Jay!

We had a good day!

Jay is doing wonderful, and spent the day inventing things, spying, and playing with Ayla. He said his throat was still a little sore, but other then that he seems fine. I am so glad!! He is so ready to see everybody again. He has been asking all day when he can see everyone again. He misses everyone at church and his cousins A LOT! I am still deciding about Sunday. Not sure if I want to let him out or not. Pray that I will be able to make a wise decision, that is not ruled by fear. If not Sunday for church then hopefully Wednesday night.

God has blessed me with a wonderful Mother-in-Law. Last night when I left the house to go stay with Uncle Bob, the house was in shambles. When we got home this morning I looked at it and thought, "well, this does not look as bad as I thought". After a bit I noticed that the dishes were washed, then I looked in the fridge there were Ayla's peas that she had picked at Grannys. Ahh.....That's who my house Angel was. Granny!! Thank you so much for washing the dishes, and for cleaning a bit on my house, Mama. I am so thankful for you.

Dr. Visit.....

Our Dr. visit went good today. Jay and I had got up early, like 4:00, to go get his lab work done. When we got there we discovered that the Lab did not open until 7:00. It is good that we got there when we did though. We got there at 6:50, and there were 8 people in line already. By the time the lab opened at 7:00 there were at least 20 people in line behind us. It took about an hour for us to get done there. Jay did great about getting his blood drawn. He cried a little, more like yelled. He was so amazed that his blood was a really dark red. He talked about it for some time. After that we had about 3 hours before our Dr. appointment. We drove around looking for a milk shake. We had to settle for a BK milk shake because none of the good stores where open yet. Then we went to Walmart to wonder around and to find something fun for Jay to do while we waited. Spent about an hour in there. After that we drove to see is we could find where Uncle Merril and Aunt Marie lived. We found there house but it was empty. :) Empty of people that is. Oh well, maybe next time they will be there. :) By then we only had an hour left to go so we went to get lunch, then drove the Dr. office. We wait in the parking lot till it was time to go in. Jay took a nap while I talked on the phone. :)
Dr. Middlemas said that his white blood cell count looked good, so that means that there is no bacterial infection. The quick mono test came back negative, but he said that he still could have mono. We have to wait until the other test comes back and that could take days. He said if Jay starts to feel worse bring him back ASAP. But it looks like this is just a viral thing. It is very contagious so I am to keep him at home for a few days.
Jay is feeling much better, no fever since last night. Dr. Middlemas thought his talking sounded better. He also said that his tonsils were not as swollen as they were yesterday. I looked at them today and they look just plain nasty. They were very big with large patches of white stuff on both of them. Dr. Middlemas said that they were almost touching yesterday. Yikes! No wonder he was not wanting to eat anything. It will be several days before he starts to really feel better. So we will be hanging low here at the house. :)

In other news..........Auntie Ann is now in a nursing home in P.C. The Rehab was full here in town, so they moved her into one down there. She is not liking it at all. I talked to her this afternoon and she said they got lost and had to rent a room down there. She said the furniture is horrid looking. She wanted to know if I could do anything to get her out. She said more then that but I will leave it there. LOL She can be funny as long as you do not take it personal, and you take it from the perspective that she is losing her ability to think straight and understand what is going on around her. I am not too sure how long she will be in there, but she is not wanting to do her therapy. She wants to get up but when the therapist comes to help her get up she wants to stay in bed. ;) That's Auntie Ann for ya.

God blessed me today with this song.

Casting Crowns - Praise You In This Storm

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say “Amen”, and it’s still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

Chorus:
I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can’t find You

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

Chorus:

(2x’s)
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of Heaven and Earth

Chorus:

Jay....still sick.

