NEWS, NEWS, NEWS!

Hello all! We are so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow and of course Christmas coming up. I only have a few minutes to update you all so I will make it brief. First of all, Dylan has been promoted at work. In case you don't know....he is working at Sonics here in our home town. As of next week he will be crew leader. He is all excited because he gets a pay raise and gets more responsibility...and of course a new shirt that sets him "above" the rest of the lowly teenagers that work there. So, yeah Dylan! Emily's orchestra concert went really well on Sunday. They sounded great. Both Emily and Dylan are going to start giving private lessons on the flute and the guitar after Christmas. That is so funny since neither of them have ever taken a lesson but now they are giving lessons. I love how self taught they are. Elizabeth and the boys have mostly been hanging out around the house, doing school and helping me get stuff done for the holidays. I think we are going to mow the lawn today for the last time of the season....trim it and get it all looking good for the winter. Shawn has been extra busy with all the shows going on at this time of the year down here. He loves it! I have been trying to get everything done with the house for the holidays and working on my doula certification. My friend Valerie (also a doula) and I sat up a both at the show on Sunday. We looked so professional and had a great time hanging out together....watching the people trying to figure out how to say doula and try to understand what we are and what we do....hahaha. Sometimes it got about half comical. But, we got to educate some people and hand out our cards and brochures so that was a plus. I am working on my 80+ question doula certification test....trying to get 10 questions a day done so that I can have that marked off my list. I got to "teach" that class at the high school for pregnant teens and had a wonderful time and a great response from the girls. The social worker told me the next day that she has never seen the girls that excited to have a speaker and they wanted to know when I was coming back. That felt great! Our doula get together that I set up with the help of Valerie is coming up on Dec. 3rd. Valerie and I also get to go to Paris Island military base in SC next week to meet another doula that does a talk there and to see if we can do something like it here in our area at the two military bases.  So, I am still busy and loving it. Everyone here is doing great. My mom is coming to town tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving and the weekend. Our friend Peggy is also coming to Thanksgiving. Well, my brief update lasted way longer than anticipated so I better go and get done what needs done.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Pulling up Marigolds!

Today I pulled up all the Marigolds in the beds. I will not need to replant them next year since, due to the mild to nonexistent winters here, they are perennial where we live. I actually get so many of them that I have to weed them out. My Marigolds get to be about small bush size and they attract the most wonderful butterflies and some honey bees. But the time of year has come where they were looking old and tired so they got yanked from the beds and thrown back into the woods. Maybe they will grow there. Shawn read that they help keep snakes away. We didn't see any snakes this year in the yard...which is just fine with me. The ants are horrible and we have some ant hills that would put some of the finest architects to shame. We also have two palm...it think they are called monkey palm...trees on each side of the driveway...bought them at the same time and they were the same size...now, one is about twice to three quarters the size of the other and we have no idea why. The only thing that we can think is that the smaller one isn't getting as much sun because the vehicles may be shading it some. Anyways, haven't seen any geckos this week...guess they are going to hibernate since the weather is getting down into the 50's some nights...trust me...that is COLD for us. The tree frogs have been hiding for a couple of weeks too. Other than the one that got into the van the other night when Shawn, Dylan and Christian were on their way back from a show. I get a call from Dylan asking me to talk to Christian because a tree frog jumped on him and he is freaking out. Well, freaking out was putting it mild! Shawn finally had to stop at a weigh station to try and calm him down. They rearranged the van so Dylan.....the big brother, protector and mighty frog hunter, could sit beside him...just incase the offending frog decided to come back. They got back on the road and the frog did come back....Dylan caught it and threw it out the window. BYE, BYE FROGGIE! Other than all that excitement....we enjoyed the wonderful weather and played outside some today...our oldest two working children bought the family pizza for dinner..not sure why but it was a sweet gesture and appreciated, Shawn declared today the 3rd day of Christmas and played Christmas music and made some cookies with the boys this afternoon, Emily had her last orchestra practice yesterday....now she has three concerts coming up and then we are off until Jan. We are thinking about maybe coming north in Feb to Massanutten...not sure yet but we are talking about it. I got contacted today from the Crisis Pregnancy Center...the sad message went like this...."Pregnant teenagers all over the place...I need your help." I have a client meeting tomorrow with a 16 year old. We shall see how it goes.

