Thoughts on Adoption

I read an article that really disturbed me.  Have you read the book "Kisses By Kate"?  It is about a young girl who moved to Uganda and started working with  children and their families.  She ended up adopting about a dozen girls.  Kate is only about 25 years old.  I loved the book, loved her story and I think posted about it. 

http://www.redletterchristians.org/now-red-carpet-katie-davis/?utm_source=amazima&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Facebook

I read the above article today, it is an interview with Kate.  What bothered me so much was her thoughts on adoption.  It's funny as adoption has caught on more and more in the adoption community there are many "camps".  Some are for international adoption, some are for foster care adoption, some only know the American adoption of a perfect white baby....some believe they should adopt from moms who were going to abort the baby....etc and etc.....

ME?  I'm for any and every kind of adoption.....doesn't matter to me!  BUT I have to say this having been overseas and seen orphanages and mental instiutions....it made me VERY thankful for the American foster care system, flawed as it may be, it usually beats the heck out of an orphanage!  But what really beats it all is a FAMILY!

So this article seems to be advocating more for families to move to a child's country in order NOT to take the child from its' heritage IF they were going to adopt an international child.....ok I have no problem with this.  I LOVED Ukraine and would have been blessed to have moved there.  Not so much to keep Sarah and Selah's roots there, but to reach out to the country.  I have friends who do foster care for children in another country, they moved their to take care of special needs kids...

The thing I have a BIG problem with is making anything legalistic!  Let me tell you, neither China nor Ukraine cared much about my children.  All three had been mistreated,.....  Obviously my girls don't understand that they now live in another country but they do understand they have a family, they are fed, they are clean, they are content.  While Shad has a greater understanding, to him China is interesting and he'd like to go back and see it one day but it seems like he is interested in it like I am in my hometown....it doesn't define who I am today as China does not define Shad.  Is it worth it to the child to keep them somewhere that is not meeting their needs ONLY to give them a glismpe of their culture?  I don't think any of my kids saw much of their culture except for the four walls of the institutions. 

As a Christian I do not think of myself very strongly as an American....I LOVE the USA but one day my nationality will not matter in the least.  In heaven we all will stand before God, every tongue and every tribe of people and He will be our ruler and our king, not some earthly king with earthly boundaries......

In the American adoption system many whites have been denied being allowed to adopt black children that they loved and often had fostered because "they couldn't give the child the same culture"  So even tho they could give the child a family and let the child define who he was, they were denied that. 

I do not want to see a silly movement start in the adoption community like that!  I posted this article on my FB wall and my friends went nuts on it.  One who is an adoptive mom and is in the process of adopting RIGHT now said " I also want to know realistically how we could earn a living in the foreign countries our discarded children are from as we do not speak the language and my law degree is not recognized there... PLUS the medical resources here in the US are CRITICAL for so many of our sn adopted children...finally my soon to be adopted 11yo daughter has not had ONE SINGLE VISITOR (biological relative or otherwise) in her entire 11 years in an orphanage (relinquished at birth)....WHY should I keep her near a "family"/culture which found her disposable and where she would more than likely end up as a trafficked teen (since she is a lovely girl)????? Like you, I strongly disagree with Katie on this...she is making blanket statements that do not apply in other parts of the world/orphan situations..."


That is the problem, making blanket statements in the adoption world is hard.  It would have been great if my three children would have been loved and taken care of by their family BUT their families discarded them! 

Some adoptive parents have very positive feelings toward the birth families...I do NOT!  In fact I am very angry at them for the various things my kids had to endure before we found them.  In writing this, I realize that it is possible that my children's birth families may read my blog.  I have no idea but I have anger towards them for the things that happened to the children.  I realize they could have had things against them but you know what,?  It doesn't fly with me!  When Sam was born, our whole life changed but I stayed by his side and could have never given him away.  With Sarah her "mother" would not even touch her....that makes me mad!  So don't get a rosy picture in your mind that her family did the unselfish thing and put her in an orphanage so she would be taken care of.....nothing rosy there!  Shad, smiling Shad was left on the side of the road because somehow after birth his eye got damaged.  So the parents let a child get hurt (and believe me I know things happen that you can't control or didn't plan for BUT.....) and then was put  out like trash....  That would have been like abandoning Selah after the accident.....

