To my family and friends who are 3,000 miles away this Christmas, I miss you! I am terribly homesick this year from some reason. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my new house! I just wish my family was here to enjoy it!
So while you are opening gifts and eating all of the good California tradition foods...please think of me! I know I will be thinking of you! I love you! Have fun and to My little nieces and nephews...
Mariah, Anthony, Ashleigh and Joshua: Auntie misses you too! Check the mail in a few days for some goodies Santa dropped here by accident. Love you!
Have a blessed day and a very Merry Christmas!
Jacki
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Fireproof
Merry Christmas early everyone!
Sorry it has been a week since the last update. We have been a little sick and then Kevin and I decided we were going to try to Christmas shop a little late this year for each other! Bad idea....long lines and grouchy people were everywhere! I don't understand for the life of me why people are so grouchy this time of year. I guess if you were separated from you family or recently had lost a loved one it would definitely be hard for you. But other then that why?
Well I had to say a few prayers while out shopping I must say because of the people and how rude some of them were. Even cashiers. One sticks out to me though. A young lady was working at Target ( Our fav store), and she was just really not happy about being there. So I gently said "I just want to thank you for working so hard for people like me who decide to shop last minute and I know from experience that some of them are not so nice when they come through. I hope you have a Happy Holiday season." She smiled and thanked me for appreciating her and what she was doing and I really think that I brightened her day. Again while we were at Home depot getting our tree a lady was out in the freezing cold and the rain in the garden section and she was definitely NOT happy to be there. Once again I said a thank you and it brightened her whole face. I am glad that I could do that for these people. I think that sometimes we forget that some people may be missing their family get-togethers to serve us in the stores extended hours. I until this year have never taken that into consideration because for 3 years I worked in the hospital and every year had to miss Christmas dinner with the family. This year I am treasuring it. And I hope you do too.
Family update time: We are all doing good. We have all come down once again with some sinus stuff but hopefully & prayerfully we will overcome! The girls are super excited about Christmas and we have been reading the Christmas story to them everyday for the last 3 weeks from the Bible which has sparked some very interesting conversations. Not any that we couldn't handle but things that we as adults had never pondered. Kevin and I have been reading the novel "Fireproof" together. We kinda decided that we really needed to reconnect and we have committed to do "The Love Dare" with each other as a gift to one another this Christmas. The book is fabulous. I really wish we would have seen it in the movies! It comes out on 1/27/2009 and we already pre-bought it. I cant wait! We are Fireproofing our marriage!
I will post the Pics from Christmas morning as soon as possible after the present unwrapping happens! Until then Have a blessed and safe Christmas! Love to all!
Love Kevin and Jacki
Sorry it has been a week since the last update. We have been a little sick and then Kevin and I decided we were going to try to Christmas shop a little late this year for each other! Bad idea....long lines and grouchy people were everywhere! I don't understand for the life of me why people are so grouchy this time of year. I guess if you were separated from you family or recently had lost a loved one it would definitely be hard for you. But other then that why?
Well I had to say a few prayers while out shopping I must say because of the people and how rude some of them were. Even cashiers. One sticks out to me though. A young lady was working at Target ( Our fav store), and she was just really not happy about being there. So I gently said "I just want to thank you for working so hard for people like me who decide to shop last minute and I know from experience that some of them are not so nice when they come through. I hope you have a Happy Holiday season." She smiled and thanked me for appreciating her and what she was doing and I really think that I brightened her day. Again while we were at Home depot getting our tree a lady was out in the freezing cold and the rain in the garden section and she was definitely NOT happy to be there. Once again I said a thank you and it brightened her whole face. I am glad that I could do that for these people. I think that sometimes we forget that some people may be missing their family get-togethers to serve us in the stores extended hours. I until this year have never taken that into consideration because for 3 years I worked in the hospital and every year had to miss Christmas dinner with the family. This year I am treasuring it. And I hope you do too.
Family update time: We are all doing good. We have all come down once again with some sinus stuff but hopefully & prayerfully we will overcome! The girls are super excited about Christmas and we have been reading the Christmas story to them everyday for the last 3 weeks from the Bible which has sparked some very interesting conversations. Not any that we couldn't handle but things that we as adults had never pondered. Kevin and I have been reading the novel "Fireproof" together. We kinda decided that we really needed to reconnect and we have committed to do "The Love Dare" with each other as a gift to one another this Christmas. The book is fabulous. I really wish we would have seen it in the movies! It comes out on 1/27/2009 and we already pre-bought it. I cant wait! We are Fireproofing our marriage!
I will post the Pics from Christmas morning as soon as possible after the present unwrapping happens! Until then Have a blessed and safe Christmas! Love to all!
Love Kevin and Jacki
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The allergy appt!
Today was Rylies big allergy test doctors appointment! I was suprised to find out that she is not allergic to milk. She has had several reactions to it when she eats. The doctor and I were sure that she was until the "Scratch test" came back NEGATIVE. Come to find out she just has a lot of scar tissue on her lungs from when she was in the NICU and then when she caught RSV. I guess she will suppossedly always have issues with wheezing because of it but we are NOT claiming that for her! It was kinda funny when I said that to the doctor though. His face was priceless! I guess he doesnt hear that stuff often....
Anyway, Kevin and I are praying for a healing of her lungs and that the scar tissue will disapate as she gets older. We know that God is bigger then any diagnosis and way smarter and capable of healing her! Rylie herself is a child that is here after the doctors said it would NEVER happen. Guess what? God had different plans! I love how God does that!
