Jul. 19, 2008 - Birthday girl and other happenings

My sweet girl, Dusty, will be turning 9 tomorrow. That age is a scary age for me. There is only one reason for that. My mom died when I was 9 and when I see my children at that age my heart breaks for that 9 year old girl that I was. I can't believe how young 9 is, but it's almost in the double digits, which is almost 13. I worry about her. She shows the least emotion, but I'm sure she feels quite deeply. I feel like we are alike, yet the most emotionally distant from one another. I hope for that to change.

I remember the day she was born. She was the first birth I had ever seen. I cried. I cried at the sheer miracle a baby is and I cried because my niece was young and single. I loved Dusty's dark curly hair and her tiny fingers. I was smitten by this little bundle. Christopher was only 3 then. He couldn't get over how soft she was. He loved her so much. When she was little older she would come stay the night with us. I couldn't get her to stop crying at night so Christopher would hold her in his bed and she would go right to sleep. Never in a million years did it occur to me that I would one day be her mom. God certainly knew what he was doing when He made her to resemble me. He is so Good.

I made Christopher cry. Sage was asking me to be in the bathroom while he took a bath and I didn't really want to. I was in the bathroom when Ireland took her bath and put my feet in her bath to soak. (Huh, I wonder if it was my feet that made her bathwater look so bad. I thought she was just really dirty.) Sage said in his sweetest voice with his eyebrows raised, "I'll even let you soak your feet in my tub. It will be nice." I still wasn't thrilled about the idea for some reason and he walked away. I turned to Christopher and he was crying. When I asked him why he said, "Mom, he really wants to be with you and it's so sad that you don't want to be in there with him. Can't you just go in for awhile?" He was sobbing, I was feeling bad. Sage didn't end up having his bath, but he will in the morning. I'll even soak my feet with him. He did, however, lose a tooth. He asked me to pull it. I have to admit that it kind of grossed me out, but I did it. Now I owe him $2. He knows its not the tooth fairy. I'm not sure why I started the whole money thing, but now its tradition.

My husband called me this morning to let me know he's been laid off for two weeks. His boss had a big job fall through at the last minute. I should've seen it coming. He's a cabinet builder. This is why we need and emergency fund...that we don't have. Not fun times, but I know that it will all turn out just fine.

Baseball/Softball are over for the season and I am so relieved! Christopher's team took 1st in their division. Christopher even hit a triple during the second play-off game. He was so excited. I was so excited for him, I almost cried!

My washer is broken. I replaced a broken part for $15, but it wasn't the right broken part. I think I know what part it is, I just need to take it apart and call around for a used part. Not fun at all, but calling someone to come out to fix it is not in my financial plan. In the meantime, I am using my friend's washers to do my laundry. I feel bad about doing that, but using a laundromat is also not in my financial plan.

Here's some real news! I applied for financial aide and college. I plan on going to Chemeketa in either the fall or winter. I'm starting to think that it would be better to start in winter term so I have more time to get into a homeschool schedule and to get used to my new life. I'm not exactly sure what I will major in. I'm leaning toward getting an A.A. in Business, but my electives would be all about photography and graphic arts kind of things. I need to learn how to run my own photography business. I'm hoping I won't have to go to work outside my home at all. I'm just checking out all my options. We'll see where it leads me.

This is a good time for me to focus on my relationship with Jesus. I'm learning to just know Him for who He is instead of who I perceive Him to be. I have all these preconceived ideas about it and realized that I need to let those go and let Him reveal Himself to me.

Now I'm off to clean and bake and plan stuff. I should be sleeping, but I procrastinated.

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Jun. 27, 2008 - Please Pray...lots of changes lately

Change is good, right? I feel stretched beyond my capacity, but that's why I have Jesus, the ultimate rubber band. Well, lots of changes are going on right now. I'm not at liberty (yet) to disclose all the details on a public blog, but I will soon enough...say, in the next 6 months or so. So, stay tuned.

Please pray that our adoption finalized quicker than expected. I talked with the adoption attorney on Monday and he said that the papers just need to go through the court, get signed, then its final. We're not going to make a court appearance. However, it will be months before we get the new birth certificates. My friend, who has adopted from Liberia and is the executive director at Plan Loving Adoptions Now said that they didn't know the adoption was final until they received the birth certificates. I emailed the attorney this morning to ask him how I could find out for sure.

