Rockin' 4 Jesus!

This afternoon the Children's Ministry hosted a Rockin' 4 Jesus (rock-a-thon) to raise funds for BGMC. BGMC stands for Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge. Basically BGMC helps send a variety of materials for the missionaries through the Assemblies of God. We had 9 kids ages 4 -10 rockin' away for three hours. We took a short break for some yummy pizza from Papa Murphy's pizza. These kids had a blast. During part of the rocking time we took advantage of having them all there and practiced our songs with the bells. They are getting really good with them...or maybe I should say I am getting better at flipping those pages so they know what to do! Either way fun was had by everyone!

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to Theresa Lambert, Jimmy Lambert and Pastor Sean ( my honey ) for helping me pull this event off. Without their help chaos would have reigned and I would have lost my sanity! With the pledges and money already brought in our kids raised $115 as of right now all to help our missionaries! I am SO PROUD of all of these kiddos!

SO enjoy the pictures! Tomorrow I will be eating pie so to speak...tune in tomorrow afternoon some time I will be sure to post some fun pictures of this... Just wait and see what I am about to endure! LOL!

My two little servants in training! LOL! Actually these two resemble two of my diaper heads...lol! They love to help vaccume at church...too bad they don't like to at home!

SIGH!

Let me say that again... SIGH!!! What a week! A very long week! I would like to say it was a glorious, victorious whopper of a week. But actually I feel a bit beaten up! I hate it when everything seems to be going well and WHAM! you get a good swift kick to the gut. You know the kind...the kind that either knocks you off your feet, knocks the wind out of you or both!

Not sure which I got this week but it sure was a nasty hit. Let me explain because I haven't actually blogged about it. This week out of no where we get a note from the teacher. Now last week when I talked to the teacher she just said Kristofer gets frustrated sometimes. So the letter we got this week was a huge hit. It basically said, that he has not only been getting frustrated but having huge meltdowns and crying episodes. He never did this last year or not that we were ever told. So what is a momma to do...go to bat for my kiddo. I go in and talk with the teacher the next day after I called his OT who gave me her home number in case of situations like these. Then later the same day I talked with the teacher some more and then talked with Kristofer's resource aide that works with him daily as well. They paint this picture of a child who is extremely stressed and frustrated. Naturally that upsets Momma!

So we figure out some things to do to help him. In the mean time today was

the big evaluation at SIUC. There Kristofer was taken into a classroom where Melanie one of the evaluators and three others worked with him. Actually the other three were taking notes. I was in an observation room watching and talking to Dr. Bordieri who asked me a bazillion questions, I swear. Every one at the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders are great! They make you feel at ease and take time to listen to what you have to say. I truly believe God ordained this time for this moment at this facility.

So we went, were there for like 2 to 2 1/2 hours and then came home. We now have to wait for the next week as they decipher and score the results of the evaluation. The hardest part now is going to be the waiting.

For those that have gone through this process any advice or suggestions would be great! For those that haven't let me just share that this has been the longest 6 years of our lives. Yes 6 years because from the time Kristofer was born there was something different about him. Oh don't get me wrong please, he was a cheerful happy little guy as long as we were following his schedule. If we were not home on the dot to put him in his bed for naps and bedtime...he was a mess. There are so many things I could say here but won't go through it. But when you deal with a child that has special needs it is draining. What is worse is when family members think you are crazy and that there is nothing wrong with your child. "You need to discipline him more, be firmer, ect...You're just doing what a good mother should do" Yes I heard those things! From people who were suppose to be supporting me and their nephew! It hurts when you hear them say, that kid needs medicine, that kid is a brat, or I could never deal with that. Well let me tell you something....my kid is not a brat! He is a joy to have and if he needs meds (which he doesn't right now) then we will do what needs to be done.

