New Sheriff

Look out Monticello! There's a new sheriff in town!

8 Things About Me

1. I have been to New York three times. (Been in the World Trade Center twice and to Ground Zero once).
2. I am like Jeff and thinks potty humor is hilarious. I guess that is why I get along with the guys better than I do the girls. I think farting is funny and hate to go shopping all day long.
3. I am a strange love for John Travolta. I think he is the hottest person alive.
4. I was manager of Pizza Inn in Jonesboro when I went college.
5. I was Valedictorian of my class.
6. I wish I could play the trumpet like my brother did.
7. I didn't join the marching band in high school because everyone in my class was doing it. I love to stand out even then. Of course this wasn't hard being the only white in my class or school at Eudora.
8. I have a overbearing fear of being raped or my children being molested.

RAIN

Words of wisdom from Ashton.

"Mom, please call God and tell him to stop the rain."

Night Terrors

Just when you think it is going to be a peaceful night, you are awoken by your baby boy screaming to the top of his lungs. He is screaming but yet he is not conscious. He does not even recognize you. Ashton has been experiencing night terrors for about a year now.

They are very stressful. You want to shake him or slap him to wake him up, yet it wouldn't work. All you can do is sit there and hold him until he wakes up or it is over. Research says that children experiencing night terrors must have a regular sleep schedule. Sometimes these night terrors are triggered by being too tired. How can you do this, if the boy will not take naps? I think sometimes he is just scared to sleep. He has actually told me this a couple of times. I just wish whatever little demons are possessing his brain at night would disappear and leave him alone.

Prayer Request

This is a simple prayer request for a beautiful little boy named Garret. For most of you, this is just a repeat of Shelly's blog. I just want to tell people that do not read that blog.

Garret was born with craniosynosis. This is a premature closing of the right front skull suture, meaning he has no soft spot. This can inhibit his brain to have room to grow. He was wearing a corrective helmet but it was determined that it wasn't working. The next option is surgery. Please pray that Garret and his family will have the physical and emotional strength for this surgery.

The Ressurection

The orange paci has been ressurected.

The orange paci went missing yesterday morning. For those of you who don't know, this is a major deal. This very orange paci is the only paci Kaylee will take. She has a blue one just like it but no she has to have the orange one. SHE KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE! Those of you who say babies are color blind, well this one isn't. It was missing all day yesterday and today. We could just go out and buy one, but we are broke. This particular orange paci cannot be bought in the single paci pack. You must buy it in the two pack. That two pack does not have two orange pacis in them. So basically you have to buy one paci for the price of two because she only wants the orange paci. Two days of hell and we are back in business. We just found the orange paci. For those of you who have an extra orange paci like this one are welcome to mail them to Kaylee for those critical times when the orange paci goes AWOL.

According to Renea and Jenny, she is respresenting Journey with the orange paci.

BLIND AS A BAT

I am blind. SO WHAT!! About a month ago, I went to the eye doctor. After the eye exam, he said "Wow! You can't see, but I am sure you already knew that." Why wouldn't I know that? I either have to wear my contacts or my glasses unless I want to feel around and touch everything to know where I am going. My prescription is -6.00 and -5.75. For those of you who this makes no sense to you, consider this. Michael is a -3.25. Yeah, I could almost pass for legally blind. Enough blind talk, I will catch up with you later.

43 Things

I got this from Shelly's blog. It is 43 things you want to do before you die. I found it to go right along with our small group session last Tuesday. This is harder than you think.

1. Pray with my family on a daily basis
   


2. Learn to cook beans like Dad
   


3. Take family vacations every summer, even if it is for the weekend
   


4. Start a support group for parents of special needs children
   


5. Get my masters (be done in August)
   


6. Read completely through the Bible (word for word)
   


7. Advocate for special needs children in my community/state
   


8. Own my own home
   


9. Have a cocker spaniel
   


10. Daily devotional time
    


11. Learn to use Photoshop
    


12. Learn to tread water (almost hopeless)
    


13. Not scared to talk about God (can do it on paper…can't really in person unless it is a fellow Christian)
    


14. Build a computer like Michael
    


15. Daily exercise routine
    


16. Prearrange funeral arrangements (both parents this way…so much easier)
    


17. Watch "It's A Wonderful Life."
    


18. Have a totally clean house for more than one day
    


19. Travel to Germany and Poland and study the Holocaust (I'm a Holocaust fanatic)
    


20. Good role model for my students
    


21. Out of debt
    


22. Not a liar to my kids (I believe in telling the kids there no Santa Claus, Michael doesn't. We will see how that goes.)
    


