What are your words saying?

I love our church and I love our Ekidz program. My girls come home each week excited to tell me about their Bible story and what they learned for the day. This weekend they were super excited to tell me about their Bible verse.

May these words of my mouth…be pleasing to you O Lord.” Psalm 19:14

We had the most amazing conversation about how our words can either build people up or hurt them and how Jesus loves when we are kind to others. We talked about examples of how we can say pleasing words. Their examples: "Tell my friends at school that I like playing with them." "Tell my sister we can share the toy." "Say kind words but also do kind things for people, like open a door for them."

I love opening up these discussions with my 5 year olds and hearing what their little minds come up with. We have even had several moments this week where the girls started getting mad at one another and saying somewhat mean things, but all I had to say was "may these words of my mouth..." and they corrected themselves.

I think I sometimes fear that kids will be mean because my children may look different or go to the doctor way more, but I have girls that truly want the words from their mouth to be pleasing to the Lord. And I think that when we act that way it opens the door for those around us to act with kindness. Of course we are all human, 5 years olds and 50 year olds will say unkind things but what do you do when you remember that Jesus is listening to all the words that you say?

I love that the Bible is for everyone! This verse is just as much for me as it is for my 5 year olds. What things are coming out of my mouth? Am I building others up? Am I voicing things out of love? What have I said that could be hurtful that I need to apologize for? What things am I saying that I don't truly understand and instead need to show restraint and keep my words in? Am I showing the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) in the way I speak?

How much better could our day go if we start by saying "May these words of my mouth be pleasing to you Jesus"?

Snow!

If you are from the South you know that last week we had one of the largest amounts of snow that I have seen in a long time! And then the past two days my kids have been wearing short sleeve shirts. The weather here is definitely interesting.

I wanted let you know some of the stuff that we did in the snow that incorporated some of our therapy but Liana had fun instead of thinking it was work. You probably won't be in the snow again this year but maybe it will be helpful for the next time. And pretty much all of these are things you would do anyway but now you can see what a great job you are doing by throwing PT and OT in there!

1. We went sledding. We don't own a legit sled but we tried various methods to go down the hill. We used cardboard, laundry baskets, and a plastic bin lid in a trash bag. Our personal favorite ended up being the bin top in a trash bag. The girls had to bunch up the trash bag at the end and Liana had to use two hands to sled and also even her weight on both sides to not fall off.

2. We rolled down our hill. Both girls got on their side and rolled down our hill. Liana loved this but it was challenging for her to keep rolling. I know that was using a lot of core strength for her.

3. Snowballs. Who doesn't love to throw snowballs? We had to use two hands to pack the snow and then we worked on aiming it at targets (mostly Wade).

4. Snowman. I think our family made a pretty impressive snowman. The girls helped make snowballs and would roll them on the ground to get them bigger. They also had to help with packing and placing the snowman accessories on.

5. Snow cream. The girls actually didn't help me make this, but this would have been a perfect opportunity to have Liana scoop up the fresh snow with a big spoon and then stir all the ingredients together. Guess we can do that next time. However, here is the ingredient for snow cream that I used.
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
(Mix all the above ingredients together and place in the freezer while you get some fresh snow. Then slowly add in the snow until you get fluffy ice cream)

I was hoping to add some pictures but my computer needs to load them so hopefully I can update this post soon with those.

Our Week In Pictures

I thought it would be fun to give you a few pictures each Friday of what our family has been up to the past week!

Sydney loves playing in her sister's hamper and even walked around with it on :)

We practiced a modified Constraint therapy and Liana did such a great job eating her spring roll with her right hand!

Of course we have a few pictures of our snow day!

And to finish off the week, Wade took Liana on a Daddy Date Night. 

Red Rocker Review

Over the years, we have used many different gross and fine motor therapy toys (thanks to my husband's generous mom!). One that my girls enjoyed a lot was the red rocker. On one side it is a set of stairs that works on learning to step up and balance. The other side is a rocking boat that both girls had enough space to sit in and as they rocked back and forth (similar to a see-saw) Liana was able to work on strengthening her torso to stay steady.

