Memorial Day

I know that some of you are going to be so jealous when you read this post. I found out about a picnic about 45 minutes from out house that I know all of you would love to attend. It is hosted by Scott Brown of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches (ministry of Vision Forum). In fact it is on his farm. Carl and I decided that if he was feeling better today that we would try to go. He woke up feeling good so we all piled in the van and headed to their farm. It was am amazing day. When we first arrived they had a dad and his daughter greet us before we even drove all the way on the property. They were handing out free Cd's to every car. They were from Doug Phillips, Scott Brown, and two other men. Carl was quite impressed. We got to sit under the teachings of Doug Phillips himself who attended with his whole family. Talk about encouraging. The whole day was dedicated to raising real men and honoring those men who had served in our military. We got to hear from Ezra Hill who was a Tuskegee Airmen who fought in WW2. He has an amazing singing voice. We also got to hear Bill Brown and Bill Henderson be interviewed right before our eyes. If you don't know who they are you need to listen to Jonathan Park's episode entitled Return to Iwo Jima (Volume 4). Both men fought on Iwo Jima and Bill Brown was even shot down and had to be rescued by a submarine. It was amazing to hear these men speak about real manhood and how important it is to raise godly young men like those who fought during WW2. Lunch was provided (in the pouring rain) and after the rain stopped they had snow cones, balls, Frisbees, a pond to catch fish in, and hayrides and jeep rides (driven by Doug Phillips himself.) It was awesome to be around families of like mind. Everyone was so polite and friendly and we felt like we truly were a part of their family. It was incredible to walk and meet men who we have heard speak on CD from vision forum. I have also never seen that many large families in my life. For once I did not feel weird about being very pregnant with number 7. There were more 15 passenger vans than mini vans and it was awesome. Pregnant women and babies were everywhere. The kids had a great time and did not want to leave. William's favorite part of the day was actually meeting Bill Brown in person and shaking his hand. Alex loved fishing in one of the many ponds on the property. Nathan, Esther, and Daniel liked the hayride and jeep ride. Sam just liked running around. All in all it was a wonderful day, one I will cherish for a long time. I can't wait till next year. Next year will be their 10Th time having it and you can guarantee that Carl and I will be there again. Some of you guys should plan on coming down to visit our home school convention and then the picnic. They are always held the same weekend. I will post some of the awesome pictures and videos I took today on a later post. I am too tired right now to go get my camera.

More Prayer

Pray for Carl. He has caught whatever William had. He is feeling really bad right now and he can't take off any time this week because we are trying to save his leave for when Caleb is born. He is achy all over and tired and generally feels bad. Daniel caught pink eye from everyone else and Alex's asthma started acting up yesterday. He did not get much sleep last night due to coughing. He had to take an albuterol treatment for the first time in about six months. We stayed home from church due to all the sickness going around. Pray that everyone is healed in time for this baby to be born. I don't think I can do this without Carl's full support during labor. Also pray that I don't get sick. I cannot fathom having whatever is going around the kids and Carl while in labor and delivering let alone with a newborn. One good thing is our home school fair was this weekend. We took all the older kids to get their books for the year. I was able to get everything but the spelling program I want for the kids. I have been organizing all day today because it has been a movie day here. It is exciting to look at all the new books. It is good to have a little distraction during all the chaos of sick kids and Carl. He is not a good patient. He gets cranky when he does not feel well.

Update on Sick Kids

Well, William thankfully does not have the flu. Yeah! I need some good news. Nathan's eye is healing wonderfully but Esther's is worse. She has a swollen eye now and has a blood spot in her eye. They want to see her tomorrow just to check it out. William is worrying me. He has not eaten hardly anything since Monday. He keeps getting dizzy spells and really high fevers. He now says his legs hurt and his armpits (weird huh?) He has done nothing but lay around since Monday. The funny thing is he gets these spells where for about an hour or two he will be just fine. He will be up and running around and no fever or anything and then he like crashes. Fever goes back up and body aches and headaches. He just lays and moans sometimes. He is going back to the doctor tomorrow too. This is really wearing me out and my energy level is almost non existent. I am worried and tired and just basically in that wait mode. I really am hoping not to go soon because I am too busy taking care of sick kids right now to have this baby. God's timing truly is perfect because if I had delivered already I would be dealing with sick kids, a newborn, and trying to recover from delivery. God's timing truly is perfect!

