June 2018 - Catching Up!

I have done a lot of birthday posts lately.  I try not to share much of what is going on here in a birthday post and keep those posts focused on the birthday I am sharing about.  So today, I will do a bit of a catch up post.

Tim and I recently had to go somewhere that required us to dress up a bit.  A rare photo of us together dressed up.  :)

In March we had a scare with Anna-Kate.  She woke up one morning disoriented and within a few minutes started having seizures.  She had never had seizures before.  I rushed her to the pediatric doctor and they sent her, by ambulance, to our closest children's hospital.  They kept her over night, hooked up for EEG and video monitoring.  It was very scary but extra concerning and upsetting, as she is my youngest and always so healthy.  When all was said and done, it was because of low iron.  Since getting her home, placing her on iron supplementation and kale smoothies daily, she has had no other issues.  I had no idea that could even happen or that her iron had gotten low, as we eat so healthy here.  They said it was just the way her body does not metabolize iron properly.  Possibly because of bio-moms drug use while pregnant.  So, it was an easy fix and something to keep a close eye on, Praise be to God!

The children have discovered that having camp outs in the living room is fun!

 They have enjoyed lots of playground time, swimming and several fun outings.  We recently went to the aquarium.

Timothy and Billy

My own little butterfly in the butterfly room!

Daddy and his baby girl!

My two oldest still at home!

I pair these two up a lot together on outings, as Kinsley is so verbal that Elizabeth does not try to get away with anything. Elizabeth has come a long way and is doing much better.

Carolyn and Zeke participated in our county's Special Olympics!

Last year Zeke was one of the torch runners this year they both were but I could not be in both areas of running at the same time so did not get a picture of Zeke. Here is Carolyn carrying the torch.  She said it was very heavy!

Zeke likes to run so he was in some running events.

Carolyn was in 1 running event and the softball throw.

My special winners!

The Nichols cheering section!!

We had ballet recitals!

Kinsley did ballet in the winter recital and tap in this one!  She loves it!  It is so good for her from a therapy standpoint.  :)

My beautiful young lady!  Both my older girls are so graceful compared to me.  :)

On her way!  Almost showtime!  She does jazz and ballet on point!  Now that takes grace and incredible core  muscle strength.  What a miracle I have seen in her since she was born.  No one would ever believe all her diagnosis and what she can do now!  Her calves are solid rock muscle.  I tease her and tell her that they are no longer calf muscles but cows!

We had three batches of baby goats born!  Can you believe out of 8 goats born this spring only one was a girl!

 I have been gardening!  We have already been through and enjoyed strawberry season and cherry season.  We are just begining blueberry season and am currently enjoying squash, tomatoes, peppers and mulberries!

Some of my garden areas and our invaluable guardian dog Yellow.

I took some of our children to the special needs Hawaiian luau party in town!

Antonio had a wonderful time!

They all did!

I have never taken Timmy to a dance before.  Boy, did this boy dance and dance.  What joy came pouring out of every cell in  his body!

Antonio is on week six of a good spell.  It is the longest good spell he has ever had.  He has had a few small outburst but nothing like the weeks of misery in the past three years.  We are fervently praying for his complete healing and that we never have to go back to that dark place for him again.

My sweet William is growing up so much.  He is currently away on a mission trip for 10 days.   Yippee! for him...ouch for me!   I am tired and ready for his return.  God has helped me to get everything done that needs doing in his absence but I am ready for a rest and for him to be home.  We pay him to do so much around here.  I have been slowly making other arrangements for many of his responsibilities as he is growing up and moving on with his own education and path in life and we need to be able to function without his help around here.  One very special thing that happened last month for him is that...One  year ago, he was in the GED program and participating in the graduation ceremony as a graduate.  This year at that schools graduation program, he was the Keynote speaker.  As he is the EAGLE award representative for 2018.  What a difference a year can make.

The other big thing going on here is that Tim's parents move in tomorrow to live with us permanently.  Please keep us uplifted in prayer.

God is so very good and I feel we are shifting into a whole new season of life for us.  I never know if God will bring more children into our lives or not...but as of right now I have no infants.  The only one in diapers is Antonio.  This fall I will be home schooling three of the four youngest.  These early years of homeschooling are very time consuming, so I am clearing my life and days of as much clutter as possible.  Trying to really simplify our life, so I can pour into our children what they need in their foundation to be successful.  We do a lot of hands on homeschooling, so we get messy and have fun. I am looking for a nurse/sitter to come and help me (mornings) with Antonio five days a week.  I am not able to do Antonio's morning care, long term, with out help, now that William is in college and is not always available to help.  I guess what I am saying, is that my life is shifting to be busy in other ways than it has been in the last four or five years.  Out of intense baby/therapy/appointment mode, to stay at home and really do some things at home that need just as much diligent attention.

