URGENT*** Please Pray Fervently ***URGENT

This afternoon I got an e-mail from a friend of mine giving me an update on another friend's little boy, Chase.
"Chase is the Longeneckers eighth child (only adopted child) who is ten months old. He was born with Down's Syndrome and has been battling so many health issues since he was born. It has been a terribly long journey for the Longenecker family. They desperately need their church family to intercede for them as they face their most difficult and life-threatening moment thus far."
This is the update that Jan (Chase's Mom) sent to my friend.

"hey friend
I have a heavy heart as I type this. I am headed to st. louis in the morning to prepare for round two . Chase will be having open heart surgury thursday morning at 8am . I wish I could say the doctors were optimistic but they're not. As you know chases first surgery was completely a botched job, and we are really struggling with that, and what it has meant for our family. At this point we are on 146 days in the hospital and who knows what the future holds. The doctors have tried everything possible to avoid this surgery (and being so close to his last )but we can't put it off any longer. His mitral valve is simple shot. They are going in to attempt to widen it, but weve been told it's like working with tissue paper and tape, doesn't tend to be to successful. We are praying that a mechanical valve will work for chase, even though that brings with it significant chance of rejection and blood thinners for life and much more..... At this point we'll take anything to save our lil guy. Chase is in heart and kidney failure and the anesthesiologists aren't wanting to sedate but surgeon sees no possible turn around so it's now or not. Chase has shown to be a real fighter so we pray he still has this one in him .We believe in the power of prayer so please pray and ask anyone you know who is a prayer warrior to get on their knees. God is the great physician and we pray his wisdom on the doctors this time and if not then peace for our family. Will try to update asap but struggling to just keep up with my children right now .. "

Please pray for Chase and his family. Please send this info to anyone that you know will pray for him.

We are Making Progress

Last August we noticed that Naomi was not talking as well as she should for her age. We noticed that she made very few sounds and those that she did make did not include many consonants. She also would absolutely not repeat sounds or words that we would say to her. She did babble, but it was always to herself and with little variety. Because of my background in pediatric physical therapy, I wanted to have her evaluated right away. Many people told me that I was being overly concerned and that she would probably be just fine.

I called First Steps and got her into the system right away. A therapist came out and did a 5 area assessment on her and determined that indeed she did have a speech delay. She was then evaluated by our very good speech therapist Laura Mize. Laura determined that she was delayed in language comprehension and in speech. She did not make the appropriate sounds for her age and was not understanding language the way she should.

Naomi has been getting speech therapy with Laura twice a month for the last 6 months. I cannot even begin to explain the kind of progress she has made. One of the most valuable things Laura told me when we first started getting together for therapy was that Naomi can talk, but we are not recognising her attempts because we do not understand her attempts at language as words. We focused on really listening to what Naomi said any time she made sound and started reinforcing the words that we thought she was saying. We worked on sound effects more than actually word with her and just had fun with language. Naomi started responding, slowly at first, but in a way that just amazed me. We continued to do sign language with her and she was picking up new signs almost as soon as we would introduce a new one to her.

It has been 6 months and Naomi is now age appropriate for language and comprehension. She is still difficult to understand and she continues to have a problem putting words together, but she has made wonderful progress. She will continue with therapy to work on her motor planning (word combining) problem and her articulation. Naomi now has over 50 words that she uses consistently and many signs. She uses words more than her sign now, but will still sign things when we do not understand what she wants. Thank you so very much Laura for working so well with Naomi and us and for showing us how to work with her. Check out Laura's website at teachmetotalk.com

Winter Wonderland

On Monday night we had a big snow storm that shut down the city. Since we do not live in WI anymore it takes a lot less snow to shut things down. Greg was even off work. Greg spent the day working on our business taxes and the kids and I played most of the day. Tuesday night we had an ice storm so everything was shut down again on Wednesday. Greg was home from work another day. I spent the morning completing my second of 4 classes that I need to keep my license current and Greg played with the kids and prepared lunch for us. In the afternoon Naomi took a nap while Josiah and I did some school work (even though he had a snow day I thought it was important for him to do some work) and then played Uno and watched a movie. After Naomi woke up from her nap we all went outside to play in the snow. Greg and I shovelled the driveway while Josiah ate ice from the trees and Naomi ran around enjoying being outside. It was a fun day. School is out for the rest of the week because of all the power outages around town. I will have to get creative for

the next 2 days or we will all go stir crazy.

Up and running again - or so I thought!

This past weekend was a long one. Friday night I got really sick and Josiah came down with a high fever. Josiah and I spent all of Saturday and all of Sunday in bed while Greg ran around taking care of Naomi and us. By Monday morning I was glad to be out of bed and at least functional for most of the day. Josiah was off school so we spent most of the day playing and not worrying about all the cleaning and laundry that hadn't been done.

We had a very pretty snow fall Sunday night. Josiah, Naomi and I bundled up and went out to play in it for about an hour and then spent the rest of the day playing inside. During Naomi's very unusually long 3 hour nap, Josiah and I played UNO, Candyland, Sequence for Kids, and Go Fish. He won most of the games as he usually does.

Last night Josiah started soccer for the first time. He is on a 4 and 5 year old team at the Y. They meet every Monday for a 15 minute practice and then a game against another team. He had so much fun at their orientation and first practice. I forgot to take my camera, but I will take pictures next week. He was so excited about soccer that he slept in his soccer uniform.

Yesterday Naomi woke up with a fever that kept climbing all day with no response to drugs. When it got to 104 degrees F I took her to the doctor. She has influenza. Great mother I am - didn't get the flu shot for either of the kids. I should have known better since Josiah got it last year.

I'll Sign Myself In!

Josiah goes to school in the afternoon 4 days a week. When I drop him off I am required to walk him to the door and sign him in. Being the Mr. Independent that he is, he would much prefer to just jump out the car while it is still moving and run in all by himself. Today because it was so cold I sat in the car until the very last minute before getting out and taking him in. While waiting in the car we had a conversation that just tickled me.
He said, "Mom, just let me go by myself today." I told him that I had to sign the book to say that I dropped him off. Josiah replied, "I can sign myself in." So I said that he would need to write my name. He says, "You mean I would have to write Teresa?" "Yes!" I said. He thought for a while and I could tell he was problem solving this little dilemma he had. "How about if I just write MOM? That's also your name right?" he said.
Unfortunately for him I still had to walk him to the door and sign him in. He was a little disappointed that I didn't go for his plan. My little boy is growing up. He doesn't want me to walk him to the door anymore. Isn't that supposed to happen a long time from now. He is only 4 after all.

A FunProject

Every week Josiah gets an allowance that he has to divide up between 3 banks - A is giving, B is saving and C is spending. We use the ABC Learning Bank by Crown Financial Ministries. On Sundays he takes his giving amount and gives it to church. He has saved up about $15 combined in his B and C banks. Anyway while we were out at Michael's today he decided that he just had to spend some money. I had already said I wasn't going to buy anything for him today so he declares, "I have my own money, Mom! Can I pay you back when we get home?" I agreed. Josiah bought a $1 build it yourself biplane. It is a kit that comes with all the wooden pieces, the glue and paint to complete the project. While Naomi took her nap we played Candy Land, Sequence for Kids and then he made his airplane. Here are pictures of the finished project

On Your Mark...

A couple months ago we rent the Wii game Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. It was the best thing we have done in a long time. Josiah can be kind of lazy sometimes and doesn't like to do anything that requires any energy. After playing this game for a week and decided that running and jumping were the best thing in the world. This is how Josiah and Naomi spend many eveing while Greg and I watch on and cheer for them. The next olympians? What do you think?