Christmas

This year for Christmas, we traveled to my parents’ home.  We spent the weekend prior to Christmas through Christmas Day at my family's.  My siblings and I all thought it felt a little unusual to be there so much before Christmas day; we weren’t always rushing around to get things done.  This Christmas was relaxing with lots of time for rest and fun, and not nearly as much work.

We did most of our usual traditions with the church Christmas program on Christmas Eve, followed by my parents opening their gifts from church family, and enjoying mom’s eggnog (I think my sister may have actually made it this year).  We stayed up late playing the came of Pit, which was tons of fun.  Some of us were laughing so hard it made us cry and gave us sore stomach muscles.

Bentley entertained herself before the Christmas program by dancing in the front of the church.  Uncle C danced with her for a while.  It was really adorable.

Unfortunately, the late night and several coughing spells through the night made me quite miserable for Christmas Day.  We started the morning with our tradition of my dad reading the Christmas Story from Luke, opening our stockings, then opening our gifts.

This is the pile of presents just before we opened them.  My brother and I were taking pictures so we aren’t in this picture.

During the time we were there, most of my pictures were taken with my iPod rather than the camera.  Once I looked at the pictures on the computer I realized they weren’t nearly as clear as they first appeared, so I won’t be sharing many of those pictures.  Here are just a couple of pictures of the girls during the gift opening:

Bentley loving up the new bedspread for her's and Bria’s bed.  They couldn’t wait for us to put it on their bed when we got home.

The gorilla from Uncle C and Aunt T that is just as big as Bentley.  She had a great time tackling, hugging, and playing with it while we continued to open gifts.  She named him George, after Curious George.  Here at home she carries him everywhere.

Bria really likes this blanket from Uncle N that says “Tractors are for Girls”. 

The girls have really been enjoying their new clothes and toys.  Thank you everyone for all your generosity.  I really appreciate that we emphasize that even though we open presents that Christ is the center of Christmas.  Bria has continued to say since we’ve been home, that Jesus is important, not presents.  I hope that both girls will continue to realized that truth every year when we celebrate Christmas (and all through the year).

Christmas Concerts

The week before Christmas, we had our church Christmas concert and Bria’s school concert.  Both our families came to see both concerts.  It worked out very nicely that they were only one day apart.

David ended up being the only one in the church concert.  Bria, Bentley, and I were still coughing and/or had sore throats the night of the concert.  David has had a cold at least as long as Bria, but he seemed to be doing well enough to sing for the concert. 

For being a small church, with only a small group of singers, they did a wonderful job.  It was enjoyable to sit in the audience and listen to the songs I had practiced for months.  Hopefully, my occasional coughing and sneezing didn’t disrupt the music too much.

The men singing their song.  David is the second one in on the right.

Bria’s concert was the next night.  She had missed the whole week of school prior to the concert because of her cold, which came with a fever.  Finally on the day of her concert, she was doing well enough to go to school.  She was nervous about standing up in front of everyone to sing.  Once she saw her dress, however, she was excited to show it off, and her nerves seemed to settle down.  She did a great job of standing calmly and participating in the singing and actions of her songs.

Bria is at the very left end.

Bria and Bentley before the concert.

We really appreciate the grandparents coming and helping us while we were all sick.  My parents stayed an extra day, and I went to with David to one of his meetings so I could finish up the Christmas shopping.  By the time David’s meeting was done, we were both feeling run down from being sick.  Instead of staying for the date night we had planned, we just headed back home.

The next day we were supposed to go caroling with the church, but we were all too sick to participate.  Even our pastor was sick and couldn’t make it.  Unfortunately, David’s dad also got sick from being at our house.  That week was full of activities and illness.

Sick x4

Yuck! Everyone in our house is sick at the same time.  Since Thanksgiving one girl or the other had pink eye, then David started getting a cold, then both girls got colds, and yesterday it was my turn.  No one has gotten over their colds yet, but I am really hoping that David’s and the girls’ will be done soon. 

Bria has already missed enough school this year from all of the other times she’s been sick (tonsillitis, pink eye, etc.).  David and I are part of our church’s Christmas concert coming up on Sunday, and at this point there is no way we can sing if our throats and voices continue to be this bad.  Please be praying for all of us: that we will all get healthy and be able to make our commitments.

Thanksgiving

A house full of people, noisy kids, games, and lots of food means it is holiday time.  We spent this Thanksgiving with David’s family.  It is always exciting for the cousins to get together and play on the farm.  With the kids getting older, and playing together outside, the adults were actually able to play a few games together (even in the middle of the day).  Sometimes the adults were even able to enjoy naps.

Aunt S, being a teacher, often found ways to “teach” the kids through fun activities.  Even though she was on a break from teaching at school, she was still teaching.  God lead her to the right vocation. 

The kids were playing a tickling game with Aunt S.

We also took part of a day to visit Great-grandma Betty.  We all fit in her apartment, and even had room for one of David’s aunts and one his cousin’s family.  We did our best to take pictures of great-grandma with 10 of her 16 great-grandkids.

