I've moved onto a new blog!  Please come on over and visit at: http://makemydayscount.wordpress.com/

Even though our oldest special needs daughter can run....we desire to contain her at times  We've been waiting for a couple of months to get this much needed stroller for our daughter.  Family walks will be much more doable for us.  Going on outings will be so much easier too.  Though our daughter typically does well, and LOVES to walk around, which we like her to do as well, she almost always comes to a point of fizzling out on us energywise when we are out somewhere for long periods of times.  So, this stroller is going to be wonderful!  It folds up like an umbrella stroller.

I took all five kids on a walk today.  And it was really only possible because of this stroller.  My six year old son pushed the baby in her umbrella stroller.  My four year old just walked on her own and my three year old helped me push big sissy in her (amazingly light) stroller.  The chilly wind whipped at our faces today,  but it felt so good to me and the kids.  We really did go for a lengthy walk for so many little legs.

Today we celebrated our oldest daughter's 8th birthday by making her a 'Jesse Bear' cake.  She loves Jesse Bear books.  Though before we ate cake, ice cream and opened up her gifts, we went to a local state park this evening for a fast-food picnic supper.  We don't often eat out, but this was a treat to the kids.  And the nature was glorious!  We had a wonderful time. Check out the pictures below

Daddy and his girl having a conversation.

Chasing Mr. Toad

Introducing Mr. Toad

A birthday hug for mom

Our spider find!

A happy run!

 My gorgeous crew!

Our snake find!

No thank you!

This gal says it so right!  If you have the time...watch!

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ff81bec537b5f92c4bc9

Someone whom I love very dearly introduced me to this song by Kathy Mattea years ago.  It's one of my favorites.  Grab a kleenex if you're going to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHzMGM9qyZw

I awoke this morning not to find our hamster in a toy recycling truck, rather she was missing, again.  This is the second time that it's happened.  She is a strong little thing and her goal in life has been to escape her tank!  Anyway, we looked all over the house and nothing.  Upon mommy's suggestion, my six year old prayed to the Lord this morning that we would be able to find 'Emily Peach' today.

Off and on this morning we heard a strange noise that seemed to be coming from the kitchen.  But, the kids and I couldn't put our fingers on it as to what it was.  Daddy unexpectedly came home from work to help us search the house, and check out the strange sound.  And much to our surprise (and not to our surprise as well!), our hamster had lodged herself behind the refrigerator, in the fan!  My husband thought she was dead at first. :(  But, once he actually started to remove her she started moving.  She was covered in dust and her nose and eye have been nicked up...her tail too.  That's all we see externally.  I have no idea how long she was behind the fridge.  We cleaned out her tank and put her back in to recoup.  She was so exausted, she immediately curled up into a little ball and fell asleep.  We don't know if she will make it.  Time will tell.  It is good that my kids haven't been overly upset, but very concerned.  I told them that if she doesn't make it, we'll get a new hamster.

Anyway, that has been our drama for the day!

Today we finished 'rowing' Owl Moon.  I tried to find an easy tree craft for this kids (outside of just coloring a picture of one), as we talked about the woods where animals live.  I came up with pine trees to represent a pine forrest.  The kids thought we might be celebrating Christmas for a moment when I showed them the craft. ( I assured them that we could do that a few months from now and decorate them with glitter.)

So, we made our trees.  My son complained that his pinecones that he was drawing on the tree didn't look like the real deal.  My daughter replied, "Yeah...it looks like a peanut!"  Mommy thought that was pretty funny  We then went on to talk about other nocturnal animals that live in the forrest, along with owl.  We also talked about how God made the animals blend in with nature for a reason.  Safety!  Please note the colors of my children's pictures.  Their colorful furry masterpeices wouldn't stand a chance in nature!  Tomorrow we'll finish cutting and put the pages together to make them each an Owl Moon animal booklet.  We are going to also try and take a trip to a wooded park this week so the kids can see exactly where these animals live.

