April 1st 2010

Hello friends,
     Welcome to April and I pray that you don't have to deal with any fools today!  We are doing well here and gearing up to start on the new house.  If you didn't notice the link to the left on my last blog, please take a look.  Thomas has started a blog for the house.  We had a lot of people tell us that they wanted to help with the work, but had trouble keeping all those names in our heads, so we started the house blog to let people know what kind of work is going on any given day.  If you are one of those people and we haven't contacted you, we do want your help.  You can respond to the email link to let us know what you can help with.  We are excited about the new house because it will be so much easier to move Micah around and to get him out of the house.  We have so many dinks in the walls in this house from his chair it looks like someone has been throwing rocks at them!
     Our appt. for tomorrow has been rescheduled again to April 28th.  The Dr. had wanted to check the pump before refilling it, but as it turns out, we are going to have it refilled on the 7th but are not going to be able to see if it is working properly until the 28th.  Seems a bit backwards to me : /  We have recently gotten Micah off of the sleeping med he was taking without any trouble.  This week we are weaning him off of another med,  a neuro-stimulant.  Our prayer is that we will not see any regression in him so that he will be able to stay off of this one also.  He should be off of it by Monday so please pray that he will do well.   
     We have been enjoying the warmer weather and getting Micah outside more.  He had a teacher come by to visit this week and until she knows more about what to do with Micah, where school work is concerned, she will be reading to him twice a week.  She brought a Hardy Boys book with her this week and he seemed to enjoy that.  I think the next step will be the therapists coming to the house.  It could get a little crazy around here with therapists, teachers, new house and homeschooling, please pray for my sanity!  
     One other thing that I've noticed lately with Micah is that his laugh is starting to sound more like he is laughing instead of just some random sound coming from him.  Did that make any sense at all?  I'm hoping that this is just a beginning of him getting control over the tongue and vocal chords.  I have not been consistent with giving him things to try to chew and swallow, but his tongue has been more relaxed lately and staying forward in his mouth so we will try that more.  I did buy him some very tiny peanut butter cups the other day and he was very happy about that.  He doesn't always get all of it down, but he tries.  We need a consistent swallow from Micah, he chews fine, but the swallowing is the hard part.  To have a consistent swallow he needs more control over his tongue.  Oh, that we all had that, that tiny little member causes us all trouble!
     As for the rest of the kids, they are doing great.  I've have been pleasantly surprised how they have rallied around Micah and pitch in to help with even the most unpleasant of jobs without complaining.  Sometimes those "unpleasant" tasks are taken care of before I even know that they happened!  I am truly blessed with these children and a wonderful husband to share them with!  May the Lord bless each of you with His presence today in an uncommon way.  Please take time to enjoy this weeks many opportunities to celebrate Jesus.  Many churches will be having Good Friday services and Easter Sunday services also.  If you don't have anywhere to go, we would love to have you come to our church.  

Blessed is the man who does this,
       the man who holds it fast,
       who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
       and keeps his hand from doing any evil."  Isaiah 56:2

I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, 

without anger or disputing.  I Timothy 2:8

Blessings,
Tina