Chuggin' along

A friend of my posted this earlier: "Whatever is in front of me let me sing Hallelujah."  I feel as if I have been thinking this for the past ten months...

Life is normal. Nothing major going on. I love it! Enjoying reading programs at the library, art classes for Lauren and lot's of playing. We have to be so scheduled during the school year that it's nice to just be able to sit back and let the day go where it wants.
Little A is walking and has proven himself to be very busy and very active from the moment he wakes to the moment he closes his eyes. I have forgotten how busy this age is. He will be a year old next month. Praying for the day that I can plaster his little face on here for you all to see!

Praises!

Ellie turns a year old today! Thank you to all who have been praying. She came through surgery really well. They went in thinking that the cancer had spread from the bladder to her uterus and surrounding girl parts. Praise God that when they biopsied the tissue from those areas they came out tumor free. So no hysterectomy! She has a long road of healing, but seems to be doing really well my sister in law has said. She will have to start the chemo back up soon and finish it  before they go back to rebuild the bladder, Please don't stop praying!

We are getting ready to go to Branson to see my parents for the weekend. I am very glad to be able to catch my breath even if it is only for a few days. When we are home all of the issues that we are facing with foster care are right there in front of our faces. When we get to go away for a few days we can just forget about it for a little while. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Bittersweetness

Is bittersweetness even a word? Well, it is now! It completely describes our feelings of the week. We had  to go to court for little A on Thursday morning. I can't share a whole lot except that the judge made a really good ruling in our favor. The hard part in this is that the battle is just now starting. There is another person that wants to have guardianship and the state is also still trying to figure out paternity and rule out the many different potential fathers. It's a mess and it could take a long time to sort this out. Paul and I are clinging to the fact the judge saw through birth moms lies. We pray that the judge continues to see through them. We still have little A and that means something.

Please pray for little Ellie tomorrow. She is having her bladder removed and they are going to explore to see if anything else needs to be removed. My brother is having to go on a business trip this week and can't be there for the surgery. Please pray for my sister in law as she goes through this week without her husband.

Ellie

http://carryingellie.blogspot.com/     This is a the link to my sister in law's blog. I mentioned in an earlier post that my niece was diagnosed with cancer back in March. It would take me forever to explain all that is going on so please go to their blog and read it. There are a lot of challenges in their way. I am asking you to put Ellie on your prayer list and please commit to praying for their family.

The past few weeks...

It has been almost a month since I have updated you all! I'm so sorry. I get so caught up trying to get through the day that I forget that there are some people that might like to know what is going on.

So first I need to start off with a funny story from yesterday. On the way home from the Dr.'s office I almost hit a squirrel. Lauren starts going on about how we can't hit all the animals because if we do there won't be any left and we can't have a world without animals. A few minutes later she started crying and said "Mommy, God can't make anymore! Yes, even though my child was crying I did laugh (just a little!) I love the mind of a six year old!  (No, we did not go into animal reproduction at this point.)

Paul's job is going well. Good hours and pretty stress free.We see each other more.  If he is not working 15 hours a day than anything less than that is good for us! The kids go to sleep pretty early so I am still trying to get used to the evenings by myself. Actually, my issue is trying to use that time productively. I could get totally sucked into watching T.V. all night. I am so grateful that God has provided for our family and my husband is much happier! No complaining!

I wish I could post pictures of little A. You would love him! Right now he has a case of hand, foot and mouth disease. These past couple days have not been very happy. He is miserable and there is nothing you can do except give him Tylonol. Plus he is teething....should I go on?  Anyway, I brought him up because we have a court date in two weeks. Please pray for peace and that the judge would find favor with us. My scripture of encouragement lately is Isaiah 55:8-9 where it talks about how God's plans are not our plans and we just have to trust that His plan is better. Everything looks like it is pointing towards A staying with us, but the judge can do whatever she pleases. A is still in our home, so that means something. I had someone ask me recently what the hardest thing about foster care was. It's ALL hard...slightly kidding!...seriously, it's the family's of these kids. I grew up in such a wonderful home that I look at some of the situations and I think.."No, way! It can't be that bad!" Well, I found out that it is that bad and sometimes much worse. You can't have any expectations of people when you are fostering. Sorry, I went off on little side note there! Please be praying!

