Hoping it will last...

Isaac is coming out of this flare it seems and is greatly improved. His bm's are much less often and we are not seeing blood, although it could be there, we just don't see it clearly. Please pray against the enemy to gain any foothold on this good turn.

Kevin went into the doctor yesterday because his splint was way too loose and not seeming to work to keep his finger up. The OT said if he takes it off at all he is letting the tendon on top fall down and it takes that much longer for it to heal. He has a new splint and he's not allowed to be without it for 6 weeks. He's really feeling it would have been easier to just take the finger off. He would be healed up by now and on with life. They are talking surgery again to repair the tendons and things in there. He sees a specialist sometime in July to discuss this. Another reason to be off with the thing according to Kevin. I see his point but still, it's nice to see his whole finger on him! :)

We are busy with outdoor projects. The kids did a great job of helping rake up the grass in the newly tilled garden area. Today, we cleaned it up and I tilled again. I am having trouble getting it workable. I planted some cucumbers and pole beans. My scavenger husband was at it again and brought home an antenna tower someone threw out. It will be a great pole bean tower. I'm hoping to train the cucumbers up the old spring from a crib we used to have. We are doing a major overhaul on our perennial garden. It used to be about 10' by 64' and is now about 8' by 48'. We took out all the plants, laid down a weed barrier and have transplanted the plants. Tomorrow, we hope to do the finishing touches; edging on the front, mulch, and boards along the back fence to keep the mulch in. I cannot stand weeding this year after year, up to 5 times a summer but I can't see trashing the whole thing either. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Dr. appointment...

Tuesday, we drove the 6 hour drive to Mankato for Isaac's doctor appointment. We borrowed Kevin's parent's car and it was comfortable and quiet and really good on gas! His appointment went well. Dr. K. has a lot of experience with Ulcerative Colitis. He walked us through his labs and it shows he is inflamed, not too badly but that something is going on. We've seen improvement so I hope the inflammation is on the way out. We do labs next week to monitor what's happening so please pray for great improvement! Again, it has been disappointing to go through this setback. Isaac is very discouraged and had a hard night last night accepting it. He woke happy and hasn't been down today, for that I am thankful.

Poor Kev went to get some milk and dropped the jar on the tile floor. Crash went the jar and nearly a gallon of milk everywhere. Thankfully, he is cleaning it up himself. I'm too tired to even think about it! The unfortunateness of using jars for everything. This is the third time it has happened.

I was tilling today and loaded up 4 wheelbarrows of horse manure and spread it on the part of the garden I have left to plant. It is new ground and needs to be raked clear of the grass clumps. I've been tilling it over and over hoping to avoid the raking part but it doesn't appear to be breaking them up too well. This morning Em and I spent three hours cleaning for a lady. I washed her windows outside and polished her cupboards while Em dusted and vacuumed. After a lot of late nights, long day yesterday and today's activities I am ready for bed. Thus, the reason I didn't help Kev clean up the jar. Thanks again for praying and thinking of us. Isaac could sure use some encouragement and of course we all would rejoice with his healing.

Some improvement...

We have seen some improvement in Isaac the last couple days. It is encouraging as we haven't done much but change his diet a bit to deal with the flare and now we have been adding foods back on and he is reacting well to them. He had a doctor appt. with the doctor who helps us keep him on track nutritionally. He's having a great last few days because my dad from Wisconsin is here visiting. He's camping out in my front yard. Some kids have been sleeping out there in the camper too. It gets a little cold at night but they love it. I'm not sure how I feel about them out there, this morning they were confused as to the time and were brushing their teeth at 6:30 a.m. I am not an early morning person.

We went to the dentist yesterday, 8 of us had cleanings! It was two years since we were there last. How many cavities could 8 people have........drum roll please........2! They are both in one child too, meaning 7 of us were free and clear:) They were in back teeth where this child isn't flossing well. Unfortunately for me I have two teeth with cracks in them. He asked me if they were bothering me and right that moment they were not but as soon as I ate something, whoa, pain! I now realize it is my teeth causing my jaw to ache and my head to hurt each day. Oh, bother, as Winnie the Pooh would say.

Our van is going under tomorrow. We decided to get it looked at to figure the problem out. Kevin just got the septic system fixed that was overflowing since last November and then the sprayer engine died, right in the process of killing my millions of dandelions. Life is designed right now to make sure we have not one penny to our name!!! Worse than not one penny, being in the hole a lot of pennies! Again, it feels like that roller coaster ride I sometimes refer to and how I want off. I'm learning to lean into the curves a little and it's not so tumultuous as it once was. I don't even feel a little emotional as I write this and that is progress! I know we are not going through some extraordinary trial that seems to only have hit our family. Thankfully the Lord is leading us through and we can find peace in it all:) So, smile and think of us if you are having a bad day because we're probably having a worse one!!!!! :) JK! (just kidding)

New life...