God is such a good provider. We were a bit behind in some of our bills due to some changes going on here. My monthly income will be about $1500 lower than it has been. I had paid our mortgage, auto insurance, and any bill that would accrue interest or late charges. I wasn't sure how I was going to get caught up except that I knew God always provides. A few days ago I got paid for a wedding I did earlier in the month. I added up the bills I needed to pay and my bills were only $1.77 more than the check. So now I am all caught up. Now I just need to figure out other ways to cut costs. My husband finally disconnected the cable box! That will save us $52 per month, which will go straight to debt. I'll be putting up a clothes line soon so that will help with electricity. I do cook mostly from scratch. Please don't be surprised, but I'm not perfect and we do eat too much processed food. However, I feel pretty good about the level of consumption. Perhaps I even carry a bit of pride about it. I really shouldn't do that. I looked at someone else's cart one day and was astonished at the absence of anything fresh other than bananas. I kind of grew up like that after my mom died, though.

Well, it is a beautiful day again. I'm thinking I need to plant some seeds, water my lawn (this evening), rearrange my cupboards, put away laundry, clean out the fridge and van, plan dinner, pack some boxes, and maybe even take a shower. . .or just lie down on the couch some more. Yeah, that sounds good.

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Jun. 23, 2008 - Don't be a Clam

I was sitting in church yesterday in my normal place way in the back when a friend of mine poked me in the arm. I thought it was just a silly, “Hey there” sort of poke until he leaned over and said something like, “I have a picture of you as a clam.” A clam? Why not a gazelle, swan, or a beautiful butterfly? He said it could be from God or it could just all be in his head since he knows what I’m going through right now. He described how a clam shuts itself up when it gets scared to protect itself. However, it can’t get nourishment when it stays shut like that. He wasn’t sure if it applied to me, exactly. It totally applies to me. I was sitting in church yesterday surrounded by tons of people who love me. My good friend led worship that morning. I love that when he leads the church in worship that it feels the same as if I’m sitting in his living room worshipping. Its not showy, but real. Then I watched as a huge group of people (young, old, and in-between) gathered around my boy Christopher to lay hands on him and pray for him. My heart rejoiced and broke at the same time. My good friend said she tried to pray for him, but she could only cry. I love her. A couple of people came to me and prayed for me reminding me of the promises of Jesus to never leave me or forsake me. Also, a friend had said that she was thankful for me  because no matter what comes my way she has seen me made a choice to serve and love Jesus. (Okay, its either that or do it on my own-so my choice is already made for me.) Then, another good friend told me that I don’t have to look happy all the time. It’s okay to just let go and cry or be sad or angry. (On that note, I’m afraid that if I really start crying I may never stop.) So, back to the clam thing. It was after all those other things had happened and I was thinking that I just need to buck up a bit. This is the way things are going to be and I need to just move on. I still feel like that today. I just want things to be normal...whatever that means.

Prayer Alert:
Please please please pray that the finalization of the adoption will be expedited. I talked with my adoption lawyer today and he said that hopefully it’ll be done in about 2 weeks. I know that doesn’t seem very long, but in our current circumstances it could make it or break it, so to speak. Please ask others to pray as well.

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Jun. 21, 2008 - Beautiful Weather!

I have to say that I have never been more thankful for the sunny days than I am right now. It makes it so much  easier to get out of bed in the morning. It helps my heart.

I've been listening to a lot of worship music lately. There's a song from the Enter the Worship Circle cd that I really enjoy. It's called "Though I feel Alone."  I may have already mentioned it in an earlier blog, but I don't have time to check. It says something about "in the nighttime while I  am in bed I will let every thought be of You. For You are good. You take all those who will come to You." That's the most difficult time of the day for me. Lying in bed, the house is quiet, my thoughts are only interrupted by other thoughts. They crash into one another. Its all so overwhelming, yet I have peace. Some say its shock. I think that shock is God's grace.
Isn't it nice that even though we "feel" alone the fact is that we're never alone. Jesus is always there.

Today the kids all have base/softball. It's 6th grade tournament weekend so Christopher has 4 games this weekend. I think we'll just pitch a tent at the ball field. I'd actually do it, but camping isn't permitted.