Danielle update: She has been having a few bad days lately but who doesnt have those occasionally. The therapy is working but not as fast as we would have hoped. Thats okay we take any progress that comes our way! I came across a blog yesterday that was talking about
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 :
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
I have to say that it touched me. It opened my eyes to a lot of things in our life! I find myself asking why are all of these bad things happening to us?? Why, why, why?? I know I never look at the situation that I am in and say well I know this is a bad thing but what can I learn from it. I simply dont. But after reading this verse and praying about it, I realize that my circumstances shouldnt affect my thankfulness for the things that God teaches me everyday and in every situation. So today I awoke in a better frame of mind and ready to start this day with a clean slate! I am super excited about it too...
Journey with me....it should be fun!
Have a blessed day,
Jacki
Anyway, Kevin and I are praying for a healing of her lungs and that the scar tissue will disapate as she gets older. We know that God is bigger then any diagnosis and way smarter and capable of healing her! Rylie herself is a child that is here after the doctors said it would NEVER happen. Guess what? God had different plans! I love how God does that!
Danielle update: She has been having a few bad days lately but who doesnt have those occasionally. The therapy is working but not as fast as we would have hoped. Thats okay we take any progress that comes our way! I came across a blog yesterday that was talking about
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 :
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
I have to say that it touched me. It opened my eyes to a lot of things in our life! I find myself asking why are all of these bad things happening to us?? Why, why, why?? I know I never look at the situation that I am in and say well I know this is a bad thing but what can I learn from it. I simply dont. But after reading this verse and praying about it, I realize that my circumstances shouldnt affect my thankfulness for the things that God teaches me everyday and in every situation. So today I awoke in a better frame of mind and ready to start this day with a clean slate! I am super excited about it too...
Journey with me....it should be fun!
Have a blessed day,
Jacki
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The pictures I promised...a little late. Sorry!
Okay so the last few days have been ridiculous! I have no idea how it is already Friday tomorrow. The kids have been home until today. Danielle has finally decided to go back to school. I think she went originally to appease me but then when I picked her up the teacher said she had a great day! I have to sometimes wonder weather the teacher just tells me what I want to hear or if she tells me the whole truth about Danielle's day! Well I guess right now the more positive things coming my way the better!
Anyway, although Danielle has had 3 rages in the past 3 days and has required restraining on 2 of the three and passed out again on the second time she raged. I wasn't nearly as panicked this time but it was scary. Her medication was raised again about a week ago and we think this is the reason that she passed out again. I just hope that now that her medication has been lowered to the original dose that she wont do that again. Other then that she is doing better. The news we heard is still hard to deal with but we have to keep living. We have been praying through it the best that we can. The new church that we go to has been a saving grace for us. We just need to make ourselves go weather we feel like it or not. Sometimes the depression just gets to us and we are paralyzed by it but I think if we pray through every time and never give into the enemy he will realize that we are not up for his nonsense and that we are protected by the Armor of God!
And now without further a do.....The pictures that were promised over a week ago:
This is right outside our hotel room, and I thought it was so cute that they were sitting there so nice!
Danielle roasting marshmallows for a good old fashioned S'more!
The family minus me at JICP Festival of Lights!
Rylie with her "g-mama"
One of very few pictures where Rylie is actually looking at the camera!
A family pic at the Lights
The big body bubble maker at the Childrens Museum
Rylie loved this huge Lite Brite at the childrens museum
Taa-Daaa!
Anyway, although Danielle has had 3 rages in the past 3 days and has required restraining on 2 of the three and passed out again on the second time she raged. I wasn't nearly as panicked this time but it was scary. Her medication was raised again about a week ago and we think this is the reason that she passed out again. I just hope that now that her medication has been lowered to the original dose that she wont do that again. Other then that she is doing better. The news we heard is still hard to deal with but we have to keep living. We have been praying through it the best that we can. The new church that we go to has been a saving grace for us. We just need to make ourselves go weather we feel like it or not. Sometimes the depression just gets to us and we are paralyzed by it but I think if we pray through every time and never give into the enemy he will realize that we are not up for his nonsense and that we are protected by the Armor of God!
And now without further a do.....The pictures that were promised over a week ago:
This is right outside our hotel room, and I thought it was so cute that they were sitting there so nice!
Danielle roasting marshmallows for a good old fashioned S'more!
The family minus me at JICP Festival of Lights!Rylie with her "g-mama"One of very few pictures where Rylie is actually looking at the camera!A family pic at the Lights
The big body bubble maker at the Childrens MuseumRylie loved this huge Lite Brite at the childrens museumTaa-Daaa!Rylie loved the sand in the archaeological dig exibit
Monday, December 8, 2008
Making progress in counseling
Good evening!
We hope you all had a great weekend! We did! It was great getting out to see the lights on JI. We really did have a great time. Then on Sunday we hung up some more Christmas lights. It really was fun. The only bad thing is that the kids have had yucky noses and coughs for over three weeks now! I have no idea what the problem is! They have both been on antibiotics and the nasties only go away for a short time and then they come back worse! AAGGHHH!
Well, anyway like I said in the previous post we have had some news come up that was very upsetting for us. We are still having a hard time with it. Well actually, I am. It has opened some old wounds that I thought that I had dealt with but I guess I ha vent. I am going to get help for it but right now Danielle is our focus! So we had an appt with another therapist today and we all feel that it will be the best place for the entire family to get support. I just hope that eventually we find out the whole truth and then we can all just move forward. We will see though.