Whew, what a long day. It stared out this morning with Jay still having a fever. Gave him Motrin and called the Dr. office to get him an appointment. Did some wash and finally got a hold of the Dr. office to set him up an appointment. 10:00 headed over to see Gabe before we headed to Tallahassee. Ayla had the first appointment at 1:45 est. She was complaining of an ear ache last night so the Dr. worked on getting her ear cleaned out a bit so he could see her ear drum. There is still lots of wax in there that I need to try and flush out. Half way though her visit Jay started running a fever. He was on my lap the entire time! Ayla was a sweetheart and let the X-ray technician carry her down to the X-ray room. Dr. Streacker said her X-ray looks GREAT! There in no more yucky stuff in her lungs!! PRAISE THE LORD!! Finally we get out of his office. We are checking out when they call Jay back. So here we go again. Dr. Bradford was his Dr. By this time his fever was 103 and he was MISERABLE. They gave him Tylenol to help him feel better. Ears where fine, throat was.....Oh wait.....That's what it is. He has a horrid looking throat. "Lets do some swabs." Uggg....Jay hates getting the back of his throat swabbed. He had to have it done twice. The test for strep throat came back negative. In the Dr. comes and out again. Next she come in with the Head Pediatrician, Dr. Middlemas. He looks at Jay's throat and says his tonsils are very swollen. Said it sound as though Jay is talking around a hot potato. (it does!) He tossed around a few big words that I did not understand. Then they talked about doing some labs and testing for Mono. They would like to see if it is viral or bacterial, so they know how to treat it. It was 5:00 when I got out of there. I headed right over to the Lab that was suppose to be open until 7:00. Guess what?? They were closed. They close at 4:00. :sigh: So we have to go back in the morning, early, to get labs drawn. (the Lab opens at 6:00est.) Then at 11:00 we have another appointment with Dr. Middlemas. Hopefully we will be able to find out more then. I made it all the way to Bristol before I started crying. Right now it is just one thing on top of the other. When will it ever end.

Keep praying...........

I am blessed today by my Brother Samuel. Yesterday he took my car to Marianna to get two new tires on it. Today when I drove on the interstate my car did not shake. It was so bad on Friday I could only go about 60-65. Samuel is a blessing to me.

Sick

Jay is still running a fever. He feels really good when he has Motrin in him, but after about 4 hours he is back on the couch with a fever again. Oh, what to do, what to do......

He is breathing fine. Normal respiration rate. His throat hurts though. So maybe he has strep throat??? Gabe says that his throat hurts too, but he does not have a fever. Jay does have a cough, but it is a loose one, thankfully. When his fever was down, he said he felt better today than he did yesterday. Now he is back on the couch with a fever of 102.4 fever. I don't know.....I give up. If he is still running a temp tomorrow, I will take him to the Dr. with Ayla. (she just has to go for x-rays)

Pray for me that I will have wisdom to know what to do.....and that Jay will get better soon.

Ayla is doing good. Busy, busy, busy.

'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,

but how to dance in the rain.

babies and things...

What a day! What a week!!
First things first........I have a new Nephew!!!
Lane William
He was 7 lbs 9 oz. and 20.2 inches long.
Here he is. Isn't he just scrumptious?

I can't wait to hold him!
Jay keep saying all day "I can't wait to see my new nephew!"
:sigh: Someday soon we will get to see him.


I took Jay to the Doctor today. He started to run a fever last night. I was rather worried about it. The Dr. said it looks like he just a has a virus and to keep doing what I am doing. :another big sigh: I should have known. If I have trouble controlling his fever I am to bring him back. Ayla has to go on Monday to get her last x-ray. If Jay is not better I will take him along.


Auntie Ann made it though surgery today. She will be in Panama city for at least 5 days. Then she will have to go to a rehab center for therapy. Hopefully they will be able to get her is a place close to home. It will make it easier on everyone.

