Winter Recital

Carolyn and Elizabeth love ballet.  They have been taking ballet for 7 years.  They started out in a special needs class together.

They improved and were then able to move over into regular classes their second year.

That year they took tap as well but it was too much for Elizabeth's heart condition.

I have had them in three different ballet schools over the years.

I have kept them in ballet all these years because it has greatly helped Elizabeth's muscle tone, Carolyn's ankle strength and has been a healthy outlet for them for having fun.  Plus they really love it!  Kinsley is already trying to copy the moves they do at home when they are stretching and practicing.  :)

This year, Elizabeth and Carolyn are taking a ballet class together here in town. Carolyn also goes alone, to a ballet school  about 45 minutes away.  The school that Carolyn goes to alone, puts on a wonderful winter recital every year, called Footsteps in Faith.  It is a dance recital that is all for the glory of God.  All of the music selections are to Christian music.  It is an amazing recital we all look forward to going to every year.

It was wonderful.  The music ministered to my heart and Carolyn did beautifully.  It was almost rescheduled because of bad weather and ice.

But the show must go on!

My brother in law and sister came to the performance and gave her this lovely bouquet!  Carolyn loves chocolate!  Thank you Aunt "S" and Uncle "B"!

I have to spend a good bit of time on Carolyn's hair.  It has to be done very tight and neat.  One of her dreams is to grow her hair down to the floor.  It is very long to make a bun out of now so I have to braid it first and then twist it up and pin it.  Then use a ton of hairspray.

Her hair is very thick and straight.  It does not hold a curl well no matter what I do.  She was so happy to see it this wavy after we took it down. 

The waves were gone by supper time and her hair was straight again.

Exodus 15:20  And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

You are growing up so much my sweet Carolyn!  You did a wonderful job and danced for the glory of God.  We love you!

Love,
mom



 

Catching Up... January 2016!

Kinsley playing with the bucket of potato heads we have accumulated over the years.

I pray everyone had a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Years! 

Life has thrown us a curve ball with Tim's health as of late and with the other things that pop up from time to time around here, we have been a bit overwhelmed at times lately.  We try to always take it in stride and trust in God, for He has shown Himself to be very faithful.  He is so good to us, always.  Life is good.

Some happy news that makes my life a LOT busier... is that two of our does had their babies. 

The largest of the bucks in the triplet birthing.

The smallest of the bucks in the triplet birthing.

Milky Whey had triplets (two boys and a girl) on December 27th. and Amelia had twin girls on January 2nd.

The smallest of the twin does born to Amelia.

I am now happy to say, we have plenty of milk but I have to go out to milk twice a day to get it.  :)  I have sold off all the babies I did not want to retain. I kept one of the does to raise up and a little buck to keep her company for a few weeks until she can go in with the bigger goats, then I will sell him.  You can read more about it on my farm blog if you are interested.

Antonio just got over having one of his bad spells from the Botox injections.  The bad reaction from the overdose in July, must have done damage, as every few weeks he goes back into that weak, sleeping, dementia, paralyzed type state.  This last episode lasted three weeks.  There is a lot more work to his daily care when he is in that state.  Praise God he is coming around the last two days and speaking again.  We have also had a lot of frustrating things happen since he turned 21 in December.  A week before his 21st birthday they sent us a letter telling us his insurance would be canceled the end of the month.  We had one week to get an appointment and try to get insurance and help from the state, thru Social Security for him.  Lots of paper work and delays. 

Tim has not been feeling well for quite some time.  His last blood work came back a mess, about a month ago.  He was told by his doctor that he needed to get to a pharmacy as soon as possible, to get some medicine to take, as his potassium levels were so dangerously high, he was at risk for a heart attack.  He then referred us to a Nephrologist, as his creatinine levels were very high.  It was a two week wait before we could get in to see that doctor and when we got there and listened to the doctor, he told us that Tim had kidney disease and was in stage three kidney failure.  That his kidneys were functioning at 44%.  They took 16 viles of blood and ordered an ultra sound.  When we left, we were told that he was to eat only foods that are the lowest in potassium and low phosphates.  Our next appointment to go over all the testing results is for the 11th.  Tim has been feeling very poorly.  The change in diet has not agreed with him.  He has lost 13 pounds in two weeks and his Addisons balance is off now.  We have an appointment to see a dietitian which should help us.  All in all, we are grateful that this has been caught and now we can go forward and try not to cause further damage to his kidneys.  He tuckers out quickly and has been extra tired lately. 

In the evenings I feed baby "A" her night bottle and hold her till she falls asleep and Tim feeds Kinsley her night bottle and holds her, while they watch Blues Clues together till she falls asleep.  Most days he falls asleep first.  Bless his heart.

We are praying for Tim to be healed and gain in strength and health.   

The Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile was at our local Kroger recently.

We are happily back into a good routine again with schooling.  It helps me to get more done, if we can stay in a loose routine.  The children also do better knowing what to do and what to expect every day. 

The south has gotten a huge amount of rain this winter and the weather has been very mild for this time of year.  We had a lot of flooding.  Most of the flooding has receded now.  Our pond is still very full.

A huge tree fell on one of our fence lines and my dad and William have been very busy trying to get the wood cut up so they can repair the fencing.  Because of the mild weather, the children have been able to play a good bit outside when done with schooling and it is not raining.

Zeke loves all animals.  Here he is with Mr. Skunk.

Kinsley loves to swing.  She would swing every day if the weather were nice.  Carolyn loves to take Timothy and Kinsley out for an hour in the afternoon if the weather is nice.  They are both very well behaved for her and look forward to it.  Below are the many faces of a happy Kinsley!

