Yesterdays blood test came back good to my surprise. You would think there would have been some relief after waiting 6 hrs for the nurse to call, but not so much. You see, I thought Carter looked bad yesterday and I was kind of expecting bad results. The lab had even given me a bracelet should I have to come back for transfusion. Now don't get me wrong, I was grateful for a good report, but I couldn't seem to "get happy." Yesterday was probably the hardest day since this all started. Going to the lab weekly is starting to take it's toll, especially when the nurses can't ever seem to find Carter's veins. And I have come to the conclusion that I cannot figure this out. When I think he looks good his numbers drop and when I think he looks bad his numbers improve. I just want to see consistent improvement instead of this teeter tottering thing. There were also some other things going on yesterday that kept me in a "funk." I defintely wasn't finding joy despite of my circumstances and I wasn't trusting God as I should.

Then came this morning. I met a friend to exercise and arrived before her. I sat in the car praying and this song came on. It was perfect. The words are kind of repetitive when typed out, but I didn't notice that at all this morning. I need to be reminded and reminded and reminded again. Repetition is good (most of the time).

Verse 1
I'm castin my cares aside. I'm leaving my past behind.
I'm setting my heart and mind on You, Jesus.
I'm reaching my hands to Yours, believing there is so much more,
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good, it's good.

Chorus
Today is the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Today is the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
And I won't worry about tomorrow; I'm trusting in what you say.
Today is the day

Verse 2
I'm putting my fears aside. I'm leaving my doubts behind.
I'm giving my hopes and dreams to You, Jesus.
I'm reaching my hands to Yours, believing there is so much more,
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good, it's good.

Bridge
I will stand upon Your truth.
And all my days, I'll live for You.
I will stand upon Your truth.
And all my days, I'll live for You.

Final Chorus
Today is the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Today is the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
And I won't worry about tomorrow. I'm giving you my fears and sorrows.
Where You lead me, I will follow; I'm trusting in what you say.
Today is the day.

Isn't that good! It's like God was speaking to me right there in the car through the radio. When I got home, 2 of my great friends had posted entries that had to be written just for me :). One was verses all on waiting http://www.daughterofdelight.blogspot.com/ and the other was about trials and how God sovereignly places them in our lives for our good and His glory. It was sooo incredible I need to read it again and again - REPETITION :). You can find it here: http://www.acupofgracegcc.blogspot.com/.

My husband just got home and I immediately asked him to play the song I had heard this morning :). I had the music printed off and waiting on the piano. As I finish typing this, he is in there practing. He is incredible and is so good to me.

We go back on Friday. I will try to update as soon as I can. Here are the numbers from yesterday: hemoglobin went up from a 6.1 to a 7.5, white blood cells up from 4.09 to 4.99, red blood cells up from a 1.8 to a 2.2. All these numbers are still below the acceptable low, but the improvement is encouraging. The interesting thing is that the retic dropped. It was 4.9 and now it is 4.7.

Lord, I fail so many times. The fact that you still love me is amazing! Thank you for the work that you are doing in my life.

As I type this, Carter is in his bed crying. I think it is partly because I put him to bed, but mostly because when I prayed I asked God to take the pain away and to comfort him tomorrow at his 4th blood draw. As soon as I said amen the tears and the "I don't want to go to the train doctor" started. Up until now, every lab experience has been awful! Last Wed he ended up being "stuck" twice within 30 min. It is starting to become very difficult for me.

There was a good and a bad to last weeks visit. I haven't posted "counts" since the beginning, but from here forward I think I will only to help me keep track. When Carter initially went into the hospital, 11/15, his hemoglobin was at a 5 and his retic was at a 0 (which means he wasn't producing red blood cells).

Retic is an abbreviation for recticulocyte. A reticulocyte count is a blood test that measures how fast red blood cells called reticulocytes are made by the bone marrow and released into the blood. Reticulocytes are in the blood for about 2 days before developing into mature red blood cells.

After transfusion, 11/16, his hemoglobin was a 8.3 (suppose to be between 12 and 16).

11/20, his hemoglobin dropped to a 7.5. His red blood cell count was a 2.3 (suppose to be between 3.9 and 5.3). His retic was 1.1.

