Another year gone by....looking forward to the New Year!

It seems that 2009 has gone by quickly and we are almost into 2010.  We are looking forward to the new year and what it may bring..  We are looking to learn how to lean more on the Lord and his guiding for our lives. He has blessed us over this past year and kept his hand on us for which we are very thankful.  Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Blessed Christmas

We have been blessed this year!  We had a relaxing Christmas Eve with my in-laws and my mother.  The children had a really good time and enjoyed their gifts.  We came back home and then enjoyed our Christmas, so that on Christmas day we could take it easy...we went to extended family's for the day.  I'm enjoying one of my awesome gifts from my Husband, a net book computer.  He got me one so that I can take it with me anywhere and access the internet.  I'm having so much fun with it.

We took our Christmas decorations down today.  Usually they stay up until after the New year, since we are normally out of town during the Christmas holiday.  This year since we were home, we just took them down today, so that over the next week we can concentrate on our family and spending time together.

We are blessed!

Something small, but wonderful my Husband did for me.

I posted earlier how I was sick and not feeling well a week or so ago.  During that time, my Husband helped out a lot and did little things around the house or for me.  Well, one of the projects I was working on before getting sick was organizing my cricut cartridges.  I'm going on a few scrapbooking retreats after the first of the year and was starting to get my items together.  Anyway, I wanted to post and show what Allen had done for me, it was small, but important to me and I'm thankful he did it.

I have the old storage, they are individual boxes and when you take them somewhere it is bulky.  I found this new system on another website or blog and thought it would work for me.  Allen just helped me cut the organizer to the right measurements and put them together.  The new container(s) attach to each other and it is one storage system.

Coupons and saving money

This is a post for Shannon, she has inspired me to write it and also to try new ways of saving money.  Thank you Shannon.

I use coupons for our groceries, clothes and anything in between.  I'm not as frugal or thrifty as I probably could be, but I try to be as much as possible.  I use the www.grocerygame.com for our groceries.  It is a service that I pay for every 8 weeks.  It will have a list for me almost every week and when I get the list, I choose just the items that I need or want.  My husband and I have an agreement, that we only buy the items that are 50% or more on the list.  The grocery game uses a system with three colors, black (buy these items only if you need them), blue (best deals for stockpiling) and green ( these items are free).  I only buy the blue or green items, rarely do I buy a black item.  I organize my coupons by week, ie. 12/05/09, 12/13/09, etc. I keep these in a hanging file box and only keep twelve weeks at a time.   When I get my list it will tell me a date and a code for where the coupon can be found.  Some codes are: S-Smart Source, R-Red Plum, etc.  I will go to that coupon insert and find the coupon and cut it out.  It usually takes me anywhere from 20 - 30 mins. a week to do this.  It is something my husband can do and has many times, when I'm sick or something is going on.  When I head to the store, I only go down the aisle that I need something, there for I'm not tempted to buy extra items or the impulse items.  That does not mean that I don't ever do that, just most weeks I don't.   There are several stores for my area on the list, but I only do two of them and some weeks,  only go to one.  I have skipped several weeks over the last month or so.  We will just swing by a store to pick up, milk, eggs and bread.  By doing this for our family we have been able to save so much money.  I must say, my husband does one of the stores for me, he started doing it over the summer and has continued to do it, he likes it because all the employee's  in the store knows him now and will come over and watch how much he saves with coupons, if it is not a busy time in the store.

Since we have been stockpiling some of the non perishable items, we are able to share with family, friends and neighbors when they need something.  It came in handy during Hurricane Ike we were able to barter with our neighbors and share some of the items we had been stockpiling.  That was a blessing.

There are many different web sites available for using coupons and saving money, here are just the ones I'm familiar with.  www.hotcouponworld.com - free, www.couponmom.com - free,  www.grocerygame.com- pay a fee., www.couponcabin.com, and www.coolsavings.com.