That's all I have for now, but I will post some more tomorrow! I might even upload the pics from Myrtle Beach and the Lights!
Have a blessed night
Much love,
Jacki
We hope you all had a great weekend! We did! It was great getting out to see the lights on JI. We really did have a great time. Then on Sunday we hung up some more Christmas lights. It really was fun. The only bad thing is that the kids have had yucky noses and coughs for over three weeks now! I have no idea what the problem is! They have both been on antibiotics and the nasties only go away for a short time and then they come back worse! AAGGHHH!
Well, anyway like I said in the previous post we have had some news come up that was very upsetting for us. We are still having a hard time with it. Well actually, I am. It has opened some old wounds that I thought that I had dealt with but I guess I ha vent. I am going to get help for it but right now Danielle is our focus! So we had an appt with another therapist today and we all feel that it will be the best place for the entire family to get support. I just hope that eventually we find out the whole truth and then we can all just move forward. We will see though.
That's all I have for now, but I will post some more tomorrow! I might even upload the pics from Myrtle Beach and the Lights!
Have a blessed night
Much love,
Jacki
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A much needed escape from reality!
Good Morning friends and family! I hope your week was a good one!
As most of you know, we attend therapy a couple of times a week and it helps us a lot. It has brought to light several things that we never knew were bothering Danielle and with those things known we can help her better. With that said, you all should know that something came out in therapy on Thursday that was very upsetting to us. So much so that we had to leave and go to Kevin who was at a training meeting in Georgetown and stay there with him until he was finished. We cant share exactly what it was that came out nor will I give any clues as to what it is. We just ask for your prayers and support as we move through what will be a very difficult time. Once again we will trust that the Lord will deliver us from this pain and give us the peace and understanding that we need to move past this as well.
We have pulled the positive out of the situation, though there wasn't much positive to pullout, but none the less we did. I know if we didn't have the strength given to us by God, we wouldn't have been able to do that. Kevin has been a wonderful father and husband and spiritual leader for us through all of the things we have had to go through so far and now with this new development he needs our prayers to continue to be strong for our family and make the decisions that are necessary for our family. We have prayed together for Gods Will to be done in this situation and that He will be Glorified through it all but somehow we feel like there is something else that we could be praying for. We know that God is so much bigger then anything this earth could throw at us and yet we feel like we are continuously questioning why "HE" is allowing this all to happen to us. We do try to walk in His light. We do live and raise our children according to what He says in the Bible is required of us. He is always challenging us to lean on him more and more with more difficult tasks then the ones before.
We know that there are way worse things that we could have to be dealing with like a terminal illness, the loss of a child, the loss of a parent, homelessness, hunger and many more things. So why do we question the One who only has our best interest in mind? Maybe because we don't what lies ahead. He knows what this situation is preparing us for. If we leave it at that and trust that He knows what is best then will we be giving glory to Him?
I am a baby Christian. I don't claim to know it all or even understand it. In fact there are many things that I don't understand but the one thing that I do know is that the Lord is sovereign and I will take comfort in that...
On a side note: Our trip to Georgetown was a much needed escape. While Kevin was in training I took the kids to Myrtle Beach and we had a great time. I took them to the Childrens Museum. They had a great time. We also went to Target. My kids, especially Danielle, love this store. We could spend hours there and many times we do. After all that we headed back to Georgetown to get daddy and the kids were tuckered out so they slept the whole way back! The Lord knew I needed that. I had some great time with the Lord during that time. When we got back to the hotel we got daddy and headed to his parents house to drop off Danielle and then headed home.
We needed each other and what a comfort it was to be away and with each other. The perfect escape from reality. I must say though that reality was waiting for us when we got home. That was okay though. We were better prepared for it then. Or at least I was. I try not to speak for my Husband unless I know for sure he would agree or that he actually said what I write.
Anyways, we want to thank you all in advance for your thoughts and prayers. Have a blessed day and weekend!
Much love,
Jacki and Kevin
As most of you know, we attend therapy a couple of times a week and it helps us a lot. It has brought to light several things that we never knew were bothering Danielle and with those things known we can help her better. With that said, you all should know that something came out in therapy on Thursday that was very upsetting to us. So much so that we had to leave and go to Kevin who was at a training meeting in Georgetown and stay there with him until he was finished. We cant share exactly what it was that came out nor will I give any clues as to what it is. We just ask for your prayers and support as we move through what will be a very difficult time. Once again we will trust that the Lord will deliver us from this pain and give us the peace and understanding that we need to move past this as well.
We have pulled the positive out of the situation, though there wasn't much positive to pullout, but none the less we did. I know if we didn't have the strength given to us by God, we wouldn't have been able to do that. Kevin has been a wonderful father and husband and spiritual leader for us through all of the things we have had to go through so far and now with this new development he needs our prayers to continue to be strong for our family and make the decisions that are necessary for our family. We have prayed together for Gods Will to be done in this situation and that He will be Glorified through it all but somehow we feel like there is something else that we could be praying for. We know that God is so much bigger then anything this earth could throw at us and yet we feel like we are continuously questioning why "HE" is allowing this all to happen to us. We do try to walk in His light. We do live and raise our children according to what He says in the Bible is required of us. He is always challenging us to lean on him more and more with more difficult tasks then the ones before.
