And Off We Go!!!

Yesterday was our first day of our second year of (official) school! Ethan began 1st grade, Jesse started his second year of preschool, and Tabitha....well, it's yet to be determined exactly what she's doing this year.

I've been so excited about what we're studying this year. I love the curricula we're using. (Tapestry of Grace, Math-U-See, Apologia's Exploring Creation are our main ones.) And I've been eager to get going! I started early because I plan to take some significant breaks during the year so we don't get burned out.

So, days one and two are completed--successfully for the most part. Ethan's not too excited about school starting; he'd rather be outside building, digging, climbing, riding, or whatever ALL day EVERY day. He does enjoy math and art, but heaven forbid I try to make him read! Keep in mind that reading is my favorite pastime, so I have great difficulty in relating to him here! BUT, he's not giving me too much grief, and I think once we settle into the routine he'll be fine.

Jesse, on the other hand, almost started crying today because I didn't have more school work for him to do! I think the boy is going to force me into doing kindergarten a year early with him because he just can't get enough!

And then there's Tabitha. My plan was, since she's 3, to start very gradually doing some little preschool-ish type work with her. Coloring, gluing, learning colors, singing, etc. Well, so far her lessons have consisted of the following: 1) We do not get to take all the pieces of our brother's educational games and run off with them preventing him from doing his work. 2) We do not take our other brother's math manipulatives and pack them in our suitcase or baby doll stroller. 3) We do not scream and throw our coloring paper on the floor just because it does not match brother's. 4) During reading time, we do not get to sit on top of our brother just because he sat next to Mommy. I could go on, but you get the point. Heath has assured me that we just need to work on speech and behavior with Tabitha for this year and not even attempt to do any "school" work with her yet. The problem is she really WANTS to do school work just like her brothers. But if she's not doing EXACTLY what they're doing she throws a fit. I'm hoping things get better as she gets used to the routine and realizes that I will spend time with her and help her with things, but it may not always be at the minute she demands it!

So, other than sibling issues, I'm enjoying school so far and am excited about all they're (I'm) going to learn. We even had our first field trip already. Last Friday we went to a dairy farm and learned about how everything works there. Did you know dairy cows spend most of their lives pregnant? In order to keep their milk supply they're bred once a year starting at age 2. Gestation is 9 months, they get a few weeks off, and then they're back to milking and breeding. What a life! At the end of the tour, we got to have some delicious ice cream made right there on the farm. And then the kids got to help feed the calves. Tabitha was terrified of course, but the boys thought it was great fun. I had the lovely experience of having a calf suck on my hand in hopes of finding milk. I never knew cows were so slobbery!

I've also got my schedule all put together for how our days are supposed to flow, theoretically. Of course, real life always steps in and messes that up. But at least there's a plan. Looking at the paper makes me wonder how on earth I'll ever have time for things like updating this blog! According to the schedule I'm supposed to be making dinner right now. But I figured keeping record of the milestones of our family's lives is much more important, right?

So, two days down, a whole lot more to go. Off to a good start and looking forward to a great year!

No Cincinnati for Now

Well, it appears that we will NOT be going to Cincinnati this month. Since our appointment is only a week from now and we don't have the insurance resolved, it'll have to wait until who knows when.

The good news is that the hospital has someone working on it for us. She's been trying to set up a phone conversation between the doctor there and the doctor with the insurance company to explain why we really need to go THERE. So far she hasn't been able to get them connected. (I guess they're busy fixing sick people or something!) Anyway, she's going to continue working on that for us. If that doesn't work out, we can appeal and keep trying to get them to approve it. If that still doesn't work, I guess we'll start looking for a doctor within our insurance network and do the best we can with that.

It's frustrating, but at least Tabitha's doing OK in most areas and it's not a life-threatening issues or anything.

Home Visit Complete

This morning our social worker came to our house for our home visit. We got to be grilled again on our parenting style, personal life, children, etc. It wasn't that bad, but it's always a little nerve wracking having your personal life evaluated. And to think she pretty much has the power of "yay" or "nay" on us getting another child! But hopefully we passed. She said she'll be in touch soon when she's finished writing up her report. Once that's done the next step is applying to USCIS for approval to adopt a foreign child. Once they approve us, everything goes to China to be approved by them, and THEN we can be matched with a child. Still many months away, but nice to have one more thing completed!

A Fun Day (except for Jesse)

Yesterday the kids and I drove to Pennsylvania to meet up with my friend Jen for a few hours. They decorated gingerbread cookies, pet farm animals, enjoyed soft pretzels and had a fun time . . . mostly . . .

