Four Months

"I'll see you in four months."

Words so sweet they nearly made me cry.  Jonah saw his allergist today and really impressed him with how well he was doing.  So much so in fact that the doctor said that other than having Jonah's normal blood work done, he was good to go for FOUR WHOLE MONTHS!!  That is like Thanksgiving time or something, every time I think about it I smile...four months!

Jonah has an appointment with the gastrointerologist in a couple of weeks and I am thinking that they are going to completely release him.  We are not having near the issues with diarrhea that we were having back a few months ago.

After the gastrointerologist, then we just have to see the dermatologist.  I don't see us getting an all clear there anytime soon, but at least he is maintaining well and has not had too many flares in the past few weeks.

Thank you God for your miracles.  Hearing four months today was a special gift!

Arts And Crafts

Wal-Mart had a great sale on permanent markers this week...

...Wonder when soap goes on sale?

Blessed

I have come to the realization lately that I am incredibly blessed.  I have not recently become blessed, but my outlook has changed so that I have just now realized how blessed I am.  It is the type of realization that almost makes one feel guilty.  Guilty for either not realizing the blessing before now or maybe for being so blessed when others are not.

The blessing that I am specifically talking about is the blessing of great parents.  I am at the point in my life where my peers are beginning to face loosing their parents.  I watched last week as a friend buried her mother.  There is a depth to that pain that I can not even fathom.  I truly feel blessed to still have my parents and even a grandparent that are just a phone call away.

I have also been reminded through a different friend just how great my parents really are.  My parents have loved and supported me in every decision I have made, no matter how much they may have disagreed with them.  They gave me the foundation that I needed to succeed and then let me decide how I wanted to proceed.  Even to this day they support the decisions that Joe and I have made about how to raise our family, even though I know that most of the time they would do it differently.  They love my children with a fierce devotion and do not miss an opportunity to show their love to them.  In turn, my children think that their grandparents are the best thing since sliced bread.

I have often wondered how I would handle it if my children did not follow the path that I thought was best for them.  I was discussing this with a very wise friend recently and she gave me some great advice.  She said to think about the worst thing that I could possibly imagine any of my children doing and decide right now that I forgive them and love them anyway.  While I don't think I have done most of the worst things my parents could imagine, I think that at some point they must have decided to just love me anyway.

For that fact alone, I am eternally grateful and incredibly blessed.

$47 Peace Of Mind

Micah has been trying to cut his one year molars for months now.  I thought I caught sight of one peeking through one day, but it disappeared the very next day.  Then he developed these nasty looking bruises on his gums that would not go away and they started swelling.
When we went to the Pediatrician for Micah's 15 month check-up, he noticed the swelling and bruising and suggested that we take him to see a dentist.  I had been concerned about his gums for some time, but after the pediatrician was concerned as well, I really got nervous!
The appointment was today, and I was terrified that they were going to have to cut his gums in order for his teeth to come through or that there was something wrong with his teeth.  Turns out he has Eruption Hematomas where his teeth should be coming in. It sounds much more serious than it really is!  They are perfectly normal and usually go away on their own.  Because of Micah's fair skin, his look a little worse than usual.  There is no need for any type of intervention at this point.  The dentist said that he thinks the teeth are just about to come through.  He wants to see him again if they have not broken the surface in six months.  We are praying that they come on in on their own before that time.
So today I basically paid a Doctor to tell me not to worry...and let me tell you, it was worth every penny!

On The Road Again...

So today I went to Savannah, from Savannah to Hilton Head, from Hilton Head to Islandton, From Islandton to Walterboro, from Walterboro to Islandton, from Islandton to Jacksonboro, and then back to Islandton again.

I am not a truck driver in our little trucking business, but today I felt like I might as well be!  Speaking of our little business, that is the reason I am on the road so much these days.  Our little company is still not big by any means, but has tripled in size in just the past four months.  When you are a consistent size for ten years and then triple in four short months, things get hectic fast.