We know that there are way worse things that we could have to be dealing with like a terminal illness, the loss of a child, the loss of a parent, homelessness, hunger and many more things. So why do we question the One who only has our best interest in mind? Maybe because we don't what lies ahead. He knows what this situation is preparing us for. If we leave it at that and trust that He knows what is best then will we be giving glory to Him?
I am a baby Christian. I don't claim to know it all or even understand it. In fact there are many things that I don't understand but the one thing that I do know is that the Lord is sovereign and I will take comfort in that...
On a side note: Our trip to Georgetown was a much needed escape. While Kevin was in training I took the kids to Myrtle Beach and we had a great time. I took them to the Childrens Museum. They had a great time. We also went to Target. My kids, especially Danielle, love this store. We could spend hours there and many times we do. After all that we headed back to Georgetown to get daddy and the kids were tuckered out so they slept the whole way back! The Lord knew I needed that. I had some great time with the Lord during that time. When we got back to the hotel we got daddy and headed to his parents house to drop off Danielle and then headed home.
We needed each other and what a comfort it was to be away and with each other. The perfect escape from reality. I must say though that reality was waiting for us when we got home. That was okay though. We were better prepared for it then. Or at least I was. I try not to speak for my Husband unless I know for sure he would agree or that he actually said what I write.
Anyways, we want to thank you all in advance for your thoughts and prayers. Have a blessed day and weekend!
Much love,
Jacki and Kevin
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
"Daddy the tooth fairy is a girl!"
My precious Danielle finally lost her very first baby tooth today while she was at school! Her teacher said that she did fine. No crying or freaking out or anything! She was just eating her lunch and then she calmly got her teachers attention and said"Um Mrs. Lott, I think my tooth fell out!"
They quickly gathered it up and put it in a ziplock bag and saved it for us. When we picked her up from school Kevin noticed first that she had lost it. And when I saw it I have to admit I almost cried. My baby girl was growing up and had crossed over to childhood. Shes not a toddler anymore!
Anyway, when Danielle got in the car this is what conversation took place:
Danielle: "What does the tooth fairy bring you for your tooth?"
Daddy: " He brings you money."
Danielle: " Daddy...the tooth fairy is a girl and I want jewelry."
Daddy & Mommy: "(laughing hysterically) That's our Danielle!"
Well I think I texted you all with the news so here are the pics from when we got home!
Her first "cheeeese" picture with 1 missing tooth!
A close up(kinda gross) but you can see her big girl tooth really good!
Look mommy, I am holding my own tooth! I think it kinda grossed her out.
The famous tooth...waiting for the tooth fairy to come pick it up!
We hope you enjoy! Have an awesome evening!Kevin and Jacki
1 big step backwards.....
Well as you can tell by title of my post it's going to be a negative post. So if you don't want to read this one that's fine with me but it will have an update on the family.
In the past few days we have had a huge set back with Danielle. As you all know Danielle was having some really great progress and had not raged in over 4 weeks. It was nice to have some peace in the house. I guess we got too comfortable. On Monday night, Danielle had a really bad rage. She seriously hurt me physically and although I don't think she intended to, emotionally too. I am still in a lot of physical pain but I think the emotional pain is worse. We knew that it was a possibility that she could relapse but not at this severity. She is manic too according to the Doctor and they want to switch medications and add one more. I am really not sure if this is the right time to do this with the holidays.
On a positive note though, Danielle has done a fabulous job going to school. Her anxiety has decreased enough so that she can go without a fight in morning. That is great progress. We wont hold our breath though. Anything can happen.
Rylie update: She is doing well. I think she has already started her " Terrible two's"! That's okay though. At least she's on the right track. I don't know if I could handle another sensory child. She is however going through that separation anxiety stage. Anytime that I leave the room or try to leave her she cries. I guess that is one of the downsides of staying home with your children. I am thinking of putting her in a mother's morning out program 1 day a week for a couple of hours to get her used to it. It does feel good to be missed though.
Kevin and I are doing okay. We heard some news that we aren't yet ready to share on Monday that really has us upset. We will continue to pray for Gods will but it is definitely hard to "digest". Our new church is wonderful! We get "fed well" each time and we know that this is our new church home because God has confirmed it for us in the words of three witnesses. I believe it says that somewhere in the Bible. Right now I am not sure where but I will find it and post later.
Okay, I promised some Thanksgiving weekend pictures so here they are...
Happy birthday daddy!
Rylie's first time eating chocolate fondue...she loved it!
She wasnt happy when we were eating so mommy didnt get to eat much of her dinner!
We decorated our Christmas tree this weekend as well! We had a blast but forgot to take many pictures! :( But we have memories and thats what counts!
Hope you enjoyed the weekend pics!
Hava a blessed day
Love,
Jacki
Friday, November 28, 2008
Baby Steps...
Last Sunday we started at a new church called Cathedral of Praise. Because of its size I was certain that I was going to feel uncomfortable. But...I was wrong! When we walked into that church lobby we were suprised by the amount of people who greeted us, talked to us, showed us where in the nursery our children went and then where we could go to sit so we could be close to the baby(who was not happy to be left with strangers). We felt like we were home. When I say that I mean like we had found where God had wanted us. I always prayed that whenever we went to a new church that if that was where He wanted us that he wouls give kevin and I a peace that was undoubtedly from Him. Well, He did!
