My Daughter, My Sister

My daughter, Lily, is now my sister in Christ! Last weekend she prayed to receive Christ and became my sister through the work of Jesus Christ. This morning she was obedient to the Lord and was baptized at our church, Buffat Heights Baptist. BJ was honored to baptize her. And being overwhelmed by the joy of participating in such a major event for his daughter, he choked up while sharing Romans 10:9 "...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

This picture was taken immediately before BJ and Lily stepped down into the water. Schaeffer, Griffin, and I watched from the side of the baptistery (Charlotte is not pictured because she was in the nursery). Griffin was so sweet to congratulate Lily as she was climbing the steps out of the water. He hugged her and said, "Yay, Lily! You did a great job!"

My prayer is to see each of my children receive salvation and to witness their baptisms.

Lily's baptism on Sunday, April 28. A wonderful day for our family!

7 Years Old

Lily Bug, Happy 7th Birthday! This post comes a little late - 5 days late to be exact. I'm sorry you and the whole family have been so sick this past week. Definitely not a fun way to celebrate your big day. You are a beautiful young lady and we are so blessed by your fun creative spirit.

A Lot Going On Around Here

So that you will be forewarned, this post will be full of randomness and it will probably end up being fairly long. That's so unlike me to be random and disorganized but that seems to be the flow of my life right now, so...we'll go with it.

Ciera has been with us all summer helping with light housekeeping (kids' laundry, vacuuming, dishes as needed, etc.) and babysitting. She has been a huge help! I DO NOT look forward to her returning to school, but she's a smart girl and her education is important. Working here probably reinforces her need for an education so that she's not stuck being someones maid or babysitter for life. I think our busy home wears her out.

Lily began therapy for Central Auditory Processing Disorder at the beginning of the summer. This disorder is very complex. She was recently tested by UT's audiology department, as referred by her therapist, so that we could get a baseline reading of her auditory system. She scored "severely" low when her left ear had to discriminate sounds that are very familiar: ba/da, chu/shu... She also scored low when her right ear had to listen closely to a voice when background noise was also present. This background noise would be similar to a classroom, restaurant, or even our home with 4 kids. It's amazing how in-depth the testing was and how revealing the results were. Based on those results, she will begin Fast ForWord on Monday at Parent-Child and will be there 2 hours per day, 5 days per week for 6 weeks. We will work around her school schedule when that starts up. But what's super exciting, this intensive computer program should help her auditory system mature quickly and she will no longer suffer from CAPD! What a huge praise!! Meantime, she will also continue to receive Occupational Therapy for some other sensory things. I am optimistic that all these things will help resolve some of her learning struggles this year.

Charlotte is almost 6 months old. I can hardly believe it! She's growing up so quickly. She is super sweet, laid back most days, loves lots and lots of attention from everybody, makes lots of noises, smiles and coos at us all the time, laughs out loud at our silly faces, grabs all sorts of toys and anything within reach not excluding my hair and jewelry. She is a precious blessing to our family.

We visited Nana Kaye and Nana Faye last week. The kids had a blast seeing the chickens, exploring the gardens, making a camp out spot on the floor (Doug style), and eating ice cream cones and the best iced lemon muffins you will ever put in your mouth. Nana Kaye's gardens are beautiful right now - green, blooming, lush, perfect.

I might be going vegetarian. I know that sounds weird and completely random. I started thinking back about my week and realized I hadn't had any meat and I didn't miss it at all. I then began to think how much I don't really love meat and in the past have just sorta ate it because I thought I needed to for protein and iron. I'm not opposed to eating meat, I just don't think I really love it enough to miss it. And besides, BJ avoids beef because his cholesterol had crept up and needed to cut it out. On my last grocery shopping trip I stocked up on a bunch of Tennessee homegrown vegetables and fruit since they are in season. And so this week I made meals around those veggies and not around meat. This week we've had vegetable pasta, black bean & homemade salsa burritos, sauteed squash & zucchini, rice, oven-roasted rosemary potatoes, harvest grain bread, corn, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, bananas, SC peaches, and a bunch more things that I can't remember. I did make some homemade chicken noodle soup for the kids because they like it and I can sneak in whole grain noodles. I realized that I enjoyed cooking all those veggies this week and mixing up a bunch of fruit into smoothies. I know I could never go vegan because I still enjoy dairy and eggs. And I do enjoy salmon and some seafood occasionally. Maybe I'll say good-bye to beef and poultry (never liked pig anyway) for a while and see what happens.

