Dec. 4, 2008 - Pray for my mom!

My mom needs much prayer right now!!  Ok, so I had my week so planned out and everything was going to go just according to plan....right??!! Well Tuesday I was on my way to a hair appointment for Savannah, when my mom called and said she "needed me"!!  She was crying and scared me to death, I got out of her that she was at home and thought she had broken her ankle, I was about 20 min. away!!!  So I got to her house her ankle was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!  I got her to the ER in the little town where we live, after X-rays we found it it was indeed broken in 3 different places, the Dr. that works this hospital wouldn't touch it, so they kept her on pain meds. and after 5 hours we transfered her to a hospital about 30 minutes away, scheduling surgery for Wed.  So I stayed with her at the hospital till about 9:30, I hated to leave her she was in so much pain, but had to get home to be with my kiddos on Wed. morning.  I went back today and they had found an infection some where in her body, possibly pneumonia (sp??), so we weren't sure if the surgery would even happen.  Luckily they were able to go ahead and do it, she has 2 metal plates and 12 screws in her ankle!!!!  The surgery was supposed to take about an hour and took 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The Dr. said her bones are very soft, (she has RA, and Osteo) so it was difficult to get everything "back together" I left the hospital tonight after she was settled back into her room and resting!!! My mom has a very long recovery ahead of her and like most moms doesn't do well with being taken care of.  Please pray for her recovery!! 

Anyway the "so called plan" for tomorrow is to do our Bible, and Math in the morning and after lunch the kids and I will head to the hospital to see mom, they can do their reading there and take her all the cards they have made for her.  The rest of our work can wait....really I am trying to convince myself here, but I know it will be OK!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to add that my husband has been amazing through all of this, I have barely been home for the past 2 days, and he has stepped up and reallly taken care of things, what a great hubby and daddy!!!  Also our church family has been amazing so many people praying, our minister came to the hospital today and prayed with us, another lady visited her, and I have had some dear friends emailing me to check in on things!  We are so lucky to have this awesome church family!  So I am off to bed, funny how just sitting in the hospital seems to be exhausting!!!!

On a completely different side note I recomend that all the wives out there check out Dandelion Seeds blog and learn about the 12 days of Christmas.  Sounds like a GREAT idea I am planning to join in on the festivities!!!

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Dec. 1, 2008 - Vacation over....

Yes, today everything is back to normal.  Well as normal as things can be around here!!!  Last week my plan was to do school through Tuesday or Wed. but on Sunday night Sonny made the call that the kids were getting the whole week off for Thanksgiving!  They were THRILLED!!!!!!!  It was pretty cool to see him step up and say that he was making the call, and we just spent the week, reading and playing some extra games, getting some extra cleaning stuff done, so our long weekend with Sonny wouldn't have to be spent doing "house stuff".  On Thursday we went to my Aunt's house, the kids got to meet 2 of their cousins for the first time, and hit it off right away!!!  We really enjoyed our day, and lots of good food.  Friday morning I was at Wal Mart with 2 dear friends at 4:30 am, we shopped for a few good deals, stopped at Walgreens for a deal on wrapping paper and I was back home with donuts by 8 am.  We had our traditional "lazy day" on Friday, we watched a bunch of movies and ate snacks, and even napped a little off and on.  It was a good day!!!!  Sat. we went to Sonny's brother's house for a dinner.  It was a nice day, but we were ready to come home!!  Church was great yesterday, our minister has been preaching on marriage (not always a popular sermon series) I guess I hadn't given much thought to the fact that some people really don't get it, you know weather you agree or not, the Bible is what it is, God's authority, so what it says on the marriage relationship is what he expects of us as Christians.  And what he expects of us (if followed) can only make our lives, marriages, families better!!!!  I know the extra effort Sonny and I have been putting forth in different areas of our relationship have made a HUGE difference in every other part of our family.  It looks "strange" to some extended family, but we have grown pretty used to that.  When I sit back and think about it, I would so rather have some of them look at us like we are strange, then to have what they THINK they have, and who knows maybe they will see something they want, and find Jesus in the process, that is the BIG PLAN, right??!!

So today is back to school, back to having my niece for the day; we are all ready to get back into our studies, it was a nice break everyone feeling refreshed!  I am going to look over our plans today and plan for our Christmas break.  We all do so much better when we have a plan of what needs to be accomplished before we take our break!!  Now I am off to prepare lessons!! Hope everyone has a HAPPY MONDAY!!

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Nov. 25, 2008 - Thanksgiving plans ~ Wilson's testing

Is everyone getting ready to cook their turkey??  Funny we are getting together with some family a couple of times this week, but I still can't help but look more forward to Friday!! On Thursday we will go to my Aunt's house, my mom's side of the family all gets together there for Thanksgiving, it is nice we just started doing this again 2 years ago (having the whole family together).  Besides her house is perfect because we actually have some room to hang out and visit and everyone isn't right on top of each other!!  On Saturday we will be going to my brother in law's house to have a dinner with his family and my mom in law.  The kids love going there, and I do enjoy my "baby time" with my youngest nephew, but things tend to get crazy there!! Some of his kids are a bit rowdy, and don't listen all that great, so things get loud!!   Now back up to the Friday in between THIS IS MY FAVORITE, Sonny, the kids and I will rent movies on Wed. and shop for snacks, then we will just hang out in our pjs watching movies, playing games and eating junk food!!  This has been named our "lazy day" no one has to get dressed, do any running around, and everyone knows this is OUR day so we don't usually have people coming over either! Everyone already has their orders in for their snacks, so we'll be having: summer sausage, cheese & crackers, rotel dip and chips, pizza, cookies and of course leftovers from Thursday!!  

The past 2 years before we started our "lazy day" I got up (or didn't even go to bed) and went to a couple of black Friday sales with Mel WE HAD SOOOOO MUCH FUN!! And I was still able to be home in the morning with my family!  This year I am going to have to skip the shopping, which does kinda bum me out, I love it, and there usually are some good deals, but thats ok, I'll try again next year!!

