Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia

Ok, so I just had to start this post out with a picture from last camping season. Is winter over yet? Ugh. I try to keep busy during the winter to make the time pass faster (until the next camping season). One thing I have coming up soon is a road trip. I will be driving several hours to get to the nearest donation site to donate my blood plasma to ProfNAIT. They are working towards a cure for Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia. They are collecting plasma from moms who have had babies with NAIT to get the antibodies that we make. If you have had a baby with NAIT and you would like to donate you can go to www.naitbabies.org to contact them. It's a long drive for us, but well worth the trouble. If you are a parent that has had a baby born with unexplained low platelets this would be a good thing to ask your doctor about. Your kids will either have a 50% chance or 100% chance of getting NAIT if you carry the antibodies and each pregnancy usually gets worse. My 3rd child was affected but wasn't properly diagnosed, so my 4th child was untreated and had even lower counts. Low platelet counts can lead to internal bleeding and/or death. We were very blessed. There is a wonderful facebook group of moms that have had Naitbabies as well. I was supposed to donate this weekend, but came down with a chest cold. Bummer. God has a way of working these things out though. I will get there when I'm supposed to get there. God bless!

Saving money with a deep freeze

I finally did it! I forked over the cash to get myself a deep freeze! I am convinced that this is going to save me time and money in the long run, but still, it was was hard to get past my cheapskate-edness. I also have a very tiny house so it was no easy task to find the space, but I think it will be well worth the sacrifice. I went to the grocery (Aldi and Walmart) today to start stocking up my freezer. I bought 5 pounds of hamburger, which I promptly fried up, put into individual serving sized containers, and put into the freezer. Next I got to chopping onions. I chopped up a whole bag of onions, also put into individual serving sized containers...and you guessed it...put them into the freezer. Ok, so I continued this process with green onions and strawberries (which are on sale at Aldi for 99 cents). I didn't get around to my green and red peppers yet, as tonight was church night, but I'll get to them tomorrow. I bought some fozen veggies, garlic bread, french toast sticks, and bread (hot dog buns were marked down to 49 cents at Aldi) to complete my first day of shopping for my freezer. I am so busy on the day to day duties of taking care of 4 kids (one of them a very active toddler), homeschooling, cleaning, church, etc. that it is really hard for me to put together a meal that requires a lot of prep work. Having most of the prep work done ahead of time and stored in my freezer helps so much. I was so limited with freezer space in my fridge that I didn't get to do this as much as I would like. I'm still learning all of the rules to freezing, but I'm getting there. I thought I would share my excitement! For those of you that know me, you know that spending money isn't easy for me...but I think this one is gonna pay off bigtime!

Back to blogging...

It' been a long time since I've blogged, but I thought I might attempt to begin again. We'll see how it goes. I hadn't even looked at my blog in a couple of years and when I logged on I saw my profile picture and my heart melted. My little baby boy is growing up. The baby in the picture is now 3 years old and such a big boy. I loved reading through my old posts...especially the one with the video of my lil' guy doing sign language. I would like to use this blog to document our memories, but also to raise awareness about things that are near and dear to my heart, such as Sensory Processing Disorder, Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia, Homeschooling, and most of all...Jesus Christ. I might even review some of the campgrounds we camp at so that I can remember which campsites I love/hate! Hopefully, by this time next month, I will getting ready to start this camping season!! Be blessed!!

You DAILY bear my burdens

Sunday night I visited a wonderful church. We had heard that the services there had been amazing and we weren't doing anything else, so my mom, my aunt, two of my kids and I loaded up and drove about 45 minutes away to worship with some fellow believers. When we got there, I was amazed at how friendly the people were with us. Not just your typical handshake to the visitor either. At the first beat of the music everyone was on their feet praising the Lord with all their hearts. It was beautiful. After a few songs, the pastor's wife announced that her husband would not be there because he was ill. Since he had planned on being there that night, he had not made arrangements otherwise so we were going to watch a video. She laughed as she told us how one member of the congregation had asked him if he would show the old Brownsville, live in Dallas DVD. Well, that's what we ended up watching. These people worshipped right along with the DVD as if they were right there in person. At the end of the video, the worship leader felt led to have an altar call in which many people came to the altar and had a wonderful time with the Lord. I was amazed. These people had come to worship and to meet with God, and that is exactly what they did. I wanted to share how the Lord used this old, some would say "outdated", DVD to speak to me. Lindell Cooley, from the Brownsville worship team, was singing "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" and the second verse hit me smack in the forehead. "FOR YOU DAILY BEAR MY BURDEN"...here is the whole song...

