Adventures in Adoption

Change of plans

2011-03-08T12:19:00.004-06:00

Well, we're moving! Not what we expected, but here we go anyway. Here are some pictures of things that we're selling before we go!

Elliptical-$150

Entertainment Center (doors close to hide TV) $250, TV negotiable

Hammered Dulcimer-$450, comes with hard sided carrying case

These two items hubby made. $50 for the bookcase, $20 for the shoe cubby.

I'm also selling a bucket of granola that I bought at the local food co-op. It's really good....it's just not gluten free. Shortly after I bought it I had to cut out all gluten, and my family isn't as in to granola as I am. Practically completely full. $25.

Passing Time

2011-01-08T11:29:00.002-06:00

Recently I've been making cloth diapers and things that are along those lines. It's helping to keep my mind busy so I'm not just waiting around. Some of my friends have asked me about making a few things for them. I came up with these patterns after looking at several that I liked, then took the best parts of everything to make these.

Disclaimer: I am trying to make these affordable while still making a small profit (which goes to our adoption fund). I buy the material on sale at a discount when I find it, so these are not "cute" diapers. They are one color. If you want something specific then I can try to do that too, but I may have to charge you a little more since these prices are based on my finding the best deals and passing that along to you. I also will not be keeping things in stock so it may take up to a month from the time that I receive your order to when you receive your product. That allows a week to order the material, then time to make it, and then mail it out to you. At lastly, I am not a "professional" seamstress, and I am still learning. I welcome ideas on how to make these things better!

Pocket One-Size Diapers w/ two inserts-$10
Wet Diaper Bags-$14/$9/$5
Double Sided Wipes-$1
Fleece Liners-$1
Overnight Insert-$5
Waterproof Changing Pad-$12
Contoured Nursing Pads-$2/pair
Cloth Menstrual Pads-$3/$4/$5

I'm also working on a pair of training pants for a friend. They'll be waterproof with side snaps so they can be easily removed in case of an accident, but my goal is that they will also be able to be pulled up and down easily at the potty.

Update of Sorts

2011-01-07T22:26:00.002-06:00

It's time for an update!

We signed our paperwork in December so now we are officially licensed as a matched adopt home. What does this mean? It means that we passed everything and can now "officially" be on the lookout for kiddos. Our case manager will be looking for us and we will keep our eyes on the TARE website. Most kids are matched before they make it onto TARE, so chances our that our case manager will be calling us at some point with a match! The process after that is full of things to do, so right now we are just focusing on our ongoing training (we have quarterly home visits that include reports on what we've learned and how we'll apply it) and getting our hearts and home ready for our new children.

I've been posting some things about fundraisers so I'll let you know what I still have going right now. For the moment I'm not doing any online fundraisers, but I am selling things that we've had donated to us or sold to us at a great discount! Here is what I have:

Wick & Petal 14 oz Candles-$15 each

1 Monkey Farts
1 Christmas Splendor
2 Baked Apple Pie

Wick & Petal Melts (2 per pack)-$1.50 each

1-Iced Cinnamon Rolls
2-Peaches & Ginger
2-Winter Fantasy (vanilla, sandalwood, and cherries)
1-Christmas Splendor (cinnamon, pine, apple and berries)
2-Hot Baked Apple Pie
2-Hot Fudge Brownies
2-Australian Bamboo Grass (fresh, spa-like scent)
2-Blueberry Muffin
2-Vanilla Silk
2-Pumpkin Pie Spice

3 Infant Fleece Hats-$5 each

1 Fleece Scarf-$5

1 Newborn Size "Made In America" Tie-Dye Onesie-$12

Sorry that I don't have pictures. My camera has decided to quit working for the moment :-(

Email me or comment if you're interested in purchasing any (or all!) of the items listed!

Wick & Petal Candles

2010-12-19T19:27:00.001-06:00

I now have Wick & Petal Candles for sale! These candles are 14oz and burn for 50-60 hours. We have been burning the Christmas Splendor at my mom's house and we both are amazed at how well these burn! Seriously! The wicks are self trimming and the natural palm wax is burning down very nicely! These sell for $15 each. I have already sold some, so here is what I have now:
1 - Monkey Farts (banana and citrus)
1 - Pumpkin Cream Cake
1 - Christmas Splendor
3 - Hot Baked Apple Pie

I also have melts from Wick & Petal. The melts are in 2-packs and sell for $1.50. The scents available are:
1-Iced Cinnamon Rolls
2-Peaches & Ginger
2-Winter Fantasy (vanilla, sandalwood, and cherries)
1-Christmas Splendor (cinnamon, pine, apple and berries)
2-Hot Baked Apple Pie
2-Hot Fudge Brownies
2-Australian Bamboo Grass (fresh, spa-like scent)
2-Blueberry Muffin
2-Vanilla Silk
2-Pumpkin Pie Spice

Jewelry

2010-12-01T12:51:00.000-06:00

Go here to buy some cute handmade jewelry! Enter "Prather Adoption" at checkout :-)

Things that I Can Make

2010-11-26T20:30:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to compile a list of things that I can make to sell to raise money for our adoption expenses. This is the list that I've come up with so far:

Baby Rag Quilt
Scrunchies/Hair Bands
Stroller Bungee Clip
Diapers
Cloth Changing Pad
Wet Diaper Bag
Dish Cloths
Dish/Veggie Scrubber

My problem is that I have no idea how to sell the stuff! And to be honest, some of these things cost enough money that it's easier to make them as they are ordered. Maybe I'll just be spending too much time trying to do this? Is it worth it? All of these items can be found on etsy, so I'm not sure that I'm unique enough for people to buy from me vs. everyone else that's out there!

We need about $1000 in furniture type items. Other than that, we're really don't need much else as long as we continue our plan of adopting through foster care. I've thought about teaching piano again, but I would really not be able to keep up with that once our children are home with us. I'd hate to start something that I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up.

What are your thoughts?

Fundraiser #2

2010-11-16T11:39:00.000-06:00

These amazing soaps are made by a friend of mine! They are completely natural and most are made with goats milk. Just place your order at http://hyenacart.com/countrysoapsbymarlene/ and enter the code "Prather Adoption" when you're checking out and she'll do the rest! Be sure to check out her gift giving ideas for some great Christmas gifts!

Fundraiser

2010-11-16T08:14:00.000-06:00

Our first fundraiser has started! From now until December 5th order candles at www.CandlesAreLove.com and enter the code "2010" at checkout. I'll also be taking orders directly for the scents listed below. If you want to be sure that your order will be here by Christmas I recommend ordering online since I'll be gone the weeks immediately prior to Christmas. Thank you for considering supporting us!

Mia Bella Gourmet Products

We want to thank you for supporting the Prather Family and Their Adoption Journey!

Mia Bella Candles are proud to be made in the USA

Natural Gourmet Scented Candles - $20 each

Our 16 oz jar candles are clean burning with no black mess.

The scents are infused throughout entire candle and will not fade.

Choose from our top selling scents and enjoy in your home or to give as a gift.

Mia Bella Scent Description

Apple Cinnamon – ripe apples sprinkled with cinnamon
Baby Powder – “new baby” smell so pure and innocent.
Christmas Pine – the wonderful Christmas tree aroma of the holiday season
Crème Brulee – a rich sweet butterscotch fragrance
Cucumber Melon – fresh and cool smelling like a breath of fresh air
Eucalyptus – refreshing, invigorating but also calming and comforting
French Vanilla – a creamy confection with a strong vanilla scent
Fresh Linen – clean clothes fresh from the dryer describes this scent
Heart of the Ocean – fresh clean smell like an ocean breeze
Home For Christmas – hints of cinnamon and cloves to spice up your holiday season
Hot Apple Pie – so much like the real thing your family will think you’re baking
Lavender – aromatic, relaxing fragrance of crisp English lavender
Mulberry Spice – strong scent of spice and dark red mulberry fruit
Pumpkin Cheesecake – rich creamy blend of cheesecake and pumpkin
Rain – just like after a rainstorm
Sweet Orange & Chili Pepper – our most popular fragrance – a zingy, zesty orange-eee smell you will never forget. Perfect for any season
Victorian Rose – light perfume smell of roses

Fundraisers

2010-11-08T07:52:00.000-06:00

We finished our homestudy!!! Now we just have to wait for them to finish the paperwork so we can be licensed. We found out that to be licensed as foster care we could only have 1 additional child. Since we went into this thinking a sibling group we were rather disappointed, so we decided to keep with our original plan and go with matched adoption. This means it may take longer to find our children, but once they come in the door we'll know that the are ours.

We are beginning to consider doing a little bit of fundraising for some of our expenses. One kind of fundraiser that I'm considering is asking business to donate items to us, then selling the items on my blog. My blog doesn't get much traffic so I would need my friends to help advertise on FB for me!

So for now I've emailed 3 friends that make things to sell and asked if they are interested in the idea. Does anyone know of some other people that may be interested?

Homestudy

2010-09-12T21:41:00.001-05:00

We had our first meeting for our homestudy on Thursday. I think it went well, but you never know what other people think about you. The first meeting was an interview with both of us, then the next thing will be separate interviews. They will also talk to the kids.

We had them do a walk-through to give us some things to fix before we do the health inspection. Some of the things are things that should have been done anyway (lid on the dog food container) but some of the stuff if just silly (contact solution has to be locked up). In any case, we fixed some of the things this weekend and tomorrow we will try and get the health and fire inspections scheduled.

Now....who wants to help me clean????

Update

2010-09-05T20:47:00.001-05:00

Not a whole lot to update, but I thought I would post something so you all know that I'm still here!

The paperwork part of the application is nearly done! It's close enough that the agency has decided to go ahead and assign us to a case manager and start our homestudy process. While I know that many people have their homestudy done in one day, our case manager told us that the first meeting will only consist of the interviews that Ryan and I will do together and we will do our separate ones on a different day. She also mentioned something about interviewing the kids, so I'm not really sure what to expect with that.

I have been ~~watching like a hawk~~ checking the public data base frequently. On one hand I am encouraged for the children because there used to be 3 pages that showed up in my search range but now there is only one. On that one page none of the sibling groups match what we are looking for (everyone younger than Tyler). I have to keep reminding myself that most adoption matches are not done through this website but through our case manager. Most children never make it to the website.

So that's about it! Homestudy soon, then fire and health inspections! Anyone want to come help me clean?

Legal Risk

2010-08-12T16:15:00.001-05:00

I realized that I used the term "Legal Risk" in my last post but didn't give a definition. So here it is to the best of my understanding.

When a child is removed from a home the state of Texas gives the parents and extended family 18 months to clean up their act and do what is needed to get their children back. Some cities move faster than 18 months. Some probably move slower. But here the judge has to make the decision in 18 months. During that time the children are in foster care. Many people in foster care are hoping to adopt the children in their homes but you really have no idea what the chances of that will be. People that go this route are considered Foster-to-Adopt.