Speaking of camping. I want to go camping a couple of times this summer, but I don't know how to build a fire or tie those special little knots that made things stay together but were easy to take out. I guess it's time for me to read Christopher's Dangerous Book for Boys. We also have a 1950's BoyScouts of America Handbook.

"Unto You, O Lord
I lift up my soul...
Surely those who wait on You
Will never be ashamed
All of those who call on You
Will know the faithfulness of You Name"

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Jun. 19, 2008 - Fire, Dirt, Weeds, and Sweat

Here are a few of my thoughts over the past day or so. They may not be fully formed yet, but I think that's why I need to share with you. You can share your thoughts with me in this.

Fire: Volcanoes and forest fires completely destroy everything in their path. Yet even in that there is a little seed waiting for just a time as this to germinate and grow. We all have our own times of fire. There is Life even in the destruction.

Dirt: Mine is mostly clay. How is anything supposed to grow in that muck. It needs good things added to it. So does my soul. It is mucky and needs the good things of Jesus.

Weeds: They can grow in anything. Why is that? Some of their roots are deep and gnarly. We don't always get to the root. We pull off the leaves and our garden looks good, but it is really a breeding ground for weeds.

Sweat: Thats what happens when I dig. Why aren't my kids sweating?

Put in me,
what I cannot buy with gold
Put in me, O God
Come restore my broken soul
Put in me
What I cannot give myself
Put in me
A clean heart.

From the Song Put in Me by 100 portraits and Waterdeep from the cd Enter the Worship Circle.

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Jun. 17, 2008 - When Jesus' Power is Formed in Me...

That is the title of the devotion I read a minute ago. It is by Brennan Manning...I love his writing. Something I read resonated in me like a gong. I will share part of it. Its from the book Reflections for Ragamuffins.

"Am I unjustly criticized, rejected, betrayed by a friend? I can touch the life of Jesus who faced the same things and can will myself to respond as He did. The power of his Spirit passes into my spirit, and the purpose of Pentecost is fulfilled: Christ is formed within me not just in peak moments or transcendental experience but in the nitty-gritty of daily life."

Thats all I want. Christ to be formed in me. In my hurt and betrayal, Christ is formed in me. I can't forget that he has felt these things, too.

May Christ be formed in me. May my heart be His.

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Jun. 16, 2008 - The heart of God discoveries

I have been having a very difficult week. I would have to say this is the most difficult week of all. Heart wrenching, shocking, stay-in-bed-all-day, and eat-a-box-of-(organic-naturally-sweetened)-cookies. Did I mention that it was an entire box and I hadn't eaten anything else? So, that's where I was a few days ago. I'm somewhere else now. I'm in the wow-real-food-sounds-good place. I'm also in the place where I know I am loved. I cry even as I write that last statement. (My sentiment my change in about 3 seconds, though.)

I only mention my tough week because I wanted to talk about the heart of God. In all this turmoil a good friend and older woman of God said that she would pray that I would have the heart of God in all this. I thought, "Oh yeah, that's a good prayer. Thanks." And I meant it, but my hurt and anger couldn't fathom that idea. Then another friend called and gave me encouraging words of hope. As I sat around mulling over the things I found the heart of God. Its great and nice to pray for healing, but that is a process of time. Asking for the heart of God is so immediate. It in no way negates any of our emotions. I have a new direction in my thinking. I'm not saying that I will never do the wrong thing, but I am more mindful of His heart when I am pondering life's twists and turns.

Job was stripped of everything except his doubting wife who told him to curse God and die. I want to honor God in everything. I want to see how His hand works in us. The victory is the Lord's. It is His battle, not mine. Something amazing is about to happen. (I say "about to happen" as in the next hours, days, weeks, months, years...perhaps, generations.) I will not give up.

