home with all four - Homeschool Blogger

I'm still here

Thu, 25 May 2006 07:59:00 -0500

Hi Friends

How are you all? I want to thank everyone who has emailed me directly checking on me and my family. I have missed you all and keeping up with what is going on in your life. I am so thankful for you all I feel lots of love thru my internet friends. Life has been so busy. We are just about finishing up school. It is a good feeling to be done with most of our extra things. I am looking forward to some time for fun family things this summer.

My dd is doing okay. It still continues to be a journey that is reshaping our lives. Like I shared earily I have just backed off on her wearing her brace out of the house. I have even told her that she did not have to wear it on a few occasions but, she is wearing it out of the house now. She has even wore it to church. I had not mentioned this to my husband until the other day. I did when we were alone in the car and he had to admit that it was the best plan to just let her feel in control of when and where she would wear it.

We will go to St Louis to the Shriners Hospital in about 2 weeks. I am so looking forward to going. Her brace is too big. She has gotten taller and it is not getting tight enough on her now. The only negative thing is that in the processes of getting all her medical records together we discovered that she needs to get a few shots. I guess she did not get all her shots that she was suppose to get. So she is not happy about that.

I am in the middle of getting grades done for this year and planning for next year. With one going into High School I really am feeling pressure to be even more organized than ever. Any suggestions would be helpful. We use some Homesat and I was wondering if anyone else used Homesat and had a DVR we have been wanting to buy one for 2 years and I think we will be purchaching one soon. I would love to talk to anyone who is using a DVR to see what kind you use and how it is working for you.

Well I am going to take a few minutes (or hours) catching up on you all.

Happy Summer

Sarah

Thanks for all your prayers

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 16:29:00 -0500

Hi Dear Friends-

First off I want to thank everyone who has offered their prayers to me. Life here has continued to be a challenge. My DD is wearing her brace at home about 16-20 hours a day depending on when we are home. She did where it out for lunch today. I was going to ask her if she wanted to but she just did without me asking. I know she was self conscience about it but, one step at a time. My DH was pretty hard on her yesterday and said that he did not care what she wanted to do she was going to have to wear it out of the house, she was in tears and would not even eat lunch with us. (he was not to dear to me at that time) I let her cool off and then went and talked to her. It continues to be a problem. He asked me what he should say and I said nothing around her.

I have a friend at church who wore a brace as a teen. She has been wanting to take her out but her life has been crazy (she has a child graduating from college in another state) in a couple of weeks she is going to come and get her and take her out shopping. We are still dealing with the pants falling down issue. I was at Walmart today but forgot to look for velcro. But thanks for the idea.

I pray everyday that it will get a little easier. We went to the doctor last week and he answered most of my questions. Some of them he just sluffed off and would not even address. He was so concerned about breast cancer and xrays that he would not even think about taking the xtra xrays that Shriners wants (although he did say they were necessary) We go to Shriners in June. I am so thankful that we were able to get into their program.

My DH is still not handling this well. He has critized me for jumping into the brace before we get the second opinion. But says that he thinks maybe she could avoid surgery (one book he looked at was all about alternative medicine) I tried to explain to him that that book is just one mans opinion. The other books have hard fact in them where this book just has ideas that may work no facts. I am not against trying things that could be beneficial but, I do not want to put her thru things that are unnecessary.

Somedays life seems like it is unbearable. She has always been my even keel child but now I have 4 very emotional children and one very tired mama.

I am usually not a whinner. I am a very strong person but this is really wearing me down. We are also dealing with my DH dad who is an Alcoholic and has been sober for sometime but has recently started drinking again. Which is taking it's toll on my husband and myself.

Thank You so much for your prayers. Your post mean so much to me. I am sorry that I have not keep you up to date better. I have been keeping up with you all but, just have not felt like blogging.

Sarah

My daughter got her brace and other things

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:46:00 -0500

Well we finally got the brace. She officially hates it and says she is not wearing it outside of the house. She is really being a trooper about it though at home. We have not tried sleeping in it yet I told her tomorrow night we will. It is very uncomfortable and everytime she sqauts down to get something, it is so slick her pants nearly fall off. I tried to get her to tuck her pant under it but she does not want it to show. We will go and see the dr this week for another xray.

