After yesterday I thought I'd have more great stuff to write about.....today Jon changed her trach and she had a small storm. It only lasted 5-10 minutes but still her heartbeat went up to 170 and she shook. She has never had a reaction to her trach being changed before and they did it really quick. She brought herself down and didn't need any extra meds. she hasn't had another problem but I am worried about tomorrow....I'm worried about the fish oil.... she had NO problems in NY. She was as stable as she could be under the circumstances, she was progressing daily or at least was staying the same daily and hitting new milestones every few days. I do not believe this regression we have seen is because Selah herself is unstable. I don't feel it in my gut. I trust my gut instinct, I've had almost 9 yrs of dealing with a sick/handicapped child. My gut has always been right. My gut tells me that something with the fish oil is off. When it was started 58 days ago, she went from having "storming" daily, often several times a day, to no storming, no matter what was asked of her (in therapy) That remained consistent even when she had pneumonia. she was amazing everyone....what has changed? Her location and the way the fish oil has been treated. Now although we had felt everything had been addressed, this has happened again. I know if I go to the doctors about this they will just tell me that Selah was a near drowning and near drownings are unstable...... Well most might be but she has never been once the fish oil was started. I am just sick about this....
Please pray for Selah....pray that there will be no more episodes and that we can get everything set up for her to be transferred home asap!!! When she is home ~ Jon or I will be the only ones to touch her fish oil. We will make sure that it is done correctly. We know she is the 7th person to be admitted into this study. The other 6 recovered from their comas, some did have some physical delays but they all recovered. We saw so much recovery in the first 40 days it was unreal! We believe that she will regain the function she had in NY and improve beyond that if things are done correctly.
Tonight I accidentally called Strong's Hospital instead of the one she is in now (they are both listed under Selah in my phone) I asked for her nurse and the floor receptionist caught my voice and we started laughing. She & I spoke for a few minutes and she told me how they all think of us...I could have cried....I loved those folks so much and had so much trust in them.... I do not feel the same about where she is now. Although we do have some lovely nurses that we like and would be glad to take a few of them home with us to work with her. But overall it is not the same and that is hard for me. I feel like Selah is just looked at as "another drowning case" and "you know they don't progress" I don't feel like they believe us about her progress in NY although they've talked to her therapists in NY.
Selah is different as every case is different....we saw real progress. Now we see real regression...she was stable too long for this type of regression at this point in the recovery process. Something is not right....
Please pray for Selah and for us that we have wisdom.
"Our life maybe a crazy life but it's our life" I'm married to a pastor of a small rural church, who is also the prison chaplain. We have 5 kids, each with their unique story. I love gardening & we all love the outdoors. Our life is not the way we planned it to be, but we are learning to trust God in every area. Come and read about our life as we live it to the fullest!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Day 57 fish oil~good news~ News clip
http://www.13wham.com/mediacenter/local.aspx
Our family's story was one featured on the Rochester NY news as stories of the year. I believe the story is not so much about the accident, although that was life altering for our family but I believe the true story here is God's faithfulness. If you want to view it, you have to click down to our story it is #6 on the right side on the bottom. It's very sweet and done very compassionate.
Today Selah held her head up for about 15 seconds. That is the best she has done since she has been here. We are thrilled. We are also thrilled that when I did her wash today, her clothes reeked of fish oil! She still doesn't smell as strongly as she did to me but she is getting there. It looks like we won't leave on Wednesday, with the holidays, it has been difficult to get the insurances to do everything they are supposed to do to get things started and which insurance will pay what....I'm not surprised and it's ok. Remember we tried to leave NY for months:) I'm glad we didn't but we certainly aren't surprised it may take a few more days to get this all set up. Thankfully our house and yard will be done and all her supplies will be delivered and set up before she gets home.
I've also noticed that when she gets annoyed, she is starting to lift her head and shoulders up off the bed again. She did that before while she was in the hospital in NY and sometimes she did it to welcome us into the room. We look forward to Selah getting more back to her normal!
I had some money left over on a Target card (thanks friend!) and I bought Selah two "coming home" outfits! I'm looking forward to putting one of them on her ( and having a spare!) when she leaves!
We had supper provided for by Deerwood Publix tonight... Publix subs and sweet tea....WOOHOO! Nothing better:) thanks Publix!