I am standing beneath Your wings
I am resting in Your shelter
Your great faithfulness has been my shield
It makes me want to sing

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name of the Lord
I will bless Your holy name
For all my days
Blessed be the name of the Lord

I sing praises to Your name oh Lord
For You daily bear my burden
Your great faithfulness is my reward
It makes me want to sing...

Jesus DAILY bears my burden, IF I let Him. So many days I carry my own burden. If I hold onto the burden, it will only get worse. I need to put it in His hands so that He can mold it into a beautiful testimony, so that I can sing praises to Him! His great faithfulness is my reward. He is so faithful to hold onto that burden as long as I will allow Him too. In exchange He gives me His burden (for My yoke is easy and My burden is light). Oh, how I love carrying His burden. It is not heavy like mine is. It does not weigh me down and threaten to destroy me. His burden makes me feel as light as air. When I feel like picking my burden up I will act like a crazy woman and start telling myself to put that thing back down...and I will sing praises to His name, for He DAILY bears my burden!!
Hallelujah!

Rough week...

I made it! I wasn't quite sure I would make it through this week. I am a bit exhausted, but we ALL survived. Praise God. Tuesday my oldest daughter (12 years old) started having neurological symptoms followed by a severe headache and vomiting. Her speech was impaired (using the wrong words and using nonsense words), and her right arm went numb all the way up to her tongue. She had been to the dentist the day before so my first instinct was to call the dentist and see if this was a delayed reaction to the novacaine/laughing gas. The dentist said it was not related, but that we needed to call her family doctor immediately. I called them right away, but had to wait for them to speak with the doctor and return my call, which took about 20 minutes. In the meantime, my daughter's headache was getting worse, while her arm and tongue returned to normal. Her speech was still affected. The doctor said to go to the ER if the initial symptoms returned. I gave her some ib profin, but the headache continued to get worse. I called my mom and my husband, and kept asking my daughter questions to evaluate her state of mind. I asked her why she was talking in such a way and she answered that she couldn't hear me. At this point I took her to the ER as fast as I could get there. On the way she started vomiting. We stayed for a couple of hours and the ER and then were sent to Riley Hospital for Children's ER. Several hours later she was admited to the heart center at Riley. She was given a CAT scan, a CAT scan with contrast, a chest xray, an MRI, an echocardiogram and blood tests for several different clotting disorders as well as a CBC. We were allowed to come home the next day as the tests that had come back were normal, but we are still waiting on results for the echocardiogram and the blood tests. At this point the neurologist is thinking it was a "complex" or "complicated" migraine. This is a type of migraine that has neurological symptoms and it is rare, especially in a 12 year old. If she were to be given Imitrex, or any drug in that family (which is the drug normally given for a migraine), it could cause a stroke. We have an appt. with the neuroglogist in 3 weeks. The night we came home from the hospital, exhausted and running on 1 hour of sleep, my other kids woke up vomiting. I think they caught a bug in the ER waiting room. Vomiting and fevers for 24 hours. Yuk! Finally, we are all recovering well and I am staying busy cleaning the house and getting rid of all the germs in the house. God was with us and supplied our every need. My mom was a tremendous help! Thank you Lord, for taking care of my babies!

Ready for Homeschooling

I have been working very hard for the past couple of weeks to get ready for the upcoming school year. I am very excited to be much more organized this time! I am so very close to being finished, and I will post pictures soon. The baby is sleeping through the night finally, and I have a feeling that this year is gonna be a good one!
God Bless

"What's SPD?"

A few days ago I was shopping with my mom and my 10 year old son, who has Sensory Processing Disorder. My mom showed me a shirt to see if I liked it, but I told her I didn't like to wear things that were tight on my arms, especially how it feels around my elbows. I also HATE fur, fake fur, fake hair...*gag*! I was telling her how I prefer short sleeved shirts that are very soft. It made me think of how my son must feel with his sensory issues effecting so many areas of his life and I said to my mom, sarcastically, "maybe I have SPD too!" My son then announces "what is SPD?" Are you kiddding me?? I just stood there for a second and then told him I was referring to Sensory Processing Disorder. "Oh," he says. LOL! It was so funny. He knows that SPD is short for Sensory Processing Disorder, but I guess he didn't understand why I would say I might have it, so maybe I meant something else. It was cute. He is so well behaved at stores now! Thank the Good Lord for Occupational Therapy and Wilbarger Brushing. He occasionally heads over to the area where the carts are and likes to sandwhich himself in between them (yes, I know, input!), but we are working on that. Really, his only behavior issue right now is his over-excited, in your face approach to his baby brother! Also, at times he gets insulted and angry over things that other kids might just laugh at. He takes things so personal. We are going to work "Social Skill Training" into our homeschool curriculum this year. I found a couple of workbooks for teaching social skills! He "bickers" with his 6 year old sister (also has milder SPD) constantly. If I could figure out how to fix that problem I would be on cloud 9! I do believe that I am going to try the old "I'm gonna make you hug each other" approach here soon! :)
God Bless!