Would I ever want to meet my kids birth families?  I would, I can't help but be curious about them.  But I would tell them how I felt about what happened.  I believe in redemption but I would want them to understand what their children endured.   Could I forgive them on the behalf of my children?  yes I'm sure I could but right now it is hard for me. 

I'm all for other nationals whether it is in the US or any other country adopting their nations children.  That's great!  But if a child is forced to live in an orphanage or mental institution.....let any family come and get that child!  Race and culture do not matter to me that much.

Education may work in the loooooooong run but right now we have an orphan crises on our hands.  Educate nations to love their children, to protect their children, to take care of special needs kids....but right now find families.....for the ones who are alone, no one to care for them..... I bet the great majority of children would much rather have a loving family than worry about their culture.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in China and Ukraine.  I'm actually reading a history book about WWII and it really goes in to detail about Ukraine and China's roles in the battles and in that gives a lot of history of the countries as it pertains to the 20th century.  We buy videos about both countries to have for the kids and for us to know and understand about their countries.  I know that is not the same as being in the country but we do honor and pay special attention to the kids' countries....

In the interview Kate begins with saying International adoption is good in some situations but then she goes to say "I think education is the key here. I don’t think any well meaning, God-seeking family would ever intentionally take a child from his or her biological family if it were not necessary, but unfortunately we do not always have all the facts, especially in the case of international adoption. I would encourage people to ask lots of questions and educate themselves before pursuing adoption of any kind. Jesus is pleased when we love others well, in the compassionate and sacrificial way that He loved us. This can happen in the form of adoption, but in can also happen in many other ways, including that of keeping families together even when it is difficult. "

She is dealing with children where poverty may be the only reason keeping them from their families....that is SO NOT the situation in many many cases.  That paragraph made me mad...we did have ALL the facts that pertained to our children's situation and it was SAD!  I know many many who have adopted and they had all the facts too....basically their children were discarded by their "birth" families.  I realize there maybe people out there who are "baby trafficking" but guess what?  They don't usually have blind babies to traffic, or delayed children.  My girls reports were detailed...also what was detailed was neither of them had any visitors for all the years they lived in orphanages/mental institutions.....  NOT ONE!    There are a very few children who do have a visitor, maybe a parent, maybe a grandmother.....but not my girls.   The paperwork was very telling....it stated NO Ukrainians visited child...it specified that no one from Ukraine visited my girls ever....combined total of almost 10 years.....so no I don't think they were cared for or about.....



So I don't think Kate is a bad person, I still respect her and what she does  I believe in supporting her ministry and would encourage anyone reading to do so!  She is young and sometimes it's easy to want to imagine a perfect world....      I believe in helping to keep families together and doing what I can for children who aren't adopted.  We sponsor a little girl in Ukraine.   There will always be orphans who need families....even if half of the orphans in the world could return to their families...there would still be millions....estimates are as high as 210 MILLION orphans.....even if it got down to just one million....there would still be more orphans than families stepping up.....

I just hate to see yet another splinter in the adoption/orphan care world!  Why can't we all do all we can in the areas God has put us and still encourage others in their areas????

So let me make the record straight here, I believe in every kind of legal adoption!  thank God for the ones who adopt kids from foster care in their home countries, thank God for those who adopt perfect little white babies, thank God for those who adopt international older kids, thank God for those who adopt "normal non handicapped kids both foreign and abroad", thank God for those who adopt children who would have otherwise been aborted, thank God for those who adopt special needs kids.....thank God for programs that help families stay together....it's all GOOD!!  Don't attack or minimize or belittle/look down upon any of it!  And whatever you do, do not put stumbling blocks in front of others.  Don't start taking on "worldly" ideas that certain children are better with people just like them.....to me that is horrible! 

If a family's situation can be solved by education and help then that is great...but the parents have to WANT to be educated and be helped if they can not hold the family together for whatever reason.   In my part of the adoption world, I do not see many families who care.

And I will put a disclaimer here....the writer/interviewer could have skewed answers and not included the whole conversation.....but again my thing is to embrace each other and what the other is doing, not to put up any walls! 

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Ok finished my rant.....still love Kate.....Go read her book, you will too!