I'm still on my quest for natural beauty products, but I'm happy to report I've found some things I really like:

Aveda Smooth Infusion Shampoo & Conditioner - These products are not 100% natural but I love how it smooths without weighing my hair down. It smells amazing too. I purchase these at an Aveda salon.

Tom's of Maine Moisturizing bar soap - It is, in fact, moisturizing & gentle and can be found at Target and Walmart.

Alba facial cleanser & toner - Effective cleanser that takes off all my makeup, even waterproof mascara. Found at Target and Walmart.

Fresh Sugar Body Oil - This is a splurge at $45 a bottle but a little goes a long way. It gives me super soft non-greasy skin. I detest greasy lotions and creams. Purchased at Sephora.

Arbonne RE9 Advanced - I have not received this product yet, but I placed my order and I'm excited to start trying it. My tired worn-out skin needs an anti-aging remedy. I will report back on this one but the trial of it was great. I'm really impressed that Arbonne is botanically based (non-GMO's) and vegan (no nasty road kill in their products). There are not many cosmetic companies that can say that.

School starts back in 3 weeks. Lily and Schaeffer will both be at River's Edge. I'm excited for them to start a new year and see how much they grow and learn.

I think that's it for now. Until next time...

Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder seems to be the diagnosis causing Lily's academic struggles. This is a new one for me so I don't really know much about this disorder. It's not an official "diagnosis" since an audiologist won't conduct the full battery of tests (10 altogether) until she is 7 years old. Meantime, her speech-language pathologist will be treating her for "suspected auditory processing disorder." And during her therapy sessions, the SLP will be doing diagnostic therapy to get a better understanding of how this disorder is affecting Lily specifically. Because APD affects children in so many different ways, it's important to know exactly how it is affecting Lily and what sounds her brain is able to process well and those sounds that she does not process well. The SLP will also be working this summer to devise a plan that we can present to Lily's 1st grade teacher to help her in the classroom and at home. I'm sure as time goes by I will begin to more thoroughly understand this disorder, but until then, I'm thrilled that we will be getting assistance with helping Lily cope and reach her fullest potential. Just from the short consultation with the SLP last week, I learned that APD is caused by the two hemispheres of the brain not allowing information to flow freely between the two. Sounds are stored in one hemisphere and images in the other. When these two hemispheres don't communicate well with each other, sounds are not easily connected to their images, such as with learning phonics and letter sounds, remembering words, recalling facts, explaining a sequence of events, etc. It affects so much! But on a positive note, and something that is amazing to me, Lily's hemisphere that is responsible for images has seemingly compensated. I believe it attributes to her artistic and creative abilities. Without this disorder, Lily just wouldn't be Lily.

She will begin occupational and speech-language therapy next week and it will continue through the summer. From there we will re-evaluate the situation and determine what else is needed.

A School Year in Review - Many Praises!

(Grab yourself a cup of coffee - this is a long one!)

Whew! Just 4 more weeks of school left before summer break and before we wrap up Lily's first year of school. In a lot of ways it has flown by. In a lot of other ways it has painfully dragged on. This year we faced a lot of challenges (and we continue to face some) that has tried to drag us down, slow our momentum, block our way. But we are prevailing in this first year of homeschool (with the help of a God-sent co-op program).

The year started off with Lily getting glasses just before school began. Her vision was worse than 20/400 in both eyes - that's beyond legally blind! And after a few months into school, and a few months into wearing her glasses, her vision strengthened to 20/70 with her glasses - still legally blind (considered low vision) but strong enough for her to succeed in school with no visual impairment aids. My little girl is a trooper! Now her vision with her glasses is 20/25 in both eyes. Dr. G is striving for 20/20 or better and he tells me we will get there by the time she is age 10-12 years old and that's without glasses. Praise Jesus that Lily's vision problem is completely correctable!

Just two months into school my pregnancy with Charlotte turned risky with threats of pre-term labor. I was sidelined many days with contractions coming 4-6 times an hour. When those occured I had to lay down and rest and hope they calmed down. School was placed on the back burner on many days. I was on medication and restricted activity to control the contractions. Praise Jesus that the pregnancy went full term and Charlotte is a happy, healthy, little girl!

And then a week before Christmas, Lily fell and broke her arm. This involved an overnight stay in the hospital and surgery the next morning to place pins in her arm and install a cast. She wore her cast for 3 weeks. During that time she struggled to bathe, dress herself, get comfy in bed to sleep, do school work, and many other things. We lost even more time doing school. Despite this hurdle, praise Jesus that Lily was able to keep up with her learning and continued to grow in her knowledge of math, reading, writing, science and social studies!

