Friday, February 29, 2008

PRAISE

My dad is home. The doctors said all the tests came back normal. NO CANCER! They think he just had a really bad virus. The heart doctor also gave him the all clear. No blockage. What an awesome answer to prayer. His white blood cell count even came up from yesterday. He has been commanded by all us girls to never do this to us again. I think I have about 100 more gray hairs now. Thanks for all your prayers. The Lord is good.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

I Need Some Prayer Warriors

Okay guys. I need some prayer warriors right now. My mother just called me and the first thing she said was I was not allowed to cry or get upset. i immediately knew the news was not going to be good. My dad has been in the hospital since Tuesday morning. He was out of breath and tired which normally indicates a blocked artery. He has had several stints put in already so we just thought that was happening again. They did all the normal tests (blood work, stress test). They discovered his white blood count was extremely low. They immediately put him in a private room and he can have no visitors. He can't even have fruit or flowers in his room. They say his immune system is very weak right now. He was over the house Monday and luckily none of my guys were sick. We should have some test results back tomorrow. They asked a ton of questions and told my parents that he either has a very serious infection he just can't get rid of or Leukemia. I am trying not to absolutely freak out about this but I am scared out of mind. I did not cry on the phone to my mom but I called Carl and just broke down. I know that whatever happens is the Lord's will and that he will give us all strength to get through this trial. It is just a scary thought. Please pray for my sisters as they are in Colorado and Virginia and can't be here physically right now. I am going down to see my mom tomorrow so I should have some more information then. She is going to watch the boys while Esther gets her hair cut. She decided it was too long and found a pair of scissors resulting in a much needed trip to the salon. Isn't it amazing that the Lord gives us something to laugh about in the midst of a storm? I will update you all about my dad as soon as we know something. Just pray for my dad and mom right now. I just thought the more people that know about this the better. Send out the word and get my dad covered in prayer. As I was typing this William, my tender one, came in the room and was reading over my shoulder. He looked at me and did not say a word but gave the biggest hug in the world. Isn't it awesome that God knows when we need a hug?

Monday, February 25, 2008

Sam's Appointment

Sam had his early intervention appointment today. He did not get into the program. He did too well on all the tests they gave him. THat is a good thing. They did say that he did have a significant difference in the left arm than the right. The doctor who came examined him and gave me an answer though as to why there is the problem with the left arm. She is convinced that he broke his collor bone during delivery. She said she could feel where it broke and healed. She said there is nothing they can do about it. We just need to exercise and work at making the left arm stronger. She could not believe that no one picked up on that before. He was such a big baby and he did get stuck that she said a broken collar bone should have been the first thing they checked for. Oh, well. So it was a good appointment in that he is normal and we got an answer as to why the arm is weaker. It was disappointing though that now the exercises and strengthening fall on my already slumped shoulders. I need to figure out how to do speech therapy with Esther and Nathan (Esther has problems with her r's), occupational therapy with Nathan and now physical therapy with Sam. That is on top of homeschooling and reteaching Alex how to read (he does not get phonics). My life would definately be very boring if I did not have children. I keep telling Carl that I am going to go back and get my masters in speech therapy and cater only to homeschoolers. It is hard to get services when you have a kid that has special needs. I know the Lord is allowing this all to happen to make me stronger and to prepare me for the something special. Each thing that happens serves only to draw us closer to him.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Prayer Group

Have you guys ever heard of Moms In Touch International? My prayer group on Thursday mornings use their material. They are a group of moms who get together and pray for their kids schools and teachers. As homeschoolers we adjust things a bit but it is an awesome group. Today we started praying and prayed for an hour! I have never done that before. It was amazing! We jsut kept taking turns praying for our children, our homes and husbands, the SEEK co-op. Everything we felt the Lord place on our heart. It was an amazing time of fellowship. The Lord is really blessing those in the group and I highly recommend starting a prayer group with others homeschoolers. It is also convicting me to be more diligent with my prayer life personally. It is just an amzing time of prayer with God and starts me day of great. How many times have I used the word amazing in this post but that is the only word to describe it. I guess I need to get out a thesaurus. Anyway, just wanted to encourage you guys in your prayer life. It is so important.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Samuel's Well Check

