Mar. 7, 2007 - I HAVE A NEW NIECE!!
FINALLY!!!!!!!!! My dear sis-in-law has had her baby, a week late. This is very unusual for her, because all the others were early. We were sure this one would be a little boy after 4 girls, but........IT'S A GIRL!!! Christiana Sue arrived this afternoon, safe and sound. PTL!! And CONGRATS TO JEFF AND RUTH!! Visit here for more details!!
Know what that means???!!!??? Our baby is NEXT!!!! yippee!! 2 WEEKS TO GO!!!!!!!
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Mar. 6, 2007 - Visit the Moffitt Zoo!
Everyone go on over to the Moffitt Zoo and congratulate her on the big, bouncin' baby boy she delivered!!! Welcome to the world Baby Jake!!!!!!!
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Feb. 28, 2007 - New links
Well, I've finally added my xanga friends to my link list. I'm sure there must be a nicer way to do it, but until I figure that out or someone enlightens me on how to mess with a template, it will stay the way it is. So, go have a visit with some of my other family members and friends in xanga world!
Be sure to visit Little House Mommy--she's my dear brother's wife and is supposed to be having a baby ANY DAY NOW!!!!! She's never been pregnant this long and needs some encouragement :)
As for me, my midwife was here again today. Baby did not want to cooperate for a good pickup on a heartbeat, but is obviously doing just fine by all indications of my belly moving up and down! We're getting down to the wire now.....just a little over 3 weeks to go! Yippee!
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Feb. 22, 2007 - Update on our family
Well, I see that I'm past due for a post on here! Way past due! Several exciting things have happened since last I posted with the first being.....
WE NOW OFFICIALLY HAVE A TEENAGER IN THE HOUSE! And one that we are very blessed to have. Dawson turned 13 on January 25. It is so hard to believe that 13 years ago I went through a very hard labor to deliver a firstborn that weighed 10 lbs! But worth every hour of labor! God has blessed us with a young man with a sensitive heart and a love of learning. Dawson, we are proud to call you our son!
Valentine's Day came and went without much ado around here. We were blessed to receive a meal from a young mom at church, so we ate that the evening before Valentine's. I got out my good dishes, lit a candle and we ate the scrumptious meal that she prepared for us--Chicken Cordon Bleu, Twice Baked Potatoes, Layer Salad, Cheesy Veggie Blend and the most decadent Chocolate Cherry Cake you ever did taste!!!! Absolutely delicious meal! Royce made the comment that he felt like he needed to be dressed up for this meal, so I guess the use of my good dishes and the candle along with the meal had the effect I was looking for. That was the extent of our Valentine's--I am still hoping for a date with my dear man before the baby arrives!!!!
Which leads me to the next subject......only FOUR WEEKS to go!! I can't wait. The children are anxious and Justin, who is 3, keeps telling me that the baby is big enough to come out now. And he's probably right, considering that my smallest babe was 8 lbs. 12 oz. It would be nice if this one weighed in that same vicinity! We are planning a homebirth again with a wonderful midwife. I've always gone past my due date, but I'm hoping beyond hope that maybe, just maybe, I could go a week early?? A DAY early?? At least no more than a week late??!!?? And yet, God knows the PERFECT birthday for this little one, so really all I need to do is trust His perfect timing.
I've been trying to spend more time helping Royce with the business and in his office. It is a never-ending job. I love working by his side, but I find it a challenge to do that along with keeping up with homemaking and schooling. It always seems to work out just right though, and I see that as an added blessing for helping my man. I hope I can keep it up even after the baby is born.
I've also taken up some knitting. At least I'm trying too. I have yet to figure out how to read a pattern, but at least I've learned how to knit and purl! I'm attempting to make myself a shawl for this spring to double in use for warmth and as a nursing cover-up over baby. Emily and I are having fun knitting together and learning together. She also crochets, but I've decided I won't take the time to learn that for quite awhile. I'd like to master this knitting thing first.
I was going to post a picture of Dawson, but alas, I cannot figure out where hubby filed the pics away on this computer, so it will have to wait. See you later!
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Jan. 22, 2007 - Another fun story for your kids
The other day I posted a link to Dawson's story that he had to write for school. Today I am posting a link to Emily's story. She would be thrilled to read some encouraging comments! Thank you! Here's a link to her blog. Read her fairy tale here.
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Jan. 22, 2007 - So thankful for ......toilets!
