A Wonderful Young Man

Time seems to be going by so quickly.  I look at all our pictures from over the years and am in awe of how God has been so faithful in all things.  The miracles in our lives and how God brought each child into our home.  How far they have all come.  How old they are all getting!  I am amazed at it all.

As these middle children are hitting their upper teens it has been hard in some ways.  Hard to learn how to let them go a little more each year, to trust the Lord and all we have taught them.  I tend to like to hold tight to each of the children.  Protect them from  making mistakes and try to keep them close.  It is hard for me, to start handing over to them, the responsibility of making their own decisions and way in life.  I know many of them will always live with us because of their special needs but we still want them to become as independent as possible, have goals and dreams and strive to achieve them.

Zeke recently had a birthday and turned 17 years old.  He is the middle, middle.  :)  Over the last year, I have seen a huge shift in him, not only in appearance but in maturity and in the way he sees life.  He is making good choices.  He does not get upset as easily and if he does, gets over it much quicker.  He is much more relaxed in who he is and in interacting with his siblings.  Having autism makes social situations harder for him, to participate and navigate.  He is more confident lately.  I have seen him, volunteering to participate, in going on outings when invited. (especially if there is going to be food!) Or at least responding when talked to and not just standing far away from everyone else in crowds.  I have also seen him start to tease his siblings in a joking way to make them laugh, especially with Carolyn and Elizabeth. These are all huge for him.

I don't know why it is so hard for me to see them growing up, when I also see that God is doing such a work in them and they are maturing into such nice young people.  It is all God and again I am just so amazed.  Truly, they are my friends as well as siblings much of the time.  We get along well.

Zeke has grown into a quiet, kind young man.  He is helpful and always does his best at what he is asked to do.  He loves going to the work program he is enrolled in at school and every place he has worked, loves having him work there.  In his spare time he makes movies for Tim and I for our movie night.  Short 10 minute movies using his wooden railway or stop animation with legos.  He enjoys food and loves animals.  He has a little therapy/companion dog that is always in his arms when he is home.  It even sleeps with him and helps keep him calm.  He has had this little dog since it was six weeks old and it will be 14 years old in a few months.  Most of our pictures of him growing up have this little dog in his arms.

Zeke wanted to eat at home for his birthday meal.  He wanted his dad to grill out and for me to make home made mac-cheese.  He wanted my sister to make home made cheesecake with blueberries for his cake.  He loved it! My sister and her family also took him to the lego store.  He had a ball!

Zeke came to be our son because of a God given dream.  He has been through so much but has been such a good son and brother to his family.  He is a very kind and gentle soul and we have been very blessed to be chosen to raise him.  He is becoming a wonderful young man.  We love you!  Happy Birthday Zeke!

I pray God is with you now and always.  That He will have His mighty hand of protection upon you and lead you in the path He chooses for you.   That He will have a heart towards you as you have a heart towards Him.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

Love, Dad, mom, Stephen, Antonio, William, Carolyn, Elizabeth, Billy, Timothy, Kinsley and Anna-Kate

The End Of Summer

A beautiful rainbow over a farm close to us.

We have had a great summer.  It was much less busy than normal because of Elizabeth's back surgery.  I wanted to keep things low key and us at home as much as possible, so I cleared the schedule as much as I could.  It was wonderful.  I was glad I did, as I kept up with the extra produce, from the garden, so much easier this year.  We had many melons, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, black berries, pears, cherries and a over abundance of squash and tomatoes.  I made lots of squash soup and pickled squash.  I also made lots of tomato soup, home made ketchup and chili sauce.  Everything is pretty much done now except we are still getting a lot of tomatoes and the grapes are about to be ready.  We also have one Asian pear tree that is not quite ripe yet.  The figs are ripe right now and I have made one batch of fig preserves and made some oatmeal fig bars for the children as well.

I can tell fall is in the air.  The nights are getting cooler than they were and when I get up early in the morning, to go out to milk the goats, the air smells and feels like fall.  I am preparing to breed two goats, to kid this winter for milk. 

