Happy Thanksgiving!!

It’s been a busy but great week this week with the Bedford Family!  Shelley, Robert, and their 8 children drove down on Sunday night and arrived early Monday morning!  We had a busy week ahead and found a good balance of “busy” and “down time” together!

Monday Shelley and I went for an afternoon grocery run after finalizing a ‘menu’ for the week for our families. The rest of the day the kids played and enjoyed getting to know the ‘new’ kids since our families last gathered together 3 years ago!

Tuesday morning Michael had to work, and Robert, Jakob (their oldest son), and Kristopher went to the War Bird Air Museum for the morning.  In the afternoon, Shelley and I took Emmett and Delaina to IKEA for some wandering and shopping in Orlando!  We left the men home alone to do dinner for the kids two nights in a row and they did great .

Wednesday was an out-of-town day for us all as we headed over to Downtown Disney to walk the shops after a picnic lunch at a WINDY park on the river.  We did the fast-food thing on the way home.

Thursday was Thanksgiving so the day started early to get the Turkey in the oven and all the side dishes going!  We had a huge lunch together with our 17 children and the 4 adults!  In the evening we had several visitors stop in including friends of Shelley and Robert who they haven’t seen in 7 years!  At one point we had 10 adults and 21 children in the house.  BUSY but fun!  The Bedfords’ friends stayed for leftovers for dinner and we all enjoyed their visit .

Friday was a bright and beautiful day again. Robert and Jakob went to the Police Hall of Fame in the morning then we all gathered our crews all together to go to the Hidden Acres Farm to visit Mrs. Patti Bryan who runs Walk on Water Ministries for some HORSE fun!  She knew we wouldn’t be able to make it to our usual Saturday horse riding so she offered to come out on Friday afternoon for our family to ride and also donated free pony rides for all of the Bedfords!  What a FUN time we all had!!  Two of Shelley’s children (she also has 5 adopted children, all with Down syndrome, and three biological “typically developing” children) ride horses on a regular basis for therapy, but the others rarely have an opportunity to ride.  It was a great ending to a WONDERFUL week with friends!

We brought pizza and home-made “snowman” cookies that the kids decorated (nutter butters dipped in white chocolate and decorated), and drinks out to the farm to feed all of our crew and the volunteers.  Horses, outdoors, friends, pizza, and cookies… FUN!

Friday night we turned on 2 showers and raced to the finish line!  We managed to shower 13 children in just under 15 minutes! LOL  After the farm there was no avoiding a shower for everyone!!  Then it was time for packing up their things and putting their car together so they could pull out early this morning.  A late-night “goodbye” and an early wake-up call to finish up and see them off, and the Bedfords probably just now are arriving home.

Time to enjoy our weekend, get our crew back in their routines, help Kristopher make some progress on his school project, and get ready for the week ahead!

 

Twenty One!

On our Family Page on Facebook, my tag line says this:

9 kids 7 homeschooled 5 adopted 4 from Ukraine 5 with Down syndrome 3 "typical" 2 with Cerebral Palsy 1 with Autism 2 committed parents 1 very big GOD. That's us!

On Monday, for the week of Thanksgiving, our household will be more like this:

17 kids 7 homeschooled 10 adopted 5 from Ukraine 1 from Serbia 3 from Bulgaria 10 with Down syndrome 6 “typical” 2 with Cerebral Palsy 2 with Autism 4 committed parents 1 very big GOD.  That’s us!

Looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with the Bedford family!  Their family of 10, including 5 adopted children with Down syndrome, will be staying with us next week and our household is getting ready… and excited!

In my spare time

Monday:

Girls’ Morning Out with Aleksa, Brianna, Lynae, and Delaina for…Operation Christmas Child box shopping
Errands
Grocery shopping

Then home for 45 minutes to eat lunch

Mid day I spent 4 hours going to the ENT with 8 kids in tow.
Micah and James will be having ABR’s done as the next step, and Micah will “likely” be getting hearing aids due to his hearing loss even with tubes in.