Happy New Year to all. We are staying safe and sound inside watching National Geo....a story on the Mayans LOL taped before Dec 21 LOL! At least it is interesting! Stay safe tonight everyone!!!!
Our family's story was one featured on the Rochester NY news as stories of the year. I believe the story is not so much about the accident, although that was life altering for our family but I believe the true story here is God's faithfulness. If you want to view it, you have to click down to our story it is #6 on the right side on the bottom. It's very sweet and done very compassionate.
Today Selah held her head up for about 15 seconds. That is the best she has done since she has been here. We are thrilled. We are also thrilled that when I did her wash today, her clothes reeked of fish oil! She still doesn't smell as strongly as she did to me but she is getting there. It looks like we won't leave on Wednesday, with the holidays, it has been difficult to get the insurances to do everything they are supposed to do to get things started and which insurance will pay what....I'm not surprised and it's ok. Remember we tried to leave NY for months:) I'm glad we didn't but we certainly aren't surprised it may take a few more days to get this all set up. Thankfully our house and yard will be done and all her supplies will be delivered and set up before she gets home.
I've also noticed that when she gets annoyed, she is starting to lift her head and shoulders up off the bed again. She did that before while she was in the hospital in NY and sometimes she did it to welcome us into the room. We look forward to Selah getting more back to her normal!
I had some money left over on a Target card (thanks friend!) and I bought Selah two "coming home" outfits! I'm looking forward to putting one of them on her ( and having a spare!) when she leaves!
We had supper provided for by Deerwood Publix tonight... Publix subs and sweet tea....WOOHOO! Nothing better:) thanks Publix!
Happy New Year to all. We are staying safe and sound inside watching National Geo....a story on the Mayans LOL taped before Dec 21 LOL! At least it is interesting! Stay safe tonight everyone!!!!
New Year's Eve
Reading over FB made me realize that today is New Year's Eve! Duh! For some reason, I just hadn't caught on to that:)
On New Year's Eve, we often look back over the past year and reflect. Well this year has brought me to the very highest place and the very lowest place. I can not imagine having another year like this one. It started with such anticipation as we got ready to welcome our new children home. A year ago today we had a HUGE financial miracle for our adoption and over $10,000 came in in ONE day to pay for the adoption! Jon & I were just in tears throughout the day as we checked our page on Reece's Rainbow and watched the total funding grow higher and then as we got a phone call saying a large check was coming for their adoption. It was amazing! We ended the day with our family and my in laws around the fire out back:) What a day!
Obviously this day is going to be very different....many things have transpired since last New Year's Eve....
We started last year with great anticapiton, our paperwork was in, we were just waiting on Ukraine (and waiting and waiting) to tell us to "Come" We had hoped to go in February but didn't leave until March. Our whole lives were on hold not knowing the date we were leaving. We didn't make any long range plans, we just waited and got everything ready and perfect for our girls!
Every morning once the dates started coming I had my phone right beside me, hoping today would be the day that I'd get the call! That day finally came and I almost passed out!!!!! It came later in the morning, after I'd given up hope....oh but I was so glad to hear the stateside assistant tell me we had a date!!!!!! All the last minute running around....then we finally left for our appointment in Kiev! And after all the stuff in the capital it was on to the all night train ride on the "hell train" as we like to refer to it....Let's just say it had much to be desired! Then another 1.5 hour van ride ( in a 1970 Russian army van- and no I am not making this up) on terrible dirt roads, as fast as we could go till we got to the girls town of Torez. Then we met with a bunch of people and our facilitator did whatever he was to do and then finally on to the adult mental institution to meet our girls....after we went through more talking in the director's office. Let me just tell you, when you are minutes away from meeting your children, you can not think of anything else..... Finally all the preliminaries were done and we walked out into the courtyard, to the old building in the back. We went up a smelly staircase and at the top in a little alcove were the two little girls we had come half way around the world to get....Sarah & Selah! Sarah was in a wheelchair and Selah was standing, I didn't know who to grab first so I just grabbed both of them!
There is something so spiritual about meeting your children for the first time whether it is by childbirth or adoption. There is something so sacred about adoption. You've chosen that little person and you have dreamed about that little person and worked so hard to get to that little person and then you are there.....it is amazing!!!! I'm blessed to have experienced that twice in my life!