As for Wilson's testing we started it yesterday, he had the the beginning of his 2 part testing session; the report was pretty much as expected; he has some tracking issues, a bit of a problem with his eyes working together, nothing to the extent of Savannah's but it does still hinder him and will continue to and get worse, if we don't give him the tools to work through it!  We can't come up with the therapy schedule, and what is needed till testing is complete, due to cost we will finish the testing up some time in Jan. (I think) and then go from there.  Yes the news is upsetting but expected and since I have seen the results with Savannah I am very confident in this Dr. so we are ready to get started!!!!  On a high note, I have been paying on Savannah's therapy for about 16 mo. (besides all the other costly Dr.s we tried) her Dr. had stretched the payments out for me so that I could afford to keep her in the program I was prepared to be paying on this for quite a while after she finished the program.  About a week or so ago, we received a letter from the office telling us how happy they were with her progress, and reminding us of her monthly exercises she is to continue, and at the end they wished us an early Merry Christmas giving me a balance of $0.00!!!!!!!  I was shocked, happy and crying all at once, I knew I had found a good Dr. and knew from conversations we had that she is a Christian, and now I got to witness her good heart first hand!! She has been an awesome help to Savannah and I look forward to the help she will give to Wilson as well.  To say that anything besides God led us to this Dr. is ridiculous!! His hand was in this all along, I am just thrilled to have seen it and recognized it, and to be able to use this to let others know just what he is capable of!  God is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and some good family time!!

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Nov. 19, 2008 - Change of plans...update

Last night I took the time to post about Wilson's upcoming appointment for testing, and spent much time in prayer about the whole situation.  This morning I got a call and Wilson's appointment had to be moved till Monday!!   I am not upset with the office at all,  there were schedule conflicts that couldn't be helped, and Monday is the soonest time that we ALL had that would work.  I will admit at first, I was thinking "Oh great it is getting put off again" but after getting off the phone, checking the calender and giving it all some thought, I think Monday's appointment is actually going to fit better into our week, than today's would have.  Of course we were going to make it work, but with the timing and the cost Monday does turn out to be better for all concerned!  Besides that I will spend the rest of the week and the weekend, lifting this situation up in prayer.  Wilson seems more at ease putting it off, as I mentioned he is a nervous kid anyway, so now he can wait and worry about in Monday!!

Have a great day everyone!!

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Nov. 18, 2008 - Wilson's appointment tomorrow, PLEASE PRAY!!!!!!

Tomorrow is Wilson's appointment for his perception testing.  Since I have started seeing a few symptoms that Savannah had before her therapy, it is time to take him in and start the testing process.  His signs are no where near as serious as hers were, but they are there none the less.  I can't say that I am just OK with this, if I let myself I can get very upset, and worried about him, about how he will handle the testing, about how he will handle the therapy if it becomes necessary, about his success, and just general feeling of having extra "issues" to deal with to do the same things that come so much easier for others.  And yes how will we handle another therapy bill? Don't get me wrong I DO think about all of these things!! BUT I feel such a peace about it all now, I see that Savannah has had a pretty rough road getting to this Dr. and still lots of hard work once we got here, and besides that she will always have some small things to have to deal with, and have to invest a little more work into everything! I realize that Wilson may be looking at some of the same roads ahead of him, but the peace comes from knowing and seeing how much this has worked for Savannah, seeing God work through all of these struggles to show us and others that he is working in our lives, and here all we have to do is hand over all the worries, and let him be in control!!! I know Wilson is a bit nervous about his testing tomorrow, (he is my nervous one anyway!!)  I know that more than likely we will soon be preparing to start another therapy program for Wilson, and I am trying to prepare for the time when he doesn't think it is fun, and wants to quit when it gets hard, but I have seen the light at the end that was there for Savannah and I have seen this little girl make such progress, I can't wait to see the same for Wilson, I am over wondering why this has had to be an issue for them and concentrating on how strong they will be for overcoming it, and how much we have went to God for his guidance through this process, and how many times we got to go to him in thanksgiving for bringing us this Dr. and all the improvements that came with it!! I am praying for Wilson's testing to go smoothly, for him to be at ease during the time (it is a pretty long process), and for Dr. Julie as she works with my little man!!

Tomorrow is our last Wed. night class and meal at church till after Christmas, I am LOVING THE LADIES CLASSES!!! And sad to see them ending, while I understand that people get busy this time of year, and that is why our sessions stop for a couple of mo. but on the other hand I can't help but think that at this time of year when people can let themselves get so "busy" with "stuff" shouldn't this be the time when we stay connected to the word and our close relationships within the church family helping to keep us accountable!  I miss this time we all have together on Wed. nights (in smaller groups) really getting to know one another and studying God's word.  Anyway just my thoughts...I am hoping that Sonny and I can spend this time off doing some type of study together, we do both spend time in our Bibles, but I am ashamed to say that we don't really get (or make the effort) the chance to actually study it together.  Something we really need to work on!

So those are my happenings for tonight, hope everyone is having a great week!

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Nov. 10, 2008 - What's new

Not all that much is really "new" around here, just figured I would catch up on blogging since my last post.  Nothing to big and exciting around here last week, the kids are plugging along in school! Everyone still seems to be making progress, and enjoying what we are using.  Lots of trips to the library which we all LOVE!!  On Friday last week the public schools were out, so we had some extra kids for the day; some meaning 11 kids including mine for the day!!  Now keep in mind I used to do that everyday when I had my daycare I had 10-14 kids daily.  But now my house is smaller and the kids I was watching on Friday were bigger!!  So I will admit I was a bit nervous about how the day would go, but it turned out to be a good day!  Only a couple of small disagreements (solved quickly without me getting involved) and one "meltdown" from a little one!!!  All in all it was a pretty good day.  Saturday brought grocery shopping day, and Sonny doing some chores around his mom's house, which meant the boys got to go help, they love these days of "working" with daddy!  I stopped by to see how everyone was doing and if they needed anything (it was freezeing outside) and the boys were running around so happy to be helping they didn't care about the cold!!  Pretty cool to see how happy they are just to have that time doing "guy stuff" with daddy. 

Sunday brought an amazing day at church, during my Sunday school class one of the little guys couldn't wait to tell me he was being baptized!  WOW, what a way to start our class!  So towards the end of class we all headed over to "big church" to watch this great kid be baptized by his daddy!! Taking the class over was great, the kids in my class have all pretty much been together since their toddler days at church; so seeing their friend make this life decision was pretty awesome!  I have to say I cried like it was one of my own, these kids in this class are all so special to me, I was so happy for the family, they are such a blessing to everyone who gets to know them and have such awesome things happening in their family!!  During 2nd service 2 more gave their life to Christ (a father and son together) again WOW, ISNT GOD AWESOME!!!!  After church we went to another family's house for lunch and just to hang out for a while.  John and Judy are also such an encouraging couple and their kids are a great example to others in the church.  They have 2 teenagers who are the example everyone wants for their kids!  Kind, respectful, smart, and they love the Lord (also homeschooled) so all in all the perfect family to spend an afternoon with, my kids had a blast!! Their younger son was lots of fun for my boys and Savannah had a blast with their daughter.  We had a nice lunch, played some games and just got to hang out.

