On the night before surgery,
We loaded up the van...
WITH:
![[object Object]akconklin](http://distilleryimage2.s3.amazonaws.com/f85fba6a38ed11e283e622000a1fb86d_7.jpg)
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Hey y'all. We've had a good week here at our house. With the exception of continuing allergy issues, we are all doing well.
Isaac has developed this really odd schedule, and I thought I'd share it with you. Keep in mind this is a child who has multiple special needs and is not supposed to be aware of things, you know. Heh!
We put Ike to bed between 8:30-9:00. He listens to his "Hallelujah" (Gaither video) for about an hour and falls asleep.
Then somewhere between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. he wakes up.
Then he goes back to sleep around 7 a.m. and sleeps until Noon.
Isn't that peculiar?
So why is he waking up and staying awake???
Because DADDY is home! Daddy comes to check on him. Daddy sits in his room for a while. Daddy changes him if he's wet. Daddy gives him his juice and meds at 5:30.
And why does he go back to sleep after 7???
Because Daddy comes in and says, "I'm going to work now. Be a good boy for Mommy and Mrs. Julie today."
And out he goes like a light!
Isn't that something???
This poor, little unaware, handicapped, developementally delayed child that knows nothing, and is incapable of making decisions or understanding the concept of time wakes up to spend time with his Daddy. And sleeps the sleep of the dead when Daddy is not here.
Julie and I can talk. The dogs can bark. Julie can vacuum, clean the bathroom...he snoozes through all of it...because he doesn't want to spend his waking hours with us. He'd rather spend them with dear ol' Dad!
I love that he loves his Daddy and is so attached to him. I love that he knows who he wants to spend time with. I love that he can alter his schedule to suit his own needs and desires.
God has been so good to us, and I am so thankful that He is allowing our boy to grow and mature.
Psalm 139:14 "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."
It also makes me wonder how excited I am to spend time with my Heavenly Father.
Do I wake up early to be in His presence? Am I willing to give up sleep to talk with Him? Will I alter my entire schedule just to sit with Him for a while each morning?
Yes, I think there is much to learn from my child in this area. I think I should probably pay close attention to see what else he can teach me about myself, about life and about God.
I used to think the following verse applied to simple salvation, but maybe there is more to it than that. I will be meditating on this for a bit, I think.
Matthew 18:2-3 "And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Praying you have a blessed weekend,
Alesha
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I love that it is finally autumn!!! Of course, we won't be able to tell it here in Florida for another month or so. Nevertheless, it is nice to know there are cooler days ahead! This picture was taken by one of my bloggy friends, Shanda. She lives up north, of course. ;)
Well, we are a-l-m-o-s-t fully recovered from our bout with the cold/flu thingy at our house. My hubby is still sniffling quite a bit, but the allergens are still rampant here, too, so we think it is more allergies than cold. We hope so, anyway.
Isaac is continuing to get his days and night mixed up. Saturday night, he never did go to sleep. He stayed awake until 5 a.m. Sunday morning! Sigh...that's not very conducive to getting to church on time, is it??? In fact, he and I didn't make it at all to the morning services. (I've been dealing with a lot of pain this weekend, so I stayed home with the Sleeping Handsome One.) :)
Doug begins another tutoring session today, and we are quite grateful for this bit of extra income. I do, of course, still have my shop on Etsy, but it seems like nothing is selling there lately. I'm hoping that things will pick up nearer the holidays.
I was able to make it to church last night, and to choir practice. We have started work on our Christmas cantata! Yay!!! I love Christmas music and I love to sing with the choir - it's like 2 of my favorite things all rolled up together. So fun!
My goal this year is to actually sing IN the Christmas cantata. Usually I end up sick during December and have to watch the cantata from the audience or on the internet. It is very discouraging, I can tell you, after doing all that work, practicing all those songs, and to end up not being able to perform it together with my choir friends! I am going to be working very hard to get myself healthy and well and STAY THAT WAY for the next 3 months!
I guess that's it for today's update. I leave you with a picture of Kepler in her favorite new hiding place:
;o)
Blessings,
Alesha
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Gee...I picked quite a day to go "decaf": Our caregiver called in sick! :o(
I am feeling better, but I still can't care for Isaac by myself, as my back is not strong enough for his growing length and weight. He is right at 70 pounds now!