If you are up to some really good reading on the Biblical calling of Motherhood, this is great.  But, you will also need a few moments to read it and some good brain cells to contemplate it all!

http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/newsletters/newsletter.aspx?id=05-09-08

Our six year old son lost his first tooth a few days ago.  He was very excited :)  The cool thing is that his adult teeth already have a good start and are already showing (though you can't really see in the picture.)  His two bottom middle teeth are the loose ones.  The second bottom tooth is now getting really loose as well.  This young boy has a history of early teeth.  He was just three months old when he started teething as a baby, and four months old when he got his first tooth.  He also decided to go on a three week nursing strike when he was teething back then!!  So, this time around is much easier on mom :) 

Just a typical homeschool morning of doing some seat work.  Our favorite time is on the couch reading good books though, and of course...nature walks!

My little 'Buggy' is so much fun to dress up.  But, she is still so little.  I just wonder when she is going to REALLY take a growth spurt.  I have yet to find a good bulk of colder weather clothes for her amidst our plastic bins of stored clothes.  We still have some to go through.  I am just wondering where all of the clothes her size have gone to.  I have picked up a few cute things for her at Goodwill, but I've refrained from buying much at all, since I am hoping to find the clothes we (should) have on hand.  I was praising the Lord the other evening as my husband found my 'shoe bin,' full of kids' shoes.  I couldn't find it for the life of me, but my husband found it after searching our storage area.  Now our baby has her first pair of good walking shoes, since she has just started walking most places well. She was promoted to the 'walker' nursery at our church this past Sunday.  I didn't want to send her there without shoes.

Oh yeah...the title of my thread is 'Cute Jeans.'  I think my mom picked up these adorable jeans for our baby a while back.  Our little gal is 16 months old.  These are 12 month jeans.  She is adorable in them though.  I gave her her first BIG haircut last Sunday.  Her hair has some nice wave to it!

Well whatever these little guys are called...one got into our home yesterday.  I saw that it was stuck out in our egress window.  I called me husband to come and look.  He then said that he was going to get it out.  I warned him NOT to let it in, because it would probably get in under our bed or something (which is located next to our egress window.)  He didn't think that would happen. 

Well...two minutes later I hear him say, "Oh no...it got in!"  I am thinking, "What?"  But, then I see this little critter saunter into our computer area.  I am a bit embarrassed to say that I headed for higher ground (like a computer chair), and put my feet up.  So, there I sat on my little pirch watching my dear husband trot around after this outdoor creature.  My husband decided that we needed to throw a waste basket over it, and I was to be the one to aim and drop that basket.  Problem was that the little chipmunky thing was too fast!  It scared the living day lights out of me when it would zip past my feet and out of the room.  My husband had on a nice thick glove to try and capture it with.  I on the other hand worried for our lives, as I thought of a possible infestation of rabies!!!! (you gotta know I am exaggerating a bit, but one never knows.) 

 FINALLY, as to fullfill the 'prophetic' comment I had made just moments before my husband opened the window, that little critter crept in under our bed.  After several minutes of searching, my husband couldn't find it.  I then asked, "Could it be in our closet?"  And sure enough, there he was.  I ran and got my husband a towel to throw over animal.  With minimal struggle it was caught, and much to my relief as well.  When we couldn't find it under our bed, I seriously thought it may have burrowed itself up into our mattress.  I pictured our mattress literally  needing to be torn apart! (did I mention that I have a pretty overactive imagination) 

Whew!  I am so glad that is done and over with.  Before my husband set this little stressball free, we decided to snap a picture.  Can anyone tell me what these animals are REALLY called?  For whatever reason, both me and my husband grew up calling them 'squinnies.' (????)

Well it's that time of year again!  The kids were so looking forward to Awana starting back up this year.  We went as a family to the hotdog kick-off they had on Wed. night.  Our six year old is finally in Sparkies this year, as we held him back for a third year of Cubbies last year.  Which I don't regret at all.  What a difference a year has made for him in many ways.  Our four year old is in her second year of Cubbies and our almost 8 year old...well she may forever be in Cubbies...hehe.  If you could keep that situation in prayer, that would mean a lot to us.  Our oldest special needs child has lost her helper this year.  She really needs one to be in the Cubbies room.  Her daddy helps out with the other kids in that room as well.  I may end up being her helper some of the time, which is fine.  Typically I just stay home with the our two other little ones and get them to bed at a good time, but whenever it permits, I will probably just take them too.  I hung out with some gal pals in the nursery, along with my kids on Wed night.  It was fun  So...maybe that will be an option.