Honestly I am so emotionally spent this week I am not sure what I want. Yes I truly want to be told "No we don't think he is autistic!" BUT we need clarity as to why his behaviors mimic autism! Ok let's be honest, there is a part of me that would like to hear he is on the autism spectrum just so I could say, "I told you so to those people that have questioned my parenting skills!" But in my heart I do NOT want him to autistic. No parents stands up and says, "yes please I beg you give me an autistic child." NOT that autistic children are trouble or a curse. Because they are not! They are God's creation and there for created in His image and are perfect in His sight! There are not many people that will stand up and honestly say, they were overjoyed to get that diagnosis! I have two college roomates that have one or two children that are autistic and another that has a child with SPD. They are very strong advocates for their children. They have dealt with the sorrow of the dream of a certain life for their child and watched it be changed to something else. They have been strong and faced it head on and for that I am grateful because they have been the support I have needed...thank you Mike & Marty Short, Angie Young and Mary Fontelez! Little did we realize 14 years ago that not only would we become the best of friends but also friends that have special needs kids. What an adventure we have all been on!

For those that wonder if your child needs early intervention GO GET IT! FIGHT FOR YOUR CHILD! I was told today by Dr Bodieri that the intervention Kristofer has received has given him a huge advantage over the child that hasn't received therapy or any kind. I know for sure had we not listened to our friends and pushed for therapy that Kristofer would not be the same little boy he is today!

He is such a trooper! He deals with so much all the time. He amazes me! He really does! Yes he wears me out, yes he drains me physically and emotionally when he has his outbursts, yes sometimes I get very aggrivated that he doesn't understand things that other kids his age do, yes it makes me fighting mad when other kids tease him and make fun of him or won't give him a chance! BUT this great kid of mine is my heart throb! He and I have a connection that is different from the other kids. I love them all equally and I would stand in the fire for each of them. But somehow Kris and I have a connection that he does not have with Sean and I do not have with the other kids. Call him my favorite....no because they are all my favorite but...ok yes I have a connection with him that is special and unique and I am blessed to have this remarkable little boy as my son! I am proud to say KRISTOFER IS MY KID! I am proud of his accomplishment and I am excited when he meets a goal.

Everyone that knows our Kristofer can't help but love him. He is such a great kid! A little quirky at times but a great kid never the less!

Butterfly Tagging

This morning much to my joy I was able to go with the twins to their butterfly tagging field trip at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. I was excited because last year I was unable to attend most of the field trips with them due to my knee. But God is working a miracle in them. In fact I am now crutch and cane free! YEA! I still have pain occasionally and I still every so often need my cane but since returning from the Unstoppable Conference in Tampa Florida I have use the cane possibly 3 days out of the last 12 days! PRAISE GOD!
Anyhoo, Eli and Sara had a ball! Normally this program is only for 1st graders but this year they changed it a bit and allowed the pre-K groups through the public school system participated. We were able to catch monarch butterflies and a bunch of others like frittiliary and the sulfers. They mostly caught moths but we were able to catch a frittiliary and a sulfer. They tag the monarchs with very small stickers on the outside of their wings and are able to tract where and how far they travel. Most will head south towards Florida or Texas and Mexico. We had a great morning! Eli is exhausted and crashed when we got home!

The Immunity Manual

Ok so yesterday I was thinking about a few things and I shared with my good friend Michele over at An Adopted Families Life that I was going to blog about this but didn't. She said I really should so here goes...this is for you Michele. Actually it is just my rant for the day but that's ok too cause this is my blog and sometimes you just need to rant it out!

I have a few thoughts I have been pondering. Such as why are babies not sent home with instructions? And why aren't moms giving immunity to our children's illnesses after giving birth? I mean if you adopted a pet you can find every kind of manual you want. Now I know children are not pets although some people treat them as if they are possessions in stead of blessings, but that is a whole other blog. Yes there are a ton of parenting books out there that cover a million different subjects but honestly when you are in the middle of a battle with a strong willed child or a child with special needs who has time to look at chapter 4, third paragraph of book 1000?!