There are other ways to store the coupons and organize them, each person just has to find out what best fits their needs, this is what is best for me.  When I first started this, it was very time consuming, because I would cut out all of the coupons each week and file them in a three-ring binder according to the item, ie..Frozen foods, Dairy, etc.  Many times, I would fall asleep on the couch, only to have my husband wake me up early in the morning.  That was draining on my health and my families schedule, so we looked for another way to be organized, but effective for our family.

One more thing, it is best to know the stores policy on coupons, each one is different and it also depends on what area you live it.

Snow in South Texas...Let it Snow!!!

**I wrote this over a week ago and just now remembered to finish it.  Sorry!
We had snow over the weekend and the children had a wonderful time playing in it.  It was really a sight to see and wonderful to watch it come down.  The day was starting out to be a normal day..I went out to run some errands before the "snow/ice" was to come, that way I could be home before it got bad.  I'm familiar with how to drive on snow and iced roads, but I'm not comfortable driving on it with others that are not so careful.  Anyway, we started out and by noon snow was coming down, I had to run north of where I live and the closer I got to our town the more snow there was.  I stopped by my house before taking my Mother home and found out I had no power.  Well, I did not have any house keys on me, we were in the process of making new keys and Allen Sr. had them either with him or in the house somewhere.  So, I called him and he said that he thought they were with him.  I ran my Mother home and left Makaela with her, I needed to get Allen Jr. off the bus.  While I was there getting him off the bus I tried the back door in hopes that it was left unlocked, no, it was not.  I was wanting to get our dog, Macy out of the house and the camera.  I was not able to take pictures of the children playing in the snow, because the camera was in the house.  Allen Sr. came home and he did not have any of the keys with him either, so he started trying all of the windows, he finally found one opened and we were able to get in, by this time the snow had stopped and it was getting dark outside.    We were able to get what we needed and head over to my Mother's house.  We also had a youth Christmas dinner to attend that night, we went to that and then after was able to come back home.  We had electricity then.  Even through all of that the children were able to enjoy the snow and have a good day and night.

Appriciation for my Husband

Our church recently started some Family Life classes.  We are going to have guest speakers,  and some of the classes will  be a study of different books.  We only have one a month for right now and they have been good.   My husband and I have been learning some things, in the last class we had, we were told to write down the top 10  things we are thankful about concerning our Spouse.  We are to talk or share with someone every day about one of  10 things.  I thought that I would share and write them here.

What I appreciate about my Husband:

1. He loves the Lord - he takes us to church, he prays for us and with us
2. He reads the Bible, we do this as a family each week, as time permits and during our family time, but he does it every morning.
3. He provides for our family - he has a job (actually he has three, outside of the home)
4. He loves our children - he takes time with each of them every week, even though he may work late two days a week, he still tries and makes it home before their bed time.
5. He does little things around the house- before he leaves for work he will unload the dishwasher for me.
6. He makes sure that I have gas in the van every week.  (I can do this, but this is one of the things he likes to do for me.)
7. He supports and helps with our homeschool every week.
8. He loves to cook, so most weekends, he does breakfast for us.
9. He does the yard work and takes care of the maintenance around our home.
10. He loves me!

He is my HERO!


There are many other things I could mention, but these are the ones that came to mind over this week.  I posted earlier this week that I got sick over last weekend and this week has been rough for me, well Allen took off work on Monday to stay home and help me, we had things scheduled for the day and needed to keep the appointments.  My mother originally was going to help with one of the appointments, but also was sick and Allen did not want her to get out in the bad weather.    He is very thoughtful like that and I appreciate him helping me.  Before getting sick, I had started a project with my scrapbooking and then had to put it aside, over the weekend he helped me and I was able to finish organizing  while sitting on the couch and resting.

*Side note*  Just to clarify his job(s), he has his job with the school district, since he has his LPC (counseling degree) he works at a residential treatment facility for young men one night a week, he also does supervisory for other counselors getting their degree(just one time a week). This is all so that I can stay home with our children and homeschool and not need to work outside of our home or out of our home.