Ok......I guess that title sounds a little goofy. But today, I had the opportunity to be thankful for toilets. Even though I wasn't feeling too thankful. You see, our downstairs pot has been acting up lately--nothing serious--just the minor irritation of running constantly after flushing until you jiggle the handle. But today.....well, it did something different!
Take a young man (specifically one of my dear sons), a first snowfall of the year (YEAH! FINALLY!!) and cousins waiting impatiently outside for him to come play. Combine them with the fact that dear son has to use the bathroom before he goes out and that he often uses WAY TOO MUCH toilet paper. Yeah. You guessed it. He flushed, ran outside to play and ........THE TOILET OVERFLOWED!!! Onto my kitchen floor. While I was upstairs, unaware of the tragedy.....until another dear son alerted me to the mess. Unfortunately for him, I was in my stocking feet so he had to don his boots and unplug the pot with the plunger. WHEW! It all went down and stayed down, but I had a huge mess to clean up all over the floor. Thankfully, the reason for flushing the toilet in the first place was already gone and did NOT overflow to my floor!!
Needless to say I filled 2 buckets with toilet water before it was pretty much gone. Then I got out my handy dandy mop and some BLEACH WATER and re-mopped that section of my floor. All cleaned up. In retrospect, it really wasn't so bad, just annoying.
At least I wasn't outside in an outhouse scooping out a pot!! So....thank you Lord, for toilets!!
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Jan. 17, 2007 - A fun story for your kids
Please go read what my son has written and give him some encouraging comments 
Read his funny story here. Enjoy it!
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Jan. 16, 2007 - New look for a new year and catch-up on family news!
Well, I decided to change my template. Not sure yet if I'm going to like it. I've been trying to put my pregnancy ticker on and it won't place where I want it too! GRRR! I really do NOT understand all the template editing stuff. If anyone has any words of wisdom, let me know!
In other news......We had a WONDERFUL Christmas!! We have been so blessed. Royce was able to take off the week after Christmas and spend some time with us. He had been working many, many, many very long days and really needed a break. It was great to have him around for a few days!
On January 7, Emily was baptized!! She accepted the Lord as her Saviour some time ago and this past fall, decided that she was ready to be baptized. She and 2 other girls from church went through the new believers class. We praise the Lord for new life in Christ!! Keep her in your prayers as she continues to grow in the Lord. Both sets of grandparents and a couple of aunts, uncles, and cousins, plus MY grandparents were all able to attend her baptism. We so very much appreciate the time they took to come and support her in her decision to follow Christ. Thank you family!!
My belly continues to expand!!! I have NINE WEEKS to go--but I might as well plan on at least 10 more weeks. I've never been lucky enough to deliver early. I'm sticking out far enough now that people are thinking I should be due very soon. Oh well....by the sixth baby, it just can't be helped! Tonight when I was doing my dishes, I had to stand sideways because my belly just wanted to hit the counter
That's it for now. There's a 3 year old running around upstairs that's supposed to be in bed!!!!
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Dec. 25, 2006 - Merry Christmas!
A very Blessed Christmas to you and your family from our family!!
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Dec. 23, 2006 - Holiday dinners have started
Well, today was the second family holiday get-together of the season. The first was back on the 10th with my mom's family. Today, my dad's family was together for lunch and supper. I have lots and lots of cousins on my dad's side, so there were quite a few people there. And lots of delicious food! Not good when it's easy to use the pregnancy excuse for eating seconds! I'm really going to have to watch it the next few days! My midwife comes again on January 3 and I really don't want to tell her that I put on a bunch of pounds! It will be difficult, because we have THREE more family get-togethers (Royce's family) to go--one on Christmas day, one on the 30th and one on New Year's Day. I'm gonna look like a BLIMP!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Dec. 5, 2006 - To my sil's :)
Ok, ok! This is just for Ruth and Elaine! I POSTED THE REST OF MY PICS ON THE PREVIOUS ENTRY! So there! 