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to my sister (in-law) Karen! And a GET BETTER SOON WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU goes out to my dad.

Love and miss you all! Have a wonderful week! Will update when I can.

Just a quick note.

Hello all! I really don't have much to say....busy, busy, busy. Emily got her new flute in the mail today...and she is so excited. Dylan doesn't work until the end of next week...catching up on school work is what he will be busy with this next week. Shawn and Dylan are leaving tomorrow morning early for Brunswick, Ga for a show...they might not be home until Sunday night so they are busy packing some bags...Christian might go too.  I have two assignment due by midnight tonight...I have read all the material..now I need to answer the questions and post them on line. The boys are winding down for the night....Thank God! I need to run to the store for some milk for the morning...guess I will do that when Emily gets off work around 10:30 or so. As long as I am in bed and asleep by 1am I will be happy. Tomorrow is deep cleaning day...washing down the doors, woodwork and trim...dusting anything that stands still, getting all the corners, cracks and crevices clean...I love Saturday when it is cleaning day...strange I know. Well, gotta go and get the boys settled down...the house is still rocking and I hear them giggling away. Have a wonderful weekend!

An acutal UPDATE...aren't you proud of me?

Hello all! I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have updated you all. I honestly didn't know so many people actually checked this site to see how we are and what is going on in our ordinary lives. The kids are all doing great. Dylan got a job at Sonics cooking burgers. He seems to really like it. I am waiting for the early mornings...5:30am...to start getting to him. He is looking into some schools for furthering his education after graduation this coming Spring. He doesn't know exactly what he is going to do or where it is that he is going...but we are just happy that he is exploring different ideas. Emily is still working at Johnson's on 4th and still enjoys it. She is playing flute in the Effingham County Orchestra and has a few concerts coming up. Of course she knows mostly what she wants to do after graduating this Spring...sign language. Both Dylan and Emily are going to a new youth group here in Rincon. On Wed. night they have the traditional youth group with preaching and all but then on Saturday night they have what is called "Pit Stop"....all the kids get together and have fun playing football, music, air soft guns, or whatever else fun that the great youth pastor has dreamed up. They love it there. Elizabeth is really growing up. It is hard to believe that she is 14. She wanted a desk for her room but if any of you have seen her room or know anything about her....we couldn't even find a square foot of floor that was clean to put a desk on. So, we made her a deal. Friends of ours bought her a desk....nice and wonderful older couple that we (or was it they?) kinda adopted. We told her that if she kept her room clean she could have the desk. Seems to be pretty much working so far. She even folded clothes today and put them in her drawers instead of a pile on the floor with whatever else is lying there. Christian is growing up so fast. His 8th birthday is the day after Thanksgiving this year. Wow! 8 years! Hard to believe. He is reading like a champ now and loves to read anything he can get his hands on. And, now he only goes to speech class once a week instead of twice. Yippee! He has made such progress. Josiah is really enjoying his reading lessons this year. Tonight at dinner, Christian was saying grace...."thank you Jesus for this wonderful food that we are about to receive"....Josiah pipes up...."I have already received." Sometimes the things he says just crack us up. Micah is the most hillarious one though. The other day after throwing up (not a big deal...he is fine) he stopped and looked at me and said..."Wow! I didn't know I could do that!" I really need to write all the funny things they say down...I could write a book. Eian is almost potty trained. One of the kids named his potty Fred...not sure why...but we are always asking him if he needs to feed Fred. Odd as it is, it seems to be working. He has had a lot less accidents on the floor. All the little boys get to dress up for church on Sunday in a costume. Christian is going to be a farmer, Josiah...what else...a bear, Micah is going as his favorite producer....a cow...Got Milk?....and Eian is going most likely as a giraffe since I already have the outfit. They are going to love it since we don't do halloween. Although we are most likely going to do what we did last year....a friend of ours came over with her kids and we passed out bags full of stuff...Bibles and tracts and candy. Last year we "evangelized" our neighborhood with about 85 Bibles. This year our friend bought 170 Bibles. We had a great time and got a wonderful response last year. As for the rest of life down here in the Good 'ol South....the weather seems to have finally given us a little break. Although it has been rainy all this past week...which is odd for around here...it has been in the 70's and we are loving it....even if it is a little chilly. Shawn is doing fine as usual. He loves this time of the year down here because he is busy. Speaking of busy.....I am over loaded and loving it. I started my birth doula training in August...and have had one birth so far. I need to do alot for this one certification....take a childbirth education class, breastfeeding class, attend 3 births, write an essay, a research paper and take a very long test to name a few things. Then, I got the bright idea to get a few more certifications too...well, while I am at it...why not? So, I started my Childbirth Educators certification, and I am starting a Marketing class to know what to do with all of this. In January I am going to start my Sibling Support certification and I am hopefully in the next month going to start my Teen Support certification...which is where my heart lies...with the teens. I have made contact with the Crisis Pregnancy Center  in my town and got great reception from them. I am going to start to teach an educational class in January for them....they have gotten me in touch with a few teens in the area as well and I have one of their births coming up in January. The Crisis center passed my business card onto a social worker at one of the local high schools and they have a teen pregnacy class for these teens who are already pregnant and I am going to teach a few classes with them too. One is coming up in Nov about "what is going on with my body" topic. I am also a Operation Special Delivery Doula. OSD is an organization that provides doulas to women whose husbands/partners are deployed during the time they will give birth. It is a great way to say "thank you" for my freedom....and since we have two bases where I live....what better way to do that than volunteer. I am getting together all the doulas in my area and having a luncheon so we can get to know one another and network better. I also contacted our local paper and they are going to do a story on doulas and me in their January issue...so I am pretty excited about that. So, as I said....very busy....but loving it. When I am all done I will be a Birth Doula, Childbirth Educator, OSD volunteer with my Sibling Support and Teen Support Certifications. I might also go for my Lactation Educator Certification when all this is said and done but that won't be for another year at least. I guess you could say that I am a birth junkie....guess that comes as no shock to anyone...hahaha. Other than that...we are just getting geared up for the holidays and loving living in the south. Come see us sometime if you get the chance...we miss you all! Promise to update sooner than later this time.

