When daddy's away ...

Mike is gone for a good portion of this week on a business trip. He'll also be gone next week for a good portion of the week. When he's gone, the kids and I are able to realize how much he really does for us, and how much he means to us. We also realize (especially me) how much we take him for granted.

Yesterday was his first day gone, and the girls woke up saying, "I miss my daddy!" I found this amusing, since even if he WAS in town, they typically would not see him until about 6:00 in the evening. However, they just knew that their daddy was not as accessible as he usually is, so they missed him.

Does your life feel like that when you are not able to spend time with God? Mine does. Even though I know he's always there for me when I actually take the time to be with him, it's easy to take his presence for granted. When I have strayed and not taken time to be with him, I miss my heavenly daddy, just like my kids miss their earthly daddy when he is away. The difference is, my kids can't control when their daddy is "absent" because of work. (Mike is never truly absent). Our heavenly daddy is never absent, we just make the choice to not turn to him.

Have you taken time with your Father today?

"Jokes"

We're driving home from the chiropractor today, and the girls decided to make up some "jokes." I'll share some with you, so that you understand why I put that in quotes.

Miss I's: Why did the slug chase the chicken? Because he wanted to eat the chicken. (roaring laughter)

Miss O's: What did the potty say to the kid? I'm going to flush you. (more roaring laughter)

These "jokes" continued for the entire 20 minute drive home. My girls are so funny! :-)

Are you reading?

Just wanted to check and see if people are reading the blog and just not writing any comments, or if maybe no one reads, and there is really no point to me continuing to blog. Can you let me know?

Thanks!

"Way too much" days

If you are reading this on Facebook, fear not, I am sticking to the giving up facebook thing, but my account automatically posts my blog into my notes.

Our days seem to be filled from top to bottom, constantly. They seem even more full for me lately, because Ato T's PCA left a few weeks ago for a full-time job. We hope to have her position filled soon. Our days are filled with school, cleaning, cooking, and therapy appointments. There are times that's okay, and times that it's just way too much for the kids. Yesterday was one of those "way too much" days.

After a morning of cleaning parts of the house and doing some school, we headed to an afternoon eye doctor appointment for Miss O and Ato T. We were there on time (for once)! Unfortunately, the Doctor was running WAY behind. Our appointments were at 3:45 and 4:15, but we were not seen until about 4:45. That makes for a long afternoon in the waiting room for 3 kids and mommy! However, they did really well, and we made it through the appointments and the 45 minute drive home in rush hour traffic.

That is not where our story ends, oh no. I arrived home at 6:05 with 3 very hungry and tired children! Thankfully I had made dinner before we left, and all I needed to do was set the table and warm up the soup. Mike arrived home about 5 minutes after us. He was able to deal with the screaming and whining while I got supper on the table. Supper went well, but the evening went downhill from there.

After supper was filled with screaming, whining, fighting, crying, etc. We got through the evening, and all children went to bed early.

After an evening like that, the girls woke up today to tell me they didn't want to go to Horizons (our home school group), because they were coughing too much. I couldn't argue that, so we have spent the morning at home reading, cleaning, cooking, playing games, and having some much needed down time. Praise the Lord for days when we are able to make these choices for our Children! I am so thankful today (and every day) that we have the privilege of home schooling our children, and we can give them what they need, when they need it.

Thank you Lord!

Art Show

The kids all submitted artwork to an art show at a small studio in the area, and the first open house was this Saturday. Here they are posing by their works.

Miss O and Miss I made their paintings by putting the canvass on the floor below the swing, then swinging back and forth, using their hands and feet to paint.

Ato T made his painting by stomping on the canvass with his feet.


There were activities for the kids to participate in, too.

There was a drawing for a prize at the end of the open house, and Miss I won! We picked it up on Tuesday, and she won a sketch jpad with a sketch pencil. She's having a great time exploring her artistic style with it!

Saturday morning sensory fun

I got to hang out alone with Ato T this Saturday while Mike took the girls to swimming lessons. So, we had some fun playing with shaving cream in the stander!

At first, he wasn't too sure about it:

But he warmed up to the goo very quickly!


Needless to say, when all was said and done, I took him out of the stander and straight to the bathtub. He had a blast, and was able to get some great sensory stimulation!

