Author Archives: Abbie

Grandparent Camps 2018

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Several years ago, Papa and Grandmere had a grandparent camp for our kids who were 5 and older.  That meant it was for Zoe and Ace.  Well fast forward through several busy summers, and we were finally able to plan out grandparent camps for our kids ages 5 and up again.  We split them up into groups of 2 to 3.  Ace got a solo trip which included a mission trip.

Three camp trips was a lot for one summer but so worth it.  The kids were able to get special attention.  Most importantly, they were able to spend quality time learning about their grandparents and family!  We are so blessed to have two sets of parents who love our family and love on our family.  Not only that, but both sets are fast approaching FIFTY years of marriage!  That fact has not been lost on us and we definitely don’t take it for granted.

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On the Edge

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Well, here we are again.  Standing on the edge of another surgery.  If you asked us a month ago if we saw this coming, we’d probably be in denial.  No, we’d say. Not at all. Our little girl is smiling and laughing. She gets into any mischief a strong willed four year old might touch.  She fights with her brothers and sisters just like any other sibling. No. We’d tell you, our little girl is just another normal little girl.  

But that’s not the case.  Emmie’s scans were reviewed by a leading cerebrovascular neurosurgeon (a neurosurgeon who deals with the blood vessels in the brain) from Stanford University, Dr Steinberg

Our “normal” world came crashing down last Tuesday when we heard back from that neurosurgeon.  The occlusion of the artery is almost completely closed. And while she hasn’t had a stroke yet, she is definitely at risk for one. His team also saw Moyamoya vessels.  She needs surgery.

We’ve spent the past week on the phone with her local neurosurgeon, calling insurance, reading research papers, consulting other people we know familiar with moyamoya and NF. Everyone seemed to agree.  Emmie needs an indirect bypass of her brain. They’ll take a temporal artery and place it on her brain. The prayer is the brain is thirsty enough to grow down into her brain and replace the artery that is closed.

Of course, we have spent the past week praying. And God has answered and re-confirmed for us again and again that this was the right thing to do for her.

Not only did we need confirmation that she needed the surgery but also about where to have it done.  We are so grateful for her neurosurgeon that fixed her neck. He has been a wonderful doctor and loves our Emmie dearly. However, we have the opportunity to have Dr. Steinberg perform the surgery and feel that his expertise in moyamoya is going to be a great benefit for Emmie.  

And that leads to where we are now.  We’ve scheduled Emmie’s surgery for November 15th.  

In true Emmie fashion, she is planning out all the things she wants to take with her on the plane and is wondering what car she’ll ride in.

Prayers through all of this are appreciated.

  1. Planning childcare for our kids.
  2. Arranging flights-We’re hoping to get a flight through Miracle Flights if we qualify.  Update: We qualify and are working on the paperwork now but need our itinerary as soon as possible to finish that.
  3. Arranging our stay in California-that Ronald McDonald House will have openings or assistance.
  4. Traveling with an excited and busy four year old and her equally busy and mischievous one year old brother.
  5. And peace…our hearts are breaking that our little girl has to go through another surgery.  That she has something else she will have to deal with the rest of her life. She has such joy and peace and trust.  Please pray that we can be strong for her. n
This is the mirror image of her brain vessels.  So the right side is her left side.  

For I, the Lord your God,
    hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah 41:13

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Brick by Brick

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We surprised the kids with a trip to Brick Universe in August.  They never have super awesome reactions to surprises even though they enjoy them.  So, I never get a good video of our surprise reveals.  We saw some amazing Lego Creations by real artists!  And the kids go to make some creations of their own.

This was a father-son duo who worked on this in their bonus room in their house.
Emmie wanted to keep coming back to check out this creation.  There was so much to look at.
This artist told us that this sculpture was the only one that was not glued together with kragle (Lego movie reference).  It was taller than Zoe, ya’ll!
Tobin enjoyed eating playing with these duplos.
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Ethos Academy 2018

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We started off our eleventh year of homeschooling at the very end of July into August.  It was early but we knew we would have several breaks throughout the year.  So, here goes ya’ll!  I have kids starting in Pre-k all the way to a sophomore in high school.  Prayers are always appreciated!

Group subjects this year include:

Emmie is “officially” starting school.  My goal is to have her recognize her letters and numbers along with shapes and colors before the end of the year.  It’s going to be slow going because NF brings a lot of challenges and most kids with it have some learning disabilities but we’re working at her pace which is the joy of homeschooling!  We’re using All About Reading Pre-Level and working on thinking skills using Building Thinking Skills-Beginning and Primary Levels.  She’ll probably also be working through Developing the Early Learner in January.

Malachi is in first grade.  He’s the eager beaver learner right now.  He taught himself to read last year.  So, this year, he is doing the following:

Bryant is heading into third grade.  He’s worked hard on reading and has grown so much in it!  Bryant’s working on:

Silas is working in various levels.  He worked hard last year on a program outside of school to increase his processing speeds.  It’s helped and we’re hoping it continues to help.  This  year, he is working on:

Ceili Rain continues to enjoy all things school.  She’s still totally in love with math and is thrilled we are doing Anatomy for Science.  This year she is working on:

Josiah’s in sixth grade!  I can’t believe how fast he is growing up.  He’s still a carbon copy of his daddy and growing taller by leaps and bounds.  This year he is working:

Liam’s starting to get into more independent work.  To help him with that this year, we swapped over from book work to online school.  So, this year, Liam is in Alpha Omega’s Monarch program for Language Arts, Math, Science and History.  So far, he is doing well with it and communicating more with us about his work.  He’s also going to be doing an online coding class but we haven’t narrowed down which one yet.

