster was on the top of my list for Christmas. But now that we spent 2 weekends working on the basement, I don't need that because we already made our trip to the dump.

SNOW DAY...

We are experiencing the first snow day of this school year. It's hard to believe it isn't even Christmas yet and the kids have a snow day! This could be a lllooooonnnnggggggg winter!

You are really not going to believe the timing of this snow day--Mark and I have been in charge of a Toys for Tots drive at the school. Each day for the last 3 weeks I have picked up the toys, brought them home, counted them, and reported the total to a local TV station having a school challenge. Well, today was the day to deliver the toys to the TV station during their MORNING NEWS! Of course, Rachel & Stephen wanted to go with Mark to make the drop off. They even went to bed an hour early last night so that they could get up at 5:00 AM to go. So on a day when there was no school and they could sleep in, they were up at 5! I have given a very strong warning already that if there are problems getting along, etc., there will be more than just Joshua taking a nap today. By the way, they were all on TV and Stephen even got to answer a question about our collecting.

I thought I was going to have lots of kids today. In talking with the mom of the daycare kids that come every morning till school, we had made arrangements that they would stay the whole day on snow days. A neighbor is in Mexico this week and she had asked if there was a snow day, her third grade son could stay here while the gramma that is watching him is at work. Plus, of course, I knew Sarah would be coming since both her folks work. Turns out that Sarah is the only extra one coming. The day of the morning kids called and he decided to take a sick day today and stay home with the kids. I don't know what happened to the boy next door but he never showed up either. When I talked to Sarah's dad, he said that she was sleeping in and would get herself here by noon.

You think that means I might get some work out of mine this morning...that has yet to be seen. I have barely been able to get them out from under all the blankets we use to wrap up in in our livingroom. Well, I guess I better start leading by example.

Here we go again...

Joshua is sick again. He is sniffly and congested and starting to cough. I'm starting to think that those 2 parades might not have been the best idea for him but he was fine then.

The other item that could keep our holidays "interesting" is that I have found out that a little boy that was at church on Sunday, in program practice, was sent home from school on Monday with the chicken pox. Of course, all my kids have been vacinated but that isn't a comfort since so had this child and all 8 of the other kids in his classroom that all have it now. If you know the statistics that means the first of mine that might show up with it would probably do so around 12/18 which is the day of the program at church as well as being just 2 days before Rachel's birthday and a week before Christmas.

The other thought that this brings up is "How many others from the Christmas program might end up with it just before the actual program?" If very many do, we may have our program in January this year.

The only thing good about the timing that I can think of is that my kids wouldn't miss any school if they came down with it at the 18th. I can't believe it but they have the entire week before Christmas off! That sure doesn't help a mom get any last minute items taken care of. I know when I was a kid we would have had school at least through the 22nd. From what I understand there are some schools in the area going till at least Wed. or Thurs. but not ours. The principal mentioned that the teachers like it because it gives them a chance to do personal stuff before the holiday.

Well, I have papers waiting to be bagged. Rachel and Stephen are going to have to do the delivery again after school since Joshua's sick but I'll have them bagged and ready. I also drive around to supervise and have more papers ready when they need them. Joshua stays in the van with me to stay warm instead of walking in this cold.

Last Weekend

This last weekend was filled with parades! Mark's work, Camp & Cruise, had entries in 2 different parades in the area and they needed people to pass out candy to the kids. Mark volunteered as long as all the kids could come. So Friday night, we were in the Coopersville parade which was really rather short and then Saturday night, we were in the Grand Haven parade. The weather was cold for both but Saturday we also had quite a bit of snow coming down. It wasn't bad when we left GR but part way there, it started snowing hard. We actually called friends to have them check about cancellations.

The kids did great and had a ball! The worst was just waiting around for the parade to get started and for our turn to move came. Besides several normal layers, they all had on their snowpants, hats, gloves, etc. and then I topped them off with 1 of Daddy's work shirts. It not only helped keep them warmer, it also made them easier to see and keep track of. I kept Joshua right close to me and we worked out of one container of candy. It was really funny watching him try to hand out candy with the kind of big mittens he had on. Sometimes he thought he had a piece of candy in his hand but he didn't. Other times, he had the candy but couldn't get it dropped in the other kids mittens and it fell in the snow at their feet.

There was hot cocoa after both parades. Coopersville had cocoa and cookies for everyone at their jr. high gym and then Sat., Mark's bosses invited all of us to a restaurant for cocoa and dessert. It was a nice visit only because of the snow it ended up being 11 p.m. before we got home. I ended up sleeping on the way home because there was the smell of gas/diesel on a lot of the crews boots because of the generator they were using to run the lights on the float. The smell really got to me. I don't know whether you would consider it my allergies or not but it made me rather miserable.

The float was rather cute. They took a pontoon boat and put a box around the middle of it so both ends stuck out and they had lights strung on them. They had the box wrapped with a BIG bow on top and a sign that read "NO PEEKING". I thought it looked rather neat.

Stephen had hoped that we would have a new tradition to replace our trapsing through the snow to pick out and cut down the tree together as a family since we had to go to an artificial tree now. Who knows, maybe this will be it.

Basement

Boy, have we been busy! I can't wait for someone to come visit and see our basement! We have spent a good part of the last 2 Saturdays working down there. It isn't completely cleaned out because there was some boxes we are going to have to go through item by item but it is definitely improved.

At the same time, we also managed to clean out the garage enough for 1 vehicle to go in it--the van! This is especially good since we are now under a Winter Snow Advisory and are expecting 8+ inches tonight and tomorrow. The van is rather difficult to get cleaned off well and is usually home first and out second in the mornings so that is why it is getting the privileged position in the garage.

All this cleaning and reorganizing took 3 trips to Goodwill and a dump trip to do. For Goodwill we just used the van but for the dump we had a friend bring over his full size pickup. We had the bed of that truck packed full and piled up as high as the cab of the truck. We were even able to move the game table and stairstepper machine into the basement. Of course, the basement will be even cleaner on Friday morning when the school's Toys for Tots drive is done and we can deliver the 130+ toys that they have collected to a local TV station.

I have been spending my days breathing through a filter to keep the allergies under control while we worked. I really don't like those things but they do help. I probably should buy a few more to keep them closer at hand and not have to search for them any time I need to do a bit of dusty work.

I'll have to fill you in on our other cold yet fun activities later. Now that Dad has a blog, I've sort of been challenged to blog more often and keep you all better informed. I'll have to figure out a way to put a link to his blog over on the side later too.

First things first...

Sorry Dad. A Belated Happy Birthday to you! I didn't forget, I just didn't get around to making that phone call that I planned on. I know you're in GA but thought I'd call your cell phone anyway. I just never thought about it when it was actually convenient to pick up the phone and call. Hope it was a good one any way.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! We had a rather quiet holiday here. Usually at least part of Mark's family from Detroit comes to visit. On Tuesday we found out that they couldn't come this way and with Mark working today, we couldn't make it over there. Weatherwise, we had a white Thanksgiving and were under a winter weather warning for subzero wind chills the entire day.

We had the usual huge meal with all the favorites. It is my husband's favorite day to do all the cooking. He does most everything and it is all from scratch. I just contribute the applesauce cinnamon jello and the bran muffins for breakfast.

We watched the Macy's parade and then part of the Lion's getting walked all over. We checked out the ads and played Nascar Monopoly. We finished the evening with "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving" Special. I probably should have turned in with the kids after that but didn't.

I was never one to think shopping the day after Thanksgiving sounded much like fun but it has become tradition over the past 4 or 5 years. Usually it is my mother-in-law and me but I went solo today. We had found just a couple of bargains today that we wanted to get so I ventured out at 5 a.m. to get them and get home before Mark went to work for 9 a.m. I only had 2 stores to hit and I just barely made it back in time. This was my first year to do Menards on Black Friday and it is the last unless I have someone to hold a place in line while I go around the store getting what I want. The line of cars to get into the parking lot was over 1/2 mile long. The 5-6 lines to check out all stretched at least to the back of the store.

The children weren't exactly thrilled when I walked in the door since I was carrying 2 snow shovels with me. They didn't think they were worth venturing out for. That now gives us 3 shovels and 3 kids...sounds about right to me. They have even went out to "break them in" already today.

We have plenty to keep us busy around here. Since we already have our new artifical tree, we may even try to get it up this weekend but there is lots of cleaning to do before then. Hope all of you had a nice holiday too!

Change

This weekend has been the most frustrating in quite some time. We finally decided to change to DSL since we could get a deal where it was actually cheaper than our current dial up. SBC assured my husband that running our church prayer chain through it would not be a problem. WRONG! Seems you can only send email to 100 people in an hours time. We have 125 addresses on our list. Do you see a problem here? It has taken 3 phone calls and TOO MANY hours to count to try to get all the adjustments made. I still don't know if we are completely functional!