Just a few weeks ago Lily faced another hurdle when we were instructed to place drops in Lily's eyes to dilate them 3 days before her next eye exam. I don't know the exact reason this is needed, but Dr. G gave the orders and we followed them. Unfortunately, dilated eyes become very blurry and especially with vision up close. This added another challenge with school work. Her vision remained blurry for at least a week following her eye exam. We made some accommodations to help Lily see her school work. At home I wrote all her lessons very large on a dry erase board. We skipped handwriting lessons that week because it was a huge frustration for her. It was apparent that she couldn't see the lines on her handwriting paper. For her days at school, I transposed all the problems on her worksheets onto plain white paper with a very large, bold Sharpie marker. Her teacher said it really seemed to help her. Praise Jesus we got through that week and Lily even got a cute new pair of purple glasses with a new lower prescription (+6.50 instead of +7.50 as before).

During this school year, and even before then, we have observed Lily having problems with certain things. These problems have become more pronounced with the added expectations of having to learn to read and write and remember facts and processes. Her teacher at River's Edge is noticing and now even the room moms are noticing what we've observed for many months now. After being strongly advised by our pediatrician, we took Lily to be evaluated. The results are not complete yet because we still lack a language/auditory evaluation, but the preliminary results are pointing to dyslexia or some sort of auditory processing disorder. We praise Jesus for placing in our path the most fabulous, experienced, intuitive, knowledgeable, kind-hearted Occupational Therapist this side of the Mississippi! Her name is Mrs. Kathy. She explained that these initial evaluations are a process of elimination. Lily scored on a 5-year-old level for visual integration and a 4-year-old level for visual-motor integration. She is 6 years old. The language/auditory eval next week will help us get a fuller picture of what could be causing the delays. Kathy is familiar with Lily's history since she worked with her 3 years ago when she was going through feeding therapy and occupational therapy due to sensory processing disorder. Kathy observed that Lily could use a little bit more help in maturing the nervous system in regards to the vestibular system. Sensory therapy is an amazing thing! If you've never dealt with this sort of thing, it will blow your mind how complex the brain and nervous system are and how certain activities can greatly affect a child whose nervous system lags behind in development. I cannot explain it, but I'm so grateful to God for placing the right people in our path who have a very deep and thorough understanding of this and who have devoted their lives to helping "sensory" children. We praise Jesus that we will be on top of these issues before they cause major frustration and delays in Lily's abilities at school!

We look forward to summer break! I foresee lots of outdoor adventures and some lazy days (for the kids that is. I'm way too busy with 4 kids to relax). I was making small talk with the wife of our co-op's administrator today, Mrs. Moe. She spoke such truth, and I'm certain she didn't even know it was what I needed today. As she was walking away she said, "the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). This verse has resounded in my heart and soul all day as I have struggled with a mixture of thoughts and emotions about our first year of homeschool. Some of these thoughts and emotions are from the deceiver himself, some are from my weak sin-nature, and some are from the heart of a mom. I praise Jesus for surrounding us with amazing people who bring encouragement, understanding, and words of Truth at just the right time!

Traumatic Weekend

Our weekend ended up being a little scary and a lot exhausting. On Saturday evening, as we were all heading out the door to grab drive-thru dinner and to go see the light show at the Smokies Stadium, Lily tripped over BJ's foot and landed hard on the living room floor. When she sat up I could immediately tell that there was something terribly wrong with her left arm. Her arm dangled from her elbow like a cooked noodle. I started saying, "She has to go to the ER right now!" BJ examined her arm and asked her if she could move it. I knew she could not by the looks of it. I just kept repeating, "She needs to go to the ER! Put her in the van and I'll grab her stuff." BJ soon realized what I had seen and he moved quickly to load her into her car seat in his car. He insisted that he take her. He saw I was in no condition to drive and handle the emergency situation. He was absolutely right. I was panicking.

Soon BJ started giving me text updates while they were at Children's Hospital. First it was "Saw the doctor. L is getting morphine. Getting ready to do xray" I was relieved they took her in so quickly and was able to give her pain relief right away. The next text that came said, "They are keeping her tonight. Surgery at 8 a.m. tomorrow." That's when I called BJ and asked what was going on and why this didn't just involve setting the break, a putting on a cast, and coming home a few hours later. Turns out she fractured her arm just above her elbow joint. The on-call orthopedic surgeon explained that because of the location of the break, the muscles and ligaments there were very strong, and in order to keep the bones in place she would need two pins placed in the bones. That's when I packed my bags and made arrangements to go to the hospital to stay with Lily and BJ overnight. Thanks to my brother who came and kept the boys overnight and the whole next day.

