Making Memories

I have vivid memories of summer from my childhood. Some of my fondest memories are of beach days with my extended family.

Friday afternoon, I am certain my children made memories they will hold dear long into their adult years.

It began when my friend Laura invited us to visit with them when they vacationed on Hilton Head.

We do LOVE the beach, so, of course we accepted the invitation.

But, it was even more special because of this precious girl:

That beautiful girl in those photos with Josie-Tatum is Lydia. She is special to us because she spent the first months of her life in the same orphanage as Josie-Tatum. The LORD has blessed us to be able to keep in touch with her family through the years. Just minutes after seeing each other, the girls were reconnected like the best of friends.

Below is the traditional "red couch" photo families were known to take when their travel groups stayed at the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou China. Josie-Tatum is second from the left and Lydia is on the far right.

Here is another photo of the girls at a second trip we made together, less than 2 years after our first meeting when we traveled to China together.

Just seeing the girls together again would have made the trip memorable, but it was an exceedingly more than that.

While they spent most of their time in the water together,

my other children were treated as well.

Dan spent most of his time in the water with them. It started with a ride in the inflatable boat:

I went to him more than once and asked if I could take over. The first time he said, "I'm alright," and Ellie shouted, "Yeah, mama, he's alright." Dan sweetly told me to enjoy my time. What a blessing!!!

Later, Dan and two of his boys spent time in the water swimming with the Littles. They each had their own swimming buddy.

Aaron and Zeke

 Dan and Drew

 Ellie and Shayne

Zeke also enjoyed watching Aaron and Shayne play around with the soccer ball, and joined in himself.

Dan helped Zeke manage riding on his boogie board.

The family's oldest son Tanner is the same age as Whitney. They became friends in China, too. I enjoyed watching the two of them when they were both maneuvering the boat.

I also enjoyed the look on Tanner's face when he was playing with the kids.

I think Whitney enjoyed herself, too.

The day made for ONE more Ephesians 3:20 moment!

He CAN do more!!!!

We've just returned home from a visit to Shriner's for both Ellie and Drew. Both of them had their AFO's adjusted. I was excited to learn that they didn't need new ones....or we would have needed to return to Tampa in 2 weeks to pick them up.

But, the best news!

Some of you already know....but I must praise the LORD again and again.

Last summer, we scoliosis had progressed significantly. The curve of her spine was at 61 degrees. I looked at her initial x-ray from 2008 compared with that x-ray and literally felt weak. We waited several months before we saw the surgeon. I did research and knew surgery was likely in her future.

He did not recommend surgery last August, but a brace, a TLSO. He explained that our hope would be it would keep the scoliosis from progressing any furthers, possibly causing damage to her internal organs. Surgery may be necessary at a later date. Ellie was to wear it 23 hours a day, only taking it off to bathe or play sports.

Our sweet school nurse affectionately refers to it as a torture device.

Ellie wore it most days without much complaint. She has grown quite weary of it, almost a year later. It makes her sweat profusely. Then, it makes her itch. Some days she cries. Others she wears it without being reminded.

Last Tuesday, I prepared myself for bad news. We have encountered some new development nearly every doctor's visit.

Oh, was I suprised!

The PA pulled up the x-ray and beside it showed me last summer's x-ray. The curve was 45 degrees!!!

The brace is doing for Ellie more than we had hoped, more than we imagined. It is not only keeping her scoliosis from progressing, it has helped to improve her scoliosis. That is more than her medical caregivers expected, too!! I have since told two medical professionals who politely tried to discount the progress.

"That's not what the brace is expected to do," I've been told.

"How long was she out of the brace?" I was asked. "It could be that the muscles were still in place from wearing the brace." She was out of the brace for a while, not only through examination, but long enough to walk the corridor from the examination room to the x-ray department.

That is not what medical professionals may have expected.....but...

That is my God,

my Ephesians 3:20 King of Kings,

my Miracle of More Jesus!

Praise the KING who created her fearfully and wonderfully.

Praise the LORD who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we ask or think!

Amazing Achievements: Part 1--Zeke

Many people remark about Zeke's perpetual smile. He is often smiling, especially in public. But, his smile grows bigger at special moments-like when his name is called to receive a ribbon.

In this mama's mind, he has had a REMARKABLE year. A year of so many firsts. I am amazed at his ability to handle new situations and do so with great strength. From the moment he took my hand in China and allowed me to lead him into the unknown. He has continued to take risks and desire to please, desire to achieve.

