June 2022

 

Samuel at FSY 

Samuel helping to slaughter a 400 lb pig

Gideon grew this sunflower

The cake betsy made for me for my 41st birthday.  It was delicious

So, school had ended for all the kids, but for the month of June I signed up the kids for some summer camp programs M-Th 7-noon.  They enjoyed playing with legos, building with cardboard, doing science experiments, and many more fun activities.  This helped me to be able to get some of my schoolwork done as well.  On the 19th of June, Betsy was at work finishing up her shift at Subway and had a Grand Mal seizure.  911 was called, and the paramedics were able to take her to the hospital, I met her there.  We spent about 5 hours at the hospital, but they didn't find anything wrong that would have caused her seizure, and the bump on her head from her fall wasn't serious, so they sent us home to follow up with her neurologist later.  While at the hospital her bloodwork showed she was anemic again, so we followed up with her GI doctor.  Luckily when they checked her bloodwork again a week later, her numbers were going up, so they aren't concerned about bleeding polyps in her GI tract again.  Betsy will have an EEG in July to see if they find anything that could have caused her seizure.  Unfortunately, Betsy is no longer allowed to drive or go swimming or bathe alone for the next 3 months, due to the risk associated with having a seizure during those activities.  She was tired and sore for a while but is feeling better now, and back at work.  I have to drive her everywhere again, but hopefully, she doesn't have any more seizures and she'll be able to drive again in the middle of September (about the time Travis should get back).  

    Samuel got the opportunity to slaughter a 400 lb pig with a farmer in our ward.  In exchange for his help, he was able to bring home some pork chops, and a pork shoulder.  I was worried he wouldn't be able to handle all the blood and guts (he has fainted at the sight of blood before).  Luckily Samuel handled it just fine and was a good helper.  Samuel has also enjoyed working at Dickey's BBQ for the last two months, working the shaved ice machine in their parking lot on the weekends.  He has been so happy to get some money and have a job at age 15.  Samuel also went to FSY (For the Strength of Youth) camp in College Station, Texas.  He loved it and had a blast and can't wait to go again in a few more years.      

    It has been really hot in Texas for the last month and a half it has been over 100 degrees almost every single day.  My garden has really suffered from all the heat, and all our cooler weather plants like peas and lettuces have all died and stopped growing.  We have gotten a lot of tomatoes and zucchini, and some small corn.  We ended up getting 7 peaches off our peach trees, and they were the most delicious peaches I have ever had.  Gideon loves to help grow our garden and is always planting things, so we actually have a huge watermelon plant growing in our grass, as well as Swiss chard, peas, and beans.  His favorite is the lemon cucumbers right now.  We didn't get any cucumbers or beans for a while because some bunnies were eating them all. We borrowed some traps and ended up catching two bunnies, a momma and a baby bunny.  The baby bunny got a little of the fur off its back cut off when the trap sprang, but we prayed about what to do with the bunnies and decided to take them across the lake and release them, so we did.  Gideon was so cute; he calls the spirit his happy thought.  When he prays, I've told him to listen to his first good thought, and it will be from the Lord through the spirit.  So, he says his happy thought was that the bunnies would be okay (at first, he wanted to take the bunnies to a shelter in Georgetown, but we all convinced him that by the lake would be good too)