How Much More Can I Take

Today we are dealing with two kids with pink eye and one case of suspected flu. I am due tomorrow and not feeling well myself. Carl had to stay home today because Sam had an evaluation for speech therapy. It was a home visit and went very well. He passed with flying colors on everything but expressive language (because he has none.) He rarely even says ma and has never said da. The normal range of scoring was between 85 and 115. He passed receptive language, fine and gross motor skills in the 90's. He expressive language was less than 55. Needless to say they want him to see a hearing and speech specialist soon. After that meeting I called our doctor to get some eye drops for the two with pink eye. When she heard that William had a high fever of 102, headache, chills, and an upset stomach they wanted to see him right away. So off to the doctor we go. They did a strep test (negative) and a flu test. Since all this nonsense with the swine flu they could not do a rapid test and had to send it to the lab. I got 3/4 of the way home when the nurse called and said there was a problem with his test and he would have to come back again and retake it. We live an hour away from the doctors. It took all the strength I had left to not start yelling. I was calm though and told them that I have an OB appointment tomorrow anyway and am driving right past the doctors office. So we are off again tomorrow for a nurse visit to get it done again. The joys of having children. On top of everything my mom is going downhill fast. She has no energy whatsoever and her headaches are lasting all day now. She is certain she had a seizure the other night so she is afraid to drive. All the doctors agree to wait a until the 8th to schedule the surgery but my mom is really not feeling well at all. In addition we now have a mouse problem in our house. Carl put poison out and one decided to die on our family room floor. The kids walked in the house after a visit to my mom and discovered it. I just walked right back out the door and called my wonderful husband to come home IMMEDIATELY. It was after 5:30 anyway so he was just finishing up work anyway. We all went to McDonald's drive Thur while daddy made the house safe. It has definitely been an interesting couple of days. Oh, Carl also had car trouble yesterday. Man, I am tired. I came home from the doctors today and took an hour nap (unintentional). It was a good thing that William was inside to watch Sam. The other kids and Carl were all outside working on the garden. I woke up and jumped up (well as much as a 9 month pregnant woman can jump up) and searched for Sam. He was contently playing in the play room. Thank goodness he did not walk outside the house with the kids running in and out getting drinks and tools for Carl. Our pastor made a comment during the sermon on Sunday that has really been on my heart this week. He said no event happens in our lives without first crossing the desk of God and getting his approval. Wow, I really needed that to reflect on this week. Oh, the funny thins is is that it is only Tuesday!!!!

Update on My Mom

My mom had her appointment with her neurosurgeon on Tuesday. She definitely needs surgery. It will not be till sometime in June so that is a praise. When I called her today she was out shopping for hats and scarves as they will need to shave her hair. I almost cried. She told me that the doctors now might think it is cancerous. They will not know until they do the surgery. My mom is so concerned right now about my dad. It is going to be a ten hour surgery with her in the hospital almost a week. My dad does not do well with waiting, especially in the hospital. Leave it to my mom to be more concerned about all the rest of us instead of dwelling on the fact that she is having major surgery on her brain! I guess if she dwells too much on it then she will get depressed. She just kept telling me on the phone that the Lord knows what he is doing and he will see us all through. She is ready for whatever happens and that is an encouragement to me. I have tried to explain to the kids about all this. The older ones understand and the boys actually think it is cool that they are going to be inside her head. I have yet to see my mom and dad since her appointment so I really don't know how they are handling everything. My dad is our main concern right now. He has such a hard time without my mom around and he can't stay with us because we have a two story house. His heart and lung condition causes him to not handle steps well. Be in prayer for my mom and dad and my two sisters. Kellie is in CO it is painful for her being so far away. Jen is in VA so it is a little easier for her to come down. Hopefully between the two of us we can make sure my dad is taken care of. I will have a very new baby right when the surgery happens so that is a concern too. Oh, does this post sound depressing. I thought I just posted like this about my dad and his leukemia. No wait, I did last year. I keep telling my parents that they are giving all of us girls gray hair or in my case white. After everything settles down I am banning all sickness for at least a year. Can I do that? At least it keeps us all on our knees and close to the Lord. I don't think I have grown so much in my relationship with God as I have these past few years with my parents medical issues. God has truly blessed us in how each circumstance has come to pass. If my dad had not had heart problems that day last spring then they never would have thought to check his blood levels and find the leukemia. If my mom had not fallen and hit her head that day last month they never would have done the 2nd MRI to find the brain tumor. God is good. He always gives us just enough strength for each day. No more and no less. There is no sense worrying about tomorrow because I have not been given the strength for that day yet. I need to paste that to my forehead as I have a lot on my plate these next few weeks.
On a lighter note, Carl finally came up with a name for this new little one.
CALEB ASHER TRAUTMAN
I think we have a theme going on with a few names. The initials CAT or KAT for four members of the family.
Alex wanted Reuben Asher because the initials would be RAT. He could be a CAT chasing a RAT. Carl did not think that was too funny. He has this thing about initials.
I think that is enough rambling for today. I think I am going to take a nap before our home school co-op family night event.