When I got to the hospital Lily was already in a room hooked up to IV and monitors and her arm was in a splint. She looked pitiful. She was clearly drugged, but she still experienced a lot of pain in her arm. She especially had pain when she needed to get up to go to the bathroom, or when she needed to get adjusted in the bed. Her little body shook all over from the pain and she cried every time she moved. Luckily, she was able to rest fairly well once she got comfortable in her bed, and 8 a.m. came very quickly. The surgeon was right on time and his assisting staff was excellent. The surgery only lasted about 20 minutes, and afterward, the surgeon said her arm was fixed. The cast would need to stay on for about 4 weeks. After that time he would evaluate her arm and then both the cast would come off and the pins would come out.

We were able to come home at 2 p.m. on Sunday. We all took a three hour nap before my brother returned with the boys. Lily is doing very well now. Her pain is lessened a lot since Saturday night. She has only needed Advil or Tylenol instead of the other pain meds the doctor prescribed. Lily is doing great with her cast. She complains that it itches underneath and that it begins to hurt if she's up playing for awhile. That's when she lays down on the couch or on her bed and we prop up her arm with pillows. She has been a real trooper through all of this.

And then tonight we had another little scare. Schaeffer has seen us giving Lily Advil and Tylenol. When we got everyone in bed, we had left the Advil on the bathroom counter upstairs knowing Lily may need a dose in the middle of the night. Schaeffer sneaked out of his bedroom and we heard him making noises upstairs. BJ went up to check on him and caught him with the Advil bottle open with the measuring spoon used. I immediately called Walgreens and talked with the pharmacist. We think he only drank about 2 1/2 teaspoons because that's how much one measuring spoon holds and based on what was left in the Advil bottle. Schaeffer's dosage would only be about 1 1/2 teaspoons. The pharmacist reassured me that Advil is not toxic even at the dosage he took. The only side effect he may experience is an upset stomach. Whew! I sure was praying that we weren't taking another trip to the ER tonight!

Some days it's awfully exhausting being a parent...

Lily Won Best in Show

I am SOOOOO PROUD of my little girl! Today was her school's Art Fair. She submitted an acrylic painting on canvas based on her inspiration of a Bible verse. Since she has been all about eagles and hawks lately, we thought a verse that included eagles would be perfect. This is what she created and this is what earned her Best in Show...

"...but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).


Lily pictured here with her painting and a few of her classmates. She won a gift bag full of art supplies and a big purple ribbon.

I am so proud of her! I didn't get the chance to go to the Art Fair today because Griffin had speech therapy, but BJ took Lily this morning to Panera Bread for breakfast and then to the Art Fair to join her classmates. When he called to tell me the news I started crying. Silly, I know. Maybe its the pregnancy hormones or maybe its the overwhelming joy of watching my little girl create something beautiful and then seeing her be recognized for her hard work and creativity.

Overheard

Overheard at the Thanksgiving table at Grandmama's house:
Lily turned toward her Uncle Matthew: "Uncle Matthew, who are all these people and why are they still here?" Ha ha! Silly girl, they are called family. I guess we don't get to see them enough.

Overheard during a conversation between BJ and Lily:
BJ and Lily were standing outside in the driveway after dark looking up at the stars. Lily correctly pointed out Jupiter and then asked about some other bright lights in the sky. Then BJ proceeded to ask Lily what was her favorite planet. Lily responded, "Earth. I like Earth a lot. I don't ever want to leave it."

Overheard in the living room:
When I asked Schaeffer why he went poopie in his diaper (he is potty training), he responded, "My bottom just went poopie by itself. I couldn't stop it."

Overheard in Schaeffer's bedroom:
I asked Schaeffer one day, while Lily was at school, "Do you want to go outside and play?" Schaeffer replied, "Nah, I just wanna lay back, play with my trucks, and drink my sippy cup."

Overheard in the kitchen:
Sometimes Ciera, our niece, stays with us on weekends. Griffin threw a football toward Ciera and said, "Touchdown!" Griffin now has about 10 words in his vocabulary. Can you guess what they are? (Hint: He's ALL boy) Answer: ball, vrroom, choo-choo, ball, batman, touchdown, go, more, please, and mama.

RECA Camping Trip

BJ and the two eldest kids are headed to Bandy Creek in Big South Fork for a camping trip organized by Lily's school, River's Edge Christian Academy. There are about 200 students enrolled at RECA and there will be about 100 campers (students and family) going on this trip. Their biggest turnout yet! This will be Lily's and Schaeffer's very first camping trip. I hope they have a blast...and take it easy on their daddy. I hope to have some photos to share when they get back tomorrow night.

