The Misstep

Two days before Thanskgiving and I am heading to the doctor's office with one of the boys.  WHY?? Because my boy decided to wait 3-4 days before telling me he had something hurting on his bum.  It was a nasty spider bite that looked infected.  A lot of pus and nasty stuff came out of it but I was worried it was infected.  So off we go, the whole time I was thinking, we'll stop at the store before heading home to make sure we had everything for our Thanksgiving meal.
 So we arrive at the doctor's office and as we are walking into the lobby my left foot slips out
from under me and down I go.  Now if you have read this blog for any time what so ever you will know that I have arthritis really bad in my left knee.  So much so that 4 years ago my ortho. informed me that I would eventually need a knee replacement. Oh yay ....NOT!!!  Well what did I fall directly on in a not so friendly position...my left knee and ankle.  OUCH!!!!!  Let's say that again....OUCH!!!!!
   Definitely not the way I wanted to start the day or the holidays. SO I call Sean to let him know what I have done and to meet me in the ER. I dislike going to the hospital!!!  I do not have insurance, can not afford insurance and we all know what the cost of a trip to the ER is like. YIKES!  I get there and call home to let Jaron know what has happened and to make sure to watch after the other two kids.  Well Kris my autistic son, answers the phone.  The conversation went a little like this...
 
 Kris:   Hello
   Me: HI Kris it's mom.
   Kris: Mom dad's not home, I don't know where he is, I think he is lost.
   Me:  Kris Dad is with me.  I fell and am at the hospital.
   Kris: I am really worried about where dad is he is lost I just know it.
   Me:  Kris Daddy is with me at the hospital and so is Eli.  Take the phone to Jaron, please.
   Kris: OMG  you are at the hospital?  WHY?  
   I hear him running up the stairs taking the phone to Jaron and the next thing I hear is, "Jaron moms on the phone shes in the hospital and dad is lost and I can't find Eli!"  all in a panicked voice.  I can't help but laugh as Jaron gets on the phone and says, "ok what in the world is going on!"  ...

Needless to say I ended up waiting an hour and half to see a PA who was just plain wacky.  I am sitting there in a wheel chair, in severe pain and was offered no ice, no pain meds and crying.  NOT A HAPPY CAMPER let me tell ya.  Once we got in and they took the xrays all the PA wanted to do was talk about how bad my knee was ate up with arthritis...uhm yea I KNOW THIS!  After 10 mins of explaining I know how bad it is she finally says well let me go look again. Ok so now I have been in the ER  two hours, it's been about 2 1/2 hrs since I fell and I still have not received any ice or pain meds.   About 20 mins later she comes back and tells me I have a avulsion fracture of the talas bone in my ankle and she thinks it will heal ok on its own but recommends I see a specialist.  Oh great another major bill before Christmas and not a present has been bought.
    I was in such pain I never asked her about my knee again, it took another 15 mins  before I got an ice pack and another 10 mins before I got pain meds.  By this time, I was in so much pain they could of cut my leg off and I wouldn't of cared.  So 3 hours after my great fall I finally get the pain meds and they DIDN'T help.
   Ok so here is the funny part in all of this...

Goal: They want to put a temporary splint on my leg.
Problem: I am wearing jeans because it is in the 30s outside and raining.  Pants won't fit over splint and I was NOT going to let them cut my jeans.
Solution: Remove pants, have splint put on, and cover myself with hospital gowns.

Do you see the issue with our solution?  Let me tell you it was not pretty!  Here I am with two gowns wrapped around my waist like a skirt that was not attached being rolled out to the van where it is cold, sprinkling and in pain.  The whole time I was thinking, "Please let the parking lot be empty of people!"  Was it?  NO!  Not at all.  In fact in two separate cars sat two men.  The thoughts that ran through my mind at that point were not pretty.  But being in the kind of pain I was in I really didn't care if they saw my big naked butt trying to get in the van!  Sean did his best to make sure I was covered but let me tell you that cold rain was not refreshing!  It was quite comical.
   So I have shared all of this to get to this point, here I am it's Thanksgiving and I am the one that usually does all the cooking.  Well it was a great time for Sara to learn how to prepare her first Thanksgiving dinner.  She did FANTASTIC!  I am so proud of her!  She helped on Wed. to prepare all of the different dishes so it would be easy to just put them on the stove or in the oven the next morning. Thanksgiving morning, she set the table, cleaned the house (all without being asked) and then helped chop veggies and put the turkey on.  Remember she is 9 years old!  She basically took over the duties the house, making sure things were done.  Just so proud of her.