This toy was incredibly helpful when Liana was first learning to walk and as she learned how to conquer stepping up on a curb or even helping her learn how to walk up our own stairs. If she happened to fall on these steps it wasn't a long fall and we also bought the rails to go with it so she was able to hold on.

We worked on alternating which foot was the leader and using both right and left hands to hold the rail.    One of their favorite things to do when they were around 2 was to sit in on the boat side and pretend they were going on safaris. They would point to all the animals they saw as Wade or I rocked the boat like they were bumping along the road.

I love having therapy tools that the children don't realize is therapy. And this red rocker did just that. If your child is in need of working on steps or balance this is a great tool to have. We have the one that is plastic but there is also a wooden version. Enjoy playing! Here are the girls about 2 years old playing in their Red Rocker. And yes Liana was eating purple sand before I took the picture. Here is a link where you can order from Children's Factory the Red Rocker.

The Hard Questions

"When will my right side heal?"
"Why is it harder for me to ride my bike?"
"Why do I have to go to the doctor all the time?"
"Why can't we hug Sydney when we have a cough?"

These are just a few and I know some of you have even harder ones that your little ones ask. What is the right answer? I am learning a lot in this area. My girls are getting to an age where they are very observant about what is going on around them. They see how others act and know when something is different. And so we have been answering a lot of questions.

They way I may answer these questions in a year may change but as of right now we talk about how God has made everyone different. I think kids connect to real life examples, something they can see. So we have watched lots of videos of little kids having a cast put on, or someone putting on a shirt with a weak side. I let them see videos of adults who have overcome so much and still trust God's plan for their life. My personal favorite video is one of Nick Vujicic. He challenges you to be thankful for the things you are able to do and it is amazing to see the things he has pushed himself to learn how to do with no arms or legs.

I have a friend who has children with cystic fibrosis and they visited a family who had boys with asthma. When her daughter saw the boys doing a breathing treatment, she stated that they were doing exactly what she has to do. It was normal. When we expose our children to other things that are different then we can begin to normalize it.

We took Liana to Constraint Induced Movement Therapy Camp about 2 years ago. At the time she wore a brace (AFO) on her foot that had little hearts all over it. When we walked into the camp, there were about 10 other children there. And then Liana got so happy and pointed to me a little girl, "Mommy, her brace looks just like mine!" It was the first real time Liana had been in a room with other children that were in the exact same boat as she was.

One thing we talk about a lot is how we can help others. We talk about the experiences we go through will be used one day to help someone else. We told Adleigh about a little girl with a heart condition recently and Adleigh prayed for her daily because she made an immediate connection with her own heart issues.

As a mom, the best thing I can do is show that with whatever situation we have, that it can be overcome and that God can use those things for good. He can show His glory through those situations. It takes having a positive attitude even when you are having to fight back tears and a lot of leaning into God for His strength. But I know my children will be strong, have their own story to tell one day and will be able to help so many others with their personal experiences.

Big Steps

I remember some of our physical therapy sessions with Liana when she was first learning to walk. She started walking around 21 months (18 months corrected). We even have a video where I would say to her "little steps, little steps" as she walked across the room. I posted it on this blog before but here it is again. Isn't she the most adorable tiny walker?!?

I am thankful that Liana has Adleigh with her. I know not everyone has a built in playmate to bring to their therapy sessions but there is something about having someone to race against or play catch with. It is always more fun to turn everything into a game. Today Liana had PT and it was so great to see how she had gotten better at some of the activities in just the last few months from us practicing at home. I loved this picture of her taking big steps to really stretch her legs and she did it 10 times in a row!

Therapy has been so beneficial for her. She has learned so much and gotten so much stronger. But we are reaching a point where I wonder what our next step will be. I know I always want to keep some type of PT or OT in her life as a checkup on how she is doing and to help us with her AFO. But I wonder if taking away some therapy and replacing it with dance, gymnastics, or swimming is the way to go.

Last summer we went down to 1 therapy a month for OT and PT and had the girls in swimming and I saw a lot of strength in her weaker side develop. But then the girls started getting nervous about the water so we had to take a break with it. I know we will do swimming again this summer but more likely just recreational instead of them feeling like they have to go to lessons. So I am now considering dance. Have any of you gone down in your PT and OT numbers and did an extracurricular activity instead? I would love to hear what has worked for your family!

