Good Find :)

So (do you guys ever realize how much I use the word so?  It’s like my written way of verbally saying “um.”)  Okay so I got off track a smidge there. 

So I have had this personal issue with organized religion lately.  I don’t have a problem with people enjoying organized religion but it has failed for me.  I have been a member of 6 different faiths/churches over my 30 years on this planet. (How many of you math buffs just averaged that out!  It’s okay.  I did too )  Yep, that comes to a different religion every 5 years of my life!

But I love God and the Bible.  I love the stories and learning how to use the Bible to help me on my way in life.  It is very intriguing to me. 

Since I have left my last, and final, church it has made me a little sad that my children are not getting that direction that I craved as a child. 

I probably would not have gone so wild as a teen if some religious leader had just talked to me!  I know there is separation of church and state but I truly believe that the orphanages and group homes in our nation should have some kind of religious individual whom the kids can go to.  Prisons have them!  Why can’t they get the kids this help, if they seek it, before they land in prison? 

Not that all kids in these places go to prison.  I obviously never did.  I have never even been arrested.  I would pee myself if I ever got that close to handcuffs.  But there is such a huge percentage that does.

Sorry, I’m easily sidetracked today.  Back to my children’s faith.  Lauren is still very involved in the church she was raised in by her mother.  Austin goes sometimes with a friend.  He goes more the longer he lives here.  But Matthew and Rachel have had nothing.  Matthew could care less and I don’t worry much about him.  But Rachel has mentioned it to me from time to time.  So I know that a piece of her soul is craving spiritual direction.

So I did something productive today.  I decided to search around and see what was out there in the way of guiding 9 year old girls.  I found the coolest thing…and incredibly cheap.  It is the Young Women of Faith Series by Nancy Rue.  There is a fiction book and a workbook that goes with it.  It is right up Rachel’s alley.  She will truly love this kind of thing.  And I found the first 2 books and workbooks for only a penny a piece at Amazon.com.  Go Mom!  I’m so ready for them to get here.  We will have so much fun doing them.  Though it is a little young for Lauren, I plan to pull her in too if she wants.  She can give her big sister/just been there point of view of life’s little lessons too.

Oh the focus of the series is to talk about every day things that tween girls deal with like beauty, body changes, friends, etc.  The books focus on a girl names Lily that is a fictionalized tale that the girls can relate to.  The workbook helps the girl write down and think about how the book topic relates to what they are dealing with.  Rachel has such a love for reading and workbooks, and such a need for printed (religious) direction in life that I think 4 cents is worth it (actually $4 a piece with shipping and handling).

Someday I may need to do a contest.  Something like how many times did I write the word “so” in January

Dinner

It was one of those days for Kevin.  He was out doing a bunch of errands all day today.  He was so busy that he even forget to pick up Lauren on the way home from town.  He was totally on auto pilot and didn’t realize it until he got home.  At least he realized it! 

Because he was out running around, dinner was pushed back a little later than normal.  I was laying in bed watching “Princess Diaries” with the little kids, when I heard an odd noise.  As soon as I tried to isolate the sound it went away.  I got back into the movie when I heard it again. 

If I was a cat I would be dead.  I have to check stuff out.  I looked up and I busted Matthew licking his little table that he eats snacks on!!  It was thoroughly haunting.  It sits low to the ground, so the 2 big dogs lick this table after Matt is done eating.  And I hadn’t washed it off since the last time Matt ate.  So the Lord only knows what kind of nasties were on that thing!  When I told Matt to not lick the table (something I never imagined telling anyone!) he gave me a very sad look.  After 11 years I no longer fall for the puppy dog eyes but he had to try.

Even with everything that Kevin did today, he made an incredible dinner.  We had pork chops, corn, ranch style beans, cottage cheese and peaches.  It was delicious. 

We are a HUGE supporter of all of us eating dinner around the table.  Since I’ve been down, we haven’t done it routinely.  Usually Kevin and the children come in my room and eat with me.  But tonight we managed to all get around the table.  It was so much fun.  I don’t think the children have laughed so hard in a long time.  At least not as a group. 

We had Lauren laughing so hard she snorted food across the table and it landed on the side of Matt’s head. 

Austin made a joke we didn’t get.  After we all told him we didn’t get it, he told us that he didn’t either.  He was just making stuff up.

I love that we can make the impossible possible.  Not very many families can get their teens, or their special needs kids, to share in a family meal around the table.  I’m very blessed that I can get both around the table and we enjoy it.

Matt’s Ultrasound Memory

Last Thursday I said that I would start doing my memory’s from the very beginning but I unintentionally lied.  I’m going to go back just a smidge to Matthew’s first picture, his ultrasound.  

Matthew’s Ultrasound

I should have known my ob-gyn was worthless because he failed to tell me to make sure I had a full bladder before going in to my ultrasound.  It takes me a while to connect the dots.

So I got to sit there for an hour drinking a poo load of water.  I hate water so I was pretty stinking miserable.  I was so happy to finally get in the room and get the darn thing over with. 

It was so amazing to see my baby on the monitor.  Back then they didn’t have the 3-d kind like they do now, but it was still incredible.  The tech was a sweet older woman.  She excused herself and brought in a girl that was a bit older than I was.  She starting showing her things on the monitor.  It kind of made me nervous.  They were discussing all his parts with big words that I knew I wouldn’t remember once I left there.  And I knew if there was something wrong they couldn’t tell me.  I would have to wait until my doctor saw the ultrasound.

She caught me off guard about a minute later and asked if she could bring a couple of students in.  I hesitantly told her that it was okay but I was starting to seriously freak out.  What was so messed up with my baby that she is pulling all these people in? !

