"Look out for me oh muddy water"

 I felt like Huck and Jim fighting the mighty waters of the Mississippi. Last night I tried battling and dodging the flood waters of Atmore. After about 20 minutes of trying to find a way out of the town, I finally had to retreat back to my parents home. I had to concede the fight and spend the night! After a not so great night of sleep thanks to sleeping with my 3 year old, the chime clock going off every hour, and my niece waking me up ever so often, I just got up at 5 am and the kids and I headed home. Gratefully, we hit no other waters. The flood had receded well over night. Ethan made a comment last night, "Didn't God promise not to flood us again?" I reminded him that didn't mean that floods wouldn't happen, just that he would not destroy the entire earth by flood! Not sure if his 10 year old mind wrapped around that one! (By the way, the title of my blog is from one of my favorite musicals "Big River.")
All the kids are doing well. Ethan turns 10 this Thursday. Happy birthday to my baby boy! Friday is G.I.F.T day! The day we celebrate "God Is Faithful and True." The 3rd anniversary of the day Ivee fell, and God gave us a 2nd chance at life with her, and opened our eyes to a new understanding of who He is and a new appreciation of life with those we love. It is much easier to witness to His faithfulness when you have walked the road that others have traveled. The roads may be different, but you can look at someone and honestly say..."I've been there!"
The kids are looking forward to Christmas break. Ivee is still making small strides and still slowly moving forward!
May we all remember the reason for this time of year. God reached down to man through a tiny babe, and through Jesus Christ bridged the gap between light and darkness! I pray that others will be touched by the light this coming year. If you haven't already, think and pray about what you would do and give this year to reach the world with the Love of Christ! Let us live out the great commission this year!!!!

What's New?

Not much. Ivee is still making progress. She is going to speech therapy twice a week, but food is a touchy subject for her. It got where she was crying before we even got near the building....like miles before. She is just too smart. So, I am just trying the feeding from home with the supervision of the therapist. We just set goals and try to reach them. She is really wanting to get around the house by walking, whether by hand or walker. She isn't afraid of the walker any more, so that is pleasant...for my back!
Looking forward to a week with all my family. Haven't seen them all at once in a while. David and Becky haven't been down in years!
My sister, Sonia, and her family are moving back to the area. Chris, her husband, will be stationed in P'Cola for at least 3 years. This is just great for us all. I miss them all! The girls just keep growing and getting to big, like my kids! Britt is 13 now, and only 4 inches away from being as tall as Momma! Ethan and Ivee are still shooting up in height as well.
We go back to Memphis in January. Our friends, the Silenos, have had a string of better news lately. God has really been working in their lives. Johnny's "spot" hasn't grown any since the last scans. So, they are just on hold, waiting to see what happens. This has been great news! NO GROWTH!
Have a blessed day and a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let us remember what are grateful for! May the love and peace of Jesus Christ surrounded you this week and everyday!

Update

Sorry I'm late getting this up. We got home from Memphis and our modem had crashed. Once again, I have internet back.
Ivee did well at her check up. She used her walker for the therapist, which is a big thing. We are "uping" her feeds, her weight has been down. She came out of the MRI fine, and within 20 minutes was her grouchy self. She is always like this. The neurosurgeon said that everything he sees is still stable. Her brain stem is still in the same position with the same pressure on it, but as long as she is moving forward (no matter how slow that may be) then she is okay. We just need to watch for any regression, that would be a sign of an issue with the brain stem.
Ivee has a speech therapy this Thursday. Praying that they will be able to help her and give us some more insight. Hopefully she will eat for them. She loves to walk, but with someones hand most of the time...not with her walker.
Her comprehension and vocabulary is still expanding. She loves school. She has discovered that playdough is an okay thing, so she wants to play with it all the time. She is always wanting to color. She reminds us to pray at every meal, and she leads the pray at meal time and bed time. Not sure what she is saying, but she just wants to talk to Jesus.
Remember to pray for Johnny Sileno and his family (he is in our links column). They found a cloudy place on his last MRI. He will be returning to St. Jude in a few weeks for another scan.

The Feeding and the eyes

So, feeding clinic was a bust. She didn't cooperate at all. Surprise, surprise, surprise!!! They did give me some helpful advice, just to keep my sanity, and they are going to assist in getting us more help.
The eye doctor saw her today. She didn't do so well at that visit. SO, we are going to continue to patch her left eye, and I will work with her here on a site chart to see what she is up to...for the next 4 weeks.
We leave for Memphis on the 20th for her next check up. Taking everyday....one day at a time.
Thanks for checking in, and I'll give more detail and updated pictures soon.

Prayer for Thursday

Ivee has feeding clinic this Thursday in Mobile. They are suppose to access her and she what I can do to help her eat by mouth. The only problem....you can't make her eat!!! How do you convience a 3 year old that food is good. That having a g button is not normal. She even tries to put her own tube in sometimes. I try to be patient, but she doesn't cooperate in the least. She will love something for three days, and then after that won't even try it again. I try not to get frustrated, but I don't know if I should force her (like we sometimes have to do, with all our children) or if we should just continue to just support her. I guess there is no right or wrong way to do this. I love that fact that she is strong, cause that is what got her through all this in the first place, but that stubborn will of hers will often get in her way to progress.
Continue to pray for the walking and eating. God bless.

Quick Update

Ivee went to the eye doctor after a month of patching the left eye everyday. The sight in her right eye has improved tremendously! Her left eye is 20/20 and her right is about 20/50. This is great news. We will continue to patch and see how much better it will become! Thanks for the prayers.

Update on Ivee

She is doing really well with the eye patchings. She keeps it on about 2 hours a day. She didn't make it tonight, though. She fell asleep after 45 minutes. You can already tell that she is starting to have better control over it already. I'm praying that she gains really great control over it before we go back to the eye doctor in about 3 weeks.
Em and I are headed on a much needed vacation in 8 days. We haven't been alone anywhere without the kids in about 12 years. After this experience with Ivee, we really need to take this cruise. Now, needless to say, mom is a bit nervous about leaving Ivee behind. Not just that, but leaving on a boat where I really can't be contacted, well I guess in an emerency I could. But, perhaps it will be good for me. I know I'm not in control anyway (even though I tend to fight that), so I just have to let go. So, let's pray for health for us all, good weather, and for my niece who will be left with the kiddos. Oh, and that the kids get along!!!!