We surrender!

Okay the black flag was just to warn everyone that the plague was among us. Now, we are flying the white flag of surrender. "We give up!"

With my foot infection, Tim's fungus toes, and Isaiah's possible tick related disease, we were thinking this could be turning into a less than relaxing vacation. We were wrong - with the development of a severe sore throat for Tim and a unrelenting fever for Isabella it quickly became a not-relaxing-at-all vacation.

We had planned to come home on Friday but we were up all night with a Bella who was miserable. We thought "aha" maybe Isaiah actually had a virus and now Isabella has it so we'll wait it out a day, see how she does, and head home on Saturday. Or not. Despite round the clock Motrin and Tylenol her fever never broke and in fact rarely dipped below 103. Friday was another excruciating night. Saturday morning we made another trip to the urgent care facility. We left with a diagnosis of ear infection and a supply of ear drops and amoxi. But because of the weirdness of her muscle aches, the doctor suggested we hit the ER if she didn't show improvement in 24 hours. We were just hoping to be back in the state of North Carolina within 24 hours.

We headed out Sunday morning and drove seven hours straight to Wake Med North ER. We arrived around 4pm and were discharged a few minutes before midnight. The Pribyl family blessed us by picking up the three older kiddos and letting them overnight. And Pastor Rich and Deb came and spent the last wee hours with us at the hospital. Thanks to all of you who prayed, called, emailed, etc.! So, after eight hours, one IV, two IV attempts, a spinal tap, and a follow up with our regular doctor it turns out that Isabella has an ear infection. sigh. Heavy, tired, sigh.

We are exhausted. Beyond actually. And we don't really get it -the "why the heck is all of this happening?" part. We've considered spiritual warfare but to be honest, we aren't that big of a threat. I mean, we are so capable of screwing up, botching up, and completely blowing things all by ourselves that it would be a big waste of Satan's time and resources to give us this kind of attention. Fortunately, if it's warfare or just dumb luck, God is the same. And if He thinks we can handle it, He must plan on getting us through.

Somebody Raise the Black Flag

A quick update from Atlanta - we are apparently under a plague. Here's the run down:

Tim has some kind of fungus (he may not appreciate me telling you this but it is what it is) on his right toes. He is undergoing some homeopathic treatments and is a very cooperative patient, but it isn't comfortable at all and he is hobbling around on one foot.

I (Amie) stabbed myself in the left foot with a pair of manicure scissors (please don't ask me to explain) and the small puncture wound which resulted has become infected. Over the past two days a puffy, itchy, and painful redness has overtaken much of my foot. So, I am hobbling around on one foot.

Isaiah apparently has contracted one of two things: Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. We visited a local doctor's office today and he is being treated with antibiotics, rest, and round the clock Motrin. He is pitiful once the medicine wears off. For those who know him, this will put it into perspective -he didn't eat dinner Sunday night or breakfast Monday morning. I TOLD you he was sick.

So far, Nathan and Mamoune are hanging strong but please say a prayer for us and our ailments. What's a vacation for if not to be sickly and miserable? =)

Hello to anyone who hasn't become completely annoyed by our lack of consistent posting and still bothers to read this blog. =)



We are in Atlanta right now enjoying a week with family so, there won't be any updates for a few days unless something truly interesting happens. I'm taking pictures though and will give you the low down on the whole trip when we get back next week.



Pray for safe traveling and patient children.



Oh -funniest thing so far was (and always is) our children's excitement over the world's most ginormous peach in South Carolina. Unfortunately, the architects were not thinking clearly when they erected this structure as evidenced by the fact that it has been affectionately dubbed "The Peach Butt" by our family. I think it was Mamoune who pointed out that "it's Isabella's first time seeing the big peach butt, Mom." Don't worry, I'll be writing it in her baby book asap. ;-) Such sweet milestones these little ones go through. Here it is in all its glory... (you thought they were exaggerating, didn't you?Just imagine it from the angle at which you can't see the leaf. yep.)

Miscellaneous Pictures

Isaiah mid-haircut. Remind you of anyone?

"Movin' on up to the East side; to a deluxe apartment in the sky..."

Laundry and Pizza?

What do they have in common? (besides the occasional tomato stain) Around here, it's the new way my kids have found to make laundry day fun. I didn't come up with it -they did. So, it's a truly kid tested, mother approved kind of idea. Here's how it works:

I fold the clothes and the kids put them away. Simple huh? Actually, that's the mommy way...less emphasis on fun; more on just getting the job done. The secret is in the pizza.