11/26, almost everything stayed the same with exception to his retic, which rose to 2.1.

12/03, hemoglobin dropped to 6.1, red blood cell count dropped to 1.8, retic 4.9.

Although, numbers are dropping, because the retic is going up the doctor has decided not to transfuse again at this time. A high reticulocyte count means more red blood cells are being made by the bone marrow which is a good thing. I believe this is a sign we are on the road to recovery, although, it may be slow. The doctor believes Carter is following the "classic course" for TEC. He said anything else wouldn't clinically make sense. This is good news since TEC is something that will pass. I don't think they will do a bone marrow biopsy unless the retic stops improving.

I will try to update tomorrow. In the meantime, please continue to pray for my little man and please pray for me. Thanks so much!

Well, today is our 3rd appt since Carter's release from Wolfson's. One of the first things out of his mouth this morning was, "I don't want to go to the train doctor" - there is a big train display in the lobby of Nemours that he loves to look at. I'm hoping they can just prick his finger today instead of withdrawing blood via a needle. From the way he looks, I think his blood counts will be up. I hope I'm right and not just getting used to his paleness. I just read that Nemours will be closed this morning due to a loss of power caused by a main electrical transformer. All appts scheduled for this morning will have to be rescheduled. I am so thankful Carter's appt is for this afternoon. I have already been waiting a week. I found this quote a long time ago and threw it in a drawer. I happened to run across it the other day. I am not even sure who it is from but it was so timely for me. Hope it blesses you too!

"Waiting on God isn't about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It's part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what He's promised. Through the wait He's changing me. By means of the wait He's altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait He's causing me to see and experience new things about Him and His kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in His redemptive hands."

An update to come..............

A quick update........

I took Carter for his blood work this morning. Unfortunately, our "magic cream" didn't work too well. They were unable to get blood from his arm again. They stuck his hand and got blood at turtle speed. It was a very traumatic experience.

The nurse called 3 1/2 hrs later (my heart skipped a beat everytime the phone rang during this wait) and said that Carter's blood count had not dropped, but it hadn't improved either. She said it was almost scary how exactly the same the results were. She knows, however, that the lab didn't "mess up" because there were a few differences. Good news is that his reticulocyte count has gone up a point which means his body is working harder trying to produce more red cells. It is also good that we didn't have to go the hospital today for another transfusion. That would have put a damper on Thanksgiving. Now we have even more to be thankful for! His next appt is scheduled for Wed 12/3 at 1:40. We will be going in about an hour before for more blood work. His nurse said we can just request a finger prick from now on since the needle isn't working to well. This was a relief. Should things stay the same or worsen, they probably will start talking about a bone marrow test. Thanks so much for your continued prayers. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. God is so good!

Off to the Emergency Room we go....

Well, today was another exciting, eventful day for us. This morning I was in the back of the house when I heard Carter screaming and Tyler yelling, "Carter's bleeding." I immediately ran towards the play room/school room where they were and was met by Carter in the kitchen. Behind him was a trail of blood. From what I could tell, he fell off the couch and stabbed himself in the forehead with the colored pencil he was holding. Because it was a head wound, it was bleeding pretty good. Once I got it under control, I decided to take him to the ER. The puncture wound wasn't that bad, but I thought if I just used a band-aid it would leave a pretty nasty scar. I was out of band-aids (I had just used them to decorate my brothers truck last Fri, of course) so I made one. I folded up a tiny piece of paper towel and I taped it across his head with Scotch tape :) A homemade band-aid. My creation controlled the bledding while we rode to the hospital. I took him to Baptist South because they are usually faster. They used dermabond which is like a glue. We were in and out fairly quickly. Carter is doing fine. You would not even know it happened by the way he is acting. This is wound # 3 on the face.

I'm doing good, but this morning I was a little frazzled. "I'm done" was my attitude. When I got in the car, I heard the following song. I think it was written as if a mom were talking to her child, but it ministered to me in a different way. I kept thinking of how my Father takes care of me and how I am safe in him. I calmed down.

Clouds will rage
And storms will race in, but you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down, waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

God is so good to keep sending reminders to us. Later in the day, I was teaching Tyler about Abraham. We read from The Child's Story Bible and from Gen 15. God Told Abram He was his shield and to not be afraid. This was a good reminder to me that God stays with us during difficult times. Abram's faith was also an example to me. For nothing is impossible to God. Brenda also called and reminded me that God will not give us more than we can handle.

