Second step of Summer Scheduling

I love lists, my kids love lists. We all need a schedule. My kids need to know ahead of time what is expected and when. It keeps peace in my house.



 We have had schedule outline almost 3 years now. We change things up as kid's needs change and responsibilities change.

Each child gets  up, gets dressed, makes their bed and cleans up their room.

They go to the barn and each child has certain animals they care for. Elizabeth always takes Bubbie with her. He will only listen to her and the boys get annoyed at him. ;)

                                                      


Fayth works better close to me and she is more of a girly girl, so she helps me in the house. Her morning job is to vacuum the living room and help me with Nesiah's morning care.

Each morning one kiddo makes breakfast. I used to be the cook of all meals, however I received to many complaints. So now each child gets to cook what THEY want for breakfast. Which has really really cut down on the complaining. The one's who want scambled eggs, get scrambled eggs on their morning. The one's who like dippy eggs, get dippy eggs on their morning. They do not like when other's complain about their meals, so they stop their own complaining. A win, win situation. I do cook breakfast on Sundays and Fridays.

After each meal, each kid has a special job. They rotate jobs every day. One person cleans the table and counters. Another one washes dishes. Another one dries dishes and the last one sweeps the floor. they rotate every day so it keeps jobs from getting monotonous.

Currently I sort and wash all clothing. But the big kids fold and put away their own laundry. I take care of mine and the littles.

They love the story of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Mowing the lawn. We live on 3 acres but most of it is pastures. So we have a small yard which we mow with a walk behind mower. The yard is divided into 3 pieces, each of the 3 older ones mows one area. They rotate weekly. We have them numbered 1-2-3. This has really worked well.


The boys are responsible for keeping the vehicles clean and the girls and I work on the keeping the house clean. Everyone has assigned jobs. If I need them to do my job or some awful/big job, they get paid. But they do not get an allowance or pay for regular activities.

We try to make sure that we get together with friends atleast once a week, the boys play with neighborhood boys more often. We are not putting up our pool this summer because we have a very intelligent, very active, very mischievous 2 yr old that scares the life off me quite frequently. So we hope to play at the local creeks. I bought some fun tubes etc.. plus the boy's friend owns a pool and they are planning on allowing us to swim atleast weekly.


We do lots of spontaneous fun. I like my schedule. I like routine. But I love last minute get togethers with friends and fun roadtrips.

We are still learning to work with Bubbie who is allergic to everything, including the air in the summer! So I foresee some long days of monopoly and dice.I am learning to just be. To just hang out with my kids. They will soon be grown up and then I can enjoy peace and quite.



Today for example: We got up late and got a slow start. While the kids did their chores, I washed up a huge stack of dishes from yesterday. We then made pancakes for breakfast and just hung out eating for over an hour. We watched Tony Evans on the computer then Bubbie and I napped. While the big kids played with the Polly Pockets. We had a very late, find your own lunch. Now the kids are playing with a new game I purchased while I waste time blogging. Nesiah just hangs out with us. She is happy just being in the middle of everything. This... this is the perfect kinda day.

Yes, we have behaviors, no we are not perfect. But if anyone feels the need to ruin the peace and calm, they will get send to their room for a long nap. This has taken years and years of training...

Theses two had so much fun in the creek. This kid biked 4 miles to the creek because I did not room to bring him along.

Our summer Schedule Outline...

Summer Schedule

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 

7:00 mom up, coffee, quiet time

7:30 Kids get up, get dressed and make beds

8:00 Barn Chores/Journi vacumn

8:30 Breakfast

9:00 Clean up

9:15 Bike Riding

9:30 Brain exercises /cleaning

11:30 Start lunch

12:30 lunch clean up, daily  job

12 to 2 Abraham/mom nap big kids listen to audio story

1 to 4 creek time, bike riding, ball playing, lego time

4:00 clean up and get ready for dinner 

4:30 chore time

5:00 dinner time

6:00 clean up  and odyssey time

6:30 outside play

7:30 bath, teeth, lotion

8:00 bedtime

Mow/Clean Barn on Friday~ wash vehicles on Saturday ~ clean bathrooms and vac on Saturday ~ 

Meals on Mondays ~ Laundry Thursday and Monday

May...

May has been an interesting month...
The last 2 weeks included two birthdays, homeschool evaluations, 3 kids to the dentist and a very short trip to Ohio.



My sister and her husband were celebrating their first pregnancy after 6 yrs of marriage. But sadly Baby Theodore did not get to live very long here on earth. We packed up the house in 3 hours and headed to Ohio to be with them. 