New Glasses

Makaela got glasses for the first time this week.  She is so excited and can't wait to show all of her friends.  I think that she is nervous as well, but we keep telling her positive things about them to help encourage her.  

Allen Jr. and I also had to get new prescriptions, but our glasses will be in later in the month.  His was special order and mine was not going to be ready for 10 days.

Out with the Grades - A's, B's, C's...etc...

Since we have been homeschooling, we have struggled with giving Makaela quantative grades; ie: A, B,C, 100%, 80%, etc.  I would write some of these at the top of her page, other times, I would put stickers or  simply write "Good Job", "Wonderful work", things like that, but that is not what we wanted for her.  Well, we came across another system, where this family used a different kind of numbering system.  They used the number "5" as the highest number.  When the child had accumulated 25  "5's", they were able to pick out a special activity or reward to celebrate their achievement.
Well, we have decided to use the number "4" as our number of accomplishment.  Ever since I have known Allen Sr., he has always used the number "444" as special number for our family for which he will have to give the story some time at another date.  In short, it stands for "4 God, 4 Love, 4 Ever".  Makaela and Allen Jr. are both familiar with this being a special number for our family.  So, we are going to set a pretty good size reward when Makaela reaches 44 "4's".

Germs, Flu(s) and our Immune System

With all that is going on with the swine, h1n1 and regular flu, I just wanted to share what we have done and are doing to help our family.

For many years our family would get the flu shot in the fall.  We mainly did that because my father had Multiple Sclerosis and for his health and benefit we needed to be careful..  Since my Dad's passing, we have chosen not to continue with the shots.  We have been using health products and depending on the Lord to help us (not that we did not do this when my Dad was living).  I just wanted to share some of the items and products we use to help us.

Our family loves herbal, caffeine free tea(s), we use some of the "Traditional Medicinals" teas.  They have a large selection, we have used several of these for different times, Breath Easy, Throat Coat, Echinacea, Nighty Night. I read somewhere that if you drink "hot/warm" tea at night before bed it will push the germs into your stomach where most cannot survive.  (I think this was to do with the "H1N1" flu, since it affects the respiratory system (nose/throat areas))  I'm looking to buy some bulk herbal loose tea, but looking for some that does not cost too much.

The other items we use are:
 Emergen-C (they make one for children also), we take this if we are going out in public or feel sluggish.


ASAP- Ultimate Skin and Body Care Gel - we use this with a q-tip and swab our noses, then we put some on our hands, arms, faces.  I have used it in my ears when they were hurting.  This product will kill viruses and help promote healing.

Elderberry - this is an effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, helps to stimulate the immune system.
           There is an Elderberry Plus (chewable) from  Nature Sunshine that we use for the children.

Vitamin D - My husband and I take a D3,  Vitamin D had been proven to kill the flu virus.

Multi-vitamin's, Zinc, Vitamin C, Probiotics, B-vitamins, Echinacea.
Lots of rest - trying to keep the children on a regular sleep schedule, neither of my children have been nappers or sleep a lot, if they do, that usually means they do not feel well or something.
Drink plenty of fluids. - mostly water
The other thing I read about is how healing Chicken soup/broth really is.

If one of us is getting a sore throat we will use "local" honey (that is honey from your area) and apple cider vinegar to drink, or warm salt water - gargle.

There are many other products from Nature Sunshine that we use on a daily basis or on a as needed basis.  We are not a 100% total health natural family, but we are trying to do as many things as possible to help us.

**This is just what our family does, this in no way means that it is right for your family and health concerns. **


Nature Sunshine's website
http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/products/index.aspx



A dear and close friend reminded me of a website with bulk herbs:
http://www.bulkherbstore.com/

( I have not ordered from them, but I know of others that have)

Getting Started - With our new curriculum/unit studies.

