It's been a few weeks since my last post...

My computer is not a happy camper the last several days, so I'm borrowing Rick's to say hello. (I can only check emails when my computer's in the mood to let me, and going on websites is pretty much out of the question for now.)

My health has been problematic over the last several months, especially manifest in painfulness, weakness (loss of grip, etc.), tingling and/or numbness in my hand and feet. My doctor ran a host of tests, but was unable to find anything new, so at this point we are presuming these issues simply to be new manifestations of CFIDS. There is some newer medical research and corncern indicating that CFIDS may actually be a degenerative and/or progressive nereological condition, afterall, so we may just be entering new territory in the ongoing journey of these past 16 years. Please pray for wisdom as I seek a new doctor as mine has just moved out of state.

Rick and I are staying very busy. "You sure have your hands full!" is a daily comment heard any time we take our kids out in public. (It's still hard for me to reconsile this reality with our years of infertility!) Between works stress and home life, we don't get nearly enough "us" time most weeks, but we are working on that. There are a lot of changes happening at church and we have been involved in a lot there. We have a home fellowship (small group) now meeting weekly at our house and I'm praying about how to help our church launch some kind of care/support ministry for fertility-related loss issues.

Joshua is within a couple weeks of being half way through his second grade requirements. Talking with his Sunday school teacher today, she said that any time Joshua is in her class she starts any question with, "Joshua, I know you know the answer to this, but let's see if anyone else knows too." If no one else knows the answer, he gets to share, but she has never seen a question that he didn't know the answer to (in great detail).

Ruthi has gained another pound or two this fall (about 25/26 pounds) and taking great interest in alphabet letters and writing. She can write her name very well (I'll save you the saga of purple crayon on her bedroom walls) and correctly identify/write several other letters as well. I haven't spent much concentrated time with her on these, but she makes sure she isn't left out of our school days, and is simply soaking it all up like a little sponge. A couple of moms from the homeschool co-op were just telling me about how far advanced she is of all her peers, but I hadn't realized it myself, so that was interesting information to hear. I realized how important it is to take her eagerness to learn seriously.

Jeremiah has been fighting his thrush off and on for several weeks now, but as of yesterday's doctor's appointment, seems to be holding his own. He's gained another couple ounces, but hasn't quite broken that 20 pound mark... YET. He half-jokingly say that his goal is to outweigh Ruthi by his first birthday. He has all four front teeth now (broke basically one a week for an entire month, starting at 7 1/2 months) and looks like another top tooth is working hard at joining the team. Between the teeth and the thrush, we have had a lot of low-sleep, crying nights these past several weeks. Crawling has been fully mastered for the past few weeks already and he's moved on to crusing furniture and trying to stand on his own. Remote controls and telephones are great insentives for past movement on his part! He'll be 9 months on Monday.

If you haven't heard of Blessed Toys yet, this is a really neat company! I just started repping for them (free sign up!) and we offer "Messengers of Faith" talking Bible character action figures, Proverbs 31 dolls (a Christian answer to "American Girls" without supporting organizations that support abortion), and Veggie Tales! Drop by for a visit and take a look around: