HS Conference

Eric and I recently attended a home school conference, together! It was too many hours away from Zane last year, so Eric stayed home while I went with a friend. This time was like a mini vaca! We had not seen Grandma H. in eight months, so it was perfect timing for her to fly in for a visit and watch the kiddos while we were filled-up and refreshed.

What we appreciated most about this time was the encouragement in building a family of faith, with hearts turned toward The Father and each other. The keynote speaker was Dr. Th*mas Sharp from Creation Truth Foundati*n. He is a brilliant scholar, but most impressive is his love and passion for Jesus and the family. We agreed that the biggest take away from our time listening to him was our responsibility to train our children to discern right from wrong and adhere to God's truth.

The other stand-out Biblical challenge, shared by another speaker, was the 'fattened calf' principle from Luke 15. The parable of the prodigal son should remind us that after we've prayed, listened and waited for God's answer -- we need to celebrate His provision! As a family, don't miss offering BIG praise for His answers, His care, His victory!

And boy, did we come away from the weekend with BIG 'fattened calf' PRAISES!

First, we met a speech pathologist who practices with a philosophy that we have been praying and searching for. I cried as I sat in her class and leaned over to whisper to Eric, "I want her!" After her lecture, I approached her and told her directly, "I want you!" There are not enough words to express the knee-buckling, God-awing provision this providential meeting was. She shared that she knows of no other pathologist in our area that practices with her approach and she came as a last minute speaker for just one of the conference days. God directed us to her class out of ten others that hour - an incredible answer to years of prayer.

The other 'chance' (NOT!) meeting was at a small class that discussed neurological testing, advancement and healing. We have been seeking God's direction for professional help with a Godly worldview that would address some needs of Elle's. Something that has been difficult to grasp was laid out and broken down with real next steps offered by some of the world's foremost authorities in learning challenges from our own city...we are still awed-speechless....

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. (Rev. 7:12)

Speaking of blessings, having Grandma here was such a joy. The weekend would not have been as wonderful without the comfort of knowing Elle and Zane were in such caring and loving hands.

The HUMONGO highlight of the week belonged to Elle. She and Grandma went on a date to see a theater production of Beauty and the Beast. The morning show began with a royal brunch with Belle herself! A few of my girlfriends and their daughters also attended and at intermission they were crowned at a coronation service. I understand Elle charged the stage boldly, ready to take on her princessly duties. All the pictures from this event are on Grandma's camera and I forgot to get copies before she left - yikes!

It was particularly difficult for Elle to say goodbye this time. She got choked up as we drove away from the airport and misses her early morning bed cuddles with Grandma.

Oh, Zane-O Boy - silly, silly!

Traditional farmstead visit.

Aunt Patty came to visit too!

A little antiquing.

Creative, wet, fun downtown.

Staycation

Spring break was a staycation. Daddy at home; what else could we want for! Even then, having him 24-7 for nine days wasn't quite enough. So they rode, climbed, tackled, hugged, and kissed to drain every bit of everything from him.

We played games, spent time outside, worked on projects, had some adventures, ate out (multiple times trying to find the best fish tacos in the city), cooked and ate good food. With Eric's classes on break, he didn't even have to study, so it was a lot of playing hard.

Our first bowling experience was definitely a highlight. Must find out how to do it cheaper! When did bowling get so expensive?! But totally worth it for the thrill they had. The kiddos held their own and scored amazingly well with a little help from bumpers. There were lots of high-fives, woo-hoos and cheers; what a blast!


We also visited this train exhibition that is set-up in a store front at a local mall. Men in the community build and maintain the sets for young and old to come hang out and enjoy. There's even an area of hands-on Thomas engines. Zane was wide-eyed!


Bargain hunting at second-hand stores turned out some big scores for the kiddos; puzzles and a brand new Lite*Brite still in its original packaging!

While I took Zane to a doctor's appointment, Elle had a breakfast date with Dada. Her flower clip makes me happy-laugh. Apparently she drew some attention with her style that morning.

Tis the season, the mowing and rides have begun! It's a lot of cutting for Eric, but he has it down to a science and has been trading in tractors the past several years to increase his cutting deck to an impressive 52".


Just a little hail in the middle of our spring break. Ahhh, Kansas!

One evening we had French toast with cream cheese, blueberries, and real maple syrup. It's actually the first time I've made this since Elle arrived in 2006. Not being huge bread eaters, this was a super-duper yummy treat. Wowzers - it was good!

Zane enjoys 'painting' the bricks and always finishes with more water on him than anywhere else. Painting is also enjoyed inside, especially when Dada is the audience.


The week's evening thrills were at the dinner table over games and popcorn. Z*ngo is a favorite and Zane is really quick at it. He even keeps track of the tiles others need and grabs it on our behalf, to help us out. But nobody cheers over a victory as robostly as Elle.