Browsing the internet is wonderful! The speed is great! It is also a nice little marvel everytime the phone rings while we are browsing. But this transfer is about to get the better of me. I really had a lot more planned to spend my time on than having to reenter all 125 addresses a second time into MS Outlook. Supposedly, this is a way to send as many emails as I want without SBC realizing it is more than 100 at a time. The problem now is that I have requested Outlook to send out a test email twice and it still shows up in the outbox as not mailed. But I think I'm getting error messages from having sent it.

The transfer of email addresses didn't go right. The notifications, well, I had someone tell me they got 8 of them! Now I know why we waited so long to switch. It is frustrations like this that really emphasize why people hate change so much. I was looking forward to this upgrade but now I'm just too tired to care.

Hope my Big Brother who hates AOL is happy! Just wish you were closer to help with all the frustrations of putting in the ethernet port, hooking up the DSL, and all the other little glitches that keep coming up.

Another quick update

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are back from the doctor. She said that this is just the croup lingering on. They did do a strep test to rule that out and it was negative. She said that it can take about 2 weeks for the cough to go completely away. As long as he doesn't spike another fever or have trouble breathing, we just wait it out.

He also got a flu shot while we were there so he didn't enjoy the trip. Between the swap for strep and the shot, he wasn't a happy camper but he did fine. We'll just keep up with lots of fluids and lots of rest. (I wish he would rest his voice a little more since the inflamation appears to be right on his voice box. This kid loves to sing and talk though and is only quiet when he is asleep.)

Speaking of talking...he starts speech therapy next Thursday. It will only be 20-25 minutes a week. We finally connected with his therapist and scheduled it for every Thursday at 2:00. I guess the only nap he will have on Thursdays will be in the van.

Well, lots to do. Hope to post again soon.

Quick update

I just wanted to post a quick update. I'm heading to the doctor with Joshua in a few minutes. He is still complaining of a sore throat as well as coughing a lot. There isn't any fever for the last day or so but he really doesn't sound too good.

I've got to spend a lot of today getting ready for a craft show. I'm setting up an Avon booth at the craft show at the kids' school. Fortunately, I have 3 other of the reps that I have signed up doing it with me. That has spread out the responibility a lot so it hasn't really overwhelmed me. It has been hard to do a lot of running around this week with Joshua sick. I have to get some flyers ready and labelling done. If I get them printed during the day, the kids can help me get them put together after they get home.

Well, I have to finish getting ready to go.

What a weekend part 2!

This is part 2...seems I ran out of space on the first post. You may want to go down and read part one before reading this one.

We arrived in the Triage to be taken directly back because of how bad his breathing sounded. I could barely keep up with the nurse pushing his wheelchair. Before I know it there are about 3 nurses and a doctor surrounding his bed. They ordered an immediate breathing treatment and then a set of throat x-rays. His temp was at 103.7 at that time. After the first treatment, his breathing improved but was still rather raspy. The doctor determined that what he has is actually croup. It took a second treatment and a steroid shot but he really perked up rather quickly after that.

The doctors decided to keep him for observation Saturday night which was fine by me! I didn't want to have to make that trip again. If we were at home it would have been different. I was much more comfortable with him staying there too. It was 11:00 p.m. before we got to a room. Our dinners were out in the van and it was the middle of a thunderstorm. The nurses got us a little snack and we called it a night.

His fever stayed almost down for the night and his breathing did fine too so we got released Sunday. Fortunately the doctor came in around 8:30 a.m. and we were out of the hospital by 9:00. Remember, we had the church van and there were 2 families waiting for us back at camp to come home. As soon as we got there, we loaded up the trailer and headed home.

Yesterday, he seemed pretty good most of the time. But now today, he is very congested and coughing more. This cough now sounds like what I'm used to croup sounding like. His fever is back too. I may give the doctor's office here a call before the day is over. We're thinking that he may have been coming down with it before we left but playing in all the leaves, with their dust and molds, may have exasperated it. They say that the croup has caused an inflamation right on his voice box.

SO that was our exciting weekend! It really wasn't a complete lost and we did enjoy spending time with friends and at the camp. Now it is back to real life.

What a Weekend!

Rachel was well enough to go to school for the 1/2 day on Wednesday and full day on Thursday. However, anytime you touched her lower back, she grimmaced pretty bad. She was very tender right around the kidney area. I put a call into the doctor but she didn't come into the office till 4 p.m. The nurse confirmed that the infection Rachel had should be wiped out by the antibiotic that she was on but left a note for the doctor. As soon as the doctor came in, she scheduled Rachel for a renal ultrasound. We were supposed to leave for Lake Ann Baptist Camp that evening but instead spent it at Spectrum Butterworth having this done. We were given the all clear for Rachel to travel though.

Instead of leaving Thursday evening, we left the house around 8 a.m. Friday and arrived at camp around 11 a.m. We travelled with another family from church and used the church van and trailor since we were there for the men to go to the Camp Captain's Retreat. As soon as we unloaded the trailer, the men and kids started on the leaves while the other mom and I organized our cabins. After lunch, we all worked on leaves for a while. They had these great leaf blowers! Besides several hand-held or backpack blowers they had these 3 lawn mower size blowers! They really worked neat and even I, with all my allergy problems, was able to use one without aggrevating my allergies. We were able to make these huge piles. I took Joshua back to the cabin for a nap for a while but every one else worked till dinner time.

Joshua had complained of a sore throat a little on Friday morning but he says that quite often and I didn't think too much of it. I did look in to see that there were no white spots or anything. By Saturday morning, Joshua was definitely worse. He sounded funny and was coughing as well as not eating much because of a sore throat. I wouldn't let him work on the leaves instead we stayed at the cabin most of the day. By nap time, he was obviously feverish even with having ibuprofen at lunch time. By 4, he was still napping but the sound of his breathing was getting bad. I called GR Peds and located a thermometer to check his temp. He was at 102.3 with only being 5 hours since his dose of ibuprofen. Our friends have a child with asthma and they had a nepulizer with them. We gave him a treatment of that and his breathing improved some. After talking to the nurse in GR, I loaded him into the church van and took him into TC to Munson Medical Center's Emergency room probably 20 miles away. (Mark stayed with the other kids at the camp.) TO BE CONTINUED...

Rachel's still home

We kept Rachel home again today. It seems that we were into the doctor just before other symptoms started showing themselves. She spent a lot of time yesterday sleeping. She did a little reading but everytime she started reading she would end up just falling to sleep. She complained about a headache and backache too. She didn't want anything to eat which didn't bother me as long as she was drinking. Her temp never got above 99.8. She is eating some today but mainly just crackers and dry cereal. This afternoon she is a bit more active and moving around a bit. But then when I suggested a nap she laid down and actually slept. Hopefully, the antibiotics are starting to kick in and help fight this infection. Also, this morning I just barely touched her lower back (near her left kidney) and she jumped. I haven't heard any more from the doctor but will keep you informed.

Rachel's sick

Just thought I should let everyone know that Rachel is sick at home today. She came to me yesterday and told me she had burning when she went to the bathroom. She didn't have any other signs or symptoms but with our last encounter with a urinary tract infection resulting in a hospital stay, I wasn't taking any chances. I called the doctor this morning and we got in at 10 a.m. In her urine sample they found some blood and a high white blood cell count which means the UTI that I suspected was probably right. However, she also has tenderness in her abdomen and back off to the left side so the doctor is suspecting a kidney infection as well. The doctor started her on an antibiotic but said that depending on what further testing shows at the lab they may have to change which one it is. I thought about taking her to school for the afternoon but the doctor suggested just letting her stay home and rest. The doctor did give her the ok to go to the Meet & Treat at church tonight but I'm seeing that she is really dragging. She kept looking for places to sit down while we were waiting for her Rx to get filled. I'm going to hold off judgment till closer to time to go. I'd rather miss tonight and her be able to go to school tomorrow than have her push it too hard too soon and not give the antibiotics time to get a handle on the infection.

We also have a rather big weekend planned that we want her well for. Thursday evening we were scheduled to leave for Lake Ann Baptist Camp. The kids have Friday off of school and Mark and another friend from church are supposed to be there for a Camp Captain meeting Friday evening and Saturday morning. We decided to turn it into a work weekend for both families. We will be raking leaves or whatever else they need doing during the day on Friday and Saturday. While Mark and Bruce are in their meetings, Bev and I will keep the kids busy with work or play. Of course, this now is all contingent on Rachel's health. Home is always the best place to be when you're sick so I won't push for her to go at all if the antibiotics haven't kicked in by then.

Sorry

It's been a while since I had a chance to sit and post anything. Just been very busy!

I'm trying to get winter clothes situated for all 5 of us. Turns out I have enough for probably 3 boys size 4T while I don't have enough shirts for a full week for Stephen for the winter. Rachel is pretty well covered I think. I haven't even hardly started on Mark's and mine yet. This has entailed a couple of days of working through our attic. It has been a long job but I can definitely see progress being made. I have made one trip to Goodwill with a full van and will make another one soon. I also have bags set aside for a friend of mine that can make use of the hand-me-downs.

