What A Month This Has Been...already.

It seems July and August tend to be our most busy months and this year seems no different. We've had alot and I do mean alot going on here. It has been a great month in it's own way ,but also a trying month for our family. I figured, I would take a moment and do a family update (for those that do enjoy keeping up with our family). Pretty soon, our family updates will be found over on " Our Family Yearbook" Blog, but until it is done (Fall 2010), I'm going to keep adding them here.
Instead of adding hundreds of pictures,I decided to just add my calendar with a few pics from this month of things we've done. You can click on the picture to view it larger.
As you can tell we've been on the go. We are a family that enjoys activities and we stay pretty busy. It seems someone always comes up with something to do and the rest of us just kinda follow along:)
Once upon a time, someone said, "You shouldn't homeschool your kids, because your kids will be deprived of activity and socilization and they will never be normal"....this same relative now homeschools. I'm glad I showed them that it's not like that. We actually have more freedom...really and we do actually get out and do things together.
This month has also came with it's fair share of problems. As some of you know, my oldest son was really sick for about 3 weeks. I took him to the  doctor and the doctor sent us to have some scans done. After a few tests and two weeks of waiting for results, they finally called today and decided what was wrong with him. They said his lympnodes were inflamed. I've never heard of it,but that's what they said. I took him in complaining with pain next to his private area. Within a couple of days the pain moved to his chest & back. Within a week, he was hurting all over, vomitting, running fever, having back spasms, and losing weight...over 20 lbs to be exact. He was one sick boy, but he started feeling better about 2 days ago and seems to be improving more every day. It really scared us all and not knowing what was wrong, was the worst of all. We do not know for sure what caused it. They just said he was probably fighting off some type of super germ/sickness. I thank God that it wasn't anything else.
Also, after being off the NG tube for a few days, sweet little Jelly Bean had a set back. She decided to stop eating again and started loosing weight. So we had to put the NG tube back in,but we took it back out yesterday and she is doing good. On Saturday, we also had a big scare with her. She stopped breathing on us again during the night. She has done this a couple of other times since we've had her. It's like she gets so sleepy, that she forgets to breathe. Thank goodness her heart & lung monitor sounded off to alert us. After I jumped up from bed, grabbed her up,and played around with her, she woke up and started crying and then her breathing went back to normal. She knows how to get me out of the bed.... fast.

I was out and about yesterday and I found a new book to read. Everyone that knows me,knows I love books. I am especially fond of books written by Christian authors that encourage and inspire other brothers and sisters in Christ. We all need it on this journey. The book, "Traveling Light" is by Max Lucado. Little did I know that it would be exactly what I needed right now. I've just started reading it and I'm only on page 40,but what I've already read, has spoke to my heart and helped me to see some things I'm hanging on to.

This book is about "Releasing the burdens you were never intended to bear". It's talking about how we carry baggage(burdens) that weigh us down and how we can let them go and free up ourselves from guilt, discontent, worry, anger, jealousy, resentment, frustration, etc. This book is based on the 23 Psalm and explains what that verse from the Bible means in great detail. Once I'm finished, I'll tell you more about this book. If you can relate to feeling weighed down and buriedup to your head, then this may be a book you would enjoy too.

*Prayer Request*

As I write this my mother is in surgery. This is the final surgery they can do on her. They've done everything they can to help my mom with the problems she's been having. Please keep her in your prayers and pray this is the surgery that will take away the pain she's been living with daily. Mom's really had a hard time and she is discouraged.

Also,

My Nanny fell a few weeks ago. She fell during the night and was not able to use her alert necklace to call for help. She lay bleeding for 3 + hours ,before she was found. She lost a huge amount of blood and had to have several staples in her head. This week they gave her blood in hopes of building her up. She just hasn't been doing well at all. Please keep her in your prayers.

Well, I guess that is about it. I hope you all are having a good week.

Keep us in your prayers.

God bless you all. ((hugs))

BTW-I'm sure I have a few words not spelled right. I type fast and tend to mess up from time to time. I usually use spell check ,but it seems to not be working today...sorry.