It was a very long 7 hour drive. Very.Long. with all 6 kids. We stayed at The Barn Inn one night. we had planned to go to my parents but supper, but it was really humid and they have a dog in the house. So we ended up ordering late night pizza to be delivered to our vacation house for dinner.

J and K had a beautiful service for baby Theodore. My kids think he must be playing with his uncle in Heaven. 

We drove to Ohio Friday morning and returned home Saturday evening, because Bubbie was reacting to something in the vacation house. He was wheezing, coughing and generally irritable and miserable! The drive home was not nearly as torturous as the drive to Ohio. But by Sunday morning, 5 of my kids were sick with fevers, coughs and colds.

We regrouped and recovered. Then we celebrated birthdays. Bubbie turned 2. We made a dairy, egg and protein free chocolate cake that he loved. I made a smiley face with allergen free chocolate chips, he was quite delighted and ate all of the chocolate chips before anyone else got cake!

He loves to look at books and was quite happy with his collection of birthday books. 

We tried some new hairstyles. She and I were both delighted with how these twists turned out!! She is tired of braids and straight hair... so this was a fun new style. 

Then we had another birthday. This time it was gluten free cake with peanutbutter and honey icing. Lee's favorite! 

For his birthday, he wanted to camp. But as we all know our family has really had to adjust to having a highly allergic child, so we decided to camp out back. 

My landlords/next door neighbors have a little cook out area on the corner of the two properties. We got permission to use it for the weekend. 

We put up the tents, made dinner in the charcoal grill. Because Bubbie is allergic to smoke.... We made dinner, pulled down the tents and dashed inside. Just as it started to pour down rain.
My amazing friend Ada had joined us for this birthday camp out. She knows how to make anything fun. She had brought a game and some glow in the dark toys.

We watched a movie and played lots of games. Ada and the kids slept in the living room. Sunday we had breakfast then played games all day long!! Once again life did not go as we had planned but the kids had a total blast and the birthday weekend was saved.



The last big thing we did was homeschool evals. I am so thankful for an evalautor that understands the importance of working with kids, the calling of homeschooling. She was so encouraging as I worried about the progress or lack of that I see with my kids.

We have another 2 weeks of craziness then school should slow down. Three of the kids had dental appointments. Two need extractions and sealants. So we get to make 4 more visits for those two kids, plus the other 4 kids need dental exams. Plus we have a big appointment coming up for Bubbie...

Food Issues

It started with formula. We tried the standard Good Start formula. It did not work well. We had lots of screaming and gas. We switched to Good Start Soothe, which worked but not great. So we switched to Alimentum. We tried soy in there at some point but that did not work at all.

So since he has been 6 months old, Bubbie has been on Alimentum. It continues to be his primary source of nutrition.

We started out trying the baby foods. We knew because of his digestive issues that we would need to be careful. So we tried one new food a week, 1/4 tsp on day one, 1/2 tsp on day 2 so on... 1/4 tsp of green beans, squash, peaches, peas and baby cereal all gave us hours of screaming. The kids begged me to stop feeding him.

It was a slow tedious process. We tried 4 foods per month on average, failing most of them. I spend an awful lot of money on expensive organic foods that he would eat 1/4 bite of and then never eat again. Sometime I would try a food then he would get sick on day 2-4, and we could never be sure that it wasn't just a virus.

My least favorite reaction was/is sleepless nights. When  Bubbi had foods that caused him discomfort it was not unusual for him to wake 3-7 times a night. Many a night I saw every hour on the clock.

Currently his favorite foods are apples, carrots, pretzels, potatoes, lamb, strawberries, broccoli and watermelon. The only milk he can drink is coconut milk, but he is not a fan of that. The only meat he can eat is lamb. That is also his only source of protein at this point.

We discovered that he is allergic (IgE) to fish and peanuts. Thankfully so far it does not seem to contact based and the rest of us can still eat peanut butter as long as we are careful to make sure he doesn't eat it. He carries an epi pen for these allergies. Yes, I taught all of my kids how to use an epi pen and to know the signs of an allergic reaction.

We continue to try new foods. Some are great. Some like the sheep milk yogurt start a change reaction of symptoms that leave me stumped.

We did some allergy testing when he was really young. It showed no IgE allergies. We did skin testing and again no reactions. However, his allergist and GI feel that his complicated health is not going to fit into their mold. They both have told me that they feel they will learn from him. It is discouraging and encouraging to hear this from specialists.