Please pray as we are going for our 2nd blood test tomorrow. Also, I believe my husband is feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. He has decided to teach piano Mon, Tues, and Thurs night to help us financially, but it seems the bills just keep coming. We are also facing some insurance issues with the kids that obviously need to be resolved very quickly. Love you all!

long awaited phone call

I just spoke with Dr. Perszyk, Carter's genetics doctor. I've been waiting since last Wed. He said the drop we saw Thursday after Carter's blood draw is pretty common after transfusion. He suggested giving Carter more folic acid either through foods or pills that I could crush up and mix with food. This would help his red blood cells. He said with cancer your platelet count is usually bad and your white cell count is way up. This is not the case for Carter. Good news! He said it does look like an isolated red blood cell problem. If the red blood cell production has in fact stopped because of a viral infection we could still be looking at months until recovery. This depends on how long the virus has already been in his body. His counts could drop more before they get better. How quickly and drastically they drop though is what to be watchful for. If blood test start to show something else "fishy" than more tests will be run. He doesn't think Carter has an iron deficiency because the red blood cell size is pretty normal and if he were lacking iron it wouldn't be. I told him Carter has had loose stools for some time now (he went diarrhea 4 times Sat) and he said it could be related to the virus, if that's what's going on, or he could have a problem absorbing nutrients. He mentioned Celiac Disease. I did a quick google on this and read Celiac Disease is one of the most frequent causes of malabsorption during childhood. Malabsorption can result in other problems such as delayed growth and short stature. I think Carter fits into the delayed growth and short stature category, but I'm not sure this is what he has because with Celiac Disease you usually have chronic diarrhea and I wouldn't say Carter has a chronic problem yet. All this will be ironed out as blood work gets done. And in regards to blood work, Dr. Perszyk told me to call my pediatrician because there is something called Emla cream that you put on your child before blood draw. It warms up the area (makes the draw easier) and acts as a numbing agent. He said Wed morning should be an "OUCHLESS" draw for Carter. HOORAY! PRAISE GOD!

This is a waiting game that can go on into the new year. As time goes, more will be found out. All in God's timing, right! Our conversation lasted almost 40 min and I tried to write down and retain what I could. He is a really smart man. I kind of feel like I'm spinning. I keep thinking I missed something or forgot something. I know I did, but am trying to trust I remembered what I needed to. I need to figure out a way to record things - any ideas let me know. When you try to do research online it can become really overwhelming and eats up your time.

We had a good time away this weekend and I hope to post about that soon. All in all, we are doing well - waiting until Wed morning!

My perfectly made son...........

Before Carter saw the doctor today, he had to get his blood drawn. This was a terrible experience. The events from the weekend were fresh in his mind and he started to cry as soon as we walked in. Not only did he cry, but he told me it hurt him. He didn't even want the nurse to touch his hand. It is really hard as a Mom to hold your child still and to allow hurt. Our doctors visit went well, but it really didn't tell us anything different. All we can do is wait. Talk about a faith builder! Each week, after they read the results from the blood test, they will determine the next step of action.

It wasn't until I got home that I found out Carter's blood count. His hemoglobin and red blood cell count had dropped. Not good. I wasn't expecting much change since he just had a transfusion 4 days ago. His hemoglobin was a 5 when he entered the hospital. It raised to a 8.3 after transfusion. Today it was 7.5. It is supposed to be between 12-16. The nurse thinks Carter will have to have another transfusion if it drops to 7 or below. He is only 1/2 a point away. The positive is that his white blood cell count went up which usually happens when you are fighting infection (it was low upon leaving the hospital) and his reticulocyte count went up very little.

If it is TEC, as thought, then his numbers should start improving. If this doesn't happen, then the doctors will start going down another road. This would most likely involve lots of tests. We should know more by 12/03. Carter will be going back the Wed before Thanksgiving for more blood work.

Thanks for your continued prayers. Not only do I want to keep my dear friends and family up to date, I also want to be diligent with keeping good records and I feel this is a good way of doing it. As I pulled up my blog this evening a song started playing. The first few words were, "God over all, giver of life and health and breath, I want to sing of your love." It really struck me hard! Pray that I will remember this.