The other end of that spectrum is matched adoption. These are children whose parents have had their parental rights terminated. When Texas terminates parental rights it terminates on the whole family. This means that after termination Aunt Mary from Missouri can't come back and claim a niece or nephew. So these children are living in a foster home who don't intend to adopt them. A family will find out about these children and start taking the steps to adopting them. After they are placed in your home they stay there for about 6 months until you go to court and they are 100% yours. (read: the state quits coming into your house every month!)

The middle ground is called "Legal Risk". Technically there is no license for legal risk. It's just in the mind of your caseworker. An example of legal risk would be an abandoned infant. If a parent abandons their infant then they have 3 months to come back and claim them. During that time the baby is in a home that is licensed for foster care. If the mother does not reclaim her child then parental rights are terminated on and the child can be adopted. In the time that our city has had the "Baby Moses" law in effect only one child has been reclaimed. Another example would be if our caseworker knew of some children who had been in foster care for 12 months and the parents were not trying to get their children back. It looks pretty good that there will be termination in 6 months but they can't guarantee that. Another good example would be if a mother had had more than one termination in the past with previous children and now she has another baby in foster care. The chances are pretty good that she won't get this baby back either.

So there you have it. Clear as mud, right?

Next Step

2010-08-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

We finished the PRIDE class and have submitted all of the paperwork. The next thing we will be waiting for is the referral forms to come back, the background checks from Colorado and Maryland to come back, and the appointments next week to get the TB tests done. In the meantime we might fill our time with some chicken pox. You never know...

After all of the above things have cleared then we'll have the homestudy, fire & health inspections, and the FBI fingerprinting and then we'll be licensed! As of right now we have decided to go ahead and do the dual licensing for foster care and adoption. While we plan on doing a matched adoption we found out that there are times that a legal risk may make sense. We have to be licensed for foster care in order to do a legal risk adoption.

Try as I might, I can't seem to stay off of the TARE website! I was a little sad today when I discovered that a sibling group that I had been planning to ask about is no longer listed. They were there last week, but they are gone now. I am sad for me, but I am happy that this means that they have a forever family :-)

In other news we found out that we can't post pictures of the kids until they are 100% legally ours. I was completely disappointed about that since I would have wanted to put pictures up here as soon as I found out who the kids are! But if you know me personally then I can email the pictures to you. I just can't post them here or on FB. Politics....

Congratulations!!!

2010-06-30T14:04:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to my friends! I have two friends that are both with their children right now in their birth countries. The Tossells have adopted a little boy from Russia and will be bringing him home in about a week and a half!

The Cambrons have adopted a brother and sister in Ethiopia. Their dad is with them right now and will be bringing them home soon, although I'm not sure exactly when.

Books

2010-06-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

As with most things in my life I tend to do a lot of research. Adoption is no different. I have spent countless hours talking with people whose lives have been touched by adoption. I've read books, online articles, blogs, etc. The most recent book I have purchased is Brothers and Sisters in Adoption. Ryan and I will read it together starting next week. I've glanced at it a bit and it does look really good.

What are your favorite books about adoption? What was the most helpful?

Another Adoption Song

2010-06-23T13:02:00.000-05:00

This one is more about a birth mom who gave up her son at birth. I dare you not to cry. (OK, I dare the mothers out there not to cry)

Here's the story behind the song.

All I Really Want

2010-06-16T15:40:00.000-05:00

Ever have those moments where you realize that not everyone knows about your favorite song? Recently I learned that not everyone has heard of this song. Enjoy!

Scrapbooking

2010-06-15T09:35:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know that I am an avid scrapbooker. It's a little crazy sometimes...but I try to catch important moments on camera and then put those into books. Part of it is just for the fun of being able to look back through pictures, but I also like to think that I am keeping a journal of God's faithfulness to us in good times and bad times. All of my children have a 0-12 month album in which I have written a Bible verse on each page in hopes that those will encourage, challenge, and strengthen them in days to come. After that they have a birthday album where I have pictures of their birthdays, along with stats from that year. Other than that I do family albums where I keep track of all of the other pictures.

Right now I am trying to figure out the best way to record our adoption journey. I can do some pictures, but should I just do one adoption album? I could play with some digital scrapbooks so I could assemble the book once and have one printed for each child. I'm just looking for ideas. Would a "first year with us" album be appropriate? I know that the kids will have some type of scrapbook that the foster families keep for them. Maybe I'll figure out how to integrate those into scrapbooks.

Thank you all for your feedback from my last post :-)

Feedback

2010-06-14T09:53:00.001-05:00

Until we announced our decision I didn't realize how much I was hoping for a good reaction from our friends and family. Now, you may be thinking that this is pretty obvious, but I guess I didn't realize how the negative or lack-of feedback would effect me. I tend to not let others bother me so I guess I assumed that it didn't matter what others thought.

I was wrong.

When I mentioned this to a friend that is hoping to adopt in the next few years she said that announcing an adoption is like announcing a pregnancy! We want people to be happy for us! We want them to share in our excitement! People that are anticipating adoption are emotionally pregnant!

For the ones that gave us negative feedback, I'm aware of what their concerns are and why they aren't happy for us. All I can pray is that time will help them embrace this and that our actions and words will relieve their concerns.

Maybe I'm being over-sensitive with the non-feedback. It's just that there were certain places that I got NOTHING. Silence. It certainly surprised me. I guess I would rather negative than nothing. I don't mind answering questions. If you have a question or concern, please ask!

The Adventure Begins

2010-06-11T11:15:00.000-05:00

I should probably add the word "Officially" into my title. Like I mentioned before, we have been considering adoption even before we were married. For us, it's something that we have always planned on doing. It was just never the right time. So for the past 8 years or so I have been researching, reading and asking questions. Anytime I come across a family that has adopted I asked questions. In the last year or so I have started joining adoption blogs and message boards so I could gain some insight. I talked to people that adopted infants from private adoptions, people who did international adoptions, and people that have adopted from foster care.

Private infant adoption sounds wonderful because the transition period is easy! The baby eats, sleeps and poops! Each child will still need to come to grips with their adoption at some point and in their own way. The downside for this one for us is that most birth mothers would not choose a family of four that has no infertility problems. Also, because we would be dealing with private agencies the cost can be rather high.

International adoption has always appealed to me. When I was in high school I wanted to adopt a little girl from Romania. By the time I was married and started looking into it more Romania had closed their adoption program. From what I have found, most countries will not allow us to adopt from their overfilled orphanages because we already have four children. Their are a few countries in Africa that would allow us to do adopt. We may still consider this at some point in the future.

We have chosen to adopt from foster care. Please don't confuse this with foster-adopt. We will be matched with our children before they come into our home and so the time period from when they enter our home until we go to court will be less than a year. These are children who are wards of the state and are waiting to be adopted. Many people choose to foster-adopt, but we have decided that it will be important for us to know from the beginning that those children really are ours :-) Also, by going about it this way it will enable us to homeschool all of our children instead of sending some off to public or private school. I think that this will be one thing that will greatly help our bonding as a family.

Once we decided on foster care started looking for agencies. We narrowed it down to two and met with both of them. We decided to go with the second agency that we met with. We filled out the application and our training will start in late July. I set up a baby-sitting/piano lesson swap so our kids will have friends to play with while we spend the total of 24 hours in training. After that we have the dreaded home study! While I am nervous about it I also realized that I've never met someone that failed a home study. So what's to worry about?

Anyway, I just thought I'd give you a peek into how our journey began. Now that you're up-to-date I'll be filling you in as we go along!

Announcement!

2010-06-11T10:17:00.000-05:00

I figured that it was high time that I put this blog to use again. Due to many life changes (i.e. hubby exiting the military) I thought about just starting a new blog. But...I couldn't find any open domain names that I liked! It is my personal opinion that if you started a blog back in 2007 and only posted once that blogspot should remove your blog from their system. But that's just me...

So, the URL is incorrect but I changed the title to make it all better :-)

Before I get into my new blog name, I thought I should update you with the last appointment that Tyler had before we moved. He had a 5 hour appointment with a Pediatric Neuro-Psychologist. After all of the testing, evaluating, and filling out of many forms they have determined that Tyler has a speech and language delay. Basically, it's what we already knew. The frustration was that the appointment didn't tell us anything new. The good thing is that the appointment didn't tell us anything new. What I mean is that there isn't some extra random piece of the puzzle that we need to account for. So, we will continue to homeschool and work with Tyler to help him develop to the best of HIS abilities.

Now, on to our announcement! To make it easier, I'll just paste the email that I sent to a few people:

We have always wanted to adopt. Prior till now it was not the right time or place. We believe that we are now at the time and place to go forward with adoption. We are currently working with an agency in our state to adopt a sibling group from the foster care system.

While we haven't been matched with our children yet, we have stated that we want the oldest of the sibling group to be younger than Tyler. We hope to go for a matched adoption, but we may end up with a legal-risk adoption, which simply means that the parental rights haven't been terminated yet. We will complete our paperwork and training at the beginning of August so we should be approved by the end of October. From that point it is just a matter of time until our case worker finds the right kids for us.

We welcome any questions that you may have for us.....I'm sure you have many :-) Please know that we have been in prayer about this and have been looking/researching for many years. This is not a decision that we have taken lightly or that is being led by emotions. We know that this is not an easy road or something that can be done halfheartedly. Our commitment to our children will be the same across the board, though we know that this will require a lot more work from us, especially in the beginning.

We pray that you will see these children as part of our family as much as Tyler, Andrew, Melia and Eliana are. We ask for your love, prayer and support.

Developmental Pediatrician

2009-11-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

Today we had Tyler undergo an evaluation with a Developmental Pediatrician. This was the appointment that we wanted initially, but ended up with a Pediatric Psychologist instead. Both Ryan and I were very amazed at how much time this doctor spent with Tyler vs. the psychologist. The psychologist asked Tyler all of one question, but spent the other hour and a half talking to us. Don't get me wrong. Asking the parents about the history of the child can be very important. But without interacting with the child you can miss a lot.

Basically the Developmental Pediatrician agreed that, while there might be a slight bit of A-Typical behaviors with Tyler (i.e. scripting movies), that overall we are dealing with a speech and language piece of the puzzle. This was encouraging to hear because it validated what I had determined myself. She didn't have any real suggestions for continued care; just keep doing what we're doing. I'm not sure what we'll do when Ryan separates from the AF since I'm pretty sure that not all insurance companies will pay for speech therapy. Right now my goal is to see what his teacher is doing and work to copy that at home.

That's all for now since I'm really tired and would like to go to sleep. Is it bedtime yet?

DSM-IV

2009-10-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

In preparation for Tyler's evaluation with a developmental pediatrician I looked up the all-knowing, always confusing, ever elusive DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version 4). This is what caught us off-guard the most at his appointment with the pediatric psychologist and probably frustrated us the most. The psychologist didn't interact with Tyler at all but instead asked us some questions and went through a diagnostic check-list in the DSM-IV. On the way home I rethought some of my answers and wondered if I had answered correctly. I had no way of knowing....until now. I found the DSM-IV online!