I am very discouraged about the whole situation. I have now read 2 books about scoliosis and both books (plus the info I have found on the web) say that curves over 40 degrees should not be braced. Since surgery in alway necessary with curves of this magnitude. I wish that we would have gotten a second opinion before we got the brace fitted. I know it will not harm her to wear the brace but if it is not going to help her why put her thru the trama of wearing it. I am still waiting to hear from the specialist in St Louis to see if we have been accepted and can go there. If not we will try KC.

I am also furstrated with my husband about all of this. He just does not get it. Hedoes not seem to understand the enormaity of it all. I feel like I am carry this all by myself. He just keeps asking me how much this is all going to cost. He has even been teasing my dd about the brace. He does not seem to understand how this is affecting her self esteem.

I need a lot of prayer in this situation. I know ultimately the only one I can count on to support me is my Heavenly Father. But I just pray he will send someone for me and my dd to support us thru this all.

I have been sick for the last 3 days. Life has just run me down.

Sarah

Need Advice with Mother n law

Tue, 4 Apr 2006 08:07:00 -0500

Okay here is the story. I need some advice with my mother in law. She has never been too involved in our lives. I guess I should say she has never been too involved in the kids and my life. She loves to spend time with my husband. She will call him up on the weekend and ask him to go see a movie or go with her somewhere. She hardly ever invites the kids or I. Since we moved back (18 months ago) my husband has just brought some of the kids along with him when she does this. I go out of my way to include them in anything the kids do. I always invite her to anything the kids are in or are doing. We have them (mnl and fnl) over atleast once a month for dinner (some months this is the only time we see them). She has never really liked me. She has made that clear at christmas when hubby and his sister and bil get 10 gifts she will give me one. I can over look that I really am past that but, with everything going on with my dd I really need her to step up to the plate and help me.

I do ask her to watch the kids about 1 time a month for an appointment. But past this she complains even having her husband (my hubbys step father) call me and tell me that more than once a month for a few hours is too much. The irony of this all is that we moved back from AZ to be closer to family (especially Grandparents) so our kids would know their Grandparents.

I have been praying about this realationship for years. It diffintely has gotten worse since my snl had kids. Who she watches atleast once a week and she has to drive 2 hours round trip to do this. I just do not know what to do. I know when we start going to see the dr in St Louis (which is 8hours away) we will have to be gone for 2 plus days atleast every 3 months if not more. She does not seem to understand the severity of my dd problem. When I told her about it she quickly changed the subject and started talking about how sick my snl little boy was (he had a cold and pink eye).

I have cried out to the Lord to show me how to handle this situation but he has not answered yet. I have considered writing her a letter. But am not sure if this is the right way to handle it. Has any one experienced a MNL like this?

You know the part that hurts me the worst is that she does not interact at all with her grandkids. They came over last night for dinner (it was my ds 8th birthday) and she never even spoke to him. Never said Happy Birthday or anything. Never hugged or kissed him. I had such a great realtionship with my paternal grandmother. She always made time for me and made me feel special (she was like this with all 16 of her grandchildren) My older kids see that for the most part they are just an intrusion on her life and this hurts them.

Help I feel really helpless in this situation. My hubby does not have to guts to say anything to her. I have asked him to. But he won't. He does see however, how she treats her grandchildren.

Any advice would be helpful.

Sarah

You are ruining my life and other things

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 11:48:00 -0600

Well life has taken an expected turn in our house. I have offically ruined my 14ds life. I wanted to say to him "Well I guess I am doing something right" but, I did not. I snapped at him. Then I joked around with him and things were smooth again. That is until I do something else to ruin his life.

I knew this day would come but, I am not ready for it. I told my husband one of us is not going to survive the teenage years. I have considered bording school or military school but, only briefly. Seriously I am not ready for him to pull away from me. I talked to a friend yesterday at the Y who said that her son (who is almost 20) is just now coming back to her. Even on the worse days that we have (and there seem to be more and more lately) I enjoy him and being around him and am so thankful for the time we have together every day. Growing up is hard not only on the kids but also on the parents.