And then our six year old is excited to start his first year of our church's children's music program.  His first practice will be this Sunday.  I am really excited for him.  I'll try and snap a picture.

Yesterday I took my four year old daughter shopping.  And I have to say that my daughter LOVES to shop!  And I have to admit that I love taking her with me.  I've been going through seasonal clothes and was amazed to find that we really didn't have many clothes in her size.  I think our daughter has taken quite the growth spurt.  She is four, yet people mistake her for being older.  She is also catching up to her six year old brother in height. 

Anyway, one of the places I love to shop the most for my kids' is Goodwill.  I had a limited amount of time the other day, but that didn't stop us from finding lots of cute clothes!  Of course my daughter, being a lover of pink, pulled at every pink shirt she could find.  Even I am a semi-lover of pink, but I had to put a stop to her obsession at some point.

We then headed to Target to look at new shoes.  We found just what she needed.  But, you'd never guess what my daughter spotted in the shoe aisle?  PINK shiny, sequined ballet flats.  Ohhhhhhh, how she wanted them!  Of course I could absolutely see her in them, and I do like to make her happy.  But, not that happy  My response to her was, "No, because if mommy gets those for you, I know that you'll never ever want to wear your other shoes."  Later when we were at home my daughter sadly looked at me and said, "Mommy, we need to hurry and go back to the store to get those shoes or someone else will get them!"  Of course I am NOT going to give in....until December maybe.  I was thinking that those shoes would be SO appreciated at Christmas!

Just wanted to post quickly about our Sunday.  I was our oldest daughter's helper in SS at church and I can honestly say I was so blessed just by being there!  They aren't actually starting the new Sunday School year until next Sunday, but our daughter did wonderful (as usual!)  We know that our daughter is teachable.  It is very challenging to get her to sit, but we know that we *need* to have some expectations of her.  She is worth it to us, and we know that the Lord thinks she is more than worth it.  The teachers always say that our daughter is not disruptive, yet we feel that she needs a bit of structure.  Really, the class is too advanced for her in many ways, but with help we feel that she can pull something out of the 'story' and 'music' time.  Her smiles seem to confirm that to us.  So, we try our best to help her sit.  We do give her a bit of freedom to get up and get a different toy if she'd like too.  We let her hands stay occupied with a favorite toy.

On Sunday when my daughter realized I was staying with her, she gave me the sweetest hug and kiss.  Her smile said it all.  It's like she was saying (and I believe she was), "It feels so good to have someone here that understands and knows me."  Our daughter depends on us and others for pretty much everything at his point.  This is why we are praying that a few people in our church would have the heart to really get "to know" our daughter.  So far...that doesn't seem the case.  But, we are still praying.  Until, then...it is always an honor to serve the Lord while caring for our daughter!

Our homeschooling is going well.  There is too much for me to write about at this point.  I'll just name a few things.  I am working on putting together a communication board for my daughter with PEC cards.  The board will actually help her understand the structure of our days more, as we'll make simple sentences with the cards.  I found the idea in a wonderful book written by parents of special needs children.  I'd like to write on it more later as well w/pictures.  Of course, our daughter *always* loves books, and is letting me expand on the titles that I am reading to her.  Yay!  She is such a creature of habit.  I am doing a lot of 'Before Five In a Row' books with her. 

My 6 year old is a great student.  He can get kind of silly, but really...I cannot complain.  He is doing--First Grade Rod and Staff Math, Handwriting Without Tears, Alphaphonics, and Five in a Row.  I also try to include once a week, Desiring God Bible Cirriculum.  I would like to do 'Considering God's Creation' once a week as well.  But, if daddy would like to take that over...that would be fine with me  Daddy and our son are doing nightly reading time of the Redwall Series too.  Lots of good reading!  So far when it comes to homeschooling, my motto has been SLOW and STEADY.  That's worked well for us!