Today Savannah has an appointment with the eye Dr. for perception testing, it is a follow up to be sure she is retaining all she has accomplished during her vision therapy.  Funny I used to get really nervous for her, with these testings, but since finding this Dr. and watching God work through this process, I am at ease this morning at how her testing will go, it has been a great program for her, and I am confident that she will continue to improve with the few exercises we practice monthly!  School this morning will be very light, because the testing does take a quite a bit out of her, and I like for her to be "fresh" for it, so this morning will just be a bit of Science reading and a DVD we have to watch on tigers.  \

Something else going on our Wed. night ladies Bible study is now studying "submission" and how it is described, and what this means from the Biblical view!!   Oh, what a novel thought "lets look at the Bible and see how and what we are supposed to do as wives!"  We had a very good class last week (led by another great friend (great job Mrs. Mike) !!  Just kidding Laurie is a great leader in this class, it is nice to be with all of these ladies and know that we all have room to grow, and want to do it God's way. 

So that is the "catch up" around here, and in amazement that it is already November!! Where is the time going????'

Anyway hope if your still with me, and haven't been bored to death by my ramblings that you have a great week!!

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Oct. 30, 2008 - Wilson is 8!!!

With all that has been going on around here with school, and fun church activities, none of that is the focus today.  Today it is all about Wilson and his day!! He turns 8 today, and just like anytime one of my kids has a birthday I sit and wonder where in the world the time went!  It doesn't seem like 8 years ago when we were blessed with our first baby boy!  Watching him change and grow into such an amazing little man has been awesome!  Wilson is my inquisitive one, he wants to know what that is, why its there, what it does, and so much more!!  He soaks in as much information as he can ALL THE TIME!!  He is one of those kids that you show something to, and he can do it immediately.  He is also a very hard worker, lately there have been many chances for the kids to step up and have little jobs helping out with Sonny in the yard, or at their grandma's house doing something and Wilson has always been the one to ask for the job, and the last one to stop working.  He is definately a finisher!! Once he gets started on something he isn't giving up till it's done!  He is such a blessing to all who get to know him!  I used to feel like Wilson got cheated out of "his share of the baby time" since Logan came along while he was still so small (only 20mo. between the 2 of them).  But while Logan was a baby it became clear that being the big brother was what Wilson was meant to be, he loved his baby brother like no one else could, and as they get a little older, I see them being the best friends either could ever dream of!  Of course they argue with each other and of course with their sister, and their is always a bit of aggervating to be done, but when it comes to his brother and sister, Wilson won't have ANYONE else picking on them, he is very protective!

Last Sat. we had a skating party for him, everyone had lots of fun, we had cupcakes with frogs on them!! They were so cute, just a fun day of hanging out with friends and family!!  Today being the actual birthday, the plan is NO SCHOOL, we don't do school on the kids days, (except for fun stuff), and the birthday boy gets to pick out the meals for the day!  So our plans today are to finish Wilson's read aloud book, and do some word games with both boys, while Savannah does some computer work, then we are going to the library , making brownies, (everyone should have chocolate on their day!!), we have a couple of craft projects we have been putting off that I told the kids we could do today, that is as much school as we will be doing today, other than that we will be hanging out and playing!! On Wilson's menu for today are Lunch: pizza rolls, pears, and chips; Dinner; eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and toast.  That is all he asked for, what an easy kid to please!!  My birthday boy just woke up, so guess it's time to start his special day!!

Blessings to all!

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Oct. 8, 2008 - A good day...

School went really well today!  I am so excited, Wilson is doing so great with his Math changes we made this year!  Logan read about 6 small words this morning, this is HUGE!!!  We are all loving MFW, and things seem to be moving along great!!  Logan was so excited when he realized he had just sounded out cat, hat, mat and pat!! Small steps I know, but in the right direction so I am THRILLED!!! 

Today is my niece's birthday (the one I watch 3 days a week), so today we made "birthday brownies" because Heather Renee is 4!!!  We sang and played some extra games, and let her watch her favorite Care Bear movie, she was a happy little 4 year old! 

Savannah goes tomorrow for her follow up check at the vision therapy office, and then a longer testing next month to be sure she is retaining all of her new skills.  I am still really praying (and trying not to worry and stress) about Wilson's issues; I am noticing more and more that I need to get him in for his testing, it is so expensive, I have to really plan for it!  Hopefully early November we will be able to get him in, I am seeing some of the same symptoms as Savannah, luckily not to the extent as hers, and not as many, but still a need for therapy I am sure!  After seeing the help it has been for Savannah I can't even think about denying the success of the program and REALLY WANT TO GIVE WILSON THE SAME CHANCES AT SUCCESS!!! But again praying, praying, praying about getting him in, and hopefully him not falling behind in the mean time!

Anyway wanted to share my excitement, did I mention Logan read today!!!!!  WOO HOO!!!

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Oct. 6, 2008 - A great weekend...

We really didn't "do" anything, but we did have a great weekend!!  Friday night Mel came over in the afternoon, and we just hung out, fixed dinner and visited, she spent the night, along with my cousin's daughter (staying with Savannah), and my niece who came and stayed after she got off of work.  So we had a full house!  It was so nice to get to hang out with Mel, we haven't done this for so long, we stayed up late, just talking and watching a little TV.  Then Sat. morning Savannah had a soccer game, we all went to and seen my dad and Cathy there.  After lunch Mel, the kids and I went to clean the church, then the kids went home with Mel to spend the night!  They have been wanting to go for a while, and that gave Sonny and I an evening alone.  Again we really didn't do anything big and exciting, but just being here and having some time alone was AWESOME!  We watched "Facing the Giants", and both loved it!! Sunday of course church, and bringing our kiddos home, my dad and Cathy had my brother's kids for the night on Sat. so they got to come to church for the first time in a very long time!!!  The kids were so happy to be there, and we were all so happy to have them, and sad at the same time, because it happens so little now! 

Yesterday was 12 years for Sonny and I!!!  Funny, it really doesn't seem like it has been that long, but as I look at my kiddos I see yes, it has to be true, WOW 12 years!  And still I love him so much, and see us getting even closer with every passing year!