Home for 15 minutes before family showed up for an impromptu birthday dinner (a month late because we rescheduled it since everyone was sick last time!) for Aleksa.

Dinner, showers, PJ’s…

Then more errands and home by 10pm.  Nurse Delaina and put her down while playing a word game with Michael.

Where did today go???

Because He Loves Us So…

Because Jesus died for us, we can see farther than tomorrow.  Because He Loves Us So…

 

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

And all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me

Oh, how He loves us,
oh Oh how He loves us
How He loves us all

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking

Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about, the way… That He loves us

Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves

And here… is our Wesley… exemplifying the act of God’s love last night, as he showed us more control over his body than he ever has before.  He wants so badly to love on his baby sister.  This reminds me so much of God’s pure love for each and every one of us.

How remarkable the gifts that God has given us truly are!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving

Some days are hard.  Just hard.  Nothing seems to go right from sunup to sundown.  There are kids not listening, or misbehaving, or even more fun… when they have behaviors that escalate throughout the day which serve as their own undoing (and mine!). 

Sometimes I start the day refreshed from a good night’s sleep and ready to go.  Other days I start after having woke every hour all night long with a fussy Delaina or Wesley needing to be repositioned, or Lynae needing to go to the bathroom, or Kristopher having a bad dream.

Some mornings I start the day behind, I can’t seem to get things going very quickly, and it feels like it’s late before I get going and doing everything that needs to be done.

Some days… I wish things were easier.  That the kids were able to go to the bathroom by themselves, pick out their own clothes, put them on, and put their dirty clothes in the hamper.  That they could pour some cereal and eat their breakfast.  That they could all drink the same drink, even (at the moment we have 8 different drinks among the kids at breakfast and dinner by necessity).  Sometimes I wish everyone could drink from a regular cup, that they could carry their dirty dishes to the sink, wipe their own faces, wash their own hands, and for that matter, their own butts and glasses too.

Age isn’t the factor, because my 3 yr old can do all of those things on her own or with minimal supervision and assistance.  No, it’s not their age that prevents my children from being able to take care of the simplest of their own basic needs.  It’s their disabilities.

Yep, there it is… I said it :).  There are things my kids can’t do because they have Down syndrome, or cerebral palsy (or both… and autism!).

Some days I wonder what life would be like if we still had our many blessings, but if they also were able to do some of their own care.  I wonder whether I’d feel less swamped, or whether I’d be bored. 

When I have those days, those moments, and even just fleeting thoughts sometimes, they never last very long.  Why is that?  Why can something so overwhelming seem all encompassing one minute and so simple and obvious in another?

The answer is pretty clear to me.  It is because I have been given a great gift.  A gift which I couldn’t have asked for, can only receive.  One which comes along with the blessing of knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I have an assurance of salvation.  It is the working-out of the Spirit in me… it is the Fruit of the Spirit.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gendleness, and Self Control.
I wish I was able to better exemplify this Fruit.  To show God’s fullness of Spirit in every way, and in every situation in my life.  Reality is, though, that there are days I feel run down, beaten up, and I can’t think of a single reason or conjure up the desire to show these things.  Days that I fail myself, my kids, and my husband.  Times that, really, I don’t like the person that I am.  But…

But, in the spirit of Thanksgiving… with the knowledge of Christ’s sacrifice for me… I stand back up straight, I look at my children (whom I love wholeheartedly, and despite those things that they cannot do for themselves, I do generally consider it a blessing to be ABLE to do those things for them!), and I remember with a thankful heart just how God formed our family and brought us together.  Then, the Fruit of His Spirit can once again encompass my heart and life to keep on keeping on. 

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gendleness, and Self Control.  The Fruit of the Spirit.  Given to us so we might also know the spirit of Thanksgiving.  Thanking God for His sacrifice and the many gifts and blessings we have each and every day!

