Dr. Appointment

I finally broke down and took Katherine to the doctor today. Her fever never went away, and she woke up with 99.6 today, so off we went. Dr. Sheng said she is developing an ear infection and gave her some stronger cough medicine. So, I still don't know what the original problem was, but at least we are on the road to recovery! BTW, isn't it awesome how Sam's Club has $4 generic prescriptions?????

Fever Update

The last time I wrote to you, Katherine's fever spiked up to 102.6 by bedtime. Today is day 7 and her temperature was still up today, averaging around 100 degrees all day. She went to bed with 100.1, but I had given her ibuprofen for a little headache. She is coughing a bit, but she is slowly improving each day. She missed the entire week of dance camp, so I consoled her by letting her trade in one of her gameboy games at Gamestop today for a new one. Dogs 2. She loves it. It kept her on the couch, and that's all that matters. It's a weird little cold she has, because she wants to go outside and play. If she still has the temp. on Monday, I may break down and take her to the Dr. She is just not really acting sick. Just a little cough, and NOW, a LOW GRADE fever. If it were remaining high, I would have taken her in to the doc much sooner. So, keep praying for her. She seems to be steadily improving!

Fever

Katherine has had a fever since Sunday. The sad thing about this is that she is supposed to be participating in dance camp this week! She is so upset about this, but her fever is staying between 101 and 103. I think we are finally on the mend, though, because I have not yet had to medicated her. Her temp. is currently 102.1, so I will soon, if it gets any higher. I haven't had to medicate her since last night. This is huge progress. So, say a little prayer for my Katherine so she can recover quickly!

My little fish!

My kiddos graduated from their swim lessons yesterday! I am so proud of them! Karissa was moved ahead, and is ready for the "shark" class, which is the most advanced one they offer. Katherine, who was the star student in her class, is ready for "fish", which is more advanced. Finally, Justin, who was in the beginner class (polliwogs) is ready for the next level. He surprised me the most, as he was jumping in 12 ft deep water, and swimming several yards on his own. Hooray for the YMCA! The only glitch was that they received coupons for a free jr. dip cone at Baskin Robbins, which we promptly visited after lessons for a reward, only to be alerted to the fact that the coupons expired in Sept. 2006. They boy there would not honor the coupons, so we came home and had ice cream instead!

Relief!

Our air conditioning is finally back on! This spring, our a.c. never worked, and lately it had been getting up to 92 degrees in our house! Well, it is finally fixed. They finished last night, and it was down to 85 by 10 p.m. Paul and the kids were swimming and came back home and were so excited. It was surprising to find out that it was 85 and felt COOL! This morning it is 80 degrees in here, and we are all in heaven! I am so excited and energized! I am actually getting housework done. Yippee! We were blessed by borrowing a couple of fans, and even have a room-sized unit in our bedroom. We all slept there every night along with 4 fans. Now we all sleep in our own rooms again. Now, to return the fans...

It's official!

Well, it looks like this dog has adopted us. We had 3 families who were interested in this dog, and then, one by one, they all didn't work out. I told Paul I would try again, and he said, "No, we need to keep her now." Ginger is such a sweet dog! She moped around depressed for about a week and a half, but now, she is better. She has finally started chasing our terrified cats, but they asked for it the first several days just walking along hissing at her. So, now, we are officially dog owners! Any words of advice for helping cats and dogs to handle the trauma of being thrown together would be greatly appreciated!!!

Storm Brewing

I was chatting with a neighbor on the phone today, and she said "Go in your backyard, look to the right, then left!" I did, and this is what I saw. These were all taken from my backyard in about a 15 minute span of time. We watched the thunderstorm develop right over our neighborhood. It was so fascinating, and what made it so beautiful was that it was at sunset, so we had this beautiful red sky underneath the clouds! Our backyard faces east. ( No, mom, it wasn't a tornadic storm! ) AND, am I the only one who sees a face in the third picture????

HOPE

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
The longer I live this life, the more I realize the importance of remaining hopeful in all things. If we allow ourselves to lose Hope, then there is really nothing else to push us on. For some reason, God made us to need Hope--the attitude that things will indeed get better. Our lives will indeed improve. Without it, we lose our motivation. Hope is a necessary ingredient to a successful, happy life. HOPE. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

You know you're kids are growing up when...

• As a punishment, you find yourself taking away things like ipods and gameboys.
• contacts
• When your child goes to shower, you remind them to lather, rinse and REPEAT....please!
• You've finally broken down and bought real anti-perspirant (with aluminum and all)and told them to stop using that junky stuff from the natural food co-op.
• Your child is rolling her eyes at you.
• You find yourself saying..."Don't roll your eyes at me!" Because..that does NOT intimidate me!
• They are always trying to find a reason to stay at home alone when it is time for the family to go somewhere....and make their "needs" known as we are going out the door!
• People ask you if your child babysits.
• Their jokes are actually pretty funny.
• You feel comfortable doing yardwork with them inside.
• You feel comfortable with them doing yardwork.
• When they help with the housework, they actually do a pretty decent job.
• You start realizing that you have less time left with them than you've already invested.