Hello, Everyone. I hope you’re having a nice Sunday. I am feeling pretty good today. I prayed no less than three times this morning, before I got out of bed, that I would not be sick this morning. The Lord heard my prayers, and answered them. It was a nice thing to wake up, feeling good, and go to church. On top of that pleasantness, Elijah went to Sunday School today for the first time. He marched right off with Kyra, and their teachers said that he did wonderfully. I was concerned that he might disrupt, seeing that he’s only sixteen and a half months old, but they said that he sat in one of the teacher’s laps, colored, and did just fine. Yay for that! This means that, with both kids in Sunday School, I get to be in the adult S.S. class. Not only that, but we have a staffed nursery on Sunday mornings, so Elijah is taken care of then, too. I am going to get an entire service of uninterrupted listening. So, yay!
Well, since I started this post, I’ve discovered that Kyra has broken out with what appears to be chicken pox. She’s got several on her back, one on her neck, and two on her face. They all came up since I gave them a bath for church this morning. So, that’s not good. Elijah has one spot on his back. I don’t know yet if that’s what it is or not, but I guess we will see. Pray for me, friends. I have a feeling I’m going to need it. Not to mention my poor little munchkins.
My brother got married yesterday morning. Here’s a couple of pictures of the happy couple.

This is Misty’s daughter, Mackeinzie, with the newlyweds.
Malachi got a little cake-happy, here. Kenzie cried when she saw him smash cake all over her Mama’s face, but she got her revenge when her Nana helped her smoosh it all in Malachi’s.
I wish I had a picture of what me, my Aunt Kim, Lucas, and my pseudo-brother, Andrew, did. We snuck off from the reception and rolled Malachi and Misty’s house, and then we forked their yard. It was quite a lot of fun. I waited 22 years to roll someone’s house, and I’ve found that I liked it. Lucky for me, Malachi is a good sport, and not mad at me. I was going to offer to go and help them clean up the mess, but that was before my kids got chicken pox. I did call and tell them that we unknowingly exposed Kenzie to them, as well. I hope she doesn’t get them, but, the way this is going, I’m afraid she will. Sorry, Misty!
Well, my rambings have rambled far enough. I need to put another load of laundry in. Have a nice evening, and a pleasant tomorrow!

***Only 26 more days until we go to the beach!

Ugh. I was so sick today. So sick! I woke up feeling awful, and proceeded to puke all morning. I finally, after throwing up the fourth time, was able to sleep for a while. When I woke up, it was nearly time for Chris to go to work, and, thankfully, I was feeling a lot better. I don’t know what I would have done if I had still been feeling as horrible as I did this morning, and had to watch the kids all by myself.
Spending the day on the couch has ensured my house a place on the top ten disaster areas in the United States. (I’m sure there is such a list…somewhere.) Even the cat chipped in to mess the place up. His contribution was a roll of toilet paper, ripped to shreds all over the hallway floor. Even I contributed to the messes, as I had to get rid of some pretty nasty evidence of my sickness in the bathroom. Ew!
I’m glad I’m feeling better, because I have to get up early in the morning to go and see my little brother get married. Malachi and Misty are getting hitched in the morning. Dad agreed to sign the papers for him (as he’s not quite eighteen yet) on Wednesday night, and, by Saturday night, they’ll be Mr. and Mrs. Malachi Francis. How sweet, eh? Out of the three of us kids who are married, two of us had to be signed for, as I was only seventeen when I got married, as well. Interesting, huh?
So, anyway. That’s today’s news. Hopefully tomorrow’s will be a little less nasty (excluding the last part about the coming nuptials…that was just sweet).

You know that feeling you get when something is wrong, and you automatically assume the worst. I think of it as the, “Oh, God, No!” feeling.
I’ve had it several times before.
I had the feeling when I was 13 weeks pregnant with Kyra. I was incredibly sick, ended up in the hospital, and was in extreme pain. I was scared, confused, and thinking, “Oh, God, no! Please don’t let me lose this baby.” Things turned out fine, but I’ll never forget how scared I was.
I had that feeling again when I was in labor with Kyra. The monitor started beeping, nurses came running in, they flipped me on my side, put oxygen on me, and I just thought, “Oh, God, no! Please don’t let anything happen to my baby.”
I had that feeling when Kyra was a baby. She used to get hurt, hold her breath, and pass out. One time, she passed out, went limp, and didn’t breathe again right away. Then she started shaking, and I thought, “Oh, God, no! No, no, no, no, NO!”.
Not long ago, I awoke to the phone ringing in the wee hours of the morning. Chris was at work, and my first thoughts were knowing that something was wrong. It was the CAS operator at the Lab calling to tell me that they had taken Chris to the hospital. “Oh, God, no!“. When all was said and done, they tested Chris for Multiple Sclerosis. For a month, I prayed, “Oh, God, no! Please, please, no.” Chris was fine.
This morning, I had another one of those moments. I woke up at nine o’clock, wondered what Chris was doing, as he had worked nights last night. I went and got Elijah from his crib, and Chris was not in the living room. I looked out the window, and his truck wasn’t in the driveway. I tried not to panic, as I called his cell phone. When he didn’t answer, I thought, “Oh, God, no! Please let him be okay.” I was picturing him falling asleep on his way home, after a couple weeks of very little sleep. I called his work number, and the CAS operator told me that he had been held over and had just left. Relief flooded over me, and I wanted to cry. I don’t know exactly what it is that makes me panic when something is just not right. I believe “Oh, God, no!” is my prayer, before any more information is given me, that He would keep me from my worst fear…something happening to my family. Nothing is scarier than the sinking feeling of dread when I have that response. I’m just glad that God has spared me so far. I can’t imagine the pain that people must feel when their “Oh, God, no!” response is justfied.
I am just so thankful that I have my family. I don’t think I could live without them. They are my life. God knows that I love them more than anything. I hope you all have moments…not necessarily “Oh, God, no!” moments…but a moment just the same, that leaves you overwhelmed with thankfulness for what you’ve got. It keeps us from getting complacent. I gave Chris a few extra kisses, today, and I hugged my kids a little tighter. Thanks, Lord, for the reminder.