Anyway, the service was wonderful. And one of the points the pastor had made was about forgiving others no matter what. Easier said than done for me because I can only take so much before I feel like if I forgive you again then you hurt me, my family, etc again I cant or wont forgive that person. But I learned that its not really about me. Its about living by the Word of God. I cant begin to feel and see what He has for me and my family if I have grudges and unforgiven issues between me and God. So I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, especially with the holidays here. I have a yerning for God to show me what His love feels like and all along I have not known that I wasnt feeling all of what He has for me. How awesome is our God!
I guess in the past I have been like "God, if you could just heal Danielle, fix whats broken in my marriage, help my family , etc...then I will have a greater faith." Fact of the matter is, that is not how it works. He asks us to take step of faith. If I knew how to link the site of the sermon to this blog I would because I left that church on a misson. I have continued this week to take baby steps but I know I need to take big steps of faith. I guess I just need the reassurance of the faith that my baby steps build. I dont know. We plan to continue to attend this church. Our spirits were "fed well "as I have had several people tell me about this church. I cant wait to see what this week brings. I know this past week has been a week full of "God moments". Where I know He has been or is there in certain moments. He has shown me that He is there always teaching me!
Well I guess with all of that said I should give you all an update on the family!
The Kids: They are doing very well. We enjoy ,and so do they, our fmaily worship time! It is so heart warming to see my children with thier child-like faith. Danielle is doing well. Her therapist believes that she might be entering a manic phase so we are watching her very closely. But other than that she is awesome! Rylie is and has been very fussy and clingy but I think if she could sleep(take her naps and sleep at nite) she would be a much happier baby! But again she is doing good too!
The mommy and the Daddy: We are doing well also. Other than being a little sleep deprived from Rylie Having a reaction to the Flu shot, we are good. We have been spending a lot of time talking about what we want out of our church experiences and what our walk will look like outside of church. It has been a wonderful week of discovery to say the least! I hope that every week will be a little more exciting and inspire us to want more for our family! :)
Thanksgiving: Was wonderful! A lot of good conversation and food and of course fun too! We have a lot to be Thankful for!
Well I am off to start the clean up process...
Have a blessed day.
Love,
Jacki
PS: I will post pictures later today!
Anyway, the service was wonderful. And one of the points the pastor had made was about forgiving others no matter what. Easier said than done for me because I can only take so much before I feel like if I forgive you again then you hurt me, my family, etc again I cant or wont forgive that person. But I learned that its not really about me. Its about living by the Word of God. I cant begin to feel and see what He has for me and my family if I have grudges and unforgiven issues between me and God. So I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, especially with the holidays here. I have a yerning for God to show me what His love feels like and all along I have not known that I wasnt feeling all of what He has for me. How awesome is our God!
I guess in the past I have been like "God, if you could just heal Danielle, fix whats broken in my marriage, help my family , etc...then I will have a greater faith." Fact of the matter is, that is not how it works. He asks us to take step of faith. If I knew how to link the site of the sermon to this blog I would because I left that church on a misson. I have continued this week to take baby steps but I know I need to take big steps of faith. I guess I just need the reassurance of the faith that my baby steps build. I dont know. We plan to continue to attend this church. Our spirits were "fed well "as I have had several people tell me about this church. I cant wait to see what this week brings. I know this past week has been a week full of "God moments". Where I know He has been or is there in certain moments. He has shown me that He is there always teaching me!
Well I guess with all of that said I should give you all an update on the family!
The Kids: They are doing very well. We enjoy ,and so do they, our fmaily worship time! It is so heart warming to see my children with thier child-like faith. Danielle is doing well. Her therapist believes that she might be entering a manic phase so we are watching her very closely. But other than that she is awesome! Rylie is and has been very fussy and clingy but I think if she could sleep(take her naps and sleep at nite) she would be a much happier baby! But again she is doing good too!
The mommy and the Daddy: We are doing well also. Other than being a little sleep deprived from Rylie Having a reaction to the Flu shot, we are good. We have been spending a lot of time talking about what we want out of our church experiences and what our walk will look like outside of church. It has been a wonderful week of discovery to say the least! I hope that every week will be a little more exciting and inspire us to want more for our family! :)
Thanksgiving: Was wonderful! A lot of good conversation and food and of course fun too! We have a lot to be Thankful for!
Well I am off to start the clean up process...
Have a blessed day.
Love,
Jacki
PS: I will post pictures later today!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Giving Thanks...
Well Thanksgiving day is only hours away now and soon we will all be eating and deep in conversation with our families and friends. I just wanted to write a post to everyone who has been praying for us and especially Danielle! Your prayers were answered and my sweet girl is doing soooo much better and is functioning a lot sooner then they said she would. Praise God, the Honor and glory is Yours!
While everyone is having thier Thanksgiving dinner I want to share that I will be praying for each of you! It is my way of saying thank you.
Off to start the festivities and setup! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! GOD BLESS YOU ALL ON THIS WONDERFUL HOLIDAY!
Love,
Jacki
While everyone is having thier Thanksgiving dinner I want to share that I will be praying for each of you! It is my way of saying thank you.
Off to start the festivities and setup! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! GOD BLESS YOU ALL ON THIS WONDERFUL HOLIDAY!
Love,
Jacki
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Rest for the weary! Hallelujah!
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
--Matthew 11:28 NIV
This was the verse that the radio station we listen to talked about a few days ago and it sparked some interest for me. I have been incredibly tired as of late and have had zero motivation to do anything. The kids and I haven't done anything outside of this house (except going to Target & grocery shopping) in over a month and I felt like I was doing a diservice to my kids. I having been feeling kinda blue for about a week or so because of this but have zip motivation to fix the problem.