After looking over the checklist I came up with 3 things that fit Tyler. You need at least 6 (out of 12) to qualify for any form of PDD. So now I am even more anxious for this second opinion!

Anyone There???

2009-10-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

It's been 3 months since my last update on Tyler. We have kept him on milk and finished the supplement program. For a while everything seemed good. His ST came back from maternity leave and was encouraged by his progress. Then, about mid-September he started to regress. More random statements. More SI behaviors. More things that I can't explain. I was discouraged, to say the least.

We discussed this with his ST and she said that she has seen at least 2-3 kids in her care get a lot of benefits from going gluten free. She also said that if we change anything to be sure that we DON'T tell her.

Last week I emailed Dianne Craft to see if she had any suggestions. She recommended putting him back on the program along with doing a six week trial gluten free diet. I had already considered this so....here we go. We have a lot of family coming in town for the next 3 weeks, so during that time he'll be taking vitamins and be back to casein free. After that he'll go gluten free.

Week 9

2009-07-26T11:32:00.000-05:00

We are holding steady with the vitamins and supplements. We also have added milk back into Tyler diet this past week. This is where I'm confused.

I can't say that I've seen any concentration differences with Tyler this last week. However, I have been thinking about trying dairy free again in a few months when I am working with him every day doing school work. Perhaps even have Ryan sneak him some milk after 6 weeks so I don't know to be looking for it. Where the confusion comes in is with any physical symptoms. Many children on GFCF diets have a physical reaction to dairy. So if they get some they'll complain that their stomach hurts. In trying to find out if Tyler was having any of these things going on this week I asked him if his stomach hurt. He said no.

However, a couple of times over the last few days he has said that something with milk hurts his stomach. Just now he didn't want to eat his BBQ Beef sandwich (which he usually likes) because he said the cheese hurt his tummy. Now, I'm not entirely convinced that this is not the power of suggestion, so I am trying to figure out how seriously to take him. Any thoughts? He wanted a cookie after lunch but when we told him that they had milk in them (I used real butter this time) he opted not to have cookie. He started eating his cheese so he could get his cookie then decided that he would rather not have a cookie at all.

Week 8

2009-07-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

Today marks the final week of adding something new into Tyler's diet. This week we are adding Pycnogenol into his daily vitamins. Specifically, Maritime Plus. The goal of this product is to increase focus and concentation. Tyler has been doing OK in this area, but then again I haven't been doing school with him lately to see if he's been any better lately. His problem is that, since he can't process everything you're saying, he tends to tune you out. It takes a great deal of concentration on his part just to focus and process what you're telling him. After the end of this week we just keep giving him everything that he has been taking for another month.

This past week was Bible School, and the report from his teacher is that he did great! I was with a younger class so I only observed him during the group singing time. He really love the songs and all of the motions that went with them.

Last night and today I have added some regular milk back into his diet. The only thing that I've seen so far that might be connected is that he was in a bad mood at church today. His bad moods are difficult to deal with, and overall he hasn't had as many lately. But that could be a coincidence and more directly tied to the fact that we changed the routine slightly. He has a notebook that he takes to church and he is allowed to draw pictures in it (usually of pirates). Last week we let him draw pictures for a while, then we gave him a piece of paper with the words "God" and "Jesus" written on it. Actually, I held the paper and it was his job to tell me if the pastor said either of those words. He did pretty well last week. We tried again this week, but we started with that instead of letting him draw first. He was OK at first, but unfortunately "God" and "Jesus" were not two key words for today's sermon so he lost interest after a while and wanted to draw. When I insisted that he pay attention he got frustrated with me and was in a bad mood for about the next hour. Next week I'll be sure to ask the pastor ahead of time for words that will keep him busy making tally marks.

Here's a picture of him during the VBS closing program (he's in the lime green shirt)

Week 7

2009-07-12T17:28:00.000-05:00

This week we're adding in lecithin to Tyler's diet for the purpose of calming the nervous system. After this we only have 1 week left of adding things, then we will hold steady for another month with everything that he has. After this week I do plan on adding some milk back in to see what happens.

From Dianne Craft's website on lecithin:

There is another important fatty acid, lecithin, that helps the body digest and utilize the fats and oils that are so important to efficient brain and nerve function. Perhaps the greatest recent discovery is the use of lecithin to activate a sluggish mind, and improve memory. It accomplishes this by providing the body with the ingredients necessary to produce the vital neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. This is the neurotransmitter that is responsible for memory storage and retrieval, and the effectiveness of nerve signals in many areas of the brain.

One of the most exciting areas in which I have seen lecithin make noticeable differences is in the improvement of auditory processing function in children. I have received many reports from speech pathologists and parents telling of greatly improved auditory processing (hearing and remembering) in children who take this natural soybean product. My experience is that when lecithin is taken alone, it is very helpful, but when taken along with the essential fatty acids (fish oil, flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil) and Vitamin E, it produces marked results. Because of its fat emulsifying properties it helps the child's body digest the extra oils, thereby making use of them properly. Many children who have suffered with numerous ear infections benefit from the regular use of lecithin. The "cilia of the ear," (the tiny hair-like parts of the ear) are frequently damaged when many ear infections have occurred. It is known that the highest concentration of Vitamin A in the whole body is in the "cilia" of the ear. Lecithin increases the body's absorption of this vital Vitamin A dramatically. Thus it is very healing to the areas in the ear structure and brain that affect efficient auditory processing function. In the MIT study referred to earlier, in testing adult subjects in learning and memory tasks, it was found that the subjects taking lecithin daily showed "improvement of thinking and intelligence." Since we know that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for auditory storage, and we often refer to it as the "thinking hemisphere," we can see how any substance that improves auditory processing would also affect the thinking ability of the brain. The MIT study also referred to substantial improvement in the area of speech. Again, this is mainly a left-brain function. This is a very exciting application of research, since auditory processing problems are historically difficult and lengthy to treat. Dr. Levinson, a neurologist from New York, in his book Total Concentration, states that he frequently uses lecithin to help both attention and learning in his young patients.

She also has some information about lecithin and how it relates to hyperactivity. You can read the whole article here.

Through Good Times and Bad Times

2009-07-09T15:31:00.000-05:00

Recently I've posted quite a few positive things about Tyler. Currently I'm being reminded that we still have a long way to go. While his speech and other things seem to be progressing faster than they were before, there are still a few other areas that haven't seem to changed at all. For example, just now he got very upset that the buckets that were purchased for the beach were being used outside. They are for the sand. Not dirt. No matter what I said could convince him that it was OK. I finally sent him to his room to calm down. It's the type of being upset that, to most people, would sound like the child just needs some more sleep. Or something. It's as though he is incapable of getting a grip. Like the world is overwhelming. Anytime I've felt like this it usually means that I need to start taking my supplements again to get everything to even out. I just don't know how to help him sometimes....

Week 6

2009-07-06T09:26:00.001-05:00

I think that I mentioned before that in years past, Tyler would NOT watch the fireworks and he would block everything out by closing his eyes and burying his face in my shoulder. The last show we went to included us having to leave as quickly as possible and Tyler was very nervous about everything else that night.

All this past week Tyler was very excited about going to the fireworks show. We got to the field around 7:00 so we had to wait for about 2 1/2 hours for the show to start. Even though we knew what time it was the show still started without warning, so it did surprise Tyler a bit at first. This is a picture of Tyler at the beginning of the show:

After a few minutes we pulled out the ear protection and he watched for a while that way. During one of the slower moments his daddy convinced him to pull of the ear protection since it wasn't that loud. Here is a picture of how Tyler enjoyed at least half of the show:

After a bit Ryan told Tyler that the finale was coming up and that he could put the ear protection on if he wanted to. He did and he enjoyed every minute of it! When it was over he said, "I LOVE fireworks!" Meanwhile, I think I cried through half of the show!

This week Tyler adds high amounts of fish oil to his daily vitamin intake. The last time that he was taking fish oil we could see several changed in him, but this is in a much high dose so I'm optomistic.

The other thing that is happening this week is it ends our 6 week trial of being dairy free. However, Tyler will be in VBS all next week so I think I'll wait until that is over to put some dairy back in so I'll be able to monitor him better for changes.

1 in 100

2009-07-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

Recently, I read an article that estimates the autism rate in the US as 1 in 100. As always, this number is debated as it is different than the number the CDC has published. However, this got me thinking.

1 in 100. Wow. Does that seem high to anyone else? Why have the numbers grown so much? I have a few theories of my own, but nothing that I can prove. My theories include things like:

The qualifications for autism have widened so that they include children that would not have previously been included.
More people having their children "officially" diagnosed in order to benefit from the outpouring of programs available
Vaccine link
Food link
Environmental link

I won't go into each of these to explain my theory on them. I think that you may not find it interesting at all, or would just write me off as crazy. That's ok. I can handle it :-)

After I was thinking about 1 in 100 for a while something else struck me as odd. 1 in 100? Is that all? What I mean is this: I can name 10 children right off the top of my head that have some form of autism. These children belong to friends of mine. I did not meet them in some type of autism support group. These are just children that have crossed my path over the natural course of 7 years time. The 10 children that I can name doesn't even count all the children that I worked with in high school when I was in day cares and school age child care programs. However, I don't think that I would venture to say that I know 1000 children, even if I counted all of the child care kids. Not that I'm going to sit here and count them, but I'm pretty sure that I would fall short of 1000.

What do you think? Is 1 in 100 high or low?

Out of Sync?

2009-07-02T20:27:00.001-05:00

Tonight I picked up The Out-of-Sync Child and The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun from our local library. I was pretty proud of myself because I actually thought to get them from the library instead of buying them off of Amazon! Someone recommended these books to me a while back and they've been on my wish list ever since.

I started scanning through the books tonight and I must admit that I'm mixed between baffled and frustrated. This just doesn't seem like Tyler. Maybe he just has a few sensory integration (SI) things going on. He is simply not the typical SI child. Then again, maybe there isn't a "typical" non-typical child? I would really love to get The Mislabeled Child, but our county libraries don't carry that one. I just figured out how to request a book from other libraries in the state, so we'll see how long it takes to get it in!

In the good news I did the yeast test with Tyler and it came out good! I'm going to keep testing him for the next couple of days, but for now it looks like I don't have to worry about the low carb/low sugar diet. This is a big relief on one hand, but it also means that the checklist for yeast overgrowth probably doesn't apply to him. So I suppose that it means one more thing that we know it isn't.....on to the next!

Week 5

2009-06-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

Nothing huge to report this week. Tyler remains very dilligent to talk about what things have milk and what he can and can't have. Last week we also had son #2 tested for Celiacs disease. While I hope that it comes back negative I have no idea how to explain some of his physical differences otherwise.

This week add 100mg of B complex in with everything else. Many parents have reported great improvements with their children when they are on high doses of B vitamins. One reason why this could be true is because B vitamins help build the serotonin in the brain.