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Nov. 29, 2006 - I'm still around :)
Whew! So many things have happened since last I posted! YES, I'm still around--just too busy to sit here and wait for my pictures to download to photobucket, hence I just kept putting this off--longer and longer and longer. We've had TWO birthday celebrations!! Emily turned 11 on September 13. She is growing to be such a lovely young lady! I don't know what I'd do without her help and she is so good with caring for Justin when I need her to. I am so blessed to have a daughter. She loves to play "Indian", so we gave her fabric for me to make an Indian dress for her. (More on that below). We love you sweetheart! Justin turned 3 on October 12. My baby is THREE!!!!!! His speech is really picking up and it is just hilarious sometimes to hear him talk and try to form sentences that we can understand. He was absolutely thrilled to have a "Happy Cake" and couldn't wait to eat it for dessert every meal until it was gone. We all love him dearly and get many laughs from his antics. He doesn't exactly look too thrilled on this picture, but believe me, he was!! Also in October we had the opportunity to visit with a homeschooling family in VA who has 10 children. They bought furniture from my husband and we had to deliver it to their home. They invited all of us to come along and stay for lunch! That may not sound like such a big deal, but they had just moved to this home only several days before they invited us over!! And they moved 4 hours from their previous home. Of course, everything was not in place yet, but you'd never dream how picked up and neat the house remained. Our hostess was so relaxed and unruffled about having company for lunch. Oh, how I wish I could be more like that! Instead I worry and fuss over cleaning and fixing just the right thing to eat. I have a lot to learn. Anyway, the children hit it off really well with their kids and we ended up visiting and staying with them all afternoon and into the evening. It was an encouraging time for me to talk with an "older", more experienced homeschooling mom and to just observe how she related to her children. Baby #6 is alive and well! My midwife did get a heartbeat, of course, and my belly is looking rather large already. Sometimes I don't know how I'm going to make it the whole way to March. I already feel like an elephant when rolling over in bed at night and I'm only 24 weeks. Oh well! My body obviously knows what to do by now with this being my sixth pregnancy, and it seems to be doing it quite well in the way of stretching! I have always loved to feel my babies moving within me, and this time is no different. Feeling those little pushes and kicks and punches gives me an undescribable feeling. Thank you Lord, for the life that You've created within my body. May this baby grow strong and healthy and be a blessing to many people. How was your Thanksgiving? We had a great day with my brothers and their families at mom and dad's. We all took food to help mom out with lunch. It was so delicious! Dad also went and picked up my Grandma, so it was good to see her again and spend some time with her. She is a widow now, and I think she really enjoys getting out of the house and spending time with family. Another fun thing that we did was have all the grandchildren dress up as Pilgrims or Indians. We didn't tell my parents we were doing it, so they were quite surprised to see all the Indians and 2 Pilgrims show up at their door for Thanksgiving dinner. I had fun making my children their Indian clothing. Emily's dress was her birthday gift and then I used the extra fabric to make the boys vests and breech cloths. They thought it was just great :) Here's a little better picture of Emily's dress.... On Black Friday evening, Royce's family got together. We had a traditional Thanksgiving supper and then we women did our annual cookie swap. We make 1 dozen cookies for each family (which in this case totals 8, excluding ourselves). Then we all swap cookies and we all go home with 8 DIFFERENT kinds of cookies. It is so much easier than trying to make a zillion different kinds of cookies for my family for the holidays. I made one kind and ended up with 8 different kinds. How cool is that?!? Yum!
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Sep. 26, 2006 - The Last "Acceptable" Prejudice of our Society
I was doing some random blogging this evening and found this article on another blog. I'd have to say......sometimes I feel like I need to apologize for the size of my family. I feel the "looks" when I go to the store at times....Read this and let me know what you think. It's written by a Jewish man with eight children.
You can find this article at:
http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49074
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Posted: March 2, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A funny thing happened to me the other day when my wife and I had, thank God, another baby (a boy). Many of my friends didn't seem all that happy for me. Sure, they went through the motions of smiles and congratulations. But it was evident that many thought me insane. Why would a young man and his wife ruin their lives with eight children? Who could afford the Jewish day-school bills? Didn't we want to live life a little, and not just be burdened with kids?
It got downright surreal when a European film company, pressed me, while my wife was in labor, to finish shooting a segment that had an urgent deadline (I obviously told them they were insane). And the next day, I was mildly criticized by a Jewish organization which was supposed to be hosting me for a lecture for having to cancel on them because the lecture clashed with the baby's bris.
I don't mind that the world doesn't really love babies, just that it pretends to. It's time we got honest about our priorities. Most people get a new car every two or three years, but one or two babies through the life of their marriage is plenty. You can get drunk on an airplane, laugh hysterically with your mates, and still not really anger people. But if you dare bring a crying baby on board you will be given malicious looks as if the little thing is a package that ticks. If you walk your dog along the street, people will stop you to tell you how cute he is. If you walk down the street with a baby, you might find a woman or two who coos, but for the most part, you'll be utterly ignored.