Adjustments

Paul started a new job today. We have been praying for a new job for awhile. Things with UPS were getting crazy and we had absolutely no family time. So, a few weeks ago God answered our prayer and he was offered a position with a really good distribution company on the south side of Louisville. The bittersweet part about this job is that he will be going back to working nights after he gets through with his orientation. Night shift isn't bad. I'm not complaining. It's the adjustment for Lauren and doing the whole dinner/bedtime thing alone every weeknight. We have done it before and I know that it will be ok. It's the getting through the adjustment part that I am dreading. My prayer for Paul is that this new job will be less stressful. God is control!

Update on foster care: Baby A is growing like a weed and is a really happy, well adjusted little boy. Our next court date is in May. We really aren't sure what is going to happen. They are still trying find and do paternity tests on two potential fathers. In the midst of all of this, birth mom is getting ready to have another baby in the next few weeks. Prayers are that they take this baby or that she really has straightened up and can parent this time. It is a day by day journey around here!

Mourning the early years...

So, this is going to sound  rather dumb, but my daughter is growing up. We are only three years away from the "tween" years.  She is starting to develop deeper friendships with her friends. I wish I could turn her back into a baby! I decided that I better darn well start preparing myself. Here is what I found that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and wish that I had started reading when she was younger. It's a lot more than just having "the talk" with your daughter. Both books focus on helping them develop healthy friendships, modesty, helping them to have healthy play while they are little so they will learn how to make good decisions. For so long we felt  helpless in so many areas when it came to parenting a girl.  These books were and still are very helpful!

Busyness and other things

The past month has been crazy! My mom had a knee replacement so Lauren, the baby,  and I went out to Branson to help her for a few weeks. While we were gone Paul got an emergency foster care care placement for a few days. Thankfully everything turned out really well and he is back home with his mom. Amazed at my husband for taking care of a three year old little boy by himself for three days! No that I doubted his ability, it's just that most husbands wouldn't volunteer to do it! Anyway, things are finally calming down a bit and we are trying to get back into our school routine. I have a prayer request for you: While we were in Branson we found out that my nine month old niece has been diagnosed with a rare cancer called rahbdomyo sarcoma. She is going to be undergoing chemo and radiation soon. She has a lot of extenuating circumstances that would take too long to go into, but needless to say she has had a tough go of it since she was born and now she is dealing with this. Please just lift her up in your prayers.  Her name is Ellie.

Anxiousness

I haven't posted on here lately because I haven't had the words to share what has been going on. Long story short...there are a few people that want Baby A to be placed with them. Tomorrow Paul and I have a meeting with them and our caseworker to pretty much just lay it out and fight for what we believe is best for this little guy.    My prayer is that God's will be done. This is not about what our family wants, but it's about what is best for him. Even though God's will may not be pretty or end happily on our end, it is what is best for us. So, tomorrow we have our meeting and then next week we have a court date where the judge will decide placement.  Here is what has been laid on my heart the last few days:  "Your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."  Isaiah 55:8-9

Encouragement

I borrowed this from a blog that I follow. I needed to read this today. 

30

JAN

When Life is Hard

2012 at 3:18 pm   |   by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Biblical Womanhood SufferingI love Scripture's honesty. I love how the biblical authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, don't hold back about despair, weakness, doubt, or fear. They don't step gingerly around topics of pain or temptation or trouble. They are frank about the fact that life is hard.

So when the biblical writers speak to us of hope and joy and peace, we know these are real too. And in our depths of despair, we can take their hand and follow them out of the pit.

Take for example, the words of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3 that we are all so familiar with: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (v. 22-23). These words are spoken from the heights, a spectacular panorama. But how do we get there when we feel crippled by the trials of life? 

The same way Jeremiah did.

Only a few verses earlier he writes from the deepest valley: "...my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord'" (v. 17-18).

