My sweet girl is HOME!

I'm a little behind in posting this, but my sweet girl is home!  :-)  Several friends have asked about her trip and Rebecca has graciously agreed to write a guest post on my blog about her trip!  Complete with photos!  :-)  I have loved hearing her stories and the things she has learned.  I look forward to having her share some of that here too!

We went out to the airport late and were joined by friends too.  Christopher and two of his friends (hi Justin and Tyler) even made signs for Rebecca.  Isn't that sweet?  

 So very happy to be welcomed home.

 We were all delighted to see her.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity that she had to go and am also just really happy to have her back.

 Just loved this picture.

 One of the things she brought home were these cool  wooden necklaces for her younger brothers.  Great conversation starter, don't you think?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever.  Ps 107:1

More soon on her trip!

Blessings
Leslie

Beyond Co-op - Skylark #1

We've started our final book of the year - Skylark.  This is a fun follow-up to the book we read at the beginning of the year, Sarah Plain and Tall.  We have had a slow start (personally) so we are playing catch-up a bit in our home lessons, which is fine with me.  I love that this is a flexible curriculum and that the order of things we are learning is not so much of an issue.  It allows us to take breaks when we need them and use the curriculum as it best suits our family.  I don't want to be a slave to a curriculum, no matter how good it may be.  

One of our first co-op lessons was on the Dust Bowl.  What a difficult period of time for our country.  And one of the challenging aspects is that many people who weren't living in that area really had no idea of how difficult it was for the people there.  The entire country was working through the Depression.  

 Some of the resources used.  We also watched documentary called Surviving the Dust Bowl featuring interviews of people who lived during that time amidst many pictures.  Many told stories that were challenging and some were just very sad!  It is important to understand though and learn from the past so that hopefully we will know how to make better choices for the future as well as gain empathy for those facing challenges that are beyond their control.

 The second part of our day was spent in learning more about art, colors and the color wheel.

 We had lessons on color mixing, analogous colors and complementary colors.  While learning, each of the children made their own color wheel.

  I wondered if the color mixing would prove to be a challenge for my boys, but they both did a great job.  (They both have some degree of color-blindness.)

 They used acrylic paints and took great care to get the colors in the right places.

 Does watching your child paint ever make you want to try it yourself?  I know it does me.  Last week we did more painting and I decided to give it a try too.  It was fun!  Its something we  need to do more often.

 They worked on the warm colors mainly today in terms of mixing to show the shades of a color.

 This was a neat tip in learning to paint shadows.  Use the two main colors to create a shadow that works with those colors.

For example, the shade to the right is the "shadow" color created by mixing yellow and purple.  The children mixed the complementary colors to find the good shadow colors.  

Finished wheel.  Doesn't it look great?!

 Can you guess what we had for a snack?  Bet you can't - even with a picture.  LOL

Bison burgers.  They were delicious too.  Not pictured is a fun ice cream treat that they also had to go along with it.  As always a fun day and a great way to learn!  I'm so thankful to be a part of this group!

Blessings
Leslie

Celebrating Heart Day ... 5 years later

Wow!  Its been 5 years.  Those of you that have known for me for that long (or longer) may also be surprised that it has been 5 years.  In some ways it seems distant, but it only takes thinking about it for a moment for the tears to start forming in my eyes.  Yes, they are there right now, waiting to brim over if I think about it much more.

Our sweet little Eliana was born with two holes in her heart.  We found out about this on the day of her birth and the day after being released from the NICU, we had our first (of many) cardiology appointments. We were given signs to watch for as we waited for her to go into heart failure.  Our precious pediatrician saw it first - come slowly - but coming none the less.  Within a few days, it was awful.  She was just 5 weeks old and couldn't stay awake and couldn't eat.  I remember staying up with her most of the night just terrified of what was happening.  Knowing that had we lived in another time or another place that this would be the end of her story.

By God's grace, there has been so much more!

We still waited though.  She received a feeding tube so that she could be fed enough to gain weight.  And so for 3 more months we waited.  On April 16, 2007, we rose early in the morning and headed to Duke hospital for her surgery.  Sweet friends were there with us to pray and encourage and comfort us.