Ayla is going strong. She will not stop talking and she is always bugging Jay if they are on the same room together. He keeps telling her to leave. The poor girl, she just wants someone to play with her. I am so glad that she could go to Granny's today while I took Jay to the Dr. She had lots of visitors at Granny's. Judah, Weston, Forrest, Aunt Angie, Aunt Shannon, Tyler, Berkley, Carrie-Jo, Great-Grandma, Mrs Karen.....And of course she had Granny all to her self for a while too. :) I think she had a great day. Thank you Granny for letting her stay with you.

Gabe has not had a good sleep since Wednesday. He had a couple of times where he dosed, but no good long sleeps. He got home at 6 and went and laid down. He was able to get about 1 1/2 hours this eve. Hopefully he will be able to sleep good tonight. His sleep cycle is all messed up. Poor guy. He tried so hard to sleep last night but he has the same cold that Jay and Ayla have, and he was all congested. He finally went home at 3 and got some sudafed. That helped but he was still not able to sleep good.

This too shall pass. I really should find out who said that. I know my Mom says it all the time, but someday I will find out who started it. LOL :)

I am good. I have thankfully not got "THE COLD" yet. But I am EXHAUSTED. Very exhausted. I am sure it will only be a matter of time before I get it. I have been trying to eat my veggies and I have some vitamin C drops that I have been taking.




edit: I wrote this post last night.

Gabe was able to get a good nights sleep. PTL.

Jay is still running a temp, but he is up and play some today.


Pray for Ayla, she started coughing and seems a little under the weather and she says her tummy hurts. I take her to the Dr. on Monday for her last X-ray.

............

Poor Jay......now he is sick. He was very quiet today which is not like him at all. He said his throat hurt to bad to talk. I made him some lemon and honey tea. I hope it helps. He does have a slight cough. I am praying that it does not get worse.
Ayla was better today. She still sounds bad but she feels much better. PTL!! And she has no cough.

I wanted to share this with y'all. It is where I get most of my crazy home remedies for my children. :)

I went and mowed at the H. this evening. Gabe watched the children and I mowed. It was so fun! I don't think that Gabe and I will ever have to worry about nobody wanting to mow our lawn (should we ever have one). We both love to mow. Running the weed eater is not so fun, but sitting on the mower is. I hope my children hate to mow. LOL

I am blessed by Caroline today. She volunteered to work for Gabe last night so he could have off for our anniversary. We have a wonderful evening. The children were here (because they had colds) so we had a pajama party with them. After they went to bed Gabe and I had our party!!!! It was just so wonderful to have him home in the evening.

I am also blessed by my Husband today!

Gabriel & Amy

Today....8 years ago.....I married my best friend.

I love you Gabriel.

Colds

Ayla is starting with a cold. Stuffy nose, headache, low grade fever.......
Jay is sound like he has it too. :sigh:

"Count your blessings, name them one by one......Count your many blessings for it may surprise you what the Lord has done."

1. Ayla~God saw fit for her to still be here with us. He has a plan for her life.
2. Jay~He adds joy and adventure to our lives.
3. Gabe~he works so hard for his family. Without him I would not have the first two. :)
4. We have a house to live in that keeps us cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and dry when it rains.
5. Lots of family who not only love us, but are our friends as well.
6. A church family who stands with us though all the trials of life.
   
7. We have food on our table every meal.
8. God is providing the money for our hospital bills.
   
9. Yesterday I saved 669.18 on the pediatric bill by making a 10 min phone call.
10. Caroline called this morning and offered to work for Gabe. He will be home tonight!!!!!!!!
11. It seems to just be a cold that Jay and Ayla have.
    

I have lots of blessings!

Count your blessings today!!

⁶Turn to the LORD!

He can still be found.

Call out to God! He is near.

⁷Give up your crooked ways

and your evil thoughts.

Return to the LORD our God.

He will be merciful

and forgive your sins.

⁸The LORD says:

"My thoughts and my ways

are not like yours.

⁹Just as the heavens

are higher than the earth,

my thoughts and my ways

are higher than yours.

