So I'm REALLY Busy

I've been really busy recently so I'm going to share some fun/funny pics of the boys from this summer. I'll have a real post soon. Hopefully I won't let anyone down. :)

Do You Miss Me?

Just wondering if anyone would read if I blogged again!!!!???

Wade's Room

If you'll remember, Wade's room was a top priority for painting when we moved. Well, we finally got that taken care of over the Christmas break. It's not exactly complete. We have some fun ideas for pictures and posters for the walls. Our theme is: Big Surprise...... Sports!

Before

In addition to the cactus and the cowboy, there was also a lasso and sherriff's badge!!!

After

We still need to put the headboard on his bed. And, since these pics were taken, we've added the mirror to his dresser. He loves his room so much that he said "My room rocks!! This is so awesome that I'm just going to live here after I get married." Uh, no!!! David and I quickly told him that he would not be able to afford rent here. :)

He picked out the blue/gray color. It looks really cool. The bookshelves were already red, and he thought that looked cool. So, we left those as they were. Oh, and his blinds are back up too. Maybe I need to go take some more pictures now that the room is a little more complete. Oh well, you get the idea.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!!!!!!!!!!! Not much to say, just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

6 Year Old Grief

Just wanted you all to know that we are getting into the yucky part of Lafe's grief process. We are consulting one of our ministers who has a lot of experience and education on grief. He tells us that the things Lafe is doing and saying are healthy. However, they are not fun to be experiencing!!!

Just for example, not wanting to go to sleep last night because he was scared. Waking up in the middle of the night because he had a scary dream. And, today I found him curled up on the floor singing to himself. When I stopped and listened to him he was singing "Don't talk about it. Don't talk about it. Don't talk about Jodi."

My heart breaks over and over again everyday. I know these last few posts have been sad and depressing, but we need your prayers.

Sad

One of the little girls in Lafe's class died early Friday morning in a house fire along with her mother (who was pregnant) and her grandfather. She sat next to Lafe in class. We have talked to him and are so thankful for the peace and the innocence of a child. He wanted to know if Jodi would still have birthday parties in Heaven. He also said "I want to die when I'm a kid!" When David asked him why, he said "So Jodi will recognize me!!!!" So sweet. He is sad, but I am amazed at the peace God is giving him. Or maybe he is accepting the peace God gives much easier than David and I are. I am the room mom in his class and have had a few opportunities to be with his class. Jodi was such a sweet, loving little girl. In fact, at the Christmas party on Thursday, she couldn't stop hugging me.

Please be praying for Lafe's teacher. She goes to our church and we are so brokenhearted for her. I can't imagine what the next few weeks will entail for Audria. I am thanking God that she and the kids have the next two weeks to be home surrounded by people who love them so much!!! So thankful that they are not having to go back into that situation right away without Jodi. Please pray that God will give Audria peace and the words she will need to answer the comments and questions when they do return to school. WE LOVE YOU, AUDRIA!!!!!! More than words can express.

Sneaky and Funny

SNEAKY: Today Joseph was supposed to be taking a nap. David and I thought we heard him moving around upstairs. So, I went to his room to check. When I went in his room he was up cleaning. He had already cleaned his whole room. He put all of his books back in his bookshelf, stuffed animals in his rocking chair, and the dirty clothes that had been on his floor in his laundry basket. It was so funny!!! He wanted to be out of his bed, but he knew he would get in trouble. I guess he figured out it's awfully hard for Mommy and Daddy to be mad at you when you've just cleaned your room without being asked. Little toot!!!!! No, he didn't get in trouble, but he did get tucked back into bed and told there would be a consequence if he got out of bed again.

FUNNY: For my friends and family who know Ashley (Lambert) Hall, this will make you wet your pants. We were at Wal-Mart last night picking out our Christmas tree. As we were walking in I heard someone call my name. We looked over and it was Ashley. So fun!!! I love that girl so much. We are in the process of getting licensed to be foster parents through the same agency that Ashley and Lance adopted their five children from. So, we were talking about all of that and she was telling me about a lady she knows who has a job she thought I would be perfect for. Needless to say, we said a lot in a very short amount of time. When Ashley left to go to her car, we began walking into the store and Lafe said "Wow! That was nonstop talking!!!!!" If you know Ashley, you know that was a VERY accurate assessment. I stopped Ashley as she was driving by to tell her and she died laughing. He cracks me up!!!!