When the laundry basket comes out my kids morph into pizza delivery guys/girls. The clothes are the pizzas. They pick one up, deliver it, and come back for more. They love this game and I love that I don't have to keep yelling for them to get more clothes. They literally race each other to get back to me. Here are the pizza flavors they've developed so far but you can have fun creating your own:

red = pepperoni
orange = cheese
black = olive
green = spinach
brown = sausage
other colors (white, pink, blue, yellow, etc) are dessert pizzas

There you go, moms! When was the last time you heard your kids say "aw, is that all the laundry?" Yeah, I wouldn't have believed it either but it happened. I hope this will help motivate your little launderers. =)

Catch and Release

We haven't had many wildlife updates lately so this is for all you nature lovers out there. Our woodchuck has turned out to be Momma Woodchuck. We haven't seen her for a while but we see her two little ones playing in the grass quite often. Cute little boogers. We are also discovering why this area is called Rabbit Run -bunnies everywhere. And our best story so far...

Hummingbird Rescue

starring Tim Sexton

A hummingbird flew into the barn one afternoon and quickly became confused by the white and somewhat reflective ceiling. It was sad to watch. He kept banging into the plastic and we were helpless to know how to shoo him back down toward the barn entrance. Finally, he flew in far enough for Tim to climb on some built in storage units and reach him. He used a clear tote (those Haiti bins came in hand after all =)) and slid cardboard over the top of it and lowered him to safety. We released him in the open air AWAY from the barn. But we managed to get a picture of him first:

The next day a strangely familiar hummingbird was seen fluttering outside our kitchen window. Maybe he just wanted to say "thanks".

Bug Boys

I'm posting this by special request from two of the silliest boys on the planet. Nathan and Isaiah would like the world to know that they are the "ant killingest boys ever!" If I had a better working knowledge of putting videos on here, I'd let you see their homemade commercial. I'll keep working on it. In the meantime, Nathan wants you all to know that if you need any ants "bestroyed" he and Isaiah are just the men for the job. Here are the young entreprenaurs sporting their recent summer do's:

I'd like to say that they come highly recommended but...I can't. Despite their passionate claim to have eliminated EXACTLY 152 ants, their method of choice -soaking the downstairs patio with water and mud- might possibly interfere with the success of this business venture. All the same, Nathan says "we can use anything to kill those ants. Stomping, water, even DIRT, man!" And we all know how much ants hate dirt. =) Regardless of the process, their willingness to serve makes me happy.

Eno River State Park

On Memorial Day, Tim and the kids heading to Eno River State Park. The one thing my kids love to do more than anything else (well, maybe besides eating and watching TV) is exploring. Here they are hot on the trail of...something.

I think they had a good time and to my knowledge they only broke the law once. Apparently there was a barricaded area due to erosion and the danger of the earth crumbling right out from under your feet that someone just couldn't resist. That's all I can say without incriminating anyone further. =)

There was also a radio tower that was of great interest. Don't worry, they didn't climb it but...

...they would have. I imagine they were planning a way to get in, take over the airways, and conquer the world. If Isaiah's in charge, the world would slowly be brainwashed into eating all sugar all the time -a slow but happy demise. If Nathan is calling the shots it will be all war all the time. And if Mamoune is the head of this trio, God help us all. Thank goodness for padlocks and 10 foot fences.

More Stagville Photos...

Historic Stagville

We spent last Friday at Historic Stagville in Durham. It was great. If you live in our area and have a free day, we highly recommend a visit. Our tour guide was Frichelle and she was excellent. A quick run down of the place for those who aren't going to check out the link:

Stagville was a HUGE estate owned by the Bennehan-Cameron families. It isn't what you typically picture a plantation home to be, somewhat modest compared to many antebellum homes, but this was an incredibly wealthy family as evidenced by the 30,000 acres (47 square miles) and around 900 enslaved people. This, of course, is the most interesting part to us. There are four slave houses still intact on the grounds (two pictured above) and if you happened to see the news piece done on Stagville last year then you know about the finger prints in the bricks left by the enslaved men who made them. Here's a picture...

You can see how the homemade brick molded to the fingers as it was set into place. It is very moving for a family like ours to stand there with our black children knowing the incredible freedom they enjoy and the progress still to be made.

It's a beautiful place and a great history lesson for the kids. Check it out!