Now here is an update of what happened while I was gone.

Where to begin.

I was going to announce our that we had been blessed again with a new little one due around the beginning of Dec, however that little one was so special that the Lord took him/her home the Saturday before Mother's Day.

After a possible bit of over doing it on Thursday I woke very early Friday morning with some spotting, thought that it was my warning to take it easy. But as the day progressed I realized that was not to be the case. By Saturday morning I knew that this was something I needed to be seen about. So I loaded up the other children and headed to my Mom's. They were all well taken care of by there Papa and other family members for the rest of the day, as we headed to the ER an hour and a half away.

We got there around 10am, were quickly entered into the system and tucked into a back room, blood was taken, the Dr came in and I more or less stated that I wanted an ultrasound to know what was going on. He seemed surprised and had the well it's what it is and that's that. But he had no more than left the room and then he was back saying that there was another mom there and I would be able to get one soon. After that was done, we waited some more, then they finally came in and said that I could get dressed and that the Dr would be in soon.

I was so worried about my Mom eating(she's a diabetic) that I forgot to eat myself, we had had breakfast around 9.15 and it was now 3pm. I was graceful enough to tell my Mom that I was going to pass out before doing so, and I thank the Lord that I was sitting in the chair and not still on the exam table. She was able to yell for help, and I was quickly woken up, placed on a bed and taken out of our little hidden room to round front right off the nurses station. Leads were placed on me, and an IV line was started-to which I still have a bruise almost two weeks later, my head was below my feet, my sugar was tested and found to be normal and I was quickly given fluids.
My OB Dr finally arrived to let me know that our little one was no longer there and I needed a D&C to make sure that every thing was removed for my health.

Over all from start to finish once he said what was going to happen it took 30 minutes. From the Anesthesiologist coming in to talk to me, to going to the OR, to being in recovery and geting to my room. Once in my room I was able to eat a clear liquid meal, get up and walk, and use the loo. Once I did all of those things I was able to go home, however I had forgotten to inquire about the Rogham(I am sure I am spelling that wrong) shot, I am A-neg and therefore need this shot, but the nurse had never given it before, and didn't realize that she needed to get it from the Lab. While in the course of talking about it I realized that I have now had this shot 16 times, since all of my children are Positive blood type I must get it-they do go back and forth with A and O, so twice each for the seven living children and two for my miscarriages.

I went back to the Dr today for a follow up and other than my iron is a little low, I am doing okay. It was a bitter sweet thing though as I should have been there for the ultrasound that would have given us our due date. But the Lord had a much greater need for this little one back in Heaven than here on earth and I will wait until it is time to meet him/her, knowing that He is always right.

We stayed at my Mom's while I was recovering as I was not allowed to drive for 48 hours after and then developed a really bad headache that ended up lasting for a full week.
We returned home on Tues, only to leave and head up to KY on Thursday to see Mary, the girls and Heather, Bryce and Bryce Eric who had come home from PA for the Battle of Sacramento.
This was my first reenactment, and I was going to learn. I am very interested in the War between the States and attending reenactments. So this was a learing trip, to see how much work is involved, what you do while you are there, and living like they did back in 1861.
The children had a wonderful time, the older boys didn't make it to the solders camp like they wanted to, but they did enjoy standing right behind the cannons on Sunday during the battle. They were really loud, but I believe that they were actually louder over in the crowd on Saturday.

There is a good bit of an investment involved with reenacting, the clothing wouldn't be that difficult as the way they dressed back then is very much the way I am dressing us now, or I am working towards, plus I can make most of our clothing myself. I did buy a blouse while there but I plan on taking it apart to make a pattern. I already use cast iron to cook with, dishes are pretty easy to come by, some use china, other use the speckled tin plates. There are several antique stores around where I should also be able to find glass jars, little bottles, and other props to add to our display.

I see the largest expense being the tent and such, but it will last for a very long time and there is plenty of room for our entire family.

Items in the tent would need to be hidden or covered if they were not period.

I fell though that at this point we will continue to attend other reenactments to learn more, work on collecting items for our own use, and then perhaps next year we can camp with Mary and the girls.

We came home on Tues it was very late, Wed we had an eye exam for Aric, Noah and Matthew, they all did so well that the Dr said it would be two years before he would need to see them again. Then today my Dr visit, while we were down in Tuscaloosa we went to Barnes and Noble and looked around. I bought two books for the children to use in school and they all looked at different things. I found a couple new Klutz books that I am thinking about getting, didn't see the one that I was going to get. We headed home with a yummy loaf of Panera sour dough bread, something I have not been able to figure out with fresh milled flour.

Mom and Dad have a couch for us that they are going to try and bring over this weekend if the weather is nice so we have been cleaning up in between all of the running around. There seems to be school stuff everywhere. I also can't find my camera which I really must do, I have a welcome wreath on the front door and there is now a bird's nest now on it, I feel bad that we are going to be opening the door and praying that there aren't any eggs in it yet. I will probably go around and look tomorrow. I hope that they do not attack me, I am going to try to get some pictures if we can find the camera.