Stephen just bought his first home!  It is a beautiful condo just minutes from his place of employment.  It is also walking distance from an urgent care and some stores.  It has very nice amenities, like a pool and is a gated community.  It seems like a nice neighborhood. I am so happy for him.

Antonio has had a few issues this summer.  He started hallucinating about six weeks ago.  He would talk to people who were not there and think he was somewhere he was not.  I was thinking maybe it was the progression of his condition, as nothing else had changed.  I took him to the doctors and they said a bladder infection could cause these symptoms.  So we tested and much to my surprise, he did have one.  He stopped hallucinating three days into the treatment but started again about two days after the medication was completed.  So I took him back to the doctors and we got a stronger antibiotic for him.  He has only been on it a day.  I pray it helps.  He also still keeps having relapses from the botox reaction that he had last July.  He does good for three or four weeks and then has a relapse where he doesn't smile or talk and has trouble moving again for a week or so.

Over all, he is doing well with no major issues going on.  Just my sweet, young man, son.  :)

William has completed three parts to his GED.  He has been going to our local college and working one on one with a tutor, for over a year now, under the disabilities ACT.  He has prepared for, taken and passed three sections of the GED and is now almost ready to take the last portion.  The hardest for him...math.  Once he passes this last section, he will have his GED!  We have been talking a lot about what direction to go from here, as far as his education is concerned.  He would really like to get a job and be self-sefficent some day.

It has been difficult, with his autism and learning disabilities to do any main stream learning for him.  Also, his health has not been the most stable since he was 16.  Tim and I have taken him to many specialist, over the last many years and so far, the professionals pretty much agree,  that his symptoms are from some sort of auto immune disease.  We have been praying fervently for years for his healing and for answers about his health.  All auto immune disease is inflammation related and diet/sensitivities to foods and lack of certain dietary nutrients, vitamins and minerals are usually the cause of debilitating symptoms.  About a month ago I told him I was taking over his diet.  He was not happy but very complaint as he always is for me. He has been eating pure food 95 percent of the time for the last month and has lost 15 pounds.  We were not doing this for weight loss but he did need to lose some.  He also has had only a few head aches which used to be an almost daily ailment.  He also is not having the debilitating crashes of energy and terrible fatigue that he was having.  He has had a few "crashes" but they have been mild and have not taken him days to recover from.  He is eating a whole food diet and taking many supplements.  It has been good to see him feeling better every day.  God is so good.

Carolyn has been such a big help this summer, as she always is.  We have spent a lot of time together taking care of the small children and cooking down produce in the kitchen.

She has been saving her money and bought a baby guinea pig a week ago.  It was 21 days old when she got it.  To cute.  She named it Edward.

Zeke had a relaxing, fun, summer and is back to school.

He is in the high school program for autistic children this year and is having a really good time.  He has PE every day which he loves.  He will be going into two main stream classes, with a para pro and the rest of his education will be in his closed classroom.  He will be learning life skills, taking educational outings into the community and doing job training at different local places of business, in rotation this year.  That is the biggest reason why we put him in public school last  year.  So that he would be in this job program this year.  If he stays in this program through out his high school career, they will be doing job training for these four years and help him get a job when he graduates.  I could never give him this kind of opportunity schooling him at home.

Elizabeth is doing well from her surgery.  It was a very necessary surgery and hard to go though but well worth it.  She is so much straighter and taller.

These pictures were taken at therapy to compare to the before surgery photos.

She has a lot more confidence since the surgery. She was becoming very self conscience about how her back looked.

The biggest plus, is that she is no longer having the shortness of breath, heart palpitations and blue/dizzy spells she was having before the surgery.  So these symptoms were positional, from the weight of her crooked spine, pressing on her enlarged heart and lungs.  She is feeling well.  She is in PT to work on stretching some very tight areas, that were crooked for so many years and to get strong again.  She is still a bit unsteady when she walks or turns but is doing better all the time.  She is also back to ballet and just doing what she can tolerate right now.  That in itself is wonderful therapy and very motivating and strengthening.  I never knew how much strength it took to do ballet, till my girls were in it.  It takes a lot of core strength and very strong muscles.