Undiagnosed SPD?

I ran into a lady recently, and we got to talking...turns out she has a son on the autism spectrum and another child hanging in the balance between a diagnosis of ADHD or bipolar disorder. We talked for quite a while in the middle of the store. She didn't know that SPD could be a stand alone diagnosis. I told her to get the book "Out of Sync Child" (how I wish I carried several copies with me to give away when I meet people like this). I told her that undiagnosed and therefore untreated SPD could cause some major emotional issues in a child. These kids are frequently considered a behavior problem, especially those fortunate enough to be "sensory seekers". My heart goes out to all the families and kids that have yet to find the help they need, SPD or otherwise. I encourage anyone seeking an accurate diagnosis and treatment for their child to pray about it and let God lead them to the right place! It's scary what damage can be done with a wrong dianosis and treatment plan. God knows our kids and He knows exactly what needs to be fixed in their little bodies. While we pray for their healing, we can also pray for God to lead us to the knowledge of what is needed to help them. God bless!

Baby Sign Language

A few weeks ago I taught my baby (8 1/2 months old) how to say "eat" in sign language. We worked on this for a couple of months before he got it. Every time I gave him baby food I would do the sign for "eat" several times and say the word. I really didn't think it would work, but it did, and HOW EXCITING! I am so proud of my smart little guy! He does the sign a little different than he is supposed to, but hey, he is only a baby! :)

Big Changes!

This summer has been a summer of change for us. Mostly good changes, but still, it is a lot to process. I've been trying to get my little one, 9 months old now, to sleep somewhat at night and get into a routine in preparation for our upcoming school year. After a hectic summer, with no sleep I might add, I finally just gave up and took it to the Lord. Many give advice about letting them "cry it out" or other tips, but I have to say, I just felt like if he was crying, then he needed something, so I was up taking care of him. He would get up between 2 to 4 times a night for a nursing session and maybe a diaper change. He got 6 teeth this summer, so I am thinking this is why he was not learning to sleep at night. He was in pain. It took forever for his little teeth to break through. Now that teething is temporarily over, I decided to get back to work on a sleep schedule. This is what I did...I prayed! :) I asked a friend to pray as well. Within a couple of nights he was sleeping through the night! God is good! I know that there are times that we have to be tough on our little ones (and ourselves) and teach them to do things, but for this particular milestone, I felt it was best to go to God! My little guy deals with acid reflux and takes medicine for it, so I never quite know if his reflux is bothering him, or if he is just overly attached! :)
Another big event for our summer is that we have changed churches. I grew up in this church since I was in 3rd grade (I'm 34 now) and my whole family goes there as well. We left a couple of years ago for about 10 months, and then returned as things were looking better at the time. Sadly, we have left again, and this time I feel that it will be for good, unless the Lord directs otherwise. We have been attending a church that is a different denomination than we are used to, but similar. We love it! God is really working in me and I just love every little part of it! Amazingly, my parents also left our former church within a month of us. They are now looking for a new church as well. God is good, and He is leading!
We finished Vision Therapy this summer with DS2 and DD3. It was a lot of work, but I'm hoping to see some of it pay off this school year. We drove about 45 minutes to get to our therapists, but they were really great and it was worth the drive. We intend to go back to OT with our first therapist (that specialized in sensory therapy) eventually...gotta get the other therapy paid off first!
Well, I'm hoping that with the baby sleeping thru the night and therapy temporarily finished, that we will be able to really have a fun time with homeschooling. I will just have to pray about that too:)
Until next time...

Thanks to a dear friend!

