Mackenzie's eye

I haven't had a lot of time to be able to update many of you on the situation with Mackenzie's eye. On Sunday, Dec. 13, she woke up with a really swollen eyelid. The eye itself looked just fine, but her eyelid was almost swollen shut. She said it didn't hurt too bad, and as the morning went on, the swelling seemed to go down a bit. I actually tried to take her to a clinic that Sun. afternoon after a Christmas party at church, but it was a zoo there & after waiting 45 min. & only 1 person being called back to see the doctor, we left. We had a busy week, and didn't end up getting her in to the doctor that week either....her eyelid remained "puffy" all week, although nothing serious. I kept thinking it would just resolve itself eventually. Well, this past Saturday (the 19th) it had been a week since the whole thing started & it didn't seem to be really getting better. I decided that before we left for our Christmas vacation I should really have it checked out. SO, we spent 3 1/2 hours at a clinic on Sat. afternoon & found out that she has a scratch on her cornea. The dr. gave us some medicine that he said would help with the swelling, and also a prescription for eye drops to help prevent an infection in her eye. It ends up the medication for swelling did NOTHING, and by Monday morning, she was now running a fever. I ended up taking her into our pediatrician Mon. afternoon, and he felt like we really needed to see a pediatric opthamologist & got an appt. for us early Tues. morning.

Kenzie & I headed to that dr. Tues. morning at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. He took a look at it, and after consulting with another colleague, decided it was preseptal cellulitis. He gave us a prescription for an oral antibiotic and also sent us to have a CT scan done to make sure that it is not spreading to the back of her eye or to her brain. Basically it's a bacterial infection in her eyelid that could have been caused from the scratch on her eye, and if it's not treated can spread to other areas. I might mention that her eyelid had started swelling worse again & that she had some bubbly stuff on her eye as well which the dr. said was probably caused from the pressure of her eyelid. She was also still battling a fever every now & again.

We left for Ohio Tues. evening, and the doctor called us back Wed. to let us know that the CT scan showed it has not spread anywhere else, and that her sinuses looked enflamed, but that the antibiotic should help that as well. He asked how she was doing, and at that point I said she looked about the same. As of this morning, her eye is looking a little better....not as red, but still swollen. I am more concerned at this point that she is still getting a fever, and she complains that her stomach hurts quite often. I make sure that she takes her medicine with food to help prevent stomach ache, but it sure is frustrating that it is taking so long for her to recover, especially when we're away from home! Please pray for her to feel better & that her fever would go away, and the swelling would go away completely! Thank You!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving in NY with Ruth's family this year. We flew out to NY on Thursday. We did a little black Friday shopping around 11:00 a.m. on Friday, and when we returned home, found that Camden had started a fever. Never fails...

We enjoyed our big Thanksgiving dinner Friday evening, and some fun family games Friday night. On Saturday, we headed over to my cousin's house to see all the home improvements he & his wife have made on their "new" house!! I say "new" because it's really my grandma & grandpa's old house. Now that they've passed away, Nate & Michelle have fixed the house up & it looks SPECTACULAR!!!

Sunday we enjoyed the church services at my parent's church, and continually tried to deal with a sick Camden. Poor kid felt miserable, but of course there was nowhere to take him over the weekend!

We ended up getting Camden in to see a doctor on Monday, and turns out he had strep throat & 2 ear infections. So we got him some antibiotics, and within a couple hours he was a different kid! Of course this was just in time to eat dinner, then pack up & head out to my brother's house. We spent the night there since our flight back home left at 6:15 a.m.!

We got back in to Atlanta Tuesday morning, drove back to Alabama, and dropped Tom off at work, Jenna off at school, and the rest of us came home & crashed! Trevin slept all of about 15 minutes on the airplane, then a bit in the car, but he was tired, and has started coughing. Mackenzie never slept a wink from the time we got her up Tues. morning (4:45 a.m.), so I knew she would never make it through the rest of the day at school. And I didn't get any sleep on the plane either, so I was exhausted. Camden slept on the plane, so he was rested up I guess....he watched TV while Trevin, Mackenzie & I slept!

So now we're back home & getting back into the routine of things!

Trip to Arizona

I have decided to set aside the laundry & other housework that needs to be done & take some time to update you on what is going on in our lives....

One of the biggest things in our life right now are the decisions to be made about Tom's job. I think I mentioned last time that Harley announced they are consolidating their test facilities into 1 location out in Yucca, Arizona. This means that if he wants to keep his current job, we would have to move out there. SO, in order to help us make that decision, Harley paid for Tom and I to make a trip out there for a visit. After making arrangements for childcare for all 4 of our kids, we headed out there the weekend before Thanksgiving. We flew into Las Vegas on a Wed. night,



then headed to the Grand Canyon on Thursday.



It was beautiful, and we got to walk one of the trails for a couple hours before watching the sunset! We saw some deer (one of them VERY close up I might add!),



found a funny book in the gift shop,



and then after dark headed to Kingman, AZ. First thing Friday morning, Tom met up w/his friend Jeff & they went to Yucca for a tour of the facility. In the meantime, Jeff's wife Tracy & I met w/a realtor & got a tour of Kingman and saw a few houses.



After our tour we headed to Lake Havasu to meet up with the guys. We made a little mistake & got on 40 east instead of 40 west, so it took a bit longer to get there, but we made it none the less. We ate some lunch, then Tom and I met with another realtor & saw some houses in Lake Havasu.



We learned a lot about both locations! We met up w/Jeff & Tracy again for dinner, checked out the London Bridge,



and once again headed back up to Kingman. Saturday morning, I took Tom on a little tour of Kingman, then we headed over to Flagstaff to meet up w/Tom's brother Jim and 2 of their kids. We went with them to visit Sunset Crater National Park, which is basically an old volcano. We got to see black lava all around, and various formations that had formed after the volcano erupted. (As a side note, there is a $250 fine for taking any pieces of lava!!)



After that, we also got to see some pueblo ruins.



After our sightseeing, we enjoyed a delicious dinner before saying good-bye to Jim and the girls and heading back to Las Vegas. We walked the strip for a while then headed back to our hotel where we each gambled away $1.00! Such big spenders....

We came back to "reality" on Sunday. Overall, we enjoyed our trip, but realized that we have no desire to move there unless Harley gives us more incentives. As of right now, they are offering no incentives whatsoever.

Tom has met with his boss a couple times & it looks like he'll be able to keep his current job until the end of June. But, as we've learned before, things change consistently. So, until we hear more, that's the scoop. In the meantime, Tom has been working on his resume & keeping his ears peeled for any available jobs! We're trusting the Lord for whatever He has planned for us.