You can read more about it here.  It was hard.  Oh, so very hard.  And it was also a time where God poured out so much love and grace.  Handing over my little girl was one of the hardest things I've ever done.  You see, as I prayed with God over her upcoming surgery, I wrestled with Him.  I wanted her healed and whole.  I wanted my way.  He called me though to His way.  He asked me to be willing to hand her over to Him.  He asked me if I trusted that He was good.  Did I say it only or truly believe it?  It wasn't easy and I didn't want the outcome to be anything other than my way.  In the end though, I knew I had to trust Him.  I had to step out in faith and say that He is good ... no matter what.  When I handed my little girl to the doctors, I was handing her over to God.

While we waited, I had such a sense of peace.  His peace that passes understanding.  Thankfully, God did also give us the desires of our heart - that our little girl would be healed.  I'm so thankful that He didn't call us to more that day.  I know that this was a much easier path than many have walked with their children.  I'm thankful.

(For any that want to look, here are photos from the day of surgery and some from after the surgery are here.)

So each year, we celebrate this day.  We mark it as a family.  The celebration isn't large, but it is special to us.  This year, we went out for ice cream.  Again, not a huge event, but sometimes it isn't about what you are doing and more that you are remembering and thanking God for His goodness and faithfulness.

I'm so thankful for His healing hand on our little girl.

In terms of her heart, it is working beautifully today!  She has had no problems at all!  She does have a small leak in one of her valves and she is monitored for that.  We are hopeful that her heart will grow in such a way as not to stress this tear and that she won't need heart surgery again in the future.  If she does, we will walk it again - with God by our side.

Happy Heart Day beautiful girl!

Love
Mommy

Friends, fun and other random happenings here ...

 So many fun things going on and I'm trying to play a little bit of catch up ... as always.  Our week has been relatively quiet.  Its been odd having Rebecca gone.  Just having the 4 younger ones and things seem so quiet.  We've also had few outside commitments so we've been home a lot.  Its been a great week for getting some school work done!  We've been able to Skype with Rebecca several times and while brief, they have been wonderful.  I love that we can see and talk with her while she is so far away!  A real treat and a blessing!  I'm very much looking forward to having her home soon!

Last month, I was able to spend a week end with some dear friends.  Some I've known for many years - since about the beginning of my homeschool journey and some just for a few years.  It was relaxing, encouraging and just fun!

 Isaiah got braces.  He actually only has them on 6 upper teeth and is only expected to have them for 3-4 months.  It is trying to correct a problem with his bite.  He has been great about taking care of them and watching what he eats.  I think he looks pretty cute too!

 On the first day of spring, we headed to Rita's Italian Ice (right after Isaiah got his braces).  They were giving away free ices.  I loved that they were gluten-free!  Its fun to have a treat that we can all enjoy!

 Just had to show off this cute hairstyle!  Rebecca does the cutest things with Eliana's hair!  I'm so glad that Eliana has a big sister to do these fun and cute girly things with her!

 Adorable, right?

 It isn't easy getting her to sit still for this either!  LOL

 We celebrated Joe's (Christopher's roommate) birthday.  It was so much fun to have Christopher, Joe and 3 of their friends over for dinner.  This is what a crowd at our house looks like.  

 Eliana really enjoys playing with Joe and she clearly has something important that she is telling him here.

 Fun playing with Joe!

What a great group of young men!  We laughed, played and had a fun time with all of them.  (For any of you that may read this, please come back soon!)

 Its nice hearing the piano played as nobody here plays it much any more.

 Of course we had a birthday cake!  Happy Birthday Joe!  Thank you for sharing your day with us!  We are so thankful for you!

 Did I mention how much we enjoy having these guys over?  I'm so glad that we live close enough to get to know some of Christopher's friends and to have them home for a meal.  :-)

We also celebrated my Dad's birthday.  Rebecca and I were able to make a quick trip to Charlotte to spend some time with Dad on his birthday.  We had a birthday lunch at my sister's house.

