So much craziness

Hello my 3 or 4 faithful readers. I am checking in to tell you things you probably already know; but mostly so when I look back, I will remember these things. In case I forget. Which I probably won't. Because it has been, literally, a bang up start to the summer.

Week one of summer: We frantically continued to take things to our new house in the back of my car. My girls, in an attempt to be more independent, took spills and stains in our small house (which needs to sell pronto) to a whole new level. Meagan ran into the bottom of our love seat with her face and ripped the flap of skin that keeps your top lip attached to your gums above the front two teeth. It bled like crazy; but maybe she did herself a favor because the dentist probaby would have done the same procedure at some point - just in a more controlled manner.

Week two of summer: Still moving stuff to the other house and cleaning as we go. Girls getting tired of this migration that is beginning to resemble the Israelites leaving Egypt. (Okay, that's a little dramatic - but still.) So, last Tuesday morning, the girls slept in. Allison was the first one awake and plopped down on the floor to watch t.v. In the summer, all bets are off around here. I don't feed the girls until they say they're hungry. We just let the schedules go. So, this day was no different. I told Allison to go take a bath, which she did. While she was in the tub she began to feel nauseated, so she got out and came to tell me. On our way to the bathroom, the poor baby passed smooth out. So scary. I had no idea it was about to happen. After a desperate, outloud "Jesus, give me strength" prayer, I picked up my daughter who is almost as tall as me and carried her to the couch, trying to figure out if we were about to call an ambulance or what. She began to answer my questions and show me that she was okay enough for me to put her in the car and head to the pediatrician's office. Lots of tests later, we found out she needs to eat or drink a glass of orange juice first thing in the mornings and stay hydrated all summer long. All was well, except the gash in her face where one of her teeth went through her skin. Two days later, we were back at the doctor because staph was trying to set in and an absess was already forming. The doctor put her on a high dose of aggressive antibiotics and we were able to get ahead of the infection. Thank the Lord!

Mark's brother came over on Saturday and worked his tail off helping Mark and me move to our new house. Mark and Michael were wet with sweat all day. I felt so sorry for them. It took literally the entire day. Mark told me after Michael left how much he enjoyed spending the day working with him. They don't get that many opportunities anymore to work together on stuff. But when they do, I think they work together pretty well. They are alike in some ways and different in other ways, but they get each other and I suppose that makes working together in 100 degree heat and Houston humidity a little bit easier. Michael wouldn't let me hug him good bye because he said he outworked his deodorant. I took his word for it and hugged him in my heart. ha!

My dad kept Meagan while Gina took my big girls to a birthday party with CJ. The big girls had a ball and Meagan had alone time with Pappaw. Pappaw took Meagan to Red Robin at her request for lunch. He let her eat spaghetti one noodle at a time and she had an absolute awesome time. My mom came over and helped throw things into trash bags to take to the new house. It was totally organized and orderly. Martha Stewart would have offered me a job to be a director of motivational speaking or something for Martha Inc. I would have turned the offer down because I wouldn't want to steal her thunder. I'm humble like that.

Then my mom came to the new house and unpacked the kitchen stuff and put it wherever she wanted because I just did not care. At. All. Daddy picked my girls up from Gina's house, where they were playing in a baby pool in t-shirts. He brought back Alicia's, which made him the best daddy in the world as far as I was concerned.

All in all, the best I can say about last week was that we survived and that is a credit to the Lord, and our family. Apparently, it does take a village to raise Mark, the girls, and me. I'm just thankful beyond words for our village.