Last weekend, Mark's mom came for a visit. We actually asked her to come watch the kids. I spent Saturday at a Certified Beauty Advisor class for AVON. It was in Battle Creek from 8-5. Mark had to work so we needed someone to watch the kids so I could go. It was good to see her and the kids really enjoyed it. She also cleaned my house and did my laundry while I was gone! What a bonus! She then had to go home on Sunday.

The class was great! I am now certified to do makeovers. The real plus was all the product knowledge that I received that day! Now I just need my supplies so that I can line up some "guinea pigs" to practice on.

On Monday, my mom arrived. It had been quite a while since she came for a visit. The reason for the timing of this visit was for Grandfriends/VIP day at the kids' school which was Thursday. The kids had wanted her to come other years but it hasn't worked out so she came this year. (Other years, friends from church stepped up to visit with the kids at school so they did have someone there that day.) Her and I spent a lot of time this week with all sorts of projects especially the attic.

God also answered a big prayer for us this week. I think most of my readers know that last year I had a severe allergic reaction to our real Christmas tree. This has already been on our mind this year because buying a fake one was going to make Christmas expenses even greater than most years. We also wanted to make sure that we had one that was nice and we could really enjoy it. While Mom and I were at Goodwill with a full van to donate, we went inside to look around. They had 4 Christmas trees available. One was a 7 foot Manhattan pine that was originally from Frank's Nursery and Craft for a cost of $139.99. All the other trees were around $60-$70. This one was marked just $24.99! I asked a little about it and when I found out that I could return it (just like at a regular store) if we didn't like it, I bought it! I put it up just as soon as I got home and it met everyone's approval! This is a big relief for us! As I started with, we really feel that this is an answer to our prayers.

Today, Mom left for Mark's house in Wooster, OH. There's still lots going on and I really have to keep going. This ended up being a lot longer post than I planned on but I think that pretty much brings everyone up to speed on things at our place. It's time to get the kids from school!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Has everyone made their annual phone calls to Mom today? It is her birthday! Her and I have actually been playing phone tag this week already. I'll try again tonight either before or after my meeting in Hudsonville. If I don't get through though I'll just figure that I wasn't the only one to not make it to the store for a card in time to mail it. I should probably go send one electronically just in case I don't get to call.

New chair

Well, not new, new but at least a different one. Our Moms should be very happy. My husband finally got rid of "his chair". On the way home from church yesterday, we passed a recliner on the curb marked "free". We turned around and checked it out. It is a dark brown plaid. It is a bit worn with just a few little holes worn through. But it really isn't in too bad of shape. The recline and footrest mechinism seem to work just fine. Best of all, it sits a lot higher than the old chair.

It was actually just at the end of the block so Mark just carried it up the hill. We brought it home and Mark vaccuumed it out. I Febreezed it and it is a real hit in here. It isn't anything great but the price was right and it is an improvement on what we had.

I have a ton to get done and am trying to figure out which order will get everything done so I guess I better get at it.

Not much going on

At least not much noteworthy. We are pretty much in a routine now. We're plenty busy but it is just the usual, school, homework, AVON, Advance papers, shopping, cleaning, and cooking.

What is unusual around here is the weather. We have been in the 80's the last 2 days and will be again today and tomorrow. It has only been getting down into the upper 60's during the night. We are in for a change though. October weather should arrive again on Thursday with highs cooler than what it has been getting at nice recently. We haven't even gotten a frost here yet. Of course, they are talking about temps back into the 70's again early next week.

I know we need to get storms on and prep for winter but that is a little tough when we still need to get some air to keep it from being too stuffy to sleep. I've actually been tempting to turn on our air conditioning yesterday and today because of the humidity being so high too but have resisted since we just got an electric bill last week.

Oh, I know the big news here. Rachel ended up with a black eye...and her brothers didn't even help her get it. We put her to bed Saturday night and she was fine. Sunday morning she got up with quite a shiner. She says that she hit it on one of the side bars of her bed as she laid down. She didn't think it would get too bad so she didn't bother coming down for ice.

Mid-term progress reports came home last week. The kids are doing fine. There are a couple of weak areas for each to work on but overall they looked good. Rachel is working on an Inca ABC project due tomorrow as well as her band. Stephen has a field trip to the zoo coming up at the middle of the month. They are also looking forward to Grandfriends/VIP day at the end of the month. MEAP tests started this week and will be for the next week or so.

That's about it for now.

Testing

Well, Joshua had his testing yesterday. After an intial stubborn streak where he didn't want to talk or otherwise cooperate was squelched, it went fine. The hearing test showed ears working just fine. We will have to wait 2 weeks for the official tests numbers. The tester though said she saw a very definite problem with his speech patterns and there would be some help that we can get for him this year. We meet with her on Oct. 11 to find out her recommendations and what programs she recommend for him. One thing that she did point out that I hadn't realized is that some sounds he says fine when it is in the middle of a word but not when the sound is at the beginning of the word. (Example: the f sound in fish or fun comes out more like a p sound but he can say elephant fine.) Some of the testing that tests for understanding she actually skipped because he was testing way above age level which doesn't surprise me at all.

Well, we are starting a second Advance Newspaper route today. This is a one day a week local paper. This route is just 5 more papers than our current one. Hopefully, Joshua and I can have it done by the time the kids get home today since they are forecasting rain for later. This is going around all 4 sides of 8 city blocks. It's rather good exercise. So we have a full day lined up.

Rachel took the clarinet to band yesterday and it worked just fine. Her band leader didn't seem to have any problem with the sound or anything! I thought it would but just felt like it wouldn't be completely done till it passed "professional inspection". Now I can cross that off my list.

Retreat

I haven't blogged because I haven't been home. At the last minute, arrangements were made for me to join our ladies from church for the retreat at Lake Ann Baptist Camp. I knew for just over a week that it was a possibility but it was literally the day before we left that the final details were worked out for me to be able to go.

It was really a nice retreat. We left on Thursday afternoon and returned Saturday around 4. We had rain on the way up but otherwise the weather was very nice. There wasn't many colors changing yet but the evenings were crisp and just right for enjoying L.A.'s delicious hot cocoa. We had 30 ladies from our church which is the largest group ever.

After I got home, Mark put the new alternator on the Cavilier. It seems to have done the trick. We are back to being a 2 vehicle family!

While I was gone, the supplies that I had been waiting for arrived in the mail. I have been working on getting my old clarinet ready for Rachel to use. I didn't think this was going to be such a big deal. I thought I should be able to get new pads and corks on it easily enough. The local music stores wanted $150-$200 to do the work! and also told me that the instrument wasn't valued at that much. The all wanted me to rent a new or used instrument from them. I also couldn't seem to get any supplies from them to do the work myself. As much on the internet as I am, surprisingly that was the last place I turned. I found a wonderful website, www.shopforband.com out of Mesa, AZ that had all the supplies plus step-by-step instructions to do the work myself. That is exactly what I did! Last week, I took all the keys off, removed the cork, and treated the wood. I was just waiting for the supplies which arrived on Thursday just after I left. I put the pads in the keys Saturday night. I then put the cork on Sunday afternoon and finished it up this morning. By lunch time, it seemed to be working fine! Putting the keys back on was quite a puzzle but I did it!

Now I'm trying to get caught up on cleaning, laundry, and AVON that all fell behind while I was gone.

Joshua will be tested tomorrow morning concerning his speech. It is a 2 hour period with 1/2 hour for hearing and the rest on language/speech. I'll let everyone know the results as soon as I know anything. I don't know if that will be tomorrow or whether we have to wait for results.

Car troubles

Well, it's been almost 6 months since the last problems with the car so I guess we were about due. Rachel and I were out delivering AVON catalogs on Saturday when all of a sudden I noticed the battery warning light on. I pulled into the closest parking lot and shut off the car. It started up again just fine but the light didn't go off. So I brought the car home right away. The serpentine belt looked fine so we called a friend from church for suggestions. He said it would be easiest to have the problem diagnosised by a garage and then do the work ourselves. Since it was almost 8 on Saturday, we could have much done till yesterday.

PepBoys is about the closest garage we have to our house and since we knew they weren't going to do the work anyway, we decided to have them check it out. The news wasn't good. They said it was the alternator and the battery. They also say that the belt tensioner needs replaced. (Of course, they also said that we needed 3 or 4 other things done that have nothing to do with the electrical system for a grand total of $515!) We'll be starting with the alternator but not till at least Friday. Fortunately, this is something that we should be able to do ourselves or with just some help from a friend from church. I have to talk to that friend to see what he thinks about this belt tensioner business.

This means that we are having fun trying to get through this week with only one vehicle. With the type of schedule and the number of kids we have to haul around, this is a bit of a challenge. The only thing that I can say is "Thank you Lord that we have the van running". It would be a lot harder if we only had the car instead of the van.

