For some reason, I have not been able to log onto blogger. But this morning, I had success. A week has gone by since I last updated. All the kids are doing well, at least all but Emily. Sam took the longest to recover from the influenza A. He ran a low grade fever Sunday night and has been run down, but the past couple of days have been good and he seems pretty much back to normal. Elizabeth still has a little left in her chest (at least it sounds that way when she coughs). Ri is more working on a runny nose. Both get run down very quickly; Elizabeth especially. Her eyes show it the most. By mid afternoon, she has very big dark "circles" under her eyes. She just looks run down. Mark has fought hard, but lost the battle some. He needed to take a few days in bed. Erin has been tough through it all. It hasn't seemed to find her yet... though I heard her coughing last night and she looks pretty wiped out. As for Em? Well, she started with a fever and feeling horrible on Sunday. Monday she went to the nurse and was told to see the doctor on Tuesday. Tuesday she went to the doctor on campus and was treated for swine flu. She was put on Tamiflu and quarantined in her room. Tuesday she was the worst; fever of 102, deep continual cough, and unable to mover unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. At one point, I called her and asked her to take tylenal for her fever (100.8 at the time). 2 hours later, I checked her temp and it was something like 102.8. I asked her if she had taken the tylenal and she said no because she just didn't want to get out of bed "the medicine is too far away". She felt so badly that even walking across the room to get medicine was too much for her. It was very difficult being here knowing she was so sick and all alone. I was on the edge all day, just waiting for notification to come get her. At 10:00 that night, I was finally able to speak to her dorm mom to find out what the plan was for students with swine flu. It was a relief to talk to her. Students are quaranined to their room until they have been free of any fever for 24 hours. We decided for me to wait until Wednesday to see if Em's fever broke or not. If it hadn't, then I was going to go get her since it was worthless for her to be quarantined all week and only have 2 days of classes before break. Well, her fever broke at some point in the middle of the night. It was normal by Wednesday morning. She still felt miserable, but at least not like she had the night before. She took a hot shower around 11:00 and then took her temp right afterward. It was 99.2. An hour later it was normal again.... but because of the 99.2 temp, she was quarantined until after 11:00 the next day. :( That means she misses classes this morning as well. She is going stir crazy being "locked" in her room. There are a group of young men who have taken turns stopping by her room and "serinade" her. They call her and have her look out the window and then carry a conversation on with her. It is very sweet. Tony went to Arby's and picked her up a special lunch and delivered it to her. That was sweet as well. The movie ban gets lifted for kids in quarantine; so she has been able to enjoy watching some movies while so sick. She is anxiously counting down the hours for her "ban" to be lifted.

As for everything else, life is normal around the Miller home.... well... maybe not "normal". Erin and Sam are both done with soccer; so we have had a few family meals at the dinner table. That has been very strange. Erin is really blossoming and maturing lately. It is exciting to see growth in some areas. She is such a beautiful young lady and such a joy to be around when she is "sparkeling". Lately, I have seen the beautiful twinkle in her eye. Jacob has caught some kind of fire for working out. He is back to running again and has now begun lifting with Mark. He has some goals in his mind. When Jacob sets a goal, he is one who rarely gives up. He gets focused and that is all it takes. It has been fun watching him so motivated. He also has been a joy at home. He has been working hard at completely his school work every day. And.. he is really getting an interest in cooking. He made General Tsaos Chicken (from scratch) for us the other night and yesterday, he made fried ice cream! He is so much fun to watch.