Sweet Sixteen...or would have been.

Today marks SeanPatrick's 16th birthday (still birth).

Things we we never got to do...
Hear his cries, see his smiles, hear his laugh, watch him take his first steps or say his first word.  So many firsts we never got to experience and this year is a mile stone.  Sixteen... girlfriends, drivers permits, high school football games.....  and of course all the future things to!    SIGH!

What we do have...

Pictures of his precious birth, pictures of us holding him, memories of the pregnancy and how he responded to his daddy's singing, feet and hand prints, a lock of his beautiful brown hair and pictures of his precious sweet face.

Time doesn't heal it simply makes the pain bearable.

Puppies

So we moved into our new house and not only did we bring our four guinea pigs, rabbit, two small dogs, three turtles and an oscar (fish), we brought the neighborhood alley cat.  Tommy (or Ninja as I call him) is a remarkable little feral cat.  Our neighbors befriended him and you would never know that he was ever just an outside cat.  Ninja is the most loving little cat I have ever had that was a street dweller.  He has taken to our family, plays with the dogs and the rabbit and never tries to harm the guinea pigs.

Sara with her best friend and Tommy the Ninja.

 Then last week we adopted two precious little lab mix puppies.  They have brought so much laughter to the house.  The kids adore them and they adore the kids.  I have seen such a change in Kristofer.  I have read many articles about how dogs help children with autism but to see how he has responded to these two babies is amazing.  He cleans up their potty accidents, takes them outside, feeds them, plays with them and never complains.  It was the craziest but best decision we could of ever made.

Our new babies...Chloe and Molly

We Bought a House...

and are making it a home!  It's official, we are home owners.  WOOO HOOO!  What's even better is that our mortgage is $225 less than what we were paying in rent.  Which is such a blessing.  As I sit here in my living room listening to the kids play and I look around I can't help to be overwhelmed with emotions.  Owning our own home has always been a dream of ours.  To be sitting in that dream is a bit over whelming at times.  This broken house that we bought, a diamond in the rough as I call it, has transformed into a beautiful home.  We have more space than we have ever had.  When we got married the first place we lived in was a shoe box, literally 3 rooms and barely that.  You practically could touch both sides of a room by standing in the middle.
 Sixteen years later here I sit in this remarkable home.  It's a 70 year old house that has all the updates a new home has.  It is just wonderful!  We truly are in love.  We could never of done to this place that we did in one weeks time without my parents help.  We ripped out flooring in the kitchen to stabilize the floor (it was sagging, the home has all wood floors) and then put it back together. We took out the nasty carpet in one room and replaced it with new wood flooring and totally redid the walls by putting up new drywall.  We did the same thing in the living room to another wall.  The whole house was resurfaced as well as repainted and it has turned out beautifully.
 At the end of that week, a group of wonderful church friends came and helped us move into our new home. All within 2 hours we moved from one place to another and we could not thank them enough for all of their hard work. What a wonderful church of servants we have.

   The unpacking, decorating and settling in has come to an end.  We are settling back into the routine of school during the week, play during the weekends. Our children did wonderfully well with all the repairs and painting.  Each one of them have learned valuable tools and watched my parents as well as my aunt and uncle work on the home.  They take great pride in their new home and love it just as much as Sean and I do.  With all the unsettlement  taking place the last few weeks I was truly worried that Kris would have some meltdown.  He took it in stride.  He has changed so much that sometimes I have to remind myself that he is autistic.  Oh we had moments where he asked us the same question repeatedly, he would go over the plan of what was happening each daily repeatedly, and then there was the constant need to organize what everyone was doing and he had to know why and when it would be done.  Many times we could answer him and it would settle him other times not so much.  He has settled into his new routine and home very well.  In the past when we have moved he has gone 8-10 weeks to adjust.  In that time period we would have behavior issues, attitude issues and lots of insecurity.  This time around he has adjusted quickly and really loves it here. Which is such a huge blessing to us as a family.  You see autism does just affect the person who deals with it, it affects the whole family!

Dreams Coming True

Nine years ago this coming February Sean and I had started praying about our future. We were praying about ministry and where He was leading us and buying a home. One night the Lord gave me a picture of what our future home would look like. It was a white country farm house with a big back yard and had a clothes line in the yard. For the last 8 months I have been looking online and driving by homes in the community. Trying to find the home we wanted to make ours. We have been praying He would lead us to the home.
Last month we walked unto the property of a potential home. As we walked around the home to the back yard we were taken away by the large back yard (1/2 an acre) and there in the yard stood a clothes line! The first time we had found a home with a clothes line already installed.
  God's promises are yes and amen! He never backs out of those promises! It's always in HIS timing that those promises are fulfilled. Well on Friday we will be closing and will be handed the keys to our home, our promised land. It will be a promised fulfilled! God is amazing! He blows my mind at how much He loves us and how much He wants to bless us!

