Category: Blessings

Whew! What a Week!

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, Household, Isaac Update, Just My Thoughts, What's Happening

We have had such a great and busy week this week; and today my mind is tumbling and twirling with so many thoughts that I thought I’d stop by and share some of them with you.

Shall we do a Bullet Blog?  We haven’t had one of those in a while, and I find those little round dots are very freeing…no need to connect the thoughts as we go along!

  • We had an AMAZing Bible Conference this week.  I mean we literally had several services in-a-row where we listened to preachers preach the Bible!  There was no grand-standing.  There were no overinflated “preacher” egos.  There were no personality conflicts.  It was just GOOD BIBLE Preaching!!!  (For the record, we don’t usually have all those negative things in our conferences any way.  I just wanted you to know what kind of services we really had!)
  • My tomatoes and cucumbers are growing so well.  I am really pleased.  I put the lattice work in to the cucumber pots this morning, and we moved the tomatoes outside to get a little more sunshine.
  • Ike’s caregiver is not here today.  She is “caregiving” for her son.  He broke 3 fingers yesterday and is making all the necessary doctor’s visits today.  Please pray for Nathan’s fingers to heal quickly and completely.
  • I am so SO weary of reading CHRISTIAN blogs with CURSE words!!!  You know, I expect it from the world, but NOT from fellow Christians.  I think this whole “being real”, “being transparent” trend is just giving us excuses to live and act according to the flesh.  I know there are times when we all slip and say (or think) a “cuss” word.  However, to type that word out and proudly hit the “publish” button???  Shame on you!  You ought to know better!  It shows a lack of class and a serious lack of imagination and creativity.
  • Isaac is sleeping the day away today…and has done that several times in the last few weeks.  I think he’s going through a growth spurt.
  • We are attending a family reunion on Saturday, and for the first time in years, I am excited to cook for it — because of PINTEREST!!!  There are just so many easy recipes that it makes it really fun to pick out a few things to try.
  • Next Tuesday I will be posting a “Do Over Challenge” post on my jewelry blog.  I am looking forward to that!  I re-made the necklace that was sent to me a couple of weeks ago, and have already worn it twice!  Now I just have to discipline myself to take some pictures for my post!  I’m looking forward to seeing what the other jewelry bloggers have done with their “do over” pieces!
  • My cousin Joy, of Case Crossings, had her baby girl on Monday!  We are all so excited about her.  Joy and her husband like to “meet” their babies before deciding on a name, so we have called her “Tadpole” for months.  It was very difficult for 3-year-old Josiah to accept that his baby sister is now called “Joanna”! LOL!  Hopefully, he will pick up on it quickly, as he hears other people say it! 🙂

Yep, we’ve had a fun and busy week!  So now, I’d best get up from here and see what I can get accomplished!

HopeFULLy,

Alesha Kay

Success!

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, Household, Managing My Mondays, What's Happening

 

Finally, by making use of the freebies offered us by our Creator (i.e. planning, perspiring and persevering), I have achieved my goal:


View2

Lunch, on my porch, with a view!

Everyday Blessings

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Food and Drink, Household, What's Happening

 

Before

Before

 

During

During

After

(Now we can roll Isaac's wheelchair out to the porch, and we can roll Poppet's birdcage out there too.)

After

Doug's chili turned out so yummy!

Yummy

Ike's dvd players are constantly breaking – even the expensive ones.  We found these at our corner drugstore for $9.99.

Dvd players

Our radio Restorathon loot!  (Well, there were 4 cds, too, but they are already in use!)

Loot

The shampoo that saved the day!  (Coconut oil is verrrrrry difficult to remove from hair!)

Shampoo

We got our tax return back today!

Taxes

Cute little clippies Doug brought home for me.

Clips

Pretty Kepler

Prettygirl

My favorite little smirky boy!

Smirky boy

Until next time…Blessings,

Alesha

Happy Anniversary to Isaac, Doug and Me!!!

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Isaac Update

 

It is the 10-YEAR anniversary of Isaac's Gotcha Day! 

I remember that day with as much clarity as a mommy who shares her child's birth story.  What a wonderful day, and what a miracle it was to bring home our baby boy.

We love you, Ikey-doo!  Thank you for bringing so much joy and laughter into our home!

 

 

 

 

So What’s Going On with Isaac?

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Isaac Update, What's Happening

I know you all like to know how's he doing, so here's a nice, long update for you.

On the sleeping front – Isaac has slept several nights in a row.  We are ecstatic about that, as you can well imagine.

About three weeks ago, his neurologist increased one of his meds, and we have seen wonderful results.  He is sleeping at night.  His vision to his left has increased.  He is looking to the left and is noticing things in his peripheral vision on both sides.

~In our backyard, reaching for a potted plant~

Leftreach

There are also some results that are not so wonderful.  He has an opinion about everything.  He wants all of his needs/wants met NOW, and he doesn't like to be corrected.

~I call this his "I can't believe she just told me 'No!' face"!!!~

Noface

His manual dexterity has increased and his strength has seemingly tripled.  Both of those things lead to pinching others and grabbing his tubes and syringes during feeds.