We did the breath test (this was a painful tearfilled hours of torture for him and me!) and discovered that he is fructose intolerant. But once again it is not typical because he can eat some fruits. Apples are normally a big trigger for fructose intolerance, yet it is his favorite food.


He is def lactose intolerant. We do not need any tests to determine that! We tried a toddler formula for him. But he reacted pretty severely to that.

It gets harder as he gets older. He wants to eat what we are eating. He loves to eat. I have from day 1 encouraged him to try new and different textures etc.. some of the food choices have been based on texture not nutritional value because I wanted to avoid eating sensory issues.

Some days he throws a fit because he wants to eat what we are eating. Some days he just sits quietly as we eat. That breaks a momma's heart. We try to find special treats that he can eat. It takes work and creativity. His meals must always be cooked separately. He is thrilled for his cup of ice at Mcd's when the rest of us get burgers and fries. He loves his carrots and broccoli when we eat chinese.


He is generally a very sweet child with a kind and gentle heart. Except when he as foods that make him feel miserable, then he becomes an angry, aggressive, whiney, clingy, mean child. He hits, kicks, screams and doesn't sleep. We can only imagine how miserable he feels.

I have joined several facebook support groups. I have learned so much from other moms. There are several other possible dx and by joining fb groups focused on those issues, I have been able to determine what he needs.

 People look at my pudgy toddler and are shocked that he eats only 10 or so foods. Generally people are respectful and don't feed him. Everyone has advise and ideas.

I have tried so many things and read so much info. Sometimes we just take a break. We stop all foods. We just give him his bottle. We all just need a break from food. Then we find motivation again and try again.


When we leave the house we must always carry an epi pen, an inhalor, asthma meds, benadryl and whatever food he will need. We get  a lot of flack for still allowing him to have his bottle. He can drink from a cup. He can eat table food. But the bottle is his source of nutrition.

Bottomline, this kid is complicated. We have had to alter our entire lives to adapt to his needs. My big kids have made sacrifices for his benefit. They have learned so much about compassion and sacrifice. They know the signs of an asthma attack, allergic food reaction, GI reaction, and are extremely protective of him. They are extremely protective of him and are not afraid to speak up for his needs in group environments or at sitters. Because forever families are forever and they love no matter what.

Spring time

Some happy pictures to celebrate our beautiful spring weather..


The chickens love being outside in the fresh air... 

Pool area turned into a sandbox..

hanging out in my favorite spot

watching airplanes high in the sky

fixing fences for Daisy

babies.. 

neighbors... 

flowers.. 

homeschool education... 

Baltimore, Ferguson, One Drop At a Time.

With all the chaos in our world today, it feels impossible to change anything. But today my children and I are going to visit our local police station with cookies for the officers. I want MY young, black men to trust and respect officers. I want the officers to trust and respect my young men. I want my fatherless, young, black men to fight for justice with their God given tools. I want them to NOT feel angry and powerless. I want them to be promoters of peace and respect for all authority. This starts at home with me... and my examples. Today I will make a tiny drop of difference. Join me

.

I also love this video by Tony Evans!

http://go.tonyevans.org/baltimore

Allergies and Eating My Words...

I used to laugh at all those paranoid moms. Those moms who had kids allergic to everything, the hovering mom who never let their kid out of sight.Then I became one.

It all started out simple enough. Colic, reflux, and some minor breathing issues. But then we had hours and hours of crying from about 6 weeks on. 5-6 ER visits before he was a year old. Specialists from the Children's hospital...


Because Bubbie was a foster child, I first had to take him to the clinic rather then my pediatrician.
The clinic did not hear my concerns. Thankfully I had a nurse friend who was able to walk me through the medical protocol. With her assistance and some amazing caseworkers who pushed hard we were finally able to get an appointment  with a pulmonary specialist at the closest Children's hospital. I was not allowed to go to the hospital of my preference because it would be to far for the biological parents.

However, before our appointment, we had another ER visit with breathing problems. The amazing ER Dr wrote a referral for GI and a pediatrician  for us. He also gave us a Dx of reflux. The ER Dr's referrals were an answer to prayer as it finally allowed us to see the additional specialists we needed.


So now we were at the 6 months mark with a foster baby who cried for hours, slept no more then 2 hours at a time,  needed special formula and had the dx of asthma (clinic had told us not possible to dx an infant). He also was on meds for reflux, and had possible FPIES.

I was on the fast track to learning about asthma and food intolerance. I joined several  fb support groups and picked the brains of my friends who had kids with similar problems.

The specialists were not exactly helpful, very little testing was done. Everyone was happy to let me just handle it. I had no clue what I was doing. This was a foster child, I was accountable to not only my agency but a rather unforgiving CYS caseworker. I worried that I would miss something important with this Bubbie's health.