I took the girls to the Gem and Mineral show, that is in a town close by, once a year.  Elizabeth used some of her own money and picked out a ring setting and a gem and they built her a ring.

It turned out very pretty.

Billy is in gymnastics and dance this year.

He is really enjoying it.

I love this picture.  He sat down to have his picture taken with the dance studio mascot and when she leaned in to have her picture taken with him, her ear fell over his head.  He got an ear in the face.  :) His expression is so funny.

He falls asleep as soon as we get home every night he goes.

He made a necklace at dance camp.

That is so good for him!  As he is my over active little guy.  I am also doing some light home schooling with him right now.  He is so smart and is just loving it.

Timmy and Kinsley are taking tumbling class for two and three year olds.

They are having a ball together in there.

It is so good for them both.  At the end of class, they do a little pom pom routine that the kids love.

Especially Timmy, with his autism.

Timothy would just shake those sparkly poms in the air in front of his eyes self stemming for hours, if they would let him!

Oh the joy a sparkly bunch of plastic strings bring!

Kinsley has hypoplasia of the corpus callosum.  With that diagnosis, comes a whole lot of medical conditions, that she will need to be closely monitored for, for the rest of her life, as at anytime several body systems could fail.  She has to have blood work done every six months.  The last testing showed she was in adrenal failure.  So she had to go and have a cortisole test done "in patient" at the children's hospital.

She did not like it that they wrapped her hand in a diaper to cover her IV port.

The test came back that she is not in total failure but needs to be watched closely in that area.  So the doctors will be keeping a closer eye on her cortisole levels at each testing now.  We are very familiar with this condition, as Tim has Addisons disease.

She is loving the tumbling class and pom poms.  At this place, they do not have a dance class for her age group.  She really wants to dance.

She stands at the two way mirror and watches Billy in his dance class and copies all the movements he is making. :)  Maybe next year I will find a dance class for her.

Many people have asked about our youngest.  There will be a post coming soon.  :)

We are very excited and rejuvenated going into fall this year.  I am ready to start fall cleaning and sorting things down.  Home schooling has begun and we are slowly getting back into a good routine.  Even with the harsh world events going on all around us, God is so faithful and good to us, always.

May God be with you now and always.  May He direct you in the way He wishes for your lives, as you live and grow in Him.

Psalms 2:11-12  Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Blessings,

susan

Another Dancer In Our Future?

When I mentioned that Kinsley loves to dance and tries to copy the girls when they practice ballet, I had several request for pictures.  These pictures are a little dark and are not very good but will give you the idea of how much little Kinsley pays attention to the details, of what the girls are doing, when they practice.  Also, how she tries to imitate them.  She has been doing this for the past several months and she is not even two yet.

Below, Carolyn is practicing to a video.  Kinsley pays very close attention to what the girls are doing on the screen. 

She uses the piano for a balance beam when she needs stability.

 She even tries to make her arms do what the girls do.

 And her legs...with a little help.

 She really likes it and I think we might have another dancer in lessons soon.

 Round and round.

She acts pretty pleased with herself when she thinks she did a good job.  

This is such a huge miracle!  If you would like a reminder of all her struggles as an infant, you can read here.  This little girl...who has Hypoplasia of the Corpus Callosum.  That has only a small band connecting the two halves of her brain...that had to learn differently to co-ordinate her body to roll over, crawl and walk... By God helping her brain find new pathways to do these things... This little girl who has Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy... That has very weak muscles... This little girl who has Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and is missing some optic nerves in both eyes... can dance!  Can see enough to imitate!  She is a miracle!  We are in awe of the work God is doing in her body and life.

We all love this sweet little girl so very much.  She brings us great joy.  When choosing her middle name, we chose Joy, to honor her grandmother by bearing her name and because of how joyous Kinsley is.

I pray she will have the anointing of God on her and her life always.  That she will be greatly used of Him and choose to live for Him all the days of her life.  She is such a gift from the Lord.

