Cowgirls/Cowboys... Homeschooler FUN!!

Our family officially joined a home-school group this year called "The Navigators" and we really love it!  It's made up of families who have similar ideals and thoughts about education and raising families.  We don't all use the same curriculum's, in fact, there is quite a wide variety represented and I learn about more all the time!

The great thing is, we do lots of fun stuff together and it's really aimed at a wide age range... like horse-riding for example.

This last week we went to the Wild Ones Youth Ranch and Ellianna and Calley who are currently almost 4 and 6 and a half (must be precise, or else...), had a wonderful time.  We were out there for about 2 hours and I thought they might start to loose it, being during Calley's naptime/Ellie's quiet time, but noooooo....., far from it.  They didn't want to go home and we only ended up having to because they both managed to find the only spot of ooey, gooey mud on the property which found it's way up to their shins.  (This being after mommy said about 3 gazillion times, "let's stay away from the mud girls!")
But it was good timing as they had already....
1. ridden in a horse cart pulled by the sweet mini-pony "Honey" and driven by the lovely Sarah Meyers,
2. taken a trip- horseback mind you- on the "Oregon Trail" (carefully monitored by helpers and safety helmets on-these are mommy-friendly people out there),
3. played really cool games by highly enthusiastic young people who also seemed to have endless amounts of energy,
and ended with a yummy homemade snack!! (gotta love that!)
SO... that was a 6 Starr thumbs-up for our family and we will defintely be back there again as they have all sorts of programs for every age (even mommies).
If you want to check it out, click on the link below...
http://www.wildonesyouthranch.com/

Light on the Horizon...

I realized the other day that I haven't blogged in rather a long time, since January, I believe. Also, the realization that I have only had one migraine since I last blogged is an incredibly encouraging thought... incredibly!!

If you have read any of my other blogs, it's easy to see how migraines have drastically affected my life for the better part of (worse part of) the last 20 years approximately. It's a genetic thing and it sucks, for mostly all the members of my family- mother, brother, half-brother and half-sister. Mine just happen to be hormonal which has really taken us a long time to figure out.

In January, we decided to head back to the doctor- something I've hesitated on for years because of all the nasty and non-helpful medication I have been put on- but this time we were prepared. We had done our research and knew exactly what we wanted to try. My doctor actually has a great deal of understanding of hormonal migraines even though he is not a neurologist, a headache specialist or my regular Dr. He was my OB-GYN for our fourth child and had made some recommendations regarding migraines at that time that we sort of put on the shelf hoping, praying, believing that they would just one day, up and disappear! Well, migraines have a way of disappearing, seeming like they are gone, and then rearing their ugly heads at the worst possibly moment.

So, I started taking a low-dose birth control pill every day for almost 3 months now (that means no placebo). About a two months in, I had one migraine. That was a tad discouraging, but my doctor did say that it takes time for most women's bodies to adjust to low dose hormones taken on a daily basis. I tried to remember that and focus on the part of- wow! I didn't have a migraine for a long time, waaaaayyyy longer than normal!- and NOT think about the migraine raging my head at the time.

Now, I will be heading into my 4th month of this new, virtually migraine-free phase of life and I'm really excited. I know that I still may occasionally have one, but that's a HUGE step and a lot less than I could've potentially had.

I'm realizing that I look at life a lot differently as well. I used to not want to plan much as I knew the possibility of migraine-interference might take me down and then I would have to break commitments, and seem just plain unreliable. I absolutely HATE being considered unreliable (the thought makes my stomach churn), and while there are times I have had to back out of something for other unknown, unavoidable circumstances, I hated having to somehow communicate (in the midst of excruciating pain/nausea), "sorry, I can't be there", AGAIN! I also felt like many people don't really understand migraines. A lot of people think they are just a really bad headache. That is a GINORMOUS misnomer... let me tell you.

I won't go into any nasty details, but a migraine is so INCREDIBLY much worse than the most painful headache you have ever had, it's virtually impossible to describe unless you've actually had one.

But, I don't want to talk about THEM anymore. I'm looking forward to doing other posts about life, funny things our kids say/do, events going on, hobbies, etc. So, this "Adios" to migraines and even if they rear their ugly little head again, I'm not going to let it stop me or hold me back anymore from dreams, from life, from so many wonderful things I've missed out on.

I'm also really excited to share this with other women who experience the same thing. Hope is an amazing thing to possess and one my many, many, many dreams is to be a "hope-bringer". So, if this brings hope for you, let me know!!