Psalms 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

May God pour out his abundant blessings, health and peace into your lives.  May He lead and guide you in all areas, showing you His path for your life as you live and grow in Him.

Blessings,

susan  

A Little Taste of Spring and Other Things

Sand cherry blossoms

It has been feeling very spring like around here lately.  The daffodils have already bloomed and faded and the fruit trees are in full bloom.  So pretty.  Elizabeth is my gardening helper and she and I have already started preparing the gardens for spring planting.  Over the winter I had a lot of ideas on improvements to the beds as well.  A few years ago I planted a lot of different fruit trees in huge barrels and pots and some in the ground.  I have now seen which ones are going to do well in this area and which are not, so we have been redoing a lot of the tree areas as well.  I want only easy and productive trees and bushes that we don't need to spray to have decent fruit from.

Carolyn taking one of her dogs for a walk.

I have been making some huge changes around here lately that has kept us very busy as well.  We have been preparing for Tim's parents to come to live with us and that has taken a lot of time and labor.  I know Gods hand is in it and all will be well.  Keep us in your prayers!

Carolyn has been wanting her own room for years and she will be 18 very soon.  She has always shared a room with someone and over the last several years she has shared a room with three younger sisters!  She has always been very good about it.  She is such a good sister and has never complained at all.  It has just been a dream of hers to have her own room.  We are going to finish off our front porch very soon and make 1/3 of it a room for her.  She has been planing and dreaming for so long.  Last week, we cleaned the whole front porch.  Took a lot to the donation center and rearranged what we kept.  One third of the front porch has been Zekes area for many years.  He does his filming and stop animation projects, out there, where it is quiet.  We are redoing his area as well.  Even though Carolyn's area is not totally ready for permanent occupancy, she moved her stuff out there and set it up as if she is living out there.  She is spending her evenings out there enjoying her privacy and quiet.  It warms my heart to be able to gift this desire to her, as she is such a precious soul to me.

I recently had a birthday.  I turned 50!  Tim got me a puppy I wanted...sweet, patient man that he is.  :)

My new baby "Baby".

She has grown so much already!

We have several therapy dogs here that are very loyal to their child and do not want anything to do with anyone else, as it should be.  I have my sweet poodle, Pickles.  Pickles, is getting very old and sleeps most days now.  She has been the best dog I have ever had the pleasure of having, as a companion.  She is helping me break in my new recruit and teaching her the ropes.  :)

I have been praying a lot lately on ways to make things in our lives more functional.  Things to cut out of our lives that we don't need anymore.  Ways to make things simpler.  Re-evaluate, if there are better more efficient ways to do things.  I am trying to put my hands on everything in our home and decide weather we need it or not, as I don't want any clutter around.  The things and improvements God has brought to my attention has been amazing.  Believe it or not, I have decided to stop milking our goats.  I have been milking for 20 years!  I get between a half gallon and a gallon a day depending on which one or two I milk.  The daily milking time, the clean up and time it takes to make cheese and such is a lot.  We now only use a quart or so of milk a week.  There is no need anymore for me to go thru all that work and making cheese to use up all the milk anymore.  God is so good.

One of the triplet babies born this month.

We are keeping our goats to keep the pastures ate down and in case I need to milk again or want to for a season but for now have stopped.  I have now not been milking for a few weeks and it feels so good to have more time in my life from all that entailed.

I have also stopped all therapy sessions.

Kinsley on her last therapy day!

I have been taking children to therapy every week faithfully for the last 20 years or so.  Kinsley was my last child in therapy and we have found other ways for her to meet her needs.  I now have no weekly appointments I have to leave our home for.  Only those that are check ups and such that come around every six months or once a year.  I am getting so much more done daily by not HAVING to leave the house at all.  I have went thru each room of our home and am slowly rethinking and redoing things for quick and easy function.  Things like building huge shelves in Antonio's bathroom to hold all his diapers, wipes and such so everything we need to care for him is right there and not stored all over the house.  I still have to finish off the inset shelf area for toiletries. 

