Life 2 Orphans

 

Today I renewed our sponsorship of this little girl.  She was in the same institution as Sarah and Selah.  She is an older girl, 12, maybe 13 years old now.  We started sponsoring her before we went to Ukraine and I got to meet her and her Individual Caregiver (who we paid for for her)  She has been moved from the instution  to another orphanage where she may be getting a little better care but we are so happy to sponsor an Individual Caregiver for this little girl.  Just $40 a month to have someone come in each week day and work with her, make sure she gets fed and changed an bathed....maybe taken outside some.  She is considered bed ridden.  Meeting her was a highlight of our trip.  I bawled, she smiled and smiled.  Such a sweet sprit.  When we were taking this picture, I thought this might be the only time I'd get to see her.  But thankfully I got to see her many more times and even swing her outside.  She is eligible for international adoption, if you are interested, let me know. 

 

The way we are able to sponsor is by working with Life2Orphans.....what a wonderful humanitarian organization.  They help the children left behind.  They helped both of our girls, both of them were sponsored by someone, before we ever knew them.....

 

If you'd like to sponsor a child go to

questions@life2orphans.org

(that is where they have the list)

 

  

http://www.life2orphans.org/

 

their web page is a little dated but they work so hard with the orphans, I know because I've seen it ....DAILY!

 

https://www.facebook.com/Life2Orphans

go like them on FB  you can also give that way. 

(by the way the three GIRls yes girls pictured here - the one on the left has a family coming for her and the  other two are adopted and in the USA now!  I got to know all three of them very well while we were there)

 

Life2Orphans is fantastic and have my full support with no reservations!!! 

 

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Usually I don't hold Selah a lot because it annoyed her before the accident.  She was diagnosed with Intuitional Autism so she did want touch but she wanted it on her terms and I respected her boundaries.  I think if the accident had not happened, she would have been over a lot of that, just based on her progress in the three months before the accident.   But I don't hold her a lot because it can cause her heart rate to go up.  Today I just craved holding her for a little bit.  She was having a rough day and actually I thought it might help her some.  It didn't' seem to upset her anymore than she was and it felt good to hold her. 

 

Holding her with her sweet little face right beside me, looking at her cute nose (she has the cutest nose of all my kids) smelling her hair...oh I just want her back so bad.  I want her to be able to get up and go play outside.  I want to take her hand and walk outside with her, I can't even tell you how much I long for her to be back to us.  I don't have the words to even explain....she is here and yet she is not....it is so hard. 

 

She has lost some weight and some of the puffiness that the old formula gave her and she looks so healthy, not overweight, not skinny, just perfect, like there is nothing wrong with her.  Today she had an outfit on a friend had sent her and she is just beautiful.  She does have so much more head control in my opinion and she moves her tongue all the time. 

 

The tongue movement....at first we were all excited and it might still be 100% a good thing but now it is so often, I'm not sure if it is a good thing, no one knows, no one has seen a child do this .......today she has some issues with her tone and was very tight which is extremely unusual for her anymore.  It seemed when she'd have a little spasm that her tongue would move with the spasm.  I really don't' know what that means.  She doesn't have seizures and has been checked several times for them. 

 

Her wrists have gotten tight lately, that comes and goes.  I worry about it so much.  She has hand splints and these are like her 4th pair but nothing works.  You should see these, it takes us forever to figure them out...and her seconds to move her thumb and hand out LOL  It's a pattern of having a tightness in the wrist area, then it goes away.

 

I do love her head control.  It's almost as good as it was in NY.  All the nurses remark on the fact they feel she has gained head control since the HBOT.  It's hard to "measure" it but she can hold her own head up for a few seconds at a time. 

 

We are really leaning towards her doing another round of HBOT right after Christmas. 

 

 

Please pray for my LaLa  (Doll)

 

We do all we can to help her in every single way but we need God to touch our baby girl. 

