Gee. I am really bad at this blogging stuff. I think I check my FaceBook ten times a day but rarely get on here anymore. I know that I have people visit it still because they'll tell me to post!
Briefly, I'll list some things that have been going on since my last post. Let's see:
*I turned 40!
*I went to Camp Sychar with Winston, Martina, Jasmine, Sophia, Winston Sr. and Lynda
*My son Todd turned 16!!!! Holy smokes, I can't get over it! He's 6 feet tall now! uugghhh.
*We started our 2nd year of homeschooling. I'm using a different curricula this year and we really like it. It's Answers in Genesis. I'm homeschooling both Martina (7th grade) and Jasmine (Pre-K). Sophia started preschool at Camp Dick Elementary (see photo of her first day with her teacher) which is less than 10 minutes from here. She's in Speech Therapy so she can catch up with her language skills. Martina is less than thrilled with History still, but is getting through it better than last year. :) Jasmine wrote her name for the first time and is now a pro (see the photo of her first time!)
*I've been working with Dixon Design to get our website updated. It was out of date with information, and even had a wrong map on it! We've added a lot of really neat features. Please visit it the last week of October, it should be launched. If it's the new website, you'll see a series of colorful photos at the top, and lots of tabs underneath directing you to various features.
*Speaking of our website, Pike Valley Farm has been blessed with new customers since the summer. We've added Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, KY and Seelbach Hilton in Louisville, KY. We're thrilled to have these fine establishments as part of our list of customers.
*We've also increased our on-farm sales. We can't raise enough pork. We raise a heritage breed hog out on pasture; some organic and some natural. The taste is unsurpassed and is much healthier than factory pork! (eeww). They say pigs can't fly, but they fly right out of our farm! lol
*Martina got braces!! And contacts!!! She's turning into a young lady right before my eyes! (See photo)
*Sophia celebrated her one year Gotcha Day with us back in August! In some ways it seems like she's been here all her life, and in other ways, I can remember the whole experience as if it were yesterday. She's settling in more and more all the time.
*Sophia had surgery in September at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. She had several issues going on, the most complicated of which was that she had malrotation. Her stomach and intestines were all in the wrong spot, and they were in danger of twisting. If this had happened, she would have been in serious danger of death! We had to keep a close eye on her prior to surgery and were relieved when the day came for her procedure. They also removed her appendix as it was in her upper left abdomen instead of her lower right. Her liver and gallbladder are also in the wrong spot; they left them alone. They also identified and removed over 30 adhesions on the outside of her intestines! It caused the intestines to bunch up and become unhealthy in certain spots, but by removing them, it would allow them to become healthy again.
*Sophia is also scheduled at some point to have more surgeries; we have an appointment this month and next to discuss such possibilities. I will try my best to update.
So, you can see we have been terribly busy and that's my explanation of why I haven't blogged.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! :)