My First Birth...well, sort of.

I am home from my first doula certification birth! Wow. I stand in awe at this ladies ability to birth her beautiful baby girl. The rough facts are as follows.....Client induced one week early due to health concerns.....she was on pitocin all day with little change. At 10pm (13 hours after the pit drip was started) they told her she had the option of continuing with what she was doing or turn it off and try again tomorrow...she asked for one more hour with the drip turned up a notch to see if she made enough change to get her water broken...if not then she would call it quits for the night. One hour passed while we played cards and stopped evey minute or so to help her through a contraction....she was so amazing! She breathed and stayed on top of 1minute apart contractions and when they were over we went right back to playing cards and she was the only one who could remember who's turn it was..haha. At about 10:50pm she called for the nurse and in came the nurse and doc....she was checked and found to be a 5 (2cm in 1 hour) so they broke her water and she was immediately a 6 and then a second later she was a stretchy 7. Of course contractions came on like gang busters and there wasn't any rest in between. Client stayed on top of this intense pain as much as she could but she hit transition and flew through it in about 20 minutes flat. I knew with the way she was re-acting that the end was with in the hour. She had her moment of weakness and asked for an epidural...her choice and we supported her through it...although I knew that there was no way she was going to need it and by the time the doc got there to give it to her she would be done or at least pushing...but we called anyways.  A minute later she wanted me to hit the nurse call button and all she could do was scream so of course a nurse comes running...followed shortly by the doc. They didn't even have time to get sterile gloves on and baby's head was almost out. I helped her pant through a little so they could at least grab gloves off the wall and get them on....she was obviously having a baby...the bed wasn't torn down...the delivery pack wasn't opened...the bed wasn't raised....the baby slid out of her onto the bed and was beautiful and amazing! Little Miss was here 32 minutes after they broke her water (at 5cm) at 7 lbs 15 oz and 19 3/4 in. Her APGARS were 9/9. Mom, Daddy (who was amazing too) and baby were all doing fine and baby nursed within a hour of being born. Mommy had a small tear that they had to stitch but other than that no problem. She was induced with Pitocin for 14 1/2 hours with no pain meds what so ever....WAY TO GO MOMMA!

I stand in awe...I have birthed my own 7 babies but never watched them being born....I have done some of them all natural too....but...it was an honor and I feel so very blessed to have been able to watch this mom have the power to have this baby...to watch her and her partner work together and fall more in love with eachother through it....to see this baby come to life, take her first breaths....WOW! is all I can say! WOW!