 

 

 

 

Pictures and the "shutdown"

 

 

 

 

 

Sam inspected my fall decorating at the church

 

 

We tried to take a new picture for the top cover picture for the blog.  This was the best we could do today.  Everyone was hungry and ready to go eat LOL

 

 

This picture is ok and I love the little grin Shad has as he peeks around Sarah:)

 

I'll use it until we can get a better one. 

 

 

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Been thinking a lot about this country and the way it is headed.  I don't care for the way things are going at all.  America has always been a good strong county.  There were standards that folks lived by.   No one was perfect but when I compare America now, to even when I was a child or teen, it is lacking!  The government AND the people! 

 

This whole shut down.....I'm so tired of folks whining about it.  First let me say I don't want to see anyone going without a pay check but I feel the president is making things worse than they have to be.  I feel he is inciting fear and not trying to work for any compromise at all.  Most American don't want "obamacare or "the Affordable Health Care Act"    Most folks don't want to see our debt ceiling raised yet again....  Most folks want to see the government have to balance the budget....but when some law makers try to fight for our rights, for what we want, THEN we fuss about how hard it is.  Thank God we already fought the Revolutionary War and won because we as Americans have no backbone today!  We'd just sit back and complain about England over a few beers or tea and do nothing else! 

 

I see news reports on how the President is shutting down war memorials (really?  I've been there, they are just pieces of rocks....they were opened 24/7 with no guard on them when we were there)  The president is ordering for things to be "made hard" for folks.  He is on tv wondering "why" the stock market has not responded much to this gov't shutdown. (that's smart let's just make matters worse...)   He orders part of the gulf to be closed down.  He says he is not going to compromise on any point with others.....   

 

 http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell100413.php3#.UlHUNc3D_5q

If you are interested this is a good explanation of what is going on.  It explains the shutdown better than anything I've read. 

 

We need to be calling our House and Congress telling them to balance the budget asap....work together and get it done!  This is ridicules! 

 

I am GLAD that the HOUSE ( you know the Republican controlled house that is so evil) passed a measure giving back pay to everyone affected by this when it is over.  Of course that doesn't help the non government employees affected.....

 

Just some of my thoughts on this.....

 

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Selah had a big poopie and seems to feel better...I know TMI...she now needs meds to go, we are giving her lots of prune juice but it doesn't seem to be helping.  I'll be calling GI tomorrow to talk with them about this.  When she hasn't gone, she actually gets congested like it is pushing up in her lungs.  It's odd.  And her heart rate goes up too.  We don't want to get her on laxatives so the nurses give her suppositories which are said to be less habit forming.  She doesn't need much to go but she isn't going with out that help now.  Anyhow she seems to feel much better now.  Thankfully!  Please keep her in your prayers!

 

 

Living "in the moment"

Our dishwasher must be leaking as our wooden floor has buckled right by it although nothing feels wet so I am washing dishes the old fashion way....but I have quite a few dishes to wash!  UGH!  So despite that, I had a cooking spree today.  I woke up wanting doughnuts.  I truly do not keep anything in the house, no soda, no candy and no sweets.  I decided to make "healthy cookies"  don't know how healthy but at least they were organic cookies and good!  Then I cooked chicken and rice for lunch.  For supper I cooked  Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and  Shrimp Jambalaya  two of our favorites...I'm stuffed right now!

Steve is all about wanting to go driving now.  He kept reminding me that we needed dog & cat food.  So he drove me to town.  We went to Walmart, his first time driving in a full parking lot and parking.  He did fine, we drove around for about another hour, drove by some friends' houses...had a good time.  He is really a good driver:)  I am quite impressed.  We thought he would drive good since he has been driving our ride on lawn mower for years and I'm afraid of it!  So if he could do that, certainly he could drive a nice van!

Selah seems a little "off".  Jon has been sick this week, and couldn't get his flu shot.  He has just a little cold, no fever or anything but I'm worried she is getting something.  Anyhow, she is not herself and even needed a little valium this afternoon.  She didn't want to be in her stander for long and now is asleep early.  Please pray that she doesn't get a cold!!!!

