We are really enjoying our lil hummyfriends.  They're kinda territorial about their 'branch' out there!  Does anyone have any ideas on how to make a homemade hummingbird feeder?  We're trying so hard to not spend what we don't "HAVE" to, but we'd really like to have some more feeders.  Thanks for any suggestions...

Hey y'all,

We did the coolest thing over the weekend.  Locals call it 'floating down the Ichetucknee' lol and we had a blast!  Basically, the Ichetucknee (say itcha-tuck-nee) is the clearest river I have ever seen, and there is a state park there in north Florida.  You can rent tubes, rafts, etc or bring your own and float down through spring-fed, crystal clear waters.  (Now say 'ice cold'!)  Beautiful, gorgeous, a wondrous experience for us all...you could literally look down into the water and see every little thing on the bottom of the river.  The children took their swimming goggles and we bought one of those one-time-usage waterproof cameras.  We saw lots of fish, turtles, birds...and otters!  They were so cool, I'd never thought about otters around here!  This one lil guy was only about 4 feet from me, he chattered at us a bit, dove under, resurfaced with a fish and proceeded to sit there and have a snack while watching us float by lol.  It was truly amazing, we loved it!  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, I highly recommend it. :)

I apologize, I do not know the author of this beautiful writing.  I would love to post that, if anyone can help me.  I received this in an email right after my mother passed away...

MOTHERS

The young mother set her foot on the path of life.

"Is the way long?" she asked.  And the guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard, and you will be old before you reach the end of it.  But the end will be better than the beginning."

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years.  So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."  And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary.  But at all times she said to the children, "A little patience and we are there." 

So the children climbed, and when they reached the top, they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."  And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the starts and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness.  Yesterday I gave them courage.  Today, I have given them strength."

And with the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said, "Look up.  Lift your eyes to the light."  And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness.  And that night the mother said, "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent.  But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage.  And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.  And the mother said, "I have reached the end of my journey.  And now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."

And the children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates."  And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her.  And they said, "We cannot see her, but she is with us still.  A mother like ours is more than a memory.  She is a living presence."

Your mother is always with you.  She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street, she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks, she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.  Your mother lives inside your laughter.  And she's crystallized in every teardrop.  She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take.  She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you.  Not time, not space...not even death.

I wrote such a novel on our first birth, lol, but the second has a tale of its own!

My second baby was due on October 4 and I was so HOT, I thought I'd die lol.  On top of that, this little tyke was certainly making its presence known!  Thankfully, I never had any morning-sickness, but everything hurt lol.  Though I only gained 12 pounds in the entire pregnancy, I would stand next to family and friends, literally cradling my belly from beneath it, turn to them and say, "Here....hold this for a while, wouldya??"  My doctor finally put me on bedrest for the last three months, because we were trying to avoid going too early.  (As a sidenote, it was during these months of bedrest that my son and I began homeschooling!  What a journey lol...)  About three weeks before my due date, I saw my doctor with some pains.  He sent me to the hospital, yippee this is it! I thought, and I don't even have to wait until my due date!  Yep..you guessed it...after all the bedrest and waiting, he finally was willing to let me go...and there were no contractions lol.  Had I gone into labor on my own it would have been fine, but my doctor wasn't willing to induce me just yet.  However the following week, we decided there was really no sense in prolonging this further, so off I went for another induction.  One more 6 a.m. journey (what IS it with morning folks??), once again the Pitocin.  This time, it didn't work as quickly; around 11 a.m., my family in the waiting room decided to get lunch after checking with us.  I was huffing and puffing and breathing, hadn't gotten very far, plenty of time.  Just after they left, my doctor decided to go ahead and give me an epidural.  Well honey, we got busy then!  The epidural was administered; this is a good thing lol, although I find it particularly cruel to tell a heavily pregnant woman in hard labor to "curl up into a ball", good one.  Got it done, laid back down, covered me up..."I'll check back in a few" and the door closed behind the nurse.  Take a breath and WHAM, suddenly there was a sense of 'whoosh' lol and an incredibly intense pressure, I started hollering at my husband, "Get her back in here!", hitting the call button and blowing for all I was worth!  "I ~blow~ NEED ~blow~ HELP!!"  Well they come a'running, flew in that room like the devil himself was after 'em and I certainly couldn't tell them what was wrong!  When they were able to get through my hysteria and check me, the baby was coming.  I mean, she was coming lol.  It was the typical movie moment, "DON'T PUSH, don't push!"  My doctor threw on gloves as she came through the door, they gowned her between contractions and in just a few minutes, I was holding a perfectly healthy precious little baby girl.  As my husband and I ooohed and ahhhhhed, I could hear the doctor say that there was a total knot in the umbilical cord, isn't that weird?  My little one weighed in at only 5 lbs. 8 oz, down to 5 lbs even at discharge, but she was healthy and strong.  Once again, God is good, all the time!

Unfortunately, my family was gone and missed the whole thing!  The nurse went to get them and no one was out there.  We decided to play a trick on them for missing the action, and the hospital staff did not tell them of the birth when they returned.  My sister called me on her cell phone from the waiting room, "How're ya doing?"  "Oh,"  I said, "I'm okay, got my epidural   ...y'all can come back if you want."  It wasn't until they entered my room and spied me with my little bundle that their jaws dropped, "IS THAT THE BABY????"  Guess we had the last laugh LOL.

