Dog Show

The dog show was in town this week. Since we have a girl who LOVES any kind of animals, but especially dogs, her Granmama wanted to take her. So, we went down on Wednesday. We had a good time. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the judging of the cairn terriers or the agility stuff, but it was fun anyway.
James, Elizabeth and Granmama watching the dogs. James checking out the dogs.

James and Elizabeth being silly.

And I fell in love again. When we were looking for a dog last year I was researching what kind to get. I found Norfolk Terriers and thought they were super cute. They are supposed to be great with kids and other animals. We saw some at the dog show and they are absolutely adorable. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Stache, and right now he's totally my hero. But, I would love a little Norfolk. The problem??? They are EXPENSIVE! So, I don't see one anytime in my near future. But, if you happen to have one hanging around, you can send it my way. Or if you were trying to figure out a birthday present for me, well now you know. :)

This isn't a great picture, but you can kind of see how cute they are.

No Rabies

We got the call today that the bat that was in our house did not have rabies. We are so thankful to God that this ended here and we don't have to make decisions about if anybody gets shots. I am thankful for this experience although it was difficult. It has made me more dependent on God and that is always a good thing. Thank you for your prayers!

Sleep

I'm not sure how I managed to miss this on the last post, but yesterday was the first night that James went to sleep on his own. I rocked him for a while and was a little frustrated because he was obviously exhausted and just wouldn't give up the fight. So, after about 15 minutes of him lying in my arms with his eyes just barely open, I laid him down in his crib, left his lamp on and his door cracked and left the room. He made a slight cry and then stopped. We have done this before and have always ended up having to go in and get him, because we have never been willing to let our kiddos "cry it out". Well, we left him in there, because he seemed content and after 30-45 minutes things got very quiet. I went up and checked on him and he was sound asleep. He just did it again tonight, so we may be on to something. This makes me very happy and gives me a little more freedom at bed time.

Settling Down

Well, things are starting to settle down here. We spent a somewhat restless day yesterday dealing with the bat issues. Got Stache to the vet for a rabies booster as recommended by our dear vet and friend Dr. Kyzar. Was reminded once again how much I love him as a vet. He's so comforting and calm and it's always nice to see a friendly face, especially when going to the vet with 2 young kids and a dog can be a tad bit crazy.
Dave got 2 calls today - one from the health department and the other from an animal control officer letting us know that the bat has been sent for testing and we should have the results tomorrow. I have been very impressed with how on top of things they have been. The animal control officer also told Dave that most of the bats recently have been coming back negative, so that's good news.
Dave has been great about handling all these calls and stuff. I am again thankful for a husband who protects and cares for our family - it is a blessing.
We headed out to the water park today with Steph. It was a fun couple of hours. This was the first time in quite a while that we have done anything other than the kiddie area. Elizabeth has finally gotten over her fear of the water and LOVES it. So, we did the wave pool and the lazy river. Both were lots of fun. I don't think I could have done these by myself and Steph, as usual, was a huge help to have. She and Elizabeth went way far into the wave pool by Elizabeth's request and had a blast. Then in the lazy river James sat in my lap and Elizabeth sat in Steph's. We finished off our time with a few minutes at the kiddie area. It was a great time and a good way to stay cool in this crazy heat.
We started a new Bible study tonight for our church. We had a good turn out for our little church - 7 adults. The Bible study was on marriage and we talked about marriages we have been exposed to - what we've seen that works and doesn't. It was a good starting night and the group seemed to mesh well. I'm excited for this study. Dave and I both have a passion for marriages and seeing people in godly marriages. Tonight was also a good reminder of what's important - commitment, selflessness, putting God first. And reminded of some things I want to do in our marriage - ask Dave what I can be doing better as a wife, putting him first, speaking his love language (words of affirmation), and remembering the things about him that I fell in love with. The group is a good mix of stages - we have been married the longest at 8 years, one couple married 4 years, one couple getting married in December, and one man dating a woman who lives in another city and probably getting engaged relatively soon. I'm excited to see what God does with this group.
Now, off to put the kids to bed.

Batman

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything about the wedding. I will, I promise. It was amazing, so much fun, and exhausting. We spent most of last week trying to recover from the weekend.

We had a fun 4th of July weekend, topped off with a crazy Sunday evening, Monday morning.

We got the kids to bed around 9:00 last night and Dave and I sat down to eat some dinner. This isn't normal for us - we usually all eat together, but we weren't really hungry when the kids ate and we didn't expect it to take so long for them to go to sleep. So, we're sitting at the table and all of a sudden Dave starts saying, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" and runs into the bathroom and closes the door. I have no clue what's going on, so I run in there with him. Turns out there is a bat flying around our kitchen. Nice.

We're not really sure what to do, but decide we definitely need to get Elizabeth's door closed. I have read articles on how bats can bite children while they sleep and their teeth are so tiny that the kid doesn't even wake up. We go upstairs and close her door and then find the bat in the laundry room, which is upstairs. Dave closes the door and we think we have him trapped. We call around and find out that Animal Control will come pick it up if there was human contact. We don't know if there was human contact or not, but it's a possibility since the bat was upstairs where Elizabeth's room is.

