Quick update

I just realized I hadn't updated about Annabelle.... she seems to be doing okay. She finished her antibiotics which we were told is successful at treating the Lymes Disease at this stage. Being her mommy, I am watching her and trying to keep an eye on her to make sure it is gone. I'm a little concerned about the eczema she has in the crease between her forearm and upper arm, and the milkd eczema on her face...which is new for her in the past few months. We took her back in to make sure and the doctor assured us that was something unrelated, although she said sometimes the body can develop a rash if it is fighting something. We did find another tick on the poor girl since as well. I need to figure ways to get that girl on garlic, and find a natural repellant we can put on. She (and the other kids) LOVE going into our woods...which usually ends up with someone having a tick so I try to limit how much they are in the woods which is unfortunate. She seems to have good energy level though the other day she complained of headache. Please keep her in your prayers.

The other update is that we got our 2 mininubian does (goats)! The kids and I have been enjoying milking Heidi (Annabelle was her original name...but one Annabelle in the family is enough) and Clara (originally Isabelle). Their orginal names we'll call them as middle names. I'll share more about them later... its been a good but at times stressful week with it being so hot and us new to the world of goats. We were thankful that their previous owner came to pay us a visit to give them some supplements (to help with the stress of moving etc) and check on them to help them get adjusted here. They seem to be doing fine, and the break in the heat helps alot.

I've been proud of my big kids (who have wanted a "farm" for so long) how they have been working together to get the goats, milk them, care for the milk, clean out the pens, etc. Often I'm the one trying to wake up and get going and they come to get me and tell me that their ready on the stands! Usually my excuse is my nursing baby though :)
I wasn't sure how they'd do with milking but so far the the 3 oldest are doing great and seem to really enjoy it. We're hoping their milk production (which typically decreses with a move) will build up. I'll try to get pictures on here soon. The little kids love the goats too!

Updates and prayer request: Lymes disease

Well, we're glad we took Annabelle in. The bloodwork that did the panel for tickborne diseases was positive for one of the indicators for Lyme's Disease.
So glad that we know why she's been not feeling well and that hopefully it is earlier enough to treat (the dr. said it was) ...
please pray that her body will respond well to the antibiotics and recover fully from this disease.

In case you're wondering what her symptoms were: fatique (off and on)...she'd have her usual high energy but then come in and say she was tired or didn't feel good or wanted to lie down. Low grade fever...just above normal... off and on. She'd bring the thermometer to me and tell me she had a fever.

What made it hard was that 1) we have had several things go through our big family that sometimes not everyone catches, and 2) Annabelle and Elsie both love to play nurse and seem to like playing the patient too (one day all the little ones were reported to be sick and they had them lying in their bed with their nurses taking their temperatures...Sean,Lily and Aidan loved it, too.

We took her in because it kept persisting and just wasn't normal for Annabelle to run out of energy.
We also have alot of ticks around here, which by the way, the doctor mentioned that GARLIC repels ticks, so eating garlic and taking a supplement can actually keep them off of you... so we are working on that! Also, chickens and guinea hens help control ticks which we are hoping to get in the future. If you have any remedies for controlling ticks, let us know for sure.

thanks for praying for our sweet girl. She has seemed to not have the fever the last few days but has a rash on her arm and a faint itchy rash on her face and neck.

We took Joshua for a pediatrician visit and had a very good visit...our doctor spent alot of time with us (she was also seeing Haylee) and stayed after hours on a Friday even. Amazing thing was that not only did he not cry with his shots, but he laughed when he got them! (I don't think our doctor has ever seen that reaction before) God's grace to him I think that he is (lately) overly happy and laughs (for reasons we don't know) instead of crying uncontrollably as he did before more frequently. We have his neurology appt this week so we hope to find out more about how we can help Joshua more.