I can't think of anything I love more that a good birth tale, lol, so I decided to share mine.  SO, congratulations, my first child was due on November 21, the pregnancy progressed fine and dandy, no problems.  As my date approached, I would groan, "Doc, if I don't have this baby soon, it's gonna weigh a ton!"  His reply?  "Oh, at least lol."  Our lil unborn surprise was so funny, even in utero.  You know how it is, your belly is so big and in the way, so..well...you prop things on it lol.  Every Sunday in church, I would prop my Bible open on my belly, and that baby would kick and kick until I couldn't even read the pages, it would wobble so badly!  I guess things were getting tight in there; as soon as I moved the book from my belly, he would stop lol. 

On what was to be my last office visit, the doctor said he wanted to stretch my cervix a bit.  Let me clue you in to something, if anyone ever says this to you? RUN!!  LOL, I thought they were going to have to peel me off the ceiling.  He said, now if this doesn't put you in labor (and goodness, it should've!!) then you come back and we'll induce you.  Sure enough, the appointed day arrived and we got ourselves to the hospital at a chipper 6 a.m. for the induction.  Once stripped of my dignity , I found myself hooked to a monitor, where the nurse informed me that I was already having regular contractions. (Who knew?) Induced me anyway, and boy I could tell when they stepped away from the bed.  That Pitocin is some spunky stuff lol.  Busy day in babyland that day, I progressed along nicely, got my Epidural and didn't feel another thing.  Soon, we were huffing and puffing and pushing...my husband was so cute, I remember him saying, "it's got curly hair!" as the baby crowned.  Unfortunately, it WAS a big baby, I wasn't feeling a thing and as I said, busy day in babyland..maybe it was the pre-Thanksgiving rush?  In any case, I crowned that boy at about lunchtime...and he was finally suctioned out at 4:50 that afternoon.  I had been on oxygen all afternoon for some irregular fetal heartbeats, and he'd been all squished up in the birth canal for hours!  When he finally made his entrance, all 9 pounds of him, it wasn't a happy one.  He was just as blue as could be and was rushed off to the neonatal unit.  There was no 'set the baby on mommy's belly' like they do in the movies, no sweet kisses or tender hugs...they touched his head one time to mine and ran out the door.  My poor husband was caught in the lurch, not knowing whether to stay with me, go to the nursery, go to our families in the waiting area.  I said, "GO, go with the baby!"

I was a long time in recovery and I had very little news of my baby, except well-meaning OB nurses who kept trying to reassure me.  My mom came in to me very soon, saying she needed to check on HER baby.  She said our baby was in the unit and they had no news.  What I WASN'T told at that time was the baby nurse had run to the elevator with my baby, past all our families who knew our birth was imminent.  Mama asked, "Is that our baby?" and was answered, "Yes ma'am it is and if you want to go up with us, you better come on NOW."  As soon as they reached the ICU window to see the baby, a different nurse slammed the blinds closed in their faces.  After some anguished moments, she gruffly came to the door to relate the news, "Don't get your hopes up."  My baby was not breathing normally and was not getting enough oxygen.  His APGAR scores were not good and they were working on him. 

In recovery, my phone rang.  It was my brother on the line, who had a friend who worked in the neonatal unit.  He had called the friend, and asked if she could help.  Here was my first real report on my baby!  He explained it all to me, told me to hang in there and he'd call with anything further; the baby was in good hands.  No one wanted to tell me the experience at the nursery window; my dad, normally a very reserved person, got so upset that my mom had to take him outside.  "We're gonna lose him," he cried, as they comforted each other best they could.

Finally, I was released to my room, and our first stop via wheelchair was the neonatal unit.  My first memories with my baby are ones of tubes and wires and monitors...but they placed him and all of his periphernalia in my lap.  You could hardly see a baby under all that stuff!  My husband and I held him as long as they allowed.  Many times during that long first night, my nurses would find me missing from my room, only to discover me down at the nursery window.  Every time they entered my room, I asked for an update.  Toward morning, a nurse came in, picked up the phone and dialed a number.  In a minute, she handed me the phone.  I could hear this squawking, shrieking, obviously extremely mad baby on the line...a smile slowly came, with tears, as she said, "that's him!"  Anyone who could make that much noise was certainly breathing!

Around 9 a.m., there was a knock on the door to my room.  I wondered if it was my husband returning from getting a bite to eat, perhaps a family member.  My pediatrician poked his head around the door, announcing, "Hey!  Somebody wants to see you..." and turned the corner with my beautiful baby boy.  I sobbed so, I have no idea what that man said lol.  All I could do was cry and nod as I held our precious gift, who was the most gorgeous pink now, breathing on his own normally, and suffering no ill effects. 

Ain't God good?

Recently, my 13 yo was referred to an allergist for some issues with being short-of-breath when he gets hot.  We discovered a chronic sinus infection that we're trying to clear up with antibiotics, steroids and decongestants...but they want to do the allergy testing.  He's not 'doctor visit sick' very often, maybe twice a year, but of course has the common stuffiness, sneezing, sinus etc that seems to be the beauty of living in south Ga lol.  I have it myself :).  I went through allergy testing when I was a teenager and received injections once a week until I got tired of seeing no result and quit (about 1 1/2 to 2 years).  I don't know anyone who has had resounding positive results of all that testing and shots, etc.  Anyone else have an opinion?

Happy July!

OK

Is it me? 

Or is it just not possible to keep your children out of "the world"?

We have these two children...good kids, they are...raised according to the Word (Raise up a child in the the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.)  I hear all the time about how good, how sweet, how mannerly they are from others. 

Then WHY do they fight all the time at home??  The age difference, 6 years, can be difficult I know.  And they're together all the time, since we homeschool.  But we've tried to raise them to love each other, to be kindhearted and considerate.  It just drives me crazy!  Their words and tone of voice to each other, and occasionally to ME, can be so harsh and unloving-sounding.  Oh I think they do love each other, but they certainly could use some work showing it. 

What have I done wrong?? Or is it just kids?  HELP...