Vacation, vacation, vacation!

So far this summer, our family has been all about vacationing! To start with, we went to Nags Head, NC with my family for half a week. The weather was incredible and we had a blast!

A mean game of Jenga between my brother, Phil and me. I won!

My mom and Aunt Mable

Monkey!

Rebecca and her best friend, Sarah

You think they are a little tired???

Next, the kids went with Nana and Papa to Myrtle Beach. They had a great time too! Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any pictures from their trip yet. I will have to post them later (maybe I'll get that done before the end of summer!).
While the kiddos were at the beach, Bill and I took off in the opposite direction to Gatlinburg, TN. We rented a nice little mountain cabin and just hung out! It was a great chance to relax and eat some good food. We went out to eat a couple of times (you have to go to the Apple Barn if you are anywhere near Pigeon Forge!!) but also took some good food to cook. We ate every meal out on the deck overlooking the mountains. Check out this view!

We actually needed this little fireplace burning a couple of the mornings while we drank our morning coffee!

So now, FCA Camp season has officially started. Bill is directing a couple of camps and helping with some others. Then, at the end of the summer, he will start a new job! We are excited that he will be the Athletic Director at a local high school!

Zach had a cardiology checkup this afternoon and everything looks and sounds good. He also had his first session of speech therapy, which went well. Zach has a very strong lisp and struggles with many blended sounds. The therapist gave us some pointers for things to work on at home. We will go every Thursday afternoon for the rest of the summer.

We hope you are enjoying your summer as well!

Summer... almost!

The kids are out of school now! I am so looking forward to a schedule that is not packed so our family can enjoy spending time together.

I have to work on Tuesday :( and then we head to the beach! My side of the family is going to Nags Head this year --- there will be about 30 people there at various times throughout the week. It's always a blast --- crazy, but a blast!

Last Monday afternoon, Zach started running a fever. Once we got his fever down, he acted fine. Tuesday, he stayed home with Daddy and he ran no fever so we thought he was ok until 5pm when it started again. I took a look at his throat, which looked like he had 2 red-hot fireballs (you know the hot candies?) stuck back there. When I saw that, Zach did tell me that "his tongue hurt". The child hardly ever complains! I declare that he does not feel pain the way other children do, with all that he's been through. Anyway, I took him in on Wed. mornint and the dr. said his throat looked "impressive" but the strep test came back negative. She decided to treat him with an antibiotic anyway because the strep test is only about 90% accurate. He seems to be back to his old self again and was able to finish out the week at school.

So now, as a reward for taking such good care of Zach, I am the one suffering with a sore throat and now a "like-a-faucet-runny-nose" and sneezing. UUUGGGHHH! I woke up at 5:30am and could not go back to sleep. I kept trying to sneeze but could never get it out. My eyes are watering and watering. Please pray with me that everyone else can stay healthy for our beach trip.

Also, I have a couple of other prayer requests... Our neighbors, Jo and Al, have a new grandbaby. They knew something was not right all during the pregnancy but the possible diagnosis changed with each doctor's visit. He was born on Thursday, and they know he will have surgery sometime because his esophagus and stomach do not meet. I do not even know his name yet, but you can pray for Carter and Amy, his mom and dad. Many of you with heart babies know how they are feeling right now.

Also, please pray for Emma and her family, who go to church with my mom. I think Emma has the same heart defect as Zach and she had surgery on Thursday. I do not know any other details yet but will update when I know more.

Hope you have a blessed Memorial Day Weekend! We have so much to be thankful for in our country and we owe so much to those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and those who are serving us at this moment. Remember them this weekend!

Summertime!

I thought our blog was in need of a summertime makeover. I love all the FREE stuff that's out there for us bloggers, like Cutest Blog on the Block and Shabby Blogs. What others do you use, bloggers? I haven't gotten brave enough to design my own yet, so I make do with the freebies...

We have been busy these past couple of weeks. Daddy directed a camp for FCA last weekend. He said it was incredible! This is a picture of some of the 200 students at the camp during their Golgotha Experience, following in the footsteps of Christ on the way to His crucifixion. A very meaningful experience!

Rebecca spent last week at the beach with Nana and Papa getting S-P-O-I-L-E-D! They always have a blast shopping, swimming, shopping, eating, and shopping. She got some really cute stuff! Believe it or not, she is leaving Saturday to go to the beach again, this time with one of her friends. We will miss her, but I'm glad she is getting to go.

This week, Rebecca attended our local high school's volleyball camp for girls 6-12 years old. I was planning to upload a short video here, but Blogger has left out that icon on the tool bar for some reason. Anyone know anything about this? Anyway, here's a picture of our girl in action...

So, we have been trying to figure out what's going on with Mr. Zach this week. Since Saturday, he has had some tummy issues. He ran a low-grade fever on Saturday afternoon, but no more after that. He has had very loose BM's since then, once or twice a day. He doesn't particularly act sick, unless his tummy is "rumbly" but then again, he's not quite as wild as usual some of the time. I talked to our cardiologist to make sure it's not from one of his meds and he said just to make sure he is not getting dehydrated. We have tried to stick to the diet that they recommend - BRAT = bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast - but he doesn't like half of those things. He keeps asking for Chick Fil a and chocolate Teddy Grahams. Not so good for a sick belly. I do not want to take him to the doctor's office for fear of picking up a bug there. We are almost 2 weeks away from our surgery date, so I am getting VERY antsy. Any ideas of what to do for him?

In preparation for surgery, have your doctors recommended quarantine? We are really wanting to take Zach to see Toy Story 3 but that makes me nervous to think about taking him out around a lot of other children.

I am feeling a lot of anxiety about keeping him healthy and about surgery in general. Each day more and more, I feel the anxiety "boiling up" and the feeling of panic about overwhelms me. I keep reminding myself that God is in control. I have to depend on Him and allow this experience to strength my faith. So hard...

Thanks for checking in on us. We covet your prayers as we head down the home stretch toward July 7!