Fall Trip

We just got home from our weekend getaway to see Alexander and Ivy.  The weather was lovely fall weather.  We were able to spend a few days with them and we really enjoyed our time.

It was so good to see their cute home and how they have decorated it.  We all stayed at their home, they were very brave.  Having our busy little family at your home can add much excitement.  They were such a blessing as they took care of planning and making all the meals and showing us the sights.  We really enjoyed spending time with them, seeing Alex’s office, and going to the park where we got to play in the leaves and see the lake. The girls also got to have a fun tea party, paint nails and make leaf rubbings.  Not all my girls are tea enthusiasts, but they try.  Cassandra just kept adding more sugar until she finally gave up and traded it in for apple cider.  

I especially enjoyed going to the Sunday church service.  I did my best to keep my emotions in check as I watched our son leading the church in worship.  Memories of him as a little boy of about 3, playing on the piano and walking back and forth telling us all to praise the Lord, kept coming to my memory, and it was well with my soul.   Later that evening they had their youth service.  At the end of the service they began singing "Happy Birthday" to Ivy.  Aidric and I were in another room and he heard them and started shouting, "Cake, Cake!" Bummer there was no cake.  We enjoyed seeing Alex and Ivy interacting with the youth and ministering to them.  Being both the Music and Youth Pastor makes for a busy Sunday but Alexander is in his element and doing a great job.  Many people complimented us on our boy.  We are just so blessed to see him using the call God has placed on him to minister to others. 

The morning we left, we woke to the men making breakfast.  It was Ivy’s birthday.  We are very blessed to have a caring daughter in law who is so very much in love with our son and does a wonderful job as his wife.  It was great to share her birthday morning with her and watch her opening gifts.  Happy Birthday Ivy and thank you so much for all you do. 

God bless and have a great day.

Alicia

The lovely couple and their church

Here we are in front of their church

This is Alex's office... window office :)

This is the piano he plays during worship service

The youth room 

The youth Bible study/hangout room

ohh... the beginning of the leaf pile

Aidric wanted to be immersed in the leaves

Getting ready for the big dive

Add caption

Yeah, leaves in hair

our version of a kissing picture with leaves softly floating down.

Aidric climbing a tree

Isabella was so excited to go play on the toys

Danika looked so pretty under this gorgeous tree

Passing was leading everyone on a obstacle course 

The Dinosaur

Cute picture

Isabella tried out the dinosaur

Cassandra felt everyone should get on the dinosaur together

poor dinosaur

They were all walking holding hands, photo moment.

David and I

I feel so loved.  

Friendship

Through the years I have been blessed with some very close friends, friends that I never want to lose contact with.  When David and I did a premarital counseling, way back when, my temperament analysis said that I am the type of person that would lose contact with people and not care.  That is not me.  I may have misunderstood the results or maybe I answered the questions wrong but I do not like to lose contact of those close to me.

Thirty-Five years ago, my mom came home to tell me about this girl she had just met that had moved into the house down the street.  She wanted me to go over and meet her.  This was a bit out of my comfort zone but my mother persisted and I did it.  The girl was to be my friend for life and beyond. Her name was Tami which is my sister's name so we would refer to her as TamiB.   I am so thankful that her parents chose to move to my neighborhood.

Growing up, the church we attended preached frequently about the rapture.  I would have night mares about it.  I had shared with my new friend about the rapture and quite honestly scared to her to salvation.  I have heard it preached that this kind of soul saving doesn't work, but in this case it did.  Tami loves Lord and I am so blessed that we grew up together.  We had our ups and downs in our Christian walk growing up, but we were there to encourage each other in the Lord.  For that I am truly thankful.

As we got older, got married, had children and moved away it became hard to keep in contact.  It has been 5 years since the last time we got together.  When we get together we still have a strong friendship.  The other day, after trying to find a time all summer that we could get together, she actually had an opportunity to come to my town.  How wonderful it was to spend the day with Tami and catch up.

I am so grateful for the friends that God has placed in my life.  There are many people that have encouraged me through the years and it is my desire to never lose contact with them.  My prayer is that some day in heaven we will spend eternity together and I look forward to meeting with you all there also.  God bless you my friends and family.

Alicia
  

Us then ....

...and now

Aidric's new hair cut

Aidric fishing at harvest festival

Isabella and Sierra were very successful at the cake walk

Danika helping Aidric

August, Brent and Latisha as "nerds"

October

Ohhh, the weather has cooled off, the leaves are in their bright and crimson colors, and my house is blessed with the scent of apples and cinnamon.  I do like this time of year.  I am afraid I am a fair weather girl.  I like all the seasons but I am most comfortable when the temperature is between 35 to 85.

I have been able to get some canning done.  My parents brought me some apples from my Grandma's tree.  Then my friend got ALOT of apples and I was able to take a small 160 pounds off her hands.  I haven't quite finished, but I got 16 qts apples and cinnamon, about 15 qts jelly, and 12 qt. applesauce. It puts a smile on my face.  And I have 4 more boxes left.  I still plan on a few pies, apple crisp and dehydrating some.

Next on my list is the start of Christmas pjs.  How exciting is that. I got 23 yards of material washed and some even pressed!  Latisha is coming over in a couple days and we plan on getting a lot done.  She is going to bring her new sewing machine, and I think I am more excited then her to check it out.