My Sunday school class only has 1 week left, and we have actually finished our book already, it has been an AWESOME class!  I  am sad to see it end, what a great small group of ladies we have had, but now I go back to teaching the 2nd and 3rd graders, I do miss my class!! Most of these kids I have taught since they were in the nursery, so they are all pretty special to me!  And best of all, I have been fed by my own class, for 2 mo. now so I get to go back fully recharged and see all these little ones!! Can't wait!

So even though it sounds pretty boring to most, this was my wonderful weekend, of not much of anything!  Now on to Monday!!!  Full day ahead of laundry, school, and more laundry!!!

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Oct. 3, 2008 - Mel is coming, Mel is coming!!!

I am so excited!!! Later today my Mel is coming to visit and hang out for the afternoon/evening.  After dinner we will go clean the church, then she is coming back and staying all night with us!  In the morning we will all go to Savannah's soccer game and then Mel plans to take my kids home with her for the night, for our anniversary! On Sunday we will be married 12 years! 

Anyway it is a big deal to have Aunt Mel coming over to hang out, we havent' gotten to just hang out for quite a while.  We (us and her and her hubby Duane) used to always get together on Sat. nights and watch movies or play a game, and we had a spare bedroom at the time, so they would just stay over, and we would all get up and go to church together!! I miss those Sat. nights, we always had a blast, even when we did nothing!!  Well now we are close to an hour apart (gas prices) and Mel is working a job that takes up A LOT of her time!  So we are all really missing our time together!  The kids want their Aunt Mel and Uncle Duane to come and visit (and bring the dog).  And after my kiddos are in bed, we always have some great talks!  So as silly as I may sound I am so excited for her to be coming over for our 'sleepover" not to mention how happy the kids are to get to go and spend the night.  I have my niece coming over today, and after lessons are finished, (and lunch) it will probably be about time for her to be showing up, so here I am looking forward to an extra GREAT FRIDAY!!

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Oct. 1, 2008 - How Blessed I really am..

Not that I haven't known what a blessing it is to be here with my kids, and home schooling them, and for my wonderful husband, and all my other family and friends!!  But with this Wed. night class I am taking at church, learning so much about how our men are wired up, I am really starting to understand just how much my husband sacrafices and how much he carries on his shoulders weather he ever says it out loud or not!!!!  I have always known it is a big deal for him to carry the financial burden alone (especially when we used to be a 2 income family).  But there is so much more to it than that; our husbands fight so much temptaion on a daily (maybe hourly) basis that we (or at least I) was so unaware of!  How could that be?? How could I not have known these things about this man I love so much, I thought I knew him better than anyone?? This was my first response (more than once) while reading this book, but the more I read and the more time I spend in some good "quiet time" I am realizing I wasn't aware of some of these things because he has been protecting me from it!!! He loves me, and he doesn't want me to worry about him or his stress, he doesn't want me to feel bad, or question how he feels about me.  So he keeps all of these HARD to deal with issues to himself.  All of this to keep me happy, so here I am at home and schooling the kids and taking care of the home, and yes I know these are HUGE and important jobs, and I am not down playing them at all, but I am suddenly reminded this week during one of our "homework talks" that I don't have to go out into the world and battle the "world" like he does.  Not that I don't ever have those battles, but not in my face day after day, and not the same pressures that are put on our husbands (either by the world, himself or YES EVEN US).  Ok so maybe not on purpose, but how many of us realize the kind of pressure he is carrying and how much of it we are causing that really isn't necessary!!!!  So here I am taking all of this in a little more each week, and more and more thankful for this wonderful man that God chose for me!!!  I am sure I will still mess up (we all do), but at this point my biggest realizations are that my husband needs prayer lifted up on his behalf EVERY SPARE MOMENT, and yes there aren't many of those, so guess what I need to make some spare moments to pray for my man!!  Also really sit and evalutate how what I do or say may affect him and the big one for me THINK BEFORE I SPEAK!!!!  What I mean doesn't always come out that way, and he doesn't always hear it the way I think I said it??!!   After all he is carrrying the weight of this whole family on his shoulders and is much harder on himself than I could ever be!!  Not to mention while I may be accountable to him as his wife for the way this home runs (as in taking care of the kids and home) he is accountable as the leader of this home to God for the way he does his job!! Wow, talk about pressure! 

Anyway the study we are doing is "For Women Only" and I would highly reccomend it to each and every wife and wife to be!!  The group of ladies in this class is amazing, it is wonderful to have that accountability, and to hear that others are getitng the same things, or someone else's ideas on how to deal with a specific situation. So those are my thoughts after class tonight!!

Blessings to all!!

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Sep. 29, 2008 - Tunes on the Tarmac

What in the world?? Yes tunes on the tarmac that is where we went yesterday afternoon and spent our evening, it was a wonderful time.  It was a Christian concert at a small local airport a few minutes from our church!!!! We got to see Big Daddy Weave, Rush of Fools and Jason Gray all perform!  It was awesome!  We got there early enough the kids could play in the jump houses, and get face paintings.  Walked around, ran into many people from our church, visiting!  Then we went to watch all 3 bands!! We went with my Dad and Cathy, met up with my dear friend Laurie and her kids (this made my kids VERY HAPPY) my cousin and her daughter were also there and sat with us.  After the concert we stood in line and the kids got autographs and high fives from the bands!! Sonny and I talked all the way home about what an awesome evening it was!  That we could take our kids to a Christian concert and enjoy it as a family is huge to us!  We have went to a lot of "other" concerts years ago, and it was never an atmosphere I would have put my kids in, but this was even better.  The music was awesome, the message put out by these bands was amazing!!  And the memories made will always be treasured!   My dad and Cathy blessed us with the chance to be able to go, thank you so much for that guys!! It was a pretty late night for my kiddos (with the drive home) but well worth it, and something they will always remember and I am sure talk about for days to come!

We also had our first home school meeting last week, that was lots of fun too, getting back in touch with the other moms is always such an encouragement, I think we are going to try to do more field trips as a group this year, which will be lots of fun.  

Sonny and I are both loving our Wed. night classes at church, we have dinner together then go to our seperate classes that are for "Women Only" and "Men Only" we are both taking so much from this and I can honestly say I see it taking root in our marriage!! Things weren't bad before, but you know as we realign our marriange with God's plan it can ONLY GET BETTER!  Of course with all of this growth, I am finding myself praying for that protection over our marriage and family that much more, because I realise how sneaky Satan can be, and if we are growing and working on improvements I know he is looking for a plan of attack!!