Thank you to a very dear friend for the help with my blog header! I love it! The picture in the header is a church down in Kentucky that a my mom's family used to get together at. My mom actually was in KY recently and went looking for this church...no easy task! :)

SPD and chocolate

Ok, so yes, food is a major issue around here, as you may be noticing the number of post titles containing a food item! I wanted to share with other SPD families what happens to my son when he eats chocolate (or ice cream, cheez-its, doritos, and a few other things). Last Wednesday night we tried out a new church. We have been attending that church on Sundays for about 6 weeks, and felt it was time to give it a try on Wednesday nights. I would be going it alone, without my husband this time, so I was a little nervous. I left my 6 year old daughter (also has SPD) at home with him, thinking it would be easier for me to handle the other kids. I had my 8 month old baby, my 12 year old daughter, my son (SPD, 10) and his buddy with me. We get there and I am already nervous as church lasts 2 hours on Wednesday nights! The kids stay in with the adults for a very loud but wonderful worship service, then they are dismissed to their classes. When class is over, I go to pick the kids up and my son says to me "mom, I almost ate a Reese cup, but I traded it for something else". Now, mind you, I know my son, and he might as well have said "I ate a Reese". He is not very good at lying, thank God, but on occasion he does try to get away with it, just like every other kid. I grill him and try to find out the truth, but I'm interupted by people welcoming us to the church. A very sweet lady comes over to me and introduces herself and her friends. After a few minutes, one of her friends asks me if I have any kids that dance. I look just a few yards away from me and there is my son, in the middle of a crowded hallway, doing cartwheels and spinning. That's when I knew...HE ATE A REESE CUP! I must admit, I kind of laughed and told her, "does that count?" lol! She goes over to my 10 year old son and extends her hand (to shake his) and introduces herself and asks him his name. He backs up. She steps forward and asks again. He backs up more, not looking her in the eye, but looking up and to the side frantically. She leans in to touch his arm to get his attention. This time he backs into the wall and climbs up onto the arm of the beautiful leather couch that is in the hallway. OH MY! I told him to get down. She tells him to listen to his mom and that the church is the house of the Lord, all of this in a very sweet way, I was not all offended, but by now she is holding his arm. This whole time I was thinking that I needed to step in and take control, but at the same time, wanting to see how my son would handle it. He has been doing wonderfully, with OT and a strict ban on all things dairy! I know he would have done much better had he not had the chocolate. Well, back to the story...It was at this point that I stepped in, baby on my hip, and very kindly said to her, "he is very uncomfortable being touched and I'm sure he will do much better if you would let go of his arm." She was very kind about the whole thing. She just said "OK" and let go of his arm, at which point my son was able to stand still. I think it surprised her. They were able to have a short conversation consisting of "do you want to join my dance team", "no"! lol! At that point I knew it was time to say our goodbyes and head to the car. When we got to the car I asked my son to do some push ups against the car and on the ground, and a few jumping jacks...hoping the input would calm him down for our ride home. I know that there were a lot of things there that were aggravating his SPD, but he is usually able to control himself much better. OT has done wonders for him and I have received many comments that he is a totally different child. He used to be like that all the time, now it is only when he eats something with dairy in it (although pizza doesn't seem to bother him). I have often wondered if I should attempt the GFCF diet with him, but he is already mostly cassein free (with the exception of pizza). When he was in first grade we were letting him eat mac n cheese and chocolate since he ate so little of anything else and he loved them so much. The teacher told me that he was hitting himself in the head a lot during the day at school and it was worrying her. I decided to remove dairy since I noticed a dramatic behavior change right after he would eat it. The change was amazing. We were shopping with my mom one day this summer and my other daughter was eating ice cream and my son was broken hearted because he wanted some too. My mom had the idea to make my son promise to be on his best behavior for our shopping trip or he would never get ice cream again. I went along with it. Needless to say, my mom said she will never give him ice cream again! LOL! I was wondering if any other SPD families had certain foods that reacted with their kids that way. At this point, his diet is mostly dairy free, with way too much salt on the few things he does eat. He also has never in his life tasted beef of any kind! Well, now it's off to fix supper, not a fun thing to do when dealing with SPD! :)

Doctor today

Well, the fever that my little one had Thursday and Friday turned out to be a virus. He has no runny nose or other symptoms, though, which is good. I took him to the doc today because yesterday he broke out in a rash. It started at his scalp and spread today to his neck, shoulders, trunk, and back. Glad he didn't have to take medicine, just tylenol. He's taking a nap with daddy now.

My baby is sick...