The other thing we are thankful for is the fact that gas prices are going in a downward direction this week. We were rather excited to fill up yesterday at just $2.54/gallon. Of course, today I saw it at $2.39 which is frustrating but at least maybe it'll be lower still when we need more. But this is still a lot better than if this had been 2 weeks ago when it was over $3/gallon.

I better get busy with other things now. I'll have to fill you in on my instrument fixing later.

Update

Figured I better get back here and fill everyone in. This is the kids first full week of school since it started 3 weeks ago. They went 2 1/2 days the first week, then 4 days for the next 2 weeks in compliance with state laws about Labor Day holiday. This is actually really nice when the kids are in kindergarten or first grade and just adjusting to the school schedule.

Rachel is in 5th grade this year. She is really happy with the teacher that she has. What's going to be really interesting is that she is in class with Sarah, aka daycare child and neighbor, and with Hannah, who is a friend from church. She's never had Hannah in class before but the last time she was with Sarah, it was not a good experience. Just too much time together for the good of their friendship. She also has chosen band over choir this year. She is going to play the clarinet. Actually, it is MY clarinet. We are waiting for the music store to get replacement pads in so I can fix them and the cork so it is ready to go. I was shocked that they wanted $145 to do the work at the store. Turns out that's almost all labor because I can get the pads and cork for around $35. Somehow, I'll find the time over trying to squeeze out the money. I've actually done the pads before myself. I haven't done the cork but it shouldn't be too hard. I think getting what is left of the old cork off will be the hardest part.

Stephen is in the 3rd grade this year. Things seem to be going rather well. He actually has a substitute till November 1 since his regular teacher adopted a new baby girl over the summer. The occupational therapy that we went through this summer seems to be paying off. With the exception of a small incident at 1 lunch, the only problem seems to be that he still struggles with shouting out the answers without raising his hand. (Not a big deal at all and I wish this would be the only problem all year. I'd be thrilled!) A lot of people were concerned that a charter school might not give us enough support for his Asperger's syndrome but they are. He receives "brushing & compressions" (recommended for his sensory issues) by a paraprofessional once or twice a day. He will also be starting a small social skills group with the social worker in the next week or so. There is also an occupational therapist at the school that we can work with if necessary. We are very pleased because the teachers are using some "Brain Gym" activities that we learned about at therapy with the whole class. They are good for everyone and it doesn't make Stephen feel separated from everyone if he is the only one that does them. They are just short, sensory stretches and activities that help children to focus and listen better. (I think they are so good that I hope to teach them to our Sunday school workers for them to use at church.) We are also pleased that he is not in the same class with some of the kids that seemed to make him an easy target last year. He actually has 3 other kids from our church in his class. We're hoping that this change will help him socially.

Now it is just Joshua and I home during the day. He is rather pleased with that. He gets more time with mom as well as more time on the computer. I have called and requested testing on his speech. There are times that he is difficult for me to understand as well as everyone else. I talked to the speech therapist at the kids' school and she can't do it there. I have to go there G. R. Public for his age. She was glad that I was being proactive about it. If he were to need her help next year, they would probably want to put him in a Young 5's program. I really don't think his other skills would require that so I don't want the speech to hold him back. She also said that speech difficulties can hamper learning to read which we definitely don't want. I'll keep you posted when the testing is scheduled.

Well, I better get on with my day. I have AVON, our budget, and some sewing to work on today. We had to go get pants for Mark & Rachel over Labor day and, of course, they all needed shortened. I have just one pair left to do then I'm done. I also have to make sure dress clothes are set for a family picture to be taken tonight for our new church directory. This is all in addition to the usual cooking and cleaning to be done before picking up kids and supervising homework.

Shepherd's Notes

I'm putting a new link on the sidebar to the new blog we set up for some friends of ours. It is finally operational thanks to my big brother, Nate. It may be a couple of more weeks, however, before much is posted there. They need to unpack and get new internet service before they can get started. Hopefully, they don't lose the information before they get the service.

Blogging

I know...you would think with the kids in school this week that I would have more time to blog....but that's not been the case. The little amount of time I have had for blogging this week, I have spent trying to get another blog up and running for a friend. I am almost there. I'm still having some trouble with the Haloscan comments so I have brought in an expert, my big brother, Nate, who introduced me to blogging.

Our friends, the Shepherd's, moved to Wyoming (the state, not city in MI) this week. He was called as a pastor to a small church outside Cheyenne. That means that Joshua's best friend, Jake, is now a 20 hour car ride away. This family means a lot to our church and I know that there are a lot of people that would like to keep up with what is going on in their lives so that is why I thought I should introduce them to blogging. I showed our blog to Kris and she thought it a great idea. She was so busy packing though that she didn't have time to sit down and set it up with me. So I set it up for them and gave them all the info to get them started. I bet she'll be even better at putting in updates then I am once she gets started.

We have been busy getting into the school routine. The kids seem to be adjusting well. I have established much more of a bedtime routine which seems to be helping our mornings go better.

I have been trying to get back doing more AVON. Mark is still busy at Camp & Cruise 50+ hours a week and then this week he has been busy with Tom Hines again. For those of you that don't know about Tom, he is a gentleman that Mark did work for through a temp agency the last time that he was unemployed. After Mark went to work, Tom asked if Mark would work on accounting for him on the side. Tom hopes to start a business and it may be a new job for Mark, with quite a pay increase over his current job. It seems that Tom has a couple of investment groups are looking into his plans and may be willing to invest. We had all but given up on this opportunity but are hopeful again!

Well, I have to be going. We are spending as much time as possible this weekend trying to get some extra cleaning and organizing done around this house.

Back to school!

Rachel and Stephen started back to school yesterday! It was just a 1/2 day but today is the first full day. Hopefully, it will go better than last year. Last year, Rachel threw up and ended up with a urinary tract infection that had her hospitalized.

Even though they are in school today it doesn't give me much time to write. I have an AVON order to place by noon and cleaning to do to get ready for a meeting this evening. I'll try to write more often but you know how that goes.

Monday

Thought you might like to hear about our day on Monday but warning...you may need an extra sugar boost after reading this! Rachel, Joshua, Sarah (a daycare girl) and I left the house around 8:30 to drive Mittens to the southwest end of town where she had a haircut appointment. After dropping her off, we went back by the house briefly and then continued north to Houghton Lake. We arrived there at 12:00 to meet up with Mom, Aunt Marlene, and Stephen. After lunch there, we headed back home to GR with Stephen in our van this time. We arrived back home around 4:15. I gave the kids a quick dinner around the same time that Sarah was picked up. We then jumped back into the van, retrieved our bald cat from the grooming school and deposited her at home before going to a park for an ice cream social for the kids' school. We got back from that around 8:30 and Mark came home from work shortly after that! Just another day!

Catch up

Guess it's time to get everyone caught up on our happenings around here. We had a BALL riding the jet ski's that I mentioned before. The kids even had a chance to ride on a tube behind the jetski. Except for bit of a spill toward the end, it was great! The water was even rather warm for being in MI.

I'm back to having daycare kids again. They are all back from vacation and getting prepared for school. The kids start back exactly 1 week from today. Rachel has spent most of the month of August trying to find out who will be in her class. This year she will be with Sarah, a daycare girl, and Hannah, a friend from church. I hope this works out well.

We also went to the wedding of Rachel's 4th grade teacher. It was really nice and we got to see quite a few from the school there. Rachel's 5th grade teacher for this year was a bridesmaid as well as another one of the 4th grade teacher. Stephen's teachers for this year were also in attendance.

Mark's work is keeping him beyond busy! He has been putting in close to 60 hours most weeks. He'll have in at least 30 by the end of today already. The office is starting to slow down but they are short 2 workers so besides keeping up with all usual work, he has been busy interviewing perspective help. They hope to have the positions filled by the end of the week. The kids and I even took dinner out and had it at his office last night so we could be with him for a while.

At least Rachel & Joshua & I did. Stephen is now in Alpena with Gramma. They left on Tuesday just after Stephen's occupational therapy appointment. They made it safely and Stephen is getting to go to 2 VBS's in Alpena this week.

Today I will be going out to the school to fill out forms. Then tomorrow we meet with Rachel's teacher. Since we met with Stephen's teacher on Monday, that means 3 trips in one week. I guess I'm getting back into the school routine myself. I'm ready for school to start but I also can't quite figure out where the summer went!?

Enough for now. I'll try not to be so long between postings but can't promise.

Wet week

It's been a wet week for us but that doesn't mean we've had rain. The heat and humidity has returned so we have been trying to stay cool. We have a friend that lives rather close and she has been telling us to come for a visit so Tuesday we took her up on it. The kids and I went from around 11-2 and except for a quick lunch they were in the water the whole time. I spent most of the time in the shade and yet I'm the one who became a lobster! Stephen was a little pink on his shoulders and nose but I turned red!