Praise God!!!

We are so excited to be able to tell you that God is already healing Lafe's eye!!!!!!!!! God is so good!

We got a good report yesterday at the opthamologist appointment. There is some function in that eye already without any treatment. Hum! Wonder how that happened???!

He will have to have his right eye patched for ONLY 2 hours everyday. We will be able to do it in the afternoons after school.

And..... we got GLASSES!!! Remember, we were told glasses wouldn't work. And, they wouldn't have with the other prognosis, but because God is already healing that eye, glasses will work!!!!

Our follow up appointment will be in March and we will be having Joseph evaluated at that same time.

I can't tell you how incredibly blessed we are for having friends and family who have been on their knees right along side of us lifting our precious son's name to our Father. We thank you for loving us and comforting us through all of this.

The best part of the entire appointment was the moment that David and I looked up to find this sign:
It says: "As Christian physicians, we welcome the opportunity to pray with our patients and their families. Please let us know if you would like us to pray with you."

I have worked with these physicians in the hospital when they come to see our premature babies. However, I have never been in their office. I knew that I loved them, but I didn't know this about them.

We did ask Dr. Packwood to pray with us and guess what he prayed for..... Complete Healing!! He also asked God to help him see God's work through the process of Lafe's healing.

I told David there's nothing like getting a big, fat, tangible sign saying "I'm Here!!!!" We know that God is walking through this with us, and we are so excited to have so many witnessing his healing power with us.

Funny

I've had a lot of people asking me lately how Lafe is handling the news about his eye. He really doesn't say much about it. There is an occassional comment here and there, but mostly just little questions about going to see the new doctor.

I've been wondering myself how he's feeling about it or if it's really something he thinks about on his own without us mentioning it.

Well, yesterday David and I both found ourselves laughing so hard when we heard him saying

"Oh no!!! Not my good eye!!! I just poked my good eye with my pencil." He was very upset that he had hurt his "GOOD" eye.

For some reason we found that really funny!!! I guess you have to find something to laugh at in times like this. I think he's possibly THE FUNNIEST kid ever!

Lafe's Halloween Party

I'm the room parent for Lafe's class. First time thing for me!!! I had a blast planning his party and I believe we all had a blast during the party.My Helpers (minus my sweet husband and the man taking the pictures)

We ate cupcakes and fruit

Decorating our bags as pumpkins Final Product Mummy Wrap Game They loved wrapping Mrs. Hastings!!!It was so fun and I can't wait to do our Christmas party. In between snacks and crafts and at the end of the party we read a couple of Halloween books. They loved it!!!!

Lafe's Eye

Real original title for my post. I know! But, I'm not feeling it lately.

I wanted to post this to ask everyone to be lifting Lafe's name up in prayer for us. We were notified by the school nurse a couple of weeks ago that Lafe had failed his vision screening twice in his left eye. No problem! I made an appointment with our optometrist for the following week. That was last Thursday.

We did NOT get a good report. The optometrist told me that his diagnosis is not good. He wrote down a prescription of 20/200 in that eye. However, he is not really using the eye at all. It is essentially non-functional at this time. The doctor said he has had this lazy eye since birth. The problem is that it never crossed which is not good. Had his eye crossed, that would have meant that his brain was at least trying to get him to use that eye. Plus, we would have seen a problem much earlier than 6 years of age.

So, we will be taking him to a pediatric opthamologist on November 11th. I am anxious to hear what our treatment options are. According to our optometrist the difference in the eyes is so much that glasses will not work. There is not surgery to be done because the muscle is not involved at all. Therefore, he believes we will be patching the right eye in order to try and force the brain to receive and process signals from the left eye again. If we regain some function in that eye, they will probably correct vision with a contact lens. That sounds really fun with a 6 year old.