Yesterday my little one woke up with a fever. It's been ranging from between 95.5 to 100.6 taken under his armpit. Sounds like no big deal, and probably is, but he has been acting much more sleepy than usual. He is still eating. Mostly, he wants me to hold him. It's so sad. I'm hoping it's just teething. No new ones popping thru at the moment, though. I gave him tylenol last night twice and it brought it down temporarily. If he still has the fever on Monday, or if it goes up, I will take him to the doctor. Say a prayer for my little one. :(

SPD and salt

My 10 year old son has Sensory Processing Disorder. It effects him in all 7, yes 7, of his senses. However, I am growing most concerned about the way it effects his eating habits. This child uses salt like it is going out of style. I switched to sea salt, since it is supposed to be healthier, but he is still using an unbelievable amount! I had him read an article in the paper tonight about the dangers of using too much salt! It was a bit over his head, but worth a try. He puts salt on Saltine crackers, for goodness sake! Yet another topic to discuss with his OT once we start back up again. He will say to his sister "try this, it's good, it has no flavor." Poor guy! What am I gonna do? Oh the joys of a messed up nervous system!

Charles Spurgeon's thoughts on being seeker sensitive

If anyone out there is wondering if using seeker friendly methods to reach the lost is a new idea or a "paradigm shift", then I encourage you to read this. It was written by Charles Spurgeon back in the 1800's. The bible says there is nothing new under the sun. Satan will use anything to destroy the church, and to decrease it's effectiveness at reaching sinners for Christ. Satan is not afraid to use old, "already been done" methods to paralyze the church...

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats
by Charles Spurgeon

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.

From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). That is clear enough So it would have been if He had added, "and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.

Then again, "He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers .., for the work of the ministry" (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt" (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy---something the world will spit out not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, "Let the dead bury their dead" (Matt. 8:22) He was in awful earnestness.

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, "Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow." Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.

In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, "Come out, keep out, keep clean out!" Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, "Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are." If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God's link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

My thoughts on why the church isn't reaching the lost...

I would like to share with you my thoughts on reaching the lost. I must respectfully disagree with the idea that our church needs to change it's methods to reach the lost more effectively. I have never heard a lost person say, "boy, if the church would just change their methods, I would give my life over to Jesus!" The statement that most lost people have made over and over again goes more like this, "I don't go to church because the church is full of hypocrites." I have to say, I think the lost people have hit the nail on the head. Church leadership sit around and have meetings and committees trying to figure out what they can change in order to reach the lost. Why not take a hint from what the lost themselves are saying? The problem isn't the way the church looks, the programs, the methods, the music, etc. The problem is that we, as christians, are called to be Christ-like...and we are not always that. Now, are christians supposed to be perfect? By no means. However, we should reflect Christ in our attitudes and in our personalities. What should we look like then? The Christ I know is full of LOVE, COMPASSION, AND HOLINESS. So, then, the church should be full of these things as well. Lost people are not stupid! They know the difference between real love and just lip service. I have heard some christians say that they "do not have the gift of compassion" or that they "don't like people." Aren't these qualities things that every believer should possess? If we are to be Christ-like, then the answer is YES! Perhaps the lost would be reached more effectively if the christians who have allowed the Holy Spirit to empower them would not be ashamed to share their faith! Yes, some people have an extra measure of boldness (evangelists, preachers, etc.) to proclaim God's love to the nations, however, I believe that the bible is speaking to ALL believers when it says that if we are ashamed of Jesus on earth, then He will be ashamed of us before God in heaven! I see very clearly, in fact, every time I watch the news, that the Lord will be returning soon. The bible tells us that when the anti-christ takes over there will be one world government and one world religion. This religion will be one of compromise. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the only path to God, in fact, the bible is very clear about this (Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the light and no man goes to the Father except by Me.) ANYTHING that waters down the power of Jesus is simply a path towards that emerging one world religion. Jesus said in the bible, "if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me." He has called us to be bold in our faith (whether it is hard for us or not) and share the gospel, and we must be obedient to that, however, in the end, it is the Holy Spirit that will draw the lost to Jesus. God uses us to help reach the lost (what an honor), but He is in ultimate control, so it is very important that we keep our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. We are to have a heart for the lost, that is a part of being Christ-like, but our number one priority is to keep our eyes on Jesus! He will lead us to the lost, and then as we OBEY Him we will speak boldly of the love of God, and how he has transformed our lives and they will come to repentance and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! If we put our focus on the lost, or on church growth, or on anything else, it will become an idol to us. Anything that takes our eyes of of Jesus, even wonderful things that Jesus has a heart for, will lead us to ourselves and not to Him. I believe that this is the reason that a lot of churches have become seeker friendly. Seeker friendly is a way of thinking that purposes to reach the lost by making them comfortable at church or at church functions. Not wanting to "offend" the non-believer, they carefully arrange everything to keep them from feeling uncomfortable at church. As far as I am concerned, this "uncomfortableness" at church used to be called "conviction" and it was a good thing! It leads to salvation! It's ok to change things in the church, I have no problem with change. However, if the change makes the church look more like the world, then why in the world would the lost want to have anything to do with the church? If they can listen to worldly music on their ipod, then why come to church to do it? If they can play games and watch movies at home, then why come to church to do it? The bible says that we are to be set apart, a peculiar people! Why is the church so afraid to be different?? I'm not saying the church as a whole doesn't have problems that need fixed, I'm just saying that seeker friendly ways are not the answer. I believe that if you look through history at many of the revivals that changed cities, you will see that that it came about through seeking God's face, not through a change in their methods. As the people in the church experienced this new passion for God, their lives were changed. As their lives were changed, the lost looked and said "hmmm, seems like the church isn't full of hypocrites anymore!" Cities were reached for Jesus! Lives were changed and the lost were drawn in by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit either used a believer to bring someone to God, or sometimes He just brought them Himself, with no help from man! Then, when the lost came to the church, the church people were so full of love and compassion and holiness that they more closely reflected the image of Christ! Honestly, I don't care if I am called a Pharisee, or old fashioned, or just plain wrong. This is what I believe, it is the God I know and have known since I was a child. I am not afraid to lose friendships because of my beliefs either. It is time for God's people to make a stand and not be afraid to be persecuted, even by other believers.