Wednesday, we did our Advance route as early as possible but it was still miserable out there. So I called and we ran over for another dip.

A guy Mark works with invited us to join him at a lake for some fun on his jetski's so we are going to do that tonight. As soon as Mark is home from work we're going to load up a picnic and head out. I didn't tell the kids about it till just a little while ago. They are pretty excited!

Even though it is supposed to be much more comfortable tomorrow, we may be back in a pool. The friend with the pool is watching some kids from church and with her own kids isn't comfortable having them all in the pool with only herself to watch. She may be calling to ask us to join them if she needs another set of eyes. We'll see. This is pretty amazing for us to be swimming so much.

Well, I have to run and get our sandwiches made. Hope everyone else is surviving the heat this summer!

Quiet evening

We're just sitting here relaxing for an evening. Mark actually came in right after 5:00 tonight. Yesterday it was only about 6:00 when he came home. These are the first evenings he has been home all week before the kids went to bed. Last night I actually sent him to bed when the kids went. They all went up stairs at the same time. It probably won't be much past that again tonight. He actually has to work again tomorrow.

It has actually been rather quiet around here this week. I've been doing some AVON but then have also been working to try to organize our attic.

I don't remember if I mentioned it but Mark and the boys worked hard to clean up the house while I was in Alpena over the Fourth of July getting Rachel. This meant putting anything sitting out in the hall or in bedrooms into the attic.

With these nice cool days and no daycare kids, it seems the perfect time to do these. All our hand-me-downs and garage sale clothes that I have stored in the attic have gotten out-of-control. A bag here, a box there, and some for each child in each container. I'm trying to sort through and get them organized again. I actually found some more shorts for each of the boys today that they should have been wearing this summer. I just barely scratched the surface but hope to be able to get through it before I have a full house of kids again.

I may not be much of a blogger but next week I'm going to be helping a friend get one started. Our friends, the Shepherd's, have accepted a pastor position out in Wyoming. (This means that Joshua will be losing his best freind, Jake, in about 6 weeks.) I suggested they need to start one to let all of their family and friends here in GR keep updated on their lives. She took a look at ours and thought it a neat idea. She asked me to show her how to do it next week. It may take some e-mails to Big Brother, Nate but I'll start her out best I can.

That's about it from our end.

We're fine!

I know I haven't written anything lately. Have been extremely busy & with the heat we've had lately, I try not to spend too much time on the computer. Not to mention, everytime I sit down to write I have 3 kids asking to play on the computer too.

Rachel is home from Lake Ann Baptist Camp and should be home for the rest of the summer. And I don't have any daycare kids for most of 2 weeks so I guess you call this my "vacation".

Last week was crazy! I worked Tuesday & Thursday evenings at the Berlin Fair for our AVON booth. I didn't get any recruits on the spot but did get some to follow up on. I also will have plenty of customers to follow up with too. Mark always works late on Monday but also did on Wednesday this last week because of lots of work to get caught up on and being short handed. My 2 daycare kids were here on Wed. & Thursday. I took everyone to deliver the Advance paper on Wed. so we could be done before the heat got unbearable. I helped sign up a new recruit with one of my downline on Friday and took Stephen for a well-child visit that afternoon.

This last weekend was Mark's family reunion as well. SO in the middle of all this, I was packing to go camping for the weekend. We borrowed a couple of tents and packed everyone in the van for the trip to Gladwin. We hit a major traffic accident just 20 miles north of town. It was a parking lot for miles so we crossed the median and had to take some back roads to get around it. It was late when we got there so we set up a tent in the dark. It just fit us all for sleeping. On Saturday, we set up another tent. We used one for sleeping and one for supplies. Neither were in great shape but that's what was available so that's what we used. Sunday at 3:30-7 a.m. we got lots of rain with a thunderstorm. We all managed to stay dry but anything touching the walls got damp from water seeping through the sides. We then went out to survey the area and found a few dry clothes. Around 8, the rain let loose again and this time it was with a vengence! Anything that stayed dry overnight now got soaked! As soon as it let up, we just packed it all soaking wet and muddy in the van to get home. Since then we have had to take everything out again, clean it up and let it dry.

We pulled into town just in time for evening service at church and since it was to be a special business meeting, we were going to go even if we did look like drowned rats. I did have Mark pull over long enough so I could find a brush for my hair which hadn't seen one all day. As we pulled into the church lot we noticed a lack of cars. Turns out that the service was cancelled due to "extreme heat index". Our whole area was under a "heat index advisery" which I didn't know they ever officially issued. I really wasn't disappointed that church was cancelled so that we could get home and deal with all the wet stuff in the van.

We have basically been cleaning up ever since, with the exception of a dentist appointment for Joshua and occupational therapy for Stephen.

Today I had an appointment for possible new daycare kids. The parent actually showed up! I was pleased just by that. This would be for 2 little girls (1 & 2 years old) just every other Friday and part of the day on the same Saturdays. That would probably be about enough. I'm getting rather spoiled by having primarily older kids (Joshua being the youngest). They take less work and you can do more things with them. This would also leave plenty of time for doing AVON during the day when school starts.

That should about get everyone caught up on life here. If the weather stays cool hopefully I can get on more. I could have the whole summer like our weather today. It wouldn't hurt my feelings at all!

Busy day

Rachel is off to Lake Ann Baptist Camp this week. Her friend, and a day care girl, Sarah is also gone. Sarah is actually gone for the next month as she is staying with her godmother after her week at camp. This means just 2 days of daycare kids this week, Wed. & Thurs.

We had a couple of busy days. I had all of the ones here help me with the Advance newspapers yesterday. I wanted to get them done before it was too hot and they were calling for rain in the afternoon.

Since they helped with work yesterday, we had a fun day today. The Ford museum was celebrating Ford's birthday today so it was free admission and then birthday cake for the first 500 people. I didn't figure that we would be there very long but we had quite a surprise when we came in the door. There is a travelling display about sports. Right inside the door there was Rusty's #2 car and a #94 McDonald's car of Bill Elliott's. Boy was Stephen thrilled!

After that we went to the zoo for a free zoo day! It was busy! We had to park way out in a field. There was an inflatable slide that looked like the Titanic before we ever got in. Then there were cookies to decorate right inside the gate. We went through the zoo and did some of the extras, like face painting, but not all of them. Stephen was a bit disappointed because there weren't any real koalas as part of the Australian trail exhibit that they have for the summer. It was almost 2 before we got home. Joshua was exhausted! This was a big day for him since his recovery from mono. I had Selena keep him awake on the way home so he would eat lunch and take a nap for me.

I finally put my Avon order in about 3:00 today. It was actually good that I was late putting it in because I had a call to place a $30 order from a new customer just before I put it in.

Gavin & Selena were picked up early and now I need to get busy cleaning up the kitchen. Then I have a meeting tonight. Just another typical day!

Doctors' visits

Just thought I'd tell you about a week of doctors' visits this week.

When Rachel & I arrived home from Alpena, all it took was one hug to know that Joshua was feverish. Mark said he sounded congested but it wasn't normal sounding congestion. After a little while, I noticed Joshua rubbing his neck. I asked if his throat hurt and he said yes. Without a flashlight, it was clearly visible that he had white spots all over his throat. I assumed this would mean strep. First thing Tuesday, I called for an appointment. When we got there and the nurse went to do a throat culture, he said he wasn't a physician but he wouldn't be surprised if it was positive. As the doctor was doing the exam, the nurse poked his head in and in amazement said that it was negative. The doctor then pretty much shocked me by saying that there's a good possibility that Joshua has MONO. I didn't know kids his age could get it. She said that it is actually easier on a person to have it at a young age. They didn't do any blood work because it would come back inconclusive that early on. We go back this Tuesday for a recheck. They may do blood work then but they really want to check on his spleen because mono can cause it to become enlarged.

Joshua is now on an upswing. He is eating a little better. Fortunately, it has been overly hot to cause dehydration even quicker. The first couple of mornings, he would wake up in bed crying because his throat hurt so bad. Then one day, he came to my room crying when he woke up. Yesterday and today, he came in complaining of a sore throat but not crying.

Now for the second doctor visit. Rachel started complaining of her right knee hurting on Thursday. I gave her some ibuprofen and just 6-7 hours later she was complaining again. She did the same on Friday. I wouldn't have thought too much about it and would have let it go a couple of more days except she goes to Lake Ann Baptist Camp at 7:30 Monday morning. There was no visible problems and she didn't remember any injuries to it. (The one she hurt on the way to Alliance was the left one.) When I called the nurse Friday afternoon, she agreed to give us one of the Saturday appointments. When I took her in today and the doctor checked her out, she called it patella femoral syndrome. This basically means that her kneecap is moving around more than it is supposed too. The groove in her knee isn't deep enough to keep it in place and her thigh muscle isn't strong enough to keep it in place either. The doctor wants her to stay on ibuprofen while at camp and also do some strenthening exercises. If it isn't better in 2-3 weeks, we'll have to go back for x-rays but she says this isn't that uncommon in girls that are getting close to puberty age (GULP!)