So the seizures are under better control, but Ike is NOT!!!

I know — it's kinda funny and kinda not.  I'm glad his little brain is working better; but it's hard to figure out how to discipline and train a child who has no idea how strong he is, does not understand he is hurting other people, can't reason right or wrong, and has no concept of time.

We are using many of the same phrases we used when he was younger before the seizures started.  We figure those may at least sound familiar:

  • "No pinching!"
  • "Easy…"
  • "Be patient."
  • "No tubie!"
  • "No hands."
  • "First…then."
  • "Inside voice."

It seems like a lot of negative things, doesn't it?  But most of Isaac's interactions are very positive.  We rarely have cause to scold him, except when he's experiencing these new levels of mental clarity and he has to be reminded of things.  Honestly, he still doesn't fully understand some of the phrases we use, but we try to be consistent and firm and show him what we mean.

I would guess that is much like parenting a "normal" toddler, right? 🙂

On the nutritional front – Isaac weighed in at 68.3 pounds at his weigh-in last month.  We have had to accept a new formula for him, and we were not happy about that.  The only all-food based formula (Compleat) is no longer covered by his insurance company.  We did check into buying it ourselves, but it would be roughly $600 a month!

So we are giving him a formula that his insurance company will cover, but we are not pleased with the amount of sugar and synthetic additives in it.  We talked to the gastro doctor about that today.  He said there was no way to get the insurance to cover the other formula. :o(

Some things we can change.  Some things we can't.

On the vehicle front – we still do not have a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.  Doug is still carrying Isaac to the truck and quite precariously getting him into his carseat.  It is getting harder and harder, because Isaac is getting so heavy and so long.

We are doing research right now, and have heard about a company that may alter a mini van for him at no cost.  Now we just praying that the Lord will bring a van to us that we can afford…um, basically a free one would be really great! 🙂

On the mommy and daddy front – Doug is enjoying teaching SO much!  I am so grateful that the Lord has given him this opportunity.  I have been doing "ok."  My back has actually not been too painful lately.  I started taking a couple of supplements that seem to be helping.  I thought I was finally going to get back to church and singing this past week.  Unfortunately, I was sidelined with a horrible cold and sinus infection.  I am finally feeling better now.

Doug and I had a really nice morning today, as he had the day off.  We went out to a yummy (completely unhealthy) breakfast at Denny's.  Then we went to a couple of quaint stores in a nearby town.  One was an antique store, where I found some fabulous vintage buttons to use in my jewelry; and the other was full of all sorts of cutesy stuff and an entire wall of Vera Bradley!  It was ni-i-i-i-ice!  I was finally able to see the purses "in real life", instead of just pictures online.  I definitely found a style that I really liked and made sure Doug saw that one, too! 🙂

Afterwards, we took Ike to Orlando for the visit with the gastro doctor I mentioned above, and made one important stop on the way home:

~I've discovered I like Barnie's caramel macchiato and that we love Whole Foods hummus!~

Barnies

Well, I guess that's it for us…congrats to you, if you persevered to the end!

Thanks for reading,

Alesha

 

The Way of Blessing

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Household, How Great is Our God, What's Happening

 

This is how God met our needs this week:

  • A family member slipped me a $20 bill in passing
  • I was paid for singing (which I did not expect!)
  • My electric bill dropped $45! (I tried to keep my thermostat 1* higher than last month and it definitely paid off!)
  • I went to a party and was sent home with leftovers (barbeque, y'all – my hubby was thrilled!)
  • My hubby's new job is closer to our house, so less gas being used each day.  He is also not coming home at lunch time, so actually there is much less gas being used!
  • Several things we needed from the grocery store were on sale – bogo – and I was able to use some coupons too.
  • Doug and I both had lunch out and someone else picked up the ticket.

 

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

Psalm 84:1-2

~~~~~

 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

Psalm 24:5-6

Foto Friday

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Foto Friday, Isaac Update, What's Happening

How do you keep your blog readers interested, after indulging in a political rant?

By posting pictures of puppies, of course!

~~~~~

Meet Kepler.

Kepler1

Or alternatively, at 2:30 a.m.,

Remington, Kestrel,

Kepler9

Lucy, Keebler,

Kepler6

Rupert, PeePot,

Kepler

Daffodil…

  Kepler8

It's hard for my 40-something brain to remember names of famous scientists that early in the morning!

As you can see, though, no matter her name…she is bringing us great joy!

KeplerC

In case you can't tell…he adores her…

and would eat her up, if we let him…sorry for the blurry action shot.  My brother had to move quickly to catch this almost-puppy-paw munch – with his Blackberry, no less!

KeplerD

Many thanks to Mr. Mark and Mrs. Sonja for Isaac's new friend!

~~~~~

I hope y'all have a restful weekend.

We probably won't, but it will all be worth it when this potty/kennel training is behind us.  And even if we aren't well rested, we will be more health-ful due to the laughter!!!

🙂

Blessings,

Alesha