So then we spent the next 6 weeks living in Torez Ukraine. I loved that poor little Ukrainian town near the Russian border. Yes it was hard living but it was so real. When it was time to leave, I really didn't want to go. (although that might have been the thought of all that was to come....traveling back home with 3 little people (we had Sam with us also) and the trip on the train was ahead!)
The day came when we left the orphanage, adult mental institution, the internot, whatever you want to call it they were free!!!!!!!!! That was just an incredible day.....then off to Kiev to do all the American embassy stuff and then on to home....HOME.....with our girls.....
That night that we were all finally home and everyone was in their beds....I can not tell you the peace I felt when I laid down to sleep.....
Then the most wonderful 14 weeks of my life....it went so quick...if I had only known, I would have cherished each moment even more dearer than I did...... ( just typing that makes me cry...you have no idea how very happy that short time was)
Then our first road trip, up to NY to Sam's eye doctor and the chance of Sarah being helped also....
The ACCIDENT August 15, 2012 changed our lives forever....
The days of not knowing if Selah would live, the weeks of no responses...
Finally around the first of October, she began responding a tiny bit....then we got her on the fish oil study and saw her responses come more often, more consistently, they began to build....
Then the gut wrenching transfer down to Florida and seeing her regress....
Now we are preparing to take a new step on this journey...going HOME....soon I will have all my kids under one roof again. It's been almost 5 months.The whole adoption from commitment to the day we traveled took less than 5 months!!!!
I never dreamed last New Year's Eve of all the twists and turns that 2012 would have in store for us. I never dreamed I'd be away from home for more than 6 months ( including the adoption and the accident we have been away from home for 27 weeks!!!!!!) I'm such a homebody, God has given me the grace to do it and not complain but be content in "whatever state" I was in...that is a real miracle!
I also never dreamed I'd know God's sustaining grace over all in my life like I can say I know it now. God never left us through the very darkest days....His love and peace were with us. I look back and am just amazed at how God brought us through....it was not us, it was not me, it was God's grace in our lives.
I have not felt abandoned by God, I've not felt let down by God. How can I not trust this God who although He is the ruler of this Universe, takes the time to speak peace to my heart as I am running towards the ambulances, knowing somehow in my heart, that my family is involved...... What a God I serve! Sure if He were a magic genie, He could make my life a rose garden but, without going into a whole theological discussion here, that is not who God is. I believe in the biblical accounts, and I believe when Adam and Eve sinned, sin came into the world with death and heartache, That is not what God wanted but he allowed man to have his own free will and in that free will man chose to bring that upon the whole human race. Therefore we live in a fallen crappy world. Things happen...the bible tells us that "many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from them all" Jesus said "in this world you will have trouble..." That is just the gist of it....
I'm thankful that God has been with us. I can not imagine going through this past year without God's strength. It has certainly not been in my strength! Even the adoption was taxing....very hard but God helped us and we made it through!
What a year this 2012 has been....I don't know what lies ahead in 2013, it may be good or it may be hard but I am confident that the same God who has been with us through 2012 and all the previous years before., wll be with us in this coming year.
I pray that each of you will find that same peace for the year that lies ahead for you.
On New Year's Eve, we often look back over the past year and reflect. Well this year has brought me to the very highest place and the very lowest place. I can not imagine having another year like this one. It started with such anticipation as we got ready to welcome our new children home. A year ago today we had a HUGE financial miracle for our adoption and over $10,000 came in in ONE day to pay for the adoption! Jon & I were just in tears throughout the day as we checked our page on Reece's Rainbow and watched the total funding grow higher and then as we got a phone call saying a large check was coming for their adoption. It was amazing! We ended the day with our family and my in laws around the fire out back:) What a day!
Obviously this day is going to be very different....many things have transpired since last New Year's Eve....
We started last year with great anticapiton, our paperwork was in, we were just waiting on Ukraine (and waiting and waiting) to tell us to "Come" We had hoped to go in February but didn't leave until March. Our whole lives were on hold not knowing the date we were leaving. We didn't make any long range plans, we just waited and got everything ready and perfect for our girls!