My mom found an old home movie this past week. As she was watching she was very surprised to see that one of my brothers (a different one than I usually think of in regards to Tyler) had very similar mannerisms to Tyler. I'm anxious to see it now but unfortunately it's on an old tape so we're not quite sure how to get if off to preserve it before the tape self-destructs even more.

I'm anxious to see how everything goes this weekend with the fireworks show! In years past Tyler couldn't handle the noise so he hid his face to block it all out. I'm going to have the ear protection with us but I'm really hoping that I don't have to pull it out. Hopefully I'll remember to get some pictures to show you all how it goes!

Dining Out

2009-06-23T20:11:00.000-05:00

Today is DH's birthday so we celebrated by experiencing our first dining out experience with food challenges! We went to Longhorn Steakhouse, which has a gluten free menu, but other than that did not list any other allergens.

I let the waiter know right off the bat that we would be difficult people when he brought the bread and I asked if it had milk in it. He was very nice and even brought me the label off the box so that I could be sure. He also checked with the manager about the chicken tenders (they had breaded and grilled on the kids menu). Tyler ended up with a hamburger without a bun (he wasn't sure and couldn't find out) and fries. The meal also came with a couple slices of an orange. When Tyler saw that he immediately asked, "Does orange have milk in it?" I smiled and told him no. I heard the waiter chuckle a bit, so I don't think he was too put out by all the extra work we were putting through. We did give him a bit extra on tip since he really was quite helpful :-) Overall, I was glad that we were at a place like Longhorn Steakhouse instead of Applebees since I didn't think that those servers would have as much time or patience to answer all of my questions!

After that we came home and had a cookie cake and ice cream!

Week 4

2009-06-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

There have DEFINITELY been changes in Tyler. His conversations have improved by leaps and bounds, although I know that we are still just getting a tip of the ice burg. Tonight he said something that made me want to a) Leap for joy, b) Laugh at him (it was funny!), c) Cry, d) All of the above.

This week we'll add Mineral Rich by Maximum Living. I've been anticipating this one since this one tends to help with several different SI behaviors. Dianne Craft says, "Mineral Rich helps tremendously for children with 'SI' symptoms, Sensory Processing problems (loud noises bother them, transitions are hard, picky eater, tags bother them, chewing on clothes, socks have to be just right, etc)." This supplement is high in magnesium, which is nature's tranquilizer. It should also help with his constipation problem.

I'm also encouraged that he is understanding that he can't have milk. Tonight we were talking about my husband's upcoming birthday. Tyler asked if ice cream has milk in it! I told him that this was a very good question, and that while most ice cream does have milk, I had bought some ice cream with no milk just for him. We then went on to have a conversation (two-sided conversation!!!) about what to do if someone offers him food and what he needs to say to be sure that it's OK to eat! This time last year this type of conversation would NOT have been happening. I might have tried to tell him such things, but it would have been far from a two-sided conversation.

Week 3

2009-06-14T19:43:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow marks the beginning of week 3. So far I can tell that there has been a change in Tyler...I just can't put my finger on it. I was talking to DH about it today and we came to the conclusion that Tyler is communicating more about things that are more than just "nonsense" talking. What I mean is that his usual mode of communication involves things like, "Mommy, green light means go, red light means stop", or "Lady (our dog) is black. She's a girl". Those kinds of things. But in the last week or so it does seem like he has been having more meaningful conversations. Like I mentioned before, I think it is harder for me to pick up on the changes right now because of the 2 extra boys that I'm watching during the week. I'm trying to come up with ways to spend more time with him so I can observe him more.

This week we are reducing carbs and sugar. I also bought an acidophiles that I know was transported refrigerated, so we'll see if that makes a difference from what we were giving to him.

As far as the dairy goes, I found out that Tyler does like Almond Milk much better than Rice Milk. He was quite excited today when I let him get the Chocolate Almond Milk. I also got some ice cream that he can have next week for DH's birthday party. Oops....did I say that we are reducing sugar?

Week 2

2009-06-08T09:10:00.000-05:00

This week Tyler is taking acidophiles and grapefruit see extract 3 times a day. He was sick over the weekend but seems to be doing better now. We're out of Rice Milk so we'll see how he does with the Almond Milk.

Next week we will be reducing carbs so this week I get to brainstorm on meals. I have found that lunches for everyone seem to be the most difficult. Cutting out mac & cheese and all the cream soups really cut back on our lunch menu! I've been considering making mac & cheese for the other kids and just giving Tyler something different. For the most part I've been trying to make the change without making a big deal about it. But maybe for my sanity I need to do something different. What do you think?

Fast Food

2009-06-06T13:25:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share a blog that I found this week! I was looking for information on fast food items that have casein in them and I found this! I has been very helpful in looking at what things Tyler can and can't have. One thing she doesn't mention is that if you are only casein free you can opt to keep the cheese off on many items. But it was nice to know that all the chicken nuggets out there contain casein in their breading. I also found the ingredient list for all of Taco Bell's items. Since we can order things without the cheese this may be the easiest place to eat at, especially when we go gluten free too!

Pizza Night

2009-06-06T08:08:00.001-05:00

Pizza night was a success! I made a casein free crust, then pulled off a little from the main pizza to make a personal pizza for Tyler. I was pretty skeptical of the Vegan Gourmet cheese, but hubby said it did taste like mozzarella. We cooked Tyler's pizza in the toaster oven so we could keep an eye on it.

I had to switch it to broil to melt the cheese, but it did melt!

After a couple of bites I asked Tyler if he liked it and he said yes! He ate the whole pizza, so I assuming that he did!

Day 5

2009-06-05T12:49:00.000-05:00

Tonight I get to try making pizza with Vegan Gourmet cheese. I'll be sure to add extra toppings so it may not be too bad. The cheese is so expensive that I'll only be making one for Tyler, then I'll do a regular pizza for the rest of us.

This week has been a bit challenging. The casein free meals haven't been that difficult, but I'm having a hard time knowing if anything is helping. I'm watching 2 extra boys this summer so the added craziness means that I'm not spending as much time with Tyler (or the others) as I would like. I'm hoping that I'll be able to spend some time with the kids tomorrow and that I will (hopefully) see something that has changed. We'll see. Some people don't see the difference by removing casein until it gets added back into the diet.

I have been wondering something though. For those of you that have a child on a special diet, how do you handle visiting family/friends? How about sending your child to something like VBS where they get snacks?

New Plan: Day 2

2009-06-02T07:14:00.000-05:00

We made it through the first day! Last night I did our "big" shopping trip and it took a bit longer than normal since I was reading labels and such. I did manage to find a cheaper butter than I had found at the organic store, but the commissary still didn't have any Vegan cheese. They had Veggie Slices, but those still have casein in them. I did come home in time to catch hubby giving Tyler a cookie that had milk in it, but since it had been promised for cleaning his room I let it slide. I figured that since we were on the first day it probably wouldn't make that big of a difference.

Tyler hasn't complained about having to use rice milk on his cereal, but he didn't care for it this morning when I gave him a little to take with his acidophiles. I don't know if he'll get use to the flavor or if he just won't care to drink it straight. I also bought almond milk the other day so we'll see if he favors one over the other. The commissary does have rice milk for about $.30 cheaper than the organic store, so if he doesn't care for either one then I'll just buy the rice milk at the commissary. I might try soy but I'm a little hesitant of it. I've read a few things about soy that makes me shy away from using it in large quantities but now I don't remember what it was exactly that the article said. Does anyone know?

New Plan: Day 1

2009-06-01T07:35:00.000-05:00

My goal is to record at least once a week with what we're doing and any progress that I see. Today is simple. This week he'll take 3 acidophiles capsules a day and he is going casein free. I went to an organic store yesterday and found some milk, butter and cheese for him. I won't let him use a lot of the cheese since it was quite pricey, but I'm hoping to at least be able to make him a personal pizza every week on pizza night. Today's menu is:

Breakfast-Oatmeal w/ Rice Milk
Snack-Applesauce
Lunch-PB&J (I made casein free bread last week)
Dinner-Sausage and Rice Casserole

Experiment

2009-05-21T19:20:00.000-05:00

Since we will be starting a new path with Tyler in June we had decided to take him off the supplements/vitamins that the chiropractor had put him on so that his body would be in it's natural state at the beginning of the program. He hasn't taken his vitamins for about a week. Wednesday night he had a MAJOR meltdown. One that left me with my eyes wide open trying to figure out what happened. It happened again twice yesterday. These thing used to happen frequently but had disappeared in the last 6-7 months. I remember back in October telling the chiropractor that Tyler had started to have a meltdown but he was able to be reasoned with rather quickly. At the time I attributed it to the changes we had made but part of me always wondered if I was looking for things to be different. After the last couple of days I can say with certainty that something that we were doing was helping. After the second meltdown last night I had him take a B-6 and an Omega-3. We'll see how he does today...

Success!

2009-05-16T16:41:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Tyler. Tyler was a seemingly normal developing child. The only thing his mom noticed was that he had very sensitive hearing. When he was 3 he went to an air show where he coped with the very loud noise by going to sleep to shut it all out.

After that air show Tyler would run for cover anytime he heard an airplane. Since he lived next to a flight line you can imagine the challenge. He also couldn't stand firework shows and would block them out by closing his eyes and burying his face in his mom's shoulder. He wouldn't cover his ears...just his eyes.

When he was 5 his parents decided to skip the big show and instead do some little things at home. They did go to a festival in the afternoon where someone decided to shoot the canon. The family had to leave immediately due to Tyler's anxiety level. That evening his dad pulled out the ear protection for Tyler while the family enjoyed some small, but loud exploding things. Tyler loved it.

Now Tyler is 6. His mom, wanting to beat the public crowds, went to a nearby AFB on the DOD day for the USAF Thunderbird show. This time she went armed with ear protection. The first time Tyler covered his ears due to the noise she brought them out and Tyler immediately put them on.
After a while Tyler was having a great time! When it got really loud he did tend to put his hands up too, but this may have been more of a habit than anything else. He would also take off the headset when the planes were not flying.
At one point he was so involved at watching (with some cool binoculars from our friends) that he didn't even seem to notice the noise! This picture was taken while planes were flying and he was between two speakers that caused the announcer to be jumbled noise instead on intelligible words.
Most people loved the show that day. Tyler's mom was beaming with the progress that her son has made.

New Plan

2009-05-12T08:55:00.000-05:00

Recently it seems like Tyler has plateaued in his development. He had been steadily moving forward, but lately it has stopped and even seemed to go backwards a bit. I've even seen a few extra SI things happening. Things that I never noticed before now. I've been wondering lately if chiropractic care has done all that's it's going to do for the moment. I've also been somewhat questioning myself in going to a chiropractor who is not used to working with kids like Tyler. Maybe we should have tried to find someone who specializes in this kind of thing. Our chiropractor is great, but I tend to think that he has not been sure how to proceed at times and is too busy to spend a great deal of time searching it out.