Tell your wife to journal these things

So it has been several months since my last posts and a couple of years since I have blogged regularly and honestly I figured my blog was dead. I just kept it here so I could go back and look at certain events that have happened in the last 6 or so years.

But then about a month ago someone told my husband, "Tell your wife to journal these things." I thought about the physical journals I have and most of them either get lost, packed away or who knows what else. The only place where I know I can find stories is here. So instead of letting this sit forever and refuse to post because I got out of the habit, I decided I want to journal these things down here.

The Twins
How fun is being 5?! The girls are full of joy and laughter. Exactly what we prayed for them when they were still being formed. They started TK last week so we can have 1 more year to get a little bigger and stronger and be some of the oldest in their Kindergarten class instead of the babies. I am so happy we made that decision.
Liana is doing wonderful and having this extra year of play and shorter days will be great for her. She has gotten so good at using her "pretty side" and can now turn the wheel both ways on the outdoor Barbie Jeep. She can dress herself now and will remind us to put on her brace so that her ankle can be strong...this is certainly a huge shift from when she would cry because she couldn't wear flip flops (although she still gets some flip flop time too). The cast that she had a few months ago helped her so much. She is doing great now and having a brace to wear at night seems to work really well for her.
Adleigh is doing great and stepping into being a protective sister. We encourage her to help Liana at school. It is hard to encourage your twins to be different people but still not want one to get left out. But I think that is something they will learn to master as they get older. We overheard a child asking Liana about her brace and then Adleigh piped in, "I had a hole in my heart but now it is fixed."
Seeing the girls grow up and watching how twins interact is fascinating. They get along so well at home. I do think they will be incredibly close as they get older.

Sydney
She is the sweetest and the craziest. This kid is vocal and non-stop. She is crawling everywhere, wanting to walk so bad, and trying to tell everyone what is on her mind. I think spirited is the perfect word for her. It is so fun having a single baby after you have twins. Everything seems so much easier and you feel like you can do anything with just 1 baby. So far Sydney has had a healthy first year. We have had 2 coughs that needed antibiotics and we continue to do breathing treatments, chest therapy, enzymes and medicines. I hope we can get the vest soon because chest therapy is the hardest to get her to do. She always wants to chew on the percussor. She has 5 teeth now too so she is chewing on everything! Since the last post, Sydney had her ostomy reversed and did super well! We have had 6 months with no bag and it honestly feels so weird remembering we used to change a bag instead of a diaper.

I am such a blessed mom and so thankful for these 3 miracles. I have been praying Psalm 103:2, "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits." God loves each one of these girls more than I ever could. I can't wait to see how each of their lives will unfold and excited to know that each one of them already has a story to tell from their own life of God's goodness, love and protection.

ASD, casts, and ostomy bags

The next few weeks and months are going to be pretty crazy at our house and I wanted to let those of you that have been praying for us to know specific things you can continue to pray for. We have significant prayer requests for each one of our children so I am going to break it up by child.

Adleigh: She has had an ASD (hole in her heart) since birth that we were hoping to close on its own, but it is still open. This hole doesn't cause her any problems now but if left untreated she would have significant heart problems as a young adult. She has a surgery scheduled Jan 31st to repair the hole. The doctors will go through a vein with the device to implant it in her heart so our hospital stay will only be overnight. Adleigh gets very anxious about medical stuff so pray for the surgery and recovery to go well and pray for wisdom on how to talk to her about the upcoming surgery.

Liana: Most of you know that Liana has hemiplegia (weakness on her right side) which causes her to walk on her tiptoes. She wears a brace on her right foot but right now she cannot get her foot in a 90 degree position. Based on her orthopedist's recommendation,  in the next few weeks she will get 2 shots of Botox in her foot muscles and then wear a cast for 4 weeks to help stretch her muscles. She has been having a lot of foot pain so hopefully this will help have her foot in a position that is more comfortable for her. We are also in the process of changing some of her therapies so we have more freedom to do fun activities that she enjoys so pray for wisdom in that.

