The Hard Things in Life..

We have had a hard year. The kids have done great with the roller coaster ride of foster care. They have learned much compassion and made many sacrifices.  They love deeply and care to much.

I decided to take them on a vacation as a reward. Family vacations are a wonderful bonding time for us. We love to travel and hang out together away from the stress of every day life.

We did some research on vacations.We wanted to celebrate some pretty big deal answers to prayers, while making fun memories.

We used to go camping, but no longer can due to unbloggable illnesses.

We have to have handicapped accessible, large family accessible, single parent friendly and allergen free vacation spots. Yes, I always ask "does the room/house have new paint, new carpeting, is it smoke free and is it pet free? Does it have room for 7 people? Is it handicapped accessible? Is there room to park a 15 passenger van with a side lift? Is it a safe area for a single mom and young kids"

We found the perfect spot. A large family, homeschool retreat in Williamsburg Va. It met all my criteria. Bonus, it was educational!!

I spend hours, making arrangements for Nesiah to stay at respite, for someone to care for our animals, for someone to dog sit, for transportation for Nesiah from respite to school, and for all foster care permissions to travel. Not to mention preparing food for the week, packing all the kids and all the meds, everything but the kitchen sink!

We made costumes for the boys. The kids counted down the days.. We were soo excited. I went to great lengths to make sure that the week prior to going was to be stressfree, so I could be calm and relaxed in prepping that final packing/prep work.

First someone reacted to cat hair brought in on our little kiddoe that we babysit. We had a rough two days. Then that same someone contracted pink eye. We visited the pediatrician on Wed.

We also had 3 caseworker visits, our monthly visits, and 3 days of snow and ice.

My birthday happened too along with the biggest snow storm of the year.

Friday I called the specialist and the pediatrician the illnesses were worse.. they continued to worsen over the weekend. There was little sleeping, lots of nebulizer treatments and lots of worrying. There was even a late night, on really icy roads, trip to the ER.

so Saturday morning we made the decision to postpone our vacation. The much anticipated vacation. The kids were heartbroken, but were fervently praying that we could still leave the next day. We packed everything into the van, dropped Nesiah off with a friend and made sure everything was ready to leave first thing the next morning.

Saturday night was awful. Really awful.
Sunday morning, we decided that it still wasn't wise to travel. The kids were angry. We unpacked the van.

Monday morning I announced a change of plans... We were going to do a "staycation" instead of going to Williamsburg.



More to come...

Yearly Specialist Appointments

Tomorrow is our big day of medical appointments for Nesiah. She has numerous diagnoses due to her brain injury.She has an extensive team of specialist that follow her case. She currently is doing well and on maintenance with the majority of the Dr's.

She has a local GI and Neurologist that she sees every 6 months. GI is in charge of her Gtube and her weight.Her appointments are very routine, we go in we see the Dr. He askes if I have any concerns, I say no. He does a physical exam and we leave!

 Neurology is in charge of her seizure meds and seizure activity. In the past 2 years there has been less and less seizure activity showing her EEG. Her Neurologist is very detailed. I love him. He has helped me get various medical referrals that she needs. He is very much on top of things.


However, we have an hour's drive to see Nesiah's Orthopedic Dr and her Ophthalmologist. We only see them once a year and we try to do both on one day. It is generally a very long day. Ophthmalogy does this testing that requires her to have painful eye drops then wait 45 minutes before doing the eye exam. She has cortical vision impairment so generally there is not much involved in this appointment. It is one of those appointments you keep just to make sure that nothing new is happening.


The big deal appointment this year is the Orthopedist. I love this team and their efficiency. We generally go in, do an xray then go over the results with the Dr. (love him), get his recommendation then leave.

 Because Nesiah does not walk, her hips and the surrounding muscles do not work the way God designed them to work. For the past 2 years her hip has slowly been pulled out of it's socket. She will need a major and very painful surgery to correct this. I pray hard every year that we could go one more year without surgery. I can not imagine dealing with a 60 lb non mobile, non verbal child in a body cast for 6 weeks.
So far she has not shown any indication of pain in her hip. We would not know about the hip dislocation if we did not do the xrays. I keep in communication with the school nurse and therapists who don't believe she is in pain. So I am hoping that means we can wait another year for surgery!

We actually enjoy going to this children's hospital. In the past I have taken all the kids along, no one complained. The staff referred to them as Nesiah's entourage!

God's Provision Part 2

I love George Mueller.  My dear friend suggested approximately 7 years ago, that I learn as much as possible about George Mueller. She shared some of his life story. It was so inspiring and totally changed my life.

You will need to read part 1 of God's provision to understand this God Story.

                                      

So my explorer was totaled. Gone. I needed a new vehicle. Something that could fit all of us and was pretty easy on my gas budget!

The very same day that I prayed for a buyer for my explorer I also asked God what He had for me as far as a new vehicle.

Now the kids and I had prayed and decided that we would like a Honda Odysses with leather seats and a dvd player. A blue one.

But God gently guided us in another direction. That morning as I prayed I felt that God was leading us to a Dodge Caravan with a tan cloth interior. No frills. No extras. But exactly what we need.

So after the explorer deal and finding out that insurance was being used by God as the tool to bless us, I balanced out my vehicle savings. (thank you Dave Ramsey!) I figured out how much we could afford to put into a new vehicle. I set a number in my mind...

I felt stressed and anxious about car shopping. Seriously how do you do that with 6 kids?!

A friend suggested the website, Cargurus.com. I kept checking that website plus autotrader.com. I called about several vans, but there was nothing in red with cloth seats, low mileage in my price range. This did not surprise me. I searched for 6 months before God provided my 15 passenger van. I expected to keep searching. But it was all weighing very heavily on my mind.

Then one day I did my usual search with a prayer and up popped an '09 Dodge Grand Caravan. Low miles, red, cloth seats, almost the right price. (the online price had dropped that day)

I send the link off to my Ohio mechanic friend for approval. He approved. I prayed and waited.

Meanwhile in less then 2 days my insurance check arrived...

I had to run to the children's hospital with Nesiah for some medical appointments. We drove right past the car lot. (which was 35 mins from my house) IT was rainy and icey. I was running late. I had spend 5 hours in Dr's offices. So I just stopped and took a quick look at the van. I liked what I saw.

I had an insane week. Adoption trainings, medical appointments, taxes, babysitting, bible study and just regular life with my crew.

But Wed morning I asked a friend to babysit so David and I could go car shopping. My plan was to go look at it, test drive it and put  a down payment on it, until I could work out the details on bring it back home.

I had exactly 2 hours before I had to be back to do kindergarten pick up for my babysitting kiddoe.

We arrived at the car lot at 9 am. The guy was really nice. We drove the van. We checked it out. I kept praying. I felt like things were moving a little fast, but I had peace.

We sat down to negotiate. I was running out of time. I knew I wanted the van. I had made financial arrangements. But this salesman kept doing all this long spiel about their business and I really just wanted to get down to business!

we negotiated until I got the price I wanted, which was significantly less then the price post on the van. It was my exact number. I was at peace.

They offered to bring the van to my house. Yes, they offered free delivery!! I was so happy. I ended up purchasing the van and they brought it out to my house 3 hours later. Free delivery and I was atleast a 35 minute drive for them!

                                    

I love how God answers. He knew what he had for me. He knew what He wanted to give me. I knew that being in His will and following the desires He places in my heart would bring perfect peace to my life.


We love our new van. It is so roomy compared to the explorer!!  I am still in shock over how God provided all of this for us! Jehovah Jireh God is my Provider!