Hope:

to cherish a desire with anticipation...........

The first steps!

Days like today......

are the kind of days that help you forget that you need a new roof, the kids have outgrown everything they own and now another child needs glasses. Days like today remind you that there are more important things than the dishes in the sink or the pile of laundry in the closet.

Today our homeschool group held an all-day family picnic at the most spectacular private park, owned by a local Christian, homeschool parent and leader in our community, Curtis Bostic and family. As the co-leader of this group, I helped plan the event. Admittedly, I did very little because the other leader, Donna Porter, is an amazing woman and really has her act together. I'm thinking that I don't lately...have my act together, that is. I know I have a few excuses but really, it's time I stopped using them.

Anyway, thanks to Donna and the Bostics, I got to sit in a rocking chair on a covered porch and watch my kids swim and jump in a pond with a trampoline in it! I got to take pictures of them riding horses and climbing 30 foot rock walls and watch them run free on acres of land! I know that doesn't sound like the ideal day to some people, but to someone that loves seeing her kids get to do things they don't get to do often...or ever, it was great! I also got to have a few actual conversations with other adults *gasp*! I know! It was amazing! There are some wonderful families in our group and even though my children were there, and dozens more, they were occupied most of the time!

For a few hours, I forgot about the trappings of life and remembered what I have to be thankful for. There is a lot, the least of which is that if I had had to pay for all the things my children did today, we would have to eat ketchup soup and bread for two weeks, so I won't list it all!

Isabel on Squanto, the "Indian" horse. This is her first ride on an actual horse!

Noah really enjoyed this and went twice!

Claire surprised us all and not only pet the horsey but also sat in the saddle! She didn't like when it moved though. Elizabeth Bostic, Curtis and Jenny's daughter was very kind and let Claire pet Sport for as long as she wanted! This is such a break through for a child that covers her eyes at the zoo! I thought she would cry when she saw the horses but she squealed with delight instead!

Parker climbed this wall many times today. Since it usually costs $4 or $5 a person to do a climbing wall and three kids want to do it, we usually have to skip that activity but today they got to do it as much as they wanted and it didn't cost a thing!

Isabel gave it a shot. I'm really glad I never spent money for her to try it, because now I know, she doesn't care for it! She went about 4 feet!

But she LOVED this! The trampoline was a big hit with all the kids!

This verse comes to me now: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!~Philippians 4:4. So, now I guess I need to go rejoice...... that I have bills to pay and laundry to do!

Rejoicing over here!

Lots and lots of rejoicing!

Nesting!

Not what you expected? LOL! I'm not nesting, my kids were doing a project for school! We are studying birds right now and after an extensive investigation of nests and nesting habits, we decided to try to make our own nests. Good thing my kids aren't birds because they were NOT created to build nests! They collectively decided that it was a lot harder than it looks...at least they agree on something!!

And while we are on the subject of school,
look who's having a good time during our school hours!


Preschool teachers everywhere know what this is...good ole fashion rice play!




Oh yeah! And in my spare time....

I thought I'd teach her to read! hmmmm......YEAH, RIGHT! SHE JUST LEARNED TO SPEAK ENGLISH, PEOPLE! I got the letters for the fridge because I was a kindergarten teacher and that is the sort of thing we do. All the kids have sat in front of that fridge with her and when she holds up a letter they name it for her. She has picked this up all on her own! Prior to me getting the camera out, she had placed each of those letters on the board, naming them, without any prompting what-so-ever! I might add, she also knows the letter "C for Claire". It just didn't make it to the board while I was filming. Look out world, 'cause there are some amazing things going on inside that head of hers!

A First...a second time!

Oh my gosh! It's too bad she isn't cute!

This smile says it all!

Okay, so she's stood in her crib before. But, this is the first time since her feet have been corrected! She doesn't have the strength to pull herself up or even to stand there alone-note the way she hung herself over the rail, but she wanted to be up there so I helped her. She is having to rethink how she does everything. Her brain wants to put that right foot down, top first, the way she has done it before. I actually had to show her that her feet have to be positioned bottom-down. Then she sat there and used her hands to put her feet in bottom-down position before she tried to stand up. It was so cute!

She spent a lot of time "practicing" her standing this weekend while my parents visited.

Now that her casts are off we can see just how much work we have ahead of us before this monkey is going to walk. She lost a lot of the little bit of muscle tone she had while she was in casts. Of course she was in them for over 13 weeks so she was bound to lose it! Unfortunately, it looks like she more nerve damage than I thought she did. She never moved her toes on either foot, and still doesn't and she always seemed to have reduced sensation in her feet. But now she also doesn't move her right foot at all. It just sort of hangs there and flops around at the end of her leg. I guess this could partly be lack of muscle tone, but it looks suspiciously like nerve damage.

I still think she will walk, not because I'm living in the clouds, but because she was so close before that I can't imagine she won't now. But, I do think it's possible that the road to walking may be long and uphill, and possibly full of potholes! Our prayers right now encompass being able to discern and make the decisions about this that will best benefit Claire. We will not know the extent of her handicap or the route to take until after October 7th and 8th when she has appointments with some specialists. She has a great cheering squad, thanks to all of you!

In the mean time, we are just enjoying watching her try to use her legs and feet. She re-mastered crawling and going up the stairs this weekend! She is totally enamored with her toes and wants you to see them and kiss them all the time, especially the purple one! She has some lovely bruising on that foot but she thinks the purple toe is wonderful! Thankfully, the swelling went down enough that we were able to start using her Dobbs brace at nap time and nights. At first, when she saw me get the brace down to put it on, she started saying "no fit, no fit!" but after I got it on and showed her that it did fit she was fine. Since then, she has given us no trouble putting it on and she does not attempt to take it off, though I know good and well that she is smart enough to get it off! She "help" to put it on! Today, I put her in the crib for nap without the brace, on accident, and she began to cry and call out "brace" and a bunch of words that I could not discern. The gist of it was, "hey lady, you forgot my brace and I want it now!" Did I tell you, she is very routine oriented! Don't deviate from the routine LADY! OKAY!

What is it about 2 year olds....

That can turn a 67 year old man into a swing set and a zerberting machine!

Claire playing with my Dad today!