Day 1 & 2 a Success!

Lily did great with her first day of school yesterday at RECA. She was exhausted when I picked her up. I'm sure it was a very big stretch for her and it'll be an adjustment for all of us. Today was her first homeschool (homestudy) day. After Griffin went down for his morning nap we started off with devotion time (the prodigal son) and prayer. Then we got right into numbers and counting, the letter "Ii," handwriting, drawing, writing her name, learning about what her name means, and reading the passage in Matthew where Jesus talks about "lilies." Schaeffer got in on the action and stayed right with us the whole time. He's learning to count to 10. If he stays with us the whole time he might learn to read by age 4. There was a bit of arguing over crayons and paper, but everyone did great listening and following directions. I'm praying that we have a lot of homeschool days like today!

And to top off my day, I cleaned out toys (and some junk because my daughter is a horrible packrat!) out of Lily and Schaeffer's rooms. I was able to do some rearranging, decluttering, sorting, and dusting. Yay for productive days!

Student Orientation at River's Edge

Lily and I attended her Student Orientation on Friday morning at her new school, River's Edge Christian Academy (RECA). This was her first chance to see her classroom, meet her teacher Mrs. Anderson, and meet her 7 other classmates.


{Lily has a loose tooth and continued to wiggle it in all the group pictures.}

Lily was very shy at first and hid behind me. But as soon as her little friend Lexi walked through the door Lily perked up and was eager to play and get involved in the activities.


{Lily and Lexi in the cozy corner.}



It was a really great experience and I'm so grateful that things went so smoothly. Lily is now excited about her first day of school on Monday morning. We have our curriculum, school supplies, backpack, snack/lunchbox, and our lesson plans for our first week. I'm so excited to be working with Lily on all these new skills - reading, math, social studies, weather, date/time, etc. And best of all her curriculum is completely from a Biblical worldview. She will be learning about her Creator God and about all the wonder of this big world that He designed for people that He loves so much. Just thinking from a Kindergartner's point of view, it must all be so new and exciting and it makes me very excited to be walking this journey with her - seeing her world expand before her very eyes, and witnessing her make connections about our Savior and His boundless blessings and love for us.

Some things that I already love about her teacher Mrs. Anderson and RECA and why it's a perfect answer to prayer:

• Mrs. Anderson is sweet, soft-spoken, gentle, loving and very patient.
• Mrs. Anderson explained that she will be doing things a little different from the other K5 RECA teachers by giving the students small breaks every 20 minutes between subjects. If you know Lily, this is perfect for my little sensory-seeking-very-active-can't-sit-still-for-too-long student.
• This one may sound trivial, but it's a biggy for Lily...Mrs. Anderson is incorporating ways for the students to bring with them to school a favorite item from home. This is a huge comfort for Lily to have a familiar object with her. Lily had a preschool teacher and various Sunday School teachers who have discouraged bringing favorite items into the classroom for fear it would be a distraction. Perhaps it's a small thing, but again this is another answer to prayer. I've already seen the excitement on Lily's face when I've told her she can pick out one of her favorite things to take with her.
• Mrs. Anderson is very flexible and has already demonstrated how much she wants to work closely with us parent-teachers. It'll be a perfect match!
• RECA is Christ-centered. Every day begins with devotion and prayer. And all the curriculum is from a Biblical worldview. Dress code enforces modesty and fairness. I love having that one less worry for my little girl.
• RECA is 100% parent-led and run by volunteering parents. Even before the first day of school has begun, I've already witnessed the beauty of this process. All the parent-teachers, mostly moms, in Lily's class have already begun working closely together to supply Mrs. Anderson with extra supplies. Since we are meeting in a brand new satellite campus for RECA, and right now it's the only classroom meeting at this location, we are trying to help Mrs. Anderson have all the things that she would've had at one of the larger campuses. It's awesome to see all the moms pull together, volunteer, and help. Such a cool concept!

BJ will be taking care of morning drop-off...what a blessing that is! And so I won't be there to witness Lily walk into her classroom for her first official day of school. I know she'll do great! (And it also helps me to know that I'll be picking her up very soon afterwards since they fit in all academics, playtime and snack time in only 4 hours!)

A Report From our House

Just a quick update on everybody...

