Mood:  mischievious

I know....I know.... I get it all the time. I KNOW I haven't updated in months. Do I have an excuse? Well...yeah, about a zillion... , but are they very good ones? No, not so much! HA...at least I'm honest.

So, My new year's resolution (I KNOW its June!) is to keep

everyone updated more better. (I KNOW that's bad

grammar!)

We are livin' la vida loca on our new mini-farm. LOVING

country life, the fresh air, wide open spaces...it has been an

amazing few months and I feel like we are where we

belong! So far, the garden is growing (I've got arrugula -

Jonah calls it "arruglia", buttercrunch lettuce, basil, stevia,

strawberries, chives and onions available to eat....corn,

tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, spinach, rosemary, cilantro, a

bunch of hot peppers and winter squash are planted &

coming up), the chickens (and duck and turkey) are getting

big, the boys are keeping me BEYOND busy...more on that

in a moment! We are enjoying being out here, it is much

easier to be frugal when we are so far away from stores. I

am baking the vast majority of our bread (biscuits, pizza

dough, etc.), hot dog & burger buns are still being bought...

LOL, I've told DH I'm not taking part in making anything

healthful to put crap on...(Ask me how I really feel!),

Cooking from scratch has been going on for a long time,

but its been taken to a new level and I'm enjoying it very

much. With the deep freeze, its now easy to stock up and

just not have to go into town too often. The country has

been very good to my spirit. I love sitting on the deck and

just listen to the sounds, the birds, the wind, the tractors...

coyotes howling...ahhhhhh.

Now for my excuses: Its been a very busy time for us,

medically speaking, with the boys. They were all diagnosed

with a bleeding disorder last summer/fall. In February, we

had a peripheral (in his arm) semi-permanent IV line (PICC

Line) placed in Jonah's arm so he could do a trial of factor

(blood factor, replacing the missing parts and parts of his

blood that don't work properly) He has had wonderful

success with this medication, and he now receives it three

times per week. He's been hospitalized twice in the last 2

months with infections in his PICC Line/blood and was

released just this past Sunday from the hospital. He had

surgery last Friday (May 30th) to place an AV Fistula in his

arm. This fistula will allow us to have easy IV access to

give him his factor without the risk of infection of the PICC

Lines. He is a rock star...handling post - op pain very well

(well...he doesn't really feel pain anyhow....but he's still a

trooper!). So, the day we get home from the hospital,

Sam's not feeling so hot. So Sam & Jonah get a doctor

appointment on Monday morning...Jonah's insicion looks

great and Sam has strep/tonsilitis (again....4th or 5th time

in 3 months), so HE has to have his tonsils out! I just

laughed...what else can I do? He was tested for Mono

yesterday, fortunately (I guess), it was negative (but if it

were Mono, I could have stopped with the antibiotics and

the tonsilectomy may not have been necessary....so it was

a bittersweet negative), so he is just very cranky and we

have to go in tomorrow (which will be day #5 on this

antibiotic with no improvement) for a 'vitamin R' shot

(rocephin - antibiotic)......hate the thought of shots... hate

him being sick... I'm very much exhausted by all of the

medical stuff, I feel like I am constantly writing letters, on

the phone, waiting for return phone calls...giving meds,

taking temps...all of the medication, even the stuff as

simple as giving Tylenol for fevers, is so counter-intuitive

for me...our bodies use fevers to FIGHT bad things...why do

we try to lower a fever? But, alas...fevers = seizures in my

boys and seizures beget seizures and are just no good. I

would never say I feel cheated because I think my boys are

awesome, but I definitely wish they didn't have to go

through so much stuff...most kids don't need to endure

this. But I know that many endure much much more and

am grateful for who they are and the challenges they have

overcome. They don't view these things as barriers, they

are just temporary road blocks, mini-obstacles to find a

way around....I'm glad they have good attitudes (for the

most part, LOL, Sam isn't such an agreeable kid the past

few days!) and they just work so hard to do the things that

most people take for granted. Pictures to come...I can't

figure out how to make my camera take smaller pics and

can't shrink 'em...but darn it...I'll figure it out one day!

Thanks to all for the support, prayers, thoughts, cards &

letters, we appreciate you all so very much. This has been

an amazing journey and we have so much more to

accomplish and see on our path, we are so happy that you

are with us!