Dr. Appointment

Today was the day for Carley's allergy testing. I am so proud of my big girl! She sat there like a champ while she had 25 needle pricks in her back, and never shed 1 tear (I am not sure I could have been that strong!). The test showed that she is highly allergic to pecan, oak, and elm trees. Luckily that was all. The doctor is pretty sure we can maintain this just by keeping her on allergy medicine from Feb.14-July of every year. I really hope it will be that simple!

Today we had our appointment with the allergist. She seems to think Carley's reaction is due to a plant of some sort. She scheduled her for allergy testing next Wednesday, so please pray that goes well.


Summer officially starts around here tomorrow at 12:05! That probably also needs a prayer. Pray that momma doesn't end up in the crazy house!!!

Just to give everyone a quick update on Carley. Yesterday I started the day calling around to pediatric allergist trying to get an appointment. Most could not see me until August, I mean come on...Really??? So I ended up getting the name of a pediatrician in Franklin that came highly recommended (I haven't pick the kids doctor since we moved). I called and they were able to see us yesterday afternoon. She was GREAT!!! She is so nice and actually took the time to talk to Carley, which a lot of doctors won't do. She told me it could be a number of things and we may never know what actually caused the reaction. She said a lot of times allergic reactions that severe build on one another. Example- she is a little allergic to dogs and gets around a dog and that irritates her system a little, then she eats seafood which aggravates her a little more, then she smells a flower with a lot of pollen and that sends her system over the edge. She was able to get me an appointment with an allergist this Thursday. She told me not to have high hopes that we will ever find out what caused this, but she said even if we can eliminate some of the little allergens that would help. She said if this was to happen again we might consider keeping a diary of what Carley eats and is exposed to...Fun!!! I sure hopes it doesn't come down to that. Can you imagine trying to keep track of everything your 6 year old does. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Panic Mode

Let me 1st start out by saying that I am not usually a mother who freaks out about every little cut or scrap. Both of my children have had stitches and Carley has broken her collar bone and I managed to remain quite calm through all of that. But all of that being said, yesterday put my parenting to a whole new test. It all started Thursday afternoon when I picked Carley up from school. Her teacher walked her to the car and told me Carley had a small rash breaking out on her face and had sent her to the nurse several times for itching. I really wasn't that alarmed since this is my child with super sensitive skin, everything and anything will break her out. I went ahead and took her to the clinic in Franklin just to make sure it wasn't poison ivy or something like that. At the time she had a small red rash just around her mouth. After examining her they said it was some sort of skin reaction and gave her benadryl and cream and told me just to watch it. They gave me a liquid steroid, but said they didn't feel it was necessary at the time.


So fast forward to Friday morning...


I got up and got Jacob ready for school as usual. Brad was gone to Memphis. I let Carley sleep in since I decided not to send her to school since she was still broken out. About 7:50 Carley gets out of bed and comes to the living room with her robe over her head. I told her to come here and let me see her face. I removed the robe and nearly passed out. Her face was blood red all over and swollen to the point her eyes were swollen shut. It was so bad I don't know if I would have recognized her. I immediately called my friend Amanda who works at Vanderbilt and told her I had to take Carley to the ER. I was in a panic, crying and all. I rushed Jacob to get ready and dropped him off at school on the way. I finally got her to the hospital. Amanda met me there, and it was a good thing because I was a wreck. I had no idea what was wrong with my child. As soon as we got there, they gave her steroids and benedryl which did nothing. After an assessment they gave her atarax, it's like benedryl only stronger. Luckily that worked. She is still broken out and swollen, but not that bad. We still have no idea what caused the reaction. I have to make an appointment with a pediatric allergist on Monday and hopefully we can see what is going on with her little body. Keep her in your prayers and pray we find out what is causing this and we can fix it!

Rain Rain........

