Blurb on Ethan

I just wanted to give those of you who are interested an update on E. He's still running a low-grade fever and they think he may have a little infection that has traveled to one leg. He's been having pain in his leg, but not enough to keep him from having wheel-chair races with the nurses in the pediatric unit. He's getting bummed cuz he has to be fever-free and infection-free for 2 weeks before they can implant his permanent pacemaker and he can start thinking about going home. Please pray for his immune system to strengthen and fight the infection so he can get his pacemaker. Oh yeah, he started his schoolwork, too. . .

Countdown to 100th Post - YEA!!!

Ok, here's #97. 3 more to go and I'll be at 100 and have my giveaway! Check back for the next post and I'll show you what I've decided to give away!

Not much to post about around here the last few days. Only thing out of the ordinary last night was that one of the cows in the pasture behind us got out and tromped through our back yard and left us a huge cow-pie. The barbed wire fence is loose and they've come through before. You should see me out there in the yard waving a broom and chasing these freaked out cows trying to get them to go back through the fence! Quite hilarious I'm sure! We didn't know one got out last night...

Also, when I got up this morning I heard the most awfulest (is that a word?) racket from the back of the house. I opened the door, and there was a band of coyotes howling, barking & chattering out in the pasture behind our house! They were hidden in the grove of trees, but they sounded like they were in the yard. We hear em all the time, but not this close! I kept a close eye on Bug (the chihuahua) as she went out to do her business this morning.

Ok, today the temp's supposed to get up to 78-80 or so. Pretty warm for February. Wish I didn't have to work today and could go to the farm and work on my garden. I started getting some seed and little plants to set out. The onions will go out first and then after the last cold spell, which is usually around Easter, we'll start setting out the rest. Altho Easter is a little late this year, may have to start before Easter. I can start the taters pretty soon, too. We were going to have our garden tilled up last weekend, but Princess's car konked out and we had to go trade cars with her at her college town. So, the garden had to wait til this weekend. I'm hopeful that everybody's garden will do better this year. 'Round these parts, something was "off" last year and alot of people's plants did not do well. Mine didn't either. And if Daddy's doesn't do good, then nobody's do good.

Here's a couple of before and after photos of the farmhouse. I was looking through them last night and am still amazed at the transformation. You can't appreciate the way it is now without seeing how bad it was before.

Amazing what a little paint, elbow grease & of course $$ can do. We did most of it ourselves except for the siding, windows, and central heat/AC. We've also taken that stupid satellite dish down. I hate those. I guess they're necessary but not for us.

Well, guess that's all for today. Our plan for this spring/summer/fall is to get working on the outside of the house. We have to paint the front porch and rails - it's so humid here most of the time, we had to let the wood dry out before painting. We've got flower beds to do, shrubs, the garden, and other landscaping stuff. I'm looking forward to it greatly. I love being outdoors.

I need to go by the chemical place and see if they have something for moles. It's so sandy out at Sand Flat Farm that we've scads of 'em. Somebody told me to put poison peanuts down in their holes, but we've got dogs, and don't want them finding the peanuts. Other than traps, I don't know what else to do. Traps can only work if you have a very fresh mound and if you can find the burrow. Maybe about 50% of the time. Any ideas you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

How come this goofy blogger leaves such huge spaces between paragraphs! I arrange and re-arrange several times, and it still does what it wants to!

Gotta get busy! Work's calling!

This 'N' That

Just a quick update on E. He's up walking around, eating a little, sitting in chairs, playing on the computer, quizzing the Drs. about his treatment (they aren't used to that as 99% of the patients in PICU are under the age of 2). Yesterday, the Dr. told him they were going to give him a drug to increase his apetite and he asked them why hadn't they done that before? He's a very precocious kid as they are finding out at Medical City, Dallas, PICU. The Drs. also like that he watches sports all the time instead of Sesame Street. Perhaps they spend more time in his room...

Anyway, thanks again for your concern and prayers. E has to stay in the hospital 10-14 more days, then be homebound on IV antibiotics for about 4-6 weeks until they can implant his new pacemaker. If all goes well, Lord willing, he'll be on his way to complete recovery. God is so good! E goes to the private Christian school at our church and I know they'll help him catch up on his schoolwork. He shouldn't have any problems - he's a whiz. It'll be good to see him at church again!

