Calling all Prayer Warriors!

My precious hubby had an outpatient hospital procedure this morning & the 'findings' were not what we expected. Please pray for peace and wisdom as we await test results. We should have results within 7 days.

Thank you so much!! {{HUGS}}

"LOOK! WE'RE FEELING BETTER"

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR OUR FAMILY!! Your precious comments of prayer has blessed me so much!!

Not on the mend..yet..

I sure thought we had kicked all this yuck but we've been given MORE antibiotics. Baby S was getting symptoms of SF again and Baby C's amoxicillin rash was not going away. Sooooo, back to the drs....

~Baby S has a really bad sinus infection (still don't know how that happened since she just finished antibiotics for her SF) sooo, oral and eye antibiotics
~Apparently baby C had been fighting something viral so some topical medication for her :(

All in all, we are doing well...this mama is ready for her happy babies to be back, that's for sure!

Do we have a GREAT God or what!!!!

This is one of the most amazing stories I've seen....soooo clearly our Lord!!!! I don't even have adequate words to describe this...simply awesome!!!

Baby born "Twice":
http://www.comcast.net/data/fan/html/popup.html?v=764076744&pl=979271298.xml&plc=979271298&launchpoint=Cover&cid=fancover&attr=default_headline&config=/config/common/fan/default.xml

Favorite Adoption story book...

I don't know about you but I am constantly on the search for fabulous adoption story books to read to my kids. I want to fill our library with books that represent our family (I think I'm gonna write our own ;). I had started losing hope that the perfect one existed but then I found this one.......

I Wished for You by Marianne Richmond:

Get your kleenex out...SERIOUSLY!!! I still can't read this book to my kiddos without crying. The author has done the most beautiful, beautiful job capturing this sweet one's adoption story. All the way down to "what about the mama who grew me in her tummy..." I have read many adoption story books and I have yet to find one that can compare to this sweet book! It truly is a MUST HAVE for adoptive families.

"Of all the children in the whole world, God picked you for me."

On the mend?!?!?

I tell ya...when you have 5 kids, it can take a LONG time for everyone to be healthy!

~Thanksgiving...6 out 7 of us got the flu...took 2 weeks for it to pass then we went right into.....

~Baby S got scarlet fever
~Mommy got really bad strep. throat...OUCH!!
~Brother T got a fever..was in bed for 24 hours
~Daddy not feeling good..spent most of the day in bed
~Brother I had/has persistent nasty boogies
~Baby C got a nasty ear infection..given Amoxicillin
~TODAY!!!! Guess WHAT...baby C is allergic to penicillin (nasty itchy body rash)
~Baby C still has ear infection (even after 5 days of amoxicillin) now on Zithromax
~So far big sissy Tr. is staying healthy!

Praying we are getting past this...I MISS church soooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!! These are all LIGHT afflictions. So many precious friends come to mind as I grumble about our silly aliments. We LOVE you guys are praying continually!!!

Christmas!!!

We had a great time talking to the kiddos about the beautiful TRUE reason for Christmas. How can you fully explain all that Christ did when He chose to come as a baby...chose to leave heaven and come to save a sinful world...the pureness of Christ's love for us is unfathomable!! It's a beautiful, undeserving love I can't comprehend. Thank you, Jesus, for loving me just as I am and for coming as a tiny baby to save us!!

Talk about a blast!! There is nothing more precious then to experience Christmas through your children's eyes. Our 2yr. olds were a crack up. Baby 'C' kept saying, "I lub Christmas presidents!!" as she would hug every 'president'....Yes...she calls them presidents. Now I'm calling them presidents :) Baby 'S' was soooo excited to see what everyone else got. She would scream, "Wooooo....wook it....wook it!!" What a precious heart!! The 3 older one's really enjoyed seeing everyone open presents they picked out and of course, loved everything they were blessed to receive.

Christmas day proves to be extremely busy. We have brunch at dh's parents and dinner at my parents. A couple of years ago we couldn't take it anymore...more like our kids couldn't...by the time we got to my parents, we had very sad, very tired little one's that we had to force to open presents. Soooo, we started a NEW tradition. Hubby and I decided that Christmas Eve would be OUR family Christmas. We would take all morning opening presents (we do 3 each plus stockings) and spend the entire day playing with our goodies. Then we wake up Christmas morning, get ready and head to dh's parents then my parents. Talk about a blessing...both days are awesome fun and everyone remains happy and thankful!

I pray each of you had a precious time celebrating our Christ's birthday!!

Christmas Eve Blessing!

I am excited to announce the arrival of my precious nephew, Joseph Ethan. He was 9lbs. and 21 inches. Baby and mommy are doing great!! He looks just like his daddy. Because of our germ ridden family, we haven't been able to love on this little peanut, yet. I can't wait to see him!!

Congratulations David and Erika!!

SF update...

So far, all is good :) Baby "S" is doing MUCH better (thank the Lord for antibiotics!) and no one else is sick. I think we will be past the incubation period for the rest of us on Sunday.

Thank you for all your precious prayers...our Lord is hearing them & blessing us!!

SCARLET FEVER!!!!

What do you think of when you first hear the words Scarlet Fever? I, for one, think of a terrible, terrible illness from the 1800's. I also think that it's extremely rare!

Well...guess what?!?!? It IS definitely rare and it WAS definitely a tragic illness in the 1800's but even though it is extremely rare ... my baby "S" has somehow gotten SCARLET FEVER...weird, hun?!?!?

Scarlet Fever: Scarlet fever is caused by an infection with group A streptococcus bacteria. The bacteria make a toxin (poison) that can cause the scarlet-colored rash from which this illness gets its name.

Symptoms...

~fever 101-104 for 3-5 days...CHECK

~full body rash...feels like fine sand paper...CHECK

~strawberry red tongue...CHECK

~very red cheeks...CHECK

~sore throat...CHECK
~feelin' just plain yucky...CHECK

We have no idea where she got it from because we've pretty much been home bound. I am sooo glad I kept the 3 youngest one's home from church Sunday.

Concerns...

~highly contagious during fever

~incubates for 3-5 days

~rash lasts up to 10 days then followed by peeling :(

~possible side effects of SF...pneumonia, impetigo, meningitis...uuggghhh (these are rare though...LOL)

So, needless to say, this stinks! Please pray that our sweet "S" heals quickly and that no one else gets it...hey, a girl can hope, right?!? I will say that my God is totally capable of protecting the rest of us and that's what we are praying for.

UPDATE: I just got a call from my sister and my niece has SF, too. She called me earlier and my niece had almost all the same symptoms of "S". She took her to the dr. and sure enough...she's got it! We were all together on Saturday and both girls fevers started on Monday...uuggghhh!