So that is about it for around here. Joshua is under quarantine and is vegging out with videos as much as possible and Rachel's poppin' pills for knee problems. What next! (Actually, that's rhetorical because I don't think I really want to know!) You'd think this was a house with a 70 year old and 92 year old with all these doctor visits!

Last weekend

I haven't had a chance to write to let everyone know about our 4th of July weekend. Rachel had been with Gramma for 2 1/2 weeks and we decided it was time for her to come home. We decided that it would be good for her and I to have some mom/daughter time so I was going up to get her and Mark and the boys were staying here. We thought Mark was going to have to work on Saturday but they closed up instead. We considered me leaving when he got home from work Friday but decided on leaving first thing Saturday instead. (Which was a good choice since he didn't end up getting home till 7:30 p.m. Friday even though they closed at 5:00.)

It was a nice drive up. A little strange being by myself but nice. I pulled in as they were setting the table for lunch. How's that for timing? Actually, I hadn't told them I was coming early so I figured showing up at meal time would assure they were there. Big brother, Pete and Deb had gotten in just a little earlier that morning.

After dinner, Saturday evening, Rachel and I rode a tandem bike over to Aunt Marlene's house for a visit. Uncle Mike got quite a laugh out of the look on my face as we first tried to set out. Not only have I not ridden any bike in quite some time but this was a tandem, the seat was too high, and I was wearing sandels not hardly meant for riding bikes. We made it safely though.

Sunday, we went to church in the morning and Uncle Glen's boy, Phil and his family were there. They were presenting to the junior church about their work in Africa. Even though it was for kids in second grade and under, Rachel went down and watched it. They have a boy, Mark, that is just a year older than her. By the end of the weekend, they were playing around like we all used to on our trips north.

Pete and Deb wanted to learn to make strawberry jam so we spent most of Sunday afternoon doing that. We were just getting done when we got a call from Glen & Jeanette's family that they were ready to decorate the church for a surprise 50th anniversary party on Monday. We went over and helped out. They then asked Mom to come along while they did the food shopping for it. She had wanted to go to a patriotic concert at First Church but went along with them. Rachel & I went back to the house and worked at getting a banner out of Mom's computer. We took a break long enough to test out the new ice cream store at the top of the hill from the house. (It passed inspection!)

Monday it was a rainy morning. It stopped just long enough for us to think it was safe to go to the parade. Then started sprinkling just as the parade reached us. Mom, Gramma, and a lot of the others stayed at the house while Rachel and I went. We were able to find the right "Manning" spot where we always meet up and watch together. The kids came away with plenty of candy as usual.

After that it was back to the house for a quick lunch and then convincing Glen & Jeanette to go to the church. As the open house drew closer, I checked with Pam & Barb about sneaking over before they all came so any early birds would be greeted. They had Rachel & I do that. We then stayed around to help with the cutting of the cake and serving punch. By then it was time for Rachel and I to head home.

I'll have to post the surprises of this week later. Time to get busy around here.

Treasure Hunts

Joshua and I were off on 2 treasure hunts today. That's a way to put it for Joshua when we have to run to a bunch of different stores looking for something. Today we were looking for sandals for him and some material for Mom & Gramma. We were successful in 1 area but not both. Joshua is now proudly wearing Buzz Lightyear sandals!

We had checked the Jo-ann's on this end of town last night but didn't find what we needed. This morning we started at Field's Fabrics and were going to check a couple of other fabric stores before going to the other end of town to check those Jo-ann's. Field's didn't have it so we headed to Wal-mart. Along the way, Joshua said he needed to go to potty and since he wasn't wearing a pull-up, I stopped at the closest gas station. Would you believe this Circle-K didn't have a public bathroom? So we quickly loaded back into the van and went to a BK close by which had to have a bathroom. Then we continued to Wal-mart but when I reached into my pocket for the fabric sample, it was gone! Joshua and I looked all over the van, my purse, and all my pockets to no avail. It must have fallen out at one of the last 2 hurried stops. So I guess, I'll get another sample when I go to Alpena this weekend and then have another 'treasure hunt' after the 4th.

The other "fun" we had was that I evidently set my keys on the van seat when we were searching for the fabric sample. I didn't discover this until we were done shopping at Wal-mart. And I actually managed to get all the doors locked this time. So I called Mark on my cell phone. He was all the way in Coopersville picking up the office's paychecks. Joshua and I got to go back into Wal-mart and wait 45-60 minutes for him to get back to work then to Wal-mart. It wasn't too bad to wait. The bad thing was that Stephen's daycamp was doing a puppet show at 11:30 this morning and I was hoping to go see it. Mark got to us at 11:30 so I didn't figure there was anyway to get to the school in time for the show. I will make sure that I leave the house in time for the open house/ice cream social at the end of the day today.

Well, that's been our little adventure for the day.

Storms

We had a bunch of storms roll through the area this morning. It was the first significant rain we have had in 2 weeks. The only problem was that we got 3/4 of an inch of rain in only 15 minutes! There was lots of thunder and lightnening but we still have power. The air now feels wonderful outside but they say we have 1 more 90 degree day before a cold front comes through this evening. YEAH! The heat this last week has been awful! The heat indexes has been over a hundred degrees about 3 times in the last week and I don't like this kind of heat.

As for the trip to Ohio, we all had a great time! It was so nice getting to visit with everyone at one time. The trip home was very uneventful. We were able to do it with only 1 stop. The boys were so into watching the DVD's that they weren't wanting to stop all the time. It also only took us 6 hours to get home from Wooster!

We have been about the usual busy-ness since then. Stephen has had 2 weeks of daycamp at the school. The first week was Lego Maniacs and this week is Creation Station. It has been really good for him to have the structure and socialization of the daycamp. Joshua and I do lots of errands and AVON while Stephen and the other daycare kids are at daycamp. Mark has worked some long hours and is keeping very busy.

Joshua is headed to the dentist for another round of fillings. He has had 2 done but has 4 more to go. I'm thinking of trying to convince them to do all 4 today. He is getting a bit more apprehensive about going and it may be better if he doesn't have to worry about going back again for more discomfort. He did GREAT for them while he was there but was absolutely miserable after he got home. He really didn't like the numbness wearing off and then the pain from the work and pressure they put on his jaw. He spent most of the afternoon whining and moaning after his last visit.

Rachel is in Alpena with Gramma right now. She went down to Ohio early with her so we were able to take the car down instead of our gas-guzzling van. We then left Rachel in Alliance when we came home. When Gramma was ready to head home she called and asked if she was to bring Rachel here or take her to Alpena. I know Rachel was looking forward to making strawberry jam and she was being good so she went to Alpena with Gramma. I'm headed up this weekend to pick her up and bring her home. It's been quite a long time for her to be gone and actually she'll only be home for a week before heading to Lake Ann Camp in Traverse City for a week.

Well, that's all I have time for now. I want to get some work done before the dentist trip today.

Lifewalk!

Our family is once again looking for sponsors as we plan to do the Lifewalk. This is a fundraiser for Alpha Women's Center, here in GR as well as 5 other prolife centers. They are celebrating 20 years of serving women in the GR area! Rachel & Stephen would like to raise $150 each (so they can get t-shirts). This year's total goal is $175,000. The official walk is this Saturday but since we are going to be out of town, we plan to do our walking independently and then send in our paperwork. To learn more about Lifewalk and Alpha Women's Center, you can check out their website at www.alphawomenscenter.org. If you are willing to sponsor Rachel or Stephen, send an e-mail with the amount and your address. Alpha will contact you after the walk is complete with information on sending your donation straight to them. Thanks!

Power!

It's so nice to have power again! We lost it Sunday afternoon about 3:30 when a bunch of storms came through. It then came back on about 10:00 Monday morning.

Kids are on their last day and a half of school. Things are piling up around here and I'm about half crazy trying to keep up.

I got myself busy with cakes right now. I did one last week for a friend's son since they gave Rachel a loft bed last month. I'm working on 6 sheet cakes for a wedding this weekend. Stephen's birthday is next Tuesday and a friend is throwing a baby shower when we are going to be in Ohio. She wanted me to do it so much that it is baked and in the freezer right now. I'll pull it out next week in time to decorate it before leaving for Ohio. You should all know though that I do know how to say NO though. I had someone ask me about a cake for next Monday (just before Stephen's) and I told her I couldn't.

Of course, this is also when the heat and humidity kicks in. I'm committed to having the stove on and summer comes in full steam! At least the wedding cake isn't a tier that has flowers haning off the sides. This reception is being done "open house" style. It is from 12-3 at the bride's parents house. The bride and groom are more interested in the sundaes they are going to be eaten than cake but the parents insisted they had to have cakes too.

Well, Joshua and I are off to the store to do the shopping for the cakes.

