It's Official. . .


Summer is over, but here is just a glimpse of all the fun we had!

We have made many trips this summer to visit with Granny.  She had 2 additional strokes in early May.  She is now under Hospice care.  It has been so difficult to watch her decline day after day, but we all cherish our time with her.


  Our annual trip to a nearby beach affords us such wonderful memories year after year.  This year we quickly learned there was something new. . .an ice cream truck.  No doubt it was a hit with the kids.



Lilly and Ellie love ballet.  They took 4 classes during the month of June and enjoyed every minute!





Horses are still a tremendous part of Shelby and Katie's lives.  They enjoyed riding and practicing their jumping together throughout the summer months.  The girls also took their horses to horse camp for a week with their trainer.  I wasn't sure if they were coming back home after that.  They are counting down until next year's camp.  In this photo Fulton was being a most helpful little brother by setting the jumps back up after the horses knocked them down.



Summer at our house always involves countless hours spent outside - early morning and late afternoon only due to extreme temperatures.  The younger children have such fun using their imaginations, climbing trees, building forts, etc.



Katie has come to love the stage.  She has been in 3 plays so far.  This summer she had a blast playing Esmerelda in our local theater's production of Snow White.  As her parents, David and I were so very proud.  She did a fabulous job and even sang a solo!



Yes, we actually humbled ourselves, dressed up like cows, went out in public, and endured the stares, smiles, and laughter of many.  But it was worth it since we all enjoyed free meals at Chick-fil-a - not once but twice in the same day!



No summer is complete without a few trips to a nearby pool to cool off from the sometimes unbearable heat!  Shelby and Katie also enjoyed having their best friend, Emily, who lives several hours away from us, down for a few days.  Here Shelby, Emily, and Katie relax in the shallow end.  Shelby enjoyed a visit to Emily's house as well this summer, but Katie was busy with rehearsal for Snow White so she missed out on that trip.  On another note, little Ellie learned to swim this summer.  She has a ways to go before I would trust her swimming, but she swam quite a few lengths between David and me.  She was so proud of herself.

What a blur!  Where did summer go? 

Homeschool has already begun for Shelby and Fulton.  Ethan and Lilly start next week at their Chinese immersion school, and Katie begins after Labor Day at a new Christian school. 

Recent Happenings

This is Shelby's first blog post.

 Hudson's 3rd Birthday was on February 20.  (Sorry we have not posted sooner. Life has been crazy.)  He had a wonderful birthday party with extended family members and some close family friends.  He had so much fun opening his many gifts, and he LOVED his Percy train cake.  For those of you who do not know about Percy, he is the green train from Thomas and Friends.  Hudson has two new Percy trains and now his favorite color is, of course, green!!!

Easter~ we had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We went to church, then ate at Gabby's house ( mom's mom), visited Granny and also visited Mimi ( Dad's mom).   It was a wonderful ( and busy!) Easter Sunday!!!

Fulton's 10th birthday was on April 18.  For his birthday party, he played football with his friends, then we ate cake and ice cream, he opened his presents, and then they all went fishing with Dad and Uncle Tripp . After fishing they were so hot that they decided to jump in the pond.  Let's just say, when they came back for hotdogs and chips, they were quite a mess!!


Dad celebrated his *** birthday on May 14.  That same day was Lilly's 4th Gotcha Day.  We had a great time eating cake, ice cream, and opening presents.  Lilly received a Chinese toy drum.  Dad got some nice clothes, and the kids gave him some beach flip flops he wanted.  I don't have any pictures from May 14, but as soon as they are downloaded, I will post them on the blog.

This past weekend we had Mom's cousin, Sheri and her little boy, John Parker down for a visit.  We had a great time "checking up", and the little ones had fun with their cousin.  Then on Monday after they left to go back home, we went to the pool with some friends.  We had a great holiday weekend.

Enjoy all the pictures I have posted!!!

On the Road to Recovery

Granny is certainly on the road to recovery, yet I know that this road is, without a doubt,  bound to be a very long road indeed!  These pictures were taken on Easter Sunday.  We enjoyed our visit , but it was quite a change not having Granny and my father with us for Easter lunch.  We did take her some of Fulton's birthday cake and Easter dessert though! (Note: you can easily see in these pictures the way Granny has been affected by the stroke - she leans to the left and has severe left sided neglect.  This means she is unable to look left of midline unless she turns her head far to the left - she won't do this without constant encouragement.  The splint on her left hand is to help with the tone in her left hand.  It helps to prevent her hand from curling.)