My DD gets her brace tomorrow. She was suppose to get it on Monday but, they called and said it had not come in. She has been in a mood since she found out that we had to wait a few more days. I don't think she was upset she didn't get it yesterday but, we had been planning on this day for 2 weeks. She just really had her mind set that she was getting it. You know how it is.

Well spring break was last week. We usually do not take one but, this year we did (we all needed it) but, what do you know it was cold and snowy all week. Bummer! We still had fun. But yesterday was not a good day. My youngest is not good when you mess up his routine. Today was better. I need some suggestion with him. He just hates school. Every aspect of it. He is dyslexic and has a really hard time with most things. I have really adapted his work so we are just working for short chunks of time. But now I am hearing "I am stupid because I can't read" and he gets really upset about it. I am trying to get the Love and Logic book for kids with ADHD. I am praying about it all the time but, it is such a tough situation. I went thru the same thing with my oldest son but, that doesn't make it any eaiser.

HOHUM!

Sarah

Thanks for the prayers and other things

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:12:00 -0600

Hi Friends

First off thank you all for the prayers for my Daughter. We went a week ago and had her fitted for the brace. It was a hour worth of standing with out a top on in front of 2 people. It was very embarrassing to her but, they did not have to put her in a cast like the dr said. So that was a blessing. She has one more week until the brace comes in. Then they told us to expect about 2 hours to get it fitted properly. Then back to the dr to have an x ray and more fitting. I have filled out the paper work for the Shriners Hospital. My friend who is a nurse told me that the brace and fitting would probably be over $1000 not to mention the dr. We have insurance but, they are a little picky about what they pay. I just pray that they will cover this until we can get her admitted to Shriners. She has been complaining about her back hurting and also her left leg. I am so thankful for all your prayers. I can feel them.

Keep them coming.

This week we are taking off for Spring Break. We usually do not take off. The kids would prefer to just finish school a week earily. But, I really feel like we need the week off. I am planning the next 9 weeks. I am trying to be so organized. I feel like every year I get a little better at being organized and prepared.

Thanks again for all your prayers.

Happy Homeschooling

Sarah

Prayer for Daughter

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:11:00 -0600

We had som very shocking news on Thursday. My oldest Daughter was diagnoised with Sever Scoliosis. Her curve is like an S with an extra curve on the top. I had taken her to our regular doctor about a month ago. She said she didn't think it was too much to get concerned about but we could see a specialist if we wanted to. So we went last week. He examined her and took x-rays. He came back in the room and I was totally shocked. I guess I was expecting; "oh lets just monitor it for a while and it's not too bad "(based on what our family dr said) when he showed me the x-ray and said 46%, then followed that by saying 30% was considered sever I was just devestated.

Today we will go and they will put her in a body cast, cut it off and that is how they make the brace to fit her. She will have to wear the brace until she stops growing then she will more than likely have to have back surgery.

This is just breaking my heart. She will have to wear it for 20 hours a day. There will be so much she will not be able to do. She is 12 and going thru so many changes right now. Someone said to me (my sister who just doesn't get live outside her own relem) said well atleast she does not have cancer which will kill her. I remember being 12 and everything that you and your body are going thru. To add this. I know God has a plan for everything and I am just trying to focus on the big picture but, I know we will all need lots of prayer over the next few weeks as she gets her brace and gets accustom to this new way of life.

Sarah

A message that really stirred my heart

Tue, 7 Mar 2006 11:56:00 -0600

This past week we have had Mission Conference at our church. It was such a blessing to our family to have a Missioniary family stay with us. They are serving God in Brazil. We are really missing them today. It always amazes me how God brings people into your lifes at just the right moment. We were so blessed by them serving God is always a blessing.

Our main guest speaker was Dr David Gibbs founder of the Christian Law Association. He gave a message on Thursday night that stirred my heart like no other has. I did not want him to stop God spoke volumes to me that night and continues to thru these few points he gave us. I want to share them with you today.