¹⁰"Rain and snow fall from the sky.

But they don't return

without watering the earth

that produces seeds to plant

and grain to eat.

¹¹That's how it is with my words.

They don't return to me

without doing everything

I send them to do."

Blessings

I am blessed by my church family today.
We had a park day today. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. I love being able to go to church with my friends.

Thursday

Thursday was a fun day.
Aunt Shannon called in the morning and invited us over to her house to help celebrate Carrie-Jo's birthday. After a bit of school we loaded up and headed out. At Aunt Shannon's the boys stayed busy riding their many bikes. Ayla found a shopping cart and a doll and went shopping. :)
I love little girls.
Shannon loaned Ayla a bike with training wheels. Hopefully she will soon be riding on her own.

After Lunch we ran home to see Gabe for a bit before he had to go to work. We visited with him till he had to go. Then off we went again. This time off to the Dairy Farm to swim in their pool. :) My sisters and Ashley M. soon joined us. But.....The water was COLD!! Very cold. The children did not seem to mind the cold though. However they where shivering after about an 1 1/2 or so. I did brave the cold and swam some. Jay is now brave enough to jump off the diving board with floaties on his arms. He had a blast jumping off and swimming back. He can swim with out them, I just don't trust him in the deep part yet.
Ayla had all the tubes she could get a hold of plus a pair of floaties. She was cruising all around the pool. One time she was chasing Mom around the pool trying to take her noodle away. (Mom does not swim with out a noodle.) :)

After we got done swimming, we headed to Moms for supper. Gabe had to work so we figured we might as well do something fun. We stopped and got hot dogs on the way over for a wiener roast. Samuel even took Jay out on the boat for awhile. We had a fun time sitting by the fire just chatting. :) With 3 teenage girls there there was no lack of conversion. It was late when we got home and the children fell asleep in the car. They were wore out.

Today the children are going to go over to Granny's for a while. Gabe and I are going to have a DATE!! Whoo-Hoo!! He is going to have to work every day for the next month, so.......we have to make the most of every monent.


It's time to go......

It's been a good week so far. God is so good.

^"1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalms 23:1-3"

He knows my every struggle, he is always there to help me though. Praise God for friends who pray and encourage you.

He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Let God lead you this week.

Roll-a-coasters.

Life feels like a roll-a-coaster. There is a long slow ride up to the top. The gears grind slow, and it is hard to get there. Then all of a sudden there you are on the top. WOW, what bliss! Then......Wham......Something happens, words spoken, or not spoken, and down you go crashing to the bottom.
Lord, help me to take the roll-a-coasters in life in stride. Walk with me and help me up. I can't do this on my own.

Blessings

I am feeling blessed by Family tonight.



I have some wonderful In-loves. :)

Extra Layers of Flesh

Something to think about.
Take the time to click the link and read it.

Extra Layers of Flesh

Monday

Monday found us at Grandam house!!
Jay took some of his school along. He did not really like to have to do school at Grandmas house.....But.....everyone else was doing school so he had to too. He was a trouper.



<--------------- Susan was doing school at her desk in the living room. Note the ear phones. I guess she uses them to block out all the other noise.




Beth ------------------->
was in her room doing her school on the FLOOR! Well, I am not too sure if she was doing school, or on the internet. One time when I went in she was on Facebook.


<---------------Samuel was in the living room on the couch doing his school. Well, most of the time that is. He never really seamed to stay at one spot too long. Dad was helping him a bit too.




Any one want to guess what Ayla was doing??




Yep! You guessed it! Holding the baby kittens. This girl LOVES baby kittens. Sissy had 5 kittens. She spent most of the day playing with them. Our cat Feisty also had kittens. Thankfully only 3 but she/Ayla drags them all over the place. Well, the Mama cat also drags them all over but she is just trying to get them inside the house.