Anyway with a great Sunday school class yesterday, then an awesome sermon followed by time with family and friends and a day/evening of worshiping with our whole family and some awesome friends I am feeling RECHARGED and ready for my week this Monday morning!! Hope everyone has a great week of school!!

Blessings!!

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Sep. 20, 2008 - Just life...

I guess nothing to big and exciting going on here, just thought it was time to post something!  So we are 3 weeks into school and the kids are doing GREAT!!!!  We are loving the new curriculum, and the old that we are using as well, but it is so exciting to try something new, and love it and see the kids loving it and LEARNING!!!   As I posted last time we are using My Father's World for the first time this year it is year one "Exploring Countries and Cultures"  lots of library use to go with it, and the kids like all the work so far!  On Monday we will be starting our Bible study on Matthew, and the cool thing is it all goes together with our History and Science!  I even heard the boys singing the "continent song" that they learned today out in the yard!  It was so cool, and the coolest part it is helping them to remember the names of the continents.  The program is set up, so I can teach all 3 of them from it, and just adjust what each one does according to their age/abilities.  We didn't start our Spelling work this week as planned, but will be starting it on Monday.  Savannah also loves reading her Health book, and is telling me new things every day that she is learning from it!  I think she likes it so much because it is especially for girls!  So all in all things are going pretty well, my mother in law even called me the other day and has ordered a set of books/DVDs on all different types of animals,  she wanted to get it for the kids for school!  We can use them along with whatever country we are studying at the time, to learn more about the area.  Wilson is really excited about this, he loves Science and loves studying different animals.  Our first set is on the Swamp Tiger, Sonny was reading it tonight and says he would like us to save it for an evening lesson; he really wants to watch the DVD with us.  No problem sounds great to me!!

I am loving my Sunday school class right now, I know I have said this before, but I am so convinced that every woman should read  "The New Eve" by Robert Lewis.  It is an amazing book, and really a guide to aligning your life with God's calling for it!!  Putting this stuff into practice is going to be such a blessing to my entire family!  Our church also started our Wed. night studies again, we have a fellowship dinner, then there are Bible studies available for all ages.  I am taking the For Women only class the book is by Shaunti Feldhahn, it pretty much could go hand in hand with the Sunday school class I am taking! hmmmm think thats a God thing, I sure do!! Another awesome book with a study guide and Sonny is taking the other side, For Men Only, there is a place in both of our study guides that we are supposed to sit down and ask each other questions to help us understand each other better, talk about tough!!!!  But with prayer before hand, and just sitting down to be honest and grow closer in our marriage, it is amazing!  Of course there are those questions you feel like you really DON'T want the answers to, but if we are going to build, keep and enjoy the kind of marriage God has planned for us, we have to hear it the good, bad and the UGLY!   We are only a few weeks into the Wed. studies but that along with being almost done with The New Eve I am feeling so ON FIRE, to have my life, marriage and home aligned with God!!  Not that I didn't want that before, and wasn't striving for it, but I think there were things that really just needed to be made clear to me, and I am seeing some of those items falling into place! Isn't God amazing!!

Soccer season is in full swing around here, Savannah and Wilson both play, so we usually have games 2-3 times a week, sometimes a couple of games a night.  I have never been big into sports, but I LOVE watching my kids play soccer, I am on the edge of my seat the whole time, cheering and clapping and almost right in the middle of the game.  Last night Wilson had a game and his team won, but the exciting part was that Wilson scored his first goal, and it was the only goal they won 1-0.  He of course was THRILLED, but so funny on the field everyone was cheering for him, and he just walked back quietly to his position and went on with the game.  He is so funny, doesn't like all that attention on him out on the field, but once we got in the car, he was all about it, did you see me??? I did it!! Then he called all his grandparents to tell them about it, he was so cute!  Tomorrow they both have a game, and Logan will probably play at the park, he only likes to watch about 1/2 of a game and 2 back to back isn't all that interesting to him!!

So those are the happenings around here, I guess pretty boring to a lot of people, but we enjoy it that way! (most days anyway)

Going to bed, those soccer games I mentioned are in the morning!

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Sep. 4, 2008 - Savannah GRADUATED FROM THERAPY!! (and we started school this week)

Who would have thought that posting about our first week of school would take a back seat, but yes it is, because Savannah GRADUATED today from her vision therapy!!!!!  Some of you who read this know how huge this is for her, and for others you just have to trust me.  Savannah has either been seeing specialists (all over IL and MO) going through testings when she was in public school, or doing some type of therapy program with little or no results for almost 5 years now!! And it wasn't till a year ago when we found Dr. Julie that we actually got some concrete answers.  In the beginning some of them were very hard to hear, she actually found more wrong with her eyes and how they work; than we originally thought, then there was the MAJOR COST and comittment it was going to take to start yet another therapy program.  But after much prayer and many many emails and phone calls with this wonderful DR. we went for it!  This program took Savannah over a year to complete (15mo. to be exact) we did therapy at home 4 days a week (30min. each time) and she had 1 hour of office therapy per week.  She also had 3 VT checks periodically to track her progress.  The therapist met with me every other week to discuss progress or set backs, whatever was happening with her.  The Dr. scheduled many private meetings with me, to discuss Savannah's therapy and even to work things out to be easier on us financially.  This Dr. we found only about 3 min. from our home, who even prayed with me about Savannah and her issues, was truely a miracle to our family and especially to Savannah!!!!!!   It is hard to even find the words to explain the changes in my dear little girl, she is reading more fluently, she still has (very) few reversals but now she can catch them and correct them, something she didn't even notice before!  She can read without tracking issues!  Her handwriting is like a new child!  And most of all she has such confidence because she completed the whole program she has seen what "sticking with it" can accomplish, she is beaming with the idea that she is DONE!!  They presented her with a certificate at the office today and took pictures of her!  The therapist cried, so of course I did too!  Savannah will have some therapy to do monthly to mantain where she is now!  They will also moniter her with VT checks for the first year to be sure she isn't falling back.  But she is so excited that doing therapy once a month will be a breeze for all of us!  Seeing the other side of this trial has been such a huge blessing it gives me such hope since Wilson has to be tested in about a month for some of the same issues, and this time we will start out at the right Dr.!!

