The Poof...

Giving the hair a little breather from braids for 24 hours!

This afternoon we will go for the twists with heart beads in honor of Valentines Day.

New Therapy

Now I have been doing lots of research again, this time on how to help Caleb.

I decided to attack one issue at a time and see if we can get some real improvement.

We purchased this DVD from Dianne Craft to work on Caleb's writing issues first.

Here you see Caleb working on his 20 minute writing practice.

As I have mentioned before he has to think before writing most every letter.

On my pre-test with him he had 13 letters he miss-wrote.

After only one week of this practice, we re-tested and he only miss-wrote 3 of his letters.

I am impressed.

If we continue to get this kind of results I will probably be going back for more video's soon.

It's Not Your Fault

What is there to say, but this ought not to be.

Please find where God is calling you to defend the cause the of the widow and the fatherless, and just jump in.

The time is right and a child is depending on you.

You have searched me...

Psalm 139

1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Turkey Fan...

Caleb was very excited to get his turkey fan at church yesterday!

He had forgotten about it and our friend, Dustin, showed up at church with it and he was one excited kid.

His first turkey is now proudly displayed in my front room, with Drew's deer head, and they are totally messing up my African theme out there--LOL

Oh the things we do for our boys!

Congratulations Caleb!

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Some thoughts to remember on this Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.

Psalm 139:13

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Leviticus 19:32

“‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD."

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Reagan Anyone?

Wondering if anyone realized that February 6th would have been Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday?

Since my one of my wonderful daughters, Danielle, works at the Ronald Reagan Ranch and Gallery, I thought I would give you a glimpse and maybe spur you on to further study of this great man.

This is a picture of one of his favorite Bible verses and a reproduction of his Bible cover.

This large table is all interactive. Danielle was privileged to do a lot of the research that is contained in it. This covers most of his life as a political figure.

The bookshelf in the background is interactive and is a reproduction of his at his ranch.

The table at the left you will see in a couple of pictures.

In the background you see his Jeep Scrambler that he is famous for driving all over his ranch, Rancho del Cielo. Yes, it is in the building. It was lowered in through the roof during renovations.

Here is a picture of his ranch in the foothills of Santa Barbara.

The rock in the foreground is one of the many sensors that were placed all over the property while he was president to help provide discrete security.

Here is the table from the earlier picture. It was used when President Reagan signed the tax overhaul.

Hope some of these pictures inspired you to find out more about President Reagen and maybe make it a part of your home school week in February.

Don't miss the bit about----"Tear down this wall!"

You know the Berlin Wall!

Oh by the way there is a very large piece of the Berlin Wall at the gallery.

Hopefully that was enough of a tease to get you to want to take a trip to Santa Barbara.

Dolls Anyone?

I found the cutest website with the coolest dolls.

The site is called Hearts 4 Girls.

They have international dolls they have created and are sold through Target and Toys R Us. Part of the proceeds of each doll go to World Vision to help with care of children around the world.

The site also has stories of girls from around the world and games.

Their dolls are from:
Ethiopia
Laos
Mexico
USA
India
Belarus

My little treasure is getting on for her birthday next month!

She should enjoy it.

Check it out and let your shopping help you do some giving!

Cup or Reflector?

God has so been working in my life in the last couple of weeks.

I have some issues that have been brewing for a while.

Sometimes they come to the front and are ugly. My friend,Laurel, called them 'mud puddles'.

Other times it would seem as if they are not there at all.

Through all this, in the last 8 years or so, God has been faithful to walk with me and guide me.

To give my family an abundance of love and patience.

But this time I decided it was time to hit it face on and get to the roots and quit stuffing them down. I am going to wallow in that mud puddle for a while and get to the down a dirty!

Oh I have been so blessed by friends who will walk with me and counsel me and point out blind spots. Also an unbelievable husband and family.

So here and there you will get snippets of where I am.

So tonight's snippet:

I am not a cup to be filled so much, as I am made to be a life that reflects Him!! More of Him and less of me!

Simple, but where I am tonight!

Delighting in Him in all things!!

The Wall

We have been rejoicing in the great leaps we have seen in Hannah in the last two months educationally.

I was wondering if all she really needed was time to catch up.

Then last week it happened....

THE WALL

This is the only way to describe the closing of her we see.

It is like she takes a bunch of steps backwards and can not seem to grasp concepts she has gained.

I am seeing stuttering, have not seen that in a long time.

She is back to slowly sounding out tons of words that she could read fluently before.

She had gained counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's and she has lost them.

She is having trouble writing some of her letters again.

I am confused.

As every mother, I want the best for my treasure, it is so hard to see her loose such hard fought for gains.

It is good to know God loves her even more than I do!

The Runners

We had a wonderful spur of the moment trip to Redding for David's marathon.

David had been training, but he was not sure his body was healthy enough and on Thursday evening we made the decision to go.

We ended up hooking up with some friends who where going and met another wonderful couple who was traveling with them.

Here the girls are goofing of with a statue. It was fun to watch both these young ladies, who are very good friends, embrace Hannah and let her join in their fun. Thanks Anna and Dani!

Caleb of course made immediate friends with Sam. It always amazes me how fast kids can make friends!

Now put the two pictures together!

Ha!

Boys and girls!

Anyways, back to why we were in Redding.

Here is David when we caught up with him a the 19 mile mark going strong.

Caleb joined him in his run across the bridge.

Here he is at 25 miles +

They bring these poor tired runners all the way to the finishing bridge and then send them out for another .7 of a mile.

Kinda mean I think.

Hannah and Caleb both getting in the fun with Dad!