Indeed, the contempt shown to parents of many children is the last acceptable prejudice in our society. As a father of a large family, I find myself apologizing wherever I go, as if I committed a crime. The frequent and loaded stares from scornful onlookers imply that the famine in Africa was caused by my selfish insistence on overpopulating the earth. Long ago my wife and I discovered that few hotels were prepared to accommodate so many children, even if we took three of four rooms, which is why we bought an RV for travel.
How strange to live in a world where loving children casts one in infamy. Having a family with many children implies a backwardness and primitivism that is deemed unbecoming in the developed countries of the West. Large families, it is thought, exist only among religious weirdoes or the teeming hovels of the Third World.
Rich countries, by contrast, prefer to increase their standard of living rather than the number of the living. Looking at Western birth rates for the year 2001, the United States averaged only 14.2 births for every thousand Americans, and the birthrate among white Americans is so low that the United States will soon lose its white majority. Indeed, one can go for days in a wealthy city like Manhattan without encountering a single pregnant woman. Riches and children have become inversely proportional such that the more of the former, the less of the latter.
Hence, the high birth rates of extremely poor African nations like Uganda – at 47.52 births per 1,000 – or Niger with 50.68 births per 1,000, are deemed to be prime causes and indicators of their penury. The abundant fertility and unconstrained sexuality of these countries confirms the unspoken Western mindset of these country's inhabitants as being just one step above savages. Contraception has become a synonym for civilization.
A Christian mother of six once wrote to me, "I find it troubling to worry about getting pregnant again ... because I don't want to face the criticism of friends and family. Why do people not see children as a blessing?" A fair question which deserves a fair response.
Why is it that even many snagogues today are not children friendly? Why are people impressed that Jay Leno owns 20 motorcycles, but disgusted that some religious families choose to have 10 children?
Let's not finesse the response. We all know why. A world that has lost its innocence has trouble appreciating beings who are innocent. A world that has become selfish has soured to the idea of leading a life of selflessness. A world that has become grossly materialistic is turned off to the idea of more dependents who consume resources. And a world that mistakenly believes that freedom means a lack of responsibility is opposed to the idea of needy creatures who "tie you down."
They can go fly a kite.
By just looking at my children, I become more innocent. By loving them, I become more noble. By spending my money on them rather than myself, I find transcendence. And by being a father and liberating all of the love in my heart, my spirit soars free. I work hard to support a large family and I give up no pleasures in doing so because my children are my foremost pleasure.
I am often asked by women dating men how to tell whether they are marriage material. I tell them, "See if he enjoys children." A man who loves children is playful. He will spend his life joking with his wife because he loves to see her laugh, and will flirt with her because he loves to see her smile.
There was a time when husbands and wives worked hard to ensure they could afford the blessings of a large family. Today, the higher your earning bracket the fewer children you have, but then we always knew that many turn money from a blessing into a curse.
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Sep. 17, 2006 - Reflections on midwives
Well, I met my new midwife this past week. Her name is Mary and I think she is going to be the perfect person to deliver our baby. I've only met her once, but she seems so calm, relaxed, easygoing, and not one to jump to conclusions. I am so blessed by the Lord to have found her for our homebirth.
What is it about midwives? Out of five children, I've had 4 different midwives. Not by my choice though. First baby was a hospital birth with a midwife and doc from the attending practice. I didn't know her very well--she was just on call when I started labor and doc was there to finish up after a long tortuous labor and delivery. Second baby was also a hospital birth, with the same doc. Delivery was much more pleasant than the first. Babies 3 and 4 were homebirths! I never thought I'd do it, but I surprised myself. I had the same midwife for both, and I loved her. Baby 5 was supposed to be delivered by her also, but halfway through my pregnancy she was forced to stop practicing (long, sad story) and I was transferred to another midwife who only did hospital births. I liked her a lot too, but didn't get a chance to really get to know her very well. So.......here comes baby 6. I want another homebirth, so my search began. I thank the Lord for leading me to my discovery of Mary!
Back to my first visit with Mary......we tried for a heartbeat, but her doppler was not one that picks up the earliest heartbeats and we couldn't find one. Now I have to wait 4 more weeks for another chance! 
She tried for a long time and we heard lots of activity going on in there--baby was just moving around a lot and wouldn't sit still long enough for us to hear a heartbeat. We could hear the amniotic fluid just swishing around in there. She thought she had a heartbeat for just a second or two, but then it would disappear again. Do I really have to wait 4 MORE WEEKS???