Sam had his well check yesterday. I fully expected it to be like any other well check that any of the kids had. I was a little concerned about Sam not moving around as much as I thought he should but I thought nothing of it. When I watched Saige reaching for her toy in the video my heart skipped a beat. I sat down and thought about it. Same has never really reaches for anything, ever. His hands are always clenched in a fist at his sides. If you do dangle something in front of him all he does is flail his arms. He never reaches for the item. He also really is not rolling over yet. His legs and arms are always so stiff. I mentionesd this to the doctor after she examined Sam. She put him on his belly and we discovered that his left arm is much weaker than the right. It just is limp like. She saw his fists clenched and she got real concerned. She tried to get him to reach for a toy and could not. I tried, the murse tried, the attending doctor tried. All to no avail. By this time I am getting concerned. I guess having him be number six I just thought he was developing fine. I never really paid much attention. Now I feel like such a bad mom. They brought an occupational/physical therapist down to examine him. She specializes in infants. She that his mobility is on the low end of low. She also said that the way his chest is it is causing him to slump over and we need to get it fixed. She said he has an indented chest that makes the rib cages flare out and it makes him slump over. Again I noticed but never thought it was abmormal. As I am writing this Sam is in my lap slumped over and his left arm is limp on mine. He also has a mild case of torticollus which is when the head leans to one side and the muscles in the neck are tight. So much for a mormal well check. We were there three hours being seen by three doctors and the therapist. Bottom line is he needs immediate physical therapy and maybe some neurologial testing and my solution of lots of prayer. I have been so stressed since yesterday kicking myself for not noticing this before, but thankful that I mentioned something to the docotr. Carl and my mom both said they noticed something but thought nothing of it like I did. I am putting Sam in the Lord's hands realizing that he is just on loan anyway. He is really God's and He knows exactly what he is doing. I am just reading my Bible and praying through this whole ordeal. In the next couple days I need to find out where we can get him seen and evaluated. He is such a happy baby and he laughs all the time. Socially he is above where he should be. The doctors and therapist just fell in love with him. I am glad there are people who can help Sam.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Homeschool Co-op

I don't know if any of you participate in a co-op but it is wonderful. We had our first meeting today. I ws nervous as Alex and Nathan do not do well in new situations. We got there at 9:00. There were about 150 kids there from newborn to high school. The worship team consisted of all teens and they were really good. We sang songs and then all the nursery kids were dismissed. I had to leave the three older boys there to find their teachers. Luckily Carl came with me to get the kids off to the right classroom. The church where it is at is huge and I am not exagerating. It is Open Bible times about five. It has four wings, a chapel, and worship center, two libraries, a store and even a little coffee bar area. I got lost the first time going to registraion meeting. The kids all got off to their rooms great. I went to my first hour bible study. I signed up for a Moms in Touch prayer group. It is definately out of my comfort zone as I do not like to pray out loud. It was great just having a time of prayer for our kids. Everyone prayed that Alex would not get upset and freak out like he normally does in new situations. It felt like the hand of God just reaching down and giving me and Alex peace about the whole morning. We prayed for about 45 minutes and it was my favorite part of the morning. After the first hour was up I had my service hour. I signed up to assist in Nathan's class because he can be a handful sometimes. The younger kids in that group kind of sat all together so I just sat at their table and helped them. Nathan ended up being bored and laid down on the floor. I guess I need to talk to the head teacher about his SPD, how he constantly need to be moving. After the second hour was up I had 15 minutes to run all over the church to pick up all six kids. I was exhausted but the smiles on the kids faces was worth it all. Alex especially. Alex was given an assignment by Carl to find the names of two new people. When I went to pick him up the first words out of his mouth were "Mommy, Sterling and Clay." I felt like I was going to cry. What a breakthrough for my shy guy. I just wanted to shout praises to the Lord. I had worried and when I finally placed Alex and his fear in the Lord's hands I had peace and the situation was great. One of the ladies in the prayer group asked that the Lord would bind the spirit of fear in Alex and I guess I had never thought of it that way. It was just so great to see all the kids smiling and having fun with other kids. I am looking forward to every Thursday this semester. The kids are already talking about what classes they want to be offered for the fall. It was nice to have some time to myself and know that the kids were getting educated and having fun. Here are the classes that each of the boys are taking.

Alex - Digging Up history
Character Sketches
William - Animals in Literature
A Pocket Full of Books
Nathan - Animals in Literature
Missionary Adventures
They hire a preshcool teacher to work in Esther's classroom so even she is learning. I praise the Lord for the women who put this all together and keep it running.