So now I have 4 people hovering over this monitor.  They were all zoned in on whatever they were looking at.  I think the tech finally realized that I looked like I was going to faint.  She instantly apologized.

She told me that Matty had the most perfect heart.  It was perfectly shaped and centered in the cavity.  It was easy to see every detail of it in the ultrasound.  She could see it working as it pumped blood throughout his growing body. 

She had students in observing and practicing ultrasounds that day.  She told me that every teacher dreams of having the perfect organs come through on a teaching day but it never happened.  She just got excited because Matty had the perfect teaching heart…and on teaching day!  She could also see the other organs well what she was most excited by his heart.

I left there with Matt’s first picture, a video of the ultrasound and the wondrous feeling that I was carrying the most perfect baby boy in the world.

We all know what Matt’s future is.  What is interesting is that mitral valve prolapse is found in some fragile X patients.  Because of that ultrasound I have never been worried about it though, neither has his pediatrician.  I think that the ultrasound went the way it did to alleviate some of my fears for my son when I did learn his fate. :) 

Soccer Solution

Last fall we had a huge issue with the soccer program.  If you want the complete, painful, day to day drama it is posted on these dates:

• 10/27/07 ~ Am I Out of Line?!
• 10/29/07 ~ League Director Response to Incident
• 11/11/07 ~ Update on our Soccer fiasco
• 11/18/07 ~ Progress on Soccer Issue

Sorta quick recap:  Rachel used to do ballet.  She was fantastic at it but she hated it.  She asked me when she was 6 if she could play soccer and quit ballet.  I want her to enjoy her activities so I let her make the switch.  She isn’t that great at soccer but she totally loves it.  I like our program because every child has to play 50% of the game despite ability.  We had a tournament last fall.  It was the girls & coaches first tournament.  We were not told that the girls would be played by ability for the tournament.  When Rachel was only played for a few minutes we got really upset and Rachel felt bad.  We discussed it with the coach who essentially blew us off.  We went to the tournament director who sent us to our area director.  We chalked it up to lack of communication but the coaches never apologized.  The area director and tournament director did but not one of the 3 coaches ever did.  During Christmas break we even saw one who gave us the evil eye. 

The Solution

The area director called me at the end of January like she promised.  She had enough players to make a new team but there was no room on it for Rachel.  Rachel would have to stay where she was but the area director would keep on eye on it since she was coaching this new team. 

I told her that we would have to pull Rachel from the team.  Kevin and I were not comfortable around those women.  Not one of them apologized, called to inquire on Rachel when she didn’t return to finish the season, nothing.  Then we got the evil eye from the one coach on top of all that.

The area director was understanding.  Because we had paid for the spring season she didn’t want us pulling Rachel. The rosters weren’t official yet so she switched one of the older girls from the new team with Rachel.   This team is a group of girls who have never played soccer before.  With Rachel not being the greatest in the sport, her experience could give her a leg up and may help boost her confidence. 

Though now I feel obligated to be team mom or something because this woman has been incredibly understanding and helpful through out this entire situation.  I won’t this season because of recovering from the hysterectomy unless there is something that isn’t time consuming or physical.

Kevin is a little upset because the time of the practices really don’t fit in our schedule, but after all the stuff that we have dealt with to get to this place I don’t care.  I will make it work.   Think I can get some prayers that her dad will be willing to help out.

Side note:  Kevin is not Rachel’s bio dad.  We are a blended family so the oldest two kids are Kevin’s and the youngest two are mine.  We are the custodial parent for all 4 kids.  Though at this time Rachel is the only one of the four that has a continuous relationship with her other parent. Despite that Rachel does see Kevin as much as a father as her own bio dad. She trusts and respects him more because her father is an alcoholic who won’t recover. 

Wordless Wednesday - Winter 08

Special Brother

Austin and Matt have a funky kind of brotherly relationship.  It kind of looks like this:

They enjoy their time together but to each boy the other is a foreign object.  They don’t get too close but you can see the love that is there.  When one of them is missing from the house, the other is asking questions about their whereabouts.

Today, Austin and Matt are both home from school.  Austin got a tooth pulled this morning.  Matt has a pretty icky cold with a fever.  When Matt is sick he will lay in his bed with his favorite dog (the pit bull) and watch tv and take cat naps all day.  He is seriously the best patient ever.  He takes his medicine, he doesn’t ever whine, and he rests.  I just realized he is making me look bad.

After the girls went to school I put in Shrek 3 for Matt to watch.  Not long after that Austin and Kevin arrived back home.  Since I can now do light housework I was walking up and down the hall taking care of some little chores.  On one trip down the hall I noticed Austin in the bedroom with Matt. He was standing by him, asking how he was feeling and rubbing his head.  It was so incredibly sweet to show that compassion.  Kevin and I know that it’s there but Austin doesn’t like to show it.  On another trip down the hall I busted Austin laying in the bedroom with Matt, watching the movie.  Later on in the day the boys looked at kitties on icanhascheezburger (like the one above).  Both boys love this site but they have never enjoyed it together. 

It’s great to see such love between brothers.  It’s their own unique way of existing and loving in our home.  It’s absolutely adorable.

Please Support a Fellow Blogger

Suzanne from Just a bunch of nothin’ is enduring a tough week.  I won’t go into details since it is her story but basically she is going against the school to defend her 19 year old fragile X son, Jonathan.  Any of us who has had to endure public scrutiny of our special needs children know just how hard it is to sit there calmly while complete strangers tear down our child.  Please put Suzanne in your thoughts and prayers this week as she struggles through this.  What is going on with her boy could easily happen to any one of us.