I'm Back!

Hi everybody! I'm sorry I haven't been on here for a little while...we actually got back late Saturday night, but the last few days have been pretty busy, and the next couple days will be even more busy. So I'm taking a few minutes here to bring everybody up to date, but I'm not sure when I'll get the time to go around and visit everybody, so forgive me if I don't get over to say hi for a little while yet.

Thank you all *so* much for all the kind comments you've left -- I can't tell you how great it feels to know that people all around are praying for our family and understand what we're going through. Thank you, Mrs. Theresa, Amy Elizabeth, Mrs. Connie, Mrs. Heather, Kate, A Heart of Praise, and Chris, for the sweet comments and for your thoughts and prayers.

My grandma's memorial was very good, and being with family that I haven't seen for years was wonderful. For the first time ever I was able to celebrate my birthday with all three of my mother's siblings present (and two of the siblings' spouses). Yes, my birthday was January 23rd, as some of you may know. I mentioned earlier that I will soon post a memorial for Grandma here on this blog. I had intended to do so by now, but I have not yet been able to compile everything that I want, and I'll be pretty busy for awhile, so I will probably not get that posted before another week or two go by. As a matter of fact, I may save the whole memorial to post on her birthday in June. We'll have to see how it all works out.

Tomorrow starts the California Expo of the Equine Affaire! We will be volunteering Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so if you attend, look for us! This will be the second year we've volunteered. It's a lot of fun watching the demos and clinics, and browsing in the shopping halls, and we really enjoy volunteering also. This year we are selling programs Thursday, and working in the Youth Pavilion on Friday and Saturday.

However, there's a bit of a hitch in our plans. Monday night, after we came home from my sign language class, I was romping on the floor with my Casey Baby, when my right big toe caught in the carpet and bent. The instant I felt the pain I reflexively grabbed my toe, and felt/heard a POP! I had socks on, so we couldn't see exactly what happened, but we're pretty sure that I dislocated my toe and then popped it back into socket. It hurt like crazy, but I could bend and wiggle it, and slowly the pain subsided some...and then the toe stiffened up and wouldn't bend, and hurt *so* bad if I tried to force it to bend. So I spent most of yesterday stuck on the couch, doing schoolwork and then watching movies. Mom even borrowed a pair of crutches from a neighbor and made me learn to use them. We weren't sure exactly what happened, and thought it might be necessary to visit a doctor today, since I could've broken it. But when I woke up this morning, praise the Lord, I could bend it without so much pain, I could walk! Mom still wants me to keep most of my weight off it today, and keep icing it, especially because I'll need to walk around some starting tomorrow. We are rejoicing and thanking God that it was not broken or otherwise badly injured, and that it seems to be healing...especially since I intend to wear my boots tomorrow, and we weren't sure if I could even get my foot into my boot with an injured toe.

One last thing before I leave -- we've been getting some chilly, rainy weather lately, and I am expecting another ant invasion any day now. We're getting the secret weapons ready, and preparing ourselves to meet and defeat the ants in battle!