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Sep. 5, 2006 - The big news
Ok....if you haven't figured it out yet, the news is at the top of my blog. I'm pregnant! Nearly 12 weeks. I waited this long to post about it until we told our extended families. This is baby #6--never dreamed I'd have 6! We are all excited and looking forward to meeting our new little one at the end of March.
Wa-hoo!!!!!!
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Sep. 3, 2006 - Update on Dawson and BIG NEWS!
Hello friends! Wow, has the weather really changed! Hurricane Ernesto has changed it and brought rain with it. PTL! We were getting so dry here, the rain is truly a blessing. Now I can pull weeds in my flowerbeds since they'll come out so much easier.
They are looking REALLY awful......
Dawson had a checkup with his Hershey docs on Wednesday. We got a very good report! They really checked his belly out and he had no pain. Then one of the residents showed us pictures of Dawson's CAT scans that were taken when he arrived in the ER. Really neat! He pointed out different body parts, the damage that showed on the liver, etc. He even printed out a picture for Dawson to take home. Neat field trip. We do not have to return for anymore checkups unless he starts having symptoms such has pain, dizziness, more paleness, etc. He does still have to finish out the 8 week recovery time however--we are working on week 5 and he is getting bored!
We officially started school! So far, I feel like I've been pretty laid back and relaxed about it--I don't even have all my stuff yet, but we're working with what we have. I am really hoping to have Brady reading better this year. It is such a struggle for him. Sometimes I wonder if the connection between his eyes and his brain works properly. He knows his letter sounds, but will look at a beginning letter of a word and say the sound of a completely different letter that's not even in the word! Anyone have any advice for this? I am also hoping to get Connor started reading this year.
Ok.......I know you're waiting for the "big news". Anyone just wanna guess??? I think I'll be a tease and make you wait........just keep watching my blog for something new (if I can get it to work! LOL)
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Aug. 12, 2006 - God is so good!
Hello to all! This past weekend was changed in an instant from what we expected it to be! I'll start at the beginning......."a very good place to start".
Friday evening we packed up the family to make our way to Family Camp at Cove Valley Youth Camp. We go every year. It has become a family tradition. The kids absolutely LOVE it! It's relaxing and fun. It's our summer highlight. This year, it went nothing like expected.
Friday night was fun. The kids had a great time in their groups, the adults had a very good session about myths that we believe about making our children successful--taken from Dr. Kevin Leaman's book, The Homegrown Advantage. We all enjoyed brownies and ice cream before bed. A great start to the weekend.
Saturday morning dawns. The kids dress and take off to ride their bikes. Royce, unfortunately, had to work, so he left early with plans to come back mid-afternoon to swim with the children. I was combing my hair, just finishing up to be ready for breakfast at 9, when........"MOM!!! Dawson had a bike crash!!! I think he got the breath knocked out of him." So, I make my way down the hill to where the kids were riding in the parking lot in front of the dining hall. Dawson is sitting on one of those so-comfortable hickory rockers on the big dining hall porch--hunched over in pain. Another wonderful lady, Brenda, was beside him. (Remember that name--she's important to this story!) I walk over to Dawson and he is just crying and moaning--not stopping. In the back of my head I'm thinking things like "Come on, now, it's not that bad. You'll be fine", but as I watch and listen to my son, I start to realize that he is truly, truly in some kind of terrible pain. Brenda is an RN, so she suggests lying him down on a couch. We helped Dawson walk inside and lie down--hoping that his color would come back. (He was WHITE--not just pale, but WHITE!) He laid on the couch, continuing his moaning and crying--saying "Mommy, make it stop!" I felt so helpless. What should I do? I didn't want to run him to the ER for something minor, but neither could I ignore his reaction to this bicycle accident! Brenda and I decided together that we would take him to the closest ER to be checked. Little did I know.
Remember--Royce went to work. I had no vehicle. So, Brenda offered to take us. You would not believe the blessing she was to me those next few hours!! The ER was only several miles away. It was a very tiny little place, but we were the only ones there at the time--another blessing! The nurses took vitals, the doc came in and examined Dawson and then proceded to inform me that my son needed FLOWN to a trauma center of my choice!! I couldn't believe it! This guy was serious! He told me that he could tell just by looking at Dawson that there was serious damage internally and that he needed trauma care. He took no xrays, no CAT scans. It must have been a God-given "gut feeling" that he learned from past experience in trauma care.