Home

We are home after a long weekend at Lake Ann Baptist Camp. Every Memorial Day and Labor Day they have Work Bees. You arrive Friday night, spend Saturday doing work projects, then rest on Sunday, and work again Monday morning before heading home. They give you lodging and food in exchange for your working. It really is a lot of fun! This year we had around 40 people from our church go. Most of us try to stay in the Sunrise Lodge. It is nice because there are several common rooms that parents can use to play games and visit after the kids are tucked in bed.

Usually, the ladies from our church get signed up for food prep for the camp that the kids have to fix their own food. We get everything measured out right down to the packages of salt and pepper all sealed into baggies. This year we were late arriving and those from our group forgot to sign Rachel and I up to help them. Instead Rachel & I painted a hallway in the kitchen. The workers were thrilled. The building is 4 years old but according to one worker this hall hadn't had anything but the original primer on it the whole time. This was real good experience for Rachel. She learned how to spackle as well as tape and paint. She did a pretty good job for her first major painting job. She really got into the job you may say--including in her hair, and feet!

The men and boys usually set up TeePee Village. This also includes blowing up rafts and a few other projects. We were all done with our projects with over an hour left before dinner on Saturday.

Going there doesn't help get all the awaiting projects at home done but it really did a lot for our morale here. To spend time with the other families from church is great! Mark and I can't remember the last time we laughed as hard as we did this weekend, including with our daughter who managed to dump herself out of a kayak fully dressed! The messages at the services on Sunday were also just what we needed to hear. So now we are back at the grind but much more encouraged than before.

Lots to do to get caught up around here though. More when I can.

Garage Sale

I know it has been forever since I posted last and this is going to be a short one. Life just hasn't slowed down any and if anything is busier than ever.

We had a garage sale last Saturday. We didn't make a bundle of money but was able to get rid of some rather large items. I am especially happy that we were able to get rid of a broken washer and stove. We had them out with FREE signs and someone that collects scrap metal hauled them away. It was a good deal for us because we may of paid at least $10 each to have the city take them or if we hauled them to the dump ourselves.

For those of our family that shop at garage sales and that we may be seeing in the near future (especially Mom), I have a new shopping list for you. Stephen started occupational therapy last week (another story for another blog time) and they had some recommendations for some equipment that would be good to have. We could use a mini-trampoline, some BIG exercise balls and/or rubber kick balls. Also, Mom, could you bring me my "Hippity Horse" next trip down? Or if you find one cheap at a sale that would be fine too. He is thriving on the motion that he gets from these types of activities.

That's about all the time I have for now. Just wanted everyone to know that we are doing fine.

Mom's here!

Mom came down at the beginning of the week to see a school program that Rachel & Stephen were both in. Now she's here and Mark's not...he is at Lake Ann Baptist Camp up by Traverse City with 20 some other men from our church for a men's retreat.

I'm busier than ever and only have a couple of minutes to write. It is GREAT having Mom here. We work on all sorts of projects that I never get around to otherwise. We have fixed 2 light problems and have 1 more yet to go.

The kids have been wanting to go on a walk with her all week but the weather has been too bad. This morning she is out with Joshua and the older ones are hoping for a walk after school.

The school program was Tuesday. Mark's birthday was Wednesday. That was also the AWANA fair at church. They received their awards last Sunday and then have 1 more fun night before it's done. Thursday, Mark left for the retreat. I went to MOPS in the morning and they were short-handed for the nursery so I called Mom to come up. We then went to do lunch duty at the kids school and then I put in my AVON order in the afternoon. Now I am working on a couple of sheet cakes for a friend's son-in-law who is graduating from seminary tonight and they are doing an open house tomorrow. Is this insanity or what?

The good news is that I probably get to keep Mom till next Wednesday or so. Aunt Bette called and wants to fly in from Texas. She doesn't know where or exactly when yet but is working on it. Bette figured with Mom being down here it would help out with driving.

Well, I have to run. Talk to you more soon, maybe.

Still busy

I know, I know. I haven't been on recently. The good thing about that though is that I usually find out who has actually been reading it because I then receive a phone call from someone checking in to make sure we are all ok.

Our schedule hasn't slowed down any but it also doesn't seem much to write about. Mark is putting in long hours at Camp and Cruise because this is their busy time of year. Being their finance guy now along with being the office manager is wearing him to a frazzle.

I spend lots of time working my Avon business. It has been tough figuring out a balance between managing my recruits and building my customer base. Every now and then something manages to fall through the cracks and then I have a mess to clean up.

There are also our church commitments. 2 weekends ago we had a candidate for the position of Pastor of Student Ministries and Outreach come. Mark had a Pastor's Prayer Partners breakfast with all the men from the church Saturday morning and then since I am on the C.E. Committee, we had a picnic at Pastor Tom's house that afternoon. It was a wonderful time as we then had him speak for a teacher inservice on Sunday as well as the 2 services but also very tiring. The vote was just this Sunday morning and it was 172-0 in favor of calling him.

We have been working at training a new person to take over in the kindergarten class that I have been teaching this year. He has started out in the pre-k class under a teacher of 20+ years. This week, he is moving to my class and we will team teach for a while. By fall, I hope to hand the reigns completely to him and possibly have another person in training. By doing this, hopefully, I can do more supervising and less teaching myself which is what my position is.

Rachel and Stephen are busy getting ready for a school program next week called "We Haz Jazz". Rachel has a special part and even has to stay after school for 3 days for extra practices.

I received a call from another mom out at the kids' school. She was looking for childcare for the summer. At first, I was ready to tell her no because we have had too many disappointments with the daycare and were ready to give it up but I reconsidered. So I will be taking her daughter (the same grade as Rachel) and her son (the same grade as Stephen) just 2 days a week through the summer. It will then be afterschool care during the school year. Being just 2 days, it shouldn't be too overwhelming and most of my Avon is going to have to happen in the evening anyway so I'm not taking all 3 of my own to do it. Also being only 2 days a week, it will keep my kids occupied without it being too much time together.

Well, I have to run. Lots of stuff piling up and time is flying. I'll try to be on more.

By the way, congratulations to my brother, Mark that has just been accepted as a pastor to a church in Wooster, OH. Hey family, when we going to have 1 last fling in Alliance? I vote 4th of July weekend or Labor Day. What do you guys think?

SSSSOOOOO BBUUUSSSSSYYYYYY!

I can't believe it has been so long since I have had a chance to sit down and blog a bit. I even had a phone call to check in on us since I hadn't written anything recently. It has also been so long that I don't hardly know where to start. I'll try to catch you up but only hitting the high points.

The first weekend in April, Mark's mom and 1 nephew came for a visit. They got here Friday evening and left Sunday morning. I spent most of the day Saturday at an AVON booth at a Family & Kid's Expo here in GR. Mark and his mom brought the kids over for a while and they had a good time. Mark's mom won a DVD player and our family won a pretty fancy craft project including 3 piggy banks from the "Big Yellow Box" company.

The first full week of April was Spring Break for Rachel and Stephen. Our weather was unbelievably beautiful! It was sunny all week and the highs were in the 60's or 70's!

My mom came for a visit on that Monday 4/4. It was the first visit since before Christmas. The kids were thrilled to see her. She took them on walks down to the park and fed the ducks almost every day. I had so much going on with AVON, different appointments, and a funeral at church, I'm not sure I would have made it through the week without her. I know that this place was definitely more "sane" with her presence. We also got quite a bit of miscellaneous fixing up done around here. I learned how to replace the coils on our gas dryer and how to replace the plug on the dishwasher. Mom and I even took a day to go down to Fort Wayne and visit with long time family friends, Charles and Pauline Joder and Shirley Mullins. Unfortunately, she had to head back to Alpena yesterday but not before making sure my laundry was all caught up.

We celebrated Joshua's 4th birthday on Wednesday of Spring Break. It was scheduled to be celebrated on Tuesday but Stephen ended up sick just 1 hour before guests were coming so we postponed it. It was amazing that we could have the cake and ice cream outside on the picnic table because it was so nice.

The AVON is keeping me busy and going well. I have 1 recruit to sign up tomorrow and then 1 for Friday as well. I am having to call and check up on some of my other recruits that are struggling a bit but all-in-all I think it is going good.

The kids are back in school. At least Rachel is glad of that. She really misses her friends. She has Sarah close by but that is it and sometimes they don't see eye-to-eye. Joshua is also glad they are back in school. He likes having Mom to himself more.

Well, kids will be banging through the door any minute now so I better sign off. I'll try to write more but don't promise anything.

Forgot

I just realized that I forgot the real good news that we had last week! We have our car back!! Our friend, Dave, got it done last Sunday just before he left town. It only cost $125-150 too! Don't get me wrong, I'm not sure where even that much will come from but that is easier to find then that $900 the shop was talking about.

Talk about good timing...the truck that the Blacks have started having trouble with the ignition wires just as we got the car back so they were able to have their car returned in time to have the truck go into the shop. God is good!