I've been blog hopping the last few days and have been reading some of the farming blogs. I've got a bug in my head to check out raising chickens. I can't have any now because we haven't moved out to the farm permanently yet. I guess it'll be a year or two more before we can actually do that. We're there every weekend and on holidays so I can't really have any chickens yet cuz I'm not there to feed them every day.

I looked at all the different varieties of chickens. There's little 'uns and big 'uns and floozy-lookin' ones and plain ones. I loved the brightly colored ones and the black/white ones. I have a two fold reason for wanting chickens. I want fresh eggs, and I want to be able to paint them. My grandmother always had chickens. She had a huge chicken coop and after the chickens were all gone, I loved to play in there. It was used for storage later on.

I've been thinking about this recession thing. Our home is paid for, our farm is paid for, the farmhouse is paid for... what if things got really bad? I suppose we could move out to the farm, have our garden (altho it would have to increase greatly in size), get us some cows/goats, and have our chickens. Not such a bad idea really. I'd hate for things to get that bad, however, I'm longing to make that move and have my little farm and live my dream.

The stock market dropped over 300 points upon the announcement of the stimulus pkge passing the senate today. This is scarey stuff, people. We've personally lost  money in the stock market & mutual funds just like everybody else. My folks have lost some too. Tony and I (Lord willin') still have plenty of years to recoup that loss, but the older generation doesn't. I don't know if they'll ever get their retirement nest egg back.

I know the Lord will take care of us. He knows our every need. I pray for our President even tho I didn't vote for him. I pray that God will give him wisdom and that Obama will seek God's guidance in his decisions. I pray that we are not headed for socialism. I fear for my kids and grandkids and I know ya'll do, too. What will happen? Only the Lord knows. My only consolation is that everything is in God's hands.

On a lighter note, I think this is my 95th post. Wow. I didn't know it would get this far. Didn't even know if I'd like this blogging thing. But I did and I do. I appreciate all your comments and your concern for me, my life, and my little world. I've surely enjoyed getting to know you all and sharing your world with you.

I am going to have a give-away to celebrate my 100th post. My first. I'll be back to let you know a little more about it in a few days. I've got something I hope you'll like!

Ethan's Progress

Ethan is doing well so far. They took out his vent last night & today they are taking out his foley IV whatever that is, and they've taken out a couple more of the many IV's that he had. He's feeling a little perkier and his mom said the Dr. said he could try solid food today!!!

Still has a little fever, but the Dr. said that's normal for a heart surgery patient. He's still on a couple of antibiotics, but his blood is clean and no more bacteria has surfaced. He's being closely monitored and they are still testing him for things, but thanks be to God our Father that he's doing so well. We all thought he was not going to make it.

Again, thank you all for your prayers. If anything changes, I'll let you know. You don't know how much it means to me to have kindred spirits out there who care and love and support. Man, whoever is not a part of this "sisterhood" of bloggers doesn't know what they're missing!

Update on Ethan

God is good - the Doctors are amazed and encouraged. Ethan is awake and talking to his parents. He is calm and not anxious and fighting his tubes. He is not out of the woods yet, but everyone is encouraged. He was going to have to have an adult sized valve put in at some point, so he's had that done. He was going to have to have his pacemaker put into his chest instead of his abdomen (like they do children) and they did that. There were about 20 friends from church that went to the hospital to pray for Ethan and be with his parents and sister for the surgery and they prayed for very specific things during the long hours while they waited. When they later talked to the doctors, it was amazing how many specific things the Drs. talked about happening during surgery and results were exactly things that had been prayed.

The Lord still performs miracles. Of course, we should not be surprised. God is not through with this little guy yet. He still has some wonderful impact that He needs Ethan to make on someone or many someones. His whole little life has been this way. We give praise to the Lord for the progress he's made. We will keep lifting him up and see what God will do next.

Thank you for all of your prayers. I know that yours as well as all the other friends, families, and strangers' prayers have fallen on God's ears and heart and He is listening. Thank you, thank you, thank you.