Before I knew it, Dawson had IV's started in both hands, bloodwork drawn, oxygen hooked up. It seemed unreal. In 17 minutes, the Life Lion helicopter was there to transport him to Hershey Medical Center--and they wouldn't let me ride with him! I said a teary good-bye to my little boy and they wisked him away. Brenda and I tried to follow the ambulance out to the landing site, but we lost them when they went through a red light and we had to stop.
Brenda and I headed back to camp. I filled the other children in on what was happening--they were so upset. Poor Emily just cried and cried and cried. She was worried sick about her big brother. I tried to be strong for my other little ones, but I just couldn't do it. I cried too. Brenda had notified Royce for me while we were at the ER, so I knew that he had left work immediately and was on his way to Hershey. I changed my clothes, grabbed Dawson's clothing and a few extra things for me and then Brenda and I headed down the road--about a 2 hour ride to Hershey for us. All of our other friends at camp reassured me that the other children would be well-taken care of until we returned.
I think we finally got to the Hershey ER around 1 p.m. Royce got there before us, for which I was so grateful. I didn't want our son to be alone so long without one of us there with him. He looked terrible. Still so white. Monitors and wires coming off of his chest and hands. Royce had already filled us in via cell phone what the pediatric surgeon had diagnosed. Dawson was suffering from a Grade III liver laceration. When he had his bike accident, his handlebars turned sideways and cause blunt force trauma to his abdomen as he flew over the top of his handlebars! Who would have ever imagined???
As the afternoon progressed, Dawson needed morphine for his pain. He talked very little. Our pastor and his wife came to sit with us for awhile and we prayed together. What a blessing to have them there! Brenda stayed for awhile too, just in case the doc returned and we'd need her to "interpret" for us. He didn't come back, so she left to go back to camp. I was so grateful for her willingness to sacrifice her "camp time" to serve us in the way she did--driving me, answering questions I had about medical jargon, etc. May God bless her!
Royce decided to leave to go back to camp around 4:30 to stay with our other children for the night. They needed him too. Soon it was just me sitting there in this darkened room with my sleeping son, so I decided to start writing down the story of Dawson's first hospital experience. Soon my sis-in-law, Marcy and later my brother, Wes, came to see us while we were still in the ER. It was so wonderful to have them there to talk to and to help pass the time. They have quite a bit of experience in hospital stays as they have a daughter with a terminal illness.
Finally, at 6 p.m., Dawson was moved to the Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit. The nurses treated us so well. I slept there with Dawson (on a most uncomfortable "bed"!) that night. He woke up several times in the night needing more morphine. Finally about 4 a.m., he was wide awake, so we laid there and talked awhile before he finally went back to sleep. I don't think I slept more than 2 fitful hours all night---it was more like dozing, what with all the nurses coming and going and checking vitals, etc.
Sunday we enjoyed more visitors for several hours. Royce's parents came and helped to pass the time, my aunt and uncle stopped by with a special gift, and then my parents came just before Dawson was to be moved to the regular pediatric unit. After he was moved, Royce's brother and family came to see him! What a blessing to have family and friends who truly care! I knew that many, many people were praying for us--for strength and for healing.
So, after all of that, Dawson had the privilege of being discharged on Tuesday. We arrived home Tuesday evening. Whew! PTL! Originally the doc had said we'd be there a WEEK--but no! We were only there 4 days. We are so thankful! Now the true test of endurance is to come. Since arriving home, Dawson has had to stay in BED, except to use the bathroom. Tomorrow he gets to "graduate" to the couch, where again, he must stay unless he needs to use the bathroom and to eat meals. Each week he is permitted to do a little more activity, but there is to be absolutely no running, jumping, "wheels", sports, etc. for 8 WEEKS total.
Our friends and family have been so gracious. He has received so many gifts, including a sunshine box out of which he opens a gift each day. Since he is allowed to sit up in bed, we invited 2 friends over today to play board games with him. They had a blast! And he is looking SO much healthier! In fact, if you were to see him, you'd wonder why in the world he wasn't up and around. The reason he must be so cautious is so that the blood clot on the healing laceration doesn't get jarred loose and cause the liver to start to bleed again. The doc says that after 8 weeks, his liver should have completely healed itself. Isn't it amazing how God has created our bodies? Your liver will re-generate itself! We are indeed an awesome creation.
All of that to say that I want to give God all the glory for His healing in Dawson's body, for the grace He poured out over our family, for the peace He gave me as this whole thing unfolded unexpectedly. Our God is an awesome God!
