6-27-11

Happy summer to you! Isn't it strange (at least for those of us in Ontario) that the summer has so far been much cooler than the spring?? For a week or two in May and the begining of June we were swimming every day in our neighbors pool and it's been to cool/breezy to do so the last few weeks, other than a day or two.

I actually had to go back and read my last update! It was a month ago! Once the weather changes time seems to fly by.

Ayla is doing well. Baby steps at school as far as opening up and making friends. She's so happy and runs to me with a big smile when i pick her up. She seems like she's having so much more fun. Her favorite thing to do as of late is play "red light/green light" in the gym with the other kids. Her teacher said after the first time, "you should have seen the look on her face. It was like, "look at me!!! I can run with all the other kids!!!"
Her Occupational Therapist over a couple weeks did a "test" to see where Ayla was on a scale for school readiness (at least i think that's what it was for...and no, she won't be in school in the fall). She wanted to see where she was at cognitively, fine motor, speech, etc. Get this.............she scored a SUPERIOR! Her OT said she's never actually had a child score superior before! Isn't that awesome! Our little smarty pants. God certainly made her to be one special little girl. The only real thing they can continue to work on is her strength. A different test showed that her stength is the low end of average but she's confident that it will come. Instead of OT seeing her every week, we are going to do every other for the summer so that Ayla can get more class time (they pull her out for OT) and work on the social/behavioural stuff.
Ayla got a cool new pair of running/water shoes a week or 2 ago. Our neighbors are very kind and share their pool with us and they also have tennis courts near the pool the kids love to run and play on, but a few falls and near heart attacks with Ayla running in crocs later, i decided we should get her some good shoes that can swim and run. They are super cool...(actually i think everyone in our house would like some now, hehe). Hopefully it will help me feel like i don't have to say, "be careful! Watch out!" about 100 times in any given 5 minutes.
Ayla has a few appointments in the next month or so. One at the dentist to see if her teeth are doing better now that she's been off the steroids for a while. Another is with her Rhuematologist on the 8th. I believe we will be talking about another medication for Ayla. Her jaw still seems to bother her so i'm not sure if she's still needing something else or if the injection we give weekly is enough. Her bloodwork and the MRi from March (that should be read properly from sick kids by now) should show something that will make this more clear. The other follows up on Ayla's femur break (the first one from last summer). The break was right in the growth plate so the Orthopedic Surgreon wanted to check it now that it's been a year and make sure it's on the right track. Also, could i ask for prayers about giving Ayla her injections? I've been doing it on my own since Ryan has been gone (with a very helpful big brother holding his baby sisters hand) and today proved to be the roughest poke yet. She starting to really fight back and it makes it more painful for her...i'll talk to her doc about it when we go next week also. Thanks in advance.
I was very blessed and had an opportunity (thanks to some very kind annonymous person/people) over this past weekend to go and visit Ryan out in Calgary. I was there for 3 sleeps (can you tell i have kids?). We had a nice time together and were able to visit some friends of ours that live out there. The kids had a great time with Ryan's parents. I'm very thankful they could watch them as i've never been away unless the kids have been with Ryan...and never for a whole 3 sleeps! The last night was very bittersweet. Some of you know that we aren't sure when Ryan will be home again. It was anticipated it would be the end of this month (June) but a contract he had to come back to was broken and he has no work here. So as of right now he will stay out west (as long as they will have him) until something comes up back here. This is very heart breaking for us all...especially the kids. My heart aches for them...and for myself also... and for my husband who is very lonely. We miss him very much. He is such a good husband and daddy we just desperately want him here with us. We (Ryan and I) understand that the will of God isn't always what we want...and while that's hard, it's even harder for kids that don't know why Daddy can't be home. Before i left, i told the kids (with all kinds of guilt) that i was going to see Ryan. Ezra looked up at me with his blue eyes and paused..."I want to come with you and see him." I just started to cry and said, "i know baby."
We pray every night that daddy would be home soon and we also thank God for taking care of us all when we can't be together...hopefully this will be over soon. Ezra actually said to Ryan last week, "Dad, can you find work here at like and ice cream shoppe or something??" If only things were that simple...
Something opened up here in Windsor about a week ago. Ryan has applied. We just have to trust the promises of God that whatever happens, we are loved, we are taken care of, we are strong enough whether he's here or there.
Thank you God for holding us up and providing for us always...
Thank you you all for your thoughts and prayers. We are very thankful that so many of you continue to lift us up and keep us in your thoughts. We are so thankful for all of you.
God Bless.
Lacy