We have officially started our new curriculum and we are trying out a new schedule this week.  With Thanksgiving next week and the guys being home with us, we will do some, but mostly family time and activities.  Makaela loves our wisdom booklets and is enjoying what she is learning.  Her Dad left her some papers yesterday for the week and she was so excited she did them all yesterday.  I did not see them ahead of time and did not know they had dates on them, Allen Jr. had a doctor appt., so we were taking our school work along with us and I just told her to get it out and start working on what she could without me (we have learned to do this many times, because of my Dad, with his doctor appts. or Allen Jr's appts.).   Well, her Dad was so shocked that she did it all yesterday, but he was glad she enjoyed it.  We will be working out some of the scheduling and activities over the next few weeks.  We are still doing our other curriculum's with Math, Language Arts and some History.  The rest is in our unit studies.  We have noticed over the last month or so that Makaela is showing more of an interest in the Bible and what we are studying.  In the evening we are finding that she is reading her Bible on her own and looking up scriptures.  The Lord is good and all things come in his timing.

Shining your Godly Light

We have been working on reading and memorizing the "Sermon on the Mount" - Matthew 5, over the last few months.  In verse 16 it is talks about "Letting your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and gloryfy  your Father which is in Heaven" ....I was reading a devotion this week on this scripture and how we live our lives before others and what they see.   What I got out of this devotion and the scripture, by reading and studying this more, was that our life "light" was to shine so that we are showing light(s) of love, joy,  hope and grace to others that may not have any love, joy, hope or grace can and come to know the Lord. .  I know this something we all know, but it became more real to me and what the Lord is wanting of me to do. I realized that we are not to "put on" (acting, pretending), but to be real to our convictions and what the Lord is requiring from each of us individually.  I want my Godly "light" to shine brighter so that other may see the Lord and give him the glory!   Matthew 5:14-16

Training our children, scripture, chores, etc.

* I wrote this post several weeks ago and finally finished it today. *
I have been reading several post on other blogs and gleaning from their post.  Some of them have been on training the children with chores, managing money (rewards for chores or allowances) and treasure jars (teaching the children the importance of laying up treasure in Heaven vs. earthly treasures).  My husband and I, in our efforts to change our homeschool ideas and our home, we have been re-evaluating what would work for our family.  Since, Allen Jr. cannot read, we have to look for other alternatives to training him.  We use a  program http://www.mayer-johnson.com/products/boardmaker-software/ for making picture symbols with words, so that he can see both and we do use some sign language.  We have an older program of this and several years ago we made our own chore system it has worked really well with both of the children, but now we need to change a few things and add some more in.  That will have to wait, because we cannot find the main cd for this system.  To replace it would be $200 +, to re-buy would be $400+, so we are going to be praying and looking for the cd over the next few weeks.  I will post pictures of our boards soon.

Restful family time

We took a short trip this past weekend to East Texas.  We went for Ethan's baby dedication, Kevin and Annette asked if we would come.  We were honored to be included in their son's dedication. We are thankful to be included in their family and special occasions.   Even though we were going for just one night, it was a  relaxing time to get away.   The children love staying in a hotel room and enjoy it every chance they can stay in one.  We did not plan any other activities for the time there, other than going to church.  We enjoyed that, because we were able to see so many friends we have not seen for a while.  We just wanted to take our time and enjoy the hotel and relax.
We did not know that it was the weekend for "Canton".  We have wanted to go there several times and it just has never worked out.   I have never been there so on the way home on Sunday, Allen said lets go by Canton.  We were not going to be able to do the whole thing, but wanted to just see a little bit.  There are animals and different things there that he thought the children would like.  Well, we never did get to that part, but the children seemed to have a good time anyway.  We did buy two small Christmas gifts and a few other items.  Overall the trip was a relaxing trip and we all had a good time.


Side note:  When we go on trips, short, long, day trips, etc.  I tend to go over board and plan activities and what not to do.  Allen Sr. does as well.  Not sure why, but we do, so that is why this weekend was relaxing and enjoyable, because we did not have major plans other than Ethan's dedication and that was what was important to us.

