"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!
This week is dedicated to all the end of summer chores. I do this every year and every year my kids hate it LOL Today we deep cleaned the back half of our house. Then the boys' pressured washed the drive through garage area. They couldn't do the whole house because it is just way too wet and the last thing we need to do is to add more water around the house. Then after supper, they water sealed the front porch. Tomorrow we deep clean the front half of the house, good Lord willing! Deep Cleaning involves alot more than regular cleaning for me and makes me happy It doesn't necessarily make anyone else in the family happy!! LOL!
Selah has a Nutritionist appointment-Jon will take her. Wednesday Sam and Sarah have genetic appointments. Thursday Steve has meetings at his college regarding the football season- he's the producer for football. Friday I'm cleaning the church with a friend and we have a big church softball game that night. Saturday a group of college friends are going with Steve and Shad kayaking.... Usually that means we have sleep over guests. I got smart and bought camp cots now we have beds for everyone and anyone. They fold up pretty small and are quite comfortable. Air mattresses were always a pain and would end up collapsing during the night. The camp cots were one of the best decisions I've ever made!
Last Friday I did have fun with a couple of my friends. That doesn't happen all the time either but it makes me happy when it does! My college roommate and life long friend and I try to be artistic together. We have tried various things with varying degrees of success. But I have to say we absolutely love Rock Painting! This beats some of the other projects we have tried! We also watched some old home videos and laughed till our faces hurt. The funniest one was about 7 years ago some neighbors of ours robbed a bank and had a shoot out with cops. Well I'd known these folks for decades so all of the press came knocking on our door asking about them. We were on several TV interviews for the local news. BUT then as the manhunt went national- all the networks came knocking too! We ended up being on a LIVE national news talk show on FOX. It was all fun and games until I heard in ear piece "Mr and Mrs Clanton we have about 3 million viewers tonight. You are on in 3,2,1.... I FROZE! Some friends taped it.....and gave it to us. I basically look like Morticia from The Addams Family!!!! It is absolutely hysterical to watch and rather painful too. I hadn't watched it in years so the tears were running down my face. At least I can laugh at myself! You know the old saying "If you can't laugh at yourself, come see me. I can laugh at you" Oh and our former neighbors were captured unharmed and are in prison probably for the rest of their lives (which is sad) All I can say is I have an interesting life.
My rocks are to the right side.
Oh my gosh we look like twins! Straight hair, bangs, glasses, sleeveless shirts and fitbits!!! I'm laughing at us! We've been together for a long time! We say we are going to be roomies in the nursing home one day! Nothing better than life long friends who can laugh with you and at you!!!!!
Then that night I got to go out to eat with my other BFF! What a treat! All in ONE day! I was a happy girl. I don't' have many days like that!
Hope you all are having a great weekend! I've included a short video Steve made of his summer trips. The opening footage is shot in Haiti. Then it goes to northern Canada and back to Niagara Falls and Fort George. He was able to get on the Ferris wheel as the fireworks started over the falls and got great shots. I thought you'd enjoy a glimpse of our summer. Hope you have a good week!
Thanks for all the comments! I love hearing from folks.
Sarah rode the BIG Horse today She loved it! Doesn't she look pretty in the saddle? I grew up around horses but I never developed a love for them. I never liked riding them and thought they were a bunch of work. But I'm worrying that we may end up having to get one for Sarah LOL She certainly loves to be on a horse.
Sam was on what we call the "fake horse" It's really called a Equicizer. It gives the same sensation as riding a horse but of course it is a much more controlled situation. As you see Sam is turned around here facing the back of the horse. His therapist moves him around in order to cause different muscle groups to have to work harder He likes both the real and the fake horse. Sarah on the other hand gets angry if she is not on the real horse! It's great to have this too if there is bad weather, the kids can still get therapy. Sam got alot of stretching today on the horse and his brothers learned how to stretch him out.
All three of the little ones had Occupational Therapy this afternoon at home. I'm so glad I have found someone who can work with them She also stretched Sam's legs out and he was delighted with her He was so delighted he wanted to crash Sarah's session!