So like I said I heard the this verse on the radio and it struck something in me. So I did exactly what Jesus asked me to do. I came to Him in Prayer and I prayed. That night I fell asleep easily slept most of the (which means so did Rylie) and woke up completely refreshed (which doesnt happen frequently). I chalked it up to just being exhausted, of course we slept, our bodies had no other choice. But then last night the same thing happened. Rylie never sleeps through the night. That girl still gets up 2 times to nurse and let me tell you she puts up a fight if she doesnt get to. I will eventually give in so she doesnt wake the whole family up though. Well this morning I was thinking about what great sleep I have had and realized that certain things in our house are running smoother. That must be why I can rest peacefully. Not because Jesus put me into a deep sleep ( well maybe He did, I dont know) but becasue He helped resolve somethings around here.
A few examples:
1. Kevins job was giving him so much hassle about having to take time off for Danielle's appointments and having to come home if she was raging. Big stressor! Well they have an understanding now and been very supportive about whatever he needs to do to help Danielle.
Praise be to God!
2. Danielle, as you all know had a terrible medication reaction which landed her in the hospital and caused us a huge amount of stress and tears. Now her medication is working. No side effects(except weight gain). No fighting with her to take the medication(which most kids do). No rages!
Praise be to God!
3. I have and still do hate giving Danielle her medication because it has caused me a lot of anxiety. That anxiety has come from my own thinking that I some how failed her as a parent. That I couldnt make her better with just a kiss on the boo-boo. I have also been wondering what God thinks about my parenting and the decsions that we have made regaurding her care. We have seeked Him through it all to lead us to what He wants us to do but we always look back and say "Is that what God wanted us to do or what we wanted to do?" I am sure more often then not we have done what is comfortable for us weather He wanted it or not. Thank goodness that our Father is a forgiving father.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."--Philippians 4:6 NIV
I have been repeating this verse to myself whenever I am feeling anxiety about the medication and that maybe she is just having another side effect. Every little thing that happens to her, every sniffle, cough and sneeze. Every tummy ache and headache. I am always thinking that it has got to be the medicine. I now have a peace this morning that all of these things are NOT the medication!
Praise be to God!
4. Rylie, like I said already, has been sleeping mostly through the night. She has never done that. We believe that since the raging and loud unpredictable behavior from Danielle is ceasing that now Rylie has a peace that allows her to sleep restfully. We know where that peace comes from! Now we have to work on getting her out of our bed! :0)
Praise be to God!
Here are the few that I can think of right off the top of my head. I know after my rest that I can and will be able to serve the Lord today and everyday that I seek Him.
Have a blessed day!
Love,
Jacki
--Matthew 11:28 NIV
This was the verse that the radio station we listen to talked about a few days ago and it sparked some interest for me. I have been incredibly tired as of late and have had zero motivation to do anything. The kids and I haven't done anything outside of this house (except going to Target & grocery shopping) in over a month and I felt like I was doing a diservice to my kids. I having been feeling kinda blue for about a week or so because of this but have zip motivation to fix the problem.
So like I said I heard the this verse on the radio and it struck something in me. So I did exactly what Jesus asked me to do. I came to Him in Prayer and I prayed. That night I fell asleep easily slept most of the (which means so did Rylie) and woke up completely refreshed (which doesnt happen frequently). I chalked it up to just being exhausted, of course we slept, our bodies had no other choice. But then last night the same thing happened. Rylie never sleeps through the night. That girl still gets up 2 times to nurse and let me tell you she puts up a fight if she doesnt get to. I will eventually give in so she doesnt wake the whole family up though. Well this morning I was thinking about what great sleep I have had and realized that certain things in our house are running smoother. That must be why I can rest peacefully. Not because Jesus put me into a deep sleep ( well maybe He did, I dont know) but becasue He helped resolve somethings around here.
A few examples:
1. Kevins job was giving him so much hassle about having to take time off for Danielle's appointments and having to come home if she was raging. Big stressor! Well they have an understanding now and been very supportive about whatever he needs to do to help Danielle.
Praise be to God!
2. Danielle, as you all know had a terrible medication reaction which landed her in the hospital and caused us a huge amount of stress and tears. Now her medication is working. No side effects(except weight gain). No fighting with her to take the medication(which most kids do). No rages!
Praise be to God!
3. I have and still do hate giving Danielle her medication because it has caused me a lot of anxiety. That anxiety has come from my own thinking that I some how failed her as a parent. That I couldnt make her better with just a kiss on the boo-boo. I have also been wondering what God thinks about my parenting and the decsions that we have made regaurding her care. We have seeked Him through it all to lead us to what He wants us to do but we always look back and say "Is that what God wanted us to do or what we wanted to do?" I am sure more often then not we have done what is comfortable for us weather He wanted it or not. Thank goodness that our Father is a forgiving father.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."--Philippians 4:6 NIV
I have been repeating this verse to myself whenever I am feeling anxiety about the medication and that maybe she is just having another side effect. Every little thing that happens to her, every sniffle, cough and sneeze. Every tummy ache and headache. I am always thinking that it has got to be the medicine. I now have a peace this morning that all of these things are NOT the medication!
Praise be to God!
4. Rylie, like I said already, has been sleeping mostly through the night. She has never done that. We believe that since the raging and loud unpredictable behavior from Danielle is ceasing that now Rylie has a peace that allows her to sleep restfully. We know where that peace comes from! Now we have to work on getting her out of our bed! :0)
Praise be to God!