The kids cooperated better than expected.

It seems as the kids get older, I am taking fewer pictures.  These are the only pictures I have to share from our four days.  Hopefully, I will do better next year.

We hope that your family had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for both of our wonderful families, that all seem to get along, and love and support one another.  God has blessed us greatly!

Daddy, Dance With Me

There are few things quite as precious as a father and daughter dancing, no matter what their ages.  It is extremely precious when it is your own daughter.  “Daddy, dance with me,” is something David hears every night from Bentley for about a week now.  She sweetly comes to David and asks him to dance with her.  If we don’t have any music on she first requests that he turn on music just so they can dance together.  It would be impossible for David to refuse her.  They proceed to dance in the living room, either hand in hand or with Bentley in her Daddy’s arms.  It is the most precious thing.

I haven’t been able to get a video or even pictures yet, but hopefully there will still be many opportunities to.

Round Two

Since about last Thursday, when Bria was finally getting better, Bentley has had a slight fever off and on.  On Saturday she seemed to be doing alright.

We had an obligation at the kid's carnival put on by the local Lions club at the auditorium.  Bria’s class had a booth, and I had a booth for MWA.  My mom came to help with my booth, since she is the local MWA agent.  Not long after we got to the carnival, Bentley was looking more tired than normal.  (Since Thursday, she had been taking all of her naps and falling right to sleep both at nap time and bed time, this is not normal).  The carnival kept the girls up slightly later than normal, maybe 45 minutes.

Sunday morning Bria woke up, which means Bentley was also awake, at about 6:45.  Bentley was tired all morning and just wanted to snuggle during church.  Again, this is not normal.  After lunch, which she hardly touched, she took a 3 hour nap.  When she woke up from her nap, all she wanted to do was lay on the couch next to me.  Uh-Oh!

She had a higher fever now too, but I could tell it wasn’t as high as Bria’s had been.  We spent the rest of Sunday resting on the couch after taking some medicine, and Bentley stripped down to help reduce her fever.  She didn’t seem too bad through the night, so she just had some water but no additional medication.

This morning, however, she had a higher fever and just wanted to lay on the couch.  More medication and more fluids were given, since her fever was nearly 104 degrees.  Hopefully, this won’t develop into tonsillitis.  She has only said that her tummy hurts, nothing else.  Now that the medicine has kicked in, and she has had a ton of cold beverages, she is up and moving around.  She is still pale.  I expect this to last a few days, thankfully, she doesn’t need quite as much attention as Bria did.

Thank you everyone who was praying for Bria.  Now I am asking that you pray for Bentley to be able to fight off whatever this might be.  Also, pray that David and I stay healthy through all of this.

Last Weekend…Majorly Sick

I am not sure what made us so busy the week prior, but I was too busy to get the last post written and posted.  Bria was still fighting a bit of a cold the rest of the week, but it seemed to be better about mid-week.  Then on Friday, she came home from school and said that she wished she hadn’t gone to school that day.  That is not normal for her.  She loves school.  When I asked her why, she said she hadn’t been feeling well, but once she was home she said she was feeling better.

She and Bentley played outside for a while after school.  When they came in, I was helping Bentley with something and Bria laid on the couch with her eyes closed, curled up in a little ball.  I knew at that moment that she was really sick.  She wanted me to sit with her for a while.  As I was sitting with her, I reached over to see if she had a fever.  Her forehead felt like it was on fire.  When I took her temperature it was over 106 degrees.  That is scary.

We tried medication, cold washcloths, a lukewarm bath, and sleep, but couldn’t get the fever down.  By 3 am, her fever still hadn’t come down.  I couldn’t get back to sleep.  So at 4 am, I put some things together, got Bria out of bed, and we headed to the ER (an hour drive).  The ER is not in a big town, so we got in right away, saw the doctor pretty quickly, and started ruling out some possibilities.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t find anything at the time, but said to watch for pneumonia.

Bria and I came back home.  By early afternoon, I made Bria go to bed, she had only dosed off once since about 4:30 am.  After her nap, where she put on a blanket, her fever spiked over 107 degrees.  This causes panic in parents due to all the risks of a high fever.  I quickly got her more medication and another bath.  David called the PA in town and we rushed right into the clinic, which isn’t open on Saturday.  The PA took one look at her tonsils and knew it was tonsillitis (they were largely inflamed).  We got her some antibiotics.

We spent three more days just sitting and resting on the couch.  When I say we, I mean both Bria and I, because she wouldn’t let me leave her side.  The only time I could get anything done was if she was sleeping.  She only sleeps if she is in a bed in a separate room.  By Tuesday, I had to recruit some extra help.

David’s parents happened to be available for a few days, so they came out.  Just the arrival of the grandparents made Bria perk right up.  By Thursday she was back at school, although she had some side effects from her antibiotics.  Now she is back to her normal self.