(Above is our oldest Joshua, with Noah at his Birthday party in early August)

(little man, Noah)

We are friends with the Estes Family. Maybe you are familiar with them, and maybe not. Noah was born with a mitochondrial disease, a rare, yet terminal disease depending on the severeity. Noah is the 7th blessing amongst 8 blessings in the Estes Family. On Saturday, Noah became VERY ill, VERY fast. He started running a high fever, was shaking uncontrollably and lethargic. They have still been unable to get his fever down. He has a very very severe infection and this is a situation of David and Goliath! They need our prayers in a desperate way!! Jeff, Kate and baby Mary Faith are at the hospital with Noah, 1 hour away, from their family in SC. The other 6 children are in their hometown, and are absolutely a basket case. They know Noah is desperately ill. Their oldest sister is helping with them during the day and between Jeff's parents and Kate's they are trying to help at night. I ask that you join with us in intercessory prayer for this family and on sweet little Noah!

"QUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAACK" Dear baby!

Well. Tired and exhasted but SO thrilled. Friday, we had the opportunity (thanks to some friends) to go to Six Flags. We spent the day there and had a blast. Since mine and the children's tickets were free, we only had to pay for dh. The tickets expired the next day, so we needed to use them. Here are some pictures from that day.








We then got up early Saturday morning. We took our sweet furbaby, Princess Leia (who is due with her second litter next week!!) to my mom and dad's house. They were gracious enough to watch her for two days. They love having their "granddog". Then we headed off to Greenwood, SC to be with the Estes family and help Celebrate Noah's second Birthday. If you read our other posts and saw Pictures, you know that in June of this year they were in Our very own Atlanta and were coming for a short 3 day trip that turned into a week trip. Except for one day, we were with them everyday and had a blast. We (Kate and I, and her children and our children) immediately "hit it off" and became instant friends. They had mentioned while they were here, about Noah's party. We also were trying to get to Greenville to visit with my husband's great Uncle Harry.

My husband had points with a hotel chain, and there is one in Greenwood, so we talked about it and dh said yes! Yipee! So we traveled the 3 1/2 hours (from my parents house, 1 hour south of us) to Greenwood for Noah's party. We arrived around 2 pm and we were all SO excited to see each other again. We also were blessed to visit with other blogger friends, the Rausch's. We enjoyed their company also. We gave Noah his gifts (MORE Mickey Clubhouse stuff!) and he was running around! We went back to our hotel, and swam for a little family time. Jeff called us and we went over to their house with the Rausch's for some fellowship time. We had SOOO much fun. We then got up Sunday morning and went to church with the Estes family. After church, we went to their home and had delicious spagetti, parmesean bread, salad and Kate's yummy chocolate cake. To say our trip was too short is an understatement. Let's just say there were tears and we even had some Estes boys try to "stow away" in our van (namely Matthew, who became fast friends with our Joseph). Noah LOVES Joshua, our oldest. He followed him around and Joshua happily carried him around :o) (how can he resist SUCH a cutie pie!) All of the children LOVED being with the Estes and we didn't want to leave (but we were starting school today and my dh had work to do).

We left their house in the afternoon, and went to my dh's uncle and aunts home. I am BIG into genealogy, especially family pictures. Uncle Harry has been promising me for 4 years to bring me copy of heirloom pictures but they were in a storage unit. Also we were wanting to visit with them and interview them, since the boys are using Write your Roots this year. Well with printer in my hand and photo paper, we were very happy to be there. We enjoyed our visit SOO Much. We were there over 5 hours, lol. The kids had so much fun with them and Joshua played the piano for them, which they enjoyed (I did too :o)) Aunt Mickey did bring out pictures and they were a treasure!!

(Uncle Harry and Aunt Mickey)

(Uncle Harry, Aunt Mickey, My dh and our 3 boys)

(Uncle Harry, Aunt Mickey, and my dh)

(Pictured is an old Door that was painted by my dh's great-great grandfather, who was a famous painter in Wooster, OH. His name was John Walmer).


