Our week

Millie improved greatly on Monday! She was able to go back to school on Tuesday!

Discovered on Monday that the process toward Sallie's second implant had NOT been started... Uh yeah.... We had gotten a bill from our ENT saying insurance did not cover something they have covered many times before so I called the office about that. I just decided while I had them on the phone to ask to make sure they had not heard from insurance and I had not. Well it turns out that somehow it fell through the cracks and was never submitted over a month ago when we called to get it started. This is the first time anything like this has happened and it is frustrating but these things do happen. Hopefully insurance will have a quick turnaround and we get get the surgery on the books.

Lizzie came home from school Monday sick. She had this really bad rash all over her face which has moved down her body. She just felt bad and ran fever. The rash was really itchy. She has been fever free today so if she stays that way she will go back to school tomorrow! It will be the first time in 17 days that someone hasn't been sick! I know not to speak too early but I do hope we are about to get a break from sickness!

Maggie Moo escaped yesterday but never fear she is back! Ell missed all the excitement and work of finding her and getting her back in. She was headed to Sarah's for their big trip. They arrived today and are having a blast. These are a few of the pics she has sent so far:

An unusual holiday

Back up to A's sickness. It was indeed the flu. He ran fever through Monday of last week. He is still getting over it.... Monday night Millie came down with it and today she is still running fever. It has been the lowest today so hoping we are headed in the right direction. No one else has gotten in yet. Hoping it stays that way! So we had an unusual thanksgiving. As far as I remember we have never spent Thanksgiving alone. We have never gone home because there is just not enough time but we normally spend it with friends or a's parents come. This year it was just us. Easter it is often just us and we have learned to adjust and enjoy it. I have to say this was the hardest Thanksgiving ever for me. I am extremely homesick right now and it being a holiday did not help but we survived. I guess it was all for the best since Millie was sick. Ell and I did get out of the house Fri afternoon to get her a few things she needed for NYC! We had a fun time and it was great to get out after 2 weeks of taking care of sick folks! We watched a few movies and a lot of football. Roll Tide!!!! This Sat will be a tough game! Despite the unusual holiday we did have a good time with our family and as Millie reminded us a million times she was thankful for everything! I thought that pretty good for a 5 year old with the flu! Now we count down the days until we visit AL for Christmas!

Sick and 11!

First I can not believe this is my 4th post this week! I think it has been my therapy! A has been sick since Tues night with what now appears to be the flu. If not it is very similar. His fever got up to nearly 104 last night. It scared me and I was about to head for the hospital. Meds were not bringing it down but ice packs finally did. We thought yesterday morning he was better but then he got much worse last night. He does feel some better this morning and has only a low grade fever so we are hoping the high fever doesn't come back as the day progresses. Please pray none of us get it either. He was at a convention Mon and Tues in San Antonio and both he and the other man from our church that went with him came home sick so viral for sure. A says he has never been so sick! It has been a crazy busy week! Sometimes I actually think it will be nice for Ell to be driving! I made 4 trips to town yesterday running her around (and all of them to and from school) for a grand total of 80 miles plus running her around to deliver stuff she sold for FFA ( over $1000 worth) and the fruit is not even in! I have made 2 trips to town this morning already because I am crazy and mixed up Sallie's cochlear batteries and put a dead one in. So as we were pulling up to school she told me there was a problem. So I dropped them off and headed back home to replace battery and back to school. I attempt to always appreciate A but when he is sick and I am doing this solo I REALLY appreciate him!

Enough on the sick! Sallie turned11 last week! Her bday has always been emotional for me. The memories of that day overwhelmed me so much for many of her first birthdays. I still remember and I still reflect but mostly I am just thankful. Thankful for God giving her to us just as He did! Thankful for her sweet spirit! Thankful for her strong will(did I say that?)! Thankful for all He has taught us through her! Thankful for progress! And just thankful for every day of Sallie Kate Hall! We went to Chili's for her bday and took her shopping which is her favorite thing to do! We decided to get dessert at Chili's after dinner instead of bday cake. She always wants dessert when we eat out and we never get it so we thought that would be a fun treat. Lizzie and Millie said it was the best treat ever!

Country Girl meets Professional Girl meets City Girl!

I never thought Ell would be interested in FFA. It is a huge deal here because we live in a mainly farming/ranching area. I never knew the many different aspects of FFA. We had someone tell us it was the best in developing leadership and I have to agree. Elleigh will still be doing meat judging in the spring. Last spring she got into the speaking contests through FFA and did really well and loved it. More on that later in this post. She has certain goals to meet which are based on involvement/achievement. All of that to say that she wanted to show something in the livestock show this coming January. We had no idea what or if she would even do this. A couple in our church heard that she was interested in showing. They are really into this kinda thing so one day back in the summer they called and told us they were about to buy some heifers and if Elleigh wanted to she could take care of one of them and show it and they would provide the hay and food. Of course it is still theirs but this was very generous! Let me say we had NO idea how much work this is! A went this past weekend to a workshop to learn more about it. Ell was away in FW at a weekend-long birthday party. A said one of the things that was said at the workshop was that if you do not get too caught up in winning it is a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time together and so far I have to agree. This has been a family effort for sure! The little girls love going to see about her. Sallie not so much but she is getting better!