It was an interesting process of going through what we need to do, researching, talking to several people, and praying. My mom prayed on the phone with me last night, because I was fairly scared - mainly about the possibility that Elizabeth could have been bitten. Then Dave and I sat down and prayed.

For me this was the first time that I have had to really sit down and deal with something potentially life and death with one of my children. I know that the odds are incredibly low that the bat even got near Elizabeth, but we don't know for sure. So, as we prayed, I told God that I knew she belonged to Him and that he has plans for her. That I trusted that all of her days were numbered before any of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). And I told Him that I trusted him. And I do. I really do. Was I scared? Heck yeah! Can I even fathom the pain and heartbreak of losing a child? Definitely not. But do I really and truly believe that God loves Elizabeth WAY more than I do and that he will protect and provide for her and take her home in his timing? Yes, I do. I struggled throughout the night with fear and anxiety. Something that as a mom I haven't really had to deal with much. But every time I felt that fear creeping back in, I told God - I trust you. It was a difficult night. Exhausting both physically and emotionally.

Animal control got here about 11:15 just as Dave and I were trying to settle down and get some sleep. The guy came in and looked all over the laundry room and couldn't find the bat. Great. So, it either got away - not good, or it's roaming the house somewhere - also not good. Dave and I decided to sleep in the living room because of the very real possibility that the bat was camped out in our bedroom.

About 2:45 I was awakened by a strange chattering noise and see our dog, Stache, standing over something at the entrance to our living room. I figure it's the bat and call Stache to come over to me. I don't want him to get bit, forgetting that he's probably the safest one of all of us, since he's current on his rabies vaccines. I wake Dave up and we sit for a moment trying to figure out what to do. Next thing we see is the bat slinking (best way I can describe it) up the hearth of our fireplace. VERY creepy looking. Dave throws a sheet on it and eventually gets it captured in a container. I am EXTREMELY thankful for Dave. He did something that he wasn't too thrilled about to protect his family. I can't even think of what I would have done if he hadn't been there and been willing to take care of us.

The bat was picked up this morning by Animal Control and taken for testing. We will find out the restults in a day or two. We have talked to our doctor, who is not concerned since there is no evidence of a bite on any of us. We will wait to find out the results of the testing on the bat to make any hard and fast decisions on whether we will be getting shots.

I know that plenty of parents have to deal with much more serious issues than this, but I am thankful that I serve a God who cares about my fears and concerns. He is a God who comforts me where I am and holds me close to him no matter what.

The next few days will be ones of waiting and praying and trusting. We trust God to show us the best plans for our family. If you would like, we would love for you to join us in praying for wisdom for us and the doctor as we make decisions.

Sorry if this post seems rambling, just trying to get thoughts down without enough sleep. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Our Month

We are getting ready to leave town for Ali & Richard's wedding - woohoo! We have been busy getting ready and participating in all the fun activities that go along with a wedding. It's been a fun time.
Before we left, I wanted to give y'all a brief overview of our last month or so. Here's a few things that have been keeping us busy.

Trimming trees Doing a little repair work on the roof.

Elizabeth had her first dance recital.

We had a friend's wedding in Houston.

The kids and I went on an overnight trip with Granmama and Stephanie (and met Amy) for a memorial service. We got to stay in a hotel - fun.

I helped host Ali's bachelorette party.

The kids and I went to a cousin's reunion with Granmama and had fun playing with cousins.

Elizabeth had swimming lessons and thoroughly enjoyed them.

And the rest of our time has been spent trying to find ways to beat this crazy heat.

Roller Coasters & Costumes

There's so much going on right now and so much I want to blog about... But, I'm having trouble finding time to sit down, upload pictures, and write.
I did want to get this onto the blog though, because it's big, really big.

The kids and I went to Sea World this morning. I think I've mentioned this before on here, but Elizabeth is terrified of costumes. Because of this Sea World can sometimes be problematic due to the large costumed creatures (Shamu, penguin, dolphin) wandering the park taking pictures with people. Today she saw some when we first walked in and calmly asked me to go by them quickly. This is huge for her because she often really starts to panic when she sees them - whining, crying, just generally flipping out. So, for her to stay calm was a big deal.

She had talked on and off about this little Shamu roller coaster that they have. We have asked her several times if she wants to ride it and she quickly answers no. Today she brought it up all by herself and asked if we could go look at it and see if there were a lot of people waiting in line. I said sure, trying to act like I wasn't shocked that she was even considering riding on it. We went over and checked for height on her and James and found out that James was too short but she was tall enough to ride by herself. I explained that James couldn't ride it and I couldn't leave him alone, but she could ride it alone if she wanted to and she said she did. I'm sorry, WHAT? I couldn't believe it. But, she did it all by herself. She looked so tiny in the little Shamu car, but also seemed very grown up sitting there getting ready to ride her first ever roller coaster and by herself. (Of course I decided not to take my camera today, because I just knew it was going to be another regular trip to Sea World. Argh!) How did she get old enough to do this or to want to do this? She rode and said it was scary. She doesn't seem like she wants to ride it again until she gets a little older, even with Dave or me. But, I am amazed and proud that she got on it alone and did it. She is definitely growing up.