Griffin graduated from feeding therapy today! Whoo-hoo! He is eating all kinds of solid foods. He loves bold flavors like Cheese Puffs, spaghetti and Grandmama's green beans. His favorite food is ice cream. The boy can eat his weight in ice cream. So far weaning from nursing is going well. He's down to just twice in a 24-hour period. Sometimes he is able to skip the bedtime feeding which is really nice. I'm thinking he'll be completely weaned in about another month. He's walking and getting into everything. We will be starting him in speech therapy on Aug. 18. Still no words. I know it'll come as soon as he decides talking is a much more efficient way of getting what he wants. The yelling is killing me.

Lily starts school in less than a month. Yikes! Can hardly believe she is starting school. Seems like just yesterday... We are excited about starting at River's Edge Christian Academy and homeschooling. What a God send to have so much flexibility and to have options like RECA!

Schaeffer is still all boy. Lovin' trucks and Batman. He's smart as a whip. He has begun asking all kinds of "why?" questions. His brain is absorbing at rapid speeds. My favorite thing he said this week... when asked, "What is Jesus going to give you, Schaeff?" His reply, "A sword, a shield, a belt, a helmet, and flip-flops." Ha ha! He always forgets the breastplate, but it's a big word and he's only 3 so I'll give him a break on that one for now.

Baby Four is doing well. This week I'm 12 weeks. I went to Dr. B on Monday and got to hear the heartbeat again. Baby Four was active because the nurse had to chase him/her down with the Doppler and then once she found the heartbeat it was 165-170 bpm. Most of the time when they are resting it is more like 140 bpm. The nurse said it's most certainly because this one was a wiggle worm. I'm not feeling all those wiggles yet but I'm sure I will in another few weeks. I was ecstatic on Monday after my glucose test was completely normal. Dr. B tests me early since I'm higher risk for diabetes (having had it before). I've always failed the screening at 12 weeks. But this time I got a completely normal test result (mine was 109 - below 130 is good). Dr. B will test me again at 24 weeks. And he's not letting me off the hook that easily. He still wants me to follow the diabetes diet because it's a "good diet for everyone, especially pregnant women and those at risk for diabetes." But I admit, I ate a scoop of pralines-and-cream ice cream last night! Par-tay! Dr. B reminded me to not get too excited because he says it's still too early to tell if diabetes really will be a problem in this pregnancy. I'm hoping for the best though.

The Latest and Greatest

It's been a while since I've updated here so I figure while I've got a minute - Griff and Schaeff sleeping and Lily busy with art supplies - I'll try to get up to speed.

It's busy times here. BJ continues to work steadily through seminary classes. He's taking an online elementary greek class. In addtion, he will be attending the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, with a weekend class in Kentucky about the SBC, in order to get 3 hours of on-campus credit. He's slated to take 2-3 classes this fall. Since we are in a more predictable schedule (read: sleeping a bit more) with Griffin, BJ is taking full advantage of this time to get some classes behind him. He's up early to get his reading done, and at night before bed he falls asleep with a textbook in hand...I believe this latest one is Baptists and the Bible. I will not lie, having a husband in seminary, who also works full-time, and who teaches and leads a Bible Fellowship class every Sunday morning, and who has 3 young children is not the easiest thing in the world. We are feeling a bit stretched. We are trying to be very purposeful with our free time because there's not much of it. We haven't watched a TV show in months.

The kids are all doing great. We are all set to go with River's Edge Christian Academy starting in August. The curriculum has been ordered, and we attended an informational parent meeting this past week. We met Lily's teacher at RECA and the other parents of the 7 kids (up from 5 just a month ago). The max. limit they will accept for this group is 10 so they could very well reach their max. before August. I'm excited for Fountain City to be getting something like this in our community.

Griffin started speech/feeding therapy two weeks ago. The therapy is okay, but he's still not eating solids any better. We just plod along in that area making small steps - he likes strawberry yogurt and he will sometimes tolerate the chunks in it. He still hasn't said his first word. Although, he loves the sound of certain words when we say them to him. It cracks him up when we say "disgusting!" He kackles and then repeats back "dadaduh!" Is it wrong that his first word might be "disgusting?" Not mama or dada, but disgusting!

Our friends the Holden's gave birth to their long awaited son, Cade. He is just perfect! Leslie had a long (28 hrs) and difficult labor and delivery but she was such a trooper. And she looked beautiful in the hospital - the new mom glow! They are home and getting settled into life with a newborn. I wish I had photos, but apparently I don't know how to use my new camera because the photos I took did not appear on the memory card when I got home. Uuuuggghhh. I'm so clueless with technology.

Happy Mother's Day, etc...