As for school, we started on Tuesday, and so far it has been a good week, I have my 3yr. old niece over 3 days a week, and so far that is going well too, I gave her a crayon box, a couple of pencils, her own notebooks, and printed her up some ABC pages, and she says she LOVES Aunt Heather's school!  Oh to be 3 and so easy to please.  I am trying some new curriculum this year and have switched Wilson's Math, and so far we are all liking everything we are using.  I am using My Father's World for Geography, History, Science, Bible, Art and Music all wrapped into one, and can use it for all the kids at once!!  Like I said it has only been a few days but right now we are really liking it, we get to use lots of library books, and everything is all laid out for me, of course some things we may change up a bit, but for the most part I think we will stick with the plan. What I am using for the other subjects:  Savannah is using Saxon Math, Easy Grammar with some Writing Strands thrown in, Spelling Power, a simple handwriting workbook I picked up for cursive practice, next week she will start reading The Care & Keeping of YOU (The Body Book for Girls) (something we can go over together, a great book for girls and we will use it as her Health.  Later in the year we will also add in Spanish Learnables, she wants to learn Spanish very bad!!  And for Wilson besids the MFW, we are using Singapore Math, The Explode the Code books, trying to really practice the reading skills, later I plan to add Grammar Practice Simplified (just don't think he is quite ready for it).  Logan is using Happy Phonics, the Explode the Code, and Saxon Math.  I caught myself comparing Logan to Wilson this week, because Logan doesn't seem to be as far as Wilson was at this time, but I am trying to remember Logan is quite a bit younger than Wilson was; and he is Logan NOT Wilson!!!!  THat is why we are repeating the Happy Phonics with him, he really didn't seem to "get it" last year, I don't think it was the curriculum, I just really think he wasn't ready.  That is why we h'school right, so they can be themselves, and learn the way EACH ONE learns individually!!!  Working on remembering that!  So that is what is happening here, and now it is getting late, and we have a lot of school to get done tomorrow!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

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Aug. 29, 2008 - Proud Mommy moment...

Yes, I had 2 proud mom moments in the past couple of days and wanted to share them!  First of all we received Savannah's schedule for dance classes in the mail on Wed. and she has 1 class that will be on Mondays.  The other class she was interested in taking is being offered on Wed. nights only; we go to church on Wed. nights for a church dinner, fellowship, and classes for all of us.  We all really enjoy this evening, and miss it when we aren't able to go. I knew when Savannah's schedule came that we weren't going to be able to do the dance class; but thought I would present the situation to her and see what her reaction was....when I told her about the times and the conflict; her response was well mom I am not giving up my time with the youth group and I love having dinner at church!! I guess I'll have to take that class some other time!!!!!  I was so proud of her, she gets it!  She realizes that our time with our church family and these Bible studies are much more important than dance class!  Then my other moment was today at the grocery store, we go to the same store every 2 weeks to do our BIG GROCERY TRIP.  Usually the same checker is working and gets pretty used to seeing us, today as I was checking out, she said to me "I just have to tell you that everytime your kids come in here, they are so well behaved; it is amazing, they are always very polite, and seem to be very helpful"  She told me how proud I should be of them.  I told her thank you so much, they are very good kids; and I am proud to be their mom!!  The situation with Savannah chooseing church over dance just melted my heart, to see that she "gets it", and then today in the store, I felt so proud and blessed that others see the good in my kids, and that I get to spend all day with them!!!  Now don't get me wrong, that isn't to say that things don't get pretty hairy from time to time in the car or after we get home, with picking at each other.  But I have to say that over the past month or so, I have really seen a change in those behaviors that we were struggleing with;I think the talks we have had have really helped, and I see it in my kids they are not argueing near as much, and I am not having to remind them of how they are expected to talk and act (or at least not as often) like I was before.  Things have been so peaceful around here, I KNOW this is due to me getting back into my devotions; thanks to my Sunday school class really making me yearn for God's word as I work on realigning my life to my Core Callings that God has set out for me!  Anyway I am feeling very blessed right now and just wanted to share with everyone!

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!!

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Aug. 25, 2008 - Happy Birthday Sonny!!

Yes, today is my honey's birthday!!  So I get to take a few minutes to talk about how wonderful he is!!  To start off I made up my mind in the 6th grade that I would marry Sonny (much to the dismay of my parents) at that time anyway!  They all love him now!!  But even then there was something about him I just loved him!!   Although then I think it was his cool hair!!  Now it is for so many other reasons!  Sonny is an amazing father, he loves us all so much, he gets down and plays with my kids, he takes the boys fishing and with him to work at his mom's or do a favor for a friend, if it is something he thinks they will enjoy and not get hurt, he lets them tag along, and help in any way they can; I have also watched him praise him for their hard work, and tell them how much he appreciated their help!! And as for Savannah; this young lady has her daddy all wrapped up!! He looks forward everyday to coming home knowing Savannah is on the porch ready to ask him about his day, because she wants to be the first one to greet her daddy home!  This is a dad that can sing you the High School Musical Songs, because he has sat through these movies with her time and time again because she loves them so much; he is willing to watch it again....and again!!  Sonny has always been very supportive, he stands with me on the issues of home schooling and loves me being at home taking care of and teaching the kids, and house, having me here when he gets home; and with them all evening.  This as you all know puts a lot more pressure on him as the provider, as everything goes up, and most families are 2 income families, I realize just how hard he works to take care of all of us, and how he would love to find a new job, but stays where he is to make sure he has insurance and the $$ needed to keep us a 1 income family.  Through the struggles we have had over the past 2 years of so, (and there have been many) I have seen a growth in Sonny, seen him open up and say there are things I need help with, things I am not doing the way God has intended and he has taken the steps to find someone to help him with these things, that is huge growth, on his part and I believe takes a strong man to say please help me to be better!! Anyway Sonny had to work today, so while he was gone the kids and I made him a b-day cake.   This evening his brother and his family came over and ordered pizza, we all had pizza and cake and ice cream.  The kids and I got him a couple of video games for his PS2, he was thrilled!  We just hung out tonight and visited.  ON Sat. night some friends from church kept the kids all night and Sonny and I went and walked around an "Olden Days" display in our town, and went to a motorcycle show then out to eat with Mel and Duane, and came home and watched a movie and just cuddled!  It was a great evening for just the 2 of us and did things Sonny loves to do, (it was his b-day weekend)!  I just enjoyed us having some time together and dinner with our dear friends was AWESOME!! Thanks guys!  And tonight with his mom and brother, all the kids was good too, I think he had a good day!  Happy Birthday to Sonny!!

