A Full Plate

What a very eventful and busy two weeks we have had!  We have all had to work very hard at keeping the stress levels down by doing some fun, spur of the moment, things to help keep things lighter and happy. 

Antonio went six whole weeks without a bad spell.  It was the longest stretch of good days to date since the botox reaction.  He is now been going through a bad spell and is on day nine.  It is really hard on the whole family when he goes through these manic spells, so we try to keep our days happy and light to balance it all.    

Last Saturday, William passed out while we were at a friends house.  It happened so fast, no one caught him and he fell hard.  We were in their kitchen with hard wood flooring.  He hit his head on a counter while going down and put an inch and a half long gash on the side of his head. He came down with the side of his face taking most of the impact on the floor.  His whole side of his face from the temple down to the jaw was bruised and swollen.  His eye socket on that side was swelled and black and blue.  He looked like he had been in a bad fight, bless his heart.  We spent the day in the ER having tests done.  They glued closed the gash.  The EKG and blood work came back normal but the CAT scan, when read by his doctor, showed he had a concussion. (bruised his brain) He is doing really well but having trouble concentrating and doing his college work.  He is also very tired and having trouble getting his thoughts together.  I am so grateful to God for his hand of protection.  It could have been so much worse.  We are all praying for a quick and full recovery.  Also, that it will never happen again.

Another big change in our lives, is that Tim's parents will be coming here to live with us.  We are all in prayer about it and pray the Lords hand on the whole situation.

We have workmen all over the farm.  They are fixing roofs and siding from the horrible hail damage that was done in the hail storm in March of this year.  Our home was fixed several months ago but it took time for the workers to get to the rest of our farm, as there were so many homes in our area that needed fixing.  We have so many out buildings and now they are all getting done.  There are nails and screws everywhere, as they take off old roofing and siding and put new on.  We are all having to be super diligent to go over all areas regularly with large magnets so no one gets a nail in a foot, hoof or tire.

On the fun side of things, our zoo membership was going to expire this month so we took the children one last time.

My three middles.  So grown up.  Sigh.

Timothy, Billy and Kinsley

Anna-Kate...my baby is not a baby anymore!

With the cooler fall weather, the children have been riding ponies a lot in the afternoons.

Kinsley with her pony.  She and Anna-Kate share a pony.

Carolyn and her pony Millie.  They spend a lot of time together.

Timmy and Billy share a pony.  Buck-a-roo.

Billy...always the ham.

God helped the children and I build a retaining wall behind the house.

Carolyn, for years, has wanted to grow her hair down to the ground.  We trim the split ends but never cut it.  She finally decided to give up her dream and wanted me to cut her hair.  I made her wait a few days to make sure that was really want she wanted to do.  I didn't want her to regret it later.  She said she was sure and that she was tired of the upkeep.  I almost cried as I cut it off.  It is still long but not like it was.  We took off over a foot!

Her hair has natural curl and wave to it but not like the above picture.  I had her hair in long box braids before this picture and when we took it down it looks like this.

She wanted me to cut layers in it so I did.  Praise God it turned out well and still can be put up into a bun for ballet.

God is so good and all is well.  We feel very blessed in all areas and are grateful for His tender loving care, helping us through the difficult things and rejoicing in the happy moments too.

Colossians 3:15

¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

May God have His hand on your lives as we move into fall and all the business of these next few seasons.  May we stay ever thankful for all the blessings He has poured out upon us and serve Him with all our hearts.

Blessings,
susan