In the middle of making copies, I ran out of color ink, so I had to make a quick trip to the local Walmart. While there, I was walking through the school supply section. There was this little girl, about 5 years old. She was dressed in a pink shirt, with glitter, that said "All about Me". (That should have been my first clue, lol). Anyway, she was standing in the front buggy seat, moving back and forth, while the buggy was moving. Her mother, had her back turned and was completely oblivious!! I mean completely! It scared me to death. I said in a very nice and polite voice, "Oh honey, you are going to fall and hurt yourself." This little 5 year old looks at me, and says (yells), "Go away, you old bat" "Go away you old Lady!" Her mother, just looks at her and says her name and turns around. I was so mad (and shocked!), I just walked away. My thoughts were, she is 5 years old! I am someone she doesn't know, but how is she going to deal with Authority in her life? How will she be able to submit to her authority in school (or in life)? Obviously, she doesn't submit to authority at home...And what will this little girl be like at 12, 14, etc. She will probably be on a talkshow with her mother for "out of control kids and their parents don't know what to do with them". I was so shaken and bothered by this occurance of events, I had to vent.

We got in, after picking up our dog, at around 1:30 am. By the time we unloaded the van and got to sleep it was around 2-2:30 am. We have started school today and did our gardening, but we will be going to bed early tonight ;o)

Headed to SC!

Today, we spent a great (but exhausting) day at Six Flags over GA. I will update more on that later. But tomorrow morning, we leave for South Carolina. If you have seen our updates and pictures from our visits with our friends the The Estes, I will tell you that we are going to South Carolina to help celebrate Noah's birthday. We are SOOO Excited. The kids are excited. The Estes are excited and can't wait to see us again and the feelings are mutual. While there, we are also going to visit with my husband's great Uncle and Aunt. They are in their 80's and we want to visit with them while they are available. We will update after we get home (Monday)!

I have been meaning to get these pictures finally posted. These are the last pictures we took with Noah before they left to go back home. What a sweetie. Continue to pray for this sweet family. Noah has been sick lately.

The other day, Kate and the kids were READY to get out of the RMH. They were getting a little cabin fever. So we talked about where we could go. One place we went (with 10 kids and GPS in tow) was to downtown Atlanta and the Olympic park. They built the park for the 1996 Olympics here in Atlanta. There was a music thing going on but we were able to go around it. They have water coming up out of the Olympic rings in the ground. The kids had a BLAST and got wet, in their clothes. While down there, we decided that we would go to IKEA, eat and shop. That was their first experience to IKEA and they were overwhelmed, but in a good way. After that we tried to go to Whole Foods but they were already closed, so we settled on Kroger. She was still able to get what she needed. The kids were worn out!

The kids and I went down to visit with Kate and the kids Saturday afternoon. I watched the kids while Kate went to the hospital with a friend that was in town. We visited and talked until late at night. My kids are anxiously waiting til we get to go back down there this afternoon. They played all kinds of games, watched tv (movies), made cards for dads and Noah. They just had a really, really good time.

(Sweet little Mary Faith)

(Sweet little Mary Faith has found her toes and feet)

(the boys playing Sorry)

(the kids making cards for Noah and their dad's)

(Little Ms. Sarah Estes Making her card)

(William Estes making his card.)

(David Estes making his card)

(Hannah and Matthew Estes making their cards)

(Little Ms. Mary Faith Estes playing)

(Little Ms. Sarah Estes playing with her sister, Mary Faith)

Here are some pictures of Noah from Yesterday. He is still feeling puney. They think he has a UTI, but they are not sure what else. They are going to have to transfuse him then they will try to do his surgery while he is there. They will probably be here through mid week. We are going tomorrow and visiting with them.

(Here is Noah playing with the bubbles we got him)
(Noah with Jeff (his dad) watching a DVD we got him)


(Noah signing for Bird (duck). He was watching a Mickey Mouse DVD we got him)