Poor Jesse, it seems as if everything happens to him! He had just come down with a bad cough, so he was hacking all day long and feeling miserable. As we were sitting outside enjoying a snack, he managed to put his hand on a bee and get stung. He didn't have too bad of a reaction, but his finger did swell up and hurt for the rest of the day. Then we were at a little petting farm. Jesse climbed up on the fence to pet the miniature horse. Unfortunately, the food available for people to feed the horse looks a lot like a 4-year-old's big toe (or at least I guess that's what the horse was thinking.) The horse chomped right down on Jesse's sandaled foot and left a nice little cut on his toe. Jesse was more than ready to go home by this point.

I don't know what it is about him, but it seems that adventure follows him where ever he goes, not to mention injury and accidents. Oh well, he'll be a brave, experienced lad when he grows up. (If he makes it that far!)

But all in all we had a fun day. Jen, thanks so much for coming to see us!

Insurance Woes

Please pray with us this week! We've been planning to take Tabitha to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for tests and their bowel management program. As far as we know this is the only place of its kind in the world. Last month we found out the insurance company doesn't want to cover it because it's out of network. They claim we can get the same services here at Hopkins, but we don't believe that's true. Saturday we got the official letter saying that this would not be covered. We can appeal, but we're supposed to be going out there August 19th, so it's unlikely they would resolve it that quickly.

We do have someone at Cincinnati working on this for us. She has asked for a "peer review" and is hoping to change their minds. If it's resolved this week, we can keep our appointments. If not, we'll have to continue working on the insurance issue and reschedule if/when we get it approved.

Meanwhile, Tabitha has chronic constipation, and we have many unanswered questions about her care. Those of you who pray for us, please pray specifically for the people at the insurance company who are making the decision and the people "on our side" trying to get the approval. If they say no, pray that God shows us the reason for it and where He would have us seek help. Thanks so much.

Other than the digestive issues, Tabitha's health is great. We thank God for things not being any worse! She's continuing to adjust to us, and we to her, and we're feeling more and more like family all the time. Thanks for all the prayer and support!

Tennis & Swimming

This summer the boys each took two weeks of lessons. Ethan did tennis, and Jesse did swimming. They both loved it!

Ethan is really coming out of his shell, and was actually excited to be doing a group activity!

Jesse has suddenly become very interested in swimming and had a blast in his class.

It's been fun watching them learn and have so much fun!

Hide-And-Seek Gone Bad

Our household safety rules have usually been fairly simple. You know . . . no shooting your brother with the BB gun, no running with scissors, no going anywhere with strangers, that sort of thing. Well, we now have official rules for hide-and-seek. You'd think that would be a fairly safe game, but yesterday it caused the scariest hour of my entire life.

This weekend the kids and I went up to visit relatives in Pennsylvania for my cousin's graduation party. We had a great weekend spending time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. I'm very thankful we got to go!

But Saturday evening included an hour or so of very unwanted adventure. My aunt and uncle live on a huge piece of land, and their house is surrounded by fields and woods. We were all sitting around talking and eating, and the 20 or so kids were all playing in various places. I was on the porch and every few minutes I'd do a kid count to make sure all three of them were still within eyesight. Sometimes they'd go around the side of the house to the sand box and trampoline, but I could always find them pretty easily. Well, one time I looked up and noticed Jesse wasn't on the playground where he'd been swinging a few minutes ago, but Ethan and Tabitha were still there. After a few minutes I went to look for him by the sandbox but couldn't find him. There were some people playing volley ball up by the old barn, so I looked with them and in the barn. One of my cousins said she saw the little boys playing inside, so I figured he must be in there. But then I saw the other boys outside, so I figured I'd better go inside and make sure. He wasn't in the playroom or the boys' bedroom. I mentioned it nonchalantly to a couple of my aunts who were in the living room, and then I went back outside to make another round. I was getting a little confused, but figured I just hadn't looked everywhere yet. When I still didn't see him outside, I went back to check the house more thoroughly. This time my aunts spread the word, and I soon had a bunch of people checking all the bedrooms, closets, under beds, etc. By the time I came downstairs and no one had seen him I was starting to get concerned. My aunt saw me getting teary eyed, prayed quickly with me, and sent people off to check freezers, boxes, etc. Word spread quickly, and soon all the 50 or so people at the party were starting to look. As I went on another round of the property, I heard Jesse's name being called all over the place. People were checking the barn, the garage, the shed, the play areas, the dozens of cars. No one saw him. By this time I was really worried. My thoughts were a jumble. On the one hand, I figured we just hadn't thought of every place he could be--of course he's around here somewhere. On the other hand, I was remembering all those abduction stories and imagining myself as a parent of a kidnapped child and thinking about how I could never survive something like that. I had cousins taking care of Tabitha for me, and Ethan was helping to look. I really tried hard not to let him see that I was worried, but I could tell he was getting worried just by seeing all these people searching. My uncle called friends who had already left to make sure he hadn't hidden in a car and accidentally rode away with them. Several relatives and strangers took off through the woods and fields calling for him (and returning with lots of battle scars from the thorny plants they encountered). A couple of people drove their cars up and down the road to look. I felt so aimless, like I didn't even know what to do or where else to look. Another friend prayed with me, a few of my cousins were crying, complete strangers were offering words of encouragement. After a half hour or so of looking, we decided to call the police. They took his description and asked me a bunch of questions and told me local and state troopers would be on their way. They wanted me to print out a photo of Jesse before they got there, so I put a cousin to work on finding one online that we could use. I went out to talk to the police officer, and he asked all the kids if they had seen him, but none of them had anything very specific to add.