 I'm blessed to have an amazing family!  I thank God every day for my family!  I love you Mom and Dad!

 Eliana and I attended a tea party.  A mom of another little girl Eliana's age invited several little girls with Down syndrome to come to a tea party.  All of the girls are about 5-7 years old.  She thought it would be nice for them to have some girl time.  It was a really fun morning!  A beautiful table!

 And delicious foods!  All of which were safe for Eliana to eat.  It really touched my heart that she went to all of this effort to make sure that Eliana could eat whatever was being served!

 Doesn't she look like a little lady?  *grin*

 This is a gluten free doughnut!  One of my friend's friends bakes gluten free goodies.  She also teaches classes.  I'm hoping to be able to go to one in the future!  I would love to learn how to bake really good sweets like this!

 A table full of beautiful little girls.  All loved and cherished.  Little girls that enjoy dress-up and tea parties and dolls.

 It was a fun morning  spent with friends that we don't know well, but would like to get to know better.  I wish we didn't all live so far apart from each other.

This post feels very random and like a bombardment of a whole lot of different things.  Kind of like my life.  My life is quiet some days and loud on others.  Busy and calm.  Stressful and relaxing.  Lots of variety but through it all, I'm blessed beyond measure.  I'm thankful for family and friends.  For good health.  For God's love.

Blessings
Leslie

Centennial Wildlife Field Trip

We had a beautiful and warm day for our field trip to NC State's Centennial Campus.  We split into 2 groups and for a change, I went with the older group!  The younger group stayed on the site and did some nature programming on insects.  

There are also things to see inside the building that looked neat.  Love the door!

I only got a quick peek at them though. I was chosen to go with the older students because of my big van!  :-)  

We were meeting at an off-site location to learn more about telemetry.  We first listened and learned about what they were doing to track turtles.  It was neat to learn more about how turtles respond when their habitat is changed.  They track the turtles over time to see what their movement patterns are in the area.

 If you look at the map, you will see a cluster of blue dots in one corner of the land.  This is a turtle in his native habitat.  The yellow dots represent a rescued turtle that was found hurt near a road.  He was brought here, but this was not his native habitat.  We wandered over much of almost 90 acres looking for his home!

 This is the tracking device that emits a signal when you are getting close to the turtle.

 We walked up a path and then headed into the woods.  There were 3 students with the tracking devices looking for a turtle.  Each turtle had a different frequency.

 When they got a signal, the students with the tracking devices would spread out around the area to then try to pinpoint the turtles location.

 As you got closer, you could hold the transmitter closer to the ground for a more accurate reading.

 It isn't as easy as it may sound!   The turtles were all buried beneath leaves and dirt!

After the first turtle was located, a new set of students took a turn at finding the next turtle.  

Rebecca and Hanna decided to work together as a pair which took a lot of good communicating!  Helps that they are great friends!

We kept walking and looking.

Until we were close.

And it still wasn't easy.

Do you  see him yet?

Now?  Buried in the leaves?

This turtle is right where she is pointing and touching the shell.  I had no idea that they could hide so well.

And little did we know that the 3rd turtle was going to be the best yet at hiding!

Some sister play time.  This helped a lot because Eliana was kind of cranky.  We later figured out that she had been glutened (mildly???) with chapstick!

Friends.

Looking, but no success.

Its just sweet seeing my girls playing together.  Rebecca waited a long time for this sister.

Finally the last turtle was located.  After much looking.  Under the log!

What a fun group to spend the morning with!

When we finished, we headed over to nearby Pullen Park.  We hadn't been there since it has been renovated and it looks great!  We had a picnic in one of the new shelter areas.

Then rode some of the rides.  Merry Go Round.

Eliana was actually a little scared on the ride which is quite unlike her.  It made me wonder if being glutened leaves you feeling a little off balance in any way???  Anyone know?

And of course the train around the park!

We ended the day by visiting Moonberries for frozen yogurt.  It was a wonderful treat after a warm day. A delightful day of learning, laughing and just having fun!  Looking forward to our next field trip day ... tomorrow!

Blessings

Leslie