So, Doug will be shuttling back and forth from school on each of his breaks, and we will adjust Ike's feeding schedule to go along with Doug's. Let's just pray that his (Isaac's) going potty coincides with Doug's being here! :o/
I'm thankful that I feel like sitting upright this morning...and I don't have that...
"Oh, deah, I must lay down befoah I am ovahcome with the vaypahs"
...feeling (said in my best "Scarlet O'Hara" accent).
I was actually able to clear my desk so that I can sit and do a little work today. Doug does not deal well with "junk" mail, so while I was sick, he had been putting all the mail on my desk. I had a massive pile of catalogs! "Tis the season" you know! They have all been put into File 13, and my work surface is clean and organized.
With that task finished, my plan for the rest of the day is to stay awake and upright.
It's ambitious, I know, but I reeeeally think I can do it!!!
;o)
Here's to a productive Friday!
Alesha
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So what have we been doing for the past 2 weeks?
We've been working on bulletin boards, of course! What else would a teacher be doing during the final few days of summer??? ;)
Doug had some big plans for his new room, and we worked hard to pull all the pieces together for that (quite literally!). He has 2 boards 8x4, and one 4x4...so you can see that we had a lot of space to fill.
Here's the small board:
(Math: The only place a kid buys 60 watermelons and nobody asks "Why?")
And the larger ones:
(John Wooden's Pyramid of Success. Doug will add the "blocks" to the pyramid throughout the year, along with the corresponding "Building materials" explanation to the right.)
(Heaven's GPS. This was a great idea that Doug had to make the Plan of Salvation a setting on the GPS. You can see his "map" and his many instructions, along with detours and road blocks. We are praying that his students come to understand the concept and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, if they don't already know Him when the school year starts.)
Isaac and I are settling back into our routine with Julie, Ike's caregiver. I am hoping to add some new activities to my schedule this year...just what that will be, remains to be seen. I would love to start voice lessons, as well as volunteer somewhere each week. I'd also like to settle on whether I want to write a book or not. I love to write, but do I really have a book "in me"??? I just don't know yet.
I have a HUGE coupon that is active in my Etsy shop right now. Use 25OFF to receive 25% off any purchase from Alesha Kay Jewelry. I added a few new things to the shop just today.
My aunt Helen, my mom's sister, passed away early this week. We will be attending her funeral tomorrow. Yesterday would have been her birthday, had she lived; but my mom was happy to think about her spending her birthday in Heaven with the Lord. I am so thankful that she is at home with Him now, healthy and happy and whole.
God has been so good to us throughout this summer. It has been very difficult financially, but He has met our every need. It has been a summer of spiritual growth and I am thankful for that...even though it was quite painful at times. I'd rather walk through the hard times WITH the Lord, than to have no troubles, but not know Him.
What do people do when they don't know Jesus? It's a sad thing indeed, when you think about it, isn't it? That's why it's so important that we live our lives to show them how different it can be to know a Saviour like our Lord Jesus Christ! Our walk should show them what our talk tells them.
Philippians 2:15-16a "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Holding forth the word of life..."
Blessings to you and yours as you shine as lights for the Lord!
Alesha
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...on July 15, 1988,
Two crazy kids...
said "I do."
And my life has never been the same!
Oh, how I love this man!!!
Happy Anniversary to Doug - my amazing husband and very best friend.
Looking forward to the rest of our adventure together,
Alesha
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Well, hey there! Did you wonder how things were going over here on the east coast? I know I've been quiet for a little while, except for my devotional posts each day, but we are doing very well.
The school year is winding down, and as usual, there are many extra things in the schedule during the month of May. Some of those activities are planned and expected every year.
Other things, like funerals, are not expected. This week I attended the funeral service of one of God's choicest servants, Dr. Gary Herring.
He was a mighty man of God his whole life, even though he had only served with us at our church and college for the past 11 years. He pastored in his hometown for 32 years! Isn't that amazing?!
It was wonderful to hear stories of those who knew him "back when" and to realize that his faithful service had been well established, even before he came to bless us with his ministry at our church.
His wife, Mrs. Earla, showed amazing fortitude and graciousness at the service. Her spirit of faithfulness and cheerfulness have been a real blessing to us as well.
Our prayers are with her now, as she goes through her first weekend without her best friend. I'm thinking that the first church service without him will be difficult. If you think of it, would you pray for her this Sunday?