1 Peter 1:8-9  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Blessings,
susan     

Catching Up (Part 1)

Found our silly 15 year old cat, out on the porch, in the kids doll house.  So funny!

I have had many people ask how the new baby is doing and others in our home.  I looked back thru the blog and I guess it has been a while since I have written a "catch up" post, so here it is!

I feel like we have turned a corner lately.  A few things have happened that have made my life just a tad easier and all of it adds up to me feeling more energetic and better.  We went thru a season of life being happy but very hard and that all seems to be shifting for the better.  We are even starting to get back into a daily routine!   All the Glory to God for his mercy, grace and faithfulness.

My little pistol shrimp, peeking out of his cave, from under a blue coral.

The biggest thing is... Tim and I have went a year and a half without any kind of break from the foster children. We love them all dearly but several of them are hard children by themselves and add them all together and they can be a real handful.  Our county has such strict guidelines about who can watch the foster children for us, that we have not had any time to ourselves or away from the foster children for hardly a moment.  If we have to run to the store, we have to take them all with us.  If we have to run errands, I have to take all of them in every place we go.  They have had to be with Tim or I, at all times.  It gets exhausting.  I dreaded going to town for any reason, as it was just so much time, effort and work.  The toddlers still don't behave well in public and add to that the two infants.  Climbing in and out of the bus.  Setting up all the strollers and getting them all in and out of car seats.  Whew!  Plus my other older children.  In a year and a half we had one foster appreciation night where DFCS babysat the foster children and sent us all out to dinner.  Then one other day where Tim and I had to go to a CPR class and a foster friend cared for the toddlers for us.  Anyone watching the children basically needed to go thru everything a foster parent would, in order to watch the children for us.  From background checks to finger printing, to home inspections and in most cases, even taking the foster parenting classes.  Who would do that for us, just so we have a back up sitter?  The toddlers are a handful and add to that baby "K" and baby "A" and that would be a lot on anyone to watch for us.   Tim and I have been taking turns keeping all the children once a month so the other can get out alone or with a few of our older children, to have time to ourselves and away.  Tim does guys night out with our older boys and I do one for the girls or I go antiquing with my dad once a month.  I love all of our children but one day or evening away, can be very recharging. 

Zeke and baby "K" reading together!

Our county recently reconsidered and changed their position on who can baby sit and what the regulations are.  William is 19 years old, a mature and responsible young man.  He also, has already had a background check, been finger printed, drug tested and the whole nine yards, as an adult in our foster care approved home.   He was recently approved as a sitter in our home!  It has made a world of difference for me.  If I have to run to the store or a doctors appointment, I can leave a child with him.  I always only do it if he is willing and leave the easiest one with him. I would never leave him with all four and the longest I have had him watch a child for me, as if now, has been an hour and a half.  But what a difference!   I can also run into a store, while in town and not have to unload all of the children to take with me for every errand.  If I need to run into the store and get baby formula or something, if William is in the bus, I can just run in by myself and it takes me a fraction of the time as it would to unload everyone and take them all in.  Having this option has made a huge difference in my life.  I don't often use it, but if I need it. It is there for me/us.  I am so grateful for having this in our lives now.

Another thing that has made life easier is that Baby "A" has started sleeping straight thru the whole night.  Thank you God!

From the time I put her down, till we wake up in the morning and the sun comes up!  Ahhhh.  It is amazing what sleep does for a body and mind!  God is so good.  She is also taking five ounces a feeding, latching better, less reflux episodes and going longer in between feedings.  Wow, just amazing how this simplifies life.  Since I am writing about her, I guess I will start here.  Baby "A" is doing wonderful.  She is nearly three months old already.  She is in a size 3-6 months cloths.  She makes eye contact, coos and tries to talk/babble.  She bats at toys I hang over her head and is trying to roll over.  She seems on target so far and I have no concerns about her physical or cognitive abilities at this time.  Praise God!, considering she is a meth baby!  She is a very good baby but has a little bit of a temper. The anxiety she was experiencing all evening, every evening, since the day she was born, has just about subsided.  We love her dearly and feel blessed to have her in our home.  Her biological  mom recently got arrested and is now in jail again.  I pray for her salvation.  She named four possible fathers in this case so we do not know who the dad is at this time.