My Response to a Negative Comment

Recently I had someone comment on a post during the summer.  I did not publish the comment because honestly it was so negative, judgmental and bias that I didn't want to give this person who didn't even have the guts to sign their real name, a soap box on MY blog!  But after thinking about it a few weeks I have decided to address this person's negativity.

Here is this person's comments, "I am a SUCCESSFUL Manager of a large store in a nationwide retail chain. . Cut to the chase -- young people who (like your kids) are bright, engaging and who learn quickly, who have been home-schooled, usually do VERY POORLY in entry level positions in companies of all kinds. They have not been socialized in the NO-HOLDS-BARRED competitiveness, the nasty bullying, as well as the ugliness, hatred and sheer rank stupidity of public schools. . You are doing your kids a terrible disservice by home-schooling them. PUT THEM BACK IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IMMEDIATELY! . Your kids will get "eaten alive" in the real world! Loving them is NOT coddling & pampering them!"

First off, what right do you have to judge all home schooled kids based on what you have seen or experienced?  Have you not met a public schooled kid that has the same issues.  My children are very social!  They are not sheltered what so ever and they have experienced enough bullying in the public school system to last them a life time.   My children do live in the real world! BTW can you explain to us why colleges are actually seeking out home school students?
   My husband works with troubled teens who have ALL attended the public school system, and most of them have truancy issues as well as behavioral issues.  How is the public school system teaching those kids social skills?  Apparently not so well in my book.
    Why would any parent willingly submit their kids to the "the nasty bullying, ugliness, hatred and sheer rank stupidity of public schools?" Do I believe all public school systems are as you describe, "NO!"  In fact, the public schools our children have attended have been good schools, but over sized classes and student to teacher ratios have not been so great.  
   It is up to every family to decide what is best for their children.  For us we have chosen to remove them from public school and home school  them.  Do we feel that we are hurting them socially?  NO!  Do we feel they are not learning enough?  NO!  In fact they are learning more, they have one on one teaching, they are not being pushed to move on in subjects they are struggling with as they were in public school.  In the last year, we have watched two of our children catch up and excel to the next grade level.  Now you tell me that public school is better for them.  I don't think you can!
   We do not coddle or pamper our children!  You sir have never met our children and honestly I am not sure I would ever want them to meet you.  Our children are well rounded, social, intelligent children being taught by their parents, who I might add have college degrees.  
   Home schooling has been the best thing we have ever done for our children.  They no longer have to fear going to school, fear of being bullied, beat up, have their lunch stolen from them (yes this happened to one of children when he was in 1st grade), or made to hate going to school.  That sir is and was a dis-justice to our young children.  
     
If people are going to comment on something I post, specially something that is negative, I would appreciate it if you would at least have the balls to sign your real name!  Stop hiding behind a fictitious name!  Oh and one last thing, you stress you are a "successful manager of a large store in a nationwide retail chain," if this is true then why not share what store and where you are from?  Apparently you are fearful those above you may find out about your judgmental attitude and dismiss you!


For my faithful readers....as you can tell this person's comments have set me off so to speak.  Thank you for reading and whether you agree or not with me or this person I would love to hear what you think.

Is This a Dream?

Ever feel like you are living in a dream?  Well that is what it feels like for us right now. We were told we got the house contingent on a few repairs that had to be made.  Painting of chipped and peeling paint.  So we are now waiting on the repair guys to fix everything. Once that is done we should hear when our closing date will be.  Praying it is soon, living out of boxes is really no fun.  Our dream home....

Great Things are Happening

Yep great things are happening around here. October will be a month of many changes, or so it seems. During the summer we started talking about buying a home.  Thought we would go look into being 

pre-qualified for a loan and we did.  So we started to really start looking for a home and found one.  We put an offer in and the seller accepted it.  So now we are waiting for the appraisal and title to get done, and the loan to be processed.  In the mean time we are PRAYING and PRAYING HARD that everything goes through without a single issue.  We LOVE this home and the area.  But with everything it is totally in God's hands and if something should not go through and we don't get the home then we know God has another plan.  As much as it will hurt and the disappointment great we have to trust God and His plan for us.