About a month ago I had the opportunity to hear Dianne Craft speak on The Struggling Learner. Dianne covers many different types of learners on many different sides of the learning scale. She focuses on the smart kids who have to work extra hard. She focuses quite a bit on nutrition, but also goes beyond the basics and looks into our body chemistry. She has found that nearly all the kids she sees have, at one point in their lives, had large amounts of antibiotics. (insert her disclaimer that antibiotics have saved many lives, but we need to be aware of what it can do to the gut) She has laid out a 3 month program that kills yeast overgrowth, replaces it with good bacteria, then adds in large amounts of fish oil to help the brain. I learned that 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut. Lack of serotonin makes it very difficult for children to concentrate and relax. Tyler has many of the physical symptoms of low fatty acids. Everything that Dianne made sense and seemed to tie everything together that I've been reading and hearing for the past 2 years.

Here's the thing. When the psychologist evaluated Tyler there were many things that came out that seemed to be more genetics than anything else. At least that's the way I saw it, but to her it just tied everything together. Here's what I believe. Tyler takes after his dad and his uncle (my brother) in many things. Very organized. Sensitive hearing. Prefers to play alone. Very detailed oriented. None of these strike me as anything except things that I've seen all of my life. However, I also believe that there is something else that plugging into these traits and making it look like autism. So, in theory, remove that something and we'll have a child that is a mix of two boys in one.

Maybe I'm just in denial. It's possible. Yet, I found a blog the other day that is entitled, "Hoping, not Coping". That's how I see it. Finding the answer.

I've also read a bit on the Gluten Free/Casein Free diet and how that has helped many children. I have one friend that saw dramatic improvements in her son after putting him on this diet. I have another friend that saw the diet help one of her children and not do a thing for the other. I have hesitated about GF/CF because it overwhelms me. I had heard that it is best to only start one at a time that way you know which one is helping.

Having said all of this is the background for the next three months of our lives. We will be placing Tyler on a casein free diet in conjunction with following Dianne Craft's plan to rid his body of excess yeast while adding in fatty acid. After three months of that we'll evaluate on whether or not we want to add gluten free into his life. It takes the body 6 weeks to rid itself of casein but 6 months to rid itself of gluten. Taking out gluten seems like such a daunting task that I'm glad to have a few months to get ready for it!

Maybe it will help. Maybe it won't. But in the meantime I don't think that we'll be losing anything. If nothing else we'll have more answers and know what didn't work. Hopefully we'll see improvement and know what did work.

Just for Fun

2009-04-28T15:18:00.000-05:00

My New Hobby

2009-03-17T19:33:00.000-05:00

I have mixed feelings about labels. I mean, they can be helpful, right? If I have a medical condition then the correct label/diagnosis is vital to my treatment and recovery. The problem comes in when labels are used as crutches instead of stepping stones. If I excuse an unacceptable behavior because of a label then I am doing a disservice to everyone. If, instead, I use that label to aid and define my research and I am able to find the proper treatment, then I have helped all of those involved.

Some people were against me going to the appointment last week. In their minds, I am doing fine raising my son, so all a label is going to do is serve as a crutch instead of a help. However, I have learned a lot from my aunt who has 4 children with full blown cases of Fragile X. My aunt knows how to push her kids to reach their potential and yet not expect more than what they are capable of doing. Even before our appointment last week this was the approach that I took with Tyler. My aunt has done this through knowledge of her children along with a lot of knowledge of FX.

One of my goals with the appointment last week was to figure out what path to take in helping Tyler reach his potential. So this past week I have found that I have a new hobby: researching Autism and how it is effecting my son. Autism is growing at alarming rates for reasons that are debated in many circles. I believe that it is a mixture of things. I don't believe that vaccines are the lone cause since I know more than one family with a child with autism that has never had a vaccine. However, I do believe that the vaccines can cause, or at the very least, tip the scale in many kids. I have another friend whose son still has the live measles virus living in his body and it is directly effecting his brain. This can obviously only be linked to his MMR vaccine.

In some of my research during the last week I was directed to the DAN! website (Defeat Autism Now!). In many ways this website has given me hope. Although it is a long road ahead no matter what path we choose, this path may lead to answers. Are there toxins in Tyler's body? Can they be flushed out? Is he sensitive to certain things in the environment? Is he sensitive or allergic to any type of food?

The Autism Spectrum is so broad and so wide that there is no easy way to go. Each child is different in what effects them, good or bad. In one family a gluten free/casein free diet did amazing things for one child, but it didn't do a thing for the other child. I'll admit right now that I would like it if that diet does nothing for Tyler since I don't want to have to go to that extreme. But if it helps then I cannot deny the benefits from him.

We leave for a trip home in a week and a half so I won't be trying anything until we get back. After we get back I'll be slowing trying some different diets and supplements to see if anything helps. I plan on getting guidance from our chiropractor or another doctor listed on the DAN! website.

For most of Tyler's life I have felt that if I just had the right keys then I could unlock his brain. Now I pray that I can just find the right key (or combination of many keys).

Diagnosis

2009-03-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

I doubt that anyone is still here to read my blog, but I thought that I would update anyway. I almost deleted the blog, but now I think I have something to talk about.

Last Tuesday my oldest son (6) was diagnosed with PDD. Before you say it, yes, I know that this is not technically a diagnosis. In about a week and a half we'll be getting the papers from the helpful (ahem) doctor that we met with last week. My guess is that he'll either be diagnosed with "High-Functioning Autism" or "PDD-NOS".

Some of you may be wondering what has taken us so long to get a diagnosis. Many kids have a diagnosis and get early intervention before age two. Perhaps it was denial on my part. Most everything that my son did I attributed to family genetics. Late talker? I didn't talk until I was three. Sensitive hearing? My brother (22) still has sensitive hearing. Likes things in his specific order? He's the oldest child, therefore Type A. Lack of social skills? We hung around people with very verbal children that didn't like to play with DS because he didn't talk. So he just played by himself. At one point we determined that his lack of comprehension had much more to do with our parenting than him. So we tightened up and things did improve a bit. For example, if I had told him to do something, he would normally act as though he hadn't heard me. But if I said, "Go get your shoes, yes ma'am?" then he would say "Yes ma'am" and then go get his shoes.

Early on I did look at autism as a possibility, but he only fit the communication category, so I decided that it couldn't be autism. I mean, he didn't rock or do other self-stimulating activities, his motor skills were right on, and at age two he could put together a fairly complex wooden puzzle of the US.

So we waited

About this time last year I decided that something really wasn't right. So the first thing I did was get the doctor to order the blood test for Fragile X. Fragile X runs in my family so I wanted to rule that out. His repeats came back in the normal range. After that we went to the local public school to get an IEP done for him. This was a bit hard for me since I've always been determined to homeschool my kids. But our insurance wouldn't cover private speech therapy if we didn't have an IEP on file. So we did the IEP then enrolled him in the preschool program where he attended for 4 days a week but only got group ST once a week. As soon as our insurance approved it we pulled him out and put him in private ST. During the IEP they determined that the only service that he qualified for was speech, but his speech pathologist recommended that he be evaluated for OT since he had a hard time crossing the midline.

At this point we moved over 1600 miles and had to start all over again with the school system and a new insurance region. Once everything finally went through he was approved for ST twice a week and OT twice a month. At this point I also started taking him to the chiropractor 1-2 times a week. The chiropractor put him on Tuna Omega-3 along with some other supplements. I saw immediate improvement in his concentration after starting the Omega-3. After several months of going to the chiropractor he started being dry at night! I was so thrilled! This problem runs in my family so I was never concerned about it, but to stop at age 6 was clear that it was directly connected to chiropractic care.

All this time I was working with the assumption that he had Auditory Processing Disorder. In my mind, it seemed to fit. His speech teacher even recommended that he be evaluated for it. So we tried to get that referral put in, but since our PCM didn't know how to put the referral in she referred us to a Developmental Pediatrician. We live in a fairly large military area yet there is only one DP in the area. So we went to a Pedatric Psycologist instead. Before the appointment I was terrified because I knew what the doctor was going to say. I was prepared to diagree with her.

Sure enough, we walked out of there with a PDD diagnosis. I was frustrated. DH was ticked. We kept it together and went home with a black cloud over our heads. Later DS had a ST appointment so DH took him to that. He told the therapist about the appointment and she, in a very nice way, said, "I figured as much". This is where DH started accepting that the diagnosis might be correct. I had already done the research and knew that this was a possibility. I was just not wanting to believe it.

This is long, so I'll continue later....

Update

2009-01-08T18:29:00.002-06:00

The CPSC released a clarification today on the law that is about to go into effect:

The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards.

The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties.

Read the whole press release here

Big Government

2009-01-08T09:49:00.000-06:00

I consider myself to be in the loop for many things. I read a lot and try to stay informed on some of the more major issues that are going on in Washington. I did, however, miss this one until now:

A new government regulation scheduled to take effect next month has thousands of retailers, thrift stores and small businesses worried they will be forced to permanently close their doors – and destroy their merchandise.

The law is expected to have such a devastating impact that Feb. 10 is now unofficially known as "National Bankruptcy Day."

Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, or HR 4040, a retroactive rule mandating that all items sold for use by children under 12 must be tested by an independent party for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable.

All untested items, regardless of lead content, are to be declared "banned hazardous products.'' The CPSC has already determined the law applies to every children's item on shelves, not just to items made beginning Feb. 10.

The regulations could force thousands of businesses – especially smaller ones that cannot afford the cost of lead testing – to throw away truckloads of children's clothing, books, toys, furniture and other children's items and even force them to close their doors.

What this means is that business like Goodwill, Children's Consignment Shops, SAHM who make children's products, and many other good business will all go out of business. Why? Because they cannot afford to have their items tested for lead. Why are we punishing Americans when we should be regulating what we get from China instead? I'm also sure that we can expect prices to go up, especially for the smaller businesses like Usborne Books and many of the homeschool resources that many of us use.

Read the whole article here

Something to smile about

2008-12-31T15:33:00.000-06:00

How much worse can it get? The answer is, unfortunately, quite a bit worse.
Beginning Jan. 20, a new administration and a new Congress take power. There is little reason to believe they will be making good choices for America, and there's plenty of evidence they will attack our most basic and cherished liberties.
Look for the economy to get even worse as it did from 1977 through 1980, when we suffered double-digit inflation and Americans had to get used to gas lines. Look for America to be attacked and bullied as it was in a similar period from 1977 through 1980, when the Soviets marched into Afghanistan and the Iranians took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
We won't have the same problems Democrats brought us in those days. We will have new ones. But they will translate into misery and humiliation. Mark my words.
So, again, why am I happy?
Well, that's the bad news. But today is not a day for bad news. Today is a day to look at the opportunities before us – to discover the silver lining in those foreboding dark clouds on the political horizon.
Here's the good news. There will be nobody else to blame for what transpires in the next two years but the Democrats, who, for the first time since 1993 and 1994, have a hammerlock of control on the levers of power.
Do you remember what happened in 1994? Do you recall what happened in 1980?
There is not only an opportunity for a revitalized Republican Party inspired by the ideals of Ronald Reagan and remade in his image, there is a near certainty such a party will be given new life in 2010 and again in 2012. All the GOP has to do is recognize that those Grand Old Principles really work and have plenty of appeal to the American public.

