That was a bad night, but it was probably worse for Jon!

It’s pitch-black when my eyes fly open. I scan the room, making out the big window to the right of me. I’m still in the master bedroom, which is a little weird since I usually abandon our room due to Corey’s snoring. My heart is slamming in my chest, something is wrong – something woke me up. I listen. There! There it is! Wheezing! And it’s bad. I reach out and feel Jon’s skinny little arm next to me. He must have wandered into our room after we all fell asleep. I glance at the clock: 12:19.  I jump out of bed, scoop him up and head to the living room. As I carry him I listen to his breathing, I have to decide now if I should try to give him a treatment here at the house or get him to Wesley ER. As I sit Jon on the sofa he looks up at me with sleepy eyes “My chest feels tight, momma.” My heart breaks into a million pieces. I run my hand through his hair, “I know, buddy, we’re gonna take care of that.”

Even without my glasses on I hook up the nebulizer with ease, strapping the mask around his face. “Just breathe in, little man.”

With the medicine going I run to grab my phone just in case, just in case….

When I return the hum of the machine has all three cats gathered around, it’s humorous, and it’s what I need, even Jon smiles.  When that tube of albuterol is emptied I listen to his breathing, he’s still wheezing, so we go for another dose.

When the nebulizer runs dry again I turn it off and remove Jon’s mask, listening closely to his breathing. Calvin immediately jumps up and inspects the nebulizer and then Jon; it’s a routine of his. Jon’s lungs are clear.

“Sounds good, buddy.”

“Honey?’ 

“Absolutely!”

The meds do not taste all that good. They leave a pretty bad taste in his mouth, we have discovered that honey after his treatment helps. Plus honey (local) helps with allergies. And Jon is allergic to everything. EVERYTHING!!!!

Here is a pic of his allergy test:

 It's easier to list what he isn't allergic to (cats are one those, big shock!), as well as some molds like penicillin. 

We return to bed, tucking him in close to me so I can listen for anymore attacks through the night. Thankfully no more happen and we all rested well.

According to doctors this year is one of the worse years for asthma, and kids are being hospitalized for it. It's scary, folks, scary!

I want to be more like Luke!

It’s something that our pastor was just talking about, and it’s something that just really struck me:  Luke, what an amazing man in the Bible.  How I strive to be like him.  He was a helper, always there.

Paul had a lot of hardships; he prayed that God would take those troubles away. But God said “no”, instead He sent Paul a special man ~ Luke.

Luke was a physician; he traveled with Paul and tended to him.  He stayed faithfully by his side.

Luke also recorded many of the things we know about. How wonderful! Luke paid attention to detail, like dates and events that happened in the life of Jesus Christ.

Luke is the only Gentile Christian writer of the New Testament. And he wrote Acts and the Gospel of Luke. 

Because of him we have the parables of Luke:

•         The Sower
•         The Good Samaritan
•         Help the Poor and God Will Bless You
•        Think Before You Act
•        The Lost Coin
•         God Rejoices Over People Who Repent
•         The Prodigal Son
•         Diligent Servants
•         The Rich Fool
•         Don’t Worry
•        People Who Hear The Word and Don’t Follow It
•        He Who Is Forgiven A Lot Appreciates it Much
•        Don’t Judge, Lest Ye Be Judged
•         A Tree Is Known by It’s Fruit
•       Much is expected of Those God Blesses
•        God Allows More Than Enough Time To Be Saved
•        Don’t Take The Place of Honor
•        We have to Handle Small Blessings To Get Big Ones
•         New Wine and Old

I strive to be more like Luke, to be the helper, to be there. It’s easy to come up with a million reasons to not do things in today’s busy schedule. It takes someone strong to step up and do the right thing!

