1996??

Here's a blast from the past! This picture was taken at the cabin we rented for a week back in, I'm guessing, 1996. But, looking at the pictures of the kids, I'm wondering if it is even earlier than that. Maybe some of the kids will remember.

Picture line up, left to right:
Back row: Nathanael, Elisabeth and Pam
Front row: Michael, Tim, me and Kim is trying to hide behind me.
Obviously, Jessica is taking the picture. What a shame she isn't in this picture, too!


I used to subscribe to a Christian magazine called "Joyful Woman." In the advertisements of this magazine was a log cabin in Andrews, NC. Kim and Pam went with us. We rented this van and made the trip from Addyston, OH. I'm sure Pam remembers how sick she got going down that mountain. Talk about a snake path! WHEW! When we got to the bottom, or near the bottom, we made a stop for gas, I believe, and Pam lost her cookies! She wasn't the only one who was feeling a bit queasy, but she was the only one that vomited. I hated it for her!

I don't remember what all we did that week. I do remember that we went white water rafting and Kim got pitched over the side. Her leg was caught and it twisted her knee. We also took a trip to the Biltmore, but it was too expensive for us to visit with 4 kids. And, I think that was the trip that we stopped at a place called "The Lost River" on the way back home and rode in glass-bottomed boats in this cave and saw blind fish through the bottom of the boat.

Anyone else have any memories from that trip? Hope they are good ones! Love y'all!

Blog Catch Up

Well, I finally got my blog reading caught up! I hadn't read any of the ones I follow since the weekend we came back from vacation. So, most of you will probably notice I left comments on some of your older posts! Hopefully, I'll keep up-to-date now! And, now that it is 1:20 a.m. I'm going to bed!

We Have A Baby!

Sawyer Chance Jones was born at 3:34 p.m. He weighed 9 lb. 9 oz is is 22" long. He was screaming at the top of his lungs! Thank You, LORD, for the blessing of life!

Happy Birthday to Nathanael

Twenty Five years ago today, Nathanael Charles Day made his appearance into the little world of the Day family! He weighed 10 lbs. exactly! He was the last baby I would give birth to. That is sad when I say it like that and think about it! I was a fertile Myrtle, lol! I probably could've had a dozen children as easily as the LORD allowed them to pop out, lol! However, that was not to be the case. Since we were not having any "luck" with birth control, we decided it was time to tie the knot.....to the fallopian tubes! And we told the doctor to do it while I was still on the "table" after having given birth. Well, they did move me to an operating table from the hospital bed I had given birth in, fortunately!

Since I was having my tubes tied right after birth, I was given an epidural. It prolonged the labor because I couldn't feel the contractions to know when to push. So, Nat took right at 4 hours labor compared to just a little over 3 with Jessica! Each birth was a bit longer. But, praise the LORD for such a short time! I could handle 4 hours, especially when I remembered the poor girl that was in labor for like 18 hours when we got there to deliver Jessica! Poor Jessica had a miserable delivery with Michael, too!

Nathanael had the curliest hair. I loved to make a curl down the center top of the kids' hair, the girls, anyway! I had to wrap it around a finger and hold it for awhile in that position. Nat's curled freely! All of the kids had lots of dark hair when they were born, but Jessica and Nat's was darker and stayed dark (at least til Jessica started changing hers every month! :). Liz and Michael's hair turned lighter and really bleached out in the summertime.

Since Nat was so jaundiced, he had to stay in the hospital for a week. Michael had been the same way, and I had not stayed in the hospital with him, but wild animals were not going to tear me away from my baby this time! I told the Dr. that if Nat was staying, I was staying! Fortunately, the insurance was more lenient at that time than they are now!

Mom had been taking care of the kids, I believe, but I was doing so well after I got home from the hospital that in a couple of days she said, "I'm going home. You don't need me here!" Which was true! I had my 4 kids all under control! It wasn't always that way, but I was blessed to be able to stay home with them after Liz was born. I think that makes a big difference! I don't know what I would have had to do if I had to work with 4 little ones! Jessica was 5 1/2, Michael was 4, Liz was 21 months when their new baby brother came home to live with them! I've got a picture somewhere of little Elisabeth giving her baby brother a kiss on the cheek, but I cannot put my fingers on it right now. I'll have to find it and share it with you.

Nathanael was the only child of ours to be born in Ohio. We lived in Ohio when Liz was born, but the first 6 months of pregnancy we were in KY, so I didn't change doctors when we moved to Ohio in June, 1983, and she was born in the same hospital as Jessica and Michael - in Covington, KY. St. Elizabeth North Hospital.

Nathanael was the only child who had the privilege of making a visit to Israel, even thought he was not aware of it! I was 5 months pregnant with him when we took the trip to Israel. So, he was the first to take an airplane ride, too!

Nathanael, dad and I pray the very best God has for you and we love you more than you will ever know. I feel very blessed to be your mom, and I feel the same for all of your siblings!

