Be that kind of woman...

Have you seen all of those cute posters that say, "Be the kind of woman who, when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, 'Oh, no! She's up!'" I was going to be that woman today. I have felt so beaten down lately, and I finally recognized Satan's hands all over it last night. There is a lot going on in this household right now that is completely overwhelming and burdensome to me. Top of the list: my health. A recent neck CT showed that I have further degeneration and new arthritis developing at the site of the fusion I had done three and a half years ago. All of this mess is bulging in my neck and pushing on my spinal cord. I had the CT done because I have been in a lot of pain again recently, and I am starting to lose function in my right arm. Y'all.... I don't feel good!!! (*understatement of the year*) I'm on several new medications to counteract the pain and inflammation, and I'm not sure yet if they are helping or making it worse...

So here's the problem--Satan knew that I was going to get up with that mindset this morning, so he has been wearing me down all stinking day long. The day started with my alarm not going off, which made me late for an appointment, and it just kept going downhill from there. I have been counteracting with prayer, positive thinking, and praise/worship songs all day. So my question now is this: WHY do I feel like I'm still losing??

This is not a post where I want to whine a lot or have a "woe is me" moment. I just want to ask for prayers. I need to not feel like death every blessed day. I need to reach a point where I can function like a normal human being and not be completely overwhelmed with life. I need the peace of God to guard my heart and protect me from the lies that Satan throws at me every day. We need to reach a point where our finances are not a constant burden and concern. I want to dig deep and find the strength to make the devil think, "Oh, no! She's up!!!" My joy and hope are in Christ and his promise of eternity with him in heaven. This helps a little, too:

Alphabet Eggs

I just absolutely LOVE Pinterest.com!! If you are not familiar with this website, please let me know. I will email you an invite immediately. I have found so many good recipes, activities for kids, organization tips.... the list goes on and on. I actually found time to follow through with one of my "pins" today, and Abby now has a new game that she loves to play! Here is the original link that I found through Pinterest: Alphabet Eggs. All you do is take 26 plastic Easter eggs and write the upper and lower case letters on each one. This is a great game for various age levels. For the younger kids, it's great for matching colors. I love it for Abby because she is starting to write her letters, and this helps her recognize both the upper and lower case forms of each letter. Plus, it's excellent practice for fine motor skills--those eggs can be hard to get together! The eggs I used were hinged, so I just took scissors to clip the hinge after I wrote the letters on there. I will probably go back and put lines under some of the lower case letters--the d, p, and b can be a bit confusing. :) Here are a few pictures of our new (cheap!) game:

In case you were wondering...

I'm not even going to try to catch up. I'm trying desperately to motivate myself to get back on this blog and record what is going on in life! I have every intention of eventually getting this thing printed off into book format so we'll have some of these memories to look back on. One of these days... So here's where we are right now:

• The clinic that Casey had been working with for the past year had to file for bankruptcy and close it's doors. Thankfully, God provided a new job very quickly, and Casey is now the Postal Services Technician at Harding University. We work for Harding again! Woo hoo!! :) He took a fairly significant cut in pay, but they are already training him in administrative duties, and the potential for a promotion is very promising. We're excited about where this could lead over the next few years!
• I am still working at Pediatric Therapy Associates providing Developmental Therapy services to children birth to age 3 years. It is not going quite as well as we had hoped, so please, please pray that things will work out soon. The state department decided to switch to a new system, and it has messed up everything (of course). My boss continues to pay me for the work I'm doing, but she has not been paid by the state for any of it! Since that is the case, I'm am only being allowed to treat one client for therapy--but I have placed 5 for services! That means there are 4 children (and more to come soon) that have been tested and qualify for developmental therapy, but they are not getting services because the state won't complete the paperwork to approve their funding. It is SO frustrating, and my boss is reaching the point of canceling all Early Intervention services until she gets paid. That basically means that I will be out of a job! Please pray that the state department will get their act together, and that I will be able to provide services for these children who need them.
• Abby starts another year of "school" this next week! She goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and now she is a "big girl" class. They have to be potty trained to attend (hallelujah, we made it just in time!), and they will even take a couple of field trips this year! She is very excited to get started, and I'm excited for her. We had orientation this week to meet her teacher and see who would be in her class. I have a confession to make: I was that mom when we met the teachers. You know the kind of mom I'm talking about. Casey and I have recently had to accept that Abby is a special needs kid--just not in the way that people normally think of it. She is chronologically and socially at the level of a 3-year-old, but she functions cognitively at the level of a 5-year-old. Am I proud? You bet!! Does it give me great anxiety for school? You bet!! I want her to be in class with kids her own age, but I am very afraid that she will become bored with what they are doing and become a behavior problem. I know she's only 3, but she can be a crazy mess if she isn't interested in what is going on! So, yes--I was that mom this week. I wanted to make sure the teachers knew that it might take a little more effort to keep her involved. Aside from Bible stories, they mainly work on teaching colors, shapes, and letters. As and early childhood educator, I can say that this is excellent curriculum for a 3-year-old class. Our problem is that Abby is already sounding out words and asking how to write letters! So while the others might be coloring their pictures of the letter of the week, Abby might need to be practicing how to write it. Can you tell I've been stressing over this a bit?? Ok, moving on...
• Abby had her 3-year check up this past week. She was 3' 3" (well over the 90th percentile) and weighed 35 lbs (about 75th percentile). Basically, she's a tall, skinny thing. :) She has been wearing 4T clothing since this last spring, so I even have a few size 5 things for this winter... just in case! She did have to get one shot, but the nurse didn't even have to fight her! She cried a little, but she took it like a trooper and dried up really quick. Thank you, Sid the Science Kid, for your Vaccination PSA on Netflix. "It might hurt a little bit, but it's gonna help a whole lot!" :) I'm sure the lollipop and silly band ring helped a little, too.
• Logan is ginormous. No, seriously--he's huge. My 7 1/2 month old son is weighing in at 22 lbs, and he is outgrowing some of his 18 month clothing. We bought a ton of 18-24 month stuff for him to wear this fall and winter, but I'm not sure it will last! We also just moved him up to size 4 diapers. Un. Real. He is starting to crawl, and tonight it looked like he was beginning to realize that he could pull up on things if he wanted to. No attempts have been made yet, but I'm looking for it to start in the near future. He has two teeth on the bottom now, but I haven't seen any signs of more to come yet. We recently had a trip to the ER in the middle of the night after hours of screaming, and it turned out that he had a nasty ear infection. After 2 shots of antibiotics (the first wasn't a big enough dose, apparently) and a few days of steroids, I think it has finally cleared up. I am praying that this will not be a frequent thing for him--we don't want to have to do tubes in his ears! His reflux is still very strong, but it seems to be managed with the Prevacid. I am praying that he will outgrow this by the time he is a year old like Abby did. His a is a little different, though, and Abby never had to take medicine for hers. Time will tell....
• I made new coasters! For any and all who are interested, be sure to check out my Etsy website for new additions! I have two fall coasters and three new scriptures. I love them!! Feel free to spread the word--it's time to decorate for fall!!

And now the moment you've all been waiting for..... pictures! Thanks to everyone who actually read through all of that. Your devotion is touching. ;) Hope these make you smile!

From Abby's Strawberry Shortcake birthday party: Hallie, Mackenzie, Adalyn, Abby, & Bella

This boy LOVES his Mamaw!!!

I love these precious, precious pictures! Tea time with Mamaw!

It's a little blurry, but it makes me smile. :)

Abby's creative rendition of "Logan, Mommy, and Abby"

Savoring the last moments of summer with Ben & Jerry's on a chocolate sprinkle cone!

Happy boy!

Giddy-up, Pawpaw!

Abby affectionately refers to him as "Chubs"