This is going on less than five minutes from my house. What this article didn’t say but our local news did, is that they are now on foot. That is so scary. My aunt works at the courthouse. They said that Kingston is crawling with cops from all the surrounding counties, as well as FBI and TBI officers. It was weird to see Roane County Tennessee on Fox News. The last time our local area made national news was when a local deputy was shot and killed by a teenager, and the time before that was when my hometown was nearly wiped out by a tornado. All the bad things get us national attention. Anyway, this is scattered….crazy!

When it rains, it pours. My poor brothers! My seventeen year old brother, Malachi was bitten on the leg last week by a brown recluse spider. They got the culture back today, and he now has a staph infection. So, that really stinks. My soon-to-be sister in law, Misty, left a comment about it on a previous post this morning, and told me to call her. I had to call my mom to get her number, and, when I did, she told me that she was at the doctor with my fifteen year old (on Thursday, his birthday) brother, Lucas. You may remember him from the toenail removal posts. So besides the toenail removals on both feet and a severe soft tissue fungal infection in his foot that had him on crutches in the past couple of months, he was telling me yesterday that he thought he had pulled a muscle under his ribs when he was working laying block. So, mom made an appointment to take him to the doctor to see about that this morning, and then she went to work. When she left work to pick him up for his doctor’s appointment, he showed her a rash that had come up on his body that appears to be chicken pox. If that is not enough, it also appears that he, too, has been bitten by a brown recluse spider on his upper leg. Is that not freaky? The poor kid just keeps getting knocked down with health issues. I feel really badly for him that it looks like he is going to spend his fifteenth birthday suffering with chicken pox, a spider bite, and a pulled muscle.
Just to make matters a bit more cheery, it seems that the source of Luke’s chicken pox was a girl at teen camp a couple weeks ago. Our pastor and his wife took the teens from church, as well as their six year old daughter Emily, to teen camp. While there, a girl from another church broke out with chicken pox. Now, two weeks later, Luke has them, and Emily, who had the chicken pox vaccine, appears to have a very mild case. Last week, we had revival at church, and my children were around both Luke and Emily every single night. Kyra has had the chicken pox vaccine, but Elijah has not. Luke sat with us and held Elijah several nights, and Emily played with both of my kids, kissing and hugging them, every night as well, even after she had spots on her. Are you seeing where I am going here? I am sweating it big time! I do not want my poor baby to get chicken pox. Ugh! It is so miserable.
One more cheery aspect of the situation? Why, sure, I would be happy to heap another ray of sunshine onto the cheer wagon! We (as in me, Chris and the kids, Mom, Dad, Luke, and Seth, and Malachi, Misty, and Mackenzie) have a vacation to Myrtle Beach planned for one month from now. I will cry for days if we have to cancel or postpone our trip because the kids have chicken pox and the boys have gangrenous spider bites.
Say it with me, Children….Ay Yi Yi!

I woke up this morning, took a shower, ironed all our clothes for church, and then decided that I was just feeling too bad to go. My stomach was hurting pretty badly last night, and I just felt all around bad this morning. I felt bad about not going to church, since I wasn’t actually throwing up or anything. Mom called after church to see what was up, and said that Kyra had won Student of the Month this morning, and she wasn’t even there to go up and get her prize. I felt like a terribly selfish mother. I should have just sucked it up and went. I still feel bad, but not as bad as I did this morning. I will probably try to go to church tonight, regardless of how I feel. So, yeah. Blah!

I’ve been pretty busy today, but Kyra and I took a play break. I broke out the PlayDoh. Kyra had no idea what it was. I bought it yesterday, and suprised her with it this afternoon.

We had a lot of fun making some really awesome works of art.

I tell you, we are natural born artists! I think the work speaks for itself, no?

Then you have got to go read this. I think it is hillarious. It definitely made me laugh earlier.

I had a pedicure today. Yep. It was awesome. My very first one ever. I didn’t know what I was missing. I felt re-charged when I left the salon. My toes are so cute now. Well, maybe not so cute, but, for my short, stubby feet, I think they are quite nice. So, that was fun. I recommend it to everyone. Especially to you, Maytina, being pregnant. I wish I had of thought to get one when I was pregnant, and my feet hurt all the time. The leg and foot massage was to die for. Okay, enough gushing. I’m such a dork.

P.S. Ignore the flip flop tan line, and the cat scratches on my feet. Pretend they are beautiful foot model feet, okay?

Oh, joy! I’m so excited. What has brought about this excitement? A new children’s show on Nick Jr called Go, Diego, Go! So, what you ask? Well here’s so what. Kyra has loved Dora the Explorer for forever. Wonderful. Well, now Elijah is starting to get interested in Dora, but, being the looking ahead mother that I am, I have worried that he won’t be able to have Dora shirts or toys because they are all for girls. Well, Diego is Dora’s cousin, and, starting in September, he is going to have his own show. His own boyish show. I won’t have to be like the mom I saw in Walmart who was trying to explain to her little boy that he couldn’t have the pink Dora shirt because it was for a girl. I never understood why they didn’t make boys’ clothes and toys with Boots (Dora’s monkey friend) or Diego on them. So, now, Dora’s male fans will have her boy cousin to love. So, yeah…I’m excited.