Sensory Breakfast!

Ok, so I know all about sensory diets and how effective they can be to help a sensory kid make it through the day. However, implementing one has been a bit confusing to me. So far, all I have been able to do is to incorporate lots of sensory activities into our day randomly or when we have already reached sensory overload. Obviously, this is not working. My new plan is to start each day with a sensory breakfast, followed by a few short therapy breaks through the day (vision therapy, motor skills). We have taken a break from our sensory OT the past few months to do vision therapy with another OT. I think I will email our sensory OT and ask her for her input. I know there are different types of activities, (calming, alerting), I guess I am just afraid to do them in the wrong order or something and make things worse! Also, I have 2 kids with SPD, so I am wanting to make sure that each kid gets the right sensory diet. I will post on here as soon as I have planned the menu! :)

Happy Father's Day

Today we celebrated Father's Day with the hubby. We gave him some drawings from the kids and a photo album with some beautiful pics of the kids for him to show off at work! He loved it.

We spent the past 2 days with my FIL and my dad. Lots of food and fun! I am so thankful for my dad. My little girl calls him "Popo" and I think that is just soo sweet. I was and will always be a daddy's girl.

It makes me sad to think of all of the people who have to celebrate Father's Day without their fathers. I also think of how sad it is for those who have horrible fathers (not around, abusive, etc.). I am glad that God promises to be a father to the fatherless. God is so good. He cares about us so much. He is a good father. The best! :)

Love

Love covers a multitude of sins....

....simply stated....people can take just about anything from you, flaws and all, as long as they KNOW you love them.

Where is the love?? For God so LOVED the world, that HE gave His only begotten son.... We are supposed to be full of that same love. Who are we to love?

God
our spouses
our kids...each of them equally!!
everyone else!!

Who is everyone else???

saints
sinners
jerks
crazy people
kids
old people
smelly people
extra large people
little people
funny people
funny looking people
family
teachers
students
In-laws
Out-laws
......the list goes on.

Anyone can show love to a loveable person...actually, the bible says something just like this!!...but we are called to love the unloveable, the people who don't care about anyone but themselves, the kid who hasn't had a bath in a week because his water has been turned off because his mom couldn't pay the water bill, the self-righteous person who thinks it is their job to tell you how to do everything the "right" way, the guy in the car in front of you who just cut you off, the kid at the playground who just threw sand in your little girl's hair...etc, etc...

I will admit, I am still working on loving some of those kinds of people. We all are....

Here is my problem, though...if the church doesn't get this one right, you know, the part about LOVING people, well, then I have to wonder how long God is going to stand by and let the church misrepresent him...

"What's Love got to do with it?" you may ask. The bible says that if we have gifts of prophecy and can understand all mysteries, but have no love....then we are a resounding gong and a clanging symbol! Puts the gong show in a whole new perspective for me now! All you do for God will be "gonged" if you have not love!

Love is patient, love is kind.....