We are all watching the new babies. Emily was in the pen because Jane knows her because she milks her. Emily was toweling off the babies and helping them stand. She threw some extra straw in the pen for them since the one baby was slipping around on stuff.

The boy kid is the top one and the girl is in front. I think they named the boy Gadget. The dad goat is named Gizmo. We are still deciding on the girl. She'll either be from Pride and Prejudice or another Jane Austen movie. We are tossing around Kitty or MaryAnn.

We have two new babies at our house and they are adorable. I was out in the garden and I heard a baaa sound that sounded quite little. I went over to check on the girls and there was a baby all strong and fluffy and another one being born. Jane gave birth to twins; a boy and a girl. We were hoping for two girls so we could breed them both next year and then have two more to milk. The boy was born first and appears the strongest. It is a very exciting time for all the kids.

Rain, Rain go away...

The items shown here were all completely free! Free! How cool is that? I didn't have to do much to finagle these deals to be free, just hand over the coupons for them. The Windex outside window cleaning kits were $12.99 each (free), Scrubbing Bubbles shower cleaner with battery powered nozzle, $8.96 each, (not only free but I made $1.04 on each), Schick Hydro razors, $7.99 each (again free plus made 5.04 on all four of them), free Carefree pads, Palmolive free and clear(no additives) (free), Infusium shampoo, $7.29 each (free) Bird-eye frozen veggies (free). Everything here was free! It did take the kids and I some work to organize the coupons, checking for deals online and then the time finding it in the stores, since so many are sold out of the item but we did good. Jordan read a wife saved her family $24,000 in all the years she was couponing. That's fun!

I can't take the cold! I want to be outside weeding or something! I drove home from town last night dropping off a kid's friend and the roads are just mush and cause a head-ache even trying to drive on them! The girls tried out with the friend for the symphony yesterday. I'm praying they all make it in. It was a great experience last year for Jordan and we know it would be for Emily. It's a disadvantage that we don't have a school orchestra nearby they could take part in but you do the best you can with what you have and the girls are doing well anyway. We had a very late night. I was couponing last night and for some reason I am so slow at it.

Kevin had an appointment and unfortunately for him, his finger isn't healing very well. He will be 4 more weeks with another new splint. There isn't much blood flow there and that hinders healing. His new splint pushes up the broken bone and makes it look more "normal". He probably won't be able to use the end of that finger and he's a bit bummed because he wants to play banjo with the kids but I'm not without hope. God has done bigger things before!

Isaac is improving with his last relapse. In the UC (ulcerative colitis) world it is called a "flare". It has been disappointing but we know what we are dealing with and a bit about how to fight it. He is definitely improved yesterday and today! Praise God for that! Please continue praying for his healing! Thank you!

A little lift needed...

Face lift? (Maybe, but not a chance) ski lift (yeah, I'd like to try that someday), lift chair (not quite yet although my body sure feels worn right now after all the gardening), emotional/spiritual lift (jackpot!!) Nothing really out of the ordinary at our house right now. If you know what our last two years have been like then you know that ordinary can be a bit.........difficult. I could really use a huge "out of the ordinary" experience right now, like, winning some of the sweepstakes I've entered for a new washer and dryer or the new 2010 Dodge Caravan that I just entered today, or how about the $1,000,000 giveaway I entered a month or so back. The best "out of the ordinary" experience though would be for Isaac to be completely healed. He had some valleys again in our climb to wellness recently. We are looking forward to his complete healing. Please pray for him to be completely healed and for his spirits to be lifted up. He's planning to go to Mexico on the next missions trip so I pray God has it planned for his healing to be complete before then (possibly next February). I know so many of you are praying for Isaac already but if you could just please remember him in your prayers he'd appreciate it and we can petition God together to bring a blessing upon Isaac's body.

Misc...

Kevin, the missionary who housed the team is getting a new set of tires when his went flat. He is actually giving tracts and Bibles right here. He witnessed to the owners of the place and the lady wanted to know if he had more Bibles and tracts for her to give out to others. The team were all pleased to see God work out the flat tire for His glory!
Jordan, on the trip home at the Gulf of Mexico. It was very, very windy this day. Jordan is not really a swimmer so she enjoyed watching the others and walking along the beach.

Mason and some new Mexican friends. Mason is my Gideon's age and nearly as cute :)

Jordan and her good friend Rachel H. She is the oldest of 6 who live about 11 miles from us and home school too. It was good for the two of them to go on this trip together. We've been friends forever but our busy lives don't always cross paths.

Mason playing with these really neat sticks. I saw these at the Home School Convention and he entertained children with his brother at Children's Crusades with them. His brother can do tricks with them behind his back, under legs, etc.

Jordan braiding Rachel K's hair. Rachel attends the same church as us and went without her family on the trip. it.