 I spend many, many nights rocking a crying baby for hours, quite often my tears joined his. During this time I was extremely grateful for several close friends, one who was a nurse with kids who had similar food issues offered valuable advice, the other a friend who had a husband with severe asthma who also had excellent advice,two other friends always willing to drop everything and come help when I felt overwhelmed.

The winter cold that was minor issues for other kids turned into pneumonia, 3 times for my little one. . I was giving breathing treatments around the clock. I was constantly monitoring breathing issues, watching for the signs that I should go to the ER. I was thankful for a neighbor friend who would come in the middle of the night to stay with the other kids.



He even had a ride in an ambulance before he was 2.

We learned some little tricks. Things like warm steam baths with eucalyptus oil and chest PT to loosen the mucus. We found a vapor rub that kept his oxygen levels up. Each ER visit added to our knowledge. Friends recommended meds that worked for their kids. Soon we had quite the variety of meds, all prescribed by different Drs. It was confusing and concerning to me.



Finally as we were further along in the fostercare side of things, I got permission to seek a second opinion at a larger Children's Hospital. We were able to get in to see GI. It was a long day in a large city. The caseworker accompanied me to the long first appointment. We were given hope. The FPIES diagnoses was thrown out. Fructose Malabsorption and Lactose Intolerance were the new diagnoses after some awful tests!

I found that having my child seen by the specialists during his sick times really helped us. Because Bubbie is a chubby, cute, out going little guy no one really believed me that he had the issues he did.

The answer to a prayer with our allergist came after a long hard night. I debated several times if I should just go to the ER before morning. But I knew having the Dr see his breathing would help more then yet another trip to the ER. This Dr (whom I LOVE!) listened to my sick little boy. She gave me a referral for a Pulmonary Specialist and an ENT. She also gave us a prescription for a very large dose of the much hated steroids. For the first time I felt like someone heard me and understood why I freak out. She saw the labored breathing etc...


This Dr has been a great help. She really helped me figure out what Bubbie is allergic to. She gave me an Epi pen, an allergy emergency plan and an asthma plan. She communicates with GI and nutrition to help us connect the dots between his breathing issues and his eating issues. She went over all his meds. She listened to me on what works and what doesn't. She explained why things worked the way they do. She helped me find the best solutions for his allergy/asthma issues.

Finally at almost 2 years old we have an allergy and asthma plan that works. We still have flare ups. We still  have long sleepless nights. But I am confident in my tools. I know that I have a good team just a phone call away. I can check oxygen levels and listen to his lungs at home, I know the danger signs.

My next step is to find answers for the food issues. Watch for a post on that....

                                                   

Old McDonald Had a Farm..

I have decided to take some time to just regroup and recover. This past 3 months of paperwork and stress, in addition to the LONG winter gave me a bit burn out. I needed to recharge and rest.


So since the adoption, we have been relaxing. We are maintaining a strong school schedule, while doing a little bit of outside clean up, which is theraputic for me. I love diddling around outside.


We had to babysit yesterday but not the rest of the week. I am thankful for this break. I took a long nap while Bubbie napped today. Ahhh, it has been a long time since I did that. Unfortunately, my big kids took advantage of that time to get into some scraps. After a firm scolding on being trustworthy without direct supervision, they decided to try to earn that lost trust back by mowing for me!

I had a phone IEP, because at scheduling time, I had thought I would be babysitting today. Nesiah is doing well. Exceptionally well. We are so happy with her progress.

The kids have been enjoying the outside. I bought a bag of tennis balls, which have been put to good use the past week. The kids also bike every day. We live on the side of a hill. I can see for miles and miles. But best of all with the intersecting roads, the kids can ride for a good, hilly (very low traffic) mile, all within view of my kitchen windows.

We have planted our garden and sprayed weeds. Flower beds were cleaned out, all in the last week or so. It is so therapeutic for me.


We are also working on some animal projects. I actually have time and energy to get out to the barn and do extra work. The kids always do great at taking care of their animals. But I try to get out and check to make sure things are they should be. My kids are incredibly responsible with their animal care.

We currently have 18 chickens/roosters that Elizabeth takes care of.  We have 4 sheep, a steer and a pony that David takes care of.  We also baby goat and a golden retriever that Lee cares for. The girls also have a Bichon that they care for. Fayth had been responsible for the baby goat but lost her right to take care of her. Bubbie loves all the animals but especially the chickens and the baby. He insists on going to the barn every single day with the kids.