Read the whole article here

Reflections on a Financial Meltdown

2008-12-27T07:20:00.000-06:00

For the past couple of months the United States was been experiencing what we are told is an economic crisis. Indeed, stock markets are down considerably and the jobless rate is rising. Financial institutions are closing and the overall economy is slowing.

The mantra of the media and many politicians pins the Wall Street meltdown on "corporate greed." We hear this mess was spawned by de-regulation of the banking industry. And there is a cry for the federal government to step in to make everything better, from fixing failing banks to bailing ailing auto manufacturers to propping up debt-ridden cities and consumers.

While the blame game is in full gear, the average citizen is left in a fog to sort through the rhetoric. What to make of it all? What is the cause of our financial woes? And what is government's role in fixing it? A little worldview analysis helps clear away the fog to reveal the underlying problem and, therefore, the proper solution.

Read the whole article here

2008-12-20T10:43:00.000-06:00

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."

-Thomas Edison

A Few Quotes

2008-10-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the radio today and I heard a couple of good quotes. I thought you all might enjoy them :-)

"A gun in the hand is better than police on the phone"

"Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a drug dealer an unlicensed pharmacist"

Quick Note

2008-10-17T13:33:00.000-05:00

My sister's in town so I've been busy with her, but please take time to go visit The Granny's blog. It's worth it.

Make-Your-Own-Monday

2008-09-29T15:34:00.000-05:00

About every other week I make a batch of bread for my family. I thought I'd invite you along to watch :-)

First I gather all of the ingredients:

Don't forget the fresh wheat!

Then I put the wheat in my grinder. While that is grinding I melt the butter, heat the water, and get everything else ready

Mmmm....freshly ground flour!

Mix it all together in the Bosch mixer until it starts pulling away from the sides

Mix for 5 minutes

Divide into 5 equal portions. You could just wing it. I'm picky enough that I like to weigh it.

Use oil and shape into loaves

Place into a well greased pan

If I do it right then the bowl comes out clean!

Allow loaves to raise for 30 minutes

I freeze two portions for pizza dough later in the week

Ready for the oven!

Hot fresh bread!

I use an electric knife so I get nice, even slices

Ready to eat or for the freezer!

I started at 2:20 and pulled the bread out of the oven at 3:50. That's the beauty of the Bosch!

I've also used the dough to make hamburger buns, cinnamon rolls and cinnamon bread!

After Pictures

2008-09-26T20:36:00.000-05:00

Just ignore the bib hanging to dry on the window...

Now the real test is if I'm to maintain it!

Organization

2008-09-24T19:07:00.000-05:00

I have decided that I am going to start organizing my house. Seriously. Are you laughing? OK, I'll wait for you to stop.

Done yet?

Now?

Alright, over at Order out of Chaos she is cleaning up one area at a time. So I decided to join her. I will choose one area a week to really work on. Sound like Flylady? Yeah, it pretty much is that idea. Except that I get to choose what I work on. Because I'm bossy like that.

I think that this week I'll concentrate on my kitchen. Here are the pictures. I'll post the after on Saturday. Or maybe Monday.

Canadian Doctors Group Worried Palin Example Will Lower Down's Abortion Rate

2008-09-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

I have no words after reading this:

TORONTO, September 10, 2008 (LIfeSiteNews.com) - U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's loving and highly-publicized acceptance of her Down's syndrome child Trig has some Canadian doctors worried that her example may lead to mothers shunning abortion after diagnosis of Down's syndrome.

Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice-president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), told the Globe and Mail yesterday, "Palin's decision to keep her baby, knowing he would be born with the condition, may inadvertently influence other women who may lack the necessary emotional and financial support to do the same."

"The worry is that this will have an implication for abortion issues in Canada," he said.

Under the facade of "freedom to choose", Lalonde said that "popular messages" about women like Palin, who choose not to kill their unborn children, "could have detrimental effects on women and their families."

"We offer the woman the choice. We try to be as unbiased as possible," Lalonde said. "We're coming down to a moral decision and we all know moral decisions are personal decisions."

Detrimental? Are you kidding me? How is allowing your child to live detrimental? Here is a great article with the other side of the story.
Read this whole story here

Airport Security

2008-08-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

I'd like to comment on this article, but I'm a bit concerned about popping up on some random google searches. So just go read it yourself. Then come back and we'll talk. I'll wait.

Done?

Alright...here's the thing. I read this article and was like, "so what?". I've flown internationally before and been patted down. I didn't feel that it was unnecessary. Nor did I feel violated. As I was discussing this with DH I pointed out that a woman could hide a knife in such a place. He didn't believe me, so I proceeded to get my Swiss Army Knife and placed in it an undisclosed place. He was pretty surprised that I was correct. And for those of you that don't know me, let just say that I am not "well endowed". The article states that this woman was "big busted".

So what am I saying? Am I recommending that all big busted women get patted down? Absolutely not. I'm just saying that from a security stand point I can see the reason for such a rule for anybody that sets off the metal detectors. Now, the woman did offer an acceptable alternative, but this caused her to miss her flight.

The humorous thing to me is that she refused the pat down so as not to be humiliated. Instead, she walked around with no upper support and now she has her name and details all over the internet. I guess that's not as humiliating?

I could be wrong. Maybe I'm missing something. What do you think? Would you be upset if you were her? Annoyed? Vow never to wear such a thing again? I dunno. I just think that there are more interesting things to get upset over...

Make-Your-Own-Monday

2008-08-25T09:17:00.000-05:00

My sister (whom I love dearly) recently referred to me as "Pioneer". This came after a list of things that I do that most people don't do. The list was something like:

Make my own laundry detergent
Make my own dish detergent
Make my own bread
Use cloth diapers
Grind my own wheat
etc...

I guess I don't see it all as that weird, but I'll let you decide :-)

For today, here's how I make my own laundry detergent

Supplies:

Bar Soap (I use Zote, but you can use anything on the laundry isle or even Ivory)
Borax
Washing Soda

Note-I buy all of these things at local grocery stores. The links are only so you know what to look for. The washing soda is not nearly that expensive in the stores!

First thing you need to do is grate the bar soap. Just use a cheese grater or food processor. Keep whatever you don't use now in a ziplock bag

Measure 1 cup grated soap, 1/2 cup borax and 1/2 cup washing soda into blender. Blend until all the the soap is a powder!

Pour into container. Repeat until you have enough to fill the container

You only use 1-2 Tablespoons per load! I'm too lazy to do the math on it, but Crystal says that it comes out to be $.01 a load! I actually think that mine is cheaper because the Zote is cheaper than the Fels Naptha. But Zote does seem to be difficult to obtain if you don't live in South Texas.

A few notes about this. This soap is safe to use on the new Air Force (and Army) uniforms because there are no optical brighteners in it. However, you should not use it on cloth diapers because of the Borax. But, to my delight, in researching for this post I found another recipe here that has recipes without the Borax! I am so trying those! If I can do laundry for 1-2 cents a load then you know I'm excited about that!

Also, you can use these in front loading washers since they create very few suds. The closest thing to this (that I've found) is Charlie's Soap, but even buying it the cheapest way still cost nearly $.11 per load.

I have been considering trying this recipe with the hot water so I can use a liquid in my cold loads, but I'll have to get a 2-3 gallon bucket first. If I did this method I would definitely add some essential oils to the mixture.

Because I Can

2008-08-22T18:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry. I saw this quiz and I just couldn't resist. I mean, don't you want to know what kind of punctuation mark you are? I think this describes me pretty well. Except for the "brilliant" part.

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven.

You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue.

You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched.

You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions.

Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice.

(But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!)

You excel in: Leadership positions

You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Just Call Me Hermit

2008-08-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the hermit thing again. Hubby got assigned to a shift that I don't like, so I turned hermit again. It's taking a bit of adjusting since he's always had a *normal* shift. Until now. I'll try to do better.

A few random thoughts:
My sister labeled me "Pioneer" the other day. She did this after naming several things that I make or do myself. It was actually a very amusing conversation since I don't see what I do as that much different. But maybe I eased into everything so slowly that I don't see it....

My hormones have been off lately. I've been doing some pretty extreme mood swings. Poor hubby. I don't know how he puts up with me. I'm trying some different supplements in hopes that it will help me get back to normal. It better work or else I'm likely to go crazy.

I want to find a "Make Your Own Monday" type blog roll. Do you know of one?

We officially started homeschooling our oldest son! I also joined a local co-op! I'm looking forward to that! I'll be teaching music and assisting in art. Should be pretty easy.

I'm off to bed now. I just wanted to break the silence. Maybe I'll be back tomorrow with some type of "Frugal Friday" or something like that post.

Sign My Map!

2008-07-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

I just added something new to my blog. Scroll alllllllllllllll the way to the bottom and you'll see my buddy map! Sign it so I know where you are!

Make-Your-Own-Monday

2008-07-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

Granola!

Right now I have a big pan of granola in my oven. In total I'll have about 12-14 cups of granola for a fraction of the cost of the store bought variety. And, if I do say so myself, mine will taste better :-) At least hubby thinks so too!

Granola is one of those things that isn't hard to make and is super easy to customize according to your family's likes and dislikes. The recipe I use it out of "Whole Foods For the Whole Family" cookbook, but there are many recipes out there.

One Pan Granola

A recipe for granola is as good as your imagination and the ingredients on your pantry shelf.

Start with:
5-6 cups old fashioned rolled oats
Add 6 cups total of any or all of these:
soy flour
whole wheat flour
wheat germ
rolled wheat flakes
sunflower, pumpkin, sesame seeds
non-fat dry milk powder
shredded coconut
unsalted nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews, walnuts, pecans)

Options for dry mixture:
1 cup bran
1/2 cup millet
1/4 cup soy grits
2T nutritional yeast
2t cinnamon
1t salt

Heat in large roasting pan:
1/2 to 1 cup oil or 2 sticks butter
1/2 to 1 cup honey, molasses or maple syrup or any mixture of these
1/2 cup water
2 t vanilla or almond extract

When liquid mixture is warm and thinned, begin adding dry ingredients; stir each in well with a large wooden spoon. Here's one situation where "too many cooks" are an asset-let all helpers have a turn!
Granola may be toasted right in the roasting-mixing pan! Set oven at 250; bake approximately 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. You may spread mixture on cookie sheets, too, for shorter baking time (about 30 minutes at 325). Turn with pancake turner at 10 minute intervals. Watch carefully until done to your family's taste; remember granola becomes crisper as it cools in the pan. If you have difficulty getting the mixture to taste cooked, you might try toasting the flours lightly in the oven or by stirring in an iron skillet for a few minutes.
When the cereal is cool, mix in iup to 2 cups of dried apricots, apple, or pineapple, raisin, dates or prunes. Serve "as is" for a snack, with milk or yogurt for breakfast, or create your own granola bars. It makes a thoughtful gift for the mother of a new baby with older children at home, or for friends at holiday time, packed in a decorative tin. Carry along for camping and hikes in little paper bags. Share with squirrels! Quantities of granola are easily adjusted up or down, according to family size. This recipe make about 14 cups.