Since Sam was born, I've been very passionate about finding therapy for him. We've had good therapists in different areas over the years but I feel like horse therapy is the best therapy they've ever been in! I'd wish I would have had Sarah in it since we got her, I'm sure she would have walked by now if we would have. But thankfully we are in it now! Sarah loves to be there. I used to think that swinging was the thing she loved the most but she loves horse back riding. If it were up to her, she'd ride for a couple of hours She has never wanted to get off the horse but she is good about cooperating. Just don't put her on the fake horse!!!! LOL
Here's a video of Sarah on the fake horse last week. She was NOT happy She was calling for MOM to get her off of it and back on her real horse! She stayed mad about it the whole time but did work with her therapist. I hope you can see this video posted below if it works, it is very funny. Sarah is usually such a happy child and doesn't complain much but this got her mad!
Sam had his orthopedic appointment today. We got there really early. I read the reminder text as 11:40....but it was really Aug1 1:40 LOL Since we had extra time we went out to eat with big brother who was driving us. Sam absolutely loves to go out to eat.
We got a lot of information at the appointment. Thankfully he has only has a very small amount of scoliosis but his hamstrings are very tight. The doctor does feel he has some CP which aggravates it. He gave us some exercises to do and our therapist too. He also prescribed massage therapy for Sam! Let me tell you that is right up his alley! That boy loves massages and every now and then I splurge and pay for him to get one. He started getting them when he was about 4 and he knows just how to get up on the table and put his face in the hole LOL It would be wonderful if our insurance paid for him to get some!!!!
Having such tight hamstrings can cause some real problems and even cause him to stop walking. We have to really work with him to get him to walk much distance as it is. Today I didn't even take his wheelchair so he got quite bit of walking. He walks slowly in unfamiliar areas and gets a little stressed. In one of the many elevator rides we took today as we went around the hospital, he tried to show me he was tired by sitting down LOL But he walked the whole time.
The first doctor we saw looked at his x-rays and felt that Sam had no growth plate left meaning he is as tall as he is going to get. The second doctor thought he saw a little bit but doesn't expect Sam to grow more than 1-2 inches. Sam is 4'6 with a tiny mustache and so cute:) He hit puberty around 12 or so and has not really had any issues, other than possibly this, that we feel are related to it.
Sam did so good with all the doctors and x-rays and the long waits. He enjoyed being with me and Steve and alternated between the two of us. He liked being the center of attention today. It was a long day. It's amazing how quickly this problem started with him. While he has always bent his knees and walked slowly, because of his low vision, in unfamiliar areas, he walked normally at home or when he got used to areas. But one night last month I realized that he could not stand up straight and straighten out his legs. I started looking at pictures but so often in the pictures he was away from home so he had his bent look going on. I found a few at home from Christmas and it looked like his legs were straight. But this has been getting worse. I noticed pictures at the church, a place he knows, and he was standing with his legs bent in some and straight in others at Christmas time. Anyways, there's always Mama guilt..... But hopefully we will work this out and help him to start using his legs normally so there is no long term issue.
After we got home I had to go grocery shopping. While I was sick I saw a friend was doing freezer meals. She posted some great sites and I thought I would give it a try. The sites she used was Stockpiling Moms. So having nothing to do but stay in my room sick I made a list of all the recipes and ingredients. Some of the ones I'm going to use are Meatloaf, Stuffed Shells. Friendship Casserole, Baked Ziti, Chicken and Dressing, Chicken and Rice, Mexican Chicken, Chicken Fajita, Lasagna, Mexican Chili, Chicken Pot Pie, and Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya.
Of course, I have to redesign some of these recipes to make them healthier. No red meat-I only use ground chicken breast 1% fat. I don't use any oil in cooking unless it's a quick spray of olive oil. I use fat free or low fat cheeses and I use less than the recipes calls for. I use fat free milk when called for and absolutely no butter. Most of the time I substitute gluten free pasta, sometimes even veggie pasta. I also substitute cauliflower "rice" at times. We were using it a lot but we got a bit tired of it. Ragu has a healthy new sauce out called Simply Ragu that is chocked full of veggies (but the kids can't tell) and much less sugar and only a smidgen of olive oil. When a recipe calls for eggs, I use egg whites. We almost always have salad on the side every night and sides of veggies. To be honest, I get SOOOOOO tired of chicken! But my husband has to have a low fat diet and it's good for all of us. So I try to keep things different, it's easy to fall back on my favorite 10 recipes. Spices help! I have so many spices in my cupboards and I use them!!!