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Jun. 5, 2008 - Life These Days

Twelve years ago, at this very moment, 11:29 pm I was confident I would be having a baby on June 6. After all, I had been in labor for over 12 hours by then. How much longer could it possibly take? Well, it would be about 25 hours later on June 7. I want to ask, as I do every year: Where has the time gone? Those baby days flew by so quickly. Yet I remember lying in bed begging God to please just let me sleep 15 more minutes. Please make the baby stop crying for a little bit. Then there was the intense training phase that I was so unsure about. Do I flick his hand for that? Does he understand? Will he ever understand? (I still ask that last question.) Oh, and then there's potty training. I was way stressed out. I had a friendly upstairs neighbor tell me to start training at the age of 1. His mom had 6 kids and did that. Poor traumatized Christopher. My friend and I dressed him up as a little wood elf or sprite or something like that. I'll have to scan in the pictures. Oh, and lets not forget the eating of Ben and Jerry's...oh wait, he never at that. I did that when he was napping. He ate marvi bars and home canned pears. He loved his daily bath. So did I. He was contained and couldn't go anywhere. Well, I didn't love it when he decided pooping in the tub would be fun. (He'll be so embarrassed when he hears of that last one.) Oh, he once saw a life-size cut out of Darth Mal and asked me why God made such ugly people. He used to sing in his car seat and I heard, "Dear God, thank you for the street lights and electricity so it isn't dark anymore." When my dad died, Christopher would try to comfort me when I cried, but would end up saying to my husband, "She's crying again, what do I do?" Then when we built our house he was such a hard worker. He would be so exhausted at times that he would crawl into a ball, wrap up in Kelly's coat, find a corner, and cry himself to sleep. Less than a year after moving into our house he suddenly, and I mean suddenly became a big brother and the oldest of four. (You can read the beginning of that story here.) Gone were the carefree days of going here and there whenever I wanted to. Gone were the days of showing up at births or even meeting new babies. He had to grow up a little. He had to share a room and his parents. Our lives are so different now. I thought I was busy before! Ha! And now, my son is a tad taller than myself.  He steals my gender neutral looking socks. His voice is LOW. He definitely has a preference in music. I tell him to pull up his pants or put on a belt. He does love to shower, though. This evening I saw he had left some hair products out in my bathroom, but I never noticed that his hair looked any different. He loves me, but he plans on leaving me and exploring life on his own. He used to tell me that he'd let me live in his farm house with him and his wife so I could do all the cooking and cleaning. I think I'd rather him leave me out of his old farmhouse anyway. He wants to learn photography and editing. Oh, and recently he's been asking me to read, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" to him. What? He's kidding, right? Nope. Not at all. Did I mention that he really loves me. He loves Jesus, too. He's also still into legos and transformers, and I can often be caught with a glazed over look when he's talking about a star wars character or ship. He's beginning to recognize that look. Darn it! I love him. I love that he still tries to sit on my lap and will still lie down and take naps with me. Oh, and I really love that he takes care of breakfast all by himself. I love that he is so nice about the fact that I will be completely absorbed in a wedding I'm photographing on his birthday so he won't really have a celebration that day. Have I mentioned that I love that boy even though it scares me a bit...not the love part, but the whole growing up part. I love that he's getting older, but he's not too cool to kiss me and hug me in public. Last Sunday he and I were together the entire day without anybody else and he could barely separate himself from me. It was odd. He had to hold my hand or have his arm around MY shoulders or kiss me if he left me to go into the next aisle. Hey, when did it become okay for him to leave my sight in the store? That's not supposed to happen for a few more years, right? Man, that one snuck up on me. It won't be long until he's driving. I hope he'll want to be home more than any other place. I made him go to bed at the same time as the younger ones, now I wish I would've kept him up just a bit longer. I think I'll start reading that book to him soon. He loves it when I read books about how a young man is supposed to be. I asked him if he wants to read them alone and just talk about it. Nope. He gets more of me if we read it together. Well, I think I need to go kiss him, or crawl into bed with him on the top bunk, or pick him up and cradle him and sing some cheesy song.

Go kiss your kids now.

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May. 22, 2008 - Pray for Steven Curtis Chapman's family

So very sad. Please look here and give them support here.

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May. 9, 2008 - Wonderful Weather and Wacky Kids!

You wouldn't know it by my blogging habits, but I absolutely LOVE to blog. That's right, in my head I am a masterful blogger. I write about things that keep my readers on the edge of their seats waiting for more. In my head I am a prolific writer. The problem is that I am busy and little bit lazy and really good at procrastinating and such a perfectionist in such things that I don't want to post until I know it is great, but end up posting something not-so-great. So here I am. I have pictures to edit, a house to clean, laundry to fold, and cookies to bake (courtesy of The Pioneer Woman).

