Yes, I'm Still Here!

It has been so long since my last post, I am sure many of you have wondered if I gave up blogging forever.  Well, no, at least not yet.  But, there have been many things happening around our house that have kept me from blogging.  So, this post will be a catch-up of a few highlights of what has kept me away.  The pictures today are those around and in our home.  My oldest daughter Joy gets credit for the picture taking.  She is becoming quite the budding photographer!

There was a virus going around our church for a while.  My husband caught is first, then my son, my middle daughter, and then myself.  It was pretty nasty stuff.  It started mainly with a bad cough and that cough lingered for about four weeks.  I am still coughing some even after all this time.  But, praise the Lord, the worst of it is over.  We have also been working on a new schedule in our home and we are trying to work out the kinks and figure out the best use of our time.  We have been convicted about making every moment count for the Lord and the best way we feel to do that is to have a workable schedule in the home.  

I will try and share some of the things that work for us later after we get it running a little more smoothly.  The great thing about the schedule is that even though things are not tweaked to our liking yet, we have been able to accomplish so much more with it in place.  It has really been an effective tool.

We are also involved in many more classes for some of the children here, which has taken some time away.  Joy is taking photography, sewing and piano this year.  Joanna is taking piano and sewing and Josiah piano lessons.  We are very excited about these opportunities, but they take time to do and therefore, we are having to be much more selective about the use of our time during the day.

Also during this time my eldest son got a fever, stomach upset and some congestion.  It was quickly over, so we thought, but about five days later he started breaking out in a rash.  We thought it was chicken pox, but it has been going on for over 14 days and there have been new areas as recently as two days ago.  We took him to the doctor, she thought is might be measles, but it doesn't fit the measles rash or symptoms at all.  We are perplexed and have kept the children away from church in case he is contagious.  But, none of my other children have gotten anything similar so it doesn't seem to be contagious.  

This is what his face looked like, although fortunately, his face has completely healed.  It is mainly on his legs and arms. His legs are by far the worst looking. If any of you ladies have any suggestions for me, please let me know.  We have gotten him some anti-itch medicine that seems to be helping some.  I do think it is on it's way to healing, but it is a mysterious thing since we have never experienced anything like this before. 

Lord willing, we will be leaving next week to head to Ridgecrest for the Gospel-Centered Marriages retreat.  We are so excited about what the Lord will teach us  there.  I hope to share some insights when we come home.  Much of it will be centered on preparing our children for marriage through the courtship/betrothal model.  I am thankful for the opportunity to go and learn under those that have gone before us in this area.  We are definitely newbies to all this!  I will hopefully be back with some things to share after the conference.  Until next time!