What a few weeks!

Wow, we have the busiest few weeks around here.
Monday, May 10th, we had a tornado come through that took off the chimney, part of the roof, most of the fencing, and threw our shed through the fence. Crazy, huh?
We are still dealing with getting all of that fixed.
My daughter got poison sumac all around her eyes and cheeks, and a few days later ended up in the hopital after getting her blood drawn to see if it was an allergy instead.
About a week later, I had excruciating back pain and went to the hospital, but no one could find the problem.
The worst thing that happened though was that my niece got kicked in the head by her horse.
It was very traumatic and she had to be medi-flighted to the hospital. 
They sent her home two days later even though just the day before she had a fever of 104.1, under the arm, with Tylenol and Motrin in her system.
We fought them tooth and nail, and they kept her that night but the next day her fever was broke and they sent her home.
She ended up back in the hospital the next day, unresponsive, dissallusioned, and not even knowing who her mother was, she was in so much pain.
The hospital diagnosed her with Bacterial Spinal Meningitis, and ambulanced her to another hospital.
She will be there for 14 days on IV antibiotics, and is still in much pain.
She is out of the ICU now, but my sister and I would greatly appreciate your prayers.
This was so close.
The fact that she has survived both the initial kick to the head and the subsequent meningitis is nothing but a miracle.
I praise the Lord for all the he has done for her and her family.
You really stop and think about how blessed you really are when these things happen.
We are so blessed and eternally grateful.
Thank you God for your mercy and your blessings.

I just Found Out Today...

I just found out today that I was selected to be a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew for the 2010-2011 year!

I am so excited! So, look forward to many helpful reviews coming your way this year.
Sign up to follow my blog so you won't miss a single review.

Dog Missing/ Tornado

I had some comments from some of you with concern for us about our dog being missing, and I just wanted to let you all know that she came home. She showed up two nights later at 3:30 in the morning, in the middle of a big storm.
It was a miracle!
We are so thankful that she came home.
Thanks for all of your prayers.Here is a picture of her dressed up as a candycorn!!!

Rainbow!

We have had such a terrible couple of weeks weather wise, but today, after the rain, we saw a beautiful rainbow!

Thought I would share it with you.

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http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Digital-Supplement/Homeschool101.html

Tornado!

We got hit by the fierce winds from yesterdays tornado's. We lost our chimney, some of the roof, most of our fence, and our play set.
It was scary! We were looking through the windows last night and saw our neighbors roofs getting blown off! We then went into our laundry room. Luckily, we are all OK, just some damage to the house.
I should see about taking some pictures and posting them.
The worst part is that our dog got out and she is now lost. We have been looking for her all day, and have not found her. We went to the animal shelter and put up fliers also.
We really hope someone has her and will see the signs and bring her home.
It is so sad for the kids. It is even hitting me harder than I thought it would.

Thought I had today: Children memorizing their phone numbers and addresses.

Today I was in 7 Eleven, and I heard someone talking about children memorizing their addresses. A thought came to my mind to be careful about this. If someone you or your children do not know well asks them if they have memorized their phone number or address, they may be doing it for ulterior motives.
A lot of people do ask kids if they have them memorized, just to see where they are or if they think they should have them memorized by a certain age, but it would be an EASY way for a predator to get your phone number or address.
As parents, we may want to "show off" how smart our children are by having them recite this, but it could be dangerous.
I just thought I would share this with you all in the hopes that it may help someone.
Have a great day!