Mother's Day Miracle 2009

The word miracle is sometimes used pretty flippantly, I think, and yet there is such a thing as an "everyday" miracle. What happened yesterday is becoming more and more of an everyday miracle to us. Our Callie was given the name Myrikle - yes that is how it was spelled by her birth mother. We thought the name would be a burden, the spelling alone for a kid with developmental delays, and just a bit pretentious. But as the years have passed we realize our Callie's original name may very well have been divinely given to her and a glimpse into what we would experience as time has moved on.

Yesterday morning my beloved husband let me sleep in, a rare experience around here for sure. As he was rushing around to get the various breakfast orders filled he noticed Callie eyeballing Jacob's new art kit enviously. He coaxed Jacob to share some paper with her and he graciously did - wait that may be the second miracle of the day. Anyway, he went out into the kitchen and when he returned Callie proudly showed him a mother's day card - Happy Mother's Day Love Callie Reeves and on the back it says - to mom. Mark couldn't wait for me to receive it, he just had to tell me.

"Did you ever think you'd see the day?" he asked. No we sure never did. Our beautiful girl was pretty damaged merchandise when we got her. No eye contact, couldn't stand to be held - pretty much a RAD (reactive attachment disorder) kid from the get-go. She wasn't walking, talking, she didn't even make a sound as she'd learned that crying didn't get you any attention anyway, so why bother. She had what is called a "flat affect" which basically means no expression.

Today she danced in front of our church, as she does every week, singing praise songs to the Lord and pretending to hold a microphone singing along with the worship team. It just never ceases to amaze me to see this joyous child jubilantly dancing. Sometimes we wonder if it annoys other people, as she usually at least once bolts and trys to get up on the stage. As of now, I can't imagine a time every stifling her spirit. She nearly had it snuffed out her first 2 1/2 years. For whatever purpose, God didn't allow that to happen. Because of that, I believe,  she most certainly is a divine miracle, no everyday miracle either,  no matter how you spell it.

Little Man is 6!

Today is Jacob's BD - 6 yrs. old. Yesterday was a day off of school. He really wanted to get his presents, which I had already purchased and we thought - well, why not - let's have a birthday today. So, we made a cake, wrapped the presents and grilled some burgers and it was all good. He was happy and we had a stress free early BD. We generally keep BD's low key around here anyway, so it was just fine. As we were singing happy birthday Mark said - so how many BD's do you think we've celebrated around here. Well, let's calculate - to the best of our ability we gather it's around 300! Good grief! I think I need a nap just thinking about it.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Baby Kaia is here!

We are now proud grandparents of a baby girl. Kaia Lee was born Friday May 1 at about 5PM - 8 lbs. 9 oz. She gave her mommy a bad time coming out which ended in a c-section, but she is healthy and so is mommy, so all is well. We're very proud of how mommy Melissa has handled her pregnancy and the beginnings of motherhood. We haven't been very close these past few years, but Kaia's arrival is bringing healing to our relationship and that is awesome. Our God is a great God and He can use unexpected little miracles to mend us and draw us closer to Him and to each other and for that we are very grateful.

Melissa's boyfriend, Curtis, has done a great job taking good care of Melissa and loving her through her pregnancy and delivery and is a very proud papa for which we are very grateful as well. She will have to take extra time off and he will have this week to spend with his girls as they learn to be a family together.

Watching Melissa nurse the baby and just thinking about and watching her pregnancy has brought about lots of questions about breasts and birth moms and such from Ella and Jacob, which is good. Ella thought they bad to poke holes in Melissa's breasts in order for the milk to get out and both needed clarification on who's tummies they grew in etc. I love when the questions come naturally and so far my answers have satisfied their curiosities - thankfully.

Yikes - catch up

OK so far behind. I'll never be able to get caught up with everything, but Callie did an excellent job with the flag waving and after we practiced quite a bit she got comfortable with the music and started taking bows at the end.

Tonight Mark, Ella, Jacob and I went to Chris' lacrosse game. It was the big Lakeville N. Vs. S. rival. This is the first year they each have their own team, so they really wanted to win it. Well, the day was quite warm, but when the sun went down it got very cold and was crazy windy. Anyway, they ended in a tie, had 2 overtimes with no score and then had to call it due to lightening. So now, they have to reschedule to finish it. Totally a nail biter. They kids were great even though they were freezing. Who knew Mark and I would enjoy a sporting event so much. Neither of us are much for sports, but it's so exciting to watch your kid play. Go Cougars!

