What she wanted for her birthday

Before

During

After

A few pics from Aunt Melody

Not sure why these are so small.

We Had A Family Reunion...

So the Mold Test Came Back

Good News: The mold levels are half of what they were 6 months ago.

Bad News: The mold levels are still high upstairs and downstairs. (But the levels in the basement are low).

Last December when we got the first results, I asked the doctor if it could be the dog and he said "Absolutely not". Last week when I saw a nutritionist I have known since before Jacob was born (and she works closely with this doctor/allergist), I asked her if it could be the dog and she said "Absolutely yes".

We have started washing Lucy every week, but haven't noticed anything health-wise except the dog is looking sleek and shiny.

We have prayed about what to do now for two years and no answer has come. We have cleaned the house from top to bottom and thrown away more than half of our worldly goods. We sent the bunnies away for three weeks- no change. We have poked holes in the walls to look and sealed up all heaters, light fixtures and wall outlets. I wash all laundry by hand in case the washer is an issue (it seemed to be, at least for awhile- we have a new washer now but it started causing problems after a month or so). We don't know where else to look or what else to do.

What if the mold is coming in from outside? What if it IS the dog? Something in the pipes leading to the washing machine? What if we never figure it out and we can't sell our house (three houses out of the six on our street are for sale and nothing has sold for years).

Frustrated. Still praying for wisdom and direction.

Anyone have a mold free house we could borrow for a month :)?

Getting Ready

Do we have enough plates and cups?

Enough flowers? (No, sadly. Can one ever have enough?)

Well, the dog is in trouble since she has recently taken to waking up at 2AM and barking until we take her outside. ("We"= Brian. It takes a lot to get me out of bed at that hour.) Then she sits on the rocks and looks at us ("us"= Brian). Senile old lady.

Abby's weekend fun with the neighbors mower.

Baby Birds

The birds have hatched and are chirping. Hannah thinks those are worm remains on the edge of the nest. Yum. Reminds me of this photo: (Titled "How to tell if you're mom's favorite).

HT: Amy's Humble Musings

Update

We're gearing up for summer here on the windswept plains.

We enjoyed watching Hannah graduate in May.

She is glad to be done with high school and looks forward to further studies in writing and art.

We had a wonderful graduation celebration for Hannah and Doug on the day of Doug's graduation from college.

It was such a treat to have all the cousins together again.

We had a dessert *room* for the party. You can do that when you don't have furniture in the living room.

And for those of you on Facebook, that bird we found in Hope's room one night? Apparently this momma made her nest in our front door wreath.

And she was just checking out her new neighbors!

I sent off the mold retest last week. We are testing each floor to see if we can zero in on any specific problems. We are hoping we got "it"- we'll know in three weeks when the results come back from Johns Hopkins Lab.