BACK to normal

We are currently done with the Dr.s and are running full speed again. Sara's team tied on Saturday's soccer game. They had team photos taken last weekend and they came out well.

We are busy making Oragami . Ruth leaves for YMCA Camp with her school on Wednesday - Fri.

Back to the DR for Sara

This morning, despite all the meds Sara is on, her rash was not responding to treatment, so we are very lucky our pediatrician is open on Sunday for sick kids, so off we went. Yes, it is severe hives, and since we can not pinpoint anything that has changed, there is a good chance it is viral and we will just need to wait it out. This is good because we were wracking our brains trying to think of ANYTHING that had chanced and could not come up with anything. By the end of the day, the rash was fading and she was itching less....but she did go to bed at 8:30, mostly due to the meds- and this is after a 2 hour nap in the afternoon!

The Dr. said that she must stay quiet, which is near impossible for this one, and stay cool, so she spent the day inside under a fan watching movies, bored to tears, thus it was good she took a nap instead of making me too crazy.

We did skip church since every mother would probably run away with their child thinking Sara had some dreaded disease that was highly contagious.

These photos...when the rash is getting better!!

Hospital for Sara

Sara had a rash Thursday night - 12:30 am-and after benadry I put her back to bed. It cleared up and she went to school on Friday. At 1:30 the nurse called and I picked her up, the rash back, and much more. I gave her two benadryl-nurse mommy. The rash went away, so I took her to gymnastics. In the evening, about 8:00, I got out of the shower and she came in-head to toe in the rash-hot to the touch and making her crazy. I called Jeff, who was 10 minutes away. I made him a lunchbox dinner and as soon as he arrived, we went to the ER. It was a severe reaction, but to what. We waited 1 hour before the Dr finally brought her two shots, one steroid and one to stop the itching which put her to sleep in about 1 minute. These went into her tiny put with the biggest needles I think I have ever seen. We got home about 11:30.

Next morning-off to soccer, still good. We pick Ruth up from her friend's birthday sleepover....she had a great time-we swing by and fill Sara's prescriptions for the steroid and itch pills. Jeff takes the girls to Blockbusters , they come home and begin watching movies-Sara in her room. Sara comes out 2 hours later-the rash is back.

I am thinking that she is allergic to something in her room, so I begin to take out what I can and vacuum the room. I give her an Oatmeal bath and the itchy pill kicks in and she is out. The Dr. did said that this reaction is progressive and will get worse each time....so we must find the cause ASAP.

Sunny again

Guess what happens to the fish!

All is going to be OK. My one sister in Katy did quite well, and had only 16 lg trash bags of debris from her yard. She did keep her electricity and no home damage. My parents in Clear Lake...need I say more! They returned to their home on Sunday afternoon. In the evening and for a short while they had electricity, but then it was gone, but the home 3 doors down still has theirs...very patchy. Sunday evening my other sister, her husband, their son and many of their friends went to my parent's house to help them with the clean up..taking the boards down from the windows and picking up a TON of debris. They will be getting a new roof and a window.

They finally got electricity on Monday afternoon. They will probably have to trashe everything in the freezer and refrigerater. My mom is most concerned right now about a baby squirrel that fell out of their tree..sometimes nature is hard to accept.

My sister and DH in Friendswood faired well. They did lose their fence so they need to watch their dog Beauty closely since she is blind and deaf. Right now the dog is staying w my parents.

They explain the damage they saw just in getting home. They dare not venture around town due to the damage. May mom works in Kemah and had not heard anything yet about the building--Kemah is closed to all. My dad works at a church food shelter-1/4 mile from the bay---probably gone too.

This is the boardwalk in Kemah, where the girls love to go when they visit GM and GP.

SOCCER BEGINS

This year Sara is on a new soccer team-the Cyclones. Today they had their first game and won 7-0. Sara kicked in 2 of the goals and assisted on three others. She usually plays midfield, but this game she played a lot of forward. Our defense needs some work and the our goalie was so boared, that she spent a lot of the game sitting on the ground in front of the goal

Ruth has bowed out for the season and it is looking like she may go to volleyball.

IKE IS HERE TOO

Ike is here. The rain and wind has begun. It was not expected until later today, but one of the outter belt has really spiraled off. I have not heard anything from my family in Houston and they are still under the hammer. I do hear reports from where their houses are, and I am so very glad they had mandatory evacuation. I am not sure what they will find when they get back home. My friend in Pearland also left and is with her brother in east TX.

still waiting . . .

I checked with my parents, the sister they are staying with, and another sister, all evacuated a little further north towards Houston. All are in good spirits so far. It is a beautiful day where they are, only 1 hour's drive from Galveston. We will be praying hard for them and all those who WILL be greatly affected. As the storm heads towards us, we hope to keep our electricity. We are also hunkered down and ready....back when we can.

These two photos are taken at the same spot, one in July while we were visiting, one this morning. By the way, these women are on top of the sea wall--17 feet up and normally 40 feet away from the ocean!

RUNNING FROM IKE

Here we go again. This time it is IKE. Most of my family have received mandatory evacuation, though I am not sure if my parents will go. Everyone got such a bad memory of last year when they sat on the Hwy for over 24 hours to go a short distance. The gov't is promising a better evacuation, but who knows. I am trying to keep in touch with my family before we lose communication so I can make sure where they are. I hope my parents leave, taking their car full of so many family heirlooms.

ANOTHER problem, this IKE is expected to hit at high tide, causing even a larger tidal surge, now they are saying 14-22 feet. My parents live at an elevation of 5 feet and the bay is only 4 miles from their home :( They are also on the "dirty" side, the east side, where the winds are the strongest and the tornadoes happen. Time for no sleep and lots of praying

AFTER IKE hist, it is making a bee line for us, so my family can not evacuate to us, and we will be making sure everything is tied down outside.

RUTH's back

Ruth has been sick with a cold. I took her to the Dr. not for the cold, but to follow up with the migraines that she has begin to get. While there, I asked the Dr. to check her back again because she had a slight curvature a few years ago, but a different Dr. said it was normal and most girls get it as they grow. We went for X-rays and she does have scoliosis, but not bad and we will follow up with yearly X-rays.