Being a parent is an awesome thing, having 5 very different kids, at different levels and ones that have such different needs is a bit overwhelming if I really think about it LOL   So I just chose NOT to think about it  and go with the flow LOL!

I think I live life more "in the moment" now than ever before.....I have no idea what tomorrow holds, so I just have to live today.....

Please pray for Selah!!!!

A Teaching Moment

We went to get the kids' flu shots today.  It was an interesting day......

 We first went out to eat, I always ask for a quiet corner and they took us to one.  As we sat everyone down, I noticed a child from another table turn and stare.  The child then turned his body around so he could sit and watch my kids.  This went on for about 5 minutes and finally I spoke to the "mother" or whoever he was with and nicely & quietly asked her to have him turn around and not stare at my little ones.  She decided to tell me her child had a right to look at who ever and he was just a baby...he was not a baby and understood perfectly and to his credit turned his body around and never looked back. So the mom decided to call the manager over, who was supportive of us (the woman asked that we be told to leave the restaurant according to my son who could hear it)  That group soon left and took their food with them.  We however enjoyed our meal.

Hopefully that child learned today that people do not like to be stared at.  Just for the record, if you are out somewhere and see a disabled person, don't stare, they are not a sideshow at the circus and you are not paying money to watch them live their life.  Thankfully my little ones don't understand things but I do....and I will not tolerate it.  When Sam was little, I didn't know how to handle it and sometimes was waaaaaaaayyyyyyy  too nice.  Those days are so very forever gone!  Some folks have suggested I should use times like that as a "teaching moment".  Well I did, but my way of teaching is kinda rough! 

Parents teach your children how to be kind to others and polite.  I was raised in a small town in the deep south with no political correctness whatsoever and YET, I knew not to stare at someone who was "different"  I'd never been around any disabled people other than one boy with Down's at my church and Jon's uncle in a wheelchair... but yet I had enough sense not to be nosy and stare at people out in public.  And let me tell you, the ONE time Steve (when he was young) mentioned something about someone in a store who was very overweight, he got in trouble and I talked to him about being compassionate and not to stare at people.  I told him to smile in a friendly way and look away from the person so they didn't feel put on the spot. 

People are very curious and feel they have some sort of right to have that need met......I do not understand that.  And I'm not here to meet that need for them. 

I think manners are a thing of the past......the society we live in today is just so far from even what I was brought up in.  Now granted I was confrontational, but I started our easy and gentle.  If anyone EVER had to say something to me about one of my kids like that, I would have been apologizing AND telling the other family that I would be dealing with it when we got home!!!!   I can not imagine.....I have NEVER had anyone come to me about any of my children doing something like that!   Kids are kids but .......  but a parent should deal with it not excuse it!!!!

So after our little adventure we went to get the shots.  For the first time Sam absolutely KNEW what the nurse was doing and tried to scoot away from her.  He looked at the tray and the shot and started whimpering!!!  This sounds crazy but I was so happy he understood!  The nurse "got it " too and we were laughing and really rejoicing at his level of understanding.  He was NOT laughing but he got over it quickly.  So he SAW the shot on the tray AND he remembered/understood what that was.....  I loved it!

Sarah fought us like crazy!  She had some boosters to get too so she ended up with three shots and was not happy with us either!