23. Cook on a daily basis
    


24. Routine of making my bed everyday
    


25. Having family nights one night a week
    


26. Tell my husband "I love him every day." (I don't know if I tell him enough)
    


27. Find time to sew (love it, just no time)
    


28. Get over my fear of canoeing (done it twice and shook the whole way down Spring River in Hardy)
    


29. Take anniversary trips with Michael (my grandparents called it their honeymoon)
    


30. Take initiative of more things
    


31. Read as much as possible on real life murders (the only books that can grab my attention)
    


32. Get over the fear of being raped
    


33. Forget ever being molested by my brother's friend
    


34. Get through this list of 43
    


35. Make more list of goals to complete
    


36. Get over the fact you can't give your children everything they want
    


37. Become more organized
    


38. Remember to put earrings in
    


39. Start getting yearly physicals
    


40. Start having yearly eye exams and dental exams
    


41. Stop drinking so many cokes. (I love coke and have withdrawals.)
    


42. EAT MORE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!!! (It makes me happy)
    


43. Stop being so critical of myself and my family.
    

If I have a line through it, then these are things I have already started toward completing.

Where are you taking me God?

Where are you taking me? My heart has been pounding all day. Does this mean that this is your will? Why am I so nervous about stepping out and trying to help people? I know, however, that everything will be find because you are behind me 100%. Why does it still seem like a scary thing to do?

I am fixing to take a leap of faith here. I have wanted for some time to start a support group for parents of special needs children. Parents with these children need to have someone with the same experiences to talk to. It was not until Rosjuane's blog about the kind of treatment she receives when she takes her son out in public, that I realize there is a need and that need is now. It is devastating to know that this happens. I am pretty sure that she is not the only one that receives this treatment. I have with my autistic sister and I get the same looks, smirks, and hear the whispering.

Anyways, all is invited to come next Saturday. I may be the only one there but that is OK. I really hope to see this group start off. I want to use the group for parents to support each other and give your ups and downs as you tackle the difficult task of taking care of a special needs child. I also want to see in the future to reach out to the community and educate them on these children. We are in the times now that parents don't stay in their homes and hide because they have a child that is different.

Our 4th of July

We had a great fourth. We started out by grilling our lunch. Michael grilled pork chops. I know you are suppose to have hot dogs. But when you are broke, you have to eat what you already have. We also had fried okra, squash, corn on the cob, and macaroni and cheese. To me the corn was the best part. I ate four ears myself.

After lunch, we all took a nap. The off the lake we went. We got rained out so we came home. We decided to try again at 9 for the fireworks. I think that was everybody's idea. What is so spectacular about fireworks that people will drives miles to see. The side that we were on was packed. I am sure the other side was too. Below are some pics of the fireworks.

Before I Die, I Want To

BE	DO	HAVE	HELP	ENJOY	LEAVE
Financially Able—No debt	Teach special education or work directly with special needs children	A home	My children to see God's work	Life	St. Judes a sum of money
Nurturing wife	Set up college fund for kids	Family nights	Other children in need	My kids	Namesake
Understanding parent when my children are in a crisis or need	Set good example for my students	Healthy relationship with my husband	Church members who are struggling	Time alone with hubby before and after the kids are gone	No problems for my kids-everything prearranged
Christian woman and it shows	Sponsor a child	Cocker spaniel	My community with food and clothing drives	A retirement of traveling in a camper	Enough sentimental things for my children to treasure
Advocate for special needs children	Start a support for local parents with special needs children	Family trips every summer	Parents who are struggling supporting their kids-tell them about options they don't know about	Sitting on porch listening to birds and watching squirrels (just need the time to do it)	Enough money to support my husband and children if I go before them

This was an assignment in our women's small group at Journey Church. The answers are in no particular order. This assignment, however, did make you have to think about things you never want to. No one wants to think about what they want to do or be before they die.