As I am doing all of this I am spring cleaning all the rooms and trying to make more room so the house feels more open.  God is so good and things are really looking wonderful.  I am also feeling so much lighter and better in many ways by getting so much fluff gone out of our lives.  I have waited for this season of our lives to come for a long time and feel that at least for a space of time things will be a bit easier in many ways, even though our days are always busy and hard, with such a large family, with so many special needs.

I am going to do a bit of a photo dump on you now.  :)

Pictures of the girls at their last recital!

Some snapshots of my sweeties.  :)

Snowball fight between William and Billy!

Anna-Kate's first time seeing snow.  I love the look of awe and wonderment on her little, sweet, face.

My two Timothy's. 

Antonio playing his piano.

Zeke and one of our many barn cats.  He carries that cat around a lot when he is outside, every day doing chores.

One of our many stops on grocery day.  Gotta eat.  :)

Psalm 79:9  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name's sake.

May God pour out His abundant blessings upon you and your life this spring as you live and grow in Him!

blessings,

susan

Happy Spring! 4/2017

Spring has sprung and we have been spending a large amount of time outside.  Summer is too hot and humid for my children with special  needs to be outside and winter to cold.  Spring and fall are our "get outside" and enjoy the weather months!

It has been so nice to see things green!

We had such a long, harsh, drought last year, things were brown, dead and dying for months.  We have gotten a lot of rain this winter but our water table is still not up to where it should be for this time of year.  There is a hay shortage around here because people had to feed hay to their livestock all summer and winter last year.

There was no grass.  There was no second cutting of hay either.  Everything just turned to dust and blew away.  This year I am stocking our barn with hay early, just in case.  :)

We are preparing all the raised grow beds for planting.  Lots of weeding to do!

Speaking of weather...on March 3rd we had a terrible hail storm in our area.  Carolyn and I were out in the barn when it hit.  It was terrifying.  We prayed fervently for safety.  It was the largest hail I had ever witnessed in my whole life.  We found many pieces that were tennis ball sized but most were the size of a peach.  Here is a picture taken of a few next to a quarter.

It did a lot of damage in our whole area.  Everyone's roofs in our area needed to be replaced, as well as our house siding.  Our is vinyl siding and it was cracked, pitted and full of holes.  Others had aluminum siding and it was dented terribly.  Our vehicles were also dented and the mirrors were broken off Williams truck.  The chicken coop windows were broken, as well as some windows down at my dads house.  (We live on the same piece of property)  It made us all think of the scripture in Revelation 16 that describes the hail storm that will one day happen with hail stones weighing 100 pounds each...Lord help us.

Tim and I both had birthdays recently.  We are the same age and born about a month apart.  We celebrated by spending the day together alone!  It was so nice.  I am so blessed to have Tim as my husband.  Tim's health has stabilized and he is doing well.  He has to eat a special diet for his kidneys and make sure he gets enough rest.  He still needs to put on some more weight but is doing well.  God is so good!

Anna-Kate, our youngest, is getting to be such a big girl.

She used to carry around a burp cloth with her where ever she went and a stuffed Kermit the frog.  Now she only needs them when she goes to sleep at night.  She will not go down without them.  The Kermit always looks like he has this huge smile and is having the best time.  Often when I do my rounds to check on the children for the night, Kermit is in hilarious positions that crack us all up.  I never pose him.  It is just where he happens to be from her rolling around in her bed.  Here are a few of his pictures.  Hope they make you smile like they do us.

Caught, up and playing when he should have been sleeping!

Hi-ho Kermit the happy pillow!

Squished Kermit.  :)

He has her foot in his mouth.

They are too funny!

Here is a silly snail I have in one of my salt water tanks.  He has a long black rubbery trunk that he cleans around in my tank with like a vacuum.  His eyes are up on two long stalks.  He is looking at the camera as I took this picture of him.  God sure made some interesting creatures.  For those children who like to google what things are, he is a Tiger Fighting Conch.

I love to garden and nurture things.  It is a huge part of stress relief for me.  The children and I garden outside.  Here is Carolyn's lemon tree named John.  Its her first lemon.  :)

I have fish tanks and large fish bowls all over our home.  Gardening in them is a very relaxing hobby for me.  I will leave you with a picture of the one by my desk in the kitchen.  It is a 3 gallon Walstad bowl.  It has plants, a few shrimp, a zebra nerite snail, two dwarf cory catfish and a few Chili Rasboras in it.  Very fun to watch while working at my desk, doing the tons of paper work, that come with having a home full of wonderful children, with special needs.  :)

James 1:2-3  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.


Blessings,

susan