Our four year old is doing well with reading simple words and sentences.  She is showing a strong interest in writing as well.  And our almost three year old???  Music and books....and throwing things!  That's his life right now  It'll be interesting to see what his style of learning will be.

I found this blog entry on FamilyLife's MomBlog.  Again, I have found a mom that I can completely relate with.  Without going into too much detail, my husband and I have been having a hard time knowing where our oldest special needs daughter fits into our church.  It's been this way for years now, but it's getting more challenging as our other children are getting older and we'd like them to be more involved in church activities, such as Sunday school and AWANAS.  But, before I say anymore, the Lord has graciously allowed us to make it as a family several times this summer!   Anyway, after much consideration, we've just decided that we, me and my husband, will be taking turns being our daughter's helpers during Sunday school.  It's not what we would have liked at first, but it's better than me having to teach my daughter separately (which I've considered.)  And with 5 kids in the winter season and sick season coming up, getting to church regularly with all of us will be challenging anyway.  I know the Lord has a plan for us.  I don't necessarily mean that everything will work out for us so that Sundays will become easier (though that'd be awesome if that's what HE has in mind!)  Rather, I know the Lord hasn't forgotten about us or our daughter.  I found these promises-

Though all may forsake you there is One who will never leave nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5); who will love you to the uttermost (John 13:1); who will stick closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24); who knows every one of our needs (Matthew 6:25-34); and will be attentive to the prayers of His children (1 John 5:14-15). If you ask Him for bread He surely will not give you a stone (Matthew 7:7-11).

Now onto the 'Blog Entry' I was telling you about...

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HARD TIMES AT CHURCH

by Jennifer Dyer

Three years ago one of my favorite days of the week was Sunday. As a people person, Sundays at church were fabulous. I loved catching up with friends and learning more about God’s Word. Each week was like a family reunion without the mysterious casseroles and awkward “Who are you and how are we related?” moments.

But now I dread Sunday mornings. I have a hard time getting up (okay, I always have a hard time getting up, but it goes deeper). I get stomachaches Saturday nights, and I fight to get to church at all, much less get there on time. Why is that? Because it’s so hard!

Rachel is my beautiful, wonderful child, but her autism makes life challenging. She’s on a very specific diet and many foods are potentially harmful—including most common snack foods. She is nonverbal and doesn’t comprehend language well, so she has difficulty following directions. She needs one-on-one attention to participate in most social environments. And church, with its snack-filled, chaotic, and loud menagerie of fun, doesn’t always work. Or I should say, we don’t fit that mold.

I’d decided the best solution was to teach Rachel’s Sunday school class so the rest of my family could attend. Now I’m not so sure that was a great idea. In the last six months I’ve sat in a church service maybe three or four times, and I’m worn out. Plus, I’m carrying too much load trying to teach and maintain Rachel. I can’t do it anymore, and I know I’m not alone.

Many of my friends with special needs children have said the same things. One had to take over as nursery director and teach her son’s class just so her family could attend church. Another said when her son was younger she often got called out of church within 15 minutes. Another who goes to a church with special needs partners still has to stay with her son if the assigned aide can’t be there. It’s exhausting! Yes, the few times we’ve gotten to sit and listen to a sermon are wonderful, but not enough. Most of the time I’d rather my husband and other daughter would go alone and leave Rachel and me at home—something I never imagined saying. It’s that hard.

Church functions aren’t much easier. Babysitters are hard to come by and forget bringing the kids along, at least for us. The few times we tried that ended in disaster.

A solution? I’m not sure. I almost didn’t write this, but I want other moms to know they are not alone. Yes, life with autism or other special needs is hard, but God is with us. Furthermore, I believe He has a special place in His heart for our special kids. Don’t give up on good things like church just because they’re hard. Pray, then trust in God to work things out. He’s so big and His love is so great you’ll be amazed what He can do.

Even as I typed this, someone from my church called me to see how we can make things better for Rachel. Isn’t that awesome? So, please, never forget: God is with you. You are not alone.