I mean honestly, no matter how much parenting classes you take or books you read sometimes you just have to to throw in the towel and say, "God HELP!" That is usually when I get some kind of revelation on how to deal with the situation or at least handle it differently the next time it may occur. Yesterday seemed to be the day I was asked by two different people in two different states, "How do you deal with ....?" Honestly I am NOT a know all of everything! Never have been never will be, I rely on God for every thing but I call my mommy all the time. "Hey Mom, how would you handle this, or hey mom what do I do when..., or hey Mom thanks for just listening...or Hey Mom, I know I never thought you knew anything when I was a teen but I sure do now and I really need your wisdom!" How many Moms out there can relate to those calls?

It doesn't matter if the child you love and care for came from 9 months of growing in your womb or in your heart (adoption). Sometimes we as moms need our Mommies and need our friends that are moms themselves to give us a different perspective, advice or wisdom! So thank you to all my friends but specially to my mom and grandmom for all the advice you have given me over the years! I am sure I will call again...Mommy help me be a better mom!

Oh and before I get a bunch of emails or comments...I know I have the best manual out there...the Bible and I do use it and quote scripture all the time. I rely on God more than anyone or anything! I am just ranting and saying my piece here!

Honestly the last few days I have really been battling a nasty cold. It started with a sore throat, then to stuffy sinuses to my chest hurting to now I have a dry scratchy throat and I can't stop coughing. Yesterday I coughed so much I thought I would cough up a lung...instead I peed my pants! Yes I said it I have reverted back to being a toddler! (lol!) Honestly it is an after effect of having so many babies and the last pregnancy being twins. But again that is another post! All you mom's out there probably can relate!
Anyway the manual. Actually this thought pattern started because I am sick. My wonderful loving diaper-heads (kids) lovingly passed on their yucky germs to Mom! SO yesterday as I was coughing up a lung and peeing my pants (lol) a thought went through my head and I even said it out loud, "God why on earth would you make us women endure nine months of pregnancy giving everything to our growing babies within and not give us super immunity to their illnesses?" I mean all we hear about is how when babies are born they have a small amount of immunity to illnesses and that breastfeeding adds to that. Oh don't get me wrong breast feeding is very important and although not everyone feels comfortable with it that is how God created our bodies. I did or at least tried to breast feed my babies. All four of them but unfortunately I never produced enough for any of them. So they always had bottle feedings as well. Ok maybe a bit TMI. All well.
My point is this I just want to know why God did not give us the ability to fight all infections for the first 10 years of our children's lives. That way when they are sick we are assured that we will not get it! That way mom doesn't get sick and feel run down and we can do what mom's do best without feeling yucky! I hate being sick but Mom's never get a break! We are always on duty even if we feel like a mack truck ran us over! There are times I hate being on duty! Even with a off duty magnet on the fridge I am the one who is always called on. "Hey Mom where is..., Mommy ----- is hitting me, Mommy help me, I'm hungry,' and then don't forget if you are married you get the, "honey where is..., honey can you..." Don't get me wrong I enjoy being a good mom and wife but when you are sick you are sick!

So who agrees with me, Mom's are entitled to at least 10 years of immunity to all the germs our kids bring home from school? Who agrees with me that sometimes you need an instant messenger when things are going a bit haywire and you need a quick answer on how to deal with a certain issue?

Yahoo!

All I can say is yahoo! Today was a blessed day! You know when you ask God to deliver He does. Not always the way you expect but He does! Oh there's just so much I want to share but I am not sure where to start or what to to say and not say. So I guess I will start with a blessing of yesterday. Sat. morning I got to sleep in. Thank you to my wonderful kids! Jaron got up and said, "Mommy sleep in today I will take Izzy (our dog) out and I will get everyone breakfast...you just rest." He knew I wasn't feeling well. Boy I love that kid! So I slept till 10 am which is the latest I have slept in a long time! Thank you Jaron! (Sean was working for those that don't know.)

Then my darling husband cam home and said we got something in the mail. I was shocked when he handed me a check for $77. It was a settlement with a company we had business with and honestly we never expected it. Now for some $77 isn't much in most cases it won't even fill up you gas tank...specially now that Ike has blown through...which is a whole other part of today's adventures. Anyway, Sat. morning I was figuring out some bills and realized I had two more bills that have to be paid by Tuesday. Well figuring out the budget for the week I figured we would be $75 short. God not only met my need He exceeded it. Thank you Lord! You see in order for me to be able to go to The Unstoppable Conference we have had to pinch every penny and squeezed every piggy bank but I went and we are not at all sorry that we had to sacrifice for me to go.