Every morning once the dates started coming I had my phone right beside me, hoping today would be the day that I'd get the call! That day finally came and I almost passed out!!!!! It came later in the morning, after I'd given up hope....oh but I was so glad to hear the stateside assistant tell me we had a date!!!!!! All the last minute running around....then we finally left for our appointment in Kiev! And after all the stuff in the capital it was on to the all night train ride on the "hell train" as we like to refer to it....Let's just say it had much to be desired! Then another 1.5 hour van ride ( in a 1970 Russian army van- and no I am not making this up) on terrible dirt roads, as fast as we could go till we got to the girls town of Torez. Then we met with a bunch of people and our facilitator did whatever he was to do and then finally on to the adult mental institution to meet our girls....after we went through more talking in the director's office. Let me just tell you, when you are minutes away from meeting your children, you can not think of anything else..... Finally all the preliminaries were done and we walked out into the courtyard, to the old building in the back. We went up a smelly staircase and at the top in a little alcove were the two little girls we had come half way around the world to get....Sarah & Selah! Sarah was in a wheelchair and Selah was standing, I didn't know who to grab first so I just grabbed both of them!
There is something so spiritual about meeting your children for the first time whether it is by childbirth or adoption. There is something so sacred about adoption. You've chosen that little person and you have dreamed about that little person and worked so hard to get to that little person and then you are there.....it is amazing!!!! I'm blessed to have experienced that twice in my life!
So then we spent the next 6 weeks living in Torez Ukraine. I loved that poor little Ukrainian town near the Russian border. Yes it was hard living but it was so real. When it was time to leave, I really didn't want to go. (although that might have been the thought of all that was to come....traveling back home with 3 little people (we had Sam with us also) and the trip on the train was ahead!)
The day came when we left the orphanage, adult mental institution, the internot, whatever you want to call it they were free!!!!!!!!! That was just an incredible day.....then off to Kiev to do all the American embassy stuff and then on to home....HOME.....with our girls.....
That night that we were all finally home and everyone was in their beds....I can not tell you the peace I felt when I laid down to sleep.....
Then the most wonderful 14 weeks of my life....it went so quick...if I had only known, I would have cherished each moment even more dearer than I did...... ( just typing that makes me cry...you have no idea how very happy that short time was)
Then our first road trip, up to NY to Sam's eye doctor and the chance of Sarah being helped also....
The ACCIDENT August 15, 2012 changed our lives forever....
The days of not knowing if Selah would live, the weeks of no responses...
Finally around the first of October, she began responding a tiny bit....then we got her on the fish oil study and saw her responses come more often, more consistently, they began to build....
Then the gut wrenching transfer down to Florida and seeing her regress....
Now we are preparing to take a new step on this journey...going HOME....soon I will have all my kids under one roof again. It's been almost 5 months.The whole adoption from commitment to the day we traveled took less than 5 months!!!!
I never dreamed last New Year's Eve of all the twists and turns that 2012 would have in store for us. I never dreamed I'd be away from home for more than 6 months ( including the adoption and the accident we have been away from home for 27 weeks!!!!!!) I'm such a homebody, God has given me the grace to do it and not complain but be content in "whatever state" I was in...that is a real miracle!
I also never dreamed I'd know God's sustaining grace over all in my life like I can say I know it now. God never left us through the very darkest days....His love and peace were with us. I look back and am just amazed at how God brought us through....it was not us, it was not me, it was God's grace in our lives.
I have not felt abandoned by God, I've not felt let down by God. How can I not trust this God who although He is the ruler of this Universe, takes the time to speak peace to my heart as I am running towards the ambulances, knowing somehow in my heart, that my family is involved...... What a God I serve! Sure if He were a magic genie, He could make my life a rose garden but, without going into a whole theological discussion here, that is not who God is. I believe in the biblical accounts, and I believe when Adam and Eve sinned, sin came into the world with death and heartache, That is not what God wanted but he allowed man to have his own free will and in that free will man chose to bring that upon the whole human race. Therefore we live in a fallen crappy world. Things happen...the bible tells us that "many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from them all" Jesus said "in this world you will have trouble..." That is just the gist of it....
I'm thankful that God has been with us. I can not imagine going through this past year without God's strength. It has certainly not been in my strength! Even the adoption was taxing....very hard but God helped us and we made it through!