I am in no way complaining about the changes, but they certainly have made my life a bit busier.  Hopefully now that the initial rush is over, things will calm down a bit.  We have handled the rush rather well, other than my house is a wreck (that is really just an excuse...it is usually a wreck anyway)!

I even had one of the best compliments of my life today.  As I was sitting in the DMV waiting on paperwork, one of the employees said, "Does your husband appreciate what a patient wife he has?  Most people would be stomping around cussing and you have handled all of these delays with grace."

I wanted to tell her just how far I had come, but Vi-o-let was sitting at the next counter and I was afraid that I would be recognized!

We have definitely come a long way with Little Joe's trucking and although it seems that we have grown tremendously overnight, it has been after years of consideration and prayer and waiting for the right time.  It seems that when that time came, doors started opening right and left as we just sat back and watched.  Sure there is risk involved, as there is with anything worthwhile.  But like I told my MIL...even if we fail and loose everything we have invested, it won't be the end.  Sure it would hurt to see our hard work disappear, but we started with nothing and were immensely happy then... and if we end up with nothing next week we will still be immensely happy.  For we have set our sights on things above, not on things of this earth. (Colossians3:2)

Jonah

My Jonah is growing up so fast and becoming such a sweet little boy!  Last night Joe and I had to run into town with the boys to take care of some trucking business and we were nearing bed time on the way home.  Joe made a sudden turn and Jonah's car seat (that accidentally had been put in the car without attaching the seat belt to it) flipped upside down and caused him to bang his head on the door. 
We pulled over and got everything buckled correctly, but Jonah was upset, scared, and tired...not a good combination.  Since we were close to  home, I decided to just hold him in my lap the rest of the way there.  I know it was bad parenting; we broke the law and I endangered my child's life, but I have to say that was one of the sweetest times I have ever had with Jonah.  We cuddled close and sang ♫Jesus loves me♫ over and over.  Then we had the best conversation ever...

Momma, Jesus loves me!
Yes Jonah, He sure does.
Jesus helps me.
Yep.
Jesus makes me feel better.
Yes He does.
Jesus and lotion makes mine skin feel better.
You are right Jonah.
Jesus is gonna make mine tummy better and Him gonna make mine skin not itch.
I'm glad.
Yep, Jesus loves me and I love Him to the moon and back!  I love you too Momma!
And I love you!

I wish I had that childlike faith.  I know God can, I just don't know that He will.  To be honest, I have been afraid to believe and get my hopes up.
Jonah had been doing so well lately, but had another allergic reaction last week.  I still do not know if he got into something that he was not supposed to have or if he is developing other allergies that we are going to have to watch out for.  This reaction happened back on the 6th and as of this morning, he is still having side effects from it. He has to have more blood drawn before the end of the month, but I have been putting it off.  I think I hate doing it more than he does...
And back to his faith, I want to believe that someday soon Jonah will be free of all of these problems, but I know that may not be the path that he is to walk.  I am not being sceptical, but rather realistic.  God does not always answer our prayers in the way that we see fit.  How do I prepare my child for that without crushing that precious "childlike" faith?  As you can see, I am in over my head and any advice would be greatly appreciated.  I just want to do what is best for Jonah without dragging my fears into the mix!

Family Friendly?

Joe and I took the kids to the park this afternoon for some free time.  When we got to the park, the older boys took off for the playground equipment while Joe and I headed for a bench swing with Micah.  As soon as I sat down I smelled a rather peculiar odor, but said nothing about it.  Joe sat down next to us, looked down at his feet and said, "Tell me that is not what I think it is." 

I looked down and sure enough the ground all around our feet was covered with dried green herbs that definitely were not oregano or parsley.  Obviously someone had spilled their baggie full of marijuana on the ground and was either in a hurry to escape or was too stoned to realize what had happened.
Joe started kicking at the ground (to try and cover it up with sand) which only intensified the smell and got it all in his work boots and my shoes. Noah of course chose that moment to walk over and ask what we were doing.