I had a great day visiting with Grandma and Mom. As well sabotaging my sibling computers. ;)

Tuesday was sewing circle. I always enjoy going to that. We had a really good turn out this time. About 15 or so ladies came. It's not just about quilting its about the fellowship that is there. Thank you to those who come and make it special.

Wednesday we hit the school books hard. Today we are at it again.

I finally feel as though everything is caught up. I have been feeling so overwhelmed with house work since coming back from the hospital. This week I finally had a break though. Today I have all the dishes washed, all the clothes washed and folded, the living room cleaned up and vacuumed, the one porch sweep clean.......I can do this. On to the bathrooms and the big porch. Oh and the children bedrooms. Mainly Jays. One day my house will be tidy, not spotless, just tidy. :)

Have great day.


Have you done a deed of Kindness?
Next time you go to wal-mart greet the greeter!

It's a beautiful day! I love spring days. :)

~Weekend~

We had a wonderful weekend. It all started on Friday night when the Det. family had a get-together. Aunt Mary-Jane had come down from VA to visit her daughter Sandi in south FL. So they came up here for the weekend. It was fun getting to meet Sandi and her boys. I don't think I had ever meet her before.




Saturday found the children and I in Tallahassee. We did a little shopping then we went to Maclay gardens. We had a wonderful picnic lunch with my Family and Grandma. Mom or Dad, one of them, grilled hamburgers for us. It was a very beautiful day. After lunch we walked around the gardens. There was not many flowers blooming, but it was still really nice.









Samuel helped my children climb up onto this half falling down tree. I took a few pictures of them, but I was on the phone with Gabe at the time. Here Sam is helping Ayla get down.










At the Picnic we did arm wrestling. Mom can beat Susan and Beth. Susan can beat Beth. I can beat Mom Susan and Beth. Samuel can beat me. And Dad can beat Samuel. LOL Lots of fun.






















My Dear sisters Susan and Beth. I am so glad I have sisters. :) They make life much more enjoyable.












Sunday was spent in church. In the Morning the children and I went to Red Oak. Rocky preached a great sermon on "Words". Very Thought provoking. Thank you Rocky for the reminder to watch what we say.
It was the first time that we have went to Sunday school since Ayla was sick. Kinda scary for me but I am praying about it. Then home for lunch. After lunch we went to the Park church. Where Drew had a "funeral" for "our mutual friend". He talked about the church dying, and how we can keep it alive.
After that we drove down to see the river again. It's now at 23 feet.
6:30 found us back at Red Oak. This time with Gabe. YEAH!!! Pop and Mama were in charge of Hymn sing. After Church we had a great time of fellowship.

Today I am headed to Moms to spend the day the day with them.


OK, I am still trying to figure this blogger out. It it way different then Xanga, and is taking some getting use too. UGGGGG........ Just gotta keep working on it. :)

Cheeri-O

Getting use to the new blog.

OK. I am still tweaking this site. Please be patient with me as I tweak it to my liking. :)

This week has been rainy. Very, very rainy. Today Gabe took the children and I down to the river to see how far it has come up. Right now it is at 22 1/2 feet. It's almost level with the road. Almost, but now quite. I wish I would have taken my camera. There is a creek behind our house in the woods. Today we can see the water that is creeping up from the small creek out our kitchen window. I don't think it will get to our house.
But......Our roof has a leak. I told Pop about it last night at church. Hopeful he will be able to fix it tomorrow or the next day. It is suppose to be clear those two days then on Sunday start to rain again. Ugggg..... I feel like I am living in WA instead of FL. Monday was the last that we seen the sun. Sniff.....I miss the sun. Hopefully it will come out of hiding tomorrow.

I am blessed today by the rain, even though the rain clouds are hiding the sun. All this rain is making the grass green, and our Collards are growing like crazy. Yummy!! I am hoping to get some tomato plants soon.

Have you done any deeds of kindness today??
Do a deed ~ Read a story.

Just trying out a new blog. We shall see.