We came home and I gave Steve his first driving lesson.  We started on a country road near our house, then ventured onto a state road and drove into town.  He drove all over town, then got on the main road, drove up the 4 lane and did a big circle back to our house.  He really did good.  All those stinky years of video games may have actually paid off!!!!!  When he was on the narrow country road, he did tend to stay too close to the edge and I was fearful of knocking out some mailboxes LOL  but honestly he did great, he had never drove before except to move the car on our property.   I was impressed, but I have to admit my right foot almost put a hole through the floorboard and I clutched the door handle the whole hour he drove LOL

We are finally fully staffed with nurses!!!!!  We have a new (to us) nurse starting tonight but she has years of nursing experience and training!   We are so happy with the staff we have working with Selah.  I truly believe the wonderful care she gets from our nurses is what has helped her to do so good in so many areas!  We have 4 nurses to make up the 24/7 nursing.  They all are different but they are united in taking care of Selah.  They are all pleasant and truly it is not hard to have them in our home.  They have become a part of our family.  We all joke together and get along fine.  My other kids all like all of them.  The four we have are very professional and trained and we feel totally blessed with them. 

It took us awhile to get a good staff together but it's worth it now to have people that we trust 100% with our daughter.  We had some "experiences" in the beginning but we got through that and we are so very happy with the folks who work with Selah.  They each have strengths that help her in different ways.  We are blessed.....now as one friend prayed..."Thank you God for the nurses, now please heal Selah so they can find other jobs"  LOL  And we have talked about that, all our nurses understand our faith, some share it and all want to see Selah healed!!!!  

Hope you all have a great weekend, thanks for your prayers for Selah!

Driver's License!

 

Look who got his Driver's license today???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He parked the van:)

 

 

 

 

Fun times, Steve got his license today.  He started the Drug & Alcohol class on line right before we started the girls' adoption.  We tried to schedule him for Driver's Ed but were waiting on Ukraine to tell us to come....then we got home...then NY.....so finally he took the course and got his license.  He will have a permit until he finishes the driving part of the test then he will have his regular license in December. 

 

I also talked to his advisor at the Homeschool Program we use as our "umbrella school" and he really should be finished with his classes by December.  Despite everything that happened he doesn't have much more to do!!!!!  YEAH!  Steve had a happy day!

 

Everything is stable here, we are taking the kids to get their flu shots tomorrow.  Steve already has has his but the little ones need theirs.  Please don't' tell me how bad the flu shots are.....I'm a BELIEVER in vaccinations and we've been getting the flu shots for over a decade with no issues whatsoever and NO flu  (that could kill Selah!!)   I encourage each of you to get a flu shot and not to listen to "old wives' tales"  The shot could save your life or the life of someone you love!!!

 

Thanks for your prayers for Selah, we appreciate it!!!!!!

Giving away the Crib

I got a surprise today and a friend came by to see me.  We went to eat, took the kids around, took Steve to class, ate again....rode around, had a good time....  As we were talking, my friend mentioned her daughter's upcoming baby and things clicked to me.

After we came home from NY, we took apart Selah's crib.  It was a pretty awful time for me.  I couldn't even be here while it was happening.  Since then we've had it in storage.  It's beautiful and obviously only used for a couple of months. 

 

 

I found this picture of Sam and Selah sitting and watching tv, quite ironically I wrote they were watching Veggie Tales singing "the Erie Canal" song  that DVD is banned forever in our home......  This was only weeks before we left for NY.  As I was going through the pictures, looking for one of her crib....I realized I had tears running down my face looking through all the pictures, not sobbing just tears flooding my face.   

I miss that little girl so much.......

The crib to the right was Selah's crib.  All three of them had matching cribs. 

Today that crib went home with my friend so she can have it when her granddaughter comes over to stay with her.  It's a little hard.  But Steve reminded me that even if Selah "came back to us" she is now too big for the crib.  That helped some.  I'm glad the crib is going to a happy family who is excited about their new grandbaby.  I wanted to give it to someone I knew.....  We had also been given some brand new car seats after the accident and I was able to give her one of those also, since we won't be able to use it. 

When I first mentioned the crib  to my friend, we were talking about doing it later, but I just felt like I had to do it today  There's a part of me that would like to bronze it....but that is silly, I try not to be a person that holds on to things.  I've seen people crowd their homes with furniture and things that belonged to someone who had passed away and it just looked sloppy and messy.  I now understand why they do it.....

