Tropical Storm Issac

So were are all ready for this storm, we think. Water, non-perishable, flash-lights, etc.... We'll see what happens. We were going evacuate when the eye was headed for p-cola, but now that it's moved west a bit, we decided to stick around and have a stay-cation.

The Fair or something like it????

Our air conditioner is out of commission and the sticky hotness reminds me of walking around the fair as a young girl. I guess it reminded Hosea of that too since he requested to have batman painted on his face.  We've never done face painting at the house before, but in honor of our "fair" conditions I decided I would try my hand at it. 

Shiloh of course did not want to miss out on the fun.

You never know, maybe I'll have a booth set up at a location near you. ;)

Note: The repair man is coming this evening, so it was only "fair" for one day, which is really more than enough time at the fair I think.

Garden

As I mentioned briefly in my "march madness" post, my father planted a garden for us. He used more seeds this year, so I needed to transplant some little seedlings after a bit, but all in all I'm impressed with how it is coming along, thanks for all your hard work dad!

This is my strawberry pot from last year. It has a little strawberry plant coming back in the top, but my dad put herbs in the side pockets. I only wish I had more, I may plant some more?

These are our blueberry bushes we planted when we first moved in.

Here's the first half of the garden, this is lettuce, pepper, tomatoes and zucchini.

Here is the other half, it is full of green beans. And then I planted 4 cherry tomato plants in hanging baskets, they are coming out the bottom, I'm told this increases their productivity. We shall see?
This is our front flower bed, we did this all on our own. I was thankful that the bulbs from my lily's came back this year, and the rose bush as well. We threw in a few extra little colorful ones to spice things up a bit.

Around we go.....

Soo....... I think my day of war on the ants, slowed them up a bit. There was a few days where there were no signs of them. We made some homemade ant traps with borax, pb, sugar and water. We left them to set, just in case a return was made...... And it was, they have sent their children in the house for food. No joke, miniature ants about 1/4 the size of the previous ants are now coming in. I couldn't even see them with out squatting down to the floor. The good news is they are feasting on one of the traps, so hopefully they will return to their queen soon and serve up our special dish. If they aren't gone in a week, I'm totally moping with the geranium oil, thanks CR.

This week has been a bit eventful for Aggie Rae. She finished off a round of antibiotics for another ear infection, #4. She has developed eczema, I'm thinking it may be an allergy to the antibiotics, or bananas, or cheetos? And sweet little girl hasn't gained weight in 3 months, to which I replied "I do feed her". Her primary care Dr. has decided she is no long suited to be Aggies Dr., she is overwhelmed with Aggie and feels very uncomfortable overseeing her care. I am thankful for her humility to confess that. The clinic at Whiting field for the first time has showed compassion toward us, and is wanting to be helpful. Prior it was like pulling teeth dealing with them. I am thankful for this change. We now have a referral for a civilian Dr, Dr. Vanostenbridge, that has come highly recommended by friends and professionals. The tricare guy, Mr. Don told me "if you are not satisfied with the care there, even if the nurse smiles wrong, come back and we will find someone else, b/c we want you to be well taken care of" . Wow!!!!! This has never been my experience working with tricare, though Mr. Don has always been friendly. I think someone has talked with nearly everyone and explained our situation, and thus all the compassion. I am so thankful this was my experience on Friday in the clinic, as I normally enter there with my game face on anticipating opposition.

Prayer Request:

I cried twice this week. I was feeling overwhelmed. Aggies shoulder muscles are tight again, they need lots of stretching. She has kind of a permeant shrugged look. As she is bearing more weight, her left ankle is starting to turn out a bit, needing special stretching also. This in addition to the torso strengthening exercises and Range of motion stretching we are doing is a lot. I need to be more selective with my time commitments. God is sufficient and will provided all I need to do all He as called me to. Living this out daily isn't always as easy as saying it is, though I am certain it is possible.

Next 2 weeks line up:

6/13-PT

6/14-Audiology, Ballet Recital Rehearsal

6/15-EEG of brain

6/16-Ballet Dress Rehearsal

6/17- Endocrine, Mema and Papa Arrive

6/18-Recital, Grandma, Grandpoo and uncles arrive.

6/19-Happy Fathers Day

6/20-ENT

6/22- GI

6/24-PT

6/29- AGGIE TURNS 1!!!!!

ANTS!!!.......ANTS EVERYWHERE!

PLEASE TELL LITTLE QUEENIE THAT I'M NOT GOING DOWN WITH OUT A FIGHT! GRRRRRR!

Finding the Woodsmen inside of him.

Mike has had the urge to do some yard work. He wants to plant some new trees/shrubs, but he doesn't want the existing trees to block all the sunlight and stunt their growth, as he is intending for the new ones to serve as a privacy hedge since you can probably see that our back yard neighbors window if peering right over our privacy fence.. So he's decided to do a little "spring cleaning" in the back yard.
















We bought him a chain saw shortly after this. A new toy that he is finding new ways to get to play with it, for example he saw a tree down in a vacant lot near our home and said "that would make some good fire wood", I replied "do we need fire wood?". Of course we do. He is so funny.


















As he is climbing the ladder he says, "it says not to do this but......." Naturally I took a picture. If you can't see what he is doing, there is a very long pole (extended if fullest possible length) with a very small, but sharp saw on the end, made for trimming low branches on trees and such.



















This is the final result of all his labor, I think he did a fine job!

Pictures of the House

Here are some pictures of the house. We are looking forward to making it home. I didn't take any shots of the bedrooms b/c they are all the same color and not much to look at. Once we get stuff put together I will probably post more pic's.


The Front


Kitchen


Living Room


Master Bath

What boredom can do?

We have spent the bulk of this week shopping for appliances and other things we will need for the house, since we don't get in it until Friday. This has been our great idea for peace in the store. The kids sit in the cart and watch a movie and we get to price compare ask questions and so forth. Someone suggested we should write a book. I don't think we'll get started on that anytime soon.


I told Shiloh one day about how women from India have a dot on their forehead, now every time she has a circle sticker, guess where it goes, regardless of the size? Followed by "look mommy i'm an Indian". I guess she didn't know what else to do after that.


Passed out


Of course all their patience hasn't come with out reward! Strawberry Cake, Yum yum!!

Florida House Update

As many of you know, our departure date from NC was delayed to Feb. 18th, originally being the 1st, but this has been a huge blessing since the building of our home in FL is also delayed. The only struggle has been on my part and largely to do with a strong urge to "nest", pretty minimal. All in good time, as if the 5 months I have won't be enough to get everything in order, I'm a mess like that. As I tell my children "this is a good opportunity to practice patience". Plus there are still many sweet moments to be had here in NC, friends to enjoy, and such.

Mike was in contact with our relator today! There was a meeting last week about the projected time-line of our home there. We got some new pictures, which I'll attach. We also found out we get to do a "walk through" on the 23rd, and look for things that need corrected before we move in, and will close shortly after that. We are excited to see and hear such a progress report! God has been so kind to us in this.