Friday, September 30, 2011

Bad Blogger!!!

Oh man, I am such a bad blogger these days. Truth be told though, we have been extremely busy. Like busier than we ever have I think. 5 kids on 4 separate sports teams is a little nuts. Not to mention the constant drive to get the barn/stalls/home projects done. Every minute we are not at a game we are working on the house. Really, I am not complaining. Usually busy is A-OK with me.
Maybe not THIS busy, but it is all really blessing. I enjoy watching the kids play sports and I also enjoy working with my hands and getting projects done around here.

Madeline had an MRI this past Wednesday and she was just precious. They ended up not having to sedate her. Yeah! We explained everything to her as thouroughly as we could. She was just quietly compliant the entire time. We kept telling her she had to be very still and she was, like a statue. They only had to retake one picture and that was because she was breathing so heavy at first because she was scared. She still never moved. I was soooooo proud of my girl! We have no results yet, but we pray that everything is ok.

A major time sapper in our lives right now is our search for the perfect horses. We are hoping to get two. This is huge for us. We have always wanted horses, but have never had a place for them until now. It is really exciting. We have a really darling friend who is a horse trainer and is helping us. She is doing great. We are being very picky because the horses need to be dead broke for kids, but still spunky enough for Leah (and maybe Logan) to show. Long story shorter.... Here is the horse we have bought for "me." (Really though any horse we get will be for everyone to ride)




Isn't she darling???? I love her. We have not brought her home yet because there's a pending issue with another horse we may get from the same owner. Her name is Sophie.

Well, that is all for now. Both older kids just went to bed and Ryan is pretending he is awake on the couch. I think I will take this opportunity to hit the bed early. I was up at 5:45 this morning and my bed sounds so nice right now. Man, I am such an old woman.....

(FYI, Ryan is now snoring)

Julie

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Camping this weekend.

We went up to the lake this weekend to camp. It was a great time with the family and the weather was beautiful. Madeline fell yesterday though and that turned things around a bit for me though. She fell off her bike and didn't seem too hurt, but she was crying hard. Her crying hard turned into only wanting to cuddle on my lap and then she just wanted to sleep. That was extremely odd for her. We were there with her best buds/cousins and not wanting to play was not like her at all. She was also complaining that she couldn't see. We determined that she could see, just not real well. We assumed at that point that she had a concussion. That was further confirmed when she started throwing up. We took her to the ER and long story short, she did have a concussion, but a CAT scan confirmed there were no bleeds/fractures. I have never in my life seen Madeline like she was yesterday. She was dead asleep, even through the CAT scan. She ended up throwing up a total of 5 times and slept most of the afternoon into the evening. She did end up perking up later last night around the campfire which was good to see. Today she is acting much better.

To our surprise, the CAT scan revealed a secondary finding. Apparently Madeline has a cyst in the right ventricle of her brain. Very scary sounding. The ER doctor says they see this occasionally and they feel it is nothing to worry about, but they want her to do a repeat CAT scan in 6 months to see if it has grown. To be honest, I am just trying not to think about it. It scares me.

For some reason this fall and ER trip affected me more than maybe it should have. Our children are just so precious to us, but Ryan reminded me in the ER that our children are not "our" children, they are God's. I know this, really I do, but to be honest, I think I need to daily give my kids back to God. I know they are his, but I think I pull them so close sometimes that I like to think I am in control. I cannot fathom loosing one of them. God willing I will never have to worry about that.

Julie

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Plane Crash update.....

Well unfortunately we indirectly knew the man who passed in the plane crash today. He is the brother of the man Ryan has been working a second job for. He is a good guy and he taught Logan everything he needed to know this year about his 4H beef feeder. Their family just lost their father a few years back and now this. I have been praying for them all day and I just feel really bad for them......

Aww, stink. A plane went down.

About an hour ago I was up in our attic messing with some tubs and I heard a plane sound like it was really low. It also sounded a little off. I thought it was wierd and almost came down from the attic to our garage to check it out. I didn't though because I am lazy and planes fly low around here a lot dusting crops. About 5 minutes later I came down and my SIL Emily was stopping by to get some eggs. She said, "did you see that fire over in the corn field?" I could see the smoke clearly from our house and I could smell the smoke also. I said "I wonder if a plane went down." Emily said her grandma had heard the plane also (we all live within a couple country blocks of one another). I drove over to the spot and it ended up being right across the road from our good friends' mom's house. You couldn't really see any smoke anymore, but the fire truck and squad were there. My good friend just happened to be at her mom's house at the time (picking up a few things) and was leaving. She said her mom always walks this road at this time and probably saw what had happened. As I left a sheriff pulled up and my friends mom was telling all she saw. Ryan called me and confirm that WHIO was reporting a plane going down near West Liberty. This is so very sad. I cannot imagine that anyone lived through that, and no med flight kind of confirms that. I pray it is no one we know......

Julie

Friday, September 2, 2011

Nope, not dropped off the face of the earth.

I like to try and keep up with the blog better, but we have been extremely busy lately. School has started along with 5 kids on 4 different teams. Plus the garden needs harvested and processed daily it seems. Oh and we are working very hard to put stalls in our barn for our horse we are hoping to get soon. (Yeah!)

I wont lie, having the two oldest in school has been a big adjustment for me. Them too, but I think especially me. I know that most people reading this blog wont understand this, but I have gotten used to being with my kids 24/7 (except for Leah last year of course). I like it that way. Multiple people, just making small talk, ask if I am ready for the kids to be back in school. I answer honestly and say, "no, I miss them." It is like someone all of sudden said "sorry, you only get to be with your kids for half as much time as you use to." Most people slowly lose time with their kids. It starts when they are 4 with preschool. I know, I am totally pathetic. It is getting easier though. Hey, I already get them home for the next 4 days!

Besides adjusting, life is good. My three 5 year olds are suppose to start school next week. However, we may bump it a week. They are excited about it. I have their curriculum, but I haven't done lesson plans yet or anything and I need to get in my attic to get some manipulatives from years gone by. Maddie will be starting 1st and Anna and Gee are starting Kindergarten. We were going to wait until next year to start get and then they would all be staggard, but Ryan wants me to try Kindergarten with him. I have no doubt he has the brains, he just doesn't seem to have the focus yet. Time will tell I guess.

Well, I have some pics to add for next time. Garden and barn stuff mostly.....

Later,

Julie

Psalms 10:14, 17-18

"You are the helper of the fatherless.  LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more."