What a year this 2012 has been....I don't know what lies ahead in 2013, it may be good or it may be hard but I am confident that the same God who has been with us through 2012 and all the previous years before., wll be with us in this coming year.
I pray that each of you will find that same peace for the year that lies ahead for you.
Day 56 Fish OIl Study
We are back in Jacksonville, left home about 6 or 7 pm and got here at 11 pm. All our clocks have different times on them LOL so I'm not sure when we left. Jon insists on going the "country route" instead of the interstate but it takes about the same time either way. I just hate 2 laned roads, I'm always positive that we're about to have a head on collision at anytime! So I had to "help" him drive all the way! I'm exhausted:)
I see the "light at the end of the tunnel" thanks to my wonderful sister in law and some friends:) Do you like the color of Selah's room? It is beautiful and peaceful. The worst of everything is done and they are finishing up everything else:) One thing I REALLY appreciated this weekend was using our washer & dryer. This is the first time in FIVE months that I didn't have to take my laundry downstairs, either to the basement at the RMH or to the 1st floor at the hotel. It wa great not to worry about getting in some one elses way or having someone take our stuff! It was so easy to go in the laundry room and to do all my laundry while I was doing other things...you have no idea hahaha!!!!
Her swing is all set up thanks to our friend Jim. I sat out there today with a friend and thougth soon Selah will be able to be outside and enjoy this. I do love Florida weather! It was a beautiful day today!
I've found that I "drink in' my surroundings. I do love the South:) I love the flat land and the pine trees, palms, oak trees and the Spanish moss. I love the smell of rain and the sound of frogs....in the middle of the winder:) I love our food:) All that weight I lost maybe creeping back on! I love that there is sweet tea everywhere:) Publix and wide parking spaces.... I love that even when it is cold in the morning, you know it will be warm by lunch time! I guess just being back in our familiar surroundings brings a measure of peace.
I'm glad I don't have to see the Erie Canal every day.....Tonight driving over a bridge, I had to keep myself calm. I started having a panic attack and thought what if the van went over the edge or the bridge was blown up, how would I save the kids....I don't see any beach trips in our future! Pools freak me out now too! I'm no fan of water right now!
Selah has had a great weekend. Our friends have dropped in to see her and I"ve called and everything has been nice and calm. No storms! It is hard for us to be away from her, not knowing what she understands or thinks bothers me. Hopefully this is the last time we will be away! We are planning on her going home on Wednesday as long as everything goes into place. We are waiting on the nursing and the transport. We do not want to drive her! Can you imagine our first time alone with her and we have to drive 4 hours with all the kids? In the country...? No way! So we asked for her to be transported by ambulance. That is all being set up.
We had a sweet service at church. Our music minister sang several songs about Trusting God through the storms of life. All I could do was cry....I'm not a crying person and really hate to in front of people. You have no idea how much I hate for people to see me cry! I don't really liked to be hugged or comforted either, it just embarrasses me to death! So I fight and resist tears as much as possible. But today the sweetness of the songs just overwhelmed me. I'm so glad I can trust God. I feel like I'm on a crazy fast roller coaster with no end in sight....my life is totally out of my control at this point. My family's life is out of control at this point....We are not in control anymore, we are just trusting God and basically living by "the seat of our pants" I am learning to make a few plans but most things overwhelm my mind at this point and it's been like that for the past five months. For the folks who know me, that is not "how I roll" but it is now! When I worked in probation I really tried with my paperwork to "touch it once" . Basically when it came in, I picked it up and looked at it and did whatever needed to be done with it, whether it was filing, or sending it to court or whatever....and that worked great! So since then I've tried that with everything else, if I was cleaning a room or whatever I did what was needed to be done and was finished. LOL that is out of the window now. I can't focus, even on conversations with people, much less work! I can write my blog....and that helps me to focus some so we will see how things go with this new normal for me!
So we are getting ready to go to bed so we can get up early tomorrow and go see Selah and do some chores!
Please keep praying for Selah. Pray that the fish oil will help her brain to repair itself. She was doing so amazingly well before we came here. We are praying that she will progress back to where she was before she was transferred. These past few weeks have been very depressing and sad to us. Hopefully that will change soon! I believe she will recover quicker at home although it terrifies me to take her home....