Tea Time

When Makaela was a little girl we would have tea parties, some were pretend and others were the real thing.  So over the years as she was growing up we would have a tea party at her Grandmother's house, I think the first one was when she was 4 or 5.  Well, Makaela and her Grandmother planned a tea party for this week and had lunch too.  She invited some of her homeschool/church friends, they have all grown up together and are close in age.  The girls seems to have a good time and enjoyed just having fun, tea, lunch, a craft, games, stories, and some even put on a mini play for us.  It was a relaxing day that I think each of the girls needed.  I know at our house we just get too busy with school and activities that we don't always take the time to enjoy just having "tea time".

Fall Fun

We went to Dewberry Farms last Saturday with some family friends.  They are special to us and we enjoy being with them when we can. ( The visits are few and far between)    The children and adults had a really good time, hay ride, corn maze - we did make it to the lookout, watching a pig race, nature walk (flowers) and a picnic lunch in the van. :o) We did not realize that you could not take outside food in, so we had packed a lunch and did not want to leave the farm, we were making a day of it.  Makaela and I have been on two other occasions to Dewberry Farm, but neither of the guy's had been, so they were enjoying the different things you could do.

Homeschooling and Making Changes

We have made some changes to this years school curriculum and now we are making more changes.  It is not all figured out and planned yet, but I'm getting excited and hopefully we can get it all together by Thanksgiving.  Allen Sr. and I have been thinking and praying about applying to the Advanced Training Institute www.ati.iblp.org/ati/ through Bill Gothard and IBLP.  This (ATI) was founded in 1984, the year I graduated from High School.  My parents and I actually did part of the program even though I was already out of school.  We did it for several years, but then I went on to get a job, etc.   Allen and I have considered the program a few different times since we have been homeschooling Makaela and each time did not feel it was the Lord's will.  Well over the summer, we approached the subject again.  We became excited and even started the process, twice we had a "death of a vision" for our family.  So we just waited and then felt the Lord prompting us to apply and watch him work.  We were accepted and sent off our forms. This week we received our first box of goodies.  We have a 13 hour DVD that we are to watch first, that will help us in our efforts.  We have watched about 4 -5 hours so far.  It is too much to digest in one sitting.  In saying all of that, I can't wait to get started and enjoy this program as a family.  It will go along with our Character training and hopefully build Godly character in each of us.  Allen and I are excited about learning along with the children.

Allen Jr. and more of the dental work story.

We met with an oral surgeon yesterday to see if Allen was able to have implants.  After much debate and talking, we are to have an I-CAT done and then he will decide.  In the meantime Allen does need to have his wisdom teeth removed.   We will have some very hard decisions to make concerning Allen's teeth and procedures.  This is not an easy task with his disabilities.  I'm leaning that we are to praise the Lord for everything, but not just to praise him for the situation, but during the situation.  That is not something that comes natural to do.  I know it should be, but I guess that is something that comes with time.

