A Study; How Siblings React To The River Rampage

 Older two children.....

 

Youngest Child.....

 

 Results of study...

Seeing as how older two siblings were exposed to this ride since they were three, we can only conclude that age is not a determining factor of enjoyment.  Therefore, it must be birth order.  Do not take "the Baby" of the family on this ride.

Water Park

I just have to praise my God for a really perfect weekend which He has just granted us.  A time to just really absorb having us all relaxed together and enjoying one another.

I am really weird.  I have always LOVED water parks.  They are my favorite places.  Maybe it's because it's one of the only places I can stay in the sun all day without passing out....due to all the WATER!  keeping me cool.  I don't know.  But I have been bugging Stephen half-to-death to take us to a water park for YEARS!  Soooo....we went!  And it was the PERFECT day!  Everybody felt great.  No one was too afraid of anything.  They even had slides the whole family could go down together!   So without further ado...

 these two....always chattin it up....for which I am very grateful!

was it a success???

oh yes it was!

An ENORMOUS photo dump of Cades Cove (includes 3 trips)

aahhh....back to blogging (hopefully)

We went on a few trips to Cade's Cove with my Uncle Norman this spring/summer and since I haven't blogged about any of them yet...I'm consolidating :)  Just a warning....WAY too many pictures!

cooking eggs over a fire (Stephen is always the open-fire-chef)

Clyde and he sawing fire wood.

kids with deer...

turkey Iris and I stalked for a long time...

woodpecker in the campground...

some of the fun old buildings to explore...

wild blackberries on snakey trails....*shivers*  but yummy!

so we may have gotten WAY to close to a bear with 3 cubs, but that was only because I didn't realize they were there...and yes I was one of THOSE people who got in trouble with the park ranger.  THAT has NEVER happened before and will NEVER happen again.  But seriously....30 yards?....these bears were just moseying on up to us before we realized what was goin on.  Then again...I was irresponsible enough to start snapping pictures once I knew they were there.

Playing in the creek for 2 and a half hours or more.  Lucy, Clyde and a buddy they made, built  a minnow trap literally around where the minnows were hanging out.

We wore this child OUT!  She didn't wake up when we toted her to the van, drove to the restaurant nor when we propped her up in a chair and ordered food for her, I was actually starting to get nervous.

CLYDE took this picture!  I had no idea he saw this buck or that he took a picture of one until I got home and started loading pictures.  He actually took 4 different pictures and played with the lighting!!!  And who taught him THAT?!

such a blessing to get to explore God's glorious creation, with family!!

Better

It's been almost a month since I've posted....a weird month.

We are on the "up" side now.

She didn't get all better immediately after finding out what she was and was not allergic to.  Things must have remained in her system for awhile or something.  But NOW.  Now she has been doing so well, so very consistently that I'm not sure when exactly I started relaxing again.

And SHE is so happy and content lately.  So back to normal...the way I like for things to be.  I have found that I love "boring"....I have loved it for a few years now.

Her allergens are not as numerous as we believed they were going to be.  And she does not have celiac disease, nor does she even seem to be sensitive to gluten.  I can SO handle milk, beef and lamb, people.  Let me tell you.  THIS IS do-able.

God is SO GOOD.  He is SO MERCIFUL.  And he REALLY is INCREDIBLY more than worthy of our trust...even after we again and again fail to see that.

I can see that He might not have given us the gifts of all these foods she can eat now.  That may have been a burden that He chose for us to carry.  And eventually, He would have pulled she and I (me more than her) out of our self-pitying mire and dusted us off and told us to live and given us contentment again, and shaped our character through it all.  But I am so grateful that He chose to do it THIS way...giving us back some very sustaining foods for Lu. 

I know for a fact she has gained a little weight back.  Her appetite is back and she is not afraid of the pain she might experience when she eats. 

I am grateful to our friends and family who prayed for her health, for her emotions, for my craziness and just for our family in general.  Thank you.  I am also grateful for the man at Chili's who was SO VERY careful the first time we ventured back out into public life, and joked with her and identified with her and made her smile.  And I'm grateful for another young man, that day, who worked at Cold Stone Creamery and as he brought her sorbet (specially dipped from the back room so as not to be contaminated), he knelt beside her gave her a chivalrous smile and said "I gave you and extra scoop of marshmallows, but don't tell anybody", then winked and walked away.  She couldn't stop grinning and acting sheepish, and she had no idea why.  It was adorable and made her day, after nearly a month of staying at home, eating chicken and rice and feeling not so special.

Also, while staying housebound so long, she picked up a new hobby...learning the art of clowning and miming :) 

Pictures of the return of the smiles....