"God in His wisdom made the fly, and then forgot to tell us why."

When the children were still recuperating and getting cabin fever, we ventured outside for a little while before those nasty black, biting bugs sent us back inside, If it's not one bug, it's another. God could have let all bugs drown in the flood, and I would not have minded one little bit.

Going outside with Daddy the next day but still not feeling 100%.

Found some boots for Marshall at the second hand store, but they are a little too big yet. I had to buy some cowboy boots that he could wear now through next spring too because when I try to get Olivia to wear her cowboy boots, she asks, "Is Marshall wearing his?" When I tell her he doesn't have any, then it's a no-go. She has to be exactly like Marshall!

Marshall learning to "dance." 

Found a record player and so we "danced" to some classical music.

Marshall is dancing to "Return to Snowy River" soundtrack.

Labor of sickness 2016

Labor Day weekend turned out to be a labor in sickness. Both children went through vomiting plus a week sickness/recovery. It took longer for Olivia to get better than Marshall and in the process, we believe Olivia is allergic/intolerant to red meat. Since she has had ongoing issues with sickness, we are hopeful that this will help with that.

Also Wes and I were feeling sickly, so we stopped taking our medication for a few days. We each noticed return of or influx of symptoms. GI cramping, nausea, depression for me. Wes also had a herx after going back on medication and during an increase of one of his medications.

One lesson learned for me during this rough time was from Olivia. In one of her roughest days of puking, she had just finished another bout of it. She promptly laid down in bed next to Marshall, placed her arm over him and smiled at him. In the midst of not feeling well, she was caring for her little brother.

When we are feeling like we are on our last rope, we can just look to her attitude in the midst of her ongoing struggles.

We are not living, we are merely surviving.

Some people make a bucket list for a number of reasons as if their life is somehow not complete,  not fulfilled, and void of meaning until they've done some wild, daring, adventurous activity. They put on the list things like skydiving, zip lining, traveling across the country, run in a marathon, etc.

When you don't have your health, your bucket list becomes the simple things you didn't used to value. Waking up feeling well with no pain and no sickness. Being able to get out of bed. Being able to go outside. Being able to go to work, school. Being able to spend time with family and friends.

Things can happen that make you realize that can change in an instant. I was up in the night and heard Wes go to the bathroom. Then I heard what sounded like Wes crashing into the toilet. I couldn't get the door open and was worried he had fallen and was blocking it.

He was trying to answer my questions, but he was very confused. He tried to open the door too, but he couldn't. After pushing against the door, it finally released. It had gotten wedged tight with his fall. He crawled partway back to the bedroom, and finally attempted to get up and feebly walk the rest of the way. He still does not remember what happened.

He told me later, "We aren't living, we are just surviving."

Surviving with Lyme.

Symptom & random thought

Last night I expected to not have a full night of sleep because Marshall was sick. What I didn't expect was that he would sleep through the night, but I still would not. My carpal tunnel flared up two nights in a row. Times like that you wish you could cut off the offending hand/leg/etc. I've also thought about those who have lost limbs and experience phantom pains and itches because their brain still thinks it is there. I don't think I would be any better off as Lyme can attack the brain; I would probably still have carpal tunnel pains as a brain message.