Witnessing a Miracle

     Thanksgiving is one of those times to really reflect on what we are thankful for and seeing the miracles in life.  This past Saturday I witnessed a miracle.  My mom and were volunteering for our Bountiful Baskets site.  The driver was a bit late (expected because of the weather).  His truck was bigger than the trucks our site usually gets and he had to park on the road.  All of the volunteers were helping to unload the truck when we noticed the driver was acting very strange.  He was dropping boxes, had a loss of balance, his behaviour was different than when he first arrived.  He was a bit beligerent and just having a really tough time.  We wondered if he was drunk or something of that nature.  Our site coordinator decided to contact the trucking company because he had other sites to go to.  The trucking company said that he was a good man and that he would never drink or anything of that nature.  Well, guess where our site happens to be?  A fire station.  Two firemen decided to check him out for alcohol and such.  They took him into the station and started running some tests.  The man could not give any medical information he was so disoriented.  The trucking company gave what they had.  The man became so incoherent he didn't even know his own name at one point.  It became clear that he was truly in a medical crisis.  His heart rythm was off and it was determined that he was having a stroke.  The man was quickly put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital.  The firemen said that being where he was most likely saved his life.  His next stop would take him over a large mountain pass.  If he had had the stroke here, he very likely would have died and possibly taken out others with his truck.  I am so thankful for a Father in Heaven who watches out for us and places us in the right places at the right times for our benefit.

Watch this video on Thanksgiving.

Update on Unexpected

Yesterday I received an email from Jacob's teacher.  Just a little background - In a Montessori school, a child's class includes 3 grades.  1-3 graders are together as are 4-6.  It's really nice because a teacher really gets to know your child this way.  Anyway, the email said that she had noticed a change in Jacob over the past 2 weeks and attributed it to some leadership opportunities that he has been given.  I do know the opportunities have helped his confidence, but the behaviour has to do with the tea he has been consuming.  It gives me SO much hope that his teacher noticed so early on in the school year.  I purposely chose not to tell her about the tea because I didn't want her to have a biased opinion.  I am hoping that after some time, the reduction in anxiety will help his impulse control because I think they are intertwined.

Karlyn

I have to post about my sweet Karlyn.  Karlyn is Grandpa's girl.  She calls him gamma-gamma.  She is a true girlie-girl.  If she was allowed, she would wear dresses 24/7.  She loves dolls and any stuffed animal.  Karlyn (we call her Karlyn Darlin') is talking up a storm.  She loves to give hugs and kisses.  When she wants my attention she will climb on top of me, grab my face and make sure I'm giving her the attention she deserves.  It's been hard for her to see everyone go to school.  She asks where everyone is constantly.  She even packed her own backpack today which really made it seem a bit better.

 

First Day of Preschool

     Today was Mckenna's first day of preschool.  She was so excited!  She was up and ready to go with the rest of the kids.  She was hoping she would make some new friends (she will there were new kids in the class this year) and also hoping some of her old friends would return. 

Connor and School

     Connor always manages to surprise me.  A little background.  Connor pretty much flunked the 4th grade.  It's not that he isn't/wasn't bright - he's amazingly bright.  Connor just didn't like busy work.  Let's face it, anything he had to write down didn't get done.  He used to stuff his papers in his desk at school.  We'd get the papers at the end of the quarter with the assignment to finish them.  I knew that wasn't going to happen and quite frankly, I didn't think it was a good idea in the first place.  So, I let the teacher know that Connor would be moving forward because going back wasn't going to do anyone any good.  In 5th grade we homeschooled.  That was an amazing experience.  We used an online program and he was told each day that he had certain assignments to do but could do them as quickly or slowly as he chose.  It usually took him a couple of hours and then he could do what he wanted to do.  It was a great year and he learned A LOT!  Last year he attended a Montessori charter school.  It was a fabulous experience.  His teacher loved him and it made all of the difference.  The school believes in teaching children to work independently, respect others, etc.  6th graders were given many leadership opportunities.  They worked as a team to raise funds to go to Catalina Island for a field trip.  He came away from the school with a sense of accomplishment and self confidence.
     This year he is attending our local jr. high school.  He started off the year with a desire to get a 4.0.  Will he get it?  I'm not sure, but he's giving it his all and we will do all we can to support that goal.  He was very excited for the first school stomp.  Connor was also a little upset because he didn't know how to dance.  Kellie showed him how to slow dance because apparently no one fast dances anymore.  Interesting.  He came home from the stomp and said that he had danced EVERY slow dance.  WHAT?  He even asked some of the girls.  It was pretty amazing.  Keep it up Connor!

8 Years Old

8 is a special birthday in our home.  It's a milestone year that comes with a baptism.  Mailaya turned 8 the second week of August and was baptised.  Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of her baptism day.  It was such a wonderful day.  We let her pick out her own set of scriptures with her name engraved on them.  All of my family was able to attend and one of Brent's siblings, his brother Mike was there.  Mailaya planned the entire program from the songs that were song, prayers, and talks by her grandparents.  She asked every person on the program to participate by herself.  We were very proud of her! 

Unexpected

Sometimes things come in unexpected ways. I've been searching for some help for my son, Jacob, for a long time. Little things here and there come along but it's seems like the steps are so small that it's hard to notice. Some big helps have been the book, "Teaching Self Government," by Nicholeen Peck and finding out that he has trouble with gluten and taking it out of his diet. One of the biggest problems is that he is very impulsive and at the same time a perfectionist. It seems he is always fighting himself.
My oldest daughter, Kellie, was really sick and I was trying to figure out what I could do to help her. I was looking up some things on the Herbal Legacy website and came across an article about nettle tea and it's cleansing properties. Soon after that, Jacob had some food with gluten and I thought I'd try the tea. It worked brilliantly. The real test came not long after that when he had a cookie at church. The new Primary Presidency didn't realize how serious it was for Jacob to have gluten and he just can't say no. I ran him home as soon as I found out about the cookie and made the tea. It worked again. I then learned about red raspberry leaves and Lobelia. This is where it gets interesting. Red raspberry has some wonderful properties of nutrition and cleansing. Lobelia is an AMAZING herb. One of it's many properties is that it can relax the body. This intrigued me because Jacob has a high level of anxiety and I wondered if it would help. However, I was a little afraid of using Lobelia because in the back of my mind I remembered hearing something negative about it.
In the meantime, I got an Herbal Legacy email with an offer to take the Family Herbalist ckass for around $200. I thought it would be worth the money to learn more. I have always tried to do things as naturally as possible and this would aid me further. One of my sister's is a Master Herbalist and had good things to say about the program. Through this class I learned that lobelia is a very safe herb. That was enough to convince me to try it. I bought some herbs online from Mountain Rose Herbs and started making tea. I use 1 tsp. nettle, 1 tsp red raspberry leaves (I get these from my yard), 1/4 tsp lobelia and 1/2 tsp horsetail (good for calcium). Can I just say WOW! He's calmer, less impulsive, happier. It's been amazing. I'm hoping that this will work long term, for his sake. Even the first week of school went amazingly well and it was a tough week. I am now taking the Nutritional Herbalist course and hoping that I learn enough to help all three of my kids that have gluten issues.