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Went and got all FOUR of Sarah's meds, one was one that is not common so it had to be hunted down, so I had to drive to another town to get it but the pharmacy was across the street from a wonderful thrift store that was having a 50% off sale.....that was fun:)  got the girls a few things (oh is that shocking ? LOL)

Well we have had a big thing happen in our family.  Steve has decided that he needs to focus more on God and himself than to get a new game system.  You may not believe it but I just left him alone about it.  The game system is paid for and on its way....and he decides this!  I almost fell out when he told me.  He is such a kidder, that I thought he was just messing around when he told me he was either going to send it back or sell it!!!   If you remember a few weeks ago I posted about my negative feelings towards video games but how we'd allowed it.  I didn't tell him about my post- he doesn't read his mom's blogs LOL.  I never said a word to him about it nor did I really pray about it.  I felt rather like it was a done deal and would just hook him into video gaming even more....then he comes back form a run and tells me this!!!  Miracles do still happen LOL!

Sam took a nap today, for the last few weeks he has been too uptight to nap and I think that contributed to his anxiety...maybe the new meds are working for him!

Selah only has one full day left of HBOT, please pray that God will touch her through it!

 

Well CRAP!

I have a friend from Australia who writes me and puts the funniest names to her emails....  I thought this would work for my blog tonight!


First Sam and Selah had their evaluations for Orientation and Mobility Services.    It is often a service that teaches kids how to use a white cane or how to get around in their environment.  The new O&M person from the school seemed really nice and interested in my kids.  She spent a lot of time getting to know each of them individually.  Then as she was finishing up their OT came to work with them.  SO they had a nice fun  and busy morning.   Selah headed off to HBOT with our nurse.

Then I get a phone call from the HEALTH Dept....that is not a good thing ever!  Sarah's poop tested positive for Giardia  http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/disease.html  She had many tests done after she got home but we had issues getting a stool test done.  She has always had Diarrhea from day one.  But she had all the blood work and nothing was out of wack.  She had an appointment with GI to rule out anything BUT it was made for the fall of 2012 and of course we had to cancel it due to the accident.  So once we got home I was slow to reschedule things with everything going on with us and Selah.  Then when I scheduled it took about 3 months to get her in.  I feel HORRIBLE!  She has NEVER thrown up, never had blood in her stool, never seemed sick!  And she DOUBLED in weight!   The lady from the health department said she didn't think that Sarah would have been as healthy as she is if she'd had it all this time but I can't think but she did have it all this time!  And I feel so bad about that!!!   She seemed to think it was a NEW thing but I doubt that.  It's not like she goes to daycare or school where I guess it is shared back and to. 

So then I called the doctor's office (who has gotten on my last nerve about Selah's meds, Selah's formula and the fact they are so hard to reach! the Health Dept was SHOCKED that our doctor didn't call and tell us this FIRST!)  So once I finally get a living person I find out she also tested positive for  H. pylori  .                                           http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/stomach/h_pylori.html
Now I'm ready to CRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

I had scheduled to take both girls to see the GI doc last fall to rule out anything BUT the accident happened.  Selah got tested for all of that while in the hospital and was negative so I thought Sarah would be too since they came from the same place.  Obviously if Sarah had been sick or not gained weight I would have pushed for testing but she has never been sick but once with a little ear infection.  She ahs never thrown up (knock on wood) and she has never acted like she was in pain.  She always liked eating ANYTHING!  She has tons of energy and plays all day, never takes a nap or seems tired.  The nurse I spoke to didn't seem to bothered by all of this but it certainly bothered me!  Sarah regularly goes to her pediatrician and she has seen various specialists, just not the GI before.   I just HATE that she could have had any pain that could have been prevented.  Not feeling like a good mommy tonight!  

So I'm thinking we may all need to be tested.  The nurse wasn't sure as it seems most of this is caused by bad water. Since we live on a well our water is tested yearly and it's always been fine.   No one has any real symptoms but....it does say that you can have all this and have no symptoms whatsoever.  That's what I am hoping for Sarah that she never hurt from it, just had the diarrhea.

Our nurse was laughing and said we'd better watch out since Sarah has gained so much weight even with this crap, she will be a BIG girl for sure if any of this has kept her weight gain down LOL 

So I'm feeling like CRAP tonight! 