Although this journey is destined to be one of ups and downs, this past week has unfortunately been filled with more downs than ups.  Granny has had bouts of confusion as well as extreme lethargy.  A new medicine has been stopped in hopes that the lethargy was simply a side effect of a medication prescribed for the extreme neuropathic pain in her left limbs.  We are also suspecting an infection and should have test results tomorrow.  Today has been brighter so we are hopeful that the week ahead will entail more ups rather than downs. 

I spent this Sabbath morning with Granny.  To my delight, there was a church service being held at the nursing home.  She and I both enjoyed the singing tremendously.  We sang hymns dear to her heart - Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art!   I was so touched by the prayers offered for the residents and their families.  It is such a struggle to leave someone you love, now completely helpless, in the hands of complete strangers.  The church service was just what we both needed for a bit of encouragement and strength.   I pray many of the other residents were touched and blessed by attending church this morning, and I am so thankful to the men and women who took the time after attending their own church service, to lead the worship time for the residents at the home!

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;. . ."  Isaiah 43: 1 - 3

Where Have I Been?

Granny celebrating her 90th birthday  August 29, 2010

Life has been hard this year due to illnesses in our family and right when the sun began to shine and healthier days had come, our lives changed forever in an instant.  It started with strep throat that went though 5 of our 9 family members.  Then the flu struck Ethan and me.  I was literally in bed for 3 days and not 100% for over a week.  Then Lilly and Ellie each had a virus with fever and headaches that lasted almost a full week each.  By God's mercy and grace, we survived all of those illnesses and by early March, we were all looking forward to restored health and new life symbolic of spring and Easter. 

On St. Patrick's Day around 7:10 pm, the phone rang.  David was at a meeting at church, and I was busy cleaning up dinner dishes so I let the answering machine get it.  My dad's voice came screaming through the line.  He had found my grandmother on the floor of her kitchen.  She was taken by ambulance to our local hospital.  Her speech was slurred, but other than that she passed all of the typical "stroke tests"  - could stick out her tongue and move it both directions, could smile, had bilateral strong grasps of both hands.  She was getting ready to be dismissed when I was told to make sure she could walk.  I noticed when helping her get dressed that she was leaning very much to her left.  Then when she stood up, she could not walk and it took all of my strength to keep her balanced and upright.   The original thought was that perhaps it was a reaction to cough syrup that caused her dizziness and fall.  However, at this point we knew we were dealing with something much more signficant.

After transferring to a larger and better equipped hospital, it was determined that my dear grandmother of 90 years young had sufferred a severe stroke deep within her brain stem and thalmus.  Her stroke was termed a "stroke in evolution" which meant her symptoms evolved over several days.  36 hours after being found on the floor by my father, she could barely open her eyes, had left sided parlysis, very slurred speech, difficulty in swallowing, attention deficits, left visual field cut, disassociation of her left arm, and left side neglect. A woman who had been completely independent and lived alone was now completely helpless.  I was scared and extremely sad as my grandmother was no longer the woman I had known for my whole life.  I was also overwhelmed - she is a widow and has only my father and me to care for her.  I knew I was in one of the most difficult times of my life; deep within a valley; in the middle of a storm.  Yet, just like the lyrics to a popular Christian song, I managed to still somehow "Praise Him in this Storm"!

The sun is shining again and the storm has moved on.  It has been 4 weeks and 2 days since Granny's stroke.  She has spent 1 week in the hospital, 3 weeks in a rehab hospital, and was just moved on Thursday to a rehab unit at a nursing facility.  We  pray her next stop is back home.  And we have hope that that may very well happen.  She may never be able to live alone, but there is great hope that she will be able to return home with help.  Her physical therapist, Kenneth, told my father just yesterday that he would have her up and walking next to the rail before she left.  That was wonderful news.  Her spirits are good most of the time although she does become weary and gets discouraged from time to time.  She has always been a fighter and if anyone can overcome these obstacles, I know my Granny can do it!