Love always,
MOM

Cool Scraps Digital Challenge - Are You Up to It? and a FREEBIE!

Well, even if you aren't up for a challenge, how about a challenge freebie from me! I participated in the "Element CU - Decorate This" challenge and the task was to create a "Personal Use" freebie using Addie's CU Daisies (see the thread for more details). And, here's what I came up with (click on the preview for the free download). Hope you enjoy it! There will be other freebies posted to the thread, so keep your eyes and ears open! :) Would love to hear your comments if you download the paper. ENJOY!

Big Brother Class

Jessica sent me some pictures of Michael during his Big Brother Class at the hospital. What a great idea that is! It was the perfect opportunity for me to use Maddy Fernandez' cute kit, "Cuddles and Kisses Boy Kit." I decided to make it a 2-page spread since there were several pictures. The biggest one is the final result! I think he did a great job! Way to go, Michael!

We Are Back!

Just a post and maybe a few pictures (if I can decide which ones I want to use) of our trip to Myrtle Beach with Elisabeth and her family and our oldest grandson, Michael. We had a blast! Every day was an adventure! Even if we were "basically" doing the same thing. In the morning we went to the beach cuz it was just too stinkin' hot in the afternoons! Then we went back to the house for lunch. After a bit of quiet time in which the kids hung out in their bedroom on their beds watching some TV with the lights off, we went to the pool. Then we came home for supper. After supper was the evening activity. Sometimes we just strolled along the beach, or went to church, or got groceries, or went to Broadway at the Beach, or went out on a pier and watched the sharks and jelly fish, or went for ice cream, or played putt putt! The other activities that veered off this "schedule" was church on Sunday, Tim and I went "out" on Tuesday by ourselves and Brad and Liz went out on Thursday by themselves and Alisha, Mark and Micah Whittington came for a visit on Friday. They live about 2.5 hours from the beach and made a weekend out of their trip! It was great to see them again!

OK, I ended up posting lots more pics than I intended to. And they are in reverse basically to when they happened, lol! But, no matter! Here they are:

What a lovely group! :)
At Ruby Tuesdays.
Michael looking for little crabs the waves bring in.
Ryan and Micah playing in the sand.
I tricked Micah into looking up for the picture!
Tim and Michael playing "miniature" basketball. These next several pictures are from the night Tim and I watched the kids while Brad and Liz went out.

The kids posing for me.

I tried to find some nicely smoothed and regular shells for making necklaces. Liz found the large shell.
Tim and Hannah worked on a sand castle.
Can't leave home without the computer! I burned the vacation pictures to disks each day. Ended up with 5 cd's.
Broadway at the Beach.







The mode of travel for everyone. Our golf cart was included with the house.
Cancun Lagoon putt putt.
Lunch time!
Strolling the beach at night, Michael found a huge shell, too!

Acting goofy with Michael.
DQ night! YUM!
Afternoon pool time.
Ryan and Hannah are doing amazingly well in the pool!
And Michael is a little fish in any kind of water!
Headed to the beach. Only 5 were to be on the cart at once, so Brad made 2 trips everywhere we went. What a guy!



Taking in a few cartoons before heading out for the day.

It sure was good to be in our own bed again last night! But, we had LOADS of fun last week! Thanks so much, Liz and Brad, for inviting us to go along!

Happy Birthday to My Second Son!

Michael Timothy was born on June 9, 1981. His big sister was 17 months old! We certainly did not plan to have another baby quite so soon! But God had other plans! :) Unlike Jessica, we had no trouble with a boy's name. We decided, long before we even thought about children, to name our first son Michael Timothy. I don't think it even dawned on us that the Dr. might be wrong AGAIN about the sex! Since I have BIG babies, the guess was always that my baby was going to be a boy. We had ultrasounds, but only one unless something was wrong with the pregnancy. And the ultrasounds had not developed to the point of being able to tell the sex of the baby. Michael came 6 days early, compared to Jessica coming 6 days late! I only gained 11 pounds with Michael compared to the 40(+?) I gained with Jessica! Michael's birth was a little quicker than Jessica's. Probably 3.5 hours of labor! Thank You, LORD!

Even though his delivery was quicker, the pressure and pain were more intense with his birth! And, Michael turned out to be my smallest baby weighing in at 9 lb 7.5 oz.

Tim was working at Kroger at the time as a co-manager. But while I was in the hospital with Michael he was basically forced to resign because his goal was not to be a manager at Kroger, but to be a pastor. And since he lost his great paying job, I had to go back to work when Michael was 6 weeks old and mom watched Jessica and Michael for me. I sure hated having to leave them to go back to work! I thank the LORD that my children turned out so well! Praise the LORD! He is merciful!

I forgot to put Michael's birthday card in the mail before we left for Myrtle Beach, so I will have to do that as soon as I return home from vacation!

I hope your days is the best day ever, Michael! And I LOVE you more than you will ever know!

Love,
MOM