How to have Spiritual Discernment

1. Know the difference between Good and Evil

2. Know the difference between real and allusion.

3. Know the difference between wheat is Good and what is Best. (this one really struck a note with me)

4. Know the difference between our Desires and God's Will.

5 Spiritual Keys (there really made me contemplate my time with God)

1. No one can have spiritual discernment unless you can get Quiet in God's Presence. (Wow get Quiet I sure have a hard time with this one) This involves elimination the noise in your life. Noise are things like gossip, murmering (complaining), what you watch and what you listen to.

2. Ask!! James 1:5-6 If you need wisdom-if you want to know what God wants you to do- ask Him, and He will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that you really expect Him to answer for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

3. Seek!! Matthew 7:7 Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.

4. Get Sheep Like!! John 10:4 After He has gathered His own flock, He walks ahead of them , and they follow Him because they recognize His voice.

5. Megadose on the Word fill your heart and mind with the Word.

WoW!! It is so convicting to me. I hope that it is an encouragement to you too. If you have never heard Dr David Gibbs speak you need to. He is such a blessing to me every time I hear him.

Happy Homeschooling

Sarah

Take a trip with your child and other things

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 07:14:00 -0600

Well thank you for the prayers while my daughter and I were on our trip together. It was such a wonderful experience. We listened to Becoming an Adolescence. But more importantly we grew so much closer together as Mother and Daughter. If you have never had this opportunity you must do it. Riley and I have always been really close. But never like this. We talked and laughed and just played. These are things that do not happen near enough in our daily lives. I highly recommend doing this and we are already planning our next trip when she turns 15.

Now for what I came home to. The house was okay but, not too great and the kids had eaten nothing but junk food while I was gone. David worked it out so he did not have to cook even one meal for them. His mother feed them 2 meals and his dad took them out and I fixed food and left it for the rest. Now Clay (my youngest) was up during the night sick. I know it is because his little system is messed up because he had nothing but junk for 3 days.

We are having a missionary family come and stay with us for several days. I am really looking forward to it but, still do not know when they will arrive or how many meals that they will be here with us. I hate not being prepared for this stuff.

Last thing. Teenagers. UGH. My son Cole (14) is just driving me nuts. He wants to be grown up and have grown up privilidges but, he fights with his siblings, argues with everything that I say, and is constantly needing to be reminded to do everything from brushing his teeth to staying on task while doing school. The big thing around here is to get a drivers liscence when you turn 14. Well at this rate he will be 30 before he can get one. I just do not know how to get him to realize that being a grown up involves lots of responsibilites. He just sees it as being a time in life where there are no rules. What he doesn't realize is that the rules just change and we have a lot more things to remember and do. I know this season in life will pass but, in the mean time I need help figuring out how to survive it.

Happy Homeschooling

Sarah

Mother Daughter Trip

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 22:50:00 -0600

I am so excited about this weekend. My daughter Riley and I are going to take a weekend trip. She turned 12 last week (on Valentines day) and we are going to listen to Dr Dobson's series on Becoming an Adolescence. We have been looking forward to this trip for a couple of years now. I just pray that it will be a fun relaxing time for she and I. I also pray that I can instill in her how special she is and how God made her just like she is for a reason. She stuggles with insecuirity with her looks and her abilites. She is a beautiful girl with a loving spirit and just a joy to be around. But I see myself in her so much.

Insecurity is something that I have stuggled with all my life. Even tonight my Dad asked me (kindof critical) why I picked the hotel I picked to stay in. I felt like a little girl again. I could never live up to what he expected of me. I never remember either of my parents ever telling me that God made me for a reason and that I could do anything that I wanted to do.(I never heard them tell any of my bothers or sisters that either). This inbetween age is so hard on girls. They are no longer little girls but they are also not grown up yet. I just pray that we will have a open relationship while we cross the chasm form Mother/Child to Mother/Friend in the years to come.

It will be an interesting weekend for my dh. He has never been alone with the kids for a weekend. My other daughter has already said that she just does not know how she will survive without me and her sister around. My youngest son (Clay age7) came to me very serious yesterday and told me that I could not leave until the laundry was done because Dad does not know how to do laundry. He is very particular about his clothes.

I just want to tell all my new blogfriends that you are such a blessing to me. I can't wait to get on the computer every day and find out what is going on in your lifes.

Happy Homeschooling.

Sarah