In other news Sam seemed much happier today and calmer, of course he was busy all day long too.  He took his first little dose of the med last night and I woke up several times to check on him to make sure he was breathing.  Sam has lots of eye drops but has seldom taken any meds by mouth and I worried about him having a reaction to it.   Once I stepped on Steve's bed trying to get to Sam's bed, I think I scared Steve!  Anyhow I'm sure it is much too early for any benefits of the new anti anxiety drug, maybe I'm having a mommy placebo effect:) 

So all my little ones need prayer tonight.  As always pray that HBOT will help Selah.  Pray for Sam and that this new meds will help him deal with anxiety and that we learn how to help him cope with it.  And pray for my sweet baby girl Sarah that these meds will clear out her system and that she has no long term affects of having this in her system longer than necessary!  I adore my little girl so much, I can't think of her having to deal with anything extra in her life! 


Here are some Night Night pictures taken over the course of several days.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes they are both asleep LOL

Sam's day

I took Sam to the neuro today, before that Sarah and Selah both had PT and Selah left with our nurse for HBOT.  I picked up Shad to go with me since I wasn't sure if I'd be back in time to pick him up from school and Sarah stayed with Steve....   Just arranging my day is exhausting sometimes!

We saw the neurologist.  He is a funny older guy somewhat grumpy like you get the feeling you're wasting his time.  First he somehow got on to the subject of school and said Sam would be better off in public school than on the homebound program.  well if I had a public school that I felt could be trusted to do his eye meds right, and take care of him, I might agree it would be good for him to be out BUT since I don't and can't feel confident that he'd be taken care of then he is not going anywhere!  I'd looked into some charter schools but none of them would take a child with as many needs as Sam has.  So that annoyed me from the get go....Sam is showing signs of anxiety that this doctor told me YEARS ago to look for as Sam got older....he said it probably would happen and now that it has happened he wants to say the answer would be send him off to school.....  So we had a discussion regarding that whole situation and the eye risks ( needing to do eye drops that stay a certain temp etc....)  and I think he understood.  Then we discussed meds.  I didn't want to try anything on Sam that is strong, just something to take the edge off for him.  I'm not a propondant of medicating children, we are even working on weaning Selah from Valium-it's to the point she only has to have a dose every few days or so....  So the doctor knew I'm not some crazy pill shoving mom but Sam needs something to take the edge of his anxiety.   so he prescribe a newer drug, it's been around awhile to help with high blood pressure, but they found it helps with anxiety also.  Sam will be taking a super low dose of it and we will see if that helps him. 

Then we started on the way back, got home in time to do Sarah's vision assessment with her teacher to get ready for her meeting on Friday.  Then I "paid"  (ie you can play the Xbox for an hour if you take them out for an hour)  the boys to take the little kids out. 

I'm tired..... Really tired...  Not thrilled with one of my kids using meds to control anxiety at all but thinking this will help him to unlearn some hurtful behaviors.  I hope so. 

Selah is stable, no changes from HBOT- she has till Friday to go for this session.  Hoping there are things going on that we don't see.

Please keep Selah and Sam in your prayers. 

Longer than...

Today was just a good day.  Nothing earth shaking but good.  Our regular main night nurse works Sunday during the day and I really enjoy her.  We went to HBOT then I got back in time to hear the end of my husband's sermon and "meet & greet".  One of our "snowbird" couples just returned for the winter season and everyone is talking about our church's plans for the holidays:)  We are also starting an adult Sunday School class in January.  We were a very traditional church when we first came here with a Sunday School teacher reading from a book.  Then for awhile as we were in our rebuilding stage (both physically and spiritually) we canceled Sunday School.  We've not been in a hurry to "make something happen" but God brought in the right folks at the right time.  It is so exciting to see what all has happened here in the last six months! 

After service and lots of chatting, a bunch of us went to a fast food restaurant.  since it was time for Selah's appointment, we had to take 2 vans to take everyone at the same time including the nurse.  This was the first time our whole family left the house together since the day we left for New York back in August 2012, bittersweet.....

Selah did HBOT while we ate then we picked them up and came home.  My husband's brother was able to be with us today.  He has a very demanding law enforcement job and the past few weeks have been crazy for him.  It was so good for all of us to be together again.  Nothing like family and friends! 

We just all hung out together today, the kids played outside....it was all good! 

Selah was very relaxed today, I love it when she is so peaceful!