A good friend gave me some Essential Oils today and I used some for me and have some to put on Selah. I've got several friends who are using this, I don't know much about it but I'm open to try things with her and myself too! I put Lavender behind my ears today for calmness and I loved the smell:) I like the idea that they are true oils and not some flavored lotion or something with a million chemicals in it. I probably will be using buckets of the Lavender:)
Anna, my niece painting the closet
such dedication:) I love this girl!!!
Her swing is all set up thanks to our friend Jim. I sat out there today with a friend and thougth soon Selah will be able to be outside and enjoy this. I do love Florida weather! It was a beautiful day today!
I've found that I "drink in' my surroundings. I do love the South:) I love the flat land and the pine trees, palms, oak trees and the Spanish moss. I love the smell of rain and the sound of frogs....in the middle of the winder:) I love our food:) All that weight I lost maybe creeping back on! I love that there is sweet tea everywhere:) Publix and wide parking spaces.... I love that even when it is cold in the morning, you know it will be warm by lunch time! I guess just being back in our familiar surroundings brings a measure of peace.
I'm glad I don't have to see the Erie Canal every day.....Tonight driving over a bridge, I had to keep myself calm. I started having a panic attack and thought what if the van went over the edge or the bridge was blown up, how would I save the kids....I don't see any beach trips in our future! Pools freak me out now too! I'm no fan of water right now!
Selah has had a great weekend. Our friends have dropped in to see her and I"ve called and everything has been nice and calm. No storms! It is hard for us to be away from her, not knowing what she understands or thinks bothers me. Hopefully this is the last time we will be away! We are planning on her going home on Wednesday as long as everything goes into place. We are waiting on the nursing and the transport. We do not want to drive her! Can you imagine our first time alone with her and we have to drive 4 hours with all the kids? In the country...? No way! So we asked for her to be transported by ambulance. That is all being set up.
We had a sweet service at church. Our music minister sang several songs about Trusting God through the storms of life. All I could do was cry....I'm not a crying person and really hate to in front of people. You have no idea how much I hate for people to see me cry! I don't really liked to be hugged or comforted either, it just embarrasses me to death! So I fight and resist tears as much as possible. But today the sweetness of the songs just overwhelmed me. I'm so glad I can trust God. I feel like I'm on a crazy fast roller coaster with no end in sight....my life is totally out of my control at this point. My family's life is out of control at this point....We are not in control anymore, we are just trusting God and basically living by "the seat of our pants" I am learning to make a few plans but most things overwhelm my mind at this point and it's been like that for the past five months. For the folks who know me, that is not "how I roll" but it is now! When I worked in probation I really tried with my paperwork to "touch it once" . Basically when it came in, I picked it up and looked at it and did whatever needed to be done with it, whether it was filing, or sending it to court or whatever....and that worked great! So since then I've tried that with everything else, if I was cleaning a room or whatever I did what was needed to be done and was finished. LOL that is out of the window now. I can't focus, even on conversations with people, much less work! I can write my blog....and that helps me to focus some so we will see how things go with this new normal for me!
So we are getting ready to go to bed so we can get up early tomorrow and go see Selah and do some chores!
Please keep praying for Selah. Pray that the fish oil will help her brain to repair itself. She was doing so amazingly well before we came here. We are praying that she will progress back to where she was before she was transferred. These past few weeks have been very depressing and sad to us. Hopefully that will change soon! I believe she will recover quicker at home although it terrifies me to take her home....
A good friend gave me some Essential Oils today and I used some for me and have some to put on Selah. I've got several friends who are using this, I don't know much about it but I'm open to try things with her and myself too! I put Lavender behind my ears today for calmness and I loved the smell:) I like the idea that they are true oils and not some flavored lotion or something with a million chemicals in it. I probably will be using buckets of the Lavender:)
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Day 55 Fish Oil study
We are home exhausted....everything is moved out of Steve & Shad's room and into Jon's office at the church. They are calling it their "man cave" It actually looks good. That will be their hangout place but they will sleep at home.
My sister in law, Valerie is still in Selah's room painting it. it is looking good! Jim & Pat, our friends, came and put together the swing, and a book case and did all kinds of things for us also. We still have a ways to go. It has been an overwhelming task. What makes it so hard is having been gone so long and trying to move back in and do all this at the same time. Plus the whole emotional issue. As I went through all our stuff, I found it hard to sort things that are Selah's, that she may never use again.... even clothes that were hers that she has outgrown are hard for me to part with and I'm not one to save things much. I can't even give away her bandannas that she wore like a necklace because she would bit her shirt without them.