With Ace starting his 9th grade year, I’m now officially “teaching” two high schoolers!  Aggghhh!  He is expressing more of an interest in graphic design and we’re helping provide opportunities for him to explore it more.  He’s working on the following:

Zoe was at Grandparent Camp when we hit ten days.  So, Papa and Grandmere did me a huge favor by getting a pic!  She still says that ASL is her favorite language and the Deaf community is continuing to be a big learning area for her.  This year she is working on:

I added links here just to make it easy for curious minds to check it out.  However, most of our curriculum is used (through Homeschool Classifieds) or downloadable (in the case of most of our Master books).  We aren’t endorsing any one company and all of these products were paid for by us…with our blood, sweat, and tears.

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Bible Study and Worship with Kids

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Mark and I have been blessed to have a date night just about every week this past year.  On one of our date nights this past summer, Mark asked what would help me get things done both on the computer and at home.  We brainstormed and both decided that a few hours outside of the house to re-charge and work on stuff on the computer (blogging, ministry things, schoolwork/planning) would really help.  We started in July.  Ya’ll, it has been a definite attitude changer for me  To have a weekly time to get away and focus on God first and then the other things I need to do has been nothing short of a blessing.

Mark had two Sundays he had to work this past summer.  He has worked at the same place for over 16 years and this is one of a few times he has had to work weekends.  His job is good but his co-workers are awesome.  Anyway, so those two Sundays I loaded up our tribe by myself and headed to church.  While in worship, I started taking notes on how our younger kiddos were “listening” and decided to help this listen better.  We drove to church for several weeks after that going over the things we should do and the way we should act in church and then I made up these sermon notebooks.  The little kids have a place to draw a picture about the sermon but can also check off key words our pastor may say.  The bigger kids also have a space to draw or doodle (which is how I learn…visual learner trick that works for me) but they also have more space to take notes.  Our pastor tries to print out an outline and there is plenty of space in their notebook to copy it out.  I think I did it so that one notebook is for a full year…we’ll see (I really can’t remember).  Anyway, I made a pdf of the notebook and sent it to Office Depot to print (because I have a good teacher discount deal.  Thanks HSLDA membership!).  I have them put the clear cover on the front and spiral bind it.  So far it is working and eliminating a lot of distractions that they were having with each or others around them.  If anyone would like a copy of what we use, I can send it to you! Just leave a comment or shoot me a message with your email.Facebooktwittermail

July Randoms

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Tons of pictures…little words…and GO! Attention from the big guys at church…Yes, please.
Outside is his happy place.
My nephew thinks he’s funny…”Hopefully one more!” Traveling=naptime in funny positions Ceili Rain’s nose met the side of the neighborhood pool.  It was nice and swollen but went down after a few days. Fireworks, yay! Tie Dying shirts.  And hands. Grandparent Camp pics before! Emmie climbed up there.  Three stories.  By herself.  Yes I cried tears of joy and dread! Daddy & T at Cow Appreciation Day!  Free chicken! Big brothers melt my heart! Contemplating life?  Nah, contemplating cheerios! Sometimes it just feels like something is about to devour you!
Oh yeah, I can take you! Reading to his sister…how sweet! Minnie Mouse with cute headbands! Tobin’s first time playing in the rain. Standing up in the playpen for the first time! Making sure the baby in the mirror gets all the love.
Naptime at the pool! Emmie finally let go of the side and started to “swim.”  Inch by inch, little by little. An extremely large watermelon one of Mark’s coworkers gave us.  Ya’ll it took a week but we were able to eat the whole thing!
Kitchen helper in training. Tobin’s first time being sick.  He was absolutely pitiful.
But meds helped a ton. Water blob! First planner!  We don’t allow our kids to have smart phones.  But Zoe had to get something to keep up with her activities and babysitting jobs.  Cute planner and accessories for the win!Facebooktwittermail

Happy Birthday, Ace!

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Ace is 14 years old now!  Two teenagers for two full years and Mark and I are still kicking.  He’s growing into such a fun and godly young man.  This next year means high school and lots of growing up!

His cake choice was an ultimate chocolate chip cookie cake with chocolate icing. I, however, completely forgot about the chocolate icing part and just made buttercream.  Because he is such an amazing kid, he forgave me and enjoyed it like it was made.

Ace’s gifts this year included:

Want:  City scavenger hunt and Avalon

Need: Bike (a real MAN’S bike)

Do: Nerf gun

Read: Hammer of the Huguenots by Douglas Bond

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Hair-Raising

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Zoe decided she needed a shorter hair style to save time and try something different.

 

A week later, Ceili Rain got a shorter cut.  Her goal was shoulder length.  But our wonderful hair dresser measured and told her if she went just a tad shorter, she would have enough to donate to Wigs for Kids.  She made the decision to chop it all off!  I’m proud of her desire to want to help other kids at the expense of losing a little mroe hair than expected!Facebooktwittermail

Off to the Zoo

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We enjoyed a trip to the zoo with our church friends.  Mr. J, suggested it and we all jumped on board. Lots of babies have been born this past year at our zoo. and we all enjoyed searching and seeing them.  The giraffe baby was so sweet and cute. Baby Koala… Silas enjoyed getting in the picture with the wallabys! Tobin loved watching the bears. Tobin also loved the merry-go-round and was super sad to have to get off. Official picture by the lion statues…

And a scalpie for Ge and Granddaddy.

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