To keep down the need for oil, I use copper pans. Lately I've been stir "frying" chicken and adding different flavors. My favorite was using fruit only orange marmalade, BBQ sauce and red pepper flakes to make Orange Chicken. Lord have mercy that was good! I made white rice to go with it and everyone was happy. You know sometimes I surprise myself LOL It's challenging to try and eat healthy and cook for this many people every day! They like their food! I figure even if I make a meal that is a little starchy-it's a 100 times better than fast food!
So I got half my list done, and found the sale paper for Publix that starts tomorrow and saw that chicken and several other things I need will be Buy 1 Get 1. So I will be back tomorrow! Walmart is on my list too. My goal is to have at least one week of meals in the freezer. Some may be in the large quart bags ready to go straight into the crock pot and some may be in casserole dishes. We have a great refrigerator but the freezer is small and has an ice maker that takes up more room. We have a second fridge in our shed but I don't trust the freezer any more. It's used to house bottle water and drinks in the fridge. One of these days I'm going to buy a new freezer. Growing up we had two giant freezers because my aunt "put up" some much of her garden and my uncle did a lot of hunting. There were only 4 of us living there. I have 7 and I'm not as well prepared as they were! Keeping everyone healthily fed is a full time job here!!
Well y'all are all caught up to speed on our family. We had a great summer. Shad has already started his home school curriculum. He is starting 10th grade a year early. He plans on doing dual enrollment when he finishes this year's work. He probably will finish by January. He uses Acellus.. It's computer based and much more like college classes are today. The ACE curriculum that his school used and we did for a few years was very repetitive. He'd have 50 long division problems to do a day and 50 sentences to diagram. It definitely gave him and Steve a good base but we like this curriculum better. Plus there is absolutely no way he can be tempted to cheat LOL You don't move on until you've passed each test. We monitor computer use like hawks and it's set up so he can only go on the one website (he can thank his older brother for that lol at least we're using that college education for something!) It makes life easy for me!
In two weeks Steve will be back to college for his FINAL semester! He's graduating in December, 27 years after his dad graduated also in December 1991. Time flies! He's had a great college experience and is probably going to start in January on his Master's.
Sam Sarah and Selah are getting back into more therapies, the summer is almost over!
Time goes so quickly-I often feel like I'm on a roller coaster hanging on for dear life as the days, months and years speed by. Do you feel like that too? I can get very melancholy about it if I'm not careful. Sometimes it hurts to look back at old pictures and videos knowing those days are gone for good. When I was younger, probably up until the time I had my first child, I was always looking ahead, excited about the future. After becoming a mom, I wanted to hold onto every stage and treasure it. But I had a little one who was pushing forward...and then a bunch of little ones....
Now I have to admit the future scares me, realizing there are more days behind me than are ahead of me. Having the responsibility of three children who will need life long care, possibly long after I'm gone is quite sobering. We have everything in place for them and all legal things done to ensure their future as much as we possibly can but it's still scary.
See I told you I can get melancholy!
So an update on my health.....did I tell y'all they gave me antibiotics AND STEROIDS???? Well I'm not much of a medicine taker, I don't even like to take much Advil and I'll usually just grin and bear it so these steroids are on pretty virgin soil! Lord am I flying HIGH!!! I didn't sleep a wink last night and wasn't even sleepy. This morning I took a hot shower and made myself sleep for about 3 hours but I woke up wide awake! I've been up all day, cooking and cleaning feeling great, just a little cough, it's 10 pm and I am completely wide awake. If only I could live on steroids! That's what I need in my life LOL Actually usually I'm a bit like a person on steroids anyhow, maybe it's a good thing I can only take it when I'm sick!!!! I have to say I don't think I've ever gotten so sick so fast! It was rough and I'm grateful for meds! But these steroids are the BOMB! I LOVE energy! I have 3 more days on it I plan on deep cleaning the house LOL!!!!!