God knew what I needed and boy has He continued that healing, refreshing and He is still working on me even a week later. I can not tell you the burdens, the chains the darkness that has lifted from me. Yes I still am batting with depression but God is really doing something remarkable with me. I just can't explain it.

Ok on with today...I went expecting God to meet me at the church. When you go expecting you better be prepared to receive! He came in like a holy fire! I am not sure if anyone else felt His presence during worship but I sure did! HMMMMM..... It was SO GOOD! I never get to stay in the whole service. I always take the kids out after worship for children's church. This week was no different. Except...one of my volunteers who helps when I am unable to be there came back with me. She has the desire to teach the kids hand motions to our worship songs, to get them more involved and excited about worship instead of just sitting there the whole time. I think it is fabulous! So she came back with me and I taught the lesson about Joshua and Jericho! HMMM it was so good! I explained to the kids that Joshua had a promise from God that if he followed God's instructions he would take the city of Jericho. So we marched, we shouted and then I had them sit down and we talked about how the Holy Spirit can use them to be an agent for Him. That the Holy Spirit can guide them if they just take time to listen to His voice!

OOhh it was good and the kids listened! We even had some new kiddos show up and a few kiddos that haven't been in church in a while. It was a full room today! YEA! Then tonight, we had our first bells practice. The kids are learning to play bells to music and if we can master this one song then we plan to put on a concert at Christmas time and perform 3-4 songs. We tried to do this back in April. They were not into it and honestly I was so depressed I didn't want to do it and had no patience to even try. SO I said I will wait till it is truly God's timing. Well let me tell you God spoke so clear to my heart at Unstoppable that it was time and that I have to get these kids excited about ministry or I am going to loose them when they get to junior high school age. It was very clear to me. I took the week to pray about it making sure this was the right time. YES! YES! YES! Tonight was fantastic! I had 10 kids come out and 3 that planned to be there but were not able to come tonight. They were fantastic! They listened, hit every cue and I am just amazed! They are so excited about it! We even came up with a great name ~ Christian Rockers! They chose the names and then voted. They came up with the outfit ideas for our performances too...jeans and tie-died

t-shirts with the name on the back and a cross on the front. Now I have to get the shirts and get them made. They were so good tonight. We were able to practice the song straight through once without music and then 3 times with the music. I am just blown away with how things went today! THANK YOU ~ JESUS ~ YOU CAME IN AND TOOK OVER AND JUST BLEW MY MIND WITH HOW VERY THING HAPPENED THIS WHOLE DAY! You know when things move this smoothly that it has to be God moving amongst the kids! It was just awesome!

Now about IKE that devil of a storm! By the time it came up here it was a tropical storm and boy did we get the storm! We have tree limbs down everywhere. Our electric was flickering the whole church service. In fact during Sunday school it went off for a few minutes and then back on. But when I went into town this afternoon to get our new babies (kittens) some food, there was a whole corn crop that looked like a tornado went through it and just flattened a large area of the crop. I am glad we didn't have an official tornado but boy I feel for that farmer. They rely on there crops and his was surely damaged by the storm. W watched during Sunday school as tree limbs were flying and garbage was going from one yard to another. In fact our front yard looked like we had a party in it. A beer party at that. Our ditch was littered with beer cans every where. Funny thing is we collected cans at church for recycling to raise funds for the youth/children's dept. You better believe we are going to turn those in and get the blessings from those cans. So our day was full of adventure from the storms blowing in and the Holy Spirit moving in like fire! I sure am glad I know the God that can say, "Peace be still" and the storm stops! How about you?

Meme

OK I knew eventually someone was going to tag me for this MEME, but I get the honor of being tagged by Tara Sloan. Thank you Tara! Love ya girl!



First: post a picture of you and your kids. I have to say I didn't realize that I have no pictures with all 4 kids by myself except for this one which is 3 years old! Guess I better stop being on the other side of the camera! LOL!







