Here is Grifyn’s turkey. He’s disguised as Santa with his big bag full of toys. We chose something that he could help with. He was able to help color and he was able to help glue. So, it’s more HIS project than ours….which is supposed to be the point.
Xander did not want anything to do with his turkey last night! So, daddy worked on Xander’s. Again, something simple. Xander could have helped glue…..but he didn’t want to be anywhere near that darn turkey!
Olivia came home with a turkey to disguise today. So, now we need 3 disguises for turkeys. We're going to try to get these done tomorrow. I've had lots of good ideas. If you have an idea, feel free to leave it here.
If you're not following our adoption blog, we got great news today. You can read about it here.
Zoie is being referred to a neurologist at Children's Hospital. She had seizures when she was a baby and an abnormal MRI. We were told that her brain would compensate for the abnormality, but that we should be aware of any changes with her body (muscle weakness, signs of seizures, etc). We've seen some concerning signs that the seizure activity may be resuming. Our doctor said it's best to be pro-active, and find nothing than to do nothing and find something "the hard way"(ie: a full blown seizure). So, we'll be making a trip up to Children's Hospital soon.
Grifyn has been doing better at school with his behavior. We're so proud of the positive changes that we're seeing. He's also becoming more accountable for his behavior. Today, he pointed to his behavior chart and the one sad face and said, "uh-oh, bad". I asked him what happened and he actually said, "time-out". YES! The notation by the sad face did, in fact, say that he'd been put in time-out during that activity.(his behavior chart is broken down by activity so that he doesn't ruin his whole day with a points system or whatever for one bad choice). We've been working hard on Grifyn being accountable for his behavior and the fact that he could tell me WHY he got a sad face is a step in the right direction.
Xander has discovered watching movies on the computer. Well, he's actually watching video clips of himself and the other kids. He LOVES this. I don't know why, but he will sit here and watch video clips for as long as I will play them. He doesn't pay much attention to the TV. I'm not sure what the difference is with the computer, but he does seem to enjoy the computer. I should probably look up some educational videos on You Tube or something for him to watch.
Alek still needs a family....and Christmas sponsors. If you'd like to partner with us to raise grant money for Alek, please click here to make a tax deductible donation. I have a couple of new photos of Alek and he is just so precious! I'm praying that he finds a family this Christmas season.
Sesame Street is 40 years old. WOW! I LOVED Sesame Street when I was younger. I still love it for my kids today. I had the opportunity to hear Emily Pearl Kingsley speak last year about writing for Sesame Street (she's also the mom to a son with Ds and the author of "Welcome To Holland"). It was so interesting to hear all the thought and preparation that goes into producing Sesame Street. I wish it was on more for my kids. I wish I could buy like all 40 seasons.
We're having friends here visiting on Thanksgiving. We are so excited about their visit! I won't tell you who it is just yet, but I will say that there are going to be LOTS of extra chromosomes in this house that weekend :) I can't wait!
Grifyn & Xander each have a turkey that currently look like this (we have to cut them out):
The kindergarten school will be learning a poem about turkeys that goes like this: My name is Tom Turkey and I’m afraid as can be. I’m wearing my disguise so you won’t catch me!
Here’s our mission: We have to disguise our turkeys so that they DO NOT look like turkeys. The goal is to make sure that our turkeys don’t become Thanksgiving dinner! This is a project that the entire school is doing (the whole school is kindergarten, remember) and the disguised turkeys will be “hid” all over the school.
So………………………….we need some good disguises. Some of the examples in the instructions include: Santa, a farmer, a snow man and even a hunter…lol. This is a family project and the directions do say that they encourage the entire family to participate in disguising our turkey. But, I still want part of the disguise to be something that the boys can do themselves.
Ok, bloggy friends, leave me a comment with your ideas. What should our turkeys be???????
Today is our 5 anniversary. In some ways, it seems like that time has went by so very fast. In other ways, it seems like it's been so much longer than just 5 years. The Lord has blessed me tremendously in the past 5 years. My husband is truly a gift from Above and I am so honored to call him mine. Five years ago, I made this promise to him on our wedding day: (Ruth 1:16-17) "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
The inscription, "wherever you go...." is also on Robert's wedding band. At the time I married him, I knew that I was also commiting a part of my life to the Army...to sharing my husband with the Army. But, I had no idea that "wherever you go" would also take us to together to the other side of the world to add to our family. I have been so richly blessed! This is the tribute that I made for Robert today to chronical our first 5 years.......
Please be in prayer for the families of those who were killed at Fort Hood, Texas today. Please pray for the many that were injured. Please pray for the CID soldiers, the MPs, the civilian DoD security forces, the FBI, Homeland security and everyone else that will be working this investigation in the coming days.
For those who have already emailed and left messages: we are NOT stationed at Fort Hood. We do, however, have some very dear friends who are stationed there. We have thankfully been able to confirm that they are safe, and for that we are greatful. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the soldiers and family members at Fort Hood.
Now that Xander is finally starting to attempt to get from point A to point B ON HIS FEET, there is a lot of retraining going on around here. First, he has to retrain his brain when he wants to go from place to place. His natural instinct, after over a year of getting around this way, is to plop down on his butt and scoot to get somewhere. So, we're having to make him aware that he needs to stand up to move. You can always see his brain "click" when we remind him, like he's thinking, "Oh, I forgot that I can stay on my feet". At times, he has stood up and just started walking across a room. I won't lie.....those moments are nothing short of amazing to me. He's still not completely steady on his feet. He still can't just stand and balance. But, he IS trying.....and that's more than he was doing a few weeks ago. He can take 5-10 steps unassisted right now. He could probably go much further than that, except he tries to RUN. He also has the same typical problems that most babies have when they're learning to walk: if he looks another direction, tries to hold on to something or tries to make a turn, he falls. That goes back to the balance thing. He also can't walk as well with bare feet. So, we're trying to keep shoes on him as much as possible.