Mum Power

2008-07-19T12:17:00.001-05:00

Guess you shouldn't make a Momma Bear mad....

"A McDonald's manager who told a young woman to stop breastfeeding found himself faced with a demonstration of Mum Power.

Maddie Reynolds returned with five friends she had met at ante-natal classes and they staged a mass feed-in at the restaurant.

'We all walked in to McDonald's together and sat around one table right by the counter,' said 27-year-old Miss Reynolds, a nursery nurse from Bournemouth.

We began breastfeeding our babies all at the same time to make a point. We caused a bit of a stir among customers but none of the staff looked our way.
'Someone told a manager what we were doing but he just muttered that he couldn't comment.'

Alison Purves, spokesman for McDonald's, said the company was 'disappointed' by the junior manager's actions. Breastfeeding mothers were welcomed in all its restaurants.

'This manager was working unilaterally and not following company policy at all. If another customer ever expressed their discomfort about breastfeeding we would encourage them to move rather than the mum.

'What we don't want to do is to make mums feel as if they have to hide away.'
She said the manager involved had been told he had made a mistake.

'We are confident he will make the right decision in future."

Read the whole article here

We Are Family

2008-07-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

Ever seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? It's a good movie. You really should see it. If you haven't seen it or if you come from a small family, then you'll have no idea about what I'm about to talk about. So maybe you should just skip this post. Or not. You might find it amusing. Read on.

My family reminds me of the family in the movie. Everyone is in each others business. Sometimes it can be good. Sometimes it can be cool. The way we're always there for each other. I told my husband one time "My family may be colorful, but we've got each others back".

But (and you knew that was coming) sometimes, it can be tiring. The way we give unsolicited advice. Opinions. The way that we all know that we are the correct ones in the situation. Maybe all families do this. Maybe it's just more noticeable when there are 8-10 opinions flying.

As you've already guessed, my family is currently going through one of these moments add nauseam (sp?). This is where I want to graciously bow out because I can't change anything by giving my opinion. So why am I having a hard time doing so? I have no idea. But I think I'll go crazy if I continue hearing everything from both sides.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed now. I'll think more after sleep and caffine.

The Rule of Half

2008-07-16T09:27:00.000-05:00

Long time, no hear. Sorry to all of you out there that have been waiting for a post. I'm in the middle of a hermit phase. This happens everytime I move. I get almost everything done around the house that needs to be done after a move, then I turn into a hermit because I have no friends and I'm bored. I'll try to do better.

So, to try and get myself out of said "hermit phase", I decided to post a Works for Me Wednesday idea. Enjoy :-)

A while back I was cruising around on some fugal pages and found "The Rule of Half". It goes like this. Use half of the normal amount of something. Anything. Dishwasher detergent, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. If you can divide it up, then do it! I found that my dishes were getting just as clean as before. I'm sure it is partially due to the unreal amount of heat that the water heater is set at (which, at our former residence, was not controlled by us). I use this rule in the shower by watering down all the soaps and shampoos. This works well since the kids use too much anyway.

Check out Rocks in My Dryer for more useful tips!

Baby Sitters

2008-07-09T15:51:00.000-05:00

I was recently reading some blog posts where someone had asked how much they should pay a baby-sitter. One person responded with this, a baby-sitter rate calculator. I was shocked. Floored. Speechless. I have never paid a baby-sitter anything close to the rate that it says that I should. Granted, most of the baby-sitters I hire are younger than 17 (the youngest age possible in the calculator), but I tend to think that I'm not off the hook that easily. The interesting thing is that I searched for the rate in my little hometown in Indiana that I grew up in. Instead of the $13.75/hr rate that I would have to pay here, it's only $6/hr!

Conclusion: I need to find another family that is willing to do baby-sitting swaps if I ever want to go out on a date with my husband again.

To Coupon or Not to Coupon...

2008-06-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

....that is my question.

A while back I mentioned that couponing doesn't work for me. Anytime I have tried to use coupons I found that I was a) spending more money, b)getting things I didn't need, or c) all of the above. However, with food prices getting way out of hand I decided that I need to do something to keep our food budget from going crazy.

The first thing I needed to do was swallow my pride. See, I hear people talk about how much money they spend on groceries and I sit back over here, rather smugly, thinking about how much less I spend. When I heard about a family of 5 spending $700 every two weeks on groceries and toiletries I about hit the floor. But then I read blogs about people spending $200/month on their family of 5 and I quickly discount them for crazy. After all, if I can't get our budget down to that then these people certainly must be crazy. Or maybe they are doing something that I need to learn and figure out.....

So after I swallowed my pride and started looking/asking for help on trimming my budget I'm still confused. On the one hand, Amy at the Tightwad Gazette doesn't use coupons and has found the same experience that I have had. On the other hand, Crystal at the Money Saving Mom has an amazing system for couponing and seemingly saves a lot of money.

This is where my black and white personality goes to war. It says that they can't both be right and there has to be one best way to do things. One way will save the most money. The other, will not.

I realize that at this point someone will comment that I just have to do what works best for my family. Does going out every few days to CVS work best for me? Shopping at Aldi's? Only eating every other day?

Enough rambling for now. I have decided to really try this coupon thing. I signed up for the Sunday paper and will be searching for coupons all over the place. I'll give this until the end of the newspaper subscription (26 weeks) and then I'll decide if I'm saving a lot of money or not. I guess the scary thing for me is that this is new and not in my comfort zone. I'm worried that I'll end up spending more money and completely blow the budget. But I'll give it a try. Any tips?

Crunchiness

2008-06-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

Tiffany asked what I meant by the "Crunchy" in my name. Crunchy is a term that I heard a while back to describe people who live a more natural life style compared to the mainstream. Here is a fun quiz to find out how crunchy you are :-) I scored a 160=Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy, Granola Earth Mama!

I wanted to add a disclaimer here. I don't say this as a more-holier-than-thou kind of thing. I am using the term "crunchy" to describe how I am trying to live my life. But I certainly have no problem with a few convenience foods every now and then. Nor do I think that you're a bad person if you buy disposable diapers. This is what works best for my family at this point in our lives. I would like to be able to afford more organic/natural food items, but right now I'm taking the more frugal route with our grocery budget.

I guess that's the ironic thing to me. Much of the things that are considered "crunchy" I started because they were frugal to me (cloth diapers, making things from scratch, etc). I do homebirths because I much prefer being at home with a midwife than going into a hospital to a Dr I've never seen before. To me it's about as close to ensuring a safe birth as possible!

Must run for now! The kids are back from the playground so I need to find something for them to do in this tiny space :-)

Frugal Friday

2008-06-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

The statement was made recently that I have been very frugal while living in our little hotel room. The funny thing is that I was looking at our grocery bill and thinking about how I was spending a ridiculous amount of money on groceries. But I suppose that since the alternative is eating out all of the time then I know I've done a decent job. Here's what our meals look like:

Breakfast-Continental Breakfast or cereal/instant oatmeal (that I made before leaving)
Lunch-PB&J or leftovers
Dinner-Something cheap, easy, creates little leftovers and is hopefully not completely bad for you. So far we've had things like Mac & Cheese, Spaghetti, Frozen Pizza, Frozen Crock-Pot Meals and Hamburger Helper type meals.

These kinds of meals are normally reserved for the days that daddy is in charge of dinner or mommy is having a really bad day dinner. But since I only have a dorm size refrigerator I don't have room for many of the additional ingredients that cooking from scratch requires. We are moving into our new house next Friday so all frugalness will resume at that time. Until then I'm trying to balance easy with frugal :-)

Texas children roped into Islamic training

2008-05-30T10:01:00.000-05:00

I cannot even begin to express my dismay at what happened at this school. While part of me is shocked, the other part is not. The whole purpose of the public school system is to indoctrinate kids with whatever the state wants. Don't believe me? Think I'm being a bit harsh? Spend some time reading articles and books written by some of the heads of the public school system. Trust me. They leave little room to doubt. But even with all of that, this is one of the more blatant steps to undermine everything that these parents would hope to teach at home:

Public school students at Friendswood Junior High in the Houston area have been roped into Islamic training by representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations during class time, prompting religious leaders to protest over Principal Robin Lowe's actions.

Pastor Dave Welch, spokesman for the Houston Area Pastor Council, confirmed the indoctrination had taken place and called it "unacceptable."
In the Texas case, a school e-mail to parents provided only a half-hearted acknowledgement that such mandatory religious indoctrination might not have been the best decision.

"In hindsight, a note should have been sent home to parents indicating the purpose and content of the presentation in time for parents to contact me with questions or concerns or requests to exempt their child," the school note from Lowe said. "This will be our practice in the future, should we ever have another presentation of a similar nature."

School officials also said the "Islamic Awareness" presentation was "to increase understanding of the Islamic culture in response to racially motivated comments that have been made to students on campus."

The pastors said in a statement: "According to students who were forced to attend these sessions, these Islamic evangelists taught them:

Adam, Noah and Jesus are prophets

There is one god, his name is Allah

The 5 Pillars of Islam

How to pray five times a day

Islamic religious garb"
There also was no parental notification, and students were required to attend.
"The kids did not even know they were having an assembly or what topic it pertained to until they entered the gym," the parent wrote. "I send my kids to school for academics. … I teach them religion at home."

The sad thing is that we can no longer send our children to school for academics alone. They will be taught many other things. The question is, whose view point do we want them to hear from? I don't have a problem teaching my children about other religions. I took a "Living World Religion" class in college. I think it's good to know so we know how to defend our faith against theirs. But those are things that I will teach my children. Not the public schools.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

2008-05-17T17:01:00.000-05:00

THE CHOCOLATE ROMANTIC

You’re a dreamer, who often retreats to your own world. You believe in true love and the healing power of beauty. You love sad books and movies, but then again, you love happy books and movies, too. You’re introspective, tender and caring. Face it, you love a chance to have a good cry. When it comes to chocolate, the packaging is just as important as what’s inside.

Find our your chocolate here

On Our Way (almost)

2008-05-15T23:24:00.000-05:00

Our stuff is on our way to our destination. The truck will beat us there so it will be off loaded into storage while we wait for base housing to come available.

