Well, it has been a while.. my daughter, Heather, puts me to shame.. she blogs consistently and I have just procrastinated forever.  Not that we have not had many things going on.. these are just a few things that have happened since my last blog..

1) Our deaf church 10th anniversary..

2) Josiah coming down with chicken pox...oh no!

3) All the kids in quarantine waiting for the chicken pox incubation period...

4) Two weeks later.. James's first symptoms show up.. then Rebekah.. then my nephew..then.. well, to make a long story short.. within 4 days.. eight kids were down with chicken pox!  That was a time.. they all got them pretty bad.. with my oldest, Heather, and the youngest, Jeremiah, having the easiest time of it.  James had probably almost 1000 bumps..his face alone.. maybe 200 or so!  Those two weeks were a time we will never forget.  The whole time I was not sure if I would get them or not.. my mom did not remember if I had them and my sisters did not remember having them either.  Praise the Lord.. I did not come down with them.. but I was expecting them every day to show up!

5) Just when the incubation period ended for all the kids.. Heather was horse-riding and fell off!  She really gave us a scare.. she had a concussion which caused her to forget many things for a couple of hours.. and also we were afraid she had broken her hip.  After a trip to the emergency room and getting an IV drip with Demarol.. then X-rays..the doctor, who was surprised himself, told us there was no broken bones.. she did damage her sciatic nerve though and was on crutches for a while and not able to drive for about two weeks.  We are very thankful that it was not worse. 

6) Our little Jeremiah.. had to get his two front teeth pulled.. this was very traumatic.. maybe more so for me than him in some ways.  For some reason his teeth has been.. like wearing away.. and after visiting two dentists.. they discovered that they were decaying.  He has never had a bottle.. does not drink juice at all.. and we do not eat lots of sweets.  Having 8 children with never a problem like this.. this was not expected at all.  Well, they suggested we just have them pulled to save him the pain when the decay got to the roots.  This was a very hard ordeal.. because he did not weigh enough for them to give him medication to make him groggy.. and they do not put them to sleep.  He was in what they call a "pedi-wrap".. and I could not go into the room with him.. but I sat in the waiting room with tears running down my cheeks.. because I could hear him from time to time crying.  It only took 20 minutes.. which was a blessing since they had prepared me to wait for 30 to 40 minutes.  Jeremiah slept all the way home and then was like nothing ever happened since!  I never had to give him any pain medication after getting his teeth pulled.. it was something!  He has always been a happy baby.. but he has even been more so since then.. so it makes us wonder if he did have some discomfort before. 

Well, that is some of the things that have been happening.. and of course, there are the other little details like.. trying to get into the routine of homeschooling, keeping up with the house, getting the kids back into band and starting piano lessons.. not to mention the responsibilities with the deaf ministry. 

I know this whole blog sounds like one big excuse!  I hope to get back into the routine now.. so maybe you all can give me some prodding! :) 

Soon I plan to be adding some pictures.. updates of our front porch.. hubby is doing an awesome job!  Maybe will post some of our chicken pox episode.. with the kids permission.. of course.. :)

Until later..

God bless!