Now, for the real exciting stuff. I introduce to you the new member of my family. She is beautiful. Her name is Ruby. Please excuse my bad picture. I never claimed to be a photographer...oh wait, yeah I did.

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Apr. 23, 2008 - You know you have a problem when...

You find yourself sitting at the computer squirming because you have to pee so bad, but you must check out “just one more blog” which reminds you that you were going to go check out the photoshop brushes which reminds you that you need to work on those wedding pictures which makes you wonder if you should go over the the windows xp side of your mac and do a little photoshopping with those new actions (since photoshop elements doesn’t support actions), but realize it doesn’t really matter because I’m not sure how to use actions anyway….

You decide to blog because the cold hard fact is that if you get up to go pee you’d have to walk through your kitchen and dining room which both look like bombs have gone off. Besides, the kids are pretending that they’re “falling” and they might just fall on you.

You have NO idea how much money you have in the bank or what you’ll make for dinner, but you plan on spending money and eating at some point. Maybe if I ignore it long enough I won’t have any problems.

You still have to pee, but really want to post a picture to go with this blog, but you don’t have a picture of your toilet which needs to be cleaned anyway. Ugh, both bathrooms need a good cleaning.

Well, now the husband is home and in the bathroom. Doesn’t he know I was just getting up to use it? What was he thinking? How rude! I guess I’ll just pee my pants.

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Apr. 19, 2008 - Wow

And as I write this, the ground, chairs, bbq, and mini-trampoline have a light covering of snow. It's sticking...for now. My dad always used to say, "If you don't like the weather in Oregon-wait 5 minutes!" You know, its closer to summer than winter!

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Apr. 17, 2008 - Overwhelmed and really wanting to Procrastinate!

So, I'm sitting here at my happy spot gazing out the window watching Dusty running back and forth between our house and the big ditch. I've beent thinking of those amazing brownies I made earlier. I think I should have some. Also, my fingernails are distracting my. I've never really had long nails, but I stopped biting them on my right hand. I'm not sure why I keep biting them on my left hand, but I'm not going to worry myself with such matter. So, these are the things that I think about when I have a large task at hand. I have about 900 pictures to sort through (digitally) and edit. Wow. I am just overwhelmed. I really should've gotten to it earlier. I ran into a couple of snags. The first one being that the wedding exhausted me and left me with a migraine! The next thing was that my MacBook was full. I had about 3 gigs available and that isn't much when you shoot in RAW. (Don't ask me to explain that RAW thing.) Man, I remember when our computer was 20 gigs and we thought we were rolling in the memory! So, I bought an external hard drive. Then it took me a few days to figure out how to move my iphoto library to the external drive, create a new library, etc. and etc. I was so paranoid about losing pictures...and I did, but not wedding pictures. I accidentally formatted a memory card that was patiently waiting to be uploaded. You see, one of my darling children threw something at my window and startled me. Thus the reason for me picking up the wrong card. It had some awesome pictures I took at the park, band pictures, and senior pictures of my friend. Bummer. I talked with the manager at Shutterbug and said she might be able to restore them. Hmmm, are you interested in this at all?

I love brownies.

Okay, I better get back to editing those photos....

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Mar. 30, 2008 - A little update

I have so much to write and so many pictures to share, but little time to do so. I'm busy keeping my house clean, planning school, training children, editing photos, learning photoshop, and getting ready to shoot a wedding and senior pictures. I've enjoyed a girls night with my girls and a morning at a coffee shop with them. It has been a much needed respite from the boys.

Please pray the adoption will go quickly. I have some papers we need to sign and notarized to send back to our lawyer. I guess we'll get our court date after that. I remember the day I stood before a judge and he told me my new name. It was amazing. I will tell you about it one day.

The weather has been crazy here. A light dusting of snow covered the ground on the first day of spring. The other day it was literally freezing when I woke up. Then there was rain, hail, snow, and bright sunshine alternating throughout the day. This is not the norm for the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Right now frost is on the ground and the sun is shining brightly.

Hopefully I will have a more organized and focus blog entry, but I knew that if I didn't get something up I'd get some emails encouraging me to do so! (That was for you Rachel!)