Ashton's Haircut

It started out to just be a little trim. It was getting long. He thought it would be funny to wiggle and dance during the haircut. I told him that I was going to cut it bald if he wouldn't be still. He didn't want that because people would laugh at him. You thought he wouldn't move then. WRONG!!! While trimming, he wanted to shake his booty. You guess it I cut a big gap out of it. The only way to fix it would be to shave it. So here is the after picture showing the results of a comb, clippers, and wiggly boy.

Lunch at the Arnold's

Ashton's new way to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. One with a whole right in the middle.

Arnold Update

Life....Don't you wish you could hold someone's hand all the way through it. Never experience pain alone. With this picture, I like to pretend that the baby hand is me and the big hand is Jesus. So often, we feel alone, yet he is right there with us.

UPDATE ON ARNOLD HOUSEHOLD:

Lou: I have just completed 9 of my 10 classes for my master's degree. I never thought I would see the end of it. So in 8 weeks, you will see the more educated Lou with a master's. I am starting my second year of teaching kindergarten in August. I can't wait. I have already been setting up my room. It is hard to believe that time is near. I am becoming more active in the church. I take care of the nursery every 3rd Sunday, helping to clean the whole church Friday with the James', and learning Pro Presenter for the slide shows. Pro Presenter is the software used to run the slide show of the songs that are being sung. I am learning this because it gives me the opportunity to sit with Michael during worship service. He does the sound, so I never get to be with him during the service. But I have found the way.

Michael: Michael has two classes left to finish his bachelor's. Hopefully, by December he will be done. I am crossing my fingers. Currently, he works for Monticello School Distirct as a summer technical help. He loves that job. I hope he can find a full time job like that. He is so much happier when he can take computers apart and fix them. It is amazing what he can do to a computer. He has actually built two computers from scratch over the past year and sold them. Now, if I could just get him to work on ours.

Ashton: Ashton is such a great big brother. I don't know what I would do without his help. He is constantly wanting to hold her and feed her. He even throws the dirty diapers away. In August, Ashton will be in pre-school at Drew Central. He is so excited to go to school with school buses. He wants to be in kindergarten in Mrs. Cossey's class but he has to start somewhere.

Kaylee: Kaylee had her 3 month birthday yesterday. She is so active and alert. I believe that she knows everything that is going on around her. She hasn't rolled over yet. But research says that rolling over from your back to your stomach is harder than the other way around. It takes more muscles. She refuses to lay on her stomach. I think that she can't see as much. She is currently going to Kid's World. She loves it. It is amazing how you can see a 3 month old glow when she sees her teachers. She is in heaven there. She has lots of kids to watch play.

STRESSED!!!!

This is the last week for this course in my master's class. I have borderline C or D. I missed one assignment and got half credit for supposedly copy another student's work. That is a long story and don't want to go there. (I still don't know how I got accused of that one.) Anyways, by missing 10 points and only getting 5 on one will make me receive a C. Now my teacher is saying that I have an assignment missing. I submitted it but it is not there. Of course, you say just resubmit it. If it was only that easy. I deleted it off my computer because I double checked and it was submitted. CAN WE SAY STUPID IDIOT? Now, I have no proof. The teacher however says that she has two assignments that say a guest submitted them. I just don't understand how you can't open those up and see who they are from. Every paper submitted had to have a title page with the student's name on it. Needless to say, I have e-mailed her about it. Probably just made her mad.

Let's say with this class, I am STRESSED. I have already cried to the point of hyperventilating. Took a bubble bath to relax. Take tylenol for the migraine I am getting. Cleaning the house. NOTHING IS WORKING!!!!

UPDATE: SHE CHECKED TH PAPER AND FOUND IT. THANK THE LORD. MY STRESS LEVEL JUST LOWERED BY 95%.