Well as many of you have heard, Nashville just seen the worst flooding it has seen in years! First, I want to let everyone know that we are all OK. The power finally came back on in the middle of the night, and the internet is up for now (hopefully it will stay that way until I can finish my post). Home phone is still out and cell phone is very hit or miss, mostly miss. I don't have any pictures to post, but the sights have been absolutely amazing. You should google Nashville flood just to see some of the pictures. To see water covering the tops of cars on Int. 24 is something hard to believe. The water this morning was 6 feet deep in the Opryland Hotel!

Our adventure started Saturday morning when we woke to HEAVY rain and that low rumbling thunder, my favorite weather. The entire time I was in Texas I complained about missing the rain, so I guess God was just showing me what I had missed (I didn't say I had to see it all in one weekend, but God does have a sense of humor like that sometimes!). Since the soccer game was canceled and it was going to rain all day, me and Brad decided to take the kiddos to the movies. They had been wanting to see Furry Vengeance, one of those crazy kid movies you pay to see because you love your children, if you haven't gotten there yet with your kids, you will. Anyway, movie was kinda stupid, but again the things you do for your children! We left the movie theater about 3:30 or so and set out on our 30 minute drive home. We got about 10 minutes from home and had to turn around due to the fact the Harpeth River was running over the road. At that point I didn't think much about it because we still had some other ways of getting back to Fairview. We turned around and headed for Natchez Trace to hit highway 96 and come in that way. Well we got to 96 to be turned around again due to flood water. I was now starting to get a little antsy at this point, but we still had 2 more ways, take Int.40 to Fairview and hit 96 that way or Int.40 to 840 and come in the back way to Fairview. So we headed to 40. On the way the radio says they are closing 40 at Dickson. My heart starts to race a little at that point. There goes option 3 and only one more to go. We get about 2 miles from our Fairview exit and the interstate comes to a standstill. Tractor trailers are parked all up and down the side, and traffic is crawling! Come to find out they had closed 40 at the Fairview exit and were making all the cars get off. Luckily we made it home safely at about 6:30-7:00. Remember I said 30 drive!

We got up Saturday morning to get ready for church as usual. Everything went great until 5 minutes before we walked out the door, the power went off. Remember we live in the church house, so if our power is off so is the churches. We went over to church and decided to hold service in the fellowship hall with all the doors open and candles lit. It was such an uplifting service. We had probably at least 100 people who come to worship with it raining a monsoon outside. I mean it was absolutely POURING rain and all those people still came. I will say once the singing started by the candle light I did get a tear in my eye. It was AMAZING!!! After a short service we headed back home to the dark. We played games and entertained 2 homebound, wild children until we went back to service that night. After service and still no power I set out to find the kiddos something substantial to eat. We had peanut butter crackers for lunch and that wasn't going to cut it for supper too. The entire town of Fairview was without power, so that was out of the question. I know Bellview and Franklin were both under water so that wasn't an option either. The only chance I had was to get to Dickson about 30 minutes away. We made it there and back with no problems. They did still have 40 closed, so when I got to the interstate the traffic was unimaginable. There were cars and trucks parked everywhere at the interstate, just waiting for them to open it again. While in Taco Bell with the kids, I met a man and women trying to get back to Kentucky. They were coming back from Breckenridge, TX where they had been to a funeral. What a small world. We talked a while and I wished them well trying to get home.

Our power finally came on in the middle of the night! The kids are out of school today and according to some teachers, may be out for a few days. Their school suffered quite a bit of flooding, so who knows when that will be cleaned up. Please keep praying for the people here. The rain has stopped, but the rivers are still rising due to runoff. The Cumberland River (the river that runs downtown) is suppose to rise all the way until tomorrow night. Downtown is already under about 4 feet of water and it is suppose to rise 6 more feet. It is an unreal sight. Interstate 40 is closed all the way from Old Hickory to Hickman county, about 50 miles! There are people stranded everywhere, with no clue how to get around Nashville with all the interstates closed. Just an amazing power of the God we have!