So this was a quick pic I snapped after church.  all the kids except the big one are wearing their consignment clothes.   Sam was quite annoyed became he was ready to go eat!!!!  But doesn't he look cute:)  Selah was resting in between HBOT and I wasn't dressed for Sunday pictures LOL  Seeing just Steve with his little bros and sister reminds me how much older he is than they are LOL

 

 

 

 

Looking at the calendar I realized that I have now been married LONGER than I was single.  I was 24 and one month when I got married and now have been married 24 years and one month !  That is a bit freaky to me:)  Today we were talking about how FAST life goes by....

 

So many friends of mine are becoming grandparents and losing their own parents....almost daily I'm reminded of that on FB.  Life goes on.....  It seems so hard to think that one day this portion of my life will be over.  Actually it's hard for me to think one day my life will be over, done and gone....  Makes me think about what I am doing now for God and for my family.  There is nothing else that really matters in life.  I want to serve God with the rest of my life and I want to love my family deeply.  I love my little ragtag group:) 

 

I read a survey of nurses who worked Hospice and one of the MAIN things people regretted at their death was not spending time with their family.  I certainly don't want to have that regret. 

 

Please keep praying for Selah, we still see no real change but we are still going strong:)  We will give it everything we have and then leave the results up to God. 

Consignment Shop shopping!

Today was such a rainy day that we canceled HBOT.  We don't have a covered garage and didn't want to take Selah out in the rain.  Since the therapy was canceled, I went to the consignment shop.  Like I said, I go through our stuff quite regularly and usually just give away whatever we don't use.  This time I am going through the shed where we keep all our things in order to make room for things we've had to keep in the church since the boys' lost their room to Selah.  So I am in a "get rid of anything that hasn't been used in the last month"   My goal is to have our sheds and the church/fellowship hall and our home in great condition by the first of January. I cleaned out the worst of it yesterday, now I just have to do some rearranging and everything will fit.....   (that means our kayaks won't be in the corner of the church nursery anymore....)   Since we came home in January, some things have just had to be let go because I didn't have the time needed to do all the rearranging of things.  I can't stand things disorganized whether it is a shed or a room!  Life is getting back into a routine and I'm able to get all the little things done now FINALLY!

 Since a friend of mine works at one of the shops, I decided to go there and see what they had!  WOW!  Have you ever been to a "Once Upon a Child"?  I went to the one in Brandon and couldn't believe how nice things were!  I bought ALL of Sam and Sarah's' Christmas presents. I don't think I've ever got so many nice LOUD NOISY Light up toys before.  I found great toys that I've never seen before.  Some will actually help them in learning letters.    The place was amazing, the prices were good.  I took in quite a bit of things and got a good store credit.  I got something for everyone BUT poor old Steve:)  Seems they didn't have a lot of things for an almost 6 FT bearded 18 year old LOL   I got a ton of clothes for the kids.  http://www.onceuponachild.com/  BTW I "sold"  the high chair....Sam sits in a chair now and Sarah sits on my lap so that freed up a nice corner in our kitchen.  I'm all about having more room in our tiny home!

I had a few things they didn't take (car seats) so I took them to another Consignment shop  Lil Sprouts   http://www.mylilsprouts.com/  They were also nice, took my other things and I found some outfits there for the kids. 

Then I had to go home and do grocery shopping......

One thing I haven't done this fall is put in my garden, I want to, but it -the whole idea of it- just overwhelms me.  I just do not feel like I can take on any more responsibility right now.  I'm done, up to the top.....but I miss my fresh cheap veggies!

Well some ladies from our Spanish church came and cleaned the church!  YEAH!!!!  It is so nice and sweet smelling!  And I didn't have to do it!  I think that makes it smell even better ! 


Selah had a nice relaxing day, her heart rate is in the 50's LOL  she is so glad to be home  Our nurse got her up in her stander and did some range of motion with her.  After it stopped raining the nurse took her outside for about 2 hours.  I'm glad we had such rain this morning so she could have a break, I think she needed it.

Please keep my girl in your prayers, she is never out of my mind, no matter what I'm physically doing.  Driving home from Brandon I thought about calling a friend, but instead I called on my FRIEND who sticks closer than a brother or sister....sometimes you just need to be able to pour out your heart to Him.  The one thing I've learned going through the past year is that He will always listen and He's close to a broken heart.....