The following picture was taken on the 28th. Lovely, eh?

 

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Mar. 21, 2008 - Rosetta Stone Contest

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE! 

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program.  Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking.  Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included!  For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports. 

 

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE:http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/  and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it.  And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it.  And good luck!  The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg.   And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win.   Yay for free stuff!

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Mar. 19, 2008 - Random Blatherings...

Sage has been doing school and obeying very well since last Wednesday. It has been a long 3 months of fits and screaming, I hope we have left it behind.

Forgive me if I've written this before, but its very exciting to me. I cleaned and organized a little nook in my room for creating and scrapbooking...now if I could only remember where I stashed those quilt pieces I had mostly cut out. I have all my stamp pads (about 50) displayed quite nicely on my desk along with my plethora of pens. I have several bottles of ink for my wonderful dipping fountain pens that I love to journal with. I'm almost done with my current journal and my book-binding, calligraphy writing, crocheting, midwife of a friend is going to come over and teach how to make a book. I love her. She makes me want to have a baby...Anyway, I call it my happy spot. The desk, that is. I took pictures, but I'd feel silly posting them. So instead I leave you with this.

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Mar. 6, 2008 - Yay!

This morning I woke up feeling pretty good. It wasn't perfect, but I certainly didn't feel like I had been run over.  By the end of the day Ireland was up and playing on the computer, demanding that I not kiss her so much, helping skwub dishes, playing doll house and tea with her brothers, and even playing outside. Although, getting her ready to go outside took longer than the time she stayed out there. She is still pretty tired, but her body isn't as sore. She was very happy to show me that she could stand on her toes without crying. She also isn't eating much, but she's tired enough that I could get her to eat her YUMMY broccoli without much of an argument...and just now she dumped out a bunch of wedgits to play with. I am soo soo glad. I started my day with a huge list of things I wanted to accomplish. I did very few of those things because I spent about 4 hours cuddling with sick children and reading ERAGON. I did get around to cleaning off the cluttered surfaces such as island, dresser, table, blanket box, computer desk, stove, and the washer and dryer. I also refilled my cleaning supplies so now I smell like tea tree oil, tangerine oil, and peppermint oil. Christopher vacuumed for me, but I still need to sweep the kitchen and dining room. We've moved the laundry right along, but have piles and piles to fold. I'll be working on that later, I guess. Oooh, I also have my oven doing the self-cleaning thing. So, I think we're doing good. Tomorrow I might even make a Goodwill run. Why is it that we always have so much to get rid of? Although with the price of gas I might wait and just go for a walk instead. We do have a bunch of books due and a library only a few blocks away.

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Mar. 5, 2008 - Spring is on the way!

This is actually a picture taken last summer in my front yard. I love daisies and I just might love that purple striped spider!

I woke up with the sun shining brightly and frost on the ground. I am so glad it isn't gray and cloudy. I needed the sunshine. My sinuses are really bothering me and my head hurts. I slept in the front room with the vaporizer along with the girls. Dusty is coughing and sneezing and desperately needs to brush her hair. (I need to brush my hair, too, but my head hurts and I'd rather not expose myself to such torture.) Ireland is coughing without me forcing her to do so, but she still doesn't feel hungry or thirsty, but she'll drink when I tell her to. She is actually awake to watch Tom and Jerry. Yesterday she didn't stay awake longer than just a few minutes. I have to give her an herbal tincture every hour for 3 days, 3 liquid homeopathics 5 drops- 5 times a day, 2 homeopathics in pellet form 3 times a day, but not at the same time, and it is recommended that I do the hot/cold remedy. That is where you put cold wet, but not dripping, socks on then cover them with wool or fleece. I can also do it where I put a hot towel on her chest for a few minutes followed by a cold towel, then flip her over and do it on her back, too. I tell ya, I'm going to be pushing the echinacea on the other kids whether they like it or not. Fortunately they love vit. C (with the exception of Ireland). Ugh! My face and head hurts. I think I'll make some tea and oatmeal for breakfast. Actually, Christopher is in charge of breakfast!

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Mar. 4, 2008 - We are sickies, but I am practically famous!

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Feb. 11, 2008 - Another Day...

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