When my great aunt passed away and I inherited the home, I didn't have a problem getting rid of things.  I picked a few things out to keep, sold some, gave away some and threw away a lot.  This is so different.....

So ...I'm in a reflective mood tonight.....missing my girl

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It may seem odd to you to have such older children in cribs but Sam still sleeps in his crib and he is almost 10 years old.  For Sam and Sarah it is a safety feature for them so they don't fall out of bed (especially Sarah)  And it is a safety thing for me, if they are in the crib, I know where they are!    Both of them are small and seem to be quite happy with a crib.  When I was in NY with Sam in May, He couldn't tolerate a big bed and obviously wanted a crib to sleep in.  He doesn't mind sleeping in a big bed, if someone is with him.....  The kids don't try and get out of their crib so it's fine.  Actually Sam tries to climb INTO his crib at night.  He is ALL about going to sleep and taking naps during the day.  Funny boy!

BTW, my friend hadn't seen Selah since she finished HBOT and she really thinks Selah seems so much more alert and "there".  It was nice to hear someone say that.  She mentioned several things that looked so much better now.  It's always good to hear positive statements.

So everyone is doing good....please keep praying for Selah.....

Driver's Ed

Steve started Driver's Education today.  We kidded around a lot about him FINALLY going to school right before he turns 18 years old LOL.  He is taking the class at a public school so this was a first for our family.  My kids have never been to a public school.  Of course we had to pay for him to take the class, but it will help him his insurance rates.

 

 

 

I was trying to take a picture of him at the school but he walked away....

 

 

he had a good class and really enjoyed it.  Jon and I both took driver's ed in school and we thought it would be good for him to take it too.  It also gives him an extra half credit for high school. 

 

I remember our driver's education teacher  Coach Barr....an old geezer who had been a coach but by the time he taught me, was just teaching Science classes.  He was a SMOKER, if I remember correctly he smoked in the driver's education car with us LOL!  I'm positive he smoked in his office at school....  I never cared for him at all but some of the students liked him.  I remember driving with him in the smoky driver's ed car.....UGH!  It was not the most pleasant memory.  But all in all we figured Steve would luck out a bit better than I did LOL   

 

 

We are going to a Halloween party and I bought outfits for all of us.....I'm really excited about it.  first time I've ever had an outfit as an adult.  The pictures will be coming!  Even Steve joined in on the fun.  I didn't know if he'd go along but he did:)  I bought Sarah and Selah matching ones, Shad actually found them and they are adorable!  But you'll have to wait for the pictures!

 

Some folks we know don't do Halloween or they do some type of "Fall Festival" but we like old fashion Halloween.  The kids love to go "trick or treating"  It's just fun.  Jon and I both grew up "doing" Halloween and we didn't turn into Satan worshippers so we think it'll be alright LOL

 

Actually the church I grew up going to, used to do a great haunted house.  We were one of the few buildings in Florida to have a basement.  So the basement made a great haunted house.   There were witches and ghosts....lots of fun!  Nowadays that is frowned on in evangelical circles.  Even "trick or treating" is made to be some type of satanic activity.....  we never understood that.  I used to dress up as a witch ( I know that is probably SO approiate for me LOL)  My aunt made me the nicest dress, I wore it for a couple of years and I had a really tall witch hat, I loved that outfit.   My old great aunts would dress up our front porch with ghosts and a stuffed mummy sitting in a rocking chair...it was great fun:)

 

 

October is one of the happiest months for me, I love fall, we got married in October, Steve's birthday is in October but we also lost our twins in October.  So with all things in my life, it's happiness tinged with sadness.......

 

 

Our friend Bill had one stint put in today and he is on his way to full recovery!  He should be released from the hospital tomorrow to go home:)  Thanks for praying for this dear man!!!!  We are all rejoicing:)

 

And thank you for always praying for Selah!  We appreciate it!  She is doing the same, nothing new but boy does she move her tongue around in her mouth!!!!!!