Still here!

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I have written an update. Life has been absolutely crazy! 2 weeks ago, Mark worked 72 hours because of the boat show. That was the final one of the year though so we are happy about that.

About that Friday, he started really being worn down. It just kept getting worse. Finally, this last Thursday, he went to the dr. He is now on antibiotics for a sinus infection and bronchitis. They also had to flush out his ears as one was completely blocked with wax and the other was better than 75% blocked. He is still really tired out and not feeling like his normal self but seems to be improving.

Last Wednesday, Joshua didn't want breakfast and complained of a sore throat. By 8:30 I was glad he hadn't eaten when the juice he had drank came back up. He was feverish by evening and all around crabby. On Thurs. evening I took him to the dr. to be checked. His test for strep came back negative so it is evidently the flu. He seems to be improving now as he hasn't had a fever since Sat. He still has a runny nose though and sounds all congested.

By Friday, Rachel and I were also on the miserable side. We had headaches, congestion, sore throats, and noses that just won't quit. I put her and I on echinacia right away. It hasn't gotten us completely better yet but I think it has kept us from being flat-on-our-back sick. We are able to eat and function most of the time. At least I have been able to have enough spurts of energy to get my usual work done around here.

None of us, except Stephen, were well enough to go to the Good Friday service. (I sent the cookies I promised for the fellowship with friends.) We did all make it to Sunday services though. I kept Joshua with me the whole time instead of putting him in classes to infect everyone else. I also told the kids not to be hugging people to spread this around.

Satuday, I managed to get enough energy up to go do shopping for Easter after Mark got home from work. I had absolutely nothing here for the kids baskets unless I did. I was actually pleased with what I could find. Stephen and Joshua each got a new DVD from a new series called Hermie and Friends. Rachel got a praise CD for her to play in her karaoke player.

The kids have 4 days of school this week before they start spring break on Friday. It is also Spirit week at the school. Rachel went as a teacher and Stephen as a pastor this morning. He insisted he needed a tie so he is wearing one of Mark's with a vest hopefully covering it.

Tomorrow is Heritage day. They are to dress as though from a country of their heritage. Wednesday is Alphabet day. They are to wear something that starts with every letter of their first name. And Thursday is Patriotic Day. With the heritage of these kids, I told them they should do red, white, and blue on Tuesday and Thursday. I think Stephen plans to do Irish which means probably the same thing he wore on St. Patrick's day. I don't know what Rachel plans to do. I already had them working on the list for Wednesday because I don't want them trying to find that kind of stuff that morning. (I am trying to get them organized a bit even if I'm not great at setting an example of it myself.)

Spring weather is finally showing itself here. We hit 50 over the weekend. They are saying possibly 60 tomorrow which we haven't seen since 11/8. It is even possible to see hyacinths and tulips popping their heads through the ground in my front flower bed. I haven't cut off my rose bushes yet because I am fearful of another good frost. Maybe if the weather is good during spring break, I will.

I think I am going to be working a booth at the Family and Kid's Expo this Friday and Saturday. My manager said to plan on it but I haven't heard much about it yet. I'm also keeping busy doing follow up on a lot of leads from the Women's Expo a couple of weeks ago. I actually had 3 orders from new customers from the expo with my order I placed last week! I also had 2 new customers from church with the last order. I think the word has finally leaked out around there!

Well, I think that is about it for now. Not a lot of positive to write about because of being sick but I guess that is how things go sometimes.

Survived

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have survived the weekend. It was extremely hectic and we only have a minor reprieve before Mark is at a boat show this Thurs. through Sunday.

Stephen was back to school on Wed. Thursday was AVON order day. I had a new recruit come here so I could show her how to put it on the computer. She had a $500 order. I then ended up with a $400. This was so exciting. I had to check on my other recruits but my manager was able to find out that I am a UNIT LEADER now! This means that I am able to get a bonus off of the orders of my recruits! This is what I have been aiming for and finally made it. Now I just need to keep this status.

Friday during the day, Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon, I spent at our Women's Expo working the AVON booth that our manager had set up. I got lots of leads for customers, recruits, and fundraisers, and even signed up a new recruit on the spot! This should really help keep my business rolling!

In the midst of all this I baked, decorated, and delivered a wedding cake. Maybe I'll try posting pictures when I get them emailed to me. I forgot my camera so a friend with a digital took some for me. It was a rather simple 3 tier design. I actually spent more time on the groom's cake. The groom is a Star Wars fan so the bride wanted the words "Star Wars" along with 2 crossed light sabers. I even got to try a couple of new techniques out on it. It turned out really well! What was funny was the groom had no idea it was coming. When he first saw it, he thought some friends from across the state were pulling a joke. Boy, was he shocked to find out his bride had ordered it!

This week's schedule isn't much lighter. Today is AVON pick up day. (I have customer's pick up there orders at my house for a discount.) Tomorrow I plan to deliver some orders but we also have a C.E. committee meeting here at our house (which means lots of cleaning). While the meeting is going on, Mark has a meeting at the kids' school and the kids have AWANA games practice. Wed. is our day to deliver papers and church. Thursday is MOPS (which I need to write a newsletter for) and lunch duty at the school. Friday, Stephen has an appointment and Saturday is the AWANA games and the kids' school carnival. And as I mentioned, Mark will be working 10-12 hour days Thurs-Sat. plus at least 5 hours on Sun.

Guess I better get at it.

So much for an update

Just a minute to fill you in on the weekend and this week's schedule. Mark woke up sick with vomiting and diarrhea Friday night and was pretty miserable Saturday. He was keeping food down on Sunday but still felt dizzy in the morning so didn't go to church. By evening he was feeling better still and had kept down more food so went to evening service.

Rachel and Stephen had AWANA games practice in the morning. They then spent most of the afternoon playing games on the computer while I ran to the store while Mark and Joshua were napping. They did ok for a while and they didn't fight over the computer. Turns out they were having such a good time that they got too loud and woke up both Daddy and Joshua. After I got home from the store I sent them all outside to burn up some energy. They were thoroughly soaked by the time they came in but had enjoyed themselves.

Today Mark was up to going to work but still didn't feel "right". Stephen left for school saying that his stomach didn't feel very good either. The Blacks went ahead and put insurance back on their truck so we have their car to use. In a few minutes Joshua and I are headed out to do some AVON (as long as we don't get a call from school first).

Stephen has an appointment tomorrow morning and I really don't want to think about the rest of the week. I have a wedding cake that I am doing on Saturday and our AVON team has a booth set up at the Women's Expo in town Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I have agreed to take shifts all 3 days. That also means prepping catalogs with stickers, etc. before then. There is also a church ministries conference that is held once a year that is this weekend. I'm not going to make it at all but Mark is going to try to go to some sessions, as time permits.

No word on the car yet but we aren't going to push either. With having the Black's car, we will be fine till it is done so there's not really a rush to it.

I guess I should stop sitting here writing about the week and get busy facing it. If you don't hear from me for a while you'll understand why but keep checking in. You just never know when I may get a craving to write.

So much for plans!

I made it to all of 2 customers before I received the call from school that Stephen had gotten sick and had to be picked up. I'll just have to add the other 6 to get to tonight when I had other errands planned. Hopefully, this is just the same 24-hour virus that Joshua and Mark have had. He has done pretty well since he has been home. We let his stomach rest for 2 hours and now he has had 1/2 doz. sips of water that have stayed down for an hour or more.

Just thought I'd fill you in on how my day's planning turned out.

Car update

Good news! God is working things out for us! We called our friend from church and even though the head gasket is a big job, he has done a 1/2 dozen or so of them for himself and other friends. He can also do the fuel regulator without any trouble. It may take a while but he thinks it will run around $150 for the parts for both jobs. Now $150 is still quite a bit of money the way our budget is right now but it seems more attainable then $1000. So when we picked up the car from the garage last night we took it right over to this friend's house. He has a heated pole barn around back with all the tools he needs and now he has the car for whenever he might have time to work on it. He did say he had another friend's car from church that he has plans to work on tomorrow but he may even start on ours some tonight. This is a major relief! We don't know how long we may be down to one car but it should only be a week or so.

Also, we talked to our neighbor's, the Blacks. (I do daycare for their 4th grade daughter and we share carpooling responsibilities.) They currently have 2 cars and a pickup truck for the 2 adults living there. They have the truck in "storage" in their driveway for the winter. They say that if we run into too much conflicts with 1 vehicle, they can bring the truck out of storage and let us use 1 of the cars for whatever time we need to. We have things worked out pretty well through Sunday so we will see then how things look for next week. Besides carpooling, I only have 2 days that I really have to have a car during the day. Again God is providing!

This blog really wasn't meant to be such a ranting place but thanks for listening and for the suggestions, etc that we received. I really meant for it to be a place for people to hear what our kids and family are up to. They are growing up so quickly. I have other things to get busy with but will try to post an update later and focus on the other family activities going on.