WHERE TO BEGIN?!?
I guess with a disclaimer that this will be random, LONG, and….random!
It’s been awhile, after all!
I mentioned in my last couple of posts that we had the stomach flu.
So, let’s start there, and get this part over with!
It all seems like a very, very bad dream now.
I still want these memories in my little scrapbook!
We were SO sick. SO, SO, SO sick!
BUT – the Lord blessed us with ONE adult standing at all times.
I have no idea what we would have done otherwise!
Chad was the first to get sick, on a Monday night at bed time.
It was right then that my prayers kicked into high gear that the Lord would see fit that the rest of us would not get sick!
Sometimes the Lord’s answers to your prayers are not what you hoped for!
But we know His will is what is BEST!
Blake got sick next, and we ran out of our realtors office and sped home.
That was on Wednesday.
Eliza started at 1 a.m. on Thursday morning.
My poor baby!! She was SO scared!
And then I made it up the stairs to wake up Addie Mae at 3:30 a.m. right before I started.
Yep.
On Friday Lane started.
Addie Mae texted me this photo!
Oh my heart. I could not stand up.
Then she texted me this photo.
One healthy one!
Good grief, he is SO cute!
Blake was back on his feet Saturday morning.
Just in time for Addie to start.
It wasn’t until Grant started on Saturday night that I really lost it.
Like hands over my face, sobbing into my pillow as I listened to it all and could not stand up to help anyone.
Blake was running to and fro, and asking me to text him when I heard someone be sick so he could go to whoever it was.
Really.
Sunday morning we evaluated and decided that Grant and I needed IV fluids.
Lane and Addie Mae probably should have had some too.
Sunday afternoon Blake took Grant and I to the E.R. and we each got three bags of fluids.
Chad was back on his feet Sunday, so he took care of everyone else.
Slowly, ever so slowly, everyone got better. We were ALL better by Thursday of the following week.
Our tummies still rolled as we tried to eat to gain our strength back.
But we were better!
And Tate and Hannah had not been sick!
Yet.
Friday we went to Kayla’s for our belated Valentine Party.
And then Saturday…..Tate finally got sick.
We will never be totally sure, but we think he is the one who then got Kayla and my two precious grand babies sick.
I know, I know.
Somewhere in the middle of all the sickness, Addie came and told me the dryer had burnt up.
Why not? There was only three thousand some loads of stomach flu laundry!
We hung some out on the line, but twice I took helpers to the laundry mat to dry six to eight loads of clothes!
(These photos are from Instagram stories.)
My handsome hubby is also handy!
He ordered new parts for the dryer, and once they arrived, he fixed it!
Thank you, honey!!
Once I was back on my feet on Tuesday, I started spraying everything in sight with Thieves cleaner!
It is my favorite cleaner!
No harmful chemicals!
It’s from Young Living, and you just mix a capful of it into a spray bottle of water.
It smells SO good too!
I took the four youngest kiddos to the grocery store after we were well.
Our pantry was BARE!
Grocery is a BIG job around here – but I do have nine people to feed three times a day!
Eliza was Addie’s special helper a while back.
These four blessed their big sis Kayla by getting her grocery when Kayla and the babies were sick.
Memories in the making!
My grocery crew left the farm at 6:30 a.m. this past Friday.
A busy day calls for drastic measures!!
Addie Mae and I ran errands on a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon – playing catch-up has been a big job!
These two cutie pies got new pjs on one of our errands.
They are growing SO fast!
We also have been back to school since we have been better.
Following our schedule is such a blessing!
An afternoon spelling test for this sweet boy.
Just look at how well Eliza can write her name!!
Lots of other normal things going on again here!
Like lots of games!
We love to play games!
Date night was A DREAM after being so sick!
I cannot believe how good that coffee tasted!
Speaking of that man I love to date – we had our 28th anniversary last weekend!
Couldn’t have written the story of our life together better if I tried!
Sorry for the blurry photo!
It is over 28 years old!
It has been very cold here even though we have had some spurts of warm beautiful days.
We also are still having snow storms!
It is snowing right now as I type!
Nine inches predicted for tonight!
Hannah has been a constant blessing!
She fits in here like she has always, always been here!
Here she was reading to the littles while we were hunkered down during a bad storm last week.
We sat in our living room, which in an inner room of the strong brick part of our home.
We almost went to the basement, which we have never done during a storm since we have lived here.
We heard a tornado was spotted near-by.
We had some small damage of branches down, gutters blown around and such.
The Lord also saw fit to take down this old dead tree for us!
Just wish He would have had it fall the other direction!
This was the beautiful calm the next morning after the storm.
Speaking of Hannah, she brought home some fun glasses from work one evening!
They were SO funny!
What a hoot!
Tate had new x-rays taken this week in preparation for his six month check with the orthopedic surgeon in Madison later this month.
He was stealing hearts all over the hospital, as usual!
I am very sad to add this next photo.
It is of our puppy Jax, right as I was leaving the house with him to take him to his new owner.
I miss him SO much.
He was my pup.
I loved him. We all did.
But he fiercely bit Lane on the face last week – and the risk with all the littles that are here was just too great.
He is a high anxiety dog, because he was a rescue, and we felt we could not trust that it would not happen again.
There were lots of tears the day he left.
Some good news is that we have showed the farm twice since we have listed it with our new realtor!
We are very prayerful and hopeful that this spring will be the time the Lord will bring a buyer for our farm!
During one showing, Hannah and I took the littles to the library.
Then we ate lunch together afterward!
Another blurry photo, of course!
The littles love the library because they love to be read to!
All the day long!
But especially at bed time!
Speaking of those two precious cherubs – here is some Saturday morning goodness!
Footie pj’s, long lazy breakfasts, and lots of time around that big ole table!
Last, but not least, here is this girl.
WHEN did she get SO BIG?
She turned five today – and we had quite the bash!
More on that later!
Look at the legs on this chick!
I guess that will be all for this ramble!
A long, random update this ended up being!
Hope you all have had a great couple of weeks!
We are looking forward to a great week ahead!
Happy Monday, everyone!