I'M BACK.............

Sorry, it has been so long. Things have been quite busy this fall....well, really all year. I don't think I've ever had a year quite like this before and it's not over yet. Not only has God sovereignly allowed unexpected things to come into our lives, but we've also been out of town every month since April. April - California. May - Kentucky. June/July - family reunion in Alabama. August - Maryland. September - Missouri. October - Gainesville/Destin. November - Atlanta. In addition, every Friday night has been spent at a high school football game, whether it be a home or away game. My brother is a Sr this year and being at his games is very important to me. I love him dearly and believe God is doing a real work in our realtionship. Maybe I can share more on that later. We are also are in the "thick" of homeschooling now and are working extra hard because of a late start. Because of the busyness, I have considered many times stopping our blog. Looking back now, I wish I would have been more diligent. You forget so many things if you don't write them down and it is because of this in particular that I am back......

I never journaled when my kids were babies and I so wish I had. Not only for those precious moments that you easily forget, but for medial purposes as well. This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Carter was admitted into Wolfson's Children's Hospital this past Sat after a couple of blood tests revealed severe anemia. His blood counts were really bad! Doctors said that his body had quit making red blood cells. His hemoglobin count had dropped to a dangerously low level and, if no intervention was made, he would continue to decline. He received a blood transfusion that started late Sat night and went into Sun morning. His body responded well to the transfusion so the Doctor released us Sunday afternoon. They think he has something called Transient Erythroblastopenia of Childhood. TEC is thought to be triggered by a viral infection. If this is what he has, red cell production should recover spontaneously but it could take a few months. In the meantime, he may need another transfusion until his body recovers fully. He will be going to a Hematologist every week for blood tests. I'm not really liking this "waiting thing" but I am trusting God. There is a chance it could be something more severe, but no need to go into that right now. Carter was also given a transfusion at birth and because of his medical history Doctors are monitoring him closely. I am currently awaiting a call from his genetics Dr.

I really want to stay on top of this and thought picking up my blogging would help me. It would also allow me to update friends and share my prayer requests. Thanks to all who have faithfully been praying for my family and have offered to serve. I love you all and cannot thank God enough for blessing me with friends that I don't deserve. You can pray now that God would calm my anxious heart, give doctors wisdom, and that He would help me to be able to discern if something is abnormal during daily activity. It is hard to tell when something is wrong. More to come...........

Busy, Busy, Busy!

This past weekend was really fun! My mom was out of town with my brother so we house sat for her. She lives a block from the ocean in Neptune Beach. All of Justin's family stayed with us. We celebrated Annsley's B-Day all weekend. I planned to take pics but my camera died the first night and I never replaced the batteries. We had a great time hangin' out with friends. We beachcrused everywhere, played games, cooked out, garage saled, played volleyball, walked on the beach...... It was relaxing and as always great to spend time with family and friends!!

The Edwards family and myself are heading to Maryland tomorrow morning for the Sovereign Grace Worship Conference. http://www.sovereigngraceministries.com/
I am sure we are going to have a great time! The Edwards signed me up for a vocal class HA! :) That should be fun!! I have been busy all day today preparing for our trip. Our children are staying with friends and my Mom. I packed little presents for them in their suitcase. They have a suprise for each day! I also put little notes in there. I have to share this one with you because I was cracking myself up BIG time!

For Thursday, I put a whoopie cushion in Ty's bag and a GIANT whistle in carter's bag. These were the notes:

Tyler - Psalm 100 "Make a joyful NOISE to the Lord, all the earth!" May the NOISE that comes from your whoopie cushion remind you to give thanks to God and bless His name! For He is good! I am thinking about you and love you so very much! XOXOXOX

Carter - Psalm 100 "Make a joyful NOISE to the Lord, all the earth!" Let the NOISE that comes from your whistle remind you that God loves you and so does Mommy! Praying for you! XOXOX

Isn't that hillarious?! Especially Ty's. I am still laughing as I type! Well, I will try to take pics this week while at the conference and update you all when I get back. I also still need to post about the scavenger hunt but I need to get help from Brenda on that as I don't remember everything! Please pray for us as we are gone that God will keep us safe and that He will do a great work while we are gone!