Spring break - Wednesday and Thursday

Yesterday Jacob had his therapy appt. and while he was playing games with Kathy Ella and I spent some DEAR - drop everything and read - time . After discussing the plan for school next year - which is first grade with pull-outs for special ed. help she recommended we repeat Kindergarten with a full day program. Mark and I had talked about that - there are a couple reasons we're not thrilled with that idea, but my gut tells me that'd be the best plan. We'll confer with the school psychologist and his SpEd teacher and see if they think it's a good idea as well.

After that we went to an outdoor park - free - and the weather was a bit windy, but the kids didn't care. After dinner Ella, Callie and I headed out for practice at church. The girls are "flagging" with 2 other kids their age while 6 older kids/teens are using sticks to the song "Arise My Love". Callie was bummed because she wanted to use the sticks - she was with Julie, our pastor's wife when she bought them, so we figured she became attached to them for some reason. The other hard part is the song ends with a loud boom - which Callie referred to as a thunderstorm and ran crying from the room. We've practiced a few times at home and I've talked to her about being brave so we'll see.

Gotta run - dinner - more later.

Spring Break day two

So, today was an interesting freebie. Ella and Jacob thought it was so cool to help mom clean house - for like an hour or more. Jacob vacumned, until I couldn't take the noisy vacumn anymore. Ella mopped and then cleaned windows. It occupied nearly a full morning. Then they got bored.

So, Ella, Jacob and I went to McD's to eat and play. They played for 1 & 1/2 hrs. while I read - a win-win situation. Callie was with Julie today and Christian and Shannie stayed with Mark. Shannie has the ear infection that has made the rounds here, even though pediatricians will tell you they are not contagious - whatever - 3 in the past month or 2.

Christian started out the day just a pickin' on Callie. He has definitely established that pecking order - for whatever reason. The wierd thing is when just the two of them are home, they play well together. For some reason if Ella and Jacob are around - he constantly picks on her.

Mark and Jonathan took the boys to get their hair cut. There used to be a barbershop in our mall that cut African-American hair, but it close some time ago and we've had trouble finding a place near by ever since. Conor and Shannan have a good friend - Orlando who has a shop, so they headed out there. Well, Orlando was delayed and so no one was there. They ended up going to a shop across the street. She did a decent job - Jacob loves having his hair cut. Christian hates it. It often takes 3 people to hold him while their trying not to cut something other then his hair. I think for the summer we'll just shave his head weekly as he's getting his bath. Not really worth the money or fight when you can't get the cool detailing - which is the part Jacob loves so much.

Today ended with a rousing game of newspaper tag - Mark chases the kids and slaps them with a newspaper - they love it. They run and scream as if they're scared. Hi-larious. Then we read our book - The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. What an awesome writer. She never wrote down to kids and they all listened intently. The vocabulary is so rich. So many words not used much - the rained teemed down - for instance. It's our second generation of kids to enjoy her series about the Melendy family. Hopefully I'll be able to read it to my grandkids next. By the way, Melissa texted today that she is 1 cm. dilated and 50
% effaced, so little Kaia is on the way. We can't wait to meet our granddaughter.

Spring break day one

So, we are on a very tight budget right now and the kids are on spring break. This morning I told Ella we need to find as many free things to do this week as possible. Today's free deal is Ella and Jacob are on their way with daddy to the Y in Eagan which has a water slide. We already have a membership, so no extra cost. Hopefully it's entertaining and they come home tired and happy.
The weather is yuck for now, so all outdoor freebies are a no go.

Yesterday on the way to church as I had to admit the several inches of snow we got was very beautiful hanging on the trees Ella said - Mom - it looks like heaven. Well, what can ya say - we're on the way to church don't ya know. She is definitely a cup half full sorta gal. She and daddy had their picture taken Sat. as they packed Easter bags for Here's Life Inner City - another freebie now that I think of it - and it was put in the Sun. paper. Kinda fun. She's been photographed for the Star Tribune twice in her short 7 years. The first time was almost 3 years ago when the paper did an article on our family and there were many photos of us all. The photographer and journalist followed us for about 6 months. It was a fascinating experience and the kids thought it was "normal" to have a photographer follow you around and take your picture everywhere you went - for sure the most photographed 6 months of their lives, or ours for that matter.

I took Callie to the eye doctor who was thrilled that she continues to progress as she has. We always have to giggle as she hardly ever wears her glasses - has thrown 2 pairs out of moving vehicles. Not a real incentive for us to keep replacing them. They generally stay safely in her glasses case in her backpack going back and forth to school. So, when they say - wow she's doing great just keep doing what you're doing. We crack up and inside we're thinking - oh, you mean nothing - great we'll keep doing that. She's just such an amazing kid and God has healed so many of the emotional and physical scars she came with. We just lean back and watch - in awe of the strength of her spirit and the power of God's touch.