Here are the few that I can think of right off the top of my head. I know after my rest that I can and will be able to serve the Lord today and everyday that I seek Him.
Have a blessed day!
Love,
Jacki
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Family Time!
My, my we are lagging on keeping this blog up! It just seems as if we are so busy all of the time! I wonder if we will ever sit down as a family and have dinner again...
Well once again we have had another wonderful week with Danielle! She is doing better in a lot of areas! The biggest one for us is the raging. It is awful to hear her talk the way she does when she is raging. It's like the evil one is posessing her. Is that possible?? Anyway, now that we are on week 4 of the medication that I dread giving her, she is much better. We have found that we have had a lot more fun in the evening (minus daddy because he is at work). The girls and I have started dancing around the house to the Christian radio station for about 20 minutes every night. It is so amazing to me that Danielle at age 5 knows the words to the songs and for the most part understands what they mean. Rylie has been just wild! She does more running and a little bit of turning around in a circle! She contributes to our laughter and that whats counts!
The other thing we started is talking more about Jesus in a way that is simple for the girls to understand. I love that Danielle attended JICC Preschool because just those 3 precious years have built a foundation for her that I think no diagnosis will shake! I praise God for that! Danielle recently gave Rylie her preschool Bible and told her "Rylie, You have to listen to this book. Its really good!" I laughed. I smiled. Danielle still has a really hard time with sharing anything but because Ms. Shandy did such a wonderful job teaching her the stories from this book she thought Rylie needed to have it so she could learn from it too. That is excellent progress.
Now on to Thanksgiving. It is going to be here before we know it! We are hosting it this year and I couldnt be more excited! I have made invitations and the menu(pretty much) and just being able to spend the holidays with the family is a blessing. The kids have been really excited too! They are going to help as much as they can, which isnt a lot, but its enough for them to learn a lesson about being helpful! I love being a mommy! I cant imagine my life without my kids. I find myself considering going back to work as a nurse because of finances, but after I hear that "mama" from the baby moniter or Danielle telling me that she loves when I come to her school, I cant imagine any job more rewarding! After all, God entrusted these children to me and it is my job as a mommy to raise them up in the Word. No amount of money in the world is worth more than that!
Well I am off to the house work! And hopefully my Bible study for today! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!
Have an awesome day,
Jacki
Well once again we have had another wonderful week with Danielle! She is doing better in a lot of areas! The biggest one for us is the raging. It is awful to hear her talk the way she does when she is raging. It's like the evil one is posessing her. Is that possible?? Anyway, now that we are on week 4 of the medication that I dread giving her, she is much better. We have found that we have had a lot more fun in the evening (minus daddy because he is at work). The girls and I have started dancing around the house to the Christian radio station for about 20 minutes every night. It is so amazing to me that Danielle at age 5 knows the words to the songs and for the most part understands what they mean. Rylie has been just wild! She does more running and a little bit of turning around in a circle! She contributes to our laughter and that whats counts!
The other thing we started is talking more about Jesus in a way that is simple for the girls to understand. I love that Danielle attended JICC Preschool because just those 3 precious years have built a foundation for her that I think no diagnosis will shake! I praise God for that! Danielle recently gave Rylie her preschool Bible and told her "Rylie, You have to listen to this book. Its really good!" I laughed. I smiled. Danielle still has a really hard time with sharing anything but because Ms. Shandy did such a wonderful job teaching her the stories from this book she thought Rylie needed to have it so she could learn from it too. That is excellent progress.
Now on to Thanksgiving. It is going to be here before we know it! We are hosting it this year and I couldnt be more excited! I have made invitations and the menu(pretty much) and just being able to spend the holidays with the family is a blessing. The kids have been really excited too! They are going to help as much as they can, which isnt a lot, but its enough for them to learn a lesson about being helpful! I love being a mommy! I cant imagine my life without my kids. I find myself considering going back to work as a nurse because of finances, but after I hear that "mama" from the baby moniter or Danielle telling me that she loves when I come to her school, I cant imagine any job more rewarding! After all, God entrusted these children to me and it is my job as a mommy to raise them up in the Word. No amount of money in the world is worth more than that!
Well I am off to the house work! And hopefully my Bible study for today! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!
Have an awesome day,
Jacki
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Family
My family, as most of you know, is my life. Everything I do is for them. With Thanksgiving coming up I have been doing a lot of studying in the Bible about what family looks like in God Eyes. Since I never grew up in a "Christian Family", I stumbled upon faith by accident. Well, I am sure it was no accident. God had a plan for me, this much I do know. However, Kevin was raised in his faith and knew all along about what Gods Plan for family was. Lately we have been talking alot about what he knows about it and what we want to know about it. We have discovered that there is a lot about family that we dont know. We wanted to go to the Family Driven Faith confrence in September but we were all sick. We felt like this would have answered a lot of our questions and helped us realize what Gods Will is for our family. Since we werent able to attend we decided that we are going to rewatch the visionary parenting and redo all of the worksheets that accompany the DVDs. We hope to find what we are looking for.