Here he is coming back from the extra .7

See the guy behind him in the green? He was part of a relay, so he was just finishing a shorter leg of 6 or 8 miles. David said it was interesting because all along the race you would have these runners come running by fresh as could be who were part of relays. Don't think he had experience that before.

The last corner to the Sundial Bridge and he is home free!

David finished in 3:29. He was happy with it. Next year that time will be a time that will qualify him to run in Boston. For those of you who do not know, Boston Marathon is so large they can not allow just anyone to run. You have to make a qualifying time based on your age. David has run Boston once and would like to give it another try.

When he got home he was pleased to see that when you take out all the relay teams, he was 19th over all and 4th in his age group.

Congratulations David and thank you Lord to allow him this gift of running. He truly sees it as a gift and is treasuring every moment.

A little glimpse of the height of the Sundial Bridge as David runs his last 100M across it.

As for the other runner, Drew, these pictures are from a few weeks ago at an inter squad meet.

Drew raced at a small indoor meet held at WSU with some other local smaller schools.

Their track is a 200 M oval and Drew race a 1 mile race, so it was 8 laps.

He ran a 4:23, not a PR or anything, but he was feeling real good and enjoyed his first college win.

He will be traveling to Jr. Nationals Cross Country in San Diego in February, Lord willing. David will be traveling down to meet him and they will get to spend a couple of days together, just the two of them. Should be good guy time.

Love the leg picture!

Drew is on the right with "Go Black" on his legs and the green stripe down his shirt!

We're Off

We're off to Redding, where David is at this moment in the middle of his first mile in the Redding Marathon.

Hopefully tonight I will have some pictures to post and results of the day.

I am sure he would love your prayers that his body holds up through the race, as it can be very hard on his AS.

Tonight I will also post more on Drew's race, since we have not been home since his win. It was fun getting the text----"My first college win!"

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Congrats!

Congratulations to Drew on his first college win!!!

A 4:23 mile indoors!

We are proud of you son!

Where's the button?

The belly button that is.

David has always hated to have his belly button touched so.....

Of course that is what ALL the kids have always wanted to get!

Caleb trying to figure out why Hannah has left him to the mercy of Dad all by himself.

Here she comes.

She may be small in weight, but she makes up for it in length and squirmyness!

Caleb may have hit the target.

Then it is so cute.... Hannah asks just to "see" Dad's tummy when they are done, and quick as a wink there goes her finger towards the target.

The results of one good tackle session:

One very red belly.

Two very happy kids.

Three people more bonded!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4

Science Anyone?

You may remember last year I taught a geography class to a group of home schoolers while their moms were at a Bible study.

This year I took the first term off to try and get into some sort of rhythm with Caleb's homeschooling.

Well I have jumped back in and am teaching 9 kids for 2 hours once a week.

We are using Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.

It is a great way for me to get my science in with the kids, experiments and all. And it gives them a chance to be in a classroom setting.

And best of all the get some good fellowship, well so do I afterwords:)

This week it was raining, so no outdoors for a scavenger hunt.

So....

We studied about extinction and each of the kids made their own extinct flying creature.

Oh the mess of crafts:/

But they sure had fun!

Carmen, Imani, Faith, Madison, Emily, Hannah and Josiah and Caleb in the front.

Just FYI both the girls who are smaller than Hannah in this picture are at least a year older than her---Just a perspective picture.

Pretend

These are from a while back, thought it was fun.

Hannah happily playing with her polly pockets...

but who is that?

Could that be?

Yep, who could be married to Mrs. Polly Pocket except who else, Mr. GI Joe.

Guess that is what you get when both your sisters marry military men!

And by the way Hannah is finally figuring out how to "play" with dolls and such. She actually sets them up and "pretends". This was a very long time in coming. Maybe longer without any younger aged siblings that want to play anything but legos.

What's up?

Life has been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster. Maybe at some point I will blog a little about it, but right now I am just wanting to hear what the Lord is teaching me.

Thankfully life continues around me in full force to keep me focused on today.

Been doing a TON of research on some possibilities of learning help for Caleb. Has anyone used anything by Dianne Craft?

Caleb, as we have previously noted, has some trouble moving cross mid-line. This makes it difficult for him to transfer information from the right side of his brain, your thinking side, to the left side of his brain, your working memory.

So what does this look like?

Caleb has to think about most letters he is writing. So every word and every letter is a thinking process. Think about if every time you wrote, even your name, you had to think of how to form each letter, let alone which are the right letters.

Then try to transition a letter from a book or the white board onto your paper...

Well it is very difficult and makes most simple tasks take a very long time.

We are also working with an idea my friend, Jen, mentioned with transparencies over a book. She actually gave me some information, but I left it at her house back in November.

Caleb has mentioned that the words seem to move up towards him when he is reading. His vision is 20/20, but he seems to be having some vision processing issues.

Vision therapy is so expensive and not covered by insurance, so we are looking at some home based options. Anyone have any ideas?

It is hard to watch Caleb struggle.

I know he is smarter than we are seeing.

I know he is trying.

I know so much of it stems from early situations and losses.

It makes me so sad for him.

He has lost so much, I would love to be able to help him recover some of this.

God is ABLE.

Praying for wisdom.

Isaiah 55:9

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Creativity 101

Erinn has been on a big creative spree. The purple
bag she made for her sister-in-law and she made herself the cute gray bag.









She has been helping her good friend, Devynne, make a baby quilt.

And helping her new sister-in-law, Robin, make a blanket to for a friend. Robin has never done anything like this.

It is so fun having her around.

Then she decided to get little Hannah into the act.

Yes, Hannah's first ever sewing project was with her wonderful big sister. They made a cute pillow to match her dolly's new pajama pants!