One more thing.........A HUGE THANKS to those watching my precious children! I appreciate you so much! May God richly bless each of you.

Last day of vacation

Our last day of vacation was July 4th. We celebrated Independence, Thanksgiving, and a 40th Birthday! I know no one else can say that! I didn't journal this day so it may be a little hard for me to remember all the events. We started the day with pancakes and bacon which I enjoyed very much. After breakfast, we immediately got to work preparing our Thanksgiving dinner. Each year we have a Thanksgiving dinner together since our entire family can't be together to celebrate the actual holiday. It is usually on a Thursday just like the real thing, but this year it ended up being on the last day of vacation. While dinner was cooking, Brenda decorated our eating area with black in celebration of Brad's 40th, the kids swam and had a water balloon fight, and everyone else was busy secretly planning Brad's party. His actual birthday isn't until Oct, but we also celebrate upcoming 40th's (male 40th's in particular) as a family during summer vacation so the birthday individual can be inducted into the M.O.T.H. Society (Men Over The Hill) by Grandpa - More on this in a little bit. Our eating area was outside on the porch which overlooked the lake. We ate all our meals out there becasue there was not an eating area inside the condo. The only problem with this was the flies. They were very annoying and they flew inside everytime the door was open. Too bad it took us until the end of vacation to buy a fly trap.

Our theme for 40th's is Mark 12:30 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." We celebrate by doing things that relate to Brad's heart, soul, mind, and strength. Ed and Brian took heart. The girls took soul. And the young adult guys took care of mind and strength. Brenda had also planned and created a scavenger hunt for the end. The scavenger hunt idea came from 2 things: Brad getting lost in the middle of the night trying to find our condo and the young adults + Brad staying up late one night making fun of Alabamians in Wal Mart. It was a little crazy with all the last minute planning. Did I mention that I ate A LOT of cookie dough during this time? I was addicted! :)

Finally dinner time! We ate Turkey, dressing, corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, rolls, strawberry gelatin salad, olives, stuffed celery....I think that's it. Funny how it takes hourS to prepare and 10 minutes to devour!

After clean up the games began. Well, actually, we started with 1 serious thing. Ed and Brian started with "heart" by sharing about the things we all love and appreciate about Brad. Then came "mind." Since Brad is a geothermal engineer that builds power plants, we made him use his "smartness" by challenging other family members to games that required brains. Brad and Justin: math problems. Brad and Erica: sudoku. Brad and myself: word search. Of course, I lost!

Next came "soul." Brad also owns a business called Silver and Blue Outfitters. It is a Nevada Wolf-----Pack (2 seperate words - make sure it is not 1 word!) sports store. you can check it out here if you want: http://www.silverandblueoutfitters.com/store/

***Side note: Brad if you get any business from my advertising

I want some commission :)!***

Anyway, he is a maniac fan and is a booster at the University. We were giving him a hard time because the grand opening of his store in the local mall actually occured while he was away with us. Because of his love for the Wolf-----Pack, us girls made up a dance to the school fight song. Ed sang it while the band played from Barbie's laptop. We made pom poms with toilet tissue rolls and tissue paper and had signs. We raided his suitcase (everything in it was Nevada Wolf----Pack stuff) and we wore his clothes as our uniform. Other people at the condos probably thought we were looney! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of this with my camera. I will post some later if I can get my hands on them.

Now for "strength." The guys challenged him to all kinds of sport things. Brad and Ben: blongo. Brad and Nate: golf ball driving off the end of the dock into the lake. Brad and Jarred: push-ups. Brad and Davis: air soft gun target practice. Brad and Matt: wiffel ball.

Once back inside, Grandpa came out of the bedroom wrapped in a bed sheet and wearing a parrot hat. He was using a cane fishing pole with a flag attached (remember it was the 4th) as a walking cane. He pulled a homemade scroll made out of toilet paper out of his pocket and began the induction ceremony. Next M.O.T.H. - my husband in 15yrs - unless a female family member marries a way older man between now and then. Oh wait, it may be Nick, Becky's (cousin) new husband. This idea started a couple of years ago when Brian turned 40. When Carter saw these pics he said, "he's the master," about Grandpa!

