Monday morning 10/15

Boy, oh boy, have we had a rough weekend!  Katie's been suffering from one of her migraines since Thursday.  She stayed home from school that day, but I made her go on Friday.  I was trying to be a good mom and help her realize that the world does not stop for a headache, but I think the only thing she felt was the Mom was not very sympathetic to her plight.  Since she toughed it out on Friday, I let her have some time off from her other responsibilities (bus visitation on Saturday, etc.) to try to recuperate.  It didn't work, as the migraine stayed with her all weekend.

This is the first weekend since school started that my Emily Rose did not come home with a streaming cold.  Praise the Lord!  Her habit has been to fight a cold all week, get worse (coughing, sneezing, runny nose, red eyes) on Friday, be sick all Saturday, and begin to make a comeback on Sunday---only to start over with a new batch of germs on Monday!  This Friday, however, she came home just fine and has not been sick all weekend.  In fact, her skin is clearing up (she has really bad eczema) thanks to a new cream the doctor recommended called CeraVe, and her asthma (inherited and from the cold germs) has been calming down since we got a new inhaler.  So, Emily is enjoying good health.........for now!

Ashley, Amanda, and Dale have been well and enjoying lazing around the house.  No chance of going outside, though, since it finally decided to RAIN!!!  Here in Western Washington, we are known as a rainforest, and it does, indeed, rain for a goodly part of the year.  Usually the rain starts by the second week of September and continues until, oh, about June.  (No joke!)  This year, since summer began, we hadn't had any measurable rain until last week.  At first there was a fine mist which thickened into fog; then, at last, the actual rain drops began falling.  We were in the midst of a real drought for these parts!  Now, the rain has pounded steadily for days, washing everything clean and giving the vegetation new life.  Plus, with fall having arrived, the mornings are quite chilly; this helps kill off nasty germs that tend to make folks ill.  You'd think we would all be well now, huh?

Not so!  I developed a migraine of my own Saturday night, causes unknown.  I figured I'd just sleep it off, so I didn't take any medication.  Stupid idea!  By now I should know that sleeping it off never works for me.  I woke up Sunday morning in real agony, desperately wishing to chop off my head and get a new one that didn't hurt so much.  I don't experience any aura or warning signs that a migraine is coming, so each time I'm surprised.  I began taking migraine medicine (over-the-counter), but it didn't work.  I was down with that thing all Sunday and couldn't even go to church!  To make matters worse, my equilibrium was upset, so my balance was way off.  I was dizzy and likely to fall over just by turning around.  Since I was home sick and Chad was not available, even the kids couldn't go to church.  Amanda got to go on buses in the morning (I was able to drop her off and pick her up with no incidents!), but we all stayed home last night.  My headache finally began to ease about 7:00 but didn't fully go away until this morning.  Katie is still fighting hers but is staging a valiant effort.

Dale has been fine!  He has enjoyed his extra time off this weekend, getting to sleep in and watch TV.  I spoke with his teachers this week after meeting with our principal, and the decision was made to reduce the amount of Dale's homework to just enough work to allow him to demonstrate his grasp of the concept taught.  He has had soooo much homework each night that he's been spending about four hours each night working on it.  This leaves him no down time, no relax time, no study time.  We decided that, with the reduced homework, Dale will have more time to actually study for tests and quizzes, thus improving his grades.  So, Dale spent some time Friday night on homework, but he took Saturday morning off.  He played on the computer and got in the tub, then went downstairs to eat and watch TV.  He spent some time Saturday afternoon correcting a math test and doing some extra credit work in science before plopping down in front of the TV.........to fold laundry!  This has been a sore spot for his sisters, that Dale doesn't have to fold as much laundry as they do.  For a while he couldn't and then, he was so busy with school work, he still couldn't.  Now, however, Dale is fully able to keep up with his share of the loads.  (This, of course, does not please him greatly.)

Chad's been off work for a few days, getting in some hunting.  Or, at least, some looking!  He only gets this one vacation in the year, so he enjoys the break fully.  Since he's been away, we mice have been playing---hide-and-go-seek in the dark, that is!  We've had a game each night and have had a blast scaring each other witless!  Each night, I'll take Dale's hand and help him through the darkened house and into a good hiding spot.  I'll also help steady him when it's his turn to find the others.  Last night, Dale said, "Mom, I want to walk on my own in the game."  And he did!  He's been walking around the house really, really well lately, and he did that again during the game last night, walking on his own and leaning down to check dark corners.  Praise the Lord for this improvement!  It's good to see Dale feeling more confident and comfortable in his own skin.  He's been trying this at school, too, walking around my classroom without any help.  Eventually, he'll be walking around the gym on his own---I just know it!  :-)

God is always good to us, and He is our reason for living.  He truly "doeth all things well."

Hebrews 7: 25  "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."