8 is Great!

I can not believe that I have been a mother now for 8 years.  I still feel 16, so how can my eldest be half way to driving? It's a mystery.  Although I am baffled by it all, I am certainly blessed by it as well.  This little man is a gift for sure.  He is funny, sneaky, energetic, handsome as all get out, creative, smart, goofy, and loving.  He still loves to cuddle and give kisses.  For that I am so grateful!  He loves to build with legos, jump on the trampoline, make people laugh, play video games, play sports, run fast, jump high, and do all the sorts of things little boys love to do.  He is incredibly sensitive....he melts down in a moment if he thinks people are laughing at him or teasing him.  He has some trouble with the truth...but with God's great help we are working on that.  I pray that as he grows and matures that he will fall so deeply in love with the Lord that he will see all of life through His eyes.  I pray that he will so in tune with the Truth inside of him that it will come spilling out.  It is my greatest prayer that he would learn to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit and would obey Him at a moment's notice.  By God's grace I know he will grow up to do great things!  I love this kid so stinking much!

We celebrated this momentous occasion with a backyard drive in.  We watched "alvin and the chipmunks: Chipwrecked" and ate popcorn, puppy chow, and candy.  He had lots of friends over and got lots of great gifts.  It was tons of fun.  We love to celebrate!

The Branson Trout Hatchery

Being a homeschool family, you know we had to throw a little education into our vacation!  We took an afternoon jaunt over to the fish hatchery and learned a little about trout.  And when I say a little, that's exactly what I mean.  The only part of the place that actually offers real information (a video about the life cycle of fish, seeing the eggs and hatchlings, etc) was closed for renovation.  Oh well, what can you do?  

 We were able to walk around and see the different sizes of trout they had and pump quarters into the turn-style machine to fetch wretched smelling pellets to throw at the little buggars.

 I started to feel the puke rise up in my throat as the fish swarmed for the tiny brown pellets.  They were flipping up out of the water and flopping around on each other.  My minds eye couldn't help but envision the swarm engulfing me.  It was sorta a horror movie type feeling....but, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make for the education of my kids.  Oh, yeah....we didn't really learn anything.  Well....they had fun anyway so we'll call it a win.  For them.  Not for me.

Hiking in Branson

What a joy to have a week long vacation in Branson with the Porter family.  We played, went to Silver Dollar City (the boys were tall enough to ride things without an adult!!!), swam in the indoor pool, and went fishing.  One afternoon while Matt and Stephanie put their littles down for a nap we took our "not so littles" on a hike to a waterfall.  It was so fun.  But I am a little disheartened as I look back at these pictures...who are these big kids and where have my babies gone?   They are so grown up....and we are loving all the fun we get to have with them!            

Easter

back in the saddle

I'm feeling all motivated tonight.  The family and I just spent the last hour of our night in a corner table at Wendy's telling stories about when the kids were little.  We were recounting little things they used to say incorrectly and little funny stories about silly things they would ask about.  This trip down memory lane led to a visual journey through the recesses of our family blog.  What an awesome night!  We laughed til we couldn't breathe and just plain enjoyed each other.  It was stupendous.  It was also eye-opening for me.  There were lots of amazing and hilarious stories from just a few short years back that I had forgotten.  Praise the Lord for this blog....it's an amazing online scrapbook of our kids growing up years.  And shame on me for being on such a hiatus.  Well no more my friends.  I am back in the saddle.  Life moves too quickly to not jot down these precious times to remember at a later date.

A gorgeous day

Earlier this week it was absolutely gorgeous. Like shorts and tee shirts gorgeous. Windy...but gorgeous. The perfect day for kites. Praise the Lord for homeschooling freedom. We put down the books and went outside to play. We threw rocks in the creek and watched Cooper swim in the frigid water and then flew kites until they had all be sacrificed to either power lines, treetops, or trash cans. It truly was a dream afternoon. And even better....it was a Friday (my hubby's day off). This is what family is made for. You could not get the smile off my face for anything in the world.

Momma

Lots has happened with my mom recently. None of which is very good. But, on the bright side, none of which is terribly related to her health. She is living at a nursing home that is about 20 minutes from our house and I am able to go see her about once a week. She is stable in her health and I really feel as though her meds are appropriate and that this facility is better equipped to serve people with her type of disease.

The issues I am having are with the nursing home. They recently had to fire an employee for being rude to my mom. They "punished" her for wetting the bed by making her change the sheets herself. While I was trembling with anger over this mistreatment, I was pleased with the managements response to the employees actions.

But then just days later I got a call saying that mom had choked and was being sent to the ER just to be sure she had not aspirated anything. I was in St. Louis for a wedding and was unable to travel to get to her. I guess that I just assumed that they would send a representative from the nursing home with her. However, I later learned that she was in an ER bed by herself...with no one. And to make matters worse the ER was so busy that they could not transfer her back to the nursing home for 8 hours after she was discharged. And as hard as I tried and as much as I kicked up a fuss, the nursing home would not send someone to get her. They kept saying, "there just isn't anyone here to go get her. it's the job of the hospital to transport her back." I was L.I.V.I.D. The thought of my mom all alone in that hospital for all those hours was heartbreaking. Now, I am glad that she is okay (she did not aspirate anything). And I am thankful that she has caregivers who want her to be healthy and are cautious with her health. But, I am not sure of the next step.

I want to let the nursing home know that I am not okay with my mom's care currently. But I am not exactly sure how to do that. I want to be direct....but, I also don't want to be mean. I still need her to stay there....I don't really know where else we would go. Please pray for us. Pray for some resolution between me and the nursing home. Pray that God will either give me incredible peace about her care or show me exactly where we should head.

And while you are praying....would you mind to ask the Lord to heal her? I want so badly for her to be whole again....and whether that is on earth or in Heaven I don't care. Wholeness....that is my dream for her.