Certainly enjoyed this year's staycation. When it was finished we weren't exhausted, didn't feel like we needed a couple of more days to recuperate and thoroughly soaked each other up. Not surprisingly, it was very difficult to give up Daddy that next Monday morning.

Word Explosion

About two months ago, Zane had a word explosion. He has been doing well with his sounds and communication for some time and we have been very pleased. Then at 28 months, all these words started popping out and he stopped using sign language. Everything he needed was communicated with a verbal word. I tried to keep track of each new word to report to the speech therapist who seemed quite impressed. Then a couple of weeks ago, I stopped keeping record because he can repeat any word you throw at him. It's not always pronounced perfectly, but when he's challenged, he corrects himself by repeating it several times until he hears that it matches our sound - it's amazing! Now he's rattling off short sentences! Keeping it real, we probably understand him better than anyone, but he's communicating to others as well and they're hearing it too.


The other day while driving, I yelled out, 'RAILROAD TRACKS!' Zane shouted back, "PICK UP YOUR FEET!" He's even saying things that we didn't overtly teach him. We go to Target, but not regularly and rarely do I announce that we're 'going to Target' or 'we're at Target'. We just go to the store. Anyway, we were driving by Target and Zane says, "Mommy, look, Target!" Under my breath, I said, "Oh my word!" And he yelled back with drama, "OOOOH MYYYY WOOOOORD!"

He can also spot the famous coffee logo from a mile away and say "Starbucks" too. I wonder how he knows that??? ;) Another favorite of his to spot and yell out is "Taco Bell". Truly, he has never eaten there. So go figure?


He loves singing -- The ABC Song, all the scripture songs from Hide ‘Em In Your Heart, various Bible songs and the Veggie Tales theme song (now his favorite video to watch). "Mommy, Bob and Larry, TV, please?"

Being cleft affected, we (including the speech therapist) are blown away. His sounds are great and his determination to correct sounds leaves us speechless. So one can imagine our surprise when he recently failed his hearing test - WHAT?! We've been to a couple of doctors since and we're just more confused. With several more doctor appointments ahead of us and then a cleft team meeting in a month, hopefully we'll have this figured out. I'm anxious - just want 'them' to say that 'everything's great'!

We have seen some great improvement in his swallowing which could be contributing to his ear problems. It's hard to explain, but he has an interesting wallow-swallow that he used in China. We believe it was a survival technique so he wouldn't drown when they left him flat on his back to manage formula spewing down his throat through a pea-size hole in his bottle's nipple. Of course he doesn't need to wallow-swallow anymore, but it's just a bad habit that he's capitalized on in order to prolong good food - like cookies, ice scream or anything he enjoys or doesn't want to be done with. We often remind him, "Zane, stop wallowing, swallow."


Zane gets a lot of food coming out of his nose, which we have contributed to his fistula and alveolar (gum ridge) opening, but now we're thinking that it's more likely that the wallowing is pushing the food above the palate and out his nose, as well as into his eustachian tubes, causing the ear problems. So we have really stepped up training and addressing his bad swallowing habit (to his horror!) and the food coming out of his nose has GREATLY decreased. Now we're praying that it will also have a positive result on his ears as well. The next weeks will be telling, so we pray for healing, that Zane stops wallowing and ditches this bad habit for good. He's a smart boy and he knows exactly what he needs to stop doing -- he only does it now when he's being stubborn. What? Zane, stubborn? Uh, yeah! :)

Also with his sweet voice, he tells us, "I love you." "Sorry, Mama." "Night, night, Dada." Ahhh, does a mama's heart good to hear such victory!

There's one more thing that I'm hesitant to write about, but it completely blew us away. We'll have to do some more experimenting, but the other day I was reading a simple reader to him and after finishing one page he pointed to a word on the page and said it! ?? So I read another page and then asked him to point out a specific word and he did. He got the next four out of five words correct. Hmmm....maybe beginner's luck. He does like being read to. He'll sit for loooong books, and book after book after book.

Elle is an excellent and patient teacher too. Zane wouldn't be doing as well with his speech if it wasn't for her!

I know, I seem giddy, maybe over-the-top, but speech challenges aren't new around here. So victories are like mountain top experiences. And speaking of mountains, Elle conquered a huge one just before Christmas on what we call, The Best Day Ever. Read all about it here.

The Best Day Ever

Speech has been a tremendous challenge for Elle. We've had professional testing and countless hours with speech therapists and the results have been far from encouraging. But our dear, sweet Elle perseveres and tries and tries and tries, and is tremendously patient as she takes in instruction, coaching, and correction every day. We try to keep it positive and fun, but it's tough. We celebrate over every victory, no matter how small, but there have been really low points in this journey. She has also come to the realization that others don't always understand her tremendous efforts to communicate and sometimes their dismissal or lack of patience pierces her heart. It breaks ours.