"K" is doing fantastic! 

God has done such a miracle in this little girl.  She is pulling to a stand at the couch and can ride on a "ride on" toy.  She is self feeding chopped up table foods and has learned to mange drinking from a thin straw with out choking!  This is a huge deal, as she aspirates on thin liquids and needs her bottles thickened.  It seems if she tucks her chin to drink from a straw instead of tipping her head back, like from a cup or bottle, she can manage small amounts of liquid without choking!  Praise God!  We are moving her out of feeding therapy at this time and putting her into speech, as she is still not talking or babbling much.  She has always been a very quiet child but she understands everything we say.  I can ask her to bring me her shoes and she will do it.  She is very obedient and tenderhearted.  She reminds me of William when he was younger.

"T" is doing very well. 

I finally cut his hair as he was pulling it out so much.  I hope with it being short he will stop this bad habit.  We have been working on potty training faithfully for the last five  months with very little progress but we are going to keep at it, hoping it will click at some point.  He is a very well behaved child but has a few melt downs a week because of sensory issues.(These last for up to an hour)  He definitely acts like he is on the autism spectrum.  He is starting to feed himself a little bit which has been nice!  I was never able to give him silverware because he would hurt himself with the fork or bang his head hard, with the spoon.   I bought him a softish rubber fork and he is doing very well with it.  He will load it himself a few times thru the meal and if I load it, he will put it into his own mouth.  This is huge.  I have had to feed this child every mouthful of food almost the entire year and a half he has been here.  I see him being able to self feed himself by the end of the year for sure.  Which will free up some of my time during meals.  I love this little guy.  He is very close to my heart and a mamas boy thru and thru.

"B" is progressing in many areas and doing the same in others.   

Zeke and "B" in the pool.  We have a salt water system and it ate away the top rails of the pool.  Those are being replaced next week.

His behavior is still very trying all day every day but he is learning to play in a healthy way for longer and longer periods of time.  I can still not allow him to be around the other younger children as he hurts them.  But he is making progress.  He is also beginning to self feed!  I have to tell him to take every bite but that is better then me sitting thru every meal, feeding all the children myself, by hand.  If I tell him, "take a bite", he will.  He still can not sit by anyone at the table or he throws their food on the floor and hits and pinches those around him.  But he is making slow progress in that area as well.  He is still taking a very long time to chew and pockets his food in his cheek.  So he spends a lot of time in the kitchen eating.  But over all, he is doing better all the time and I can see such improvement in him.  He is still very impulsive and has a very short attention span but he is brilliant and loves to learn.  He is way ahead of his peers.  I see such a bright future for this little guy!  

"K", "T" and "B"'s adoptions are in the works and should be completed by mid September.  I can't wait to introduce them to you, not only their real names but their sweet faces as well.

This post has gotten a little long.  I will update on the older children in the next post!

Romans 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Blessings,

susan

All Is Well

Life has taken on a whole new meaning of the word "busy" for me since the arrival of baby"A".  I have been stretched to my limit many days (and nights)  and can feel the prayers and support of all who have been praying for us.  Thank you so much.  God is so good! 

Life is busy but good and a lot is happening. 

TPR court took place on the toddlers case and Termination of Parental Rights was granted.  They are now "wards of the state" and their case has been sent to the side of DFCS that deals with adoptions.  I met their new adoption worker on Monday.  We are in the process of adoption now, with these two, by the grace of God.  We shall see how it goes and what happens.

TPR court has also happened in baby "K"'s case.  She is now also a ward of the state and her case will be transferred to the adoption side of DFCS on July 1st.  So we will start the process of adoption on her as well next month.  We have not done an adoption with the state in many years, so I have no idea how long the process is or what to expect with all the new rules and regulations.