Family Crazyness and my Thankfulness

I wrote this and then did not post it.  This happened on October 8th - 11th.
This past week has been a crazy and trying time for us.  Allen Jr. had a "permanent dental bridge" put in on September 28th., they were his two front teeth.  Just to give you a little back ground, he lost his baby teeth in the accident when he was 11 months old.  His adult teeth were damaged as well, so Allen has never had two front teeth, unless the dentist or orthodontist has put false teeth in some how.  Now that he was done with braces, etc. we were getting him some thing more permanent.   Well, last Wed. night, the dental bridge came off and he swallowed it while eating a sandwich.  My Husband and I thought he choked on the sandwich, not realizing what happened until it was too late.  We talked with the Dentist and she said to just let it pass through his system normally.  During the night he was acting sick and into the morning on Thursday he could not keep food or liquids down.  We were getting more concerned and after much debate took him to the ER.  There they did an xray and found the dental device to be in his esophagus.  They called a GI doctor to come in and he decided to try there in the ER to remove the bridge.  The doctor was unable to remove it, but did push it into his stomach.  He took care of the immediate danger and wanted to do another xray in the morning and decide from there what needed to be done.  After the night stay in the ER, they took the xray on Friday morning and it was still in his stomach.  The GI doctor decided he wanted to take it out if at all possible, so they put Allen Jr on the schedule to take care of this.  They were doing all of this by endoscopy.  When the doctor went in on Friday morning to remove the dental bridge, it had moved into his intestines too far and could not be removed  We were sent home for the weekend, in hopes that he would pass it naturally.  We were to follow a certain diet and routine over the weekend and follow up with the doctor on Monday of this week, if Allen had not passed it.  Well, we had a lot of people praying for Allen since Thursday and knew the Lord was in control (we don't always know what the purpose is, and that makes it hard sometimes to understand what is going on).  We continued our weekend and was able to have results on Sunday evening and what a relief that was to all of us.  Of course, Allen Jr did not understand everything and it was very confusing for him.  We are very thankful to everyone that prayed for Allen Jr and for the Lord's help through all of this.    We have some major decisions to make for Allen with his teeth situation in the next few weeks.  Hopefully after much prayer, we will make the right decision this time.

Update - Family

Well, Allen Jr. now has his permanante bridge in for his front teeth.  We went yesterday and had that done.  It looks very nice.  He is officially now seeing an adult dentist as well.  I will try and post pictures later of his "new" smile.

Thoughts and Quotes

I heard someone say this over the weekend and just wanted to post it.  "God know the real intent of your heart"  I'm glad he does and that with his help I want to have a clean heart.  There has been a lot of talk about "change" in our church of late and that is what I want for me and my family is change:  change for the better and hearts toward God. 

Character Qualities and Training

We have learned about different character qualities on and off, well this summer we started taking one a month and learning it.  We just finished up with Obedience and now are on Flexibility.    This is just a few things we have learned about them.  Obedience is quickly and cheerfully carrying out the direction and wishes of those who are responsible for me.  The rewards of obedience are: protection, provision and direction.  Along with learning a definition, we learn five major point, a few of them are not complaining and going the "extra mile".  In addition to these qualities, we learn scriptures that go with each one.  We worked on this for about a month and the Lord has really used it in our home.  I have found that even I sometimes do not do things for the Lord with a cheerful attitude and if our children learn by example then I need to display the right attitude.
We just started with flexibility last week and by Friday, I had to be flexible with plans. Flexibility is the willingness to change plans or ideas according to the direction of my authorities.  The rewards are insight and success.  The five major points are: not getting upset when plans change, respect the decisions of my authorities, not be stubborn, look for the good in changes and not compromise what is right.  Well, my Husband, called me in the middle of the day on Friday and changed our plans for the family.  Needless to say, I was not exhibiting flexibility.  I did not get upset, I just grumbled and complained mostly in my spirit.  I'm so glad we started working on this character quality, because it showed me by that incident that I still needed to work on being flexible.  (We use the Character Training Institute and IBLP for our character qualities.) www.iblp.org
"If you want to grow, you must be willing to stretch" Anonymous

Another Day

Well, today is the first day of Homeschooling that I have not felt alot of stress. This year is definitly different for us. I cannot seem to get the right curriculum that I want. I am trying out some new things for us and some are working and others are not. I know that we (my Husband and I) are looking at the different curriculums and praying about what needs to be done. There are some things that just are not important and we need to weed out the un-important things in our lives.

Tomorrow, we have Makaela's Super Friday classes.

A Dental Proceedure for Allen Jr.

Well, today we had to do a dental procedure for Allen Jr. He had to be fasting, they gave him an oral sedation one hour before the surgery and then an IV sedation when we got there. Allen tries to get up and move around, he does not realize with these medications he needs to be careful.

Everything went really well. They were able to get started by 8:30 a.m. and we were leaving by 10:30/11:00 a.m. With Allen's disability, they cannot just go in and work on him, he does not allow that, so that is why he has to be sedated usually for even cavities to be filled. They were fixing him a permanent bridge for his two front teeth, cleaning his teeth and filling a cavity, but found two more small ones while in there. They fixed those too.

