My Dante

This morning Dante started swimming lessons at the YMCA. They were kind enough to let me enroll him in the parent/infant class even though he is over-aged; he actually could easily pass for an 18 month old. Dante did well changing into his trunks, and was babbling down the hallway. Unfortunately, when I walked into the pool area and went to wait by the wall for his class, he started to scream and writhe about. It did not matter to him that we were 10 minutes early, he wanted into that pool NOW! I wandered up and down the hallway for a few minutes. He did not appreciate the pacing-- everytime I headed away from the pool he yelled, and was quietly hopeful on the lap headed towards the pool.

The water was clearly a little cooler than he expected, but he did well. His class is once weekly until the end of August, and I am glad I decided to do it. I could have signed him up for the daily for two weeks lessons at our town beach, but that water is cold considering how cool and rainy the weather has been for the last several weeks.

Dante does officially have a dual diagnosis of Down Syndrome and Autism. Poor little guy, hit with that double whammy. He is doing better since his regressions in March, but is still very much behind in skills and behavior. Dante still will not eat anything that has crunch to it, or that has to be chewed beyond one or two munches. He will not use the signs he had learned, and only recently began talking again, saying "baba" and "no". There might have been a "mama" and "dada" once or twice, but not consistently.

Because of the enormity of his regressions, we have decided to use our public school system for therapies. It would be too expensive to hire private therapists for all of his needs, and I have not yet spent enough time researching how to meet his needs here at home. The biggest seems to be the need for a strict routine, and breaking down tasks very simply for him.

Despite Dante's struggles, he still has the most beautiful smile on earth. I told Jamie I have never seen anyone smile with his eyes the way Dante does. When in a good mood, he just exudes so much joy. When angry, though, he is completely beside himself. The head banging is occuring less frequently, and his tantrums are a little bit farther apart. I just have to remember not to show up at swimming lessons until it is exactly time to get into that pool!

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Sunny Goes to the Farm

This morning Nikita and I took Sunny up to do farm chores with us. I have no reason to believe Sunny has ever been up close to a cow before, but she had no fear. She smiled and waved to L, then went right over to pat the cows on the noses. It is a good thing there were stanchions separating them, because Sunny gave no thought to the several hundred pound weight difference between her and the bovines!

Sunny also pitched right in with bottle feeding the calves. She saw Nikita single-handedly feeding two of the calves, and went over to pick up Holly's bottle. Nik took a picture of Sunny feeding Holly while I feed Stanley.

Amelia was not too pleased that Sunny was going to the farm without her, but Ame had speech this morning and could not do both. I will probably take Amelia to the farm on Friday to make up for it.

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The other night, Amelia took out a Hooked on Phonics workbook, and was pointing to and sounding out letters for Sunny. Surprisingly, Sunny echoed her each time! She really has made very few attempts to speak, but her comprehension is clearly growing. I was thrilled that Amelia had taken it upon herself to teach Sunny the alphabet, and that Sunny was a happy pupil.

I continue to be amazed at what a perfect fit Sunny is for this family. God is faithful, God is good.

I've Been Pruned

While I would love a long soak in a bathtub, that's not what I mean. Since I am not nearly as good with words as my dear husband (I loved his last post!), this might meander a bit.

I enjoy gardening, but I am definitely an amateur at it. Around our yard we have several spots of wild blackberry bushes, a small strawberry bed, six blueberry bushes, as well as some raised beds and my approximately 20x40 foot garden. I gather from my various readings that there are several essential actions necessary for a good crop: fertilizing, weeding, watering, location, and pruning/thinning.

To me, the hardest part is the pruning and thinning. Why should I pull up a perfectly good green bean plant? And what if I pull up the strong one but leave one that will wilt and die? I really have no grasp of how to properly prune the blueberry bushes, and admit that I have not done it for fear of ruining them.

The Lord knows how to prune though. In John 15 Jesus talks about gardening. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." Yesterday Jamie asked me if we had any strawberries yet. When I told him I had pinched off the blossoms of the newly planted strawberry plants, he asked why. As I was explaining to Jamie about sending out runners to be more productive next year, the verses that Jesus spoke hit me.

We have left the church that Jamie has attended since he was four; the only church that our children have ever really known. This has been very painful for all of us. It has hit me lately how busy the church responsibilities were keeping me...2-3 meetings a month, coordinating the Nursery and Jr. Church, directing VBS for the past 5 years. Now I have none of that. I feel some relief, some sadness, some uselessness, and am left wondering what happened. And then I realized that maybe I am being pruned, and that means I was bearing fruit, and will do so again.

Tonight I thinned my carrots. It was hard to pull many out, but necessary. They were growing so well, two solid rows of them. If I had not thinned them, come harvest-time I would have had two solid rows of very skinny carrots, if any at all. Now, Lord willing, my carrots will grow big and yummy. Maybe it is time learned how to prune my blueberry plants too.