Nesting and Other Miscellaneous Stuff

I have finally hit the nesting stage of this pregnancy. I am 36 weeks today. I have spent the past three days throwing things out and reorganizing the kids rooms. I am just about done upstairs but I am worn out. I have a huge pile of stuff to give away. The kids have been great through it all. They even have done it without the use of the TV as a babysitter. I have banned the television for the next month. We have been three days without the television and they have not really missed it. William built a K-Nex roller coaster set that I bought two years ago and was about to get rid of because no one had put it together. The last time I checked on them they were pretending to be in heaven and they were describing what their mansions looked like. I could not help laughing at that one. I get a break tomorrow as we have SEEK in the morning and then my mom is going to watch the kids. Carl and I are going to a Dave Ramsey web event being held at our church. Poor Carl is on day 5 of his 10 day cleanse so we can't even go out to dinner. I am so proud of him though. last night was tough because he went and bought me a steak sub and cheese fries (I know real nice when your husband is on a cleanse). He had to leave the room because the smell was wonderful. I will have to update you all on how the entire cleanse is going. He is really committed to a better lifestyle for us. He is int he process of planning our garden for the summer. He is so good to me and the kids.\
I do have a prayer request that is really causing stress on me right now. My mom was supposed to watch the kids this week so I could get some stuff done. I was on my way to meet her when she called me and told me she was at the doctors. She had to have some routine blood work done (monitor her magnesium levels) and immediately her mouth and tongue and lips went numb. She went right to the hospital. She fell and hit her head last week and they were afraid she was having some bleeding in her brain. They did an CAT scan and then an MRI because they found something they did not like. They did another MRI with dye and sent her home. This morning she found out that she has a brain tumor. I know it sounds scary but it is not the cancerous kind. They explained it as more of a hamangeoma (like Daniel has on his wrist). The problem is that it is pressing on certain parts of her brain. That is why she has been having the muscle twitches and the memory loss and the loss of balance and the other symptoms that the neurologist could not explain. The MRI she had a month ago showed the tumor but somehow they missed it. SO here I am due in a few weeks having to deal with the possibility of my mom (and babysitter when I deliver) having brain surgery. I know the Lord is in control but the timing, in my eyes, stinks. I know everything will work out but my hormones are telling me something different. Just pray for my mom and praise God that her mouth went numb or we might not have been able to catch the tumor. Oh, her mouth issues ended up being a latex allergy which she developed all of a sudden. I think that is enoough rambling from me for now.

A Three Man Sling Shot, A Tool Set, And a Skateboard

I found out while enjoying the beautiful weather this week that it does not take much to keep 8 boys occupied. All the kids were outside playing the other day and my neighbors two boys came over with a friend. Now you need to take into account that my neighbors one son is a teenager and so was his friend. The boys had a blast playing nerf guns, sling shot (using rocks to try and hit our stream), skateboards, and a tool set. The results were hilarious as Alex and Daniel took a part our cozy coupe and then had to reassemble it. Samuel had a blast on the skateboard and yes he tried to do it the right way. The other boys had a great time flinging rocks to the backyard with our three man sling shot (a great investment by the way from Vision Forum.) The yard looked like a huge nerf gun battle had taken place, no wait, that is exactly what happened. There were darts everywhere. We are still finding them as some ended up on the roof and the wind today blew them down. We all had a great time. Even Esther who got involved as much as the boys would let her. I love being outside and the people who drive or walk by always enjoy watching the kids play. Although I always see them counting the number of kids playing. Isn't it amazing that kids will always gravitate towards where there are adults around? I sometimes end up with 10 or 15 kids playing in and around our yard. Half of them are over the age of 11. I don't mind though. That is how I grew up. Everyone always came over our house because they knew that Miss Judy (my mom) was always home and would welcome them in. She was the secondary emergency contact for a lot of our friends because they knew she would always be around. I don't mind the kids of the neighborhood knowing that I am always home.