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there! You are a special creation and don't you believe otherwise no matter how you may feel from day to day, no matter how many piles of laundry await you, no matter how many tantrums your toddler may throw, no matter how many pieces of bubble gum your preschooler just swallowed within a 3 minute period, no matter how many times your infant awakes in the middle of the night just because he wants his mommy, and no matter that you don't have your children involved in every sport team, academic activity, or social playgroup. Being a mom is a tough job - by far the toughest job I've ever loved - but God equips us every day with exactly what we need when we call on Him. Go Moms, Go!

For Mother's Day my sweet BJ gave me a Canon Rebel camera. That should mean that the photos that I post on here should look near professional...well, as soon as I learn how to use the thing. I'm pretty excited to learn about my new SLR camera and learn some photog tricks.

We completed the parent interview this week for Lily's enrollment with the homeschool co-op at River's Edge. I think it went well, except for the fact that Lily sat the whole hour with her back to the Administrator and Board Member who were conducting the interview. Believe me, I tried to get her to turn around in her chair and face them and be a polite little angel. Fortunately, both gentlemen completely understood her discomfort with being in a new place. We purchased our homeschool curriculum and I can't wait for it to ship so I can begin looking through it and getting prepared. We meet the other kindergarten students and families next Tuesday at a family informational meeting.

Griffin has another feeding/speech evaluation this Tuesday. Turns out the first evaluation with UT Hearing and Speech was incorrectly scheduled. They don't do feeding therapy there. It was a miscommunication between our pediatrician and his referral nurse. We waited 2 months to get in with that speech pathologist. She completed the evaluation and then afterwards told me she'd need to refer me to someone else who does infant feeding therapy. Aaaaarrrggghhh! So now we will be going to Kids Rehab. Luckily they got us in very quickly so we won't have to wait another two months. I'm sure it was because Griffin's pediatrician diagnosed him failure to thrive and now it's officially on his chart. I'm so glad my identity as a mom isn't tied up into my children's ability to speak and eat on their own. LOL!!

It was a great Mother's Day and I enjoyed the beautiful cooler weather. I spent about 3 hours on my parent's porch swing with Griffin sleeping on my lap. Where was the camera when I needed it? I love being a mommy even on the days that it seems insurmountably difficult. Thank you Jesus for my precious gifts!

Busy

It's getting busy up in here! And I'm not neccessarily talking about my relationship with my husband. (I know, eeewwww!) Our home is getting seriously busy, much busier than I am used to handling. We have some homeschool co-op meetings and such coming up. Griff has had a speech/feeding evaluation which resulted in more appts weekly. BJ is trying to get as much school complete as he can. He just completed the spring semester and now has 2 more classes checked off. He has already enrolled in an online Greek class that will begin this month. In June he has plans to attend the SBC in Orlando and a 1-day course in Kentucky about the SBC in order to get 3 hours of on-campus credit. And then he'll transition right into the fall semester and possibly a week-long mini-term on the Kentucky campus sometime. We continue to serve at Sevier Heights and stay busy in that capacity. We love our church family and we find that serving there is such an awesome gift.

Just to update you, Lily is doing great with her glasses. She has come to rely on them. She wakes up and puts them on first thing because she can see when she wears them. She has another loose tooth which will probably fall out in about a week or so. I asked her if she were excited about the tooth fairy coming and giving her money for her piggy bank. Her reply, "No, mom. Fairies aren't real." I told her it could be fun to pretend anyway. I got a big s-i-g-h in response as if she might be willing to put up with my silliness.

Schaeffer (aka Schaeff or Schaeffey - names given to him by his loving sis) is full of himself lately. He says nearly anthing that comes to his mind. Sometimes it's pretty funny and sometimes it can be downright embarrasing. But it's cool to hear his thoughts and connect with him that way. The other night when we had lots of storms rolling through, he peeked out the window to see. The sky lit up with a flash of lightening and then he said, "Why did Jesus do that?" He's such a little man and I luuuuve him!

Griffin just celebrated his 1st birthday. We had a little party here at the house (photos coming soon). We were hoping for an outdoor cookout but weather did not permit. Instead we had bar-b-q chicken inside. We got to celebrate with Nana Kaye and Nana Faye. That was a special treat. Griffin is so sweet, and he's proving to be pretty fearless. He perpelled himself off the rocking chair and down a couple of steps all in one day. The bad part was that I was holding him in my lap when he did a nose dive off my lap and onto the floor. He's quick! Thank goodness babies are so resilient.

Well, I think that's it for now... I hope to update more often but it's not looking very promising.

Almost School Time!