Sydney: We had Sydney's first Cystic Fibrosis clinic this month and everything looked great. We love our team of specialists and they all think Sydney is adorable. We received the results from her sweat test which also confirmed the CF diagnosis. Our goal is to continue to keep Sydney and her lungs as healthy as possible. We are praying that her symptoms as she grows will be nonexistent or mild and that there will be a cure during her lifetime. We also met with her surgeon about her upcoming intestinal surgery so we can get rid of her ostomy bag. The plan is to do that in March. That will be a 4-6 day hospital stay. Pray for this surgery to go well, quick healing, and no complications.

Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers! 

O Lord, you are my God!

I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame.

For you have done extraordinary things,

and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. (Isaiah 25:1 NET)

Oh wow, an elephant

Liana does this thing where she will make an elephant sound whenever we see or talk about an elephant. So of course I tried to get in on video forever and like all tricks you say your kids can do they end up never doing it on demand. So I finally got one video where we ask her about a thousand times what sound the elephant makes and she does it! But to make it even more awesome, in the video you hear Adleigh say, "oh wow" super clear. She is becoming quite the little talker.

Christmas Photo Shoot

This is the last set of pictures that I have been meaning to post. But hopefully I can keep thinking of some stuff to post after this so that I don't have a blog drought for 3 months :)

Pastor Steven Furtick gave our family the gift of a photo shoot for Christmas with the amazing Sean Lyon. We got all decked out in our Christmas clothes and we loved the pictures! The girls look so beautiful in their red dresses. Thank you so much Pastor for the amazing gift! I love the picture of Adleigh pulling off her shoe...definitely a great picture of her crazy personality! And you will see in a lot of these Liana is clapping, that is because the best way to get their attention and to make them smile was to sing "If your happy and you know it, clap your hands." She would always participate!

Liana Walks!!!

Liana has been taking a few steps for about a month now, but Thursday during her physical therapy she decided to really go for it. She walked back and forth across the room almost the entire therapy time. Her highest number of consecutive steps (with no help) was 18! Obviously I ended up getting the camera after she was getting tired so her best ones were at the beginning of therapy, but this video will show you just how amazing she is!

God has been so good to us and He has used our girls countless times to show us how mighty He is and that He answers our prayers, even the audacious ones! Liana has come a long way from the preemie they wanted to take off life support and it is all because of our might God! Enjoy the video.

Family Pictures with The Schultz's

I am back for day 2. What up?!??!

I have two sessions of really amazing pictures that our friends did for us and I knew that some people would really want to see. Today I am going to post some pictures done by Cheyenne Shultz. Here is her website. She and her husband Geoff are absolutely amazing and we loved taking our pictures with her. You should definitely check out her site if you are getting married because you would have the most amazing pictures!

Anyway...here are some of the awesome family pics.

Christmas 09

(Awkward moment for how long it has been since I have blogged)

Glad we are done with that now :)

I just starting getting sad the other day that I had all these thoughts captured from the first year the girls were born and lately it has been so long since I have done anything. I am letting too many memories escape without being captured on my blog!

So I have a whole bunch of pictures I want to upload in case any of my family or friends still read this blog. I'll start with our Christmas pictures since that is the most recent.

The girls loved Christmas! This year you could tell that they knew that they had new things and they seemed in awe as they walked/crawled into their decked out playroom and kept going back and forth to all the things "Santa" had brought them.

Here are just a few pics of opening presents and playing with the new toys in the playroom.

VISIT FROM MY PARENTS

My parents were able to come see us a couple of weeks ago. They live about 2.5 hours away so it isn't really far but it is enough so that it is a treat when they come! I got some great pictures of the girls with their Mimi and Papa (at least that is what my niece Pressley calls them).

BABY DEDICATION (babies in our case)

I know that Adleigh and Liana are gifts from God to us, but dedicating them last Saturday showed family, friends, and fellow parents that we want to honor God with how we raise our girls. I don't think I realize sometimes how serious our jobs are as parents. We need to be daily teach our children about their Savior. More than anyone on the planet our children will look to us for answers and maybe more importantly will always observe how we practice our faith.

Our Lord is to be lifted high and His glory to be told to all. Our children need to know of how marvelous our creator is and how he loves them in a personal way. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for our girls and can now see them so healthy and perfect. God has done so many miracles in their life!

Here are some pictures of that special day.