He received a perfect attendance ribbon for the 9 weeks, and the Character Counts ribbon. I think character counts, too.

But, I am super impressed with his academic achievement. He entered kindergarten without knowing a single letter of the alphabet, with no phonemic awareness, no awareness of a letter sound relationship. His beginnings were slow.

But...he ended with amazing success. He knows all of his letters, all of his sounds, and over 50 sight words. He is beginning to read and LOVING it! He loves spelling simple CVC words. If you see him in town, ask him. He will be delighted to spell h-a-t or p-o-t or p-i-g or c-u-p. He will beam!

It has been a joy to watch him and join him on the journey to learning. This is the fun stage when all of the sudden letters make sense. He continually looks for words on cereal boxes and signs. He hears a word spoken and tries to spell it. He know words are EVERYWHERE. And, since we hit this stage just at the end of the school year, the teacher/mom in me knows we must keep the momentum going.

Yes, we're doing some school this summer. We have more sight words to learn. We have books to read. We have sentences to write. And, I can't wait to see how much more progress he is going to make.

For now, enjoy the smile and enjoyment you see on his face at the end of the year kindergarten celebration. I love to watch children who KNOW the show is all about them.

 He who had no family, now knows a family is out there just to see him.

 And he loves to sing. Most often his head is thrown back and his voice is projected at the ceiling. He may very well be singing louder than any other...even if he really doesn't know all of the words.

 And...to end his year with a SNAP!!! He as the alligator being teased by 5 little monkeys, "You can't catch me!"

It has been a joy to watch Zeke grow!

The Gang's All Here!

Today, I had all of my children for Sunday dinner. It has been months, maybe close to a year, since they've all been home at one time.

I cooked a family favorite Brisket recipe. The greatest compliment came when my daughter-in-law Casie said, "I need this recipe. Caleb said if there is one recipe I need from you it is your brisket recipe." (So easy, I'll post it later for all to enjoy.)

We also had garden fresh green beans. They were picked less than 24 hours earlier by a couple in our church, delivered to us at church this morning, snapped as soon as we got home, cooked and ready for us to eat by lunch time. Delicious!!!

After lunch, all of my children politely got ready for a family photo. And, they were all nice....butcept Drew. (Yes, butcept is his word.)

When he is 21 years old, and we take a family photo, I plan to show him the several I took today of him being "ugly." I wonder if he will have matured by then. ;)

 

 

We did manage a couple of good ones, though.

 

 

 

And, of course, the traditional goofy shot. Maybe this should be my blog header.

 

It's summer finally! We've already begun the beach and the pool and Wild Adventures and the housework. More to come soon!

 

Wild Days and Wild Flowers

Our wild days of late have included clogged toilets, leaking faucets, flooded floors, and upset tummies.

Today's wild time took place in a field of wild flowers. Last year, we were just settling into our new life, so I wanted to be sure we held this year's photo shoot. With the Crazy Bear, Drew Bear, I am surprised that we came away with so many good photos.

Fewer words now, just look at my beautiful youngest children. Tell me which photos are your favorites!

A New Favorite Place

I visited here many times as a child. I have wonderful memories of being here with my mother and my sister, my cousins sometimes, and my aunts.

My children are now learning to love it as much as I do.

Jekyll Island

We've taken the children to the beach there a few times. That's where we were last year when Drew and Zeke had their first trip to the beach. (See it here.)

But, I have now shared with them some of the other experiences to be found on the island. I covertly loaded up scooters loaned to us by friends from school. I didn't tell them the plan. It was a secret. We got to the beach and I showed them the scooters. If you don't live in south Georgia, you might not have been to Jekyll Island. It has MILES of bike paths along the ocean and through wooded areas.

The kids and I spent a couple of hours on scooters along the bike paths.

Ellie, though, told me she wanted a picnic on the grass...like she had seen in books.

So, I took them for the first time to the historic district of Jekyll Island. They loved it far more than I could have imagined. We sat in a grassy park area between the Jekyll Island Club Hotel and the water. The live oak trees offered precious shade, but my children found much more than shade.

Low hanging limbs to ride like horses and climb, or even just to sit and enjoy the view.

They surprised me most when they enjoyed looking at the historic "cottages" and talking about the history. I look forward to more memory-making days with my children at Jekyll!