I am furious that I even had to come up with an answer to that question.  I mean, we were in the park for crying out loud...a children's park with playgrounds.  What has happened to our society that someone would think it was acceptable to go to a public children's park to smoke their weed?
Or maybe it was someone selling there and dropped their stash.  That makes me even angrier.  What chance do our children have if they are finding drugs on the playground at six years old?

Is there nowhere left that is family friendly?  Do I have to keep my children in the house all the time in order to keep them from being subjected to drugs, alcohol, foul language, and sexual perversion?  I know that at some point in thier lives they will  have to face all of those things, but at six years old they should only be worried about which swing to swing on, not what the green stuff is all over Daddy's shoes.

Walking

Sixteen months of wondering when it was going to happen...

Now we begin wondering when he will slow down!!

Guess this means I have to get him some shoes now?

Pa's Hat

It seems that one of the favorite pastimes for Noah and Jonah this weekend while at the river was trying on Pa's hat and posing for the camera...

...I'm not sure if Pa ever did get his hat back!

July 4th

It is a family tradition to spend July 4th down at Land's End on the river.  We have done this since I was a teenager and this year was no exception.  We got in late Friday night and were all up early Saturday morning in time to enter the kids in the parade.  The theme this year was "Things To Do At Land's End".  We decided to incorporate Land's End church, the ocean, and the beach.  Our entry was titled Salvation, Sand, and Sea.  Mom did most of the decorating since we did not get in until after midnight the night before the parade.

Noah was the salvation part of our entry.  We attached a Bible to his bike along with sign that read "Jesus is my best friend...Come to church when at Land's End!"

Micah was the sea in our entry.  He rode in a wagon covered in blue and he threw out water balloons.  Jonah was the sand.  He rode in a wagon with a sand castle and he was the one that got to throw candy to the crowds.

The "older generation" (Mom, Mr. Jimmie, and Granny Faye) watched from the sidelines.

After the parade, we sat around waiting for the winners to be announced.  The boys won 2nd place this year!

After the parade was  over, Joe and I left the napping boys with my Mom and we headed into Beaufort to do a little car shopping.  It was not until we were in the middle of the dealership that I remembered that we had all worn matching outfits for the parade and had neglected to change before going shopping.  I felt like such a dork!!!

Sunday Morning we all got up and went to church on the water.  It was a beautiful service and they had over 200 in attendance.

The rest of Sunday was spent playing on the beach and in the water waiting on the fireworks to start that night.

Noah, Jonah, Micah, and friend Brianna had a blast playing together.

Now that Micah is FINALLY walking, he too had a blast in the sand and surf!

All in all it was a great weekend.  We had perfect weather, good food, and lots of fellowship.  However, that pesky dark cloud even found us on our mini vacation.  On the way back from fireworks last night, Noah tripped over a tree root (while barefoot) and I think he may have broken a little bone in his foot.  Not only that, but after he went to sleep, he fell off of the top bunk.  He is now sporting a huge bruise across his back from the landing.  Hopefully his foot looks better in the morning and we will not be headed in to get an x-ray.  We have been enjoying the sun shine too much to let that dark cloud come back!

It's Been A While

With the hovering dark cloud and a packed Summer schedule, I have not posted on here in a while. This past week was probably one of the busiest weeks of the year as butter beans, peas, and okra were ready in the garden, my car kept dying (remember that dark cloud?), I worked outside the home two days, Joe had three loads that had to get to Maryland, and I taught VBS at our church. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch and could not have suited my kids any better. They all had a blast pretending they were on a dude ranch and learning about Jesus. I did get one picture of the three of them after the closing program Friday evening. Micah would not keep his hat on and Jonah is only wearing one shoe, but hey, you take what you can get...right?


As soon as the VBS closing program was over, we picked up Granny Faye and headed out to Land's End to spend the holiday weekend with Grammy and Pa. Hopefully I will have those pictures from Mom to load on here soon.