Home Today

Today is my day home and I'm so glad to be here.

  We have the busiest baseball schedule we've ever attempted this summer as Blake plays in front of scouts and coaches every week in hopes of finding the right fit for his college experience.  Its going to be fast and furious and packed full of memory making moments with my almost grown son.  It so hard to look into his face and see that our little boy grew up and is now a man making plans for a future on his own.  The two of us will head out tomorrow afternoon and won't make it home again until Tuesday the 11th! Basically that gives me approximately one day a week to work as fast as I can trying to complete the details for Ashley Kate's 8th birthday.

The invitations are complete.  All printed and hand glittered to perfection!  I love them!!!  My mom took on that task and they are beautiful:)  We have 3 of the 9 center pieces finished. The Emerald City is ready to assemble.   One 8 ft by 12 ft mural painted for Munchkinland.  I'll start on another one tonight.  Several tiny details have been completed.  All but one of the items in the gift baskets for our guests are finished.  All hand made!  So fun!  I've glittered crowns and wands and I'm working on spraying axes and tin man hats.  I have one table linen to design and paint, a fence to build, a farm house to finish, and two costumes left to arrive.  The napkins have been started, 19 out of 90 are finished.  I've still got a bicycle to take apart, spray paint, then re assemble.  I have clouds to finish and rainbow chandeliers to make.  As  I look around and see all the many, many pieces we have done or started I get excited and then I look at my list of items left to do and I get a little nervous.  I know by August 10th everything will come together, but with spending 7or8 out of every 10 days out of town I'm on a time crunch!!!  Some days I wish I had unlimited amounts of resources so I could pay someone to design the party for me, but then I know how much we all enjoy creating it ourselves and I realize it wouldn't be the same even if we could afford to pay someone to do it.  So...we work as fast as we can and complete as much of my "wish list" as we are capable of.  Its going to be a great celebration of her 8 years.  I can hardly wait!!!

Ash is feeling ok.  Not great, but not bad either.  She did make the trip to Dallas with us last weekend and we were able to escape the "realness of our world" for a couple of days as we sat at the ballpark and watched Blake do what he does best.  Its the smile on his face, the look in his eyes, and the whole attitude her carries himself with that makes this so worth it.  He is his best self when on the field and with a team.  I'm so very proud of who he is.  He played in all 5 games this weekend.  He was recruited as a catcher for this team, but he was the designated hitter for one game, caught in the next, played right field in the next two, and then third base and catcher in the last one.  Its a roster of 20 guys with only 9 positions on field so to see him on that field in every game blessed my mama heart:)  He has worked so hard to be the player that he is.   Ashley LOVED the travel and as we pulled up in the drive yesterday her tears began to flow.  She wasn't ready to come home yet, but I so needed to be home today.  If it were up to her she would stay in the car forever!

We have another week of antibiotics to go, but so far we have seen no other growth on her cultures past the first two.  I'm hopeful the infection is clearing, but she does continue to maintain a constant low grade fever and that is not her norm.  It seems to be just enough to keep her from feeling good.  The overall picture hasn't improved.  Her liver and kidneys are still struggling to do their jobs effectively, but as long as she's smiling I'm staying focused on her todays.

Thanks so much to every one of you who continue to pray for our gherkin.  She is the most precious little girl and she makes our hearts so very happy.  I love her more than there are words to describe.