We had so much fun and shared so many laughs, but the fun was just beginning! The grand scavenger hunt was last and boy was that the BEST! Since this post is getting kind of long, I will share about that in my next post.

Vacation Day # 6

Today Nathan (brother), Annsley (sister), Daniel and Erica (married cousins), Justin and I left around 8:30 to go rent jet ski's from the same guy who rented us the boat. We rented 3 ski's and had them for 4 hours. We all took turns riding them. We had lots of fun (I should say the guys had lots of fun) driving close to someone and then making a sharp, unexpected turn which sprayed water all over the people on the ski close by. Spray is an understatement! I got hit by a tidal wave and thought for a second I had broken my nose and gone deaf all at once- thank you Jarred! We would also drive in circles to create waves so we could jump over them. We tried to tube, but it didn't work so well. Jarred and Davis about got whiplash. When this family is together, it is always a good time and things can get a little crazy. In the midst of the all the fun, 2 ski's crashed into each other. One of the ski's was badly damaged. Fortunately, no one got hurt, but then again maybe that would've been better because health insurance would have covered it (totally kidding)! Now we had to take the bruised jet ski back to the same guy we rented the boats from (remember we already broke the prop on the speed boat and ran the pontoon without oil). He was very nice about it and is faxing Brad the estimate. Jerry (that's the rental guy's name) is going to be so glad to see us next year - "Oh, great here comes that Platt family. What are they going to break this year?! I'm going out of business for approx 1 week!" I am positive he will remember us. What's a vacation anyway without some excitement and adventure? While people were waiting for a turn on the jet ski, we played in the pool - volleyball and chicken fights! We all ate BBQ for lunch (loaded with brown sugar) and then the guys went golfing. At night, we all met at the Drive-In. 1/2 saw Hancock and 1/2 saw Wall-E. And what do you know, Brian's car wouldn't start when it was time to leave. The perfect way to end our day :D!

Vacation day # 5

Wed, 07/02, started as usual except this time I walked with Mom. Brian cooked breakfast with the help of Ed. We had potatoes (cooked with a at least a pound of butter), sausage, eggs, and toast. This time I did not refrain and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Brian and Tina left around 10am to go back to Birmingham (their home) for a Dr appt. We chose to have the reuion in AL this year because Tina is 8 mo pregnant and is not allowed to travel more than an hour and a half from home. This child is a special gift from God. Brian and Tina thought they were not going to be able to have any more children. They had been trying for close to 7 years. The Lord's timing is perfect! He is so good and is so faithful! I will never forget our 07 Christmas when they announced their pregnancy.

While they were gone the guys watched the children so we could go into Rome, GA to prepare for a surprise baby shower. We ordered her a cake from this place everyone talked about called the Harvestmoon Cafe (it wasn't that good for the price). Jillian picked it out - strawberry cake with strawberries inside. They wrote welcome baby Andy on the top. The babies full name will be Anderson Quinn Platt and he is due 08/07/2008 but Tina is shooting for 08/08/2008 :)

We went into a couple of really cute shops. We found this ting called a pee pee tee pee. I was going to buy it but forgot to go back and get it so we made our own. It is material sewed into the shape of a cone. The directions went something like this: Hold child's legs with one hand at a 90 degree angle. Cover his wee wee with the pee pee tee pee to prevent a sprinkle during diaper change. It was really funny!

We ate lunch at a tea room called Victoria Rose (I've never been to one before). Jillian (big sister) had a good time dressing up in different hats and boas. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home. We all ordered chicken salad.

On the way back to the car we found a really great upscale resale place. I went in with Barbie and bought a stroller for Tina for $27.00. The car seat I had already given her snaps right into it. This was an exciting find. Tina had asked me to bring my stroller so she could borrow it but we didn't have room for it. Because we spent so much time int he consignment store, we were rushed for the rest of the afternoon. They were getting back at 5pm and we need to have everything ready and decorated. On the way home we stopped by Big Lots, the Dollar Store, and good ole' Wal Mart. We got with 30 min to spare. Brian called and said they were running late so it gave us a little more time.