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consummed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3: 22-23

Attitude

Last fall was a pretty rough time for me, and I have since come to realize that part of the difficulty was directly related to my attitude.  Right before the New Year, I ran across the quote below in a parenting magazine that had been buried on my bedside table along with many other items I am trying to read through.  Anyway, the timing was perfect.  May you be touched as I was and inspired to focus on having a positive, cheerful, God-pleasing attitude despite the circumstances that you may find yourself in.  Our circumstances constantly change, but our Father in heaven does not!

(Since Hudson is much cuter than I am, I thought I would use his adorable pictures to illustrate the point!)

 Hudson with a very poor attitude due to the circumstances he found himself in . . .cold, wet snow!

Hudson, much more cheerful, because he now finds himself in much more pleasurable circumstances - he is at the table ready to eat.  The table - likely Hudson's favorite spot - thus a very cheerful disposition indeed!   

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.  And so it is with you. . .we are in charge of our attitudes."      Charles Swindoll

May our Father in Heaven be the source of your joy throughout 2011.  Happy New Year! (a bit late I know)

Signs of Christmas . . .

Katie enjoyed dressing our little Wuzzy in his reindeer ears.  One day soon I hope to update  about Wuzzy and how he came to be ours.

A Christmas or two ago, the oldest 4 children received "Make a Plates" for Christmas.  Last Friday during our last homeschool day, we finally took the time to decorate the paper circles which we will mail in and then in a few weeks, the children will receive a Christmas plate of their very own design.  They all had fun and their art work was well- done and creative!

   

Fulton at his Christmas recital last Saturday.  He and Shelby both played very well although at least one of them was extremely nervous!

Ethan taking his turn to make shaped sugar cookies. 

This was not staged!!  I thought it was precious of our 3 littles watching their cookies bake so I quickly grabbed the camera.  Thankfully, I made it just in time to capture their cuteness before one of them looked my way.

My favorite sign of Christmas - my Savior as a babe in a manager.  I purchased this nativity set with my grandmother during the first Christmas season that I was married.  I have always loved it!

Many years ago when I had only one child, I began to collect children's Christmas books.  We have quite the collection now.  These books stay in the attic during the year and only come out during December.  They are certainly treasured by all of us.  Fulton has been carrying stacks to his bedroom every night to read them.

Wordless Wednesday/Thankful Thursday

A New Way to do School

Wordless Wednesday/Thankful Thursday

Spotlight: The Little Girls

Lilly and Ellie started "real" preschool for the first time this year.  Although they certainly learned a great deal last year at homeschool preschool, they are enjoying meeting new friends, doing many more crafts than this weary mother of 7 ever thought of doing, going to music class, and plenty of other new and exciting experiences.

 Our family took advantage of "free night" af Edventure, a children's museum,  a few weeks ago.  This was another "first" for Lilly and Ellie.  Because it was "free night", it was extremely crowded, but we had a great evening together as a family.  Lilly and Ellie most enjoyed the kid-sized grocery store.  They were able to go through the store twice making their "purchases" and had the BEST time!  

We just returned from our annual week of sand and sun at a nearby beach.  Lilly and Ellie loved every minute of it although Lilly did ask several times when she could go back to school.   Our "lively Lilly"  made quite a splash in the ocean and tried to keep up with the big kids as they rode the waves on their boogey boards.  Our Ellie, who is much more reserved, carried her boogey board around, put her ankles in the water, but she never quite made it in far enough to actually "catch a wave." 

These two are so different in may ways - Lilly is outgoing, a social butterfly, high energy, never staying still for long, and more demanding and bossy yet a bundle of joy all wrapped in one.  Ellie, on the other hand, is very content to sit and look at books for long stretches of time, is often in her own little world and enjoys talking to herself.   Ellie is just. a. lot. calmer.  Ellie is more of a peacemaker yet can whine and pout better than most. 

Different they may be, they are the best of friends  - most of the time.  Sure, they are sisters, and they do have their share of squabbles.  Overall though, they truly are the best of friends.  And I am so thankful for that!

I recently had the girls together at their cardiologist check-up.  Lilly was her active, "lively" self while Ellie preferred being in my lap and was very quiet and reserved.  The doctor commented that Lilly  must "drive her sister crazy".  That simply is not the case.  They compliment one another very well.   By the way, both girls received an excellent check-up including EKGs and ECHO (for Lilly who has minor valve leakage secondary to her surgery).  For the first time since 2007, we will not have to see a cardiologist for 2 years! WOO HOO!