November is National Adoption Month!

Delaina is 3 months old now, and is just a pound less than Micah weighed when he was adopted at 18 months.  He wore size 3-6 months clothes, including shoulder to toe sleepers.

 

 

Adoption made our family what it is today.  It brought children born a world away in to our home and hearts.  We are blessed to call ourselves their parents, and pray that many others will open their hearts and homes to be God’s hands and feet… fathers to the fatherless!

I've never been so happy to see a child has an ear infection!

First off, this morning I took Brianna and Lynae to the pediatrician to be retested for strep to be sure this THIRD round of antibiotics is working.

THEY ARE STREP FREE!!! YAY!! This is the first time in a month!

James and Micah both have run random fevers and had runny noses and we weren't sure what to do with them.  Both were negative for strep on Wednesday, so we weren't sure what was up.  Micah's ears were slightly infected, but there wasn't anything obviously wrong with James.

WELL, BOTH HAVE EAR INFECTIONS!  I've never been so happy to see that a child has an ear infection BECAUSE....

It means that we are, without a doubt, officially, NOT CONTAGIOUS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!  The ear infections caused the fevers and they should be cleared up quickly with drops (*I hope and pray!*).  They both have ear tubes, so the infections are draining and easy to treat.

WOO HOO, can you FEEL the excitement?? LOL!

Tomorrow is our Step Up for Down Syndrome walk and if any of the kids were sick with anything that could be contagious, then we'd be splitting up and only the healthy ones going.  Now, we can ALL GO!

Ok, Yes, I was yelling with all the capitals, but I've never been so excited as to see ear infections because it explains the fevers and means we are good to go! :) :)

Pumpkin Time!

 

Yeah, we’re late, but guess what? My kids don’t care :).  Today we pulled the seeds out and scraped the “ewwwwww” out of the inside of our pumpkin, then we totally cheated and put cookie monster in the pumpkin!  Oh… but first someone else wanted to try out the pumpkin ;).

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Everyone keeping their hands to themselves… today was NOT the hands-on teaching it could have been because we don’t want to spread any more germs!  Plus, we’re going to cook the innards so didn’t want everyone’s hands in it.

Every time I pulled a bunch of the scraped innards out all the kids said “ewwwwww” in chorus.  Even though they couldn’t touch, they still had fun!

Our finished cookie monster pumpkin! (yep, totally cheating!)

A LOT of fresh pumpkin, ready to blend and steam, and a bowl of seeds ready to wash and roast!

And a little girl (who was ready for a nap) trying out the pumpkin after it was scraped!

The upward swing?? It's NOVEMBER!

I'm ready for health!

In good news, most of our children are in recovery mode, though we have some lingering coughs and runny noses.  We have had 3 days fever free for most of the children as well! YAY!!

Unfortunately, after 2 rounds of antibiotics, two of the kids still are testing positive for Strep!  Lynae is running a fever, feeling pretty puny, and she and Brianna are both still positive.  We had 7 of them tested yesterday (not Kris or Delaina) and that was the result.  We started a 3rd round of antibiotics for the two girls and are going to go in on Friday morning to retest them and be SURE that the antibiotic is working!!

Micah, Aleksa, and James all are on the tail end of being sick, we hope!  All three had pneumonia and are all still coughing some, but they no longer have pneumonia and they are all now negative for strep, so the cough may take some time to clear up.

Delaina has a little bit of a clear runny nose and is sneezing a bit.  Praying that she is just adapting to the weather changes and not getting sick!!

We now have hepa filters with UV in our family room and hepa filters in each of the kids' bedrooms.  We are hopeful that this will help cut down on the amount of airborne germs and it will help with dust and such as well.  At the very least, it can't hurt!

And today, November 1st, we're finally "well enough" to carve out a fall pumpkin together.  Here's to a fresh beginning.  We may not be all 100% and off antibiotics and everything else, but we ARE all happy and thankfully appear to be on the upward swing!