Tina seemed to be very surprised! Everything turned out great. We set the stroller up and filled it with all the gifts. We played a baby food game. Tina and Gma were the mommies and Brian and Brad were the babies. We blind folded both. The mommies had to find their babies by listening for their cry. Once they found them they had to feed them an entire jar of baby food (I chose squash). The first done was the winner. This was so funny I about peed my pants. The next game required thinking. Brenda made it up. She thought of a different way to say the name of baby items. We had to figure out what the item was. For example: liquid calcium container = baby bottle. We gave her a really hard time about that, but only because our team had milk bottle (which made more sense given the clue). Here was another crazy one: Butterworth of Cadillac. The answer was Syrup of Ipecac. Have you ever heard of that in your life??? Here was another one: Whitney Sphere. The answer: Cotton Ball. Remember Eli Whitney and the cotton gin? It was a really fun game with lots of laughs and controversy. The last game was a relay. There were 2 teams lined up boy-girl-boy-girl. The boy started by dressing a baby in a cloth diaper. He then passed to the girl toundress the baby. The girl then passed it back to the boy to dress again. If you dropped the baby you had to start over. Whoever finished first won. We had a wonderful time celebrating!

For dinner we had an interesting combination - chicken and lentils made by Becca (Matt's girlfriend) and hot dogs made by Ben. It was actually pretty good. Some of the gang ended the night with volleyball in the pool. It was a great day!

(Barbie's bruised arm after

tubing the day before)

Vacation Day # 4

Tuesday morning, 07/01, I started the day once again with exercise. I could really get used to this vacation thing :) We left at 8:30 to go rent a speed boat. The rental place was at Chesnut Bay (where we are staying next year). Once we had the boat, we headed back toward the condos. We got REALLY lost! The map of the lake that was given to us was doing no good. We had no idea where we were in this HUGE lake. After about 45 min, we were able to flag down a boater for help. By the way - This was the only boater we saw the entire time we were lost. He graciously led us to our condos. I don't think we would have found it without him. It would have taken us hours. When we got there, some of the adults took the little kids out to tube. They were gone for a really long time. We were just beginning to wonder what was going on when we got a text saying they had broke down. The guy at the rental place met them with a pontoon boat and they traded right there in the middle of the lake. He was able to get the broke down speed boat started and he took it back to work on it.

The 1st group came back with the pontoon and a 2nd group went out. We had to take turns because there was so many of us. I was in the 2nd group. Justin was driving and was trying his best to throw me off. I was holding on tight and my arms were starting to BURN. Towards the end, I was starting to loose my grip and my body was mostly off of the tube. A force of water came and took my bottoms right off. Fortunately, because of the way I was positioned, I don't think anyone on the boat saw, but they sure were laughing when I held my bottoms up in the air! When I got back on the boat Carter was crying. He had been crying the entire time. I thought I would be able to calm him down, but I couldn't. Nathan got on after me and he started again, "I want Nathan." Back to the condos we went to put him down for a much needed nap!

(1st pic: Carter happy)

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Davis hopped on the tube with Nathan and we were off again. After they got done, Annsley and I went. It was really fun with 2 people because you crack up and scream the entire time. The down side is you get thrown off more often. We were all taking turns and having a great time until Justin turned off the boat so Brad and Barbie could get on. They finally got situated and the boat would not start! We sat there for at least 10 minutes praying. None of us had cell phones and here we were just floating in the lake. Finally, it started. We headed back to the condos to drop off and pick up.

Nathan drove this time so Justin could tube. When we took off the ladder on the back of the boat was left down and it threw all these little fish onto the deck. The kids had fun with that. Soon, the boat started beeping obnoxiously and would not quit. We tried calling the rental guy for help but he didn't answer. Justin finished his ride and then he and I rode together. This was our last trip out as the boat was continuing to beep and our rental time was almost over. We headed back to the condos for the last time to drop off and then took the boat back. When we got there the guy said to never drive the boat when you hear a beeping. Oops! It was low on oil. We were also told that we had broke something on the prop of the speed boat earlier that day. Because of all the problems, he didn't charge us for the damage. It was an eventful boating day to say the least!

We had spaghetti for dinner which was so good probably because we were all so hungry! We ended the night with a blongo tournament which Ed and Ben won.

(Tyler holding a little fish)

(Blongo Tournament)