Tomorrow Sam has his appointment with orthopedics to check his tight hamstrings and decide if he has a little scoliosis. Sam has been diagnosed with a little CP, mainly in his wrists and ankles. We were lucky it was not worse. This new problem is worrisome because we don't want him to start having trouble walking! As it is now he is walking with his knees bent and booty sticking out. It happened so quickly that we really just noticed it. That's scary! We've been racking our minds to remember when we first noticed it and it seems we noticed it on our vacation. Surely he was doing it before then but I can't remember. I think it registered but I thought he was just being overly cautious as he walked in new areas. He's always assumed a bent postilion in unfamiliar areas, but now he is always in that position and his leg doesn't seem to want to flex. So I'm worried about what we will find out with him. Luckily we are going to the same doctor who sees Selah (and who did both of her hip operations) it's easier when you have a good relationship with a specialist!
Then Thursday we have horse back riding in the morning and Occupational Therapy in the afternoon. Selah is getting her new wheelchair on Monday, Sarah has horse back riding. Then Tuesday Selah has an appointment in Orlando with a Nutritionist. I don't know if you can tell but she's put on a bit of weight and had a huge growth spurt. She is wearing women's sizes now! We want to make sure her calorie intake is not too high Her Gastro was a little concerned. Personally I love to see the girls grow but we want her to stay healthy. Then Wednesday Sam and Sarah have an appointment in Orlando with a geneticist. They've had DNA testing but neither of them have any of the DNA markers associated with Peter's Anomaly. The Geneticist feels there may be another marker out there so they are going to be tested again with a new kind of test. I don't' know much about it but I'm sure I'll learn more next week. NOW you know why I'm loving the Steroid so much! My life doesn't slow down! It's a crazy life. So I'll keep rolling:)
So I've been banished to my room all day because I have a terrible sinus and double ear infection. My eyes are literally just rolling tears & if I tip my face I better have a Kleenex to catch the water. Since all my kids except Selah have been sick this summer I'm hoping not to give them back their wonderful present to me! Even my husband just popped in to get his clothes for work tomorrow and gave me a wave LOL No one wants to be with me but Sarah and she was the last one sick! She handled it like a pro- only was sick for a couple of days but boy did she want to love on Mama during that time! I sure don't want to give it back to her! It's funny but I've fought this junk for more than a month- I'd have a little sore throat or ear pain so I'd take some Vit C and Advil and it would be gone. But I just couldn't fight the inevitable after having all these sickos around! I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a doctor as I was this morning! She got me on three meds and I am happy!!! This week was/is all planned out! Time to get better!
So being in my bedroom all day but not wanting to sleep, I have watched way too many YouTube videos and read way too much on Facebook. I find myself going back to videos of church services (yes I'm wild like that) that remind me of my childhood in a Pentecostal church. You know, I saw some foolishness, and some fakeness but I saw plenty of real moves of God. There was a reverence for the things of God, even though the church folks might be loud and undignified -there was a reverence that I don't see today.
As a disclaimer, I've always been more of an observer than a participate. But my heart was touched and I believe those childhood/teen/young adult memories are something that has kept my faith strong in spite of many adversities.
I can remember times of being at a camp meeting-back when I was growing up the "tabernacles" were all Open Air! That means no air conditioning in the summer time-which is when camp meetings were held! We went to two different ones each year. One was held in Wimauma Florida-near Tampa. It was the BIG one for Florida and held in June. The other was nearer home in Mayo Florida and held in August. And that one was right down the road from chicken farms and cow farms....it was fun!
There were wooden seats inside the tabernacle and ceiling fans. But if you brought your lawn chair you could sit outside and try to catch some breezes-usually all you got were bugs lol. It was an experience. One time we were guests of a family friend who was the head of the Church of God in South Caroline, so we went up and stayed on the campground in a trailer. Their tabernacle was on a mountain (probably a hill but I was young and from Florida it seemed big!) I will never ever forget sitting there singing an old hymn "Peace Peace Wonderful Peace, coming down from the Father above, sweep over my spirit forever I pray in fathomless billows of love" I was only 5 or 6 years old and I can remember the song, and looking out in the dusk down the side of the hill at the trees, and just absolutely knowing God was real and near to me. Almost 50 years have passed since that day, all the folks I was with are gone, but that assurance is still there in my heart. It's guided me all my life. What a legacy!