Second: Answer the questions.

1. How many children do you have? Five! SeanPatrick (my little angel), Jaron, Kristofer, Eli and Sara

2. What are their ages? Jaron 8, Kristofer 6, Eli and Sara (twins) 4 yrs old and SeanPatrick my forever baby in heaven would have been 11 this coming Nov.


3. What time of day do you start your day? 7:00 A.M.


4. What do you eat for breakfast? differs daily uhm...fruit smoothy, grits, cereal or just coffee and toast w/strawberry jam


5. Do they watch TV? Yes, usually PBS, videos or tv shows with Sean and I


6. What are their favorite activities? that varies per child but all like to play outside, play computer/video games, and collecting bugs (yes my little girl loves this!) I try to keep them outside playing not sitting in front of th etv or computer!


7. Do you get a break during the day from them? Yep! The older boys are in school all day and the other two go to pre-K for 3 hours a day. During the summer I NEVER get a break! Thank goodness for school and preK! Before we moved to IL I NEVER got a break!


8. How do you end your day? Snuggling with my man, Sean, when he isn't doing the over night shifts, reading a book or listening to praise music to calm my spirit.


9. What is your best parenting advice or tip? Remember to have fun with your kids...whatever that may be...laughter creates wonderful memories. Also cherish each moment, such as a child who wants to sit in your lap or sleep in your bed....those moments never last long...they grow too fast!



Third: Tag 5 people. OK this is going to be a hard one...half of who I would tag has already done this meme.... hmmm, ok I tag Angie Young, Angela at Memoirs of a Chaotic Mommy, Michele at An Adoptive Family's Life sorry don't have 5!

Adventures with Kristofer

I haven't posted anything lately of our adventures with Kristofer other than the ball he swallowed...that was just so much fun! (sarcastic here!) And just the other day he had a small lego in his mouth...what am I going to do with that boy?!?! (LOVE HIM!)

But for those that care to even know or even pray for us we are finally embarking on the last leg of this adventure with him. Or so we hope. At least to find out if he is or isn't autistic. Here is what I know for sure...he has SPD (sensory process disorder). Now here is something else I know - "Studies indicate that at least 80% of children with autistic spectrum disorders also have SPD. This means a lot of kids with Autism have behaviors that are seen in "sensational" kids. But the reverse is not true: Only a fraction of kids with SPD also have Autism. None of the sensory symptoms of SPD are part of the diagnosis for Autistic Spectrum Disorder."(according to Lucy Jane Miller, PHD - leading researcher of SPD). Did that make since?

This is why we want to make sure we are not dealing with just one thing. If we are great! But if we are also dealing with autism or some where on the spectrum then we need to know. We have been trying for 3 years to get someone to tell us yes or no. We started with behavioral therapy which to be honest did nothing for him, more for me learning how to deal with some issues he was having a the time and still has. Then we started OT and that is where we first got the SPD diagnosis. Kristofer deals with sensory seeking issues (most of the time) but he also deals with sensory defensiveness. He goes from needing as much input to a major over load and we need to just sit in a quiet room hugging him tight to get him to calm down. It really depends on what is going on at the time as to how he will respond. He has major auditory defensive issues. When he was 3-4 he would turn the tv as loud as he could and would say he still couldn't hear it (his hearing was fine according to testing). Other times he would turn it down so low we couldn't hear it and yet it was too loud for him. Now, he still has issues but has managed to get through the too loud and too soft issues with the tv.

He still has issues with noise of any kind. There is not a moment that goes by that he will have one or both ears covered. During our praise time at church he would much rather be in his daddy's office, in the nursery or sitting in my lap with his fingers covering his ears. Now let me just share we only have a guitar and an electric guitar during that time. We need other musicians right now, we have the instruments but no one to play them. When we have had visitors that can play the instruments it really sends him into orbit. But he loves to play the drums. Usually with one hand and one in his ear.