Can you relate? Hope, gone. Peace, gone. Happiness, so far gone, you can't even remember what it feels like. What do we say to someone who confesses this? Do we recoil at their lack of faith? And yet here is Jeremiah, prophet of God, confessing that in his trouble he feels bereft of all of the blessings of the people of God.

Then Jeremiah shows us how he gets from the depths to the heights: "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope..." (v. 21).

His soul, which had taken its last breath of hope, was resuscitated by calling to mind who God is and what He does. He is faithful. He shows mercy, He does love. He does notforget. He sent His only Son who endured the agony of the cross, in our place and for our sins, and rose again, victorious. This I call to mind.

Notice that Jeremiah's trial was unchanged. He didn't get a phone call that the cancer was gone. He didn't find his enemies on his front porch asking for forgiveness. He didn't get hired. His child didn't become a Christian. But he had something better.

He had hope. Hope that one day, even if it wasn't until heaven, he would know happiness again

Home

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Coast. We had a nice time visiting family and friends.  It was wonderful to not have to worry about anything for a week! 

This is the laundry detergent that I made before we left. I made my own a few years ago, but didn't like it, but this is a new recipe and so far it has been fabulous. It cost me $15 to make and you only use one tablespoon per load. This jar should last close to nine months. Here is the recipe:

1 box of Borax

1 box of Arm and Hammer washing soda

2 jars (small containers) of powdered oxyclean ( I used the SUN brand) 

2 small boxes of arm and hammer baking soda

3 bars of grated fels naptha soap (pink zote soap from Home depot works well too)

You should able to find all of this at Walmart. 

Mix it all together really well! My laundry room smells so fresh just from the detergent! I still use fabric softener just because I like our clothes to be extra soft. 

This is what we did today...

Dishwasher Detergent

Here is another one of my "sick of spending so much money on soap?", "tired of loading the dishwasher after dinner and finding you are out of dishwasher soap, again?". Save money and grocery store trips and make your own. It's really easy and last's forever!

Here is what you need.

 Dishwasher Detergent ingredients:
1 box Borax (4lbs 12 oz or 76 oz ) (2.15 kg) found in the detergent isle
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz or 3 lbs 7 oz) found in the detergent isle
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, like kool-aid. (**Note: lemonade will stain soap dispenser yellow, another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade. You can usually find citric acid in the canning isle )
3 cups Epsom Salt
Lemi Shine rinse aid (this recipe does not work very well without it) You can find Lemi Shine in the dishwasher detergent isle at just about any store. You can also use vinegar as a rinse aid. If your dishes are coming out with spots on them that means you do need a rinse aid.

Christmas

This year was different for us. We decided to shake things up a little and do the twelve days of Christmas with Lauren. The hard part was being organized enough to make sure that I had something everyday. I had to get my shopping done early. We started on the 14th and ended on the 25th. This big hit was her American Girl doll that she had been begging for the past year. She said that she wants to do do the twleve days again next year so I guess it's going to become a tradition. If you read the history behind the twelve days it actually isn't until the 25th through January 6th...Lauren wouldn't go for it...we tried! We spent the weekend just hanging out and having family time. Saturday we are leaving for Mississippi to visit Paul's family. We are looking forward to getting away and seeing people that we only see once a year or so. Not sure how restful it will be with a six year old and a five month old, but the change of pace will be welcomed!

Pictures!

Here are a few pics that a friend took of Lauren: (I have some of the baby but I can't post them. Sorry!)

Lauren

With all of the court stuff last week I completely forgot to share on here the good news. Lauren had a neurology check up last Monday. He was able to change her medication to one pill a day instead of six pills. That was nice to hear and our insurance company will be happy. We had been seeing her neurologist every six months, but he is letting us go a full year this time! Yay! When she is seizure free for two years we can start to wean her off her medication to see if she is growing out of it. The marker for whether or not she is going to grow out of them is puberty. If she hasn't grown out of them by then the neurologist said that the seizures would manifest into a different kind of epilepsy with possible gran mal seizures. All of that to say that we are just playing the wait and see game. The only side effect that we have seen from all of this is that she is a little slower getting things accomplished. Slow as in each task takes more time than usual. If that is the only issue we have then I can live with it!