   Another great adventure will take place in Oct. is that we will be taking over the children's ministries at our church.  The last year has been a year of fun and excitement with the Jr High Youth.  We love this group of kids!!!   When our pastors asked us if we would consider being the directors of the children's ministry and we said we would serve where ever they felt we would be best used.  So in Oct we take over.  So much to think about and prepare.  Thankfully we are in a supportive church that has come behind us and started doing a lot of the work.  They have a group of men building us a puppet stage, the pastors have another group decorating the Sunday school rooms as well as the children's church area and we are working on coming up with the lessons, games and activities.

  Shew all that and we are in the midst of home school.  A few weeks ago we headed to my parents summer home where the kids got lessons in sewing and wood working.  They sewed pillows and made a wonder wooden chair.  It really wasn't about  the learning as much as it was about making memories with their grandparents.  The kids did learn a lot and had a great time.  I am just thankful for parents that support us and took the time to work with the kids. :)

His Grace Academy In Full Session

What is His Grace Academy you ask?!  Well that is the name of our school.  For it is by His grace that we were saved and by His grace that we are home schooling our children.  I need His grace and mercy daily as well as His strength and guidance as we walk this road.  This will be our third year home schooling Jaron.  This year he is in 8th grade.  My goodness time really needs to slow down!  It is the 2nd year of home schooling the other three diaperheads.  So far we are doing great!  They are focused and ready to go.  Now give us a few weeks or months and I may be dealing with other issues.  But so far things are great.
   We are doing things a bit different than last year.  Last year I tried to get every subject in for each kid and I was so stressed and exhausted that the kids even were starting to hate school.  Which is NOT what I want for them at all. So this year we have gone to what I could call block scheduling and breaking up what we do through the week so we can spend more time on each of the subjects.  SO far it is working and they are enjoying it.  Although it is the toughest on Kris.  Part of his personality and goes with autism is the need for a set schedule daily.  Well our days are mixed up and so he is a bit concerned but we stress to him that life has lots of twists and turns and you can't always live by a rigid schedule.  So he is learning to bend a bit more.  It's tough but once he figures out our schedule he will learn we do have one it's just different than last year.
So here is to a new school year!  Good luck!

We have 8th, 6th and 4th graders this year!
Oh and two little mascots - my parents dogs Reggie and Peggy.
Well when we are with them at their home.

Changes

Right now our family is going through a lot of stressful changes.  Not only are we in the process of finding a house to buy but we also have the maintence of the home we are renting (have to finish painting) on top of home schooling (Monday is our first official day) and then there is youth ministry and just daily life. I am tired just thinking about it and I haven't even started school stuff with the kids yet. This whole house hunting thing is really over whelming.  We have dreamed of owning our own home since before we got married. We have been praying about it for over a year and finally decided to just take a leap and see if we could qualify for a loan. Well we have qualified for a USDA Rural Housing Loan.  It is primarily for low income families and we fit that category right now.  Anyway, so we got pre-approval because I do not want to find a house and then be told sorry you can't get a loan and not only crush our own hopes but the hopes of the seller.
   So we have started looking for homes and it has not gone all that well.  In fact I have been looking for 8 months via the internet, newspapers, realty books.  I have found many I like but when we drive by them they look terrible or we get info from the selling realty and find out they have leaking roofs, plumbing issues, mold or other major repairs that need to be done.  To say discouraged is an understatement.  BUT GOD!
  I truly believe God is going to guide us to the right home for our family.  I have no doubt about that.  I just need to be patient....there's that word again!  Geez I really do not like that word but I do trust that God is in the back ground working all things for good according to His plan for our family. It still isn't easy but I am praying we will be in our new home by Christmas.  That would be great!

Summer

Summer is coming to an end.  In just two weeks we will start our third year of home schooling.  Not sure where the summer went but it definitely has been a strange one.  Weather has been unusually cool and full of rain. My parents who generally have stayed two weeks out of the summer is staying for four months this year and we all love being able to see them every week.  Their summer home is about an hour away in the eastern mountains of KY.  It is beautiful, quiet and relaxing there.
   Curriculum is bought, scheduling has begun and activities planned.  The boys will be taking a few classes of wood working and power tool lessons from their grandfather and Sara will be working with grandma on sewing a quilt.  All of them are excited!  Memories and school lessons all tied in together.  LOVE IT!
   This summer the kids have been excited to watch our veggie and sunflower garden thrive and grow beyond what we expected.  We have been able to bless our neighbors and friends with zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, banana peppers and cucumbers.  We also have enjoyed green beans ourselves.
   The most exciting part for me, besides the fresh, pesticide free, organic veggies has been seeing all of the different birds enjoying our variety of sunflowers. I had no idea we would have so many different colors of flowers. Just beautiful!