Here are some pictures of Dawson in the hospital playing games with visiting friends, enjoying a t-shirt we gave him with a pic of the helicopter he rode in, sleeping (the pain meds really wiped him out!), and finally a pic of a nurse removing his IV to go home. I do not have any pictures of him when he looked really awful, but maybe it's better that way.
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Jul. 23, 2006 - Since last I posted......
Whooo! You'd think I had disappeared off the face of the earth. I apologize to all of you who kept checking and re-checking to see what's going on in our lives only to find NOTHING new. So.....this is going to be a very long post. With pictures. I hope you enjoy it 
First off.....Brady turned 8! I can hardly believe that my second son with dark brown eyes and crazy hair is already 8 years old. (He has crazy hair because he has a double swirly on the back of his head, and a double cow-lick on his forehead. If his hair grows out long, it stands straight up--therefore we do "the buzz".) Brady's birthday was May 31. The day before his birthday, he and I were privileged to ride along with his friend from church to Hershey Medical Center. His friend, Trenton, has an artificial leg. Every year, Trenton has to have a new "leg" made. What a neat field trip! We got to see how a mold is taken of Trenton's leg and Brady was even allowed to "help" cast Trenton's stub. Then the prosthesologist (I think that's what he's called!) cut the cast back off and explained how it is filled to make a mold just like Trenton's stub so that they can make him a new prosthesis to fit his stub perfectly. We also got to see the "shop" where prosthesises are made. It looked very much like my hubby's woodshop! I could just kick myself for forgetting my camera!!
The next big event in our family was my dear husband's birthday on June 6. I am so blessed to be married to this wonderful 37 year old man! I love you honey! I don't ever remember buying him a toy in all the years we've been married, but this birthday I did just that. I went to the toy department at Walmart and bought him a remote controlled airplane! Nothin' fancy, but he loved it! He really does enjoy taking it outside on a still evening and seeing what he can do with it. One evening he had a whole bunch of barn swallows chasing it! I'm glad I could give him something to help him relax and relieve some stress.
The week after his birthday, Royce and Dawson left with a group from church to do reconstruction work in Mississippi. They left at midnight on a Saturday night and did not arrive home until the next Sunday morning. It was the first time we've been apart for that long. I really wanted them to go--what a great opportunity--but I was really scared. My week filled up quickly and I could tell that my friends were praying for me to have peace at night all alone with 4 other children. I actually slept much better than I thought I would. And they had a wonderful time! It was such a good experience for both of them to go help people who so desparately needed help getting their lives back into some kind of order again. Oh yeah, one day while they were gone, we went to the lake. Here's Justin just relaxing. (Actually, he was quite tense and didn't really care for the back float idea)
For the second year now, our family has participated in our town's local Civil War re-enactment as 1860's civilians. I sewed clothing for hours and hours and hours! I had to make shirts and pants for all the boys and a dress for myself. Emily wore the same dress that she wore last year, and Royce also just wore what he wore last year. It was so much fun to walk all day in a hoop skirt! OK....maybe I'm weird, but I think I could really get into this living history/re-enactment stuff! I even convinced my brother's family and a friend's family to do it with us, so I had those dear ladies sewing for hours too 
We had a lot of fun sewing together!
Dawson, Emily, and Brady
Connor and Justin "helping" our friend spin some wool.
Myself, my sil, and friend
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Here's some info you could probably care less about. We managed to take the 4 oldest children to the dentist and return with NO CAVITIES!!! 
Ok, that's it for the month of June. Let's move forward to July!
My dad turned 60! Mom threw a great party for him and we all had fun helping her prepare for it. Happy Birthday Daddy! I wish I had a better picture to post on here!
The second week of July, we took Dawson and Emily to Choral Camp at Rosedale Bible College in Irwin, Ohio. This week of camp was a gift from their grandparents. They were 6 hours away from me from Monday through Friday--and we all survived! They absolutely LOVED it! And what an awesome learning experience they had learning all about music--reading notes, learning rhythm, playing recorders, playing games, getting wet, etc., etc. Check out their camp newsletters here.
During the week they were gone, I had only 2 days to do all of my garden and housework. We spent all day Monday on the rode--driving them to camp and coming home again. Tuesday, among other chores, I spent in the garden-- picked yellow beans and got 15 quart. Wednesday I housecleaned Emily's bedroom. She was really wanting me to do it while she was away. So I cleaned and re-arranged and cleaned some more. And I wondered where she (and my other children) inherited the "pack rat" mentality. I was very happy about the fact that she had cleaned out a bunch of her "junk" before she left for camp!