I find myself starting a job, then going to another job and getting nothing finished. That is not like me either, I'm very goal oriented and have to finish jobs. This has been a rough day to me.
On top of it, we had to call the Electrical people who just worked on our house a few months ago and did major work! None of the outlets in the kids rooms were working. Thankfully they came right out and found the issue (which I never did understand) and fixed it.
Jon did take Sam & Sarah out on the swing set today as he did his study for his sermon. They were so happy to be out in their swings:) The day started off with a soft rain and ended up being just beautiful before it got a little chilly tonight.
At this point, I can not see us being ready to leave tomorrow and I'm so frazzled and tired and achy that I just want to go to sleep! But hopefully we will be able to!
Thankfully a good friend that I grew up with and her husband Jina and Dusty, are checking on Selah. Jina put lotion all over her and Selah stuck her tongue out as far as she could:) They sent me a picture. She is doing good, no storms for a week now.
My sister in law, Valerie is still in Selah's room painting it. it is looking good! Jim & Pat, our friends, came and put together the swing, and a book case and did all kinds of things for us also. We still have a ways to go. It has been an overwhelming task. What makes it so hard is having been gone so long and trying to move back in and do all this at the same time. Plus the whole emotional issue. As I went through all our stuff, I found it hard to sort things that are Selah's, that she may never use again.... even clothes that were hers that she has outgrown are hard for me to part with and I'm not one to save things much. I can't even give away her bandannas that she wore like a necklace because she would bit her shirt without them.
I find myself starting a job, then going to another job and getting nothing finished. That is not like me either, I'm very goal oriented and have to finish jobs. This has been a rough day to me.
On top of it, we had to call the Electrical people who just worked on our house a few months ago and did major work! None of the outlets in the kids rooms were working. Thankfully they came right out and found the issue (which I never did understand) and fixed it.
Jon did take Sam & Sarah out on the swing set today as he did his study for his sermon. They were so happy to be out in their swings:) The day started off with a soft rain and ended up being just beautiful before it got a little chilly tonight.
At this point, I can not see us being ready to leave tomorrow and I'm so frazzled and tired and achy that I just want to go to sleep! But hopefully we will be able to!
Thankfully a good friend that I grew up with and her husband Jina and Dusty, are checking on Selah. Jina put lotion all over her and Selah stuck her tongue out as far as she could:) They sent me a picture. She is doing good, no storms for a week now.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Day 54 Fish Oil Study
Selah is doing good. We all went and spent some time with her this morning before we left for home. Thankfully a friend I grew up with Jina, is being able to stay with her some while we are gone and we know who her nurses will be. She reported to me that when Selah got her bath tonight she stretched out and startled the nurses. She hasn't stretched since we were in NY, she's been so tight so that was good news!!
Our house looks like a bomb has gone off in it. The pictures above are of Sam "doing his toy inventory". He always goes and pulls out all his toys when we have been gone from home and come home It is funny! We are boxing up the boys room and in the process of having boxes of stuff to give/throw away! Steve and I went to Lowes and I bought a big outside swing for us to sit on with Selah! Our friend Jim is putting it together for us tomorrow. It has a canopy and I am looking forward to her being outside in our wonderful Florida weather soon! My sister in law Valerie is going to paint Selah's room. I got the prettiest light purple/lavender color for it:) We opened her Christmas presents today and she got a pretty pink beanbag chair that is going to look great in her room and give her a new place to sit and be comfortable. We are the kind of family that sits on the floor alot and this way she will be able to join in.
We picked up our favorite Chinese food tonight so it really feels like home:) It's a nice rainy night out in the country....we have so much work to do.... Not just box up their room but we are going through everywhere and rearranging/cleaning....UGH! I hate doing it but so glad when the job is done and everything is ready for us to come home and most importantly for Selah to come home!!!! The boys will have all their stuff in Jon's office so the first thing I did today was to clean it out. Since we've been gone it collected alot of things!! It's at least nice and clean except for the desk now. That will be their "man cave" from now on! I bought a bookcase and a game holder. We have an idea how we are going to arrange it tomorrow. The closet in their room is so deep and held everything so nicely, I had no idea how much stuff they had till we took everything out!!! Let's hope we can get it all in! We were going to use the end of the Fellowship Hall but Steve rather do this so we'll see if we can get it all in!