Male Golden Finch

Beautiful male cardinal

Female Golden Finch

Horses and the Creek

Last week we had the adventure of a life time according to Sara.  Why?  Well it all boils down to friends and horse riding.  One of the dear families in our church have a wonderful country home that sits near a small creek bed.  My friend Marty and her children, Lucy and Jay as well as our gang were invited out to the farm.  The kids had a WONDERFUL time exploring the creek where they found crawdads (crawfish) and greater sirens (mud puppies) and a salamander too. After the adventure in the creek bed we stopped to have lunch.  While Marty, Christie and I ate lunch and talked the kids went out to play.  Kris and Jaron came running back in saying they saw a snake. That really got our attention!!!  I HATE snakes.  Knowing the area has had copper heads really scared me.  But it turned out to be a black corn snake.  Thank goodness for that!
   So after lunch we headed to the barn where the horses were.  Sara was so excited.  Christie taught the kids how to groom the horses, talked about the care and feeding of them and gave them a great lesson!  The best part was getting to ride the horses.  The kids LOVED it.  All but Jaron got on.  Not sure why he didn't want to ride but the others love it!  Warning...it's always hard for me to decide which pictures to post! :)

Kris was so nervous but Ruby was great with him.  It was if she knew that Kris  is autistic.

Kris learning to clean the hooves.

Sara never stopped smiling.

My friend and sister Marty

Goodness, I was a hot mess.  It was a hot day!

A Day at the Pond

One of the benefits of living here in KY are my best friends...college roomies to be exact.  Many years ago God gave me a word that I would go away to school and would meet my life long friends.  Well that prophecy came true the year I moved to KY in 1994 to attend Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky.  Two of my best friends are Angie and Marty.  They are my life lines and have been with me through many things.  I couldn't live without them in my life.  No kidding!  They keep me sane, pray with and for me and just let me be me with no "make up" to hide the flaws.  Not many people can say they have those kids of friends.  My only hope is they feel the same about me....the being able to be a no make up kind of friend that is.
   Anyway a few weeks ago, Angie invited us to go up to her fathers place in Stanton and visit a wonderful little pond that is loaded with tadpoles.  It was a great family field trip again.  I am so happy that Sean was able to go with us.  It was great getting to know her father and  step mom and just get to spend time with the kids (her son Cameron too).  The kids had a ball catching tadpoles, newts and seeing all the different kinds of dragon flies. It was about a mile hike to and from the pond from her dad's place and it was a wonderful time.  LOVED being on top of a mountain and the view we had of the pond and the surrounding area was wonderful!

My Blessings

                                                  This was taken on Mother's Day 2013.

I am so blessed!  I realize this for many reasons.  One of my dear friends was adopted as a child and she is searching for her father.  She has gone through a lot and you can read about it her journey here.   Through this time of reading about her personal journey I have realized just how blessed I truly am.  You see I was born my mother had the option of putting me up for adoption.  My mother was very young, 14 to be exact and although my father was 22 he too  could of said I don't want this.  But my parents went against the flow back then and fought to keep me.  They got married before I was born and chose to start their family at a young age.  So many other young girls were forced by their parents to give the child up.  I am so glad my parents fought to keep me.  My mom sacrificed a high school education to keep me.  She went back when I was in High school and got her GED and went to school for cosmetology.  I am very proud of all my mom has accomplished in her life.  She not only went back to school, but she raised 5 children, owned her own business and is now semi retiring and if anyone deserves it she does!  I love my mom!

My Mom and Dad

Not only have I been blessed with the best parents ever but also with 6 wonderful kids.  I have two in heaven, Seanpatrick who had a cord accident the day he was born and another who I miscarried a year later.  I don't talk about the baby I miscarried, I was only 6 weeks along, I just haven't let myself go there yet.  I do however have 4 wonderful energy filled kids that keep me very busy and  I love very much!  Blessed beyond measure for sure!

A Day at Fort Boonesborough

One of many field trips that were spur of the moment.  We headed to Fort Boonesborough and just took a day to explore the river bed, the original spot where the fort was placed and just had fun.  We were surprised to find on the memorial stone Yelverton Petyon and Ann Peyton written on it.  After some research  we believe that we may actually be related to this couple.  This truly excited the kids and gave us a weeks worth of unexpected learning.   This summer we are hoping to take my parents there and actually tour the fort as well as bring my father here to see this wonderful memorial.

The diaperheads are not so small anymore!

I love this man!