Connor and Brady helping to snip beans!
Thursday, JULY 13, was our 15TH ANNIVERSARY!!! Royce decided that we would simply take the day off. Totally. No business work or housework (well.....I did sneak in a little itty bit). My dear sis-in-law watched the other 3 children for us and we RELAXED!! We had so much fun! We ate Chinese for lunch and for supper (after transferring to another dear friend's home with the children) we ate Mexican. Then we went to see Cars (the movie). Such a cute movie--I can't wait to show it to the kids. Anyway, I know I'm repeating myself when I say that I am so blessed to be married to the love of my life. Thank You, Lord, for my dear husband!
Friday morning we left bright and early to go pick up the children in Ohio. It was so good to see them again! They already are saying that they want to return next year!
This week we picked a LOT more green beans. I'm finished for the year and my plants are still producing, so someone else is taking my beans. We canned/froze 72 QUART of beans! Praise the Lord for a great gardening year!! Oh......does anyone need any zucchini?????
Today the Junior Youth at church and their families went for a bike hike after church. Some of us made it further than others! I think I totalled about 12 miles. Enough exercise for one day. The weather was perfect!! Not too hot and a cool breeze blowing.
I'm outta here! I'm picking kidney beans for the first time tomorrow. I never planted them before and I can hardly wait to see what I get!
Blessings to you all!
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Jun. 8, 2006 - I'd love to read your answers on your blog!
Here's something fun.....post this on your blog so we can all learn about you! Let me know if you do! Have fun!
1. FIRST NAME? Cheryl
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Don't think so....
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? This evening
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes
6. WHAT IS YOU FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Roast Beef
7. KIDS? 5
8. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Depends on the day!
9. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? sort of, but I'm not regular with it
10. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? don't think so
11. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Never!
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Uhh.....does granola count?
14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Almost always
15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Depends on the day!
16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOR ITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Anything chocolatey with lots of candy or nuts in it :)
17. SHOE SIZE? 7 1/2 - 8
18. RED OR PINK? pink
19. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? very bad eyes
20. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? not sure....
21. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Sure, that would be fun to read!
22. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? I'm in my PJ's....
23. LAST THING YOU ATE? Elk roast, green beans, buttered macaroni, and fresh strawberries
24. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The computer humming.
25. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
26. FAVORITE SMELL? Newborn babies
27. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? a friend from church
28. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their warmth and friendliness
29. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? absolutely
30. FAVORITE DRINK? Usually water, but I also love chocolate milk :)
31. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Figure skating
32. HAIR COLOR? light brown
33. EYE COLOR? Blue
34. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? used to, but they wore out and cost too much to replace right now, so I'm stuck with my glasses
35. FAVORITE FOOD? Is chocolate a food???
36. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy endings!!!
38. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? gray t-shirt
40. HUGS OR KISSES? Both from the right person
42. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? ???
43. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? None of you!!!
44. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Shepherding a Child's Heart
45. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Orrstown Bank (a very ugly mousepad)
46. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? the news
47. FAVORITE SOUNDS? hubby coming home and my children laughing
48. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? They were before my time, and I don't keep up with music stuff.
49. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? Honduras
50. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Uhhh.......
51. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? April 13, PA
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May. 30, 2006 - I love the mountains!
Ok.....if you had a choice, which would it be? The mountains.....or the beach? Why? My choice would have to be the mountains. The mountains around here are so beautiful--luscious green trees, cool shade, fun hiking trails, rippling brooks..........no sand to clean up! 
Saturday evening when Royce got home from work, we took off for the mountains. We stayed in a beautiful cabin owned by our friends and just RELAXED. It was time for us to get away for some family time! We had so much fun! We went for a bike ride, played kickball, splashed in the creek, roasted hot dogs and marshmellows......we even got to to see a WILD TURKEY AND HER CHICKS! We accidentally scared her off of her nest. What a sight! Has anyone else had this privilege?
I drove Royce and Dawson 9 miles up the mountain and they rode their bikes back down--saw a nice long black snake on the way. On another ride, we found this dead baby snake--can anyone identify it? (Science project!) We never saw one with a yellow stripe on it's neck. It's belly was also yellow. Sorry the pic isn't very clear.
Here's our very happy youngest, loving his marshmellows!
Enjoying the swinging bridge with Daddy.
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