Also I can remember being at Camp meeting till late at night and people praying around the altars. There was no time clock, no one was ready to leave. Sometimes during the service, a message in tongues would be given along with the interruption. There was hundreds of people there but the whole building would have a solemn hush come over it-you just knew God was speaking. All those memories made me who I am today- although I'm a mess-I could be a much bigger mess if I didn't have a framework of God in my life.
Let me encourage you to take your kids to church, every week, keep them involved-you will not regret it. At the time when I was growing up I had absolutely no idea what was really happening as I was dragged to church, Sunday School, Sunday morning worship (no we didn't have "children's church-we weren't wimps LOL) Sunday night service, Wednesday night service, youth group, Girls's programs, REVIVALS (so many) Vacation bible School, and Camp meeting, church camp......I did it all!!! Honestly I didn't really mind it too much, but I didn't have a choice if I did LOL!! But something was being imparted to me in my spirit that would take me through life. Don't ever get too busy for church Mama, don't believe the lie that you don't need the church. Yes you do! So do I and so do our kids.
No I know you can't always keep kids from trouble but my husband and I determined early on that our kids would have to get through us to get to the trouble. And keeping kids in church will give them a rock to stand on even when they may stray some.
Our church doesn't have all those services like I grew up with and I miss it. And I have to say I worry about my kids not being in church enough. There is something about immersing yourself in God and the things of God that will get a hold of a person. I know that's not really popular in this crazy busy world we live in now but it is true.
Ok back to fond memories....the last time I went to the Mayo Tabernacle was to take my grandmother. She had quit driving out of town at night (she was about 88 years old thank God she had quit driving her little bright blue Nova at night!) Anyhow a friend of her's Bro TL Lowery was preaching. Our son Steve was about 2 years old. The tabernacle was still open and I spent some of the time running around with him but it was sweet. Now my granny is gone, her friend the preacher is too..... We went by there a couple years ago when we were camping on the Suwanee River and I saw that it was now enclosed and air conditioned. No more smelling the chickens or cows or having bugs fly around you! I imagine some of the "dancing" I saw was shaking off a bug!
A few years ago, we went down to Wimauma camp meeting. That tabernacle has been enclosed for some years and was comfortable but I missed it being open. But that night I sat all the way in the back and was so ministered to by God. We had been going through alot in our church and with Sam who was still very sickly. Let me tell you that minister preached right to us about not giving up and trusting God. I wept the whole time but was so encouraged in my heart. BTW I'm not a crier either, preachers can't work me up emotionally. But I know when God is in something and He was in that sermon. I'm sure we were not the only ones who had been through some fiery trials but it was a precious time for me. It did remind me that something can change on the outside doesn't have to mean that the inside has changed.
Most of my earliest memories were in church. Earlier this year we were in my hometown on a weekend. Our oldest son was showing his documentary at the town's park that he had done for Perry. Since we were there over the weekend I got to go to my family's church. It had been at least 20 years since I'd set foot in there. Our family sat in my family's pew where we sat every service, on the left side about 4 pews from the back. The memories overtook me, in my mind's eye I could just see all those folks again. The church has dwindled down, so many have passed away. We sang the old songs, we sang "Oh I want to See Him" and I thought of how God had brought me from there as a child and now has given me a family and a ministry. I thought of how it is a continuous of passing the faith along. The faith of my family was passed down to me and sown in my life, I had to make the choice to accept it and pass it on to my kids. I thought my great aunts and granny would be proud that I was there with my kids in church, serving God. Yes, I cried a bit, in fact I was afraid I might "ugly cry" if I wasn't careful! But it was very meaningful to me.
I almost forgot to take a picture but I did right before we left. You know recently we took some pictures of the whole family at church. for some reason we take pictures at the front of the church and have for years. Our friend who was taking the photos asked if we wanted to take them somewhere else and it kind of startled me. I didn't realize how meaningful it was to me to take pictures inside the church. Anyhow then I started looking at our pictures over the years and so many of them are at church. But that is where we are dressed up and all together so I guess it makes sense LOL
So I encourage you to make church attendance a regular part of your family's life. You will not regret it. My husband was taken to church on a regular basis and he also feels it gave him a foundation. His church was in no way as entertaining as mine was and I doubt you can hardly find a church today that is like it was LOL But there's something to be said about taking the time to acknowledge God as a family on at least a weekly basis.