Another area that we are "retraining" is in regards to house rules. Apparently, little man thinks that now that he's on his feet, he can just disregard some of the long standing rules of the household. He's having to be reminded that rules still apply to little boys who are standing on their feet too!
Xander is trying to walk in other environments outside of the house. He's walking down the hall at school some. He walks between the tables in the class room. He LOVES walking outside. Our drive way is sloped, but he doesn't care. He's even figured out how to catch himself with his hands when he falls over AND can pull himself back into a stand when he does that (love that upper body strength). On the rare occasion that he falls backwards and lands on his butt, he actually looks shocked.
Then, there are the times that mommy is having to be retrained. I'm use to holding on to Xander's hand or propping him up against something and him just standing there. Now, he lets go of my hand on a whim and starts trying to walk away! If I prop him up against my leg to stand still (like if I need my hands to do something like open a car door), he tries to walk off! So yes, even mommy is having to be "retrained"!
It's a good thing that the Lord has made it abundantly clear to me that He is NOT calling our family to adopt a baby. Otherwise, I'd already be working to bring this precious angel boy home. Just look at those chubby litle legs and his fat little fingers..... Alek just turned a year old in October and he's waiting on a forever family. He's healthy, happy and developing very well. He's currently living in Eastern Europe in a very good orphanage being taken care of by care givers that love him very much. But, that's not the same as a family. That's not the LIFE that this baby boy was born to live. He needs a mommy to cuddle him close and rock him to sleep at night. He needs a daddy to toss him in the air and tickle him until he laughs so hard that he loses his breath. He deserves to be sitting by a tree, celebrating Christmas with a family that loves him more than anything in this world. He needs to be told...over and over again....that Jesus loves him and that he too was created in God's image...extra chromosome and all. He won't have that this year. But he CAN have it all and so much more next year and for the rest of his life. We haven't been called to adopt this precious baby boy. But for many reasons that I can't share on a public blog, this angel is near and dear to my heart. So, I'm doing the only things that I can do to help him this Christmas..... I'm praying that someone will look into his beautiful brown eyes in one of these photos and realize that they're looking at their son. I'm praying that until that family can get to him, that the Lord will keep him safe and healthy. And I'm asking all of you to join me in raising awareness about this little boy and the hundreds of others in the same exact situation that are waiting all around the world. Please take time and visit the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree. Don't just click the link and glance at the page, take time and REALLY LOOK at the faces. Think about the life that these children are living in this moment. It's more than cute faces in photos. It's more than a pretty ornament for your tree. It's more than a "oh, that's nice" or a "what precious children". The reality is that EVERY SINGLE CHILD on that page is living on borrowed time. At some point, though the age might be different depending on the country, all of those children will be moved out of children's homes and into institutions, where they will live the rest of their lives never knowing the love of a family. Right now, you CAN be the difference for these kids. YOU CAN GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE that only comes outside of the walls of an orphanage and in the arms of a forever family. I'm not asking you to adopt one of these children, though I'd certainly love it if all of you would. What I'm telling you is that even if you can't....even if you won't.....even if you know that adopting a child with Down syndrome is just not something your family can do......YOU CAN STILL BE A RAY OF HOPE FOR A CHILD ON THAT PAGE. For the cost that is way less than most Americans spend on a pair of shoes or a dinner for two or a cell phone bill, you can make a donation that will allow another family, a family that is called to adopt, to have some of the financial burden associated with adoption off of their shoulders. The harsh reality is that adoption is expensive. Every penny donated to one of these children increases their change of finding a family. Grants help kids get chosen for adoption. That's just a simple fact.
Our family is specifically focusing on raising money for Alek this holiday season. We're asking all of our family and friends (and our faithful blog readers too!) to join us in sponsoring this sweet angel boy.....and asking you to pray with us that this is the last Christmas that he spends without a family. For a donation of $35 or more, you will receive a very pretty ornament for your Christmas tree that has Alek's photo on it(the first photo above). If you'll also send me a copy of your paypal donation receipt(or an email letting me know that you mailed a check), I'll also send you another small token that we're giving out to ask people to remember Alek this holiday season.
Here's my challenge to you: Think about what you spend on your cell phone bill each month. Think about what you pay for internet service. Think about the cost of that toy that you're going to buy and wrap and put under the tree for your child that already has a toy box full of toys. Won't you please consider giving that same amount....that same gift that will mean so much more....to Alek?
All donations made to Alek's grant fund are tax deductible. Donations go directly to Reece's Rainbow if given via this chip in. If you'd like to send a check, please visit here for the mailing address. Make sure to specify Alek's name on your checks! If you live locally and you don't want to mess with paypal or mailing a check, contact me and I'll come and pick up your donation and send it in for you!
And if you happen to be reading this and you'd like more information on how you can adopt this precious little boy or have any questions about the Angel Tree, Reece's Rainbow or how it all works, my contact information is right over there ---->>>> or you can leave a comment on this post with your contact info and I won't publish the comment on the blog.
You can contact me via email: shele337@yahoo.com or leave a comment on any blog post. I preview all blog comments before they post and I will not post a private message.