Wish us good luck and lots of helpful folks to help this all get done tomorrow so we can leave after church on Sunday to go back to Selah!!!!!
Our house looks like a bomb has gone off in it. The pictures above are of Sam "doing his toy inventory". He always goes and pulls out all his toys when we have been gone from home and come home It is funny! We are boxing up the boys room and in the process of having boxes of stuff to give/throw away! Steve and I went to Lowes and I bought a big outside swing for us to sit on with Selah! Our friend Jim is putting it together for us tomorrow. It has a canopy and I am looking forward to her being outside in our wonderful Florida weather soon! My sister in law Valerie is going to paint Selah's room. I got the prettiest light purple/lavender color for it:) We opened her Christmas presents today and she got a pretty pink beanbag chair that is going to look great in her room and give her a new place to sit and be comfortable. We are the kind of family that sits on the floor alot and this way she will be able to join in.
We picked up our favorite Chinese food tonight so it really feels like home:) It's a nice rainy night out in the country....we have so much work to do.... Not just box up their room but we are going through everywhere and rearranging/cleaning....UGH! I hate doing it but so glad when the job is done and everything is ready for us to come home and most importantly for Selah to come home!!!! The boys will have all their stuff in Jon's office so the first thing I did today was to clean it out. Since we've been gone it collected alot of things!! It's at least nice and clean except for the desk now. That will be their "man cave" from now on! I bought a bookcase and a game holder. We have an idea how we are going to arrange it tomorrow. The closet in their room is so deep and held everything so nicely, I had no idea how much stuff they had till we took everything out!!! Let's hope we can get it all in! We were going to use the end of the Fellowship Hall but Steve rather do this so we'll see if we can get it all in!
Wish us good luck and lots of helpful folks to help this all get done tomorrow so we can leave after church on Sunday to go back to Selah!!!!!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Day 53 Fish Oil Study
We had a meeting with the administrator's office and settled some questions about the fish oil protocol, after her fish oil bottle was found in her room this morning instead of in the fridge! We were pleased with the administrator's efforts to ensure this does not happen again. I was really upset this happened but I do think things will be taken care of from now on. We also discussed some other things that had bothered us and we feel it's been dealt with now.
Selah worked good with her therapists today, we saw her yawn and I'm not sure she has yawned since the accident. We love every little thing she does:) She is starting to smell like fish oil again! We love it!
We also met with our aftercare worker. They are really working hard to get us 24 hour nursing care. Everything is coming into place, we just have to get our house in order and that is going to be a BIG job! We are planning on going home tomorrow and working all weekend to get it as ready as possible. I'm starting to look forward to taking her home. I was terribly afraid to take her home but with nursing, therapy and everything we need, I think we can do it successfully!!
We know we will probably have to move but first we are going home and figuring everything out first. We have got to figure out how everything is going to work but I'm sure it is going to work out.
http://followingwheregodleadsus.blogspot.com/ don't forget to give to this child's adoption if you can!!!! Please pray that his adoption will go through before the ban on adoptions start!! You can also give here http://reecesrainbow.org/46472/sponsorwade which is the easiest to me!
Selah worked good with her therapists today, we saw her yawn and I'm not sure she has yawned since the accident. We love every little thing she does:) She is starting to smell like fish oil again! We love it!
We also met with our aftercare worker. They are really working hard to get us 24 hour nursing care. Everything is coming into place, we just have to get our house in order and that is going to be a BIG job! We are planning on going home tomorrow and working all weekend to get it as ready as possible. I'm starting to look forward to taking her home. I was terribly afraid to take her home but with nursing, therapy and everything we need, I think we can do it successfully!!
We know we will probably have to move but first we are going home and figuring everything out first. We have got to figure out how everything is going to work but I'm sure it is going to work out.
http://followingwheregodleadsus.blogspot.com/ don't forget to give to this child's adoption if you can!!!! Please pray that his adoption will go through before the ban on adoptions start!! You can also give here http://reecesrainbow.org/46472/sponsorwade which is the easiest to me!
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