Of course because of all the medical issues and traveling the grass is now two feet tall in some places, I really hope to get out there today now that it is so late/early and get some of it cut.
Last bit of news it that Richard will be back in AL on the 26th, but will NOT be coming home as they have more paper work and will be requiring him to stay in a hotel up close to the unit, of course it's not just him the whole unit is doing this, just those that live close by can go home. So this means that we will not get any family time before he leaves on the 30. But once they get to OK he should get at some point 4 or 5 days off, and I am more than welcome to drive out there to see him. UGGGGG the Army just doesn't make any sense sometimes. I am not sure what we will do yet, but I am sure that either I'll head out there or he's going to be renting a car to come home for those few days.

But that is pretty much every thing has happened in the past two weeks. I have missed reading blogs, posting on here. But at the same time it was a good thing to spend time with my family and friends, I did have my phone, but it just isn't the same thing as having a real keyboard.
Blessings to my readers, may the Lord bless you as you go about your day today.

Sorry for any typos or bits that just don't make sense it is really late and I really don't have a clue why I am still up. God bless.

Pre-teens and a camera

Seems that one young lady that I know and love, got a hold of my camera while we were at her house week before last. This is what she took.

Aric laying on the couch beside Becca.

Jadon playing with his coat.

Thomas making a funny face.

Caught red handed!!!

Ahh the photographer.

Matthew making a really silly face.

Noah and a pretzel that looks a little like Matthew.

I think that there might have been one more photo but really how many do we need of little boys sticking their tongues out at us?

Now this last one I think that I actually took, before I ran off to put Caleb to bed. They were all enjoying the caramel corn that Mary had made earlier in the day. I didn't get any, cause they ate it all.

I am thinking that maybe I should get Becca a camera for her birthday, I do believe that she might really enjoy one.

Rachel and Jen

While we were in KY we went over to our friends house and all the children played with each other but this whom Rachel played with the whole time.

Lovin on Jen.

she is such a great dog.

and then there was the barn cat.

Shelling popcorn for the first time.

Rachel was hard at work when we first got there.

Jadon taking his turn, it was very windy and chilly the day we did this.

Matthew was giving it his all in turning the handle. Becca was watching to make sure that he did it right.



Thomas and Aric are taking turns at the shelling machine.

Caleb was stretching to reach the top to put an ear into the shelling machine, while Noah was turning.

Caleb and Ashlee picking up some that had fallen out of the pan, this was just part of what we did and then some that was already shelled when we got there.

They all had a wonderful time and thought that it was pretty cool to make popcorn. It was very windy and chilly on Monday when we did this. The best part was when we got back to Mary's and we tried 4 different caramel corn recipes, yummy. The children didn't really care for the Gingerbread caramel corn, but they all enjoyed the regular kind. So much so that I didn't really get any. Oh well we have plenty of popcorn here at home, plus we even took some still on the cob.

Back home

We made it home yesterday right around 4, which means that even though there were a few stops that I thought took a little to long didn't.

But now I must tackle the yard, the grass a grown a foot. Well it looks like it has grown a foot.

Still have plenty to plant and and getting the garden started.

Off to work outside for the day.

Blogging from KY

The children and I have been here at Mary's for almost a week now and having a blast.

Sadly our time is almost over, we are heading home on Tues.

Here are some of the things that we have done:
went grocery shopping-had to stock the pantry for this large army.
tried to mow the yard-Mary hit a rock on the second day and the mower is now at a friends house getting fixed.
made a new skirt-Mary did this, Ashlee needed one, but Mary cut it in a way to make it hang on Ashlee in a certain way that it ended up being my size and would have produced a large waste of fabric, so I bought zipper and now have a great new skirt.
patched up wholly jeans-seems that all the jeans that they packed needed to be fixed so that they could attend church.
went to church-great services both in the am & pm.
eaten some great food-some of our normal meals, like nachos, oatmeal, pancakes, breakfast quiche without a crust, homemade pizza, just to name a few things.
went to the Bulk food store-I got a 50lb bag of oatmeal, baby pretzels covered in yogurt, and sugar wafer cookies, and will probably get some more before we head home.
Went to the park to play and celebrate Caleb's birthday with chocolate cake and popcorn.
Tomorrow we are going over to one of Mary's friends house to see their garden, greenhouse and possibly get a little bit of fresh popcorn.

I still need to get the pictures of our park trip off of Mary's camera and will post those soon.

I so don't want to go home but we must, but we are going to try to come up again next month for the Reenactment. I am very interested in what happens at one since I have not ever been to one before.

But it is crazy late and I must get some sleep. I will probably post again once we get back home

An afternoon at the park

Christina helping Rachel climb up the slide ladder.

There is a lovely little park just down the road from Mary's house that all of the children enjoy playing at. The weather was beautiful so we loaded up and went down to celebrate Caleb's birthday, we took a large bowl of popcorn and a yummy chocolate cake. Everyone played and had a great time.

They made it to the top and are getting ready to go down.

Aric and Matthew on the swings, I think Aric had something in his eye.

The train tracks are right there next to the road so getting to see the train this close it really fun. Thomas and Matthew are watching. We've also decided that we've seen some of these same cars here in AL.

Becca and Noah on the swings. Swinging is their favorite thing to do.

In the front we have Christina and Rachel, Becca and Kaden, then in the back are Matthew and Jadon.



Caleb at the top of the slide.




Happy Birthday!!!!

Caleb 3 years old.