My husband loves that old song made famous by Johnny Cash "Daddy Sang Bass" I think it was written by one of his associates about Cash. There is another song called "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" Both songs have the theme of faith knitting our families together throughout eternity
Sam and Sarah have been doing horse therapy for several months now. Sarah goes twice a week but will start going three times a week in September. Sam goes only once a week but will start going twice a week in September. Sarah is slowly progressing. She is getting a more normal gait while she walks with us holding her hand. She absolutely loves horse back riding. She is a natural. Everyone who sees her in the saddle says she rides like a horsewoman! We have more hope than ever that Sarah will walk at least in familiar areas.
Our horse therapist is a Physical therapist. She has been able to determined that due to a small growth spurt Sam's hamstrings are too tight and causing him issues when he walks. He also may have some scoliosis. We have a doctor's appointment with orthopedics on Wednesday for a check up and x-rays. We had noticed that when he stands, he keeps his knees bent. This is a new thing that has happened gradually and we hope to fix it before it becomes a huge problem for him.
We did horse therapy the day before we left for vacation, then we got the sad news that both horses the kids ride and another one of our therapists' horses had been hit by lightening and killed. Unfortunately this happens a lot in our area. Some friends of ours had this happen a few years ago. The horses go under a tree and then the tree gets struck and the electricity travels along the ground and kills the horses too. They have been able to use another horse for therapy. They are moving to a brand new stable & riding area so we are looking forward to that!
All three little ones also started Occupational Therapy weekly. We were able to find a company that will come to our home to do it. We are hoping to add more therapies also.
Sam also loves movies and popcorn! He liked the Incredibles 2 and Hotel Transylvanian 3.
Sam got a new I-pad and is enjoying it very much. He loves Baby Bum and ChuChu on YouTube. Sarah will listen but she doesn't want to hold it. I think we will start him on Gemini again. It is a program that helps non verbal kids learn to speak. We tried it for a few months a couple of years ago but it seemed to annoy him. Now he's older and more used to electronics-maybe it will help him.
We are able to fund all these things with the Gardiner Special Needs Scholarship. It is a Florida program for special needs kids who are homeschooled. The OT & any medical equipment is through our insurance. I'm thankful for programs that help us to do things for our kids.
Selah is doing great! We have FIVE nurses now! For several years our three nurses covered her shifts but now we have two more who live close. It's making things so much easier. Selah has had most of her specialists appointments and everything is perfect. She just got a beautiful new stander and is getting a new wheelchair next week. She also is getting a new mattress and gel pad for her bed. Earlier this year she got new hand and feet braces. She also has a new sling for her lift coming. She had a growth spurt and needed all new things Selah is doing great and very awake and aware of everything. We ae so grateful for her health and her comfort.
We are having an awful issue with our parking area as we have had rain daily for the past three weeks. We paid to have a dump truck of rock brought in and then had to have another 2,000 pounds brought in for the end of the driveway. 2,000 pounds is not as much as you would think it is believe me! As I type it is pouring again..... We've have several people stuck in the mud. One hysterical story on me..... Steve's roomate came by and got stuck. He's a country boy- didn't need me to call AAA. He and Steve were going to push his car while I gave it gas. No problem right??? So it's pouring rain and I'm in the car giving it gas, they are pushing it so hard but it just won't move..... then someone says "Do you have it in reverse???" Well I did then....LOL they laughed about their workout trying to push a stuck car in Park!!!! LOL That'll probably be a story told at my funeral! We all got a good laugh out of it!
Well my bunch have all been a bit sick over the summer besides Selah. Steve & Shad had "it" worse and several times. It seems to have finally caught up with me. Saturday afternoon I started getting sick- every hour I felt worse. I finally went to Urgent Care today to find out I have a double ear infection and a sinus infection! GEEZ! Ain't no body go time for that! Especially not me!!! I'm on three pills-normally I avoid meds as much as possible but this time I'm gladly taking them!!! Usually I can take a hot shower, drink some hot tea and take some vitamin C and beat it but not this one. It has kicked my butt! I'm so thankful for the meds that gave me and am hoping to feel better soon!!