On the home garden front, our cucumbers are doing quite well on the front porch, but we had to move the tomatoes outside. Just yesterday, Doug woke me up an HOUR BEFORE my alarm to tell me that we had our first cucumber blossom! It IS exciting, but boy - his timing needs a little work!!! :) (Apologies for the less-than-spectacular photos.)
Isaac has been doing well. He is sleeping a LOT these days. I think it must be that pre-teen growth spurt. He turns 12 this month, can you believe it???
He has been very healthy the past few months and we are so, SO grateful for that! This summer, he will be having some dental work done, under sedation, but other than that, he is having no problems at present.
We are getting pretty desperate to get a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Poor Doug has had severe tendonitis in his left elbow and forearm. It has been very difficult for him to get Isaac in and out of his carseat with the injured arm. He's left-handed, so it is particularly bothersome to him; but fortunately, he is very ambidextrous, and can write on the chalkboard with either hand for school! :)
I am having good days and not-so-good days with my back, but I am trying to stay busy every day. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, but I am not discouraged about that. It could have been a much worse diagnosis when it comes to back problems! I am continuing to try to eat in a healthy way, take all my supplements and get exercise. The exercise is coming along very slowly, but I am determined to keep at it.
The dogs are doing very well. We've been able to go out in the evenings and let them run for a while. They really love that. Newton can still run Kepler into the ground. She just cannot keep up with his long legs; but she sure does have fun trying! ;)
I did manage to catch a really fabulous video of them running with the dogs next door, but unfortunately, my phone won't download it into an email. It says I don't have enough memory. I'll keep working on that, and maybe I can share it with you later.
By the way, I have a coupon code that is active right now in my Etsy shop: ILUVMOM Feel free to use it for 20% off any purchase: Alesha Kay Jewelry
I pray that you have a wonderful weekend. Ours is supposed to be a hot one with temps in the 90's. I will be attended a family reunion outdoors tomorrow...we are praying that we will be blessed with a nice breeze!
HopeFULLy,
Alesha Kay
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We have had such a great and busy week this week; and today my mind is tumbling and twirling with so many thoughts that I thought I'd stop by and share some of them with you.
Shall we do a Bullet Blog? We haven't had one of those in a while, and I find those little round dots are very freeing...no need to connect the thoughts as we go along!
Yep, we've had a fun and busy week! So now, I'd best get up from here and see what I can get accomplished!
HopeFULLy,
Alesha Kay
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Managing My Monday - Ike and I are hanging out by ourselves this morning. Julie is not feeling well today. I did manage to get all of his dvds back in their jackets and videos rewound and on the shelf. That's something that Daddy doesn't manage to keep up with on the weekend, and it is no problem to do them on Monday morning. :)
We had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday together yesterday. As I stood up in the choir and looked out at the church congregation, in their spring-colored clothing, singing "I serve a RISEN Saviour. He's in the world today! I know that He is living, whatever men may say, " it seemed to be the happiest holiday ever!!!
Really, it is a day of such victory, such triumph, such incredible sacrifice ending in Christ's resurrection. How can we not LOVE the celebration of all of that?!
Of course, I also indulged a bit over the weekend in my favorite Easter candy eeeeever - Robin's eggs.
We didn't get any pictures yesterday. We were focused on the basics - all of us getting to church together. :) So some of the fun extras were dropped; but we had a good day! The weather here was just gorgeous! Ike and Doug spent some time out on the front porch while I was at church for the evening service. They were able to listen to the service on the radio out there. :)
I do have a pic of our newly planted veggies, though! Our friend, Mike, potted some plants for us and Doug brought them home last Tuesday. I am trying really hard not to kill them! ;)
From left to right these are Yellow Brandywine Tomato, Yellow Pear Tomato, Boston Pickling Cucumber and Straight Eight Cucumber. He also sent this little pot of Basil.
They are on my front porch, but are getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air. This is really an experiment of sorts, to see if I can grow things on this porch. We do have bamboo stakes and a mesh that is used for gutters that we'll be inserting into the pots for the cukes. The tomatoes are a determinite variety and will not need to be staked.
I just got an email from him, reminding me that these will need to be pollenated, since they aren't outside to get the help from the bees. I'll be researching that to see what needs to be done. If you are knowledgeable about this process, I sure would appreciate some advice or perhaps a web site that might help.
Well, I have several more things listed on my "To Do" list on my phone for today, so I'd best get busy!
Wishing you a happy week,
Alesha
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