Sledding

The girls love sledding! (The boy, not so much.) We've been able to get out a few times this year. We almost always go to the hill at our church. It's not too big and not too small - just right for us!

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, I'm really hoping to get my "new" camera set up to download pictures on my computer soon. I'm tired of not posting, but I also don't like posting without some type of picture. Hopefully soon...

We had a great Valentines Day! After church we came home and had heart-shaped pancakes with sausage. Then Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Bob stopped over to give us valentines, and a flower for each of us! Before nap, we opened our valentine gifts and cards from Grandma and Grandpa Bogie, Mary and Sue and mommy and daddy. The kids all got new beach towels. A Lightening McQueen towel for Miss I, a Princess towel for Miss O, and a fish towel for Ato T. Daddy got homemade cards, and mommy got some beautiful flowers, a show on DVD, and later we will be shopping for a new CD/tape player to have installed in the van. :)

We ended the day with a family movie night. We watched a BBC documentary called The Meerkats, narrated by Paul Newman. It was really cute! However, we're trying to decide if watching shows like this is good for Miss I or bad for her. We watched The March of the Penguins a few weeks ago, and she cried for 1/2 an hour at the end, because the penguins would never see their parents again. Last night she cried for about 15 minutes during the movie because one of the pups was caught by an eagle. Then at the end of the movie she cried for 15 minutes again for the same reason. After she had calmed down, she started asking about her foster families (there were 2, she came home to us when she was 3 months old). She wants to meet them. So this week I'm on a quest to try and contact them.

Miss O didn't have a problem at all with one of the pups being eaten. She just said "that's okay, his mommy and daddy are still alive!"

Ato T was just happy (as always) to be with the whole family!

That was our day. I'd love to hear your thoughts on showing these movies to Miss I. Does it help her work through some issues, or is it just making things worse?

God's Healing

A blog I follow recently posted about healing that God has brought to her life. It is an amazing story, and I encourage you to check it out at www.imghaaadopt.blogspot.com. It made me think about the amazing healing God has done in our lives, and I thought I would share that with you.

When Miss O was born, we knew something was "off." When she was about 3 months old, I brought her to a doctor in my hometown, who I knew would listen to my concerns. (Since docs near us kept making me think I was crazy.) He immediately admitted her to the hospital for tests. We ended up spending a week there, getting tubes in her ears, heart echos done, chromosome analysis done, and acid levels monitored. They were finally able to diagnose that her acid levels in her stomach were extremely high, and we got her put on meds to help. After the tubes were put in, she smiled and cooed for the first time in her life.

Unfortunately, the echo cardiogram showed some significant problems that were not so easily addressed. We were released from the hospital and told to see a cardiologist in our area in 3 months. So that's exactly what we did. Fortunately, we didn't do any research into her heart condition they told us she had until about a week before her next cardiology visit. I say fortunately, because what we did find out is that the heart condition we told us she had would cause her little life to end within a year. That week waiting to go back to the cardiologist was the worst week of my life.

After her next echo cardiogram and cardiology appointment, her new cardiologist informed us that the first doctors has misdiagnosed her. She actually had a condition called Left Ventricular Non-Compaction. this comes with it's own issues, but does not always mean certain death. Praise God!

Why do I post this in a healing post? Because what I have not yet mentioned is that during that week that we waited to to go back to the new cardiologist, I spent every spare moment I had crying out to God and praying for the healing of my precious girl. Do I believe the first doctors made a mistake in their diagnosis? No. I know that God chose to heal her heart. He did not choose to heal it completely right away, but I continue to pray for her an over her, and know that he promises to heal it completely. Will that be on this earth or in heaven? I don't know the answer to that question. But I do know that He will heal her at some point.

A pastor friend of mine posted a series of essays about healing on his blog. I encourage you to read them! www.philressler.com - then search the word Healing. I pray you are as encouraged by these as I was.

One Year

One year ago today we arrived home with Ato T! How fast a year goes by! He has grown so much and made so many gains in his development, and he is most definitely attached to his sisters! (Mom and dad, too.) Here are some shots and a video from when we arrived at the airport, greasy and very tired.