At this point I decided I needed to call Heath. I hadn't called him earlier because I didn't want to worry him over something I was sure would turn out to be nothing. But now I was thinking it might NOT turn out to be nothing. I went in the house and was just about to call him, when I heard voices shouting, "They found him!" I ran back outside and a man I didn't even know was carrying Jesse to me. He and my uncle had found him in the grass behind the shed. Several people had looked there several times, but hadn't seen him. He was crying (probably because of all the commotion and people yelling his name), and missing his shoes, but he wasn't hurt or anything. Just then the state police showed up. I felt bad having had them all come out for nothing, but of course I was mostly just relieved to have Jesse back! And I'm glad to know that the police were there for us if we'd really needed them.

After Jesse calmed down I was able to talk to him. And comparing notes between him and Ethan, here's the best that I can figure out of what happened: The boys had been jumping on the trampoline with the other kids, which is why he had his shoes off. Then they'd decided to play hide and seek (Ethan only remembered this after the fact of course). Jesse hid in the bushes behind the shed, and meanwhile Ethan got sidetracked by some other friends and started doing something else. Jesse, being over tired from staying up late and the weekend's festivities, fell asleep in the bushes, for what must've been close to an hour. Something awoke him (maybe a bug bite, because he said something pinched his arm), and he crawled out of the bushes. I think he must've woken up disoriented and hearing 50 people calling his name, and must've been afraid and started crying instead of coming out. By 10 minutes after all this he was totally back to himself, running around with the kids, eating food, playing with the balloons, and totally oblivious to all the stress he had caused. But I, for the rest of the evening, could not relax a bit. Every 5 seconds I was counting my kids and couldn't focus on anything else. After all the adrenaline of the event subsided, it left me absolutely exhausted.

When we got back to my other aunt and uncle's house and put the kids to bed, I told Ethan and Jesse the new rules for hide-and-seek. 1) No sleeping while hiding! 2) If you hear a grown-up calling your name, the game is over, and you must come out, and 3) If you are the seeker, YOU MAY NOT QUIT THE GAME UNTIL YOU FIND THE HIDER! I do have to admit though that Jesse is definitely the champion when it comes to hiding, that's for sure!

Looking back it's almost comical that he was about 20 feet from the house the whole time, right next to where several people had walked, while we were all panicking. Actually, no, I take that back. It's not comical yet. Maybe a few months from now it will be, but right now it's too recent, and my heart starts beating faster just remembering it.

After I'd calmed down enough I did call Heath and was very glad to be giving him good news instead of bad. I can tell you I have never been so scared in my life. And I have never been so thankful to see my children, and so grateful for the safety God has given them thus far in life. And I am so thankful for the many family, friends, and complete strangers, who offered support, prayer, time, and effort for my little boy. Even though he wasn't really in any danger this whole time, he certainly could've been. I am so very thankful to each of you who helped. And, God, thank You. Thank You for the caring, self-sacrificing people you place in my life. Thank You for my children. As much as I complain about them sometimes and gripe about the difficulties of parenting, they are priceless gifts, and I am so grateful for every moment You've given me with them.

To every parent reading this: Go hug your kids! And next time they want to play hide-and-seek, make sure they know the rules! Or better yet, just let them play lawn darts or something less stressful like that. ;-)