They love when I come  outside and we play with all the animals. I rarely have time or energy lately for fun stuff like this. Today was the perfect.

It is not all fun and games on our farm. Animal care can be hard. Animal care can be disgusting. But it is sooo valuable for our kids.

Our steer has not been gaining well and on Sunday was really sick. I did some research and thought I knew what was wrong. I prayed for wisdom and decided not to call the vet. But Ben get getting sicker and sicker... we were afraid he would die. So we prayed. We gathered together and prayed that God would heal our sick steer. He did. Ben was still off, but not looking like he was on his deathbed by Monday morning. I was able to stop by the farm store where an old timer gave me some tips on how to manage his care. He is well on the way to recovery now! We praise God for caring about steers and healing him!!


Yes, I know it makes us strange that we pray for steers. But we believe that God cares about every detail of our lives. He cares about helping single moms feed their kids. He does still work miracles. We attended a really good mission conference at a local church recently. It was so inspiring and encouraging. Here were people who did crazier things then us. They saw God work in ways we can only imagine. My kids sat spell bound for 2 hours, as the speakers shared stories! It has often been discussed since that. How God works... How He cares.... why He calls us to be crazy.. why He cares about every aspect of our lives.


We have an entire week ahead of us with no babysitting, no real responsibilities other then really working towards the goal of finishing school strong! I plan to do some cleaning, some animal care, some training with the kids.


What do you have planned for the summer?

He is adopted!

Some day I will blog our story. This story has God's fingerprints all over it. All over it. It was a long hard journey, but Moses is now adopted.



I got the phone call and 24 hours later I had an emergency kinship license and a 6 lb baby boy...

He was such a tiny peanut. 

We were so blessed that God gave us yet another April adoption date. It is almost to crazy to be true! 

We were blessed by everyone that came out to support us! 

I dare to believe in incredible things.

April.. it has long been a month of pain and answered prayers. Beauty from the ashes. Redemption. Spring. New life from the dead ground. Green grass. New growth.

I love spring. It feels like spring inside and out...

God has answered some pretty big prayers. I got my April miracle, even tho everyone said it was impossible. (they did everything they could to help make it happen! I am blessed with an amazing team of caseworkers/adoption workers)

My friend says today: "I am never quite sure if the things you do are stupid or just really truly a faith walk." Two hours later she comes back and says.. Well, it appears God has answered your prayers again. ;)

I dare to believe in incredible things, because you are the God of the impossible.   

Two years of praying. Two long years of worry, sleepness nights, tears. Sitting with my kids, praying together, fervently begging God to protect. He has answered. 

                        You hear me when I call.... whom shall I fear? You crush the enemy... 

The God of the angel armies is forever by my side... he is a friend of mine... 

It seemed that we heard this song EVERY single week for almost 16 months as we made a weekly drive to visits. It always encouraged me to keep praying...

Check back soon for the official update on this answered unbloggable prayer!

Ironic... Ten years ago I stood at the side of a wonderful man. I pledge my life to him, through sickness and health, until death do us part. We were blissfully happy. We took our honeymoon to Hawaii. We also planned a trip to Hawaii for our tenth wedding anniversary. 

                      

Through good times and bad times, they shared them together.. 

they cherished each moment... but now he is traveling ahead in the distance. but he made me this promise I hold in my heart. 

He said I will leave you a message on the far side of Jordan, I will draw you an arrow down in the sand. 

I will point to the place I will be waiting and we will go see Jesus hand in hand... 

They sang this song at his funeral. I always cry. every single time. I listen to it.

It is now my tenth wedding anniversary...

Hawaii is not even in my wildest dreams.. reality check: I dreamed of going to this excellent training for connected parenting this weekend. Even that won't happen!!  Instead I will be  babysitting for friends! 

I look around me. I see the 6 beautiful children God has given me. I am blessed by some pretty incredible friends. I am living a life, that I could not even have begun to imagine. I love this story written by God. The broken beautiful.. some days I lose sight of the good things God has done. Some days are hard. Some days the tears fall.

some days... I get tons of hugs. My son writes in his language arts " being loved and cared for means... being adopted into a loving family that cares for you". I get to watch the excitement of a little boy experience so many firsts. I get to watch the big boys grow in confidence, into Godly men. I get to watch my beautiful daughters, heal, grow, nurture, love and just enjoy life.

This is my current favorite song...

I know that I don't bring alot to the table..
Hold me together when I fall apart.
Your love will never change.. you can take broken things and make them beautiful..
You say that you will turn my weeping into dancing....