It is an uphill climb for Elle, but we are so proud of her and humbled by how God has used this challenge to shape her heart in a way that might have been more difficult any other way. Her desire to be right with God, us and others is an example to us every day. Her innocence, sensitivity and kindness is dear.

One significant challenge for her has been guttural sounds. Whew.... One speech therapist (not to mention all our therapy at home) tried to get the 'k/c' sound out of her for an entire year, but to no avail. So we had been working and working on this. For example, 'key' is 'tea' and 'go' is 'do'. Substituting every 'k/c' sound for a 't' and every 'g' sound for a 'd' can really hinder successful communication.

Well, Elle had the best day ever on Saturday, December 18, 2010. It was a stellar day for us too! We were in Branson for pre-Christmas celebration at S D C. Elle was super excited as S D C is currently her most favorite place on earth. We had just spent the night at a hotel, woke that morning to a huge breakfast with waffles, played at the pool and soaked in a hot tub. After drying up, we were just minutes from heading out when Elle's elastic lace broke on her tennis shoe. Those things are hard to jerry-rig. Eric tried, but it was hurting her. The shoes were getting worn anyway and she certainly couldn't walk in them all day, so we headed to the outlet mall to buy a new pair of tennis shoes before heading to The City. Shopping with Mama and new shoes; things were getting very exciting for her...hotel, waffles, pool, S D C - WOW!

Elle had recently been noticing the different types of vehicles on the road. She had been pointing out SVU's and asking "Is that a fat tar?" So she started asking this as we crept down The Strip on our way to the mall. We answered as we had been for the past several weeks...

Us: "Cars aren't fat, they're big. Remember to use the 'c' sound for 'car'. Try car."

Elle: "Tar"

Us: No, that was a 't' sound, but good try. We'll keep practicing.

We were nearing the mall and she had been silent for a few minutes and then she said...

Elle: "Is that a faaaaat Caaaaaaar?"

Me: ELLE! (Turning around and SCREAMING) YOU SAID IT! YOU SAID CAR! YOU SAID THE 'C' SOUND! ELLE - GREAT JOB - YOU DID IT! (Still SCREAMING) WOOHOOOOOOO!

And she knew she did it! The smile on her face was priceless - we will never forget it. I don't know how Eric stayed on the road, he was 'screaming' too!

Elle: Car, car, car!

Us: Yes, yes - you got it! You can say the 'c' sound, Elle!

Eric: We have to celebrate!!!

And right then, we came to the intersection of a Krispy Kreme donut shop! So we pulled in, Elle smiling ear to ear, saying 'car, car, car' and Zane just thrilled that he was going to eat again. We have never taken the kids to Krispy Kreme and they've probably had one other donut in their lives - LOL! So this was BIG!!!!!! We had the place to ourselves and three glass cases of donuts to choose from.

Eric: Donuts for everyone! Elle, choose whatever donut you want!


So that was Elle's best day ever...hotel, waffles, pool, hot tub, the 'k/c' sound, new tennis shoes (and they were hot!) and S D C with unlimited rides on F*re In The Hole! Does it get better than that?! :)


About a week passed and then the 'g' sound came. We were just heading out the door when she ‘nailed’ it. A few minutes later we were filling up at a gas station and I pulled some change together to get her a yummy drink in celebration. The machine ate my money. I told the elderly attendant that my coins were gobbled up and why we were celebrating – LOL! He got them back for me and discovered the drink was out, so he gave Elle a bag of M&M's that he wouldn’t let me pay for. He was proud of her too!

Every day since she has been retraining her mind to produce the 'k/c' and 'g' sound for all the words she has been saying incorrectly. She's still in process, but never gives up and her victory is SWEEEEEEET!

We love you Elle and are so very proud of you - you are perfect in every way!


Never take your eyes off the boy...always keeping us on our toes...

Kindred Spirits

The Andrews family swooped in for 24 hours of sweetness.

Eric and I moved to Michigan just after we were married and spent five years growing up there. We worked and played, but the fellowship with couples like the Andrews -- we will treasure for eternity.

Now a decade and six children later, it was an incredible blessing to see their beautiful faces again. The finest qualities of Ben and Kris are now abiding in the hearts of their children... gentleness, graciousness, truth, and love. They are truly a breath of fresh air, a taste of heaven -- sharing meals together, playing, and talking about all that our God has accomplished by His merciful hand.

While we were waiting on China to get to Zane, the Andrews were waiting for the final details to unfold to bring their son and daughter home from Ethiopia. It was exciting to be paper pregnant together and know the challenges and thrills that we shared by God's miraculous gift of adoption.

Noah is clever. Lydia is a true friend. Haile is kind and Minna is just too adorable. See...

I told you so!

My heart sank when they pulled out of the drive...how I wish Michigan was a whole lot closer!