Anyway, this Friday, the 19th, we will be heading to SIUC for the 2nd level of evaluations to determine if he is in fact dealing with autism or is somewhere on the spectrum. If you remember me writing about the first level assessment, it wasn't clear and they saw many traits and behaviors but not enough to say a definite yes. Thus the reason for the 2nd level eval.

To be honest when he was much younger I would have said yes without hesitation. In fact I did and kept asking our doctor to have him evaluated and it wasn't till 2 weeks before we moved here (after about a year of therapy and asking) did she say lets get a clearer picture of what is going on. Honestly at the time I wasn't emotionally or mentally ready to even think in that direction. I was happy with the SPD diagnosis. Ok yes, this is about him and not me. But during that time I was dealing with a 4/5 yr old as well as twin babies. I had so much on my plate the SPD was a relief and we were seeing HUGE improvements. OT and Speech therapy opened up a way for him and us to communicate and we were seeing big stuff.

Call me a bad parent for not changing doctors or not, I really don't care what you might think. To be honest at that time in our family's life things were a bit strained in every aspect. Did he fall through the cracks...NO! He was getting all the therapy available to him. For that I am thankful. Do I wish I had pushed harder for more evals...maybe but I can't change the past I can only change the future with God's leading.

So like I said we are heading to SIU this coming Friday. Because this is a research program it is free and I was told I should know a lot at the end of the evals if not everything. That would be the best. I believe this time is an appointed time. We will get clarity before we go into IEP meetings with the school in Nov. and that will help a lot!

Also thought I would share a sensory activity that we had a couple of weeks ago. So enjoy these pictures! They kids had a ball and we had a mess to clean up but it was great fun for them and I was amazed at how Kristofer responded to it. We received a package that had a ton of those wonderful foam popcorn pieces. You know the kind, they stick to everything and are hard to get rid of. Well the kids dumped them on the floor and started jumping in them, rolling in them, throwing them and were laughing hysterically. By the time they were tired of the game we had crushed foam pieces everywhere (for days) that we vaccumed up. It was the first time I didn't flip out to be honest. Which was a huge improvement for me. They had a blast and Kristofer benefited sensory wise! I am sure the other two enjoyed it just as much as he did.

Finally it's Friday!

So many thoughts going through my head today. It actually been a down dark day for me. I haven't had a day like this in a while. Just one of those days I don't want to move, talk or even be awake. It doesn't help that I am fighting a cold/sinus infection thingy. I am sure that has something to do with it.

Been listening to Hillsong United's song "One Way Jesus" It's awesome!! I just love it! I wish we had the musicians at our church to play it. It just doesn't have the same effect with one guitar and an electric guitar. If you want to pray for something pray God brings in musicians to our church that want to use their talents for the Lord!




A few months ago, the neighbor cat Snowbell had babies. I posted about them even put up pictures. Well she has had another liter of two. These two are beautifully marked. One is black and white, the othe ris grey and white. The grey and white has spots like a dalmation. Well here...check these pictures out!
They are so cute. They are about 5-6 weeks old now. The last two we had living under our porch were taken by a neighbor boy and he left them at his grandfathers house. It broke the kids' hearts. So this time, if they stick around we plan to keep them both. We are hoping it will help us with our lovely country mouse problem we have in our garage. You know I hate wild mice. I use to have pet mice and those I do not mind but these little country mice are fearless little boogers! They scare the tar out of me every time I go to the garage/utility area to do our laundry. I am not looking forward to the first really strong cold snap this fall I can tell you that! Now I know they have their place in the food chain but ya know, Noah could have left those little things off the ark! LOL!
This week has been a week of reflection, wishing I was with my friends again at Unstoppable, planning for the future (near & far), and so many thoughts going through my head. Acutally I have been pondering some things in my heart this week. Some things God has shown me with every day objects. I will be sharing those in later posts. I am still working on how to put it on paper (or cyber space) in a way that it makes sense.
Now just a note here: DO YOU SEE that gadget on the right that says be the first follower? ------->
Well why not sign up and let me know you are here and you are reading my blog! I know you are, I have a tracker telling me where you are from. Why not show your face!
Well for those reading this now...have a fantastic weekend in the Lord!