Day 15 HBOT

The cleaning bug hit me full force today.....I cleaned out one of the church's sheds, the largest one that I hadn't been in for over a year....We have some things in there and I wanted to pull out all our Christmas stuff.  We haven't decorated for the last few years.  Last year our sweet friends put up a tree for us at our hotel.  the year before we did little for Christmas being so focused on the adoption.  I had promised the kids that the NEXT year was going to be a big one....well....that didn't' happen.  We haven't put up a tree since Sam was almost 3 and starting to walk.  We were afraid he'd hurt himself on it.  So this year we are going to get a BIG tree and put it in the church.  We are going to use all our ornaments and things but have it there so my little people aren't ever alone in a room with a big tree and lots of ornaments LOL

Anyhow you know how when you start cleaning and then you see something else that needs to be done???  That was how it was today.  Steve helped me all morning and then Shad took over after he got home from school.  He is all about decorating for Christmas, Steve is like an old man LOL, a GRUMPY one when it comes to doing anything like that!    I'm not big into doing stuff but I feel a little bad that we haven't done much the last few years and kids do like that.  So this year will be fun!


In between working I've started reading a big history book on WWII.  I am just fascinated by the WWII era.  When we were in Ukraine, we went to their big WWII museum and we also went to a huge battle field in the Donesk region.  It was so interesting to me.  I think about our girls and their grand parents/great grandparents and all they suffered through over the years.    And I think of how the world's history shaped our family.....pretty deep stuff!


Day 15 of HBOT and we are still doing it.,  Jon took Selah today while I worked.  A reader comforted me by reminding me we don't know what is going on with Selah's cells.....I'm praying she is right!!!!  Please keep praying for Selah!!!!!  Thank you!

Another busy day

Another busy day, I guess I could use that title just about every day.  Today Selah and Sarah had speech evaluations.  Selah's was short, just had to prove she could hear by making noise and seeing her respond.  One SMALL thing I've noticed lately is if you make noise she will eventually turn towards the noise.  She did not use to do that at all and we were told to watch for that at the "rehab" she was at.  She did quite well in turning towards the noises today.

Sarah did wonderfully and won hearts as always.  I didn't mention this the other day but for her first assement the therapist called her over and she didn't respond.  So the therapist said "oh she doesn't know her name or to come when called"  and me being the smart butt that I can be sometimes when I'm a little annoyed, said "no she knows her name and will come but not to you."  so I called her and she hopped right over to me.  (I was really glad she did not ignore me LOL)  I really hate assesments and evaluations, it's not like I'm stupid, I know where my kids are at and it is ok, I just don't want anyone else to say where they are at!   But today was very positive! 

As I said Sarah was charming and the therapist said that Sarah has a lot of potential, more than what anyone has noted before.  She feels Sarah may wind up with some commutative language skills:)  Things were very positive and are moving along.....

Then Sarah had PT and got to show off her skills:)  BTW she can go from her walker, and hop her bottom into the swing ALL on her OWN!!!!!!   She just started being able to do that!  That girl is amazing!

Then Selah had PT and left for HBOT with the nurse and then Sam had his vision assessment for vision therapy.  Sarah will be having her's on Monday. 

So as always we had people in and out of our house and working with our kids. 

It is hard to have so many people in and out of your home on a daily basis but it's worth it since it helps the kids.  I say it is like living in a REAL reality show!  Nothing is scripted....  they see the REAL Clantons LOL!  So we have a full time nurse -2 a day/night shift.  Then we have our PT 3x a week for 2 hours each time.  And we have our OT here once a week for at least 2 hours.  Once the kids start getting services, they should have a couple hours a day of services EACH, then if you add all the various  folks here and there....it's pretty crazy!  I'm on first name basis with the UPS and Fed -Ex guys as we get so many deliveries  for the kids.

I've always though it would be FUN to have our own show, Jon thinks it would be terrible but one of our nurses SWEARS he is writing a sitcom about us LOL...SCARY!!!!!

Well we are finished with day 14 HBOT, no real change.  She does turn her head towards sound but it seems she was starting to do that already before HBOT.  She did a good job on that today while the Speech therapist was there.  Please continue to keep Selah in your prayers. 

Tomorrow is going to be a relaxing day, I hope!  This has been a busy week and next week is also.  Lots of appointments and more evaluations for the little ones.  Then the next week we go to the cabin for a few days with friends:)  Really looking forward to it, just not looking forward to all that goes into going away for a few days!!!!!!!