We have had two court hearings on the new baby but have not had the 72 day hearing yet.  That is the big hearing where all evidence is presented by both sides (bio mom and dad vs DFCS) and the judge sets the case plan.  DFCS has a lot of work to do before court, as the biological mom identified many possible dads that they need to do DNA testing on.  It is a new case, even though she is 1/2 sister to the toddlers.  So we wait and see how her story and case will unfold over time.

My days are FULL of child care, feeding and diaper changes non-stop.  It can be very tiring and often I am needed at the same time, for different things by many children.  I am grateful for the older children's love and helpfulness with all the little ones when I need it.  

Our little baby "A" has started sleeping longer hours thru the night! 

At least 6 hours at a time, which has helped me tremendously.  Glory to God.  I can see she is not far from sleeping thru the night.  She just turned 5 weeks old.  :)  So she is regulating day and night routines early.  She is a good baby and I am grateful for that.  She has filled out nicely and grown so much already.

Baby "K"....hmm.  I am not sure at what point to stop calling her baby "K"!!!  She is getting so big! 

She is the sweetest soul and I can always count on her to be even tempered and in good spirits.  She is doing very well in therapy.  She crawls like a champ now and can pull up onto her knees at the couch for a few moments.  Her legs are getting stronger but still weak.  So we daily hold her on her feet and work on building those leg muscles in hopes she will walk by her next birthday.  She plays very quietly and hardly makes a noise.  So she is in speech therapy now as well as feeding therapy.  She loves to eat and is eating textures much better but still needs her liquids thickened or she aspirates.  She has always struggled with nursing.  I am trying to get her to use a fine straw at meals.  With her head tucked down to drink she does not choke at all. 

"T" is a sweet little guy that is a little stubborn but tries to please us.  He is good most of the time now. 

I finally cut his hair!

His biggest challenge is behaviors that are from sensory issues.  He can cry for an hour or more non-stop and hits his head when over stimulated.   We have to watch him and keep things low key for him.   He has outburst about every other day or so.   "T" is very immature for his age (he will be three in four months)  and tested out at a 15 month old level in recent testing.  He still likes cause and effect toys and baby toys.  He and baby "K" interact very well together.  They play in the playroom together nicely.

"B" has the most challenging behaviors.  He can not help the fact that he is so impulsive and can not sit still for even a  moment. 

But much of his bad behavior he can definitely help.  Some of his behavior is from his terrible past but mostly it is just from lack of a discipline that is effective.  He can be very mean and that is hard.  Time out is the only discipline we can use with small children and he could care less to have to sit when he does anything bad.  It is non-stop all day long and I have to keep him separated from the other children or he quickly ends up hurting someone.  He is very, very smart for his age though and so much fun to talk to and teach.  There is so much potential in this little guy.  :)


The  other older children are all doing very well.  They are enjoying their summer off from home schooling.  They are doing some projects around the farm that need doing, swimming and playing outside like kids should do.

 

Carolyn loved this huge bullfrog she found.  She wanted to keep him so badly.

We have a little Pionus Parrot named Kiwi. 

We got him five years or so ago, as a just weaned, hand fed, baby.  He acts a lot like a toddler.  He is messy and noisy.  :)  But we love him.  He chatters, sings and talks all day long.  He gets into a lot of mischief.  Elizabeth's desk is next to his cage and if she is deep in thought in school work, he will sneak down the side of his cage and nip her or pull her hair.  He also will take toys over to that side of the top of his cage and drop them down on her head!  He can be a real stink pot!   Elizabeth asked to use the crayons to color one day last week and she forgot to put them up at lunch time.  I went into the school room a little while later to find at least 30 crayons shredded to bits!  Lesson of the week.  Don't leave crayons within Kiwi's reach. 

I was feeding the baby a bottle, watching my fish tank and saw this little stripped snail cleaning my rock work, with four baby snails cleaning his shell!  So funny.

Antonio at a recent family picnic.

Even though I am very busy we are all having a lot of fun and enjoying our time together without the added work or stress of home schooling.  God is so good.  All is well.

Psalm 34:8  O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Blessings,

susan