Not The Smartest Move

We have a crew of workers here at the house. They have power-washed the house (thank you so much, one less thing we have to do at move out time), and now they have moved on to painting. This job was supposed to take one week. Let me repeat that: ONE WEEK. It's not the whole house, it's just the trim, our house has siding, so the whole house is not needed. Just the trim folks, just the trim. So we coordinated these guys being here during the week that Achilles, our Rottie, would be at training.
He has completed his beginners training at K9 Revolutions, which is run by a super great guy who is also a K9 Police officer, and has now moved on to "home protection" training. This is serious business folks.
Well, that week came and went....and guess what? Achilles came home.
Now the sensible thing would have been to paint the back area while Achilles was gone, right? Am I right? I'm right, aren't I? You know I am! But NOOOOOOOOO! Everyday they rolled up around 9, give or take a half hour and left around noon (not judging, but Ms. Ruby ~ the owner~ came to check on them and was just befuddled as to why they hadn't gotten more done when their 'time sheets' said they were working 7 to 5).
So I see them roll in this morning, and open the side gate and begin creeping around the side of the house. I'm in the living room watching all this.
Guy 1: You see him?
Guy 2: Sssh, man! He'll hear us!
Guy 1: Is he lock up?
Guy 2: I don't know. I can't see him!
*this continues with lots more whispering and more shushing*

Oh, I see what's going on, they are trying to see if Achilles if pinned up. Okay, first off all that they would have to do is knock on the door and ask. Or, even easier just go to the other side of the house where there is a CLEAR VIEW of the pin. Really? This is what we are dealing with folks.

So I pop my head out of the door.
Me: Hey, guys.
*Both of them turn so quickly I'm sure they've done some sort of muscle damage to their bodies.*
I continue: It's probably not the best I idea to try and sneak up on a rottweiler who is being trained on home security. It will not end well.
Guy 1: Si, Si. Okay. But is he there?
Me: He's locked up. But lemme show you something. Come here.
I lead them to the other side of the house and show them that they can clearly see Achilles laying in his pin sleeping.
Guy 1: Ooooh! (then he rambles off something in Spanish to his friend who hits him hard in the arm).
Guy 2: Thank you! Thank you! He is big!
Me: You're welcome. And yes, he is big.

Maybe tomorrow I'll run a test on them and put Achilles in the house just to mess with them. On second thought, I'd better not, then nothing would get done!

I've been MIA, Sorry. Well, Not really......

I have my favorite blogs that I check out everyday, and when they don't post I'm all huffy and wonder what in the world their problem is, I mean don't they realize that I await their every post? Then I take a hiatus like the one I've been on and I think "Oh, now I get it."
Life has been crazy.
Between the kids finishing up school, little league, and Corey's retirement it's been wild around here.

My life these days:

I look back in awe of my husband's service to this great country of ours. I used to get irked because he kept me awake with his "noises" at night, now I realize he's reliving his time in Iraq. That kind of takes the steam right out of my angry-train. And while other soldiers were fighting to get out of the military he was fighting to stay in the Army. He loves this country and everything it stands for. He has missed Christmases, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, but he's been with his brothers in arms, and I am beyond proud of him.
I was in the Army, but I still cannot fathom shooting someone and being shot at, my dear husband has experienced both. And I want to weep for him.
But now his time of service is coming to a close. He is retiring after 24 years of honorable service. He is struggling with demons that attack him while he sleeps, but he's fighting a good fight!

What else has happened?
Kimberly graduated kindergarten!

Little league came and went. We had a good year. We really started to come together there at the end! It was nice to sit in the stands and take pics this year!

And if you remember from last summer Hannah sporting her cast, well we have a matching one this year!
During the last game (tournament time) she was playing on the playground and she fell and it buckled. Ugh! Corey had sent me out to grab the baseball gear to turn in when it happened, but thankfully some great ladies were right there for her. A super big THANK YOU goes out to Apriell Peoples, Whitney Middleton, and any others who rushed to help!
So here is what it looked like:

They sent us right back to the doc we saw last year. I made the HUGE mistake of asking him "Hey, do you think it just wasn't set right?" Apparently this is the wrong thing to ask. He took this as me saying "Hey, obviously you did crappy work last year and I'm going to have to sue you for not setting it right. You truly are a quack!" My guess is if the arm doesn't look super great on the 20th when she goes back I'll have to go seek a 2nd opinion.
Anyway, she got a purple cast this time:

So far her cast colors have been: pink, neon green, and now purple. She's going for the rainbow!

We've also been fishing several times a week:

Next week Corey has his retirement ceremony and Jack and Gloria will be here. After the ceremony all of us will head to the beach for a few days. The kids are beyond excited (and I gotta admit, I am as well!).

During the week we head to the pool as much as possible and just have lots of fun. That's what summer is all about.  So if you don't hear from me I'm just busy having fun with the kids. Oh, and moving. We have to find a place to live since the military is DXing this house. This should be fun!!!!