 Billy and Elizabeth can only go out with proper supervision because of their hard behaviors.

On rainy days Billy loves to play on a mat in front of the wood stove.  He is very into pirates lately so Uncle "B" and Aunt "S" got him this cool ship for Jesus Birthday.  He plays with it daily.

 
William is still studying for the Language Arts section of his GED.  He should be taking that part very soon.

With such a large family and so many with special needs, we make several unexpected trips to the ER yearly.  Usually in the middle of the night.  William is the one that goes with me when I have to go.  Tim stays home with the rest of the sleeping children.  This time Carolyn had hurt her ankle at ballet.  It ended up being badly sprained.  So glad it was not broken.  In the above picture I took a surprise picture while he was reading.  This was at around midnight!

Elizabeth is doing much better with her schooling since we switched her over to just workbooks. 

She also recently got new hearing aids.  They are much smaller and you can not even see them unless you are looking closely at her ears.  She has two pet rats she plays with and loves.

God is so good and life is fine.  We have had fewer appointments lately so it has been nice to be home a bit  more and get some things done.  I am going to try to garden in my raised beds this year.  I have not had a garden in two years because of all the new little ones, that have come along, needing so much of my time.  I think I am up for some light gardening this year.  So we shall see.

I pray that the One True and Only God will be with you, leading and guiding you all through 2016.  That health, peace and the bonds of friends and family will be strong the whole year as you live and grow in Him.

Blessings,

2 Timothy 1:12  For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

susan

Antonio Turns 21!!!

Antonio had a birthday this week!  I don't know why this birthday was so hard for me this year but truly I am just amazed.  How did this child of ours get so old so fast!!!  21!!!!

He was just a little guy when we adopted him.  23 pounds at almost 6 years old!  We quickly started working on getting him evaluated for a G-tube.  Until then we used an NG-tube through his nose to feed him extra calories.

He quickly started to put on weight, grow and get healthier.  Praise God!

I know he is very tired in the picture below but I wanted to include it, to show how sweet and kind he has always been to all of the other children.  Here he is holding Zeke's little hand.

Antonio was a very medically fragile infant and child. (He was a 23 week preemie)  He had so many issues, surgeries and hospital stays his whole life.  I can't even count the times or amount of days he has been in the hospital since he has been with us but he is so worth it.  He is such a miracle and it is by the grace of God he is here and so healthy today.  God is faithful!

He has always been such a good boy. We have all loved him as one of our own from the very beginning.

William and Antonio have always had a very special bond.  They still do to this day.

William would do anything for him to make him happy. 

He is a genuinely happy soul.  He encourages others and prays for everyone he knows.

He could not be a better son!  I have hardly ever had to discipline him.  He is a very easy going, laid back, young guy.

He truly is a great blessing to us.  We try to find ways to include him in everything we do and take him everywhere we go.  If it is not wheel chair accessible, we don't go.

He has always loved all his siblings so much.  Being one of the oldest children in the home, he has watched the middles grow up from little babies.

Antonio has really enjoyed having young children in the house again, with our newest additions.

Antonio felt well on his birthday and wanted to go out to eat to the Hibachi Grill. Then we came home for cake.  He wanted Aunt "S" to make him a cake with Oswald on it, like Timothy had, so she did.  He loved it.

 Thank you Aunt "S" and Uncle "B" for making his day special!

You are a wonderful gift from God and such a blessing in our lives, my sweet Antonio!  May God bless you with health and happiness every day of your life!

Psalm 91:16  With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Love, Dad, mom, Stephen, William, Carolyn, Zeke, Elizabeth, Billy, Timothy, Kinsley and baby "A"!!

 

Decorating Cookies!!

I try to help the children decorate cookies this time of year, every year.  Last year I was not up to it.  I was a bit overwhelmed with the toddlers behaviors and Kinsley was a baby.  I still did not really feel like attempting it this year, with baby "A" needing my attention so much right now.  The older children begged me for weeks.  I finally told William, if he made the cookies the day before, I would help the younger children frost theirs.

I was very impressed to see William up late, rolling out sugar cookie dough and using cookie cutters one evening last week.  I did not have to do a thing.  He even cleaned up the kitchen when he was finished.  :)

The next day I made a huge batch of frosting and the children used it and food coloring drops, to make little bowls of all the colors they wanted to use.  I had also bought decorating packets of colored decorating frosting and candy, to decorate with. 

Billy and Timothy have been very into the gingerbread man story lately, so they picked out gingerbread man cookies to decorate. 

I let them each decorate their one cookie and then proceed to eat it!

Carolyn and Elizabeth had spent the previous Saturday, at my sisters, making cookies all day.  Carolyn did not feel like decorating any cookies that day and helped Kinsley decorate a circle cookie.

Antonio's has a teacher that comes to the house one day a week.  She was at the house this day and helped Antonio.

 Elizabeth and William did the bulk of the decorating.

Now..William can be a bit creative and has a mind all his own.  All of the gingerbread men became Mega-man, Superman and lego characters and the round cookies became lego ninja faces...

Zeke had a cold and did not want to help or participate.  He also can not have wheat or dairy so could not have eaten any he made.  So he did other things.  I did get him to come in the kitchen toward the end, to sit and talk with us a bit. 

I just had to include this picture below.  We don't have candy in the house very often and Billy ate a red hot for the first time in his life.  He thought it was one of the M&M's.  Bless his heart!

I pray everyone had a wonderful season of Thanksgiving and has their heart and mind on Jesus Christ and His miracle birth, all the year long!

Psalm 47:1 O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

Blessings,

susan