Now another birthday, Sonny shares his day with my dear dear step mom!  First of all not a term I care to use, step mom always makes people think of those mean people in the movies!  But Cathy and I have grown so close over the years it so isn't like that!!!! Cathy has been married to my dad for almost 20 years!!!! Of course there were those adjustment times and not so great years when I was a teenager where things were rocky, but those are long gone, and I see those as different people.  Well I guess we were different people, since those days Cathy and I have both given our lives over to Jesus, and we attend the same church along with my mom and step dad.  Cathy is an amazing grandma, my kids are so lucky, and I feel blessed to say that my parents may have divorced when I was young, but I have 4 WONDERFUL PARENTS!!  No steps around here!!  Thank you so much Cathy for all you do and always have done for me (even when I didn't realize it was for my own good!)  Happy Birhday to Cathy too!!

Hope everyone had a great Monday!!

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Aug. 21, 2008 - Why can't she just clean the kids' teeth???

Today I took the kids to the dentist, I was a bit nervous about Logan would do; since he told me last year he didn't EVER want to go back!!  But all three of the kids were great, and no cavaties!!  But I knew from last year there is one lady in the office who just always seems to question me in ways that are really none of her business!!  The first time was last year when I went to the dentist and she told me she could tell I drank soda , OK so I had that one coming, but then she says and I guess your kids drink a lot of soda as well, I told her no (complete truth, soda is a once in a while treat for my kids) and she stepped back and looked at me like I was lying and said "YOu have soda in your house, and the kids don't drink it??" I stayed calm and said that is correct, my kids don't have free reign of all items in the kitchen, I am the mother!  I could tell last year she looked at us "funny" when Savannah told her she was h'schooled. Then today she was talking to Logan as she is cleaning his teeth and says so have you started school yet?  He told her when we are starting, and that he is going to be in 1st grade at home!  He is so cute!!!  She looks over at me and says" OH I forgot you do that?" I just smiled and said yes, and it works very well for us!  Then she asked me well, who decides what you teach and what books you use?  I took her questions as curiosity and said, there are many curriculums to choose from and I order what works for us.  Then she says does ANYONE check on you, how do THEY know your teaching your kids?  I just said, my kids are learning much more than they did while in PS.  I was so frustrated!! I don't feel like everyone has to agree with h'schooling, but get off of my back, and just clean his teeth would ya???  That is what I wanted to tell her!  I know it isn't for everyone, and I know it really isn't for some, but I see this woman once a year I don't have to answer to her!!  Honestly  if I didn't like the dentist so much I would probably switch just to not have to deal with her.  I know that is silly, she just really rubs me wrong!  Oh well enough of all that ranting, the important thing is everyone survived the dentist, my mom in law came over for dinner tonight and we had a nice evening, now I need to get myself to bed, busy day tomorrow!!

Night night everyone!!

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Aug. 19, 2008 - A houseful of kids!!

Yes, that is what we have had lately, and it has been lots of fun!!  Sunday night my nephew and 2 nieces stayed all night with us, so the 6 kids played outside till almost dark, then after all the showers, everyone got to camp out in the living room and watch a movie with the lights out!!  Three of the kids were out by half way into the movie, and 3 held on till the very end, and didn't go to sleep till I shut everything off, I think it was 12:15!!  Not something that happens around here much, where the kids are concerned, but they were being so good, and no one had to get up early on Monday, we let it happen!  Of course everyone slept in a bit Monday, then Monday afternoon while Sonny was gone to his interview, I took the kids to the park, & called my mom to come join us, the kids played, had snacks and drinks, and did lots of "tricks" on the equipment, and of course were all sweaty, and dirty by the time we left; we stayed about 2 hours; it was a great day!!  We all miss seeing the kids so much, that having them here was a great treat for everyone, although I will say as my brother and sis in law have changed their lifestyle, they are definately spending less time on parenting as well, little things that were never an issue before like manners, and the way we talk to one another, smarting off and such were a bit of an issue a couple of times.  A quick reminder that it doesn't fly at Aunt Heather's got the point across!!  Today I had the kids for a couple of hours this morning too, and had my cousin's girls too, so yea 9 kids till about noon!! Then my brother's kids went home, who knows when we'll get that chance again; with the strain that is there; but I keep praying for the whole situation; it is so akward when my sis in law comes over; we have lost all common ground.

As for Sonny's interview, he turned down the job, they weren't willing to pay what he was asking, and the vacation time and insurance were a joke!! So he is staying where he is for now.  He did just get a very good raise, and in Jan. his vacation time goes up to 4 weeks!!  He really didn't seem to disappointed about the job, I think we really spent enough time praying about the situation and I stepped back and really tried to put my "New Eve" studies to practice and remember my place as his wife, and helper.  Not to sound like I am less than I was before, but I am working really hard on aligning myself with God's plan for my life as Sonny's wife, and I am loving everything I learn!!!! Working on changeing some lifetime habits, and tendancies isn't even a little bit easy, but wow, when I actually step back and let God do his thing, it all just seems to work!!  I know "imagine that" I am not even close to done with this study and feel like it should be a requirement for every young lady before she gets married, how much easier and more peaceful things can be when you follow God's plan instead of your own!! I don't by any means have it all figured out, and still struggle with it but now I realize I don't have to have it perfect, and I don't have to do it alone!!!!  I knew that before, but I think I really only accepted it in my head & didn't give it much thought at all if things were going well! 

Anyway that is my update for now & I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!

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Aug. 14, 2008 - Therapy progress....soccer starting....a new job interview!!!

Savannah had her first therapy session today in 2 weeks; it felt like forever since we had been to the office.  After her session Miss Sandra called me back to show me what they had worked on today; and Savannah is doing so much better!!!  It is an amazing difference since she started last year, we have had her in therapy longer than originally planned, and it takes so much dedication to stick with it, but wow it is so worth it!!  She is accomplishing exercises in therapy now that she couldn't have began to do a year ago, and all of these things will benefit her in school as well as just every day life.  Also to know and see the difference that has taken place in this little girl's confidence in herself is awesome!!  She used to be so stand offish, and wouldn't join in on anything, she was scared of looking dumb, or failing or what others may say; and now she is ready to volunteer for just about anything, she even told me last week she would like to get up in front of our church and SING!!!!  I was completely shocked and she was almost begging to go talk to our worship leader to ask when she could do this in front of everyone!! Now this is the same little girl who 2 years ago didn't even want to participate in the GROUP singing for the Christmas program at church.  WOW what a difference!!