I know we serve a MIGHTY GOD!!! And, I know that he is fully capable of restoring function in that eye before we do anything treatment wise. That is my first prayer. If that is not His plan, I am simply asking you to ask for some function in that eye! Also, please pray that God can decrease Lafe's anxiety. When he realized we were possibly going to need to patch the good eye he panicked and begged us not to cover it because he wouldn't be able to see at school. Yuck! I explained that the doctor and Mrs. Hastings (his teacher) would work on this with us and we will do whatever he needs to keep learning. That seemed to put his mind at ease a little.

I go through moments of complete peace and then there are moments of absolute guilt. I know that Lafe didn't say anything to us because he never saw the right way. Had it been a change in vision he would have told us. However, he didn't know that he was seeing differently than you and I. I know all of this, yet, I still have Satan telling me I should've known and done better, faster. Please pray that I can fight off these horrible messages from him and feel the peace and comfort that I know is from God.

And, don't leave me a message saying what one lady said to me at Ladies' Bible Class today. I know I have to consider the source, but her words hurt and have been in the back of my mind all day. She said "I can't believe that there are 2 nurses and 1 doctor (my dad, a DENTIST) in your family and y'all couldn't figure out this was wrong until now???!!!!" She tried to joke and laugh it off, but it HURT!!!! If you are thinking those things, just don't say anything to me at all.

I will keep you posted.

My Mommy Said Not to Put SNAILS in my NOSE!!!

Growing up we always sang a silly song that goes:
My Mommy said not to put beans in my ears, beans in my ears, beans in my ears.
My Mommy said not to put beans in my ears. Beans in my ears.

(it goes on to other parts of the body and such)

Well, today we had our first incident with someone putting something up their nose! I can't believe I've been a mother for 10 years and this has never happened!!!!!! However, I'm very thankful.

All three of the boys were playing outside yesterday. They found a frog, crickets, and snails. I'm telling you this living with a creek in our backyard has brought the critters!!! My boys are LOVING it. (we won't talk about the snake from a couple of days ago)

Anyway, so this morning they were outside before we left for school. They once again found snails. Joseph had a little one that he has carried around with him all morning long.

I noticed him about an hour and a half ago picking at his nose. That might sound normal for a 2 year old, but he NEVER picks his nose.

So, I said "Joseph. We don't pick our noses. Do you need a tissue."

He looked at me with his big, beautiful blue eyes and said "YES! Get it out!!!!"

I thought that must be some mighty big booger for him to be so upset. Then, it clicked!!! OH. MY. GOODNESS! He had that dumb snail in his hand!!!!!

I said "Did you put that snail in your nose??"

He said yes and then began crying. I was afraid he would suck it even further up in there. I finally got him calmed down enough to cover the opposite nostril and have him blow it out! GROSS!!!!! Other than a little blood that followed, he is fine.

When I asked him why he did it, he said "Because I wanted to." Great logic!!!

Family Retreat

Our Family Enrichment Committee (that David and I both serve on) just planned and carried out a Family Retreat for our church family. It was so much fun!!! I wish everyone could have been there. Those that couldn't, truly missed out! Here are some pictures of our weekend. It was full of free time where we played together, laughed, and bonded in ways we are unable here at home. Our weekend was blessed with a fun Hootenanny. That was fun to see all of the incredible "TALENT" we possess at Pleasant Ridge!!! I can't wait for the next one, and I hope that more people will come. We, as a committee, were pleasantly surprised by the turn out we had for our very first retreat. Our expectations were met and then some!!!

Yes, that is my dear husband and Rob Fisher riding a tandem bike!!!

New House!

I am posting some pictures of our new house now so my Grandmother won't shoot me. I love you, Grandma. She's asked me several times now to get these on here. I honestly don't think I've looked at a computer in over a week!!! These are pictures of the house before we moved in and before it was cleaned. I'll post more pics when all of the decorating is complete and boxes are out of the way. Maybe next week some time!!!! These are not in any order. Blogger is being stubborn!!!

Breakfast Nook (love the window seat!)

Playroom/TV room

Master Bedroom

Lafe's Room

Joseph's Room

Wade's Room (will be painting soon! there is also a sheriff's badge and a lasso painted. he said it is humiliating!)

Wade's Room (love the bookshelves and window seat)

Guest Bedroom

Living Room/View from Stairs

Formal Living/Study/Craft Room

Formal Dining

The Kitchen

Front of House