Can I admit that I'm starting to be a little excited about our move? I feel like a traitor saying that. I'll miss my friends so much. Saying that I'm excited about going makes me feel like I'm ignoring what I'm leaving behind. I'm not. But I am trying to focus on what is yet to come. A new assignment. A new part of the country. 6 hours from family. And I know that I'll keep in touch with my friends. They have meant so much to me. There is a large part of me that would love to come back here. I've told my friends that I have people praying that we'll move to their area after hubby gets out of the AF. So we'll just see who is the most spiritual by where we end up moving to :-)

Most of my more "natural" living goes out the window when it comes to moving. I use high powered chemicals to clean, disposable diapers on the baby, and I cook whatever is quick and simple. I tried to come up with ways to avoid frozen dinners but I don't think I was very successful. Any ideas? I'm hoping not to get sick this time while moving like I did last time. When we moved a year and a half ago I was pregnant and all those instant meals made me sick. So hopefully that won't happen this time.

I'm off to bed! We bought an air mattress to sleep on so it should be more comfortable than the floor anyway!

Tasty Tuesday

2008-05-13T16:50:00.000-05:00

I love food. I really do. It's my downfall in life. It wouldn't be if I loved working out. But I don't. I will admit that cooking is one thing I will miss while we are in transition. There's just something about frozen dinners that just doesn't taste good as mine :-) Here is one of my favorite recipes:

Chicken Parmigiana

1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Cup Italian bread crumbs
2-4 T butter or olive oil
14 oz jar pizza sauce
2 Cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Grated Parmesan

Beat egg, ealt, pepper together. Dip chicken into egg and coat with bread cumbs. Saute chicken in oil in skillet (you just want to brown the outside, not cook it thoroughly). Arrange chicken in slow cooker.
Pour pizza sauce over chicken
Cover. Cook on LOW 6-8 hours
Layer mozzarella cheese over top and sprinkle with Parmesan. Cook and additional 15 minutes.
Serve with Linguine & Salad!

HT-Tami

One Reason Why We Homeschool:

2008-05-11T09:32:00.000-05:00

View it here

Moving Things

2008-05-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

Our packers are coming 4 1/2 days. At Tech School hubby would call that 3 days and a wake up. In any case, it's coming up on us really soon. For those of you that have never done a military move, let me fill you in on how this works.

There are many preparations leading up to moving, some of which include briefings. Many briefings. After you have been briefed (did I mention many times?) they schedule your move for you. For the most part you can pick out the days that you want the movers to come, unless you are moving in a busy season. Then you take whatever you can get! Fortunately we're moving at the very beginning of the busy season so we got the dates that we asked for!

Apparently we have now accumulated enough ~~junk~~ property that we now qualify for 2 days of the packers being here. So, on Wednesday, the packers will show up and start boxing up our things. Now, to some of you, this may sound wonderful because we don't have to pack everything ourselves. And there is definitely that benefit. However, we also have to watch to be sure that they are not being careless and that they are labeling everything correctly on the outside of the box. While we have never had a problem with loosing a box, there are (of course) many horror stories out there. But I'm not concentrating on those stories right now, so let's move on.

Our packers will pack everything on Wednesday and Thursday. The older children will be at friends houses who were ~~suckered into~~ nice enough to watch them for us. We'll keep the baby with us since she would only scream for friends. As a bribe to be nice with our things we buy the packers lunch both days. We also provide drinks for them.

On Friday the movers will come and load everything into a truck. This is the part that can be nerve wracking at times. There are some items of furniture that I choose not to watch be carried out of the house. And with the new full replacement value insurance that the AF pays for I'm a little more relaxed about them breaking my things! We will also provide food and drinks for the movers. In general the movers have always been very nice. The thing to watch with this part is their notes on our things. For every piece of furniture that they move they put a numbered sticker on it for tracking purposes. Then next to that number they make notes on the inventory. These notes are hard to decipher (read:horrible handwriting) but have to be looked over to be sure that they didn't mark down something horrible for your furniture. They may mark "stained" or "soiled" on something that looks practically brand new. Again, we've never had any problems, but the horror stories are out there. You may be asking what the big deal is. If the inventory says that there is a gash or stain, but there wasn't, then it arrives with something wrong, then it'll be really hard to get that replaced because "it wasn't the movers who did it". Again, we've never had any problems....

After everything is out of here we'll start the cleaning process. We live in a base housing unit so it has to be very clean when we leave. White glove clean. The trick is that we'll also still be living here at the time (we'll be sleeping on air mattresses). We'll clean here on Friday, Saturday and Monday. We'll stay Monday night at a friends house then our final inspection is Tuesday morning. Whatever we didn't get clean or is broken will be deducted from our BAH (Basic Housing Allowance). So we'll be sure to do a good job of cleaning :-)

After that we'll be on our way! We check into our new base a week later (after visiting friends and family along the way) and will hopefully move into housing shortly thereafter. We'll buy pizza for our movers on that end too. It's only fair :-)

Frugal Friday

2008-05-09T11:43:00.000-05:00

Today's topic is PaperbackSwap! I love PaperbackSwap and it's cousins SwapACD and SwapADVD! Here's how it works:

Sign up for an account
Post books/CDs/DVDs
Order items from other members
Mail media to others!

I have gotten rid of many books that I no longer read (i.e. I didn't like them) and I have received many good books! All for a fraction of what it would have cost me if I were buying them nre or used! My favorite portion is the wish lists. I'll put a book on the wish list and then it will automatically get sent to me when someone else posts it!

WFMW

2008-05-07T08:23:00.000-05:00

This month's theme for Works for Me Wednesday is What-DOESN'T-Work For Me. So here we go:

Coupons-I know this goes against most everything frugal, but I have never found cutting coupons to be a money saving thing for me. If I use them heavily then I buy stuff I don't need and actually spend more money then if I hadn't used them. If I only use what I would have bought anyway then I barely save enough to make buying the paper worth it.
Cry it out-Doesn't work for me and my babies. If I'm upset, do I want to be left alone to cry?
Sewing-I wish it worked for me. Maybe it will one day. But for now the patterns are just plain confusing
MySpace-I much prefer blogspot
Hospitals for giving birth-Home is what I love!
Haggling-I'm no good at it
South Texas Heat-Nuff said

For more, visit RocksInMyDryer!

Breast-fed children found smarter

2008-05-06T16:29:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new study provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said on Monday.

Children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests, the researchers in Canada and Belarus reported.
The children were monitored for about 6 1/2 years.

The children in the group where breast-feeding was encouraged scored about 5 percent higher in IQ tests and did better academically, the researchers found.
Previous studies had indicated brain development and intelligence benefits for breast-fed children.
"Mothers who breast-feed or those who breast-feed longer or most exclusively are different from the mothers who don't," Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children's Hospital said in a telephone interview.

"They tend to be smarter. They tend to be more invested in their babies. They tend to interact with them more closely. They may be the kind of mothers who read to their kids more, who spend more time with their kids, who play with them more," added Kramer, who led the study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

The researchers measured the differences between the two groups using IQ tests administered by the children's pediatricians and by ratings by their teachers of their school performance in reading, writing, math and other subjects.

Both sets of scores were significantly higher in the children from the breast-feeding promotion group.

Read the whole article here

Had to Share

2008-05-06T13:30:00.000-05:00

I was looking on CafePress today and found this! Thought I'd share in case anyone is hesitant about homebirths because of the mess:

Gestapo Raid on Raw Milk?

2008-05-05T11:40:00.000-05:00

I have read many stories like this before, so it is really no different than the others. What is frustrating to me is how the government barges in the "protect the consumer" when it should really be the consumer that is researching and knowing our options. If you, after researching, decide to drink pasteurized/homogenized milk, then that's your decision. If you, after researching, decide to fully vaccinate your children, then go for it! But these are all areas where the "Nanny State" is taking over and telling us what is best for us and that we shouldn't question what the almighty government has decided for us. Many times they look at those of us that are doing things different than mainstream and call us irresponsible. I beg your pardon, but isn't doing the research for ourselves and making informed decisions make us responsible?

Here's part of the article. You can read the whole article here. After you do, please go and vote on the poll!

A rally has been set for tomorrow in front of the magistrate's office in Mt. Holly, Pa., in support of a Mennonite farmer who has brought the wrath of the government on himself for selling raw milk and other products – an act government prosecutors say violates a number of regulations.

That's when the next court hearing is scheduled for Mark Nolt, a Pennsylvania farmer who turned in his state permit to sell raw milk because it didn't allow for the sale of the other products he offered.

"They swooped in ... like a bunch of Vikings, handcuffed me and stole $30,000 worth of my milk, cheese and butter," he told the New York Daily News.

His case is just an example of what the government is trying to do to those who believe – based on medical results – that raw milk is better for them than the processed milk available in most grocery stores, according to Nolt's supporters.

Processed milk, many believe, leads to clogged arteries, strokes and heart attacks.
Jonas Stoltzfus, a fellow farmer and member of the Church of the Brethren, was asked to be a spokesman for Nolt, and confirmed, "Six state troopers and Bill Chirdon of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture trespassed onto his property, and stole $20,000-$250,000 of his product and equipment."

Stoltzfus reported Nolt turned in his state permit to sell raw milk "because it did not cover all the products he was selling. he felt he was being dishonest selling stuff that was not covered by the permit."

Stoltzfus said authorities told Nolt people had gotten sick from eating his food, "but no one ever came forward and no proof was ever offered."

"This is a Gestapo raid," Stoltzfus told the blog report, "complete with state troopers, raiding a hard-working farmer selling milk to friends and customers."

The Daily News reported the farmer's customers were enraged.

Importance of a Mother's Role

2008-04-27T21:29:00.000-05:00

How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No. A woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness. -G.K. Chesterton

Hat Tip-Candace

A Bit About Me

2008-04-25T16:24:00.000-05:00

Greetings! I hope to keep up on this blog and do regular postings. However, we are in the middle of our second move with the military. We were supposed to be at this assignment for 4 years, but the AF changed things and is sending us to a new duty station at the end of May. I looking forward to our move for the most part, but I will admit that it will be hard to leave. I have made many friends in our short time here and will miss them dearly. Not to mention that I don't really care for change all that much so the change in cities will not be very much fun. But I am trying to stay optimistic about everything since I know that will effect my transition in the long run.

My hubby has been in the AF for almost 6 years and we have 3 beautiful children. James (5) has a late birthday so I'll be doing Kindergarten with him starting this fall. He has a speech delay (officially called Auditory Processing Disorder) so many times you may read something about him that has to do with this. We currently have him in private speech therapy and hope to continue that after we move. David (3) still thinks he's two and continues to push his boundaries. Most of my energy in the day is spent with him. Elizabeth (9 months) is a lot of fun to be around and I'm trying my best to enjoy her clingy stage :-) She is the only one that has been born at home and I loved it! I hope to be able to do a home birth whenever God blesses us with another baby, although the area we're moving to is not so midwife friendly. Which just means that there are more hoops I'll have to jump through.

I have been a Christian since about age 12 and desire to raise our children in a Godly home, but I have come to realize that there is still a lot of me that needs working on. God uses my children everyday to refine me and show me where I come up short. I am thankful for His grace and patience with me as walk this path.

A Start

2008-04-14T09:26:00.001-05:00

I decided to start a more public blog. We'll see how it goes :-)