We now present Miss Maggie Moo! Yes, that document is her name! Maggie Moo is an ice cream chain in this area and it is Ell’s favorite so she had to name her Maggie Moo! (No one probably cares about all these cow pics except maybe my Daddy but this does document our life)

These were all taken a couple of weeks ago on 2 different days. Her mama is still with here which should have happened earlier but it didn’t. So Maggie Moo is now alone and being fed very well!

This was actually the first day in the pen with her. She (Maggie Moo) is still not totally comfortable but hopefully getting there.I think this a pretty picture which really portrays the area we live in. This is just down the road from our house.

The little girl in the middle is a friend of the Lizzie and Millie’s and her mom is one of Ell’s FFA advisors (they have a male and a female). She comes home with us every Wednesday and goes to AWANA with us.Note: No Ell does not always dress like this to take care of Maggie Moo! Although she could! This was between school and Wed. nt church.

Back to speaking… Last week Ell competed in Job Interview. They choose a certain job to apply for. They have to create a resume and have 3 reference letters in addition to learning about that particular job in order to answer questions. On the day of competition they have to fill out an application, do a phone interview and an in person interview with a panel. She won 2nd place in District! Her advisor was told that she would have placed 1st but there was an issue with her paperwork. The issue was that one of the papers was stapled twice instead of once! SO, this Saturday she competes in Area Competition. We are very proud of her! This afternoon she interviews with the President of the Bank for practice and tonight she speaks at the School Board Meeting!

I may be in trouble for putting this pic on the blog but it is the only pic I have of her from the day of competition and I think it is a great pic of her. I wish she was in her official dress which is what she had to wear during the interview. She is going to have to get better at this picture taking or allow me to follow her around with a camera! NO, this is NOT her boyfriend! This is her friend and the male advisor’s son.

From country girl to professional girl to city girl: About 6 weeks ago Ell’s best friend from FW mom called and said that they wanted to surprise Sarah for her 16th Birthday with a trip to NYC with Elleigh. Well, hello of course she wants to go to NYC!!! We have kept it a secret and yesterday was finally Sarah’s 16th Birthday so she and Ell skyped last night and her parents came in and gave her a gift while they were skyping which was a jacket and inside were tickets to Elf on Broadway. We listened to the whole thing and it was great! So, in 2 weeks they head to NYC for a few days! I am SO excited for them! Jealous, but excited!

1 more post and I think I will be caught up for now! Not promising it will happen today but soon!

When we are away, the girls play!

The girls stayed busy with lots of playing while A and I were out of town.  I did not know or think about them having all this extra going on when we planned to both be gone but thankfully Melbie got them where they needed to be AND took pics for us!

Lizzie and Millie’s Dance Class danced at the Nursing Home in their costumes.The next day was Halloween and the Elementary School has a Costume Parade.  All the kids and teachers parade down the halls in their costumes.  Lizzie and Millie’s Princess Dresses were given to them by a sweet lady in our church who made them and gave them to them for their birthdays.  So cute!  The pics do not do them justice!  Sallie was a hippie!  Oh, and Millie prefers her hair to not be “fixed” and apparently everyone other than me grants all Millie’s wishes!  Seriously, I am not complaining! 

Doesn’t Lizzie look thrilled?!?  Parading is NOT her thing!  Well in public at least!  She does a lot of parading at home!I think it is hilarious that Millie is doing the same thing as Lizzie with the folded arms!  She too is not into parading in public!And here comes Sallie who DOES LOVE to parade!

Elleigh was busy doing other things!  Next post will be all about what she has been up to!

Away

A and I got away a couple of weeks ago for a few days which is not my excuse for being away from the blog for 2 weeks! We attended our Baptist State Convention (actually we have 2 in TX) in Corpus Christi. There were 6 of us from our church that went. We all traveled separately as couples because the other 2 couples are retired and we all went different ways after the meeting. We all attended the meetings together though and ate together, etc. So it was nice to not only get away with each other for a few days but with some of our church family as well. We had a great time! Coordinating everything with the girls while we were away was a job and there was a time before we left that I thought never again, this just isn't worth it. But, it was so worth it and and we are extremely thankful for those in our church family who know the importance of us having time together and making that happen! It is a huge blessing and was much needed! I had never been to the TX coast before. It was not FL or AL beaches but we just love the beach so it was good. Not that we spent any time relaxing on the beach but we did put our toes in the water! Driving ON the beach was really strange. It was neat to be able to drive on them but I think I prefer beaches not driven on. It was a really pretty drive also. We went through the TX hill country which you greatly appreciate when you live in an area as flat as ours. The leaves are just beautiful this year. I can't remember a fall as pretty as this one. All the colors remind me of the ones you normally only see in the mountains! Along the way this huge cross caught our eye and we checked it out. It was pretty much just a huge cross. It was definitely a Catholic thing because it was surrounded by stations of the Cross. I will post soon on what the girls were up to while we were away!