Today was fun.  We had Danika's soccer game and then decided to go grab some pumpkins to carve.  Latisha and Brent joined us and I got some baby time with my handsome grandson.  It is always so fun to watch little ones cleaning out the pumpkins.  Aidric was so excited to carve the pumpkin but lost interest after a couple minutes of cleaning his, and just wanted me to make a smilie face.  I tried to do a snowman, not sure it worked out.  Cassandra wanted a soccer ball, but it was a bit more then either of us could handle.  Isabella spent a couple minutes with me as I carved her a tradition pumpkin face then decided the swing more interesting.  We had fun and are happy with are results.

I hope you are all enjoying your fall.  God bless.
Alicia

ooooooo

a good start

Soccer

So many choices in this life.  There are so many good things to do with your kids but only so much time.  When Alex and Latisha were little we lived in a smaller town and they did soccer twice a year for fun.  Then we moved here and soccer went to a new level.  We began serious club soccer.  It was nice to see people appreciated our children's soccer ability and wanted them on their team.  But as time went by it became more and more consuming.  Out of state games, high fees, and lots and lots of practices.  It was fun but then it became overwhelming.  When they began high school we took them out of club and stopped the madness. :)  In our state homeschoolers can play on the school teams.  Alex played all four year and was even the team captain his Senior year.  Latisha played varsity level her freshman year, got her letter and that was enough.  She didn't really care for the attitude and conversation of the girls.

Then what to do with the little ones behind them.  Soccer is a good sport.  It is important to exercise and learn team work, but it can also take over your life.  We were very content to step back from it for a while.  Occasionally the girls will ask about soccer or some other activity and we will allow them here and there but we have definitely learned moderation.  I really enjoy the kids being involved in church activities and that keeps us quite busy.  This fall we decided to have Cassandra do soccer.  She has really enjoyed it.  David is her coach and has his hands full with these girls.  It is for fun and for her first year she is doing great.  We really enjoy watching the girls and we just keep laughing along with them.  Danika also wanted to do soccer.  She hurt her leg but she has enjoyed it this year.  She has a fun team and although they haven't won a lot of games they too are having fun.  It is good to keep things in perspective and non club is fun and good for us at this stage of life.  Anyway here are some fun pictures.  God Bless
Alicia

Latisha giving Aidric a few pointers

Such concentration

Half time

Isabella a little hot, silly weather

Danika

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

This morning I woke up to an amazing sunrise.  I sometimes miss the sunrise with so much going on but this time of year as it rises around the same time I do with such vibrant colors, it is hard to miss.  So much is going on and yet things are still the same.  God is still good, the sun still rises, and life goes on.

Sierra and Danika have decided to try a coop this semester.  A friend of mine takes her daughter and offered to take the girls.  It is only one day a week but it sure makes things a bit more challenging to stay on track with school.  The girls are enjoying it and it is nice to have a day where I have been able to focus a bit more on the little ones.

We had a check up with Isabella's Developmental Specialist last month.  When you only see someone once a year, and I am sure he sees many, many patients between us, it is hard for the doctor to remember your child.  He had asked his usual questions and observed Isabella and encouraged me to get her to the new Geneticist.  Isabella has made little progress since the last time we saw him and he was hoping the Geneticist might add new insight.  It was odd because last year he had told me there was no need to see a Geneticist again unless we had more of an idea of what was going on.  That we could do a hundred different tests and still have no answers.  We had had testing done on her a while back for Angelman's and Retts Syndromes, which thankfully, she had failed.  He had seen the test results a year ago and agreed that she did not have Angelman's Syndrome, but now he was thinking she did.

A couple days later the Geneticist office called me and told me of openings they had and could get Isabella in.  They explained the the referring doctor really wanted her seen as soon as possible.  I did not enjoy my last visit with the Geneticist, as it is terribly discouraging.  It is their job to search for answer, but some of those answers are really hard, so I was not looking forward to this appointment.  The meeting went as I had expected and they want to do more testing.  Getting Isabella's blood last time was a bit of a nightmare.  She doesn't understand what we are doing and it is terribly upsetting to the both of us.  The Geneticist agreed with the Developmental Specialist, that it looked like Isabella has Angelman's Syndrome.  She said there are different areas of testing and would like to continue down that avenue. As for an outlook for Isabella...she will be just as she is for the rest of her life.  That she will never talk more then a few words and developmentally be as she is.  She should live a long life unless there are complications with her seizures.  This prognosis broke my heart.  I think as parents we want the best for our children and to see that she may never be able to do more then she does now is very upsetting.  Isabella cannot talk, feed, dress, or use the restroom herself.  Living with a child with special needs, I want hope that things will get better.  I want so much more for her.  The doctor said that even if Isabella never tests positive on the blood test that all signs point to Angelman's and that would be her diagnosis regardless.

The one thing I want to hold onto from that meeting is the Geneticist said Miraculous things happen with these kids all the time.  She said it several times and so that is what I am praying for... the miraculous things.  Wether or not Isabella has Angelman's doesn't change my love for her or God's plan for her.  I will continue to seek God's best for her life and pray that His will be done in Isabella's life.  I spent several hours the other night researching Angelman's and there are many similarities but not all the characteristics fit Isabella.  I am well aware that all these prognosis are on a spectrum and Isabella might not have all the characteristics.  For now we just say she has Isabellaism and she is fearfully and wonderfully made by her Creator who holds her little life in His able hands.  This I know for sure, God is Good and he is not surprised by what the doctors say or my weakness.  He is good.   Every new sunrise reminds me that he is still in control and loves to bless us with such beauties as the vibrant sunrise and our Isabella.  God gives us what we need when we need it and I am so thankful for his faithfulness.  What then shall I say, according to Romans 8:21if God is for me who can be against me. I shall not worry or fret.  God bless you all and have a great day.

Alicia

Our Belly Bear

such a work of art