Allen did really good when we got home, he did want to get up and go, so Allen Sr. or I had to sit with him on the couch for several hours until the medications were out of his system.

We will be going back at the end of the month for his permanent bridge to be placed and they will be giving him the oral sedation again. Hopefully this will help.

Glad the Lord was with us yesterday and kept his hand on Allen.

Grocery shopping and Homeschooling = Stressful Monday

Today was a very stressful day for some reason. I had two stores to get groceries from, try and homeschool Makaela and get home by 2:30 p.m. at the latest. Monday's are always a hard day to get out the door on. After church all day on Sunday and teaching a Sunday School class it wears me out. Of course it did not help that last night I was up late trying to plan out our lesson plans, etc. for the week.

I was definitely ready for a school vacation today and we really have not done a full week of school yet. We have several appointments for this week which will keep us busy. I'm hoping by the end of September we will get into a schedule and things will smooth out.

Super Fun Friday

Well we made it through the first week of school. I cannot say it has been an easy week, but we made it. Allen Jr. has cooking this year at the HS, so far he seems to like it. He is ready for his weekend though. My in-laws have been out of town and he is ready to see them and spend the night.

Makaela and I have had a good three days of school. She had her first "Super Friday" classes today. Beaded Embroidery, Little House on the Prairie and Cake Decorating.....she just loved them. She has a friend that she has know for several years there and is enjoying seeing her as well.

After dropping Makaela off, I went to the Home school Store and bought more curriculum, went to the library and then to pick her up. We went to a drive thru on the way home, came in, unloaded everything......books, books and books, backpack, bag, and cooler. It was then a mad dash to put everything up and clean up before Allen Jr. came home.

I have been working on little things since I got home and have not been able to slow down yet. We still have a birthday party tonight and a few errands to run yet.

Summer Vacation

This summer we wanted to take a "Big" trip with the children and each time we would plan something, it seemed like the Lord was telling us "No".  We were not (and still are not) completely sure why that was the case, but we decided to do "Day Trips" and have a "Staycation".  So each week my Husband and I would plan a different direction in Texas to head to.  Now, we did do a two/three night stay in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and had a wonderful time.

For our "Staycation"  I made up Hotel guidelines for the "Glass Suites" and tried to make them close to the ones you see in Hotels.  I talked about helping the staff (Mom and Dad) and using the towel more than once.  I wrote on there how the Kitchen staff would need help setting the table, cooking, cleanup, etc.   I expalined how the Housekeeping staff would need assistance with laundry and keeping things picked up.   I then made a sign for each of their bed room doors, ours, the kitchen and laundry areas and put them up.  I went and bought a few (4) new hand towels, washclothes and put a small floor towel on the tub with soap, opened new hand soap to make it all seem new and fun.  Oh, each of the children had a new beach towel, so I used those for their new towels to dry with.  Allen and Makaela just thought this was the best ever and each night we made a "Big" deal about going to the "Glass Suites".  
Our daytrips were a lot of fun, some more educational than others, but we tried to have a mixed bag of things and keep them entertained.  It was a lot hotter this Summer and hard to do things outside, but we keept right on doing them.  The children had a good time in Dallas/Ft. Worth, we had several things ("free" included) planned out, some worked out, others did not, so we just learned to go with the flow.  
Thru this time, we were able to enjoy the children and just have fun, be a family and see what God had in store for us.  

We had a few more idea's in the works, but time ran out and my Husband had to returne to work, who know, we could do some on the weekends in the fall still. 

Family

"This is the first day of the rest of your life"...in High School I attended a private school and our Principal would tell us that every day. I want to live each day like this is the first day and maybe one day with the Lord's help I will get it right. I am nothing with out Him and His help.

