Pray For Baby Jude

There is a little boy named Jude Matthew that entered this world just days ago, and his life hangs in the balance. We spent a summer with his parents Brandon and Mandy when we were on staff with Cru. They are amazing people. Read more about Jude's battle HERE. And please pray for this precious baby and his family.

Hunter

When it comes to Hunter (Our Beloved 11 Year Old Golden Retriever), we definitely don't treat them like they are little people, or children...

He's not allowed on the furniture or on the bed...but he does have a memory foam dog bed of his own. He doesn't get people food or tons of treats and chews...but he does get the TOP OF THE LINE all natural dog food and dog treats. He doesn't ride in the front seat of the car, but he does travel with us almost everywhere we go. We don't take him to a groomer or dress him up....but we do brush him all the time, keep his nails trim and I'm a pretty handy home groomer with the feet and ears if I do say so myself.

Oh who am I kidding, Hunter's life is WAY cushier than mine, he is our first child and there's nothing we wouldn't do for that animal.

This is a picture of him last year...rounding the corner on 10 years old. Looks amazing right? And he acts it as well. He's in better shape than most dogs half his age, not a stiff joint to be found and other than so pretty fierce seasonal allergies he's fit as a fiddle, with the only indicator of his age being his slightly graying face.

But lately, he's had us a bit worried. After his vaccines in May he got really stiff and started to limp. It did settle down a bit for a while but then came back. We put him on glucosamine and chondrotin suppliments. But now everything's gone down hill...and FAST. He limps on two legs hardly putting weight on one, needing to be carried up and down stairs, he started itching like crazy and ripped so much hair out that he has a bald spot, he became super lethargic and stopped eating. It was like he aged 5 years in 5 days and Jason and I were crying in bed one night because we thought this was the beginning of the end for him. We're just not ready for that so...

It was off to the vet A.S.A.P. They believe it is a tick born illness (not Lyme) but that's really just their best educated guess.

So, our old man is on a white rice and boiled venison diet and loving it. (very glad we have deer in the freezer by the way). He's got an antibiotic for the tick born disease, a steroid for the itching that caused him to rip his hair out to the point of having a bald patch, and the dreaded cone around his head to keep him from doing more harm to his poor skin. If this course of treatment helps, then the diagnosis is correct.

He has regained his appetite and a little pep. But he's still itching like crazy and his limping is only a little better. So back to the vet we go tomorrow and see what they say.

The Harvest Continues

After we returned from our weekend at camp, this is what I hauled in from the garden.It is our THIRD bean picking. I have already canned 17 jars of dilly beans, frozen two pounds and eaten plenty more! There will be AT LEAST two more pickings from what I can tell.

The tomatoes are exploding and so are the cukes. I pulled a carrot and onion just to see where they're at...a bit more time for those. The poor little pea pods in the back corner are from the few pea pants that survived the bunny raid. 'Fraid there won't be many of those! But they sure are tasty, eaten as pods or peas!

I picked four pounds of pickling cukes today and am taking my first stab and pickling them as we speak! This stuff just makes me giddy!

8 Years and Counting

Yup, today is our 8 year anniversary. Still going strong. Call me sappy, I don't care. We're literally more in love every year. And what, pray tell, does one get on one's 8th Anniversary? Well, apparantly the traditional gift is bronze. What the crap? We've never really done the traditional thing.

If you're my husband, 8 years of marraige gets you a sweet little card with messages from your girls, a yummy dinner (that is fully prepped, but you have to grill) and a wife that shaved, put on a lovely summer dress, did her hair and dabbed on some make-up before you came home from work today.

And if you're married to Jason, 8 years of marraige gets you.... a stop at the flower shop on the way home from work, but they were closed soooooo....nothing. Oh wait, it gets you a second effort trip out while you put the babe to bed that results in a redbox and dessert from Fogarty's.

It may not sound exciting to some folks, but it really is grand.

And by the way, our real celebration takes place at the end of September. We decided to forgo presents for anniversary and birthdays this year and instead take a weekend trip to NH and go on an extreme zipline/suspension bridge/rappel canopy tour. AWESOME!

Dive!

Lots and lots of fun and relaxation was had on our vaca. We jumped off the dock and swam pretty much every morning and on into the evening. We took a trip to nanny's house where Ella had her first tube ride. She liked it at a crawl but didn't so much enjoy it when we sped up just the slightest bit to plane off. She thought the tube was much more fun on land. And she fished with daddy right until the moment we left. Once again, not a bad view huh?

Fly!

We had the neatest experience while fishing one morning. A bald eagle soared over head and landed in a nearby tree top. It then proceeded to swoop down and grab a fish from the water just 20 feet or so away from the boat! I don't have a zoom lens or anything on my camera but I did capture it all! Here it is in sequence.

Swimming!

It's amazing what a whole week on the water's edge will do. Althought Ella was extatic about having the water at her doorstep to begin with, everything is on her terms. At first she would just wade to her waist. Then she would jump in if we held her hands. Then she would let us hold her and take her out into the water a little deeper (for a few seconds at a time only). Then she would let us hold her belly down and practice her swimming. And on the 7th day....she SWAM!!!
We would be holding her having her practice swimming to the other and then just let go a little at the very end. She was not fond of this but got used to it. Then she would wade into the water to us and we would slowly back up encouraging her to swim to reach our hands. Finally she would gingerly pick her feet up off the ground and swim a foot or so to us. She just kept getting bolder and bolder, plunging right in and swimming further and further! We had a few setbacks, with water getting in her ears or face which scares her, but by the last day at camp she was jumping off the deep end of the dock to one of us and swimming around with all the adults! Now we go for dips in grandma's pool and she swims the ENITRE length! Although she can still be timid and times and a little frightened, she can also often be heard saying, "No! Don't hold me. I do it myself!"