It's so hard to believe that I'm already planning for Lily's school this coming fall. First of all, I can hardly believe she is school-aged. Secondly, it seems a tad early to be thinking about schoolbooks, uniforms, curriculum, and scheduling all before the school year has even ended for the summer. But, alas! Here I am thinking through all the details of Lily's kindergarten year which starts in about 3 months. I've had numerous steps to accomplish before making a decision about Lily's education. I've completed a few of the preliminary items but I still lack a few more steps before we are all set.

The steps include...

1. Prayer and researching all the options (public, private, or homeschool)

2. Praying through and writing down our family's educational goals, which revealed to BJ and me that homeschooling was the right path for us.

3. Praying through the different homeschool options, which include independent homeschooler, homeschooler registered with a church-related school, homeschooler where your home is considered a satellite location of a church-related school (thru the Jeter Memorandum), or private schooling through distance learning with a Category III school.

4. After choosing our homeschool option, which is the "satellite location" option with River's Edge Christian Academy, we needed to complete the application and submit it to them.

5. Next we'll have a family interview with River's Edge on May 6 and then await the approval process.

6. If approved, we'll purchase our curriculum and begin learning our co-teaching roles with River's Edge.

As a huge praise, the Lord did an awesome thing to help our decision. He clearly revealed to us that River's Edge is the right place for Lily and our family. First, the principal of the school is a close friend to my mom and dad. He is a great man who loves Jesus, loves to serve families in the community, and has a high regard for academic excellence from a Biblical worldview. And secondly, they are starting a new campus - just this year! - at a Baptist church that is literally 3 miles from our house. The Lord could not have made the decision any more easy for us. Praise you, Jesus!

We are so excited to begin this new adventure and to watch Lily learn and grow and blossom into the young woman God has created her to be.

Growing Up!

Lily has a loose tooth. Is it that time already to start losing baby teeth? I can't believe that she's growing up so quickly.

Schaeffer went potty today (both kinds - I'll spare the details) all by himself. He has a little frog potty that sits near the big potty in the kids' bathroom upstairs. I was busy getting things together for us to get ready to leave the house (that's always a feat). He was on his frog potty and Lily was on the big potty. She was coaching him, which was very funny to overhear. And then next thing I know they are both yelling for me to "Come and look!" We did the potty dance which sort of resembles Ring Around the Rosies. Both Lily and Schaeffer were stark naked as we danced. If these walls could speak!

Specs!

Yay! Lily got her glasses today. They got them done much faster than the estimated 2 weeks. She was quite overwhelmed the second she put them on. She immediately took them off and said, "I don't want to wear them right now." The gentleman at LensCrafters was really great about getting her to put them back on and had her look around at some fun things like gumball machines out in the mall. And then we played at the little playground in the mall and Lily wore them the whole time. She kept naming objects all around as if she were seeing them for the first time...maybe she was! She did really great wearing them for the remainder of the day and only asked to take them off twice to give her face and eyes a break. She has enjoyed taking them off to clean them with the cleaning cloth they threw in as a freebie, it's a Dolce & Gabbana cleaning cloth no less. Ha ha! I was so excited for her today because I could tell immediately that it made a difference in her little world.

Sporting the Spectacles

Today Lily had an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. G, to test her vision. In about 2 weeks she will be sporting some new spectacles. He determined that she has very poor vision in both eyes but the right eye is the weakest. He called it strabismus ("lazy eye"). Although I've never noticed Lily to look cross-eyed. Dr. G explained that it can happen if left untreated because the brain will tell the weak eye to stop working and then the eye begins to float. He said she was "legally blind." I never understood what that meant when I've heard people say it before. Dr. G showed me by putting a lens up to my eye and asked me to try to read the chart. I could not even read the top line - it was crazy blurry! He said that's how Lily sees. Wow! But according to Dr. G, the good news for Lily is that she is young and her brain can still work really hard to focus. And if she is really great about wearing her glasses her vision will begin to correct and she may grow out of the vision problem (we are talking about several years). If left untreated she would most likely remain legally blind and she would develop crossed eyes. That doesn't sound good to me so we'll need to help her get adjusted to wearing glasses all the time. I know it'll be a huge change for her (remember, she is my sensory sensitive one that HATES change), but if we can make it her new normal then I know she'll do just fine. I let her pick out a pair of glasses today. We started with her favorite color: purple. In about 2 weeks her purple glasses will be ready and I think she'll become a more confident happy little girl when she begins to see her world more clearly.

Don't Be Fooled by the Blocks That I Got

The newest craze in our home...