First Trip In Bus

This past weekend, we took our first trip in our bus. We went to SC to visit our parents and for the new 4 children to meet their new grandparents. Even though, our bus does not have AC the ride to South Carolina was pleasant. When you have 22 windows to let down, the breeze feels good!! However, Jeff and the boys did decide that it was too hot to sleep on the bus. Therefore, they had a camp-out inside on Grandma Skelton's floor.

We arrived back home on Monday and Jeff is already working on getting all the beds in the bus. He would like to have it finished by August. We will see how God provides.

This is Austin on one of the beds. He and Steven came home with us and are spending 2 weeks with our family.

Some pictures of our weekend.

This is my Daddy with Hannah. We met my sister and her family at my parents house for lunch and playing in the river. We all had a great time.

Sierra Kayaking down the river.

This was Katie's first time in the river. She loved the water.

Pleasing My Man

Jeff and I were having a conversation last night. We were talking about things we have experienced, how the Lord has changed us, and how we have grown during our last 19 years of marriage.

I made the statement, "I have learned how to make my life easier with you honey." Of course, he wanted to know what I have learned. I replied, "I have learned that if I give you good food and take care of your NEEDS (ladies you know what I mean) then my days go well. Jeff just laughed and said, "Yea, it goes back to that APPLE. Eve looked nice when she offered the forbidden apple."

To this I had to add that men and women should practice SELF CONTROL. Adam should not have given into his desire but should have chosen to OBEY GOD!!

Jeff said, "It goes back to what you just said "good food and NEEDS being met". It started at the beginning of time. Maybe lots of marriages today would last if women would learn what you have learned."

I just shook my head and gave my MAN a big hug. We both know the reason that we have been married 19 years this August is because we do practice self control, die to our self, and love God.

WE ARE BLEST! I am looking forward to the next 19 years.

Who gets the Mumps these days?

ANDREW!!!!!!!

(The right side of Andrew's face is swollen more than the left. The knot(mumps) is right near his temple on each side of his face.)

On June 10th, he woke up with swollen knots on both sides of his face. Within a few hours, his forehead had a knot on it and the back of his head had two knots and was swollen. I took him and Hannah ( I will get to her in a minute.) to the doctor. The doctor looked at him quite puzzled. She said that she had never seen a case of the Mumps but thought(???) that this is what he had. She had the nurse swab the inside of his mouth and then draw some blood. She said that the Mumps is virus. If the blood work comes back and it is NOT bacterial then she is 95% sure it is the Mumps. However, the Mumps test will not be back until Friday. Andrew's blood work came back positive for a virus. Now we are waiting to see if it is truly the MUMPS.

Hannah had a temperature of 101 to 104.2 late on Tuesday(6/9/09) and during the night. I would not have taken her to the doctor because she was showing no other signs of illness. She was only complaining of a tummy ache. I felt the tummy ache was because of the medicine I was giving her for the fever and the fact that she was not eating. I usually let at least 3 days go by before going to the doctor in case it is something viral. However, since I was taking Andrew I decided to go ahead and take Hannah. At least the doctor could look in her ears and throat and tell me if anything was going on.

When she looked at Hannah she said that she saw NO signs of a cold. She said that most likely Hannah had the Mumps virus but not "full blown Mumps" because she had been vaccinated. Since we don't have Andrew's medical records from birth to age 5, the doctor felt like he didn't get vaccinated or at least didn't get the complete series.

She said that the Mumps are hardly ever seen anymore and encouraged me to look up the virus on the Internet. She went onto say that children who have been vaccinated (like Hannah) can still get the virus and have some of the symptoms or just be a carrier. She said that Andrew would have been contagious 6 days prior to the breakout until 9 days after the swelling goes away. She said that the virus can last up to 20 days from the time the mumps appear.

She said that most of the time the swelling is painful and the patient doesn't feel well. Thankfully, Andrew is not feeling bad. He does say that his head hurts a little but he is running, eating, and playing like normal. Hannah is a little grumpy and when her temperature goes up she doesn't feel well. But once the fever goes down with medicine, she is playing fine.

Here is what Andrew looked like today. DAY 2 (6/11/09)

This morning the right side of his face was swollen. His right eye is swollen more than his left and the knots seem to have gone down some. He still feels fine. Hannah's temperature is still 101-102 without medicine.

Hair Cutting Day

This past Sunday, Jeff decided to give all the boys a haircut.

Here are the boys before Daddy got the razor.

Hannah thinks that she will be a barber for the day!!

Jacob was the first one in the "chair".

Then it was Andrew's turn. He had the MOST hair to loose.Then came Joshua's turn. It really was not as painful as it looks. All the boys say that their new hair cuts are a lot cooler.
Here are some close up.

Andrew's Summer Hair Cut

Jacob still wants a hair cut like Dad.

Joshua can't keep his hands off his hair. I had to make him put them by his side for this picture.