James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything." These are very good verses for my family as we look for a new church community and continue to seek the Lord's will for us.

I Knew It!

I have had a suspicion in my mind for many years now. I strongly have suspected that Jesus, Himself, personally sent all of our children to us. This may seem like an odd thing to say, especially of those born to us because you could reply: "Well sure He did, who else would do that?" A fair point, but what about our adopted children? Ten years ago, what were the odds that a child born in Hong Kong or Taiwan would be in our family? Astronomical odds; but the Lord is not limited by the odds. Likelihood is a tough avenue for finding Truth. All of our children were in our family before they were born. They have been ordained to be our children always, regardless of the indirect way they may have arrived here. I am sometimes asked, "Which are your real children?" What? All seven, what kind of question is that? This is my view, but how can you be really sure? You gotta go to the source and ask someone who was most recently in the Presence of God. And here he is.......I was holding Dante the other day and he was as sweet as can be. This child is truly precious (though I won't tick him off either) and while I was holding him and he was smiling at me, I thought again of this question. So I asked him, "Jesus, Himself sent you didn't He?" He sorta looked at me with a smile and his eyes shined. I think I got my answer.
James

Meandering Thoughts

Yesterday I got home from the farm right when I should have been cooking dinner. Thankfully Jamie started dinner, and I went out to sit and watch Amelia and Micah on the playset. Micah wandered over to the zipline, but even though it dips in the middle he couldn't quite reach the handles. Everytime he jumped his hands would bump it, but he could not grab on. Being the wise mom that I am, I decided to watch for some problem solving to kick in. (Translate: I was too lazy to get up off the chair and help my son.) Amelia went over, said "watch" and showed Micah how to jump high enough to catch the bars. So Micah showed his gratitude by grabbing her waist and pushing her up to the starting point, where she was able to zip back down. Then she pulled the handles down for him and pushed him up to the starting point. It was really sweet watching the two of them take turns pushing up to the point where gravity would take over. (Nice problem solving, good thing I'm lazy!)
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Speaking of the farm, I have learned how to milk the cows! Technically, I have learned how to attach the machine to the udder and watch it do the milking. The cows tolerate me, although I am convinced that when in the field they practice twitching their tails just right. Zachary and I are still helping several times a week... Jamie has even gone up a few times; he said today he likes the smell of the silage. Hmmm, would anyone prefer the smell of the muck?? There is something very satisfying about milking a cow and tending to their needs, but I am very thankful Jamie is a teacher and not a farmer. He works 180 days a year. Farmers work ALL day, 365 days a year.
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Speaking of 180 days, our school year is done! I still have to send in something to the school district, but the kids are done. I have already been rearranging to get set for next year. I am turning an alcove area of our living room into a mini "school room" for the little ones. I still need to get a pocket-chart calendar and have ordered a few things, but it is looking good. Amelia, Micah, and Sunny will use it next year.
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Speaking of Sunny, she had quite the tantrum today. Yay!!! This means she is getting comfortable with us enough to show some good emotions. She was mad because when she took a book from Micah, Jamie gave it back to Micah and told her "no". It was quite dramatic to see, but none of us reacted. After a while she realized the crying was getting her nowhere, so got up and started really telling off Micah. I have no idea what she was saying, but it couldn't have been nice based on her body language and tone, so I sat her on my lap and told her not to talk like that. She moved on to something else and was fine. Sunny and Amelia have been playing really well together. Ame even taught her how to hide behind the couch and have a pretend gun fight! Right now they are each up in bed "talking" their way to sleep. Most of Sunny's talk is still in Mandarin, but she and Amelia still seem to understand each other. It is really sweet to see them together.
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This post is getting too long, time to go! I am so thankful for the blessings of being able to help friends, having a husband home for the summer, and amazing kids.
God is good!

Special Olympics

Today Amelia participated in her first ever Special Olympics! Micah, Nikita, and I drove Amelia into Harvard for the games. We parked and rode the (shuttle) bus over to the events. It was a rainy day, or we would have explored more than just her gymnastics competition.

Amelia did really well! She is only 8, so I tried not to feel really competitive on her behalf. I remember from so many of the boy's baseball games thinking the kids would have more fun if the parents would stop making it all about a win.

The kids enjoying some time together while we waited for the Opening Ceremonies.

Amelia posing in front of the mat.

Amelia with her first gold medal!! There were five girls in her class, the events were Bars, Beam, Vault, and Floor Routine. Amelia brought home on Fifth place ribbon, three bronze medals, and one gold medal. That's my girl!

She now has the Summer off, and in the Fall will start working with her team again. It was really neat to see all the athletes enjoying the day.


PS-- My last post was the two sisters and one brother: afterwards, Micah decided he needed a shot- of Zachary's birch beer! Does he look traumatized?

Two Sisters and Their Brother

Where is the brother? And why are these sisters smiling??