Braiding Amanda's hair. Always something to do with 13 people around. Jordan was able to fix someones cut with her band aids and Tea Tree Oil (kills germs), soothed bug bites with the oil too and share her chex mix when someone got a headache they thought from not enough salt.

Juggling at one of the Crusades. She was helping one of the other boys get warmed up and did a turn herself juggling just two balls though.

Her first authentic Mexican meal. The green strips are cactus. The large white thing is an onion. There was steak, spicy chicken and other meat here to make fajitas. She enjoyed it all.

Work in Mexico...

Ooops! Warren set his tools on this sink and it was not strong enough to hold them! He was in here fixing or putting in a toilet. Thankfully there is another sink.

Unloading the palate of wood they brought from Minnesota with them. It will be used for many things.

The kids all took part in helping with the construction projects.

Here they are fixing a roof!

Prayer...

My favorite picture of prayer from Jordan's trip. This little boy from one of the churches they did street ministry with, is laying hands on another "little" boy. He's 6 years old and plays drums with the worship team. He is already being used by God in a mighty way! How awesome!
Praying before they go out for street evangelism. They went door to door in some neighborhoods handing out tracts and Bibles and talking to the people. A Mexican member of the church was teamed up with two or three mission team members.

Praying before they crossed into Mexico. Warren is giving everyone the "rules". Only answer questions asked and don't joke or talk too much. If you say one thing suspicious they will pull you over to the side of the road and have you empty your entire vehicle, trailer, etc. This was on their way in and their trailers were loaded.

Praying with the members of one of the churches they worked with.

Praying over the children that came to one of the kid's crusades they held. They juggled, did skits, and other entertainment for the kids before and then after passed out clothes and toys to the people who came. So, anyone who gave things at our church, some of that stuff was used in these crusades! Neat! Huh?!

I heard Jordan comment to Kevin on the phone today that it is a little hard to get back into dishes and doing school when you've been there doing the things that she was doing. It was exciting for her to work for the Lord in that way. It gives you a high and you want to keep on doing it and getting the response that you get.

Jordan...

Church this last Sunday with Pastor Leannel, his wife Blanca, Kevin and Jordan.

Jordan with the Pastor's daughter whom they called Naomi (I believe her name was too difficult to say in Spanish so they called her this for short.) In the background two of her brother's heads (to the left).

Jordan, in Mexico, drinking down a Coca (as Coke is called there). There were Coke stands everywhere. They were told that up in the remote mountains you would find a Coke truck. It is the original formula for Coke made with cane sugar so supposedly better tasting. Jordan said it was too much in a bottle for her so she didn't buy them as much as most of the kids did.

Jordan arrived home to much welcoming by her siblings. She got home around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. She talked non-stop until about midnight telling her tales of adventure. She had a great time! She made new friends and strengthened old ones and learned a lot about the love of the Mexican people. They were friendly and happy and when they make a decision to know the Lord, they mean business and worship in a much more enthusiastic way than most of us staid American Norwegians, Germans, Baptists, etc. She had to learn to loosen up a bit. We went to church on Sunday a the same church that sent the missions team. The nice surprise was the team brought back the pastor, his wife and four kids from Mexico (the pastor that they helped do some construction projects for), The church here got them a vehicle and they came to pick up the vehicle. We enjoyed the sermon, visiting with them and praying with them. There was a potluck dinner and a showing of some pictures of the team's trip. We all enjoyed the day greatly!

Happy Birthday...

Lena is just way too cute. She was smiling for the camera. It gets cheesier each time she tries.

11 fingers being held up in the back over Caleb's head. Check out Moriah's smile, it looks a lot like Lena's in the above picture?!?

Caleb is now 11! He's a great kid who thanked me so many times for a great day. We invited two friends over and they had a treasure hunt that Isaac designed that ended in a sword fight for the treasure (several boxes of candy to be shared among them all). We had Chinese food per Caleb's request to have egg rolls so that helped me decide what the rest would be. They watched the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was funny in parts. It is not a movie I would own. There were some little things thrown in that gave me pause, therefore I would not want to own it and have the kids watch it again and again. We have enjoyed reading the book by that title so wanted to check out what it was like. The kids sure laughed and laughed. We took the extra boys home and visited another hour and got home at nearly 1 a.m.! It was a good day.

I have been cleaning the house in anticipation of Jordan coming home. We started Thursday dusting, vacuuming, etc. Today, I decided to vacuum the whole basement. Kevin worked on the lawn mower and sprayer. I sure hope to get rid of these pesky dandelions. Every year we mean to do something and something else always happens. The story of our life. Well, got to go move the chicken tractor off my garden so I can till the ground if it isn't too wet. Jordan tells me the whole team has a few thousand pictures together from the trip. They hope to get it onto one disc. Come on over sometime to see it and let Jordan share. I talked to her a few minutes today and it sounds like they did some neat things. I could hear it in her voice that she liked what they did down there.