We are starting a new school year and in doing this, it has been a time of reflection and wanting God's best for our lives. Our Son, Allen Jr. , is starting his Senior year. This is a new journey for us and we need the Lord's guidance for what is to follow after this year. I know that we have 10 -11 months to decide, but that time will go by quickly.

I homeschool Makaela and she will be attending her first "Super Friday " this year. She is looking forward to her elective classes and seeing a friend as well as meeting new ones. Makaela and I will be having morning devotions together in a more structured format than we have had in the past. I'm not real confident in this area and hopefully she will learn something.

Getting Started

I'm going to start off with a bit of family history. Allen Sr. and I met in late October 1993, we were married in five Months, March 13, 1994. We knew that it was the will of the Lord for us to be married. We are both only children and was told many times that we would not last the first year, ten years, etc.... , But the Lord has helped us and we celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary this year. I pray that with the Lord's help we will celebrate many, many more. Don't get me wrong, we have had our ups and downs as a couple and probably will continue to, but it has been a wonderful marriage.

When I met Allen Sr., he already had Allen Jr. (who was 3) from a previous marriage. Allen Jr. had been in a automobile accident at 11 months of age. He sustained a closed head injury and as a result of that has had many other health concerns. The Doctors told Allen Sr. that his son would never walk, talk or do anything again. Well, Thank the Lord the Doctors do not know everything. Allen Jr. is a walking miracle. He does have a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and mild CP (Cerebral Palsy), but he can talk, walk and do a lot of things they said would never happen. He did have a Seizure disorder (he has had almost every kind of seizure there is) and was on medications for several years, but he has been seizure free since 2004 and off all medications since August 2006. The Lord has been good to him. I was able to adopt Allen Jr. and it was finalized in 1997. His birth Mother, Dana, signed over her rights for me to be able to adopt Allen. Of course, it was nice to have the paper stating that I was his Mother, but from the very day we were married, Allen Jr. has been my boy.

It was in 1998 , that I was finally able to conceive Makaela. We had tried for three years and had many tests, surgeries, etc. to find out that I had what is called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. That Syndrome can affect several areas of a woman's health and cause complications, especially when wanting to conceive.

Well, the pregnancy was rough at the first and then it was a very normal pregnancy with no complications. Due to my age, weight, etc. the Doctors did monitor me closely. On April 25, 1999 Makaela was born. Not knowing what to expect, I went into labor on the 24th, I just did not feel well and few contractions here and there. It was in the middle of the night around 4:00 a.m. I told Allen Sr. we need to go, I think it is time. We got to the Hospital at 4:44 a.m. and Makaela was born at 8:44 a.m. This started our roller coaster ride for the next six months and beyond. As soon as Makaela was born, I started hemorrhaging and they rushed me to surgery not once, but twice in a short time. My blood pressure kept bottoming out. They finally got me stable and in ICU. I had not gotten to hold or really see Makaela, so the Nurse brought her to me for a little bit. Later in the night Makaela started having problems being too cold. The Doctors found she had a whole in each lung and put her on oxygen. The next day, Makaela had a mini seizure and after running several tests, they found she had a intraventricular hemorrhage (grade 3). It was starting to heal up, but was causing Hydrocephalus (extra fluid on the brain). Over the next couple of weeks it was very stressful. They did allow me to stay there in the hospital with her and be close. After 21 days in the NICU we were able to bring her home, with follow ups with a Neurologist, Neurosurgeon, etc. Makaela ended up having six surgeries in the first six months of her life. She has had some more since then. Makaela was able to have therapy for the first 3 years of her life and that helped her with motor skills, learning, talking, etc. The Doctors are very pleased that she does not have any developmental delay which is very common for Hydrocephalus patients. Having said that, Makaela has had other issues, because of her shunt being near the pituitary we have experienced her going thru rapid and intense growth spurts. She has the bone structure and make up of a 12 to 15 year old. The Doctors did tell us this year that she is slowing down and the gap is bridging. That is good news. We know that the Lord has had his hand on Makaela and through our experiences we are able to help others.

I think that is all for now.