Tonight Wilson's soccer coach to be called to let me know when practices would be starting, Wilson doesn't know yet since he was already in bed, but he will be so excited!!  Something that the coach said to me that caught me off guard was "What school does Wilson go to?"  I answered that he is homeschooled, and she just said, Oh homeschooled?  Funny, that really didn't phase me, I just thought it may not be what you expected to hear, but it sure does work for us!!  I just find myself more and more grateful for this chance to h'school all the time!!  Savannah is also signed up but I haven't heard from her coach yet; Logan won't be playing soccer since he wanted to try T-ball over the summer; he wasn't real happy when I reminded him we wouldn't be signing him up for soccer; but that is the rule!! They all got to pick 1 sport; so if he wants to try soccer it will have to be next year!  I am sure he will survive, I have really been working hard at reminding the kids that not everything they want isn't just going to happen because they want it!!  Anyone else ever feel like they are trying to teach the same lesson over and over again!!  I do have good kids and they do understand that most of the time, but when they start falling into those selfish, I want.... or Can we go?? stages it just about makes me crazy, then I feel like taking EVERYTHING away so they can learn to appreciate all over again...OK so maybe that is a bit extreme.

Sonny got a call today for a job interview on Monday, we really don't know to much about the job, he sent a resume in for an ad he seen in the paper needing welders, because it is about 10min. from home verses an hour away.  So he is going to go on Monday and take a welding test and talk to them about what positions they are wanting to fill and all that good stuff.  This is so confusing, here we are talking about possibly moving closer to church and Sonny gets a call about a job right outside of town; so maybe we end up staying here??? Who knows???  I have been praying about all of this and feel like I am at peace in waiting for God's answer.  And since we don't even know if he will get or want this job, it is kinda early to start trying to figure this all out!  Although he has been at his current job for 9 years and him changeing is pretty scary to me!  But I have to remember others who have went through this and it was a much bigger change for their whole family!! (Thinking of you Laurie)  And hey, they still seem "pretty normal"!  LOL 

Anyway a lot starting to happen around here, and praying that I remember to keep my focus where it needs to be!!

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Aug. 13, 2008 - Is it finally over???

I sure hope so, at my last post I talked about how everyone besides Logan and I had been sick with the flu, then Sunday night it hit Logan!!!! Yes he was sick from 12:30 to 5:30 am, then 2 of the little girls I watch ended up sick on Monday night!!  As of yesterday everyone has been fine, and hopefully it stays that way, I can't believe how hard this "bug" hit my family, and it is so hard to see your kiddos so sick and miserable.  Anyway I somehow escaped getting it, and have cleaned and disinfected so much in the past week, if there is still a flu germ living in this house it must not be killable!!

Monday night the ladies from Wed. morning Bible study got together to watch a movie "One night with the King" based on the story of Esther, since the study is over; I really wanted to be able to attend that; but with all the sickness and the distance it would have been for me to attend; I didn't.  I iahd already decided I wouldn't go before Logan got sick, because it would have been about an hour there and then an hour home, besides the length of the movie, besides with the gas prices it was better for me to skip this activity, hard decisions these days with the distance on what we should attend and what we should skip, hard decisons I wish I didn't have to make at least not because of distance!! 

I have decided  we are going to start school on Sept. 2 this year.  I was originally planning on starting in August, but since I am still waiting for some things to arrive, and we did go longer into June this year; I am going to wait till Sept. 2, then I think for the first week we will simply concentrate on Math and Reading then move into History, Science and Language, also Health for Savannah.  We are going to do devotions for the first week, then our Bible lesson will be included in our History, I think this will be good for the kids and we will all learn a lot from it.  I have really struggled and went back and forth a lot over what to use for History and Science; I never liked either one of these subjects in school; and the more curriculum I look at the more I think it is because of the way public school teaches these subjects, maybe if it would have been more than taking notes and memorizing dates I would have enjoyed it.  I love to read, but I never had History presented to me in an interesting way, I am hoping to do that for my kids.  The public schools here start on August 20, so that will give me a week and a half before we start here; to get things all set up (the rest of the way)

My sis in law is planning on going back to school this fall ( I believe she starts on the 25th) and their 2 oldest are in school, but Heather Renee is only 3 and a 1/2 so Kathy has asked me if I would be willing to watch her for a couple of hours a day a couple of days a week, Heather told me she was going to go to my school with Savannah!! (How cute??)  Sonny and I talked about it, and I told Kathy that if I was able to do it without compromising my kids' school I would; but it would be on a trial basis, because I can't have the distraction from teaching my own kids, I have some old workbooks; and figured I could get her, her own notebook and crayons (since everything is on sale) and we'll see how it goes!  With Savannah being in 6th this year, I really feel the pressure to keep things as structured for the kids as possible, they are getting so much older, and I am feeling a "time crunch" with Savannah to make sure I get everything in, that I am supposed to!!  Kathy does have a back up in case it becomes to much to have her here while we are having school.  I will say I would love the opportunity to spend that time with her, things have been so strained over the last couple of years with my brother's family and the rest of us, that we don't spend near as much time together as we used to, we have went from (at one time) seeing each other a couple of times a week, to now I have only seen the kids twice this entire summer!!!  Different life styles and priorities really puts a strain on relationships, doesn't it??

Savannah is almost completely done with her vision therapy!! Although the last couple of weeks has really set us back since she was gone to camp for a week, then everyone here was sick for a week!  We have some ground to make up on her home exercises in the next week, but her last scheduled day of therapy in the office is Sept. 4th!!  This is huge for her, she will then only have a monthly set of exercises to do at home to keep her eyes working properly!!  After so many years of struggles this is such a big deal for her, I am so proud of how far she has came, and how hard she has worked, she gets discouraged, but what a determined young lady she has been through all of this!!  We still have not been able to get Wilson in for his testing, and I am pretty sure he is also going to be needing some vision therapy, although not any where near to the extent of Savannah, it just hasn't been possible financially to get him in for his testing; it is so expensive!!!  So hopefully we will be doing that shortly after she finishes up her office therapy, we will be paying on her bill for quite some time to come, but that is mainly because the Dr. was kind enough to work out a lower payment program for us, and she told us that if we are able to come up with the $$ to get Wilson's testing done, she will do the same for his therapy program, so that is a huge relief!  Well I need to go on and get this day started, so thats all I have for now, hope everyone is having a GREAT WEEK!!

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