A Broken Arm?

Last night our oldest son, Zach, and I ended up taking Sheyenne, our youngest daughter, to the ER in Harlan last night. (Doug had taken nighttime Tylenol and was of little help by that point.) We didn’t get home and to bed until almost 1:00 this morning. They said that she did have a fracture, but that there was a blood pocket blocking the X-rays and so it was hard to see it well. So, they half casted it and put her arm in a sling. She was in terrible pain all night and she and I slept very little, if at all. They told us to just give her regular Tylenol for the pain. Well that wasn’t working, so while we were in Woodbine for the kid’s ortho. appointment, I stopped by Dr. Christy’s office and asked what else I could give her. I explained what had happened (as she hadn’t received the medical report yet this morning) and she said that for one, she would give me a prescription for Tylenol with Codeine for her. Then she said that she wanted to call an orthopedic pediatrician right away and get us in as from what I was describing, it sounded like it was over the growth platelets in her elbow, and that was serious! She wanted to be safe instead of sorry. The ER doctor had told us to just follow up with our regular on Friday this week. Well Christy got us an appointment at the specialist for 11:00 this morning. So, we had to go from Shelby to Woodbine (45 minutes), then back to Harlan to pick up her X-rays (about 35 min.), then to our house to get Shey (about 25 minutes), then to Council Bluffs to the specialist (about another 35 minutes), all by 11:00 this morning. Good thing we did though! Sheyenne has a severe break on the bone just above her funny bone. They had to cut off the half cast from last night, and put her in a full cast from her fingers to almost under her arm pit. She is to not play, go to school (which won’t be a problem with homeschooling), stay with an adult 24/7 to help protect her, etc. So, good thing we didn’t wait until this next Friday to take her in, or they would have had to re-break the break to fix it!! We have to go back in again next Monday and see how it is healing and what needs to be done from there. Poor girl. She really was in so much pain. And she’s still so tiny only weighing 35 lbs. And wouldn’t you know it...but that she is our only left handed child out of 10, and it is her left arm that is broken! She is happy this afternoon though because the neighbors sent down their daughter, her best friend Madison, to play with her here for a while. That lifted her spirits!!

Our Oldest Son

This is our oldest son, Zach, with our youngest daughter, Sheyenne.

Very long story short, we were able to get our son in a Christian PMIC facility to get some help for his anger issues, spiritual issues, and so forth. Prayerfully, he will be able to graduate the program within 6 - 12 months, depending on how long it takes him to work on some specific issues. Please keep him in prayer if you will??? This has been one of the hardest things in the world for a parent to do, but so very necessary. It will take God to take control of his life, and him to be willing to turn his will over to the Lord.

Updates On Our Family

Well things are still crazy around here, which I guess you could say is a "norm" with our family, and something I just need to accept as a part of our lives. :+) The twins, Anja and Alara, were here for 2 1/2 weeks this time. Then last night their parents, and the girls, were in a bad car accident. Both of their parents are in the hospital, and right now the girls are with their great aunt. We will probably have them here with us while their parents recover. The next thing is that we got a big swimming pool for the kids here at the farm. It's plenty big enough for the younger ones and the teens (and takes 2000 gal. of water to fill each time). As a matter of fact, we had 20 kids here to play in the pool on Monday between our neighbor kids (who are also a family with 10 kids), my nieces and nephews, and my kids! Do you know how much it takes with to feed that many kids? Precisely 4 loaves of bread, 1 1/2 jars of peanut butter, and 3/4 jar of jelly! :+)

Along with the swimming pool comes sunburns. My poor Sheyenne is by far the worse. She has burned on her arms, shoulders, and chest and back. She also has blisters the size of quarters. We have her on special creams, Aloe Vera gel, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, etc., but she is still miserable. She had sun block on, but apparently, it didn't help enough. She is just like me in this I'm afraid. I can remember many Track and Field days at school and the terrible sunburns I used to get, then topped off with numerous vinegar baths I used to soak in trying to ease the pain. Doug tried taking all the kids to see the movie "Kung Fu Panda" tonight, but Sheyenne is so miserable that they are coming home early. I hurt for her.

Well today is the day that Samuel, our baby boy, was due to be born. This has been a hard day for me today. I know he is safe in God's loving arms, but I still want to hold him and be able to kiss his tiny face. I will always miss him and love him. Does the pain ever really go away?

My dog breeding business is doing well. I am glad to have my dogs here and now have two dogs that are bred and another one being bred. I have one litter due in 2 weeks, and one due in mid August. Prayerfully, I will have a third one due by the end of August as well.

We went to the Exotic Animal Swap Meet in Allen, NE again this past weekend. We had a wonderful time!! And no rain! YEA! There were people there from ND, SD, IA, NE, MN and WI with numerous animals for swap and/or for sale, such as: camels, llamas, goats, pot bellied pigs, dogs, cats, ferrets, bunnies, baby calves, guinea pigs, donkeys, mini ponies, horses, peacocks...you name it! We brought home 3 more laying ducks (now giving us 4 females and 1 male), since I love cooking and baking with duck eggs over chicken eggs whenever I can. And of course we also brought home two bunnies! Ashley has named hers Issac, and Zach has named his Leah. I am praying for no baby bunnies however! Dogs yes, but I really don't want oodles of bunnies! Can you have a bunny spayed or neutered?!

Ashley and the younger kids planted a garden this week. I pray that we won't have so much more rain that it washes it all out. They planted corn, carrots, pumpkin, yellow squash and cucumbers. IA is in a constant flood state this spring, with so many of the fields being washed out, so I am praying that we are past some of this and that all will grow well, even if it is later this summer that we reap the harvest. With grocery prices going higher and higher, it's certainly worth trying.

Well I think this is basically all that's basically been going on at our house the last week or so. More later, and I hope pictures too!

Duggers Expecting Baby # 18!

Duggars Expecting #18
Posted in Quiverfull
The Duggar family just keeps on growing! Michelle and Jim Bob announced live on The TODAY Show that Michelle is pregnant with baby #18, and they’re very excited for the new addition to their family. The new baby is due on New Year's Day, Jan. 1, 2009.....

They are so inspiring to me!! I love to keep up on what's going on in their lives and their home school!! See them here!

http://www.duggarfamily.com/photos.html

Three of Our Oldest Daughters

This is our three oldest daughters, and Niki's (on the far left) boyfriend, Dustin. He's a great dad to their kids, and a wonderful guy for Niki.