Part of me thinks that we are missing out on a lot that God has planned for us and the other part of me wonders why when I pray for a peace and an understanding of what is happening in my family He hasnt fully answered my prayers. I know He has been giving us the strength that we need to get through what we are going through, but what about that understanding. Maybe the best is yet to come...if I always knew what ws to come life would not be fun! So for now I will continue to read and study Deuteronomy 6. This has answered a lot of questions that I have. My girls seem to love it too. Danielle has asked me to find it in her Childrens Bible so we can read it at bedtime. It makes me smile inside to know my children already know about a book that I knew nothing about and like to hear the stories inside of it.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9 NIV
These are my favorite verses from that reading. I think that He is trying to show me one part of being a parent. Showing them unconditional love as He shows us. I dont know though.
Well here is the family update: We are all doing pretty well. Danielle has had some bad days this week with anxiety. Rylie has been wheezing a lot lately. We think that her behavior is a result of that. And so does her pediatrician. So thats about the only bad news I have to report. Good news is that I am doing better and so is Kevin. His job is allowing overtime right now so he is working his day off to earn some extra money for the hoildays. Then hopefully we will be going to get our Christmas pics taken today! (appt pending)
I wanted to post some pics of the kids. They are getting so big! So enjoy....
She has learned how to climb on the oven door....totally not safe.
We love hanging out on the hammock in the back yard while Kevin is grilling our dinner!
Ther's my girl Danielle! Cute as can be!
So off to love on my children....
Love,
Jacki
Thursday, November 13, 2008
...at home recovering...
good evening,
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am home and recovering. They gave me more medication in the injection this time and it caused some yucky side effects. I am feeling better from those but I am really sore! Hopefully I will be better soon.
Danielle update: She is having some huge anxiety issues this week. I hope its not a medication side effect but we shall see. She hasnt been to school in 3 days because of this. So please continue to pray for her. Thank you!
Well I am off to bed now. Good night!
Jacki
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am home and recovering. They gave me more medication in the injection this time and it caused some yucky side effects. I am feeling better from those but I am really sore! Hopefully I will be better soon.
Danielle update: She is having some huge anxiety issues this week. I hope its not a medication side effect but we shall see. She hasnt been to school in 3 days because of this. So please continue to pray for her. Thank you!
Well I am off to bed now. Good night!
Jacki
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A short & sweet update!!!
Good morning,
I thought that I would share with you all that today I am going to have steriod shots put in my shoulders today. It is definitely not pleasent but it helps over a period of time. I will be relying heavily on prayers and my husband to help me with everyday tasks. One thing I doubt he will do is update our blog...which is fine with me, it just means that it might be 3 days before I can lift my arms enough to type. So I will give you all a little update.....
Kevin and I are getting good reports from the therapist and family members about us having a peace about us and our kids. That is definitely what we are trying to accomplish. Ms. E. is also very proud of Danielle for her very controlled bouts of anger. That means that she still gets angry but she is able to better control herself. We see that as progress. Praise God!
Danielle and Rylie are playing a lot better together. They are sharing toys and books and mommy too. It is a much happier home these days and that makes me very happy! We are hoping for a stablized mood by the new year!
Well we have to start the day now! Have a blessed day!
Much love,
Jacki
I thought that I would share with you all that today I am going to have steriod shots put in my shoulders today. It is definitely not pleasent but it helps over a period of time. I will be relying heavily on prayers and my husband to help me with everyday tasks. One thing I doubt he will do is update our blog...which is fine with me, it just means that it might be 3 days before I can lift my arms enough to type. So I will give you all a little update.....
Kevin and I are getting good reports from the therapist and family members about us having a peace about us and our kids. That is definitely what we are trying to accomplish. Ms. E. is also very proud of Danielle for her very controlled bouts of anger. That means that she still gets angry but she is able to better control herself. We see that as progress. Praise God!
Danielle and Rylie are playing a lot better together. They are sharing toys and books and mommy too. It is a much happier home these days and that makes me very happy! We are hoping for a stablized mood by the new year!
Well we have to start the day now! Have a blessed day!
Much love,
Jacki
Monday, November 10, 2008
Guess what!!??
WE MADE IT THRU AN ENTIRE WEEKEND WITHOUT A RAGE!!!!
YES! WE actually went thru an entire weekend without a rage! I think that the medication might be working. There is a downside (the weight gain), but I think we will be able to control this with exercise and diet(I hope). Danielle is really proud of herself and so are we. We would like to thank everyone who has continued to pray for us too, because we know that God has answered these prayers!
On a yucky note: Rylie had a fever last night of 103.7 and she was taken to the ER at Summerville Medical. After 3 hours of waiting we found out that she has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. The doctor said this is a viral illness and that it is really going around right now. He suggessted that we avoid shopping carts even if we use the covers ( unless I washed it after every use, which I dont. I wash it weekly with my laundry). He said a better bet would be to use our stroller as much as possible. She is feeling a lot better today and her fever is much lower but it was a scary night to say the least. We once again used the power of prayer last night and we believe that our prayers were answered. Her fever broke even when the doctors said it would probably take 2-3 days of being that high. Well it broke before we left and now its like 100.2 ish and has been all day! Praise God!
"Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven."
James 5:14-15 NLT
By the way, we love our new camera! We will post some new pics soon! We have just been so busy! That seems to be the story of our life these days!
Have a blessed day!
Much love,
Jacki & Kevin Smith
YES! WE actually went thru an entire weekend without a rage! I think that the medication might be working. There is a downside (the weight gain), but I think we will be able to control this with exercise and diet(I hope). Danielle is really proud of herself and so are we. We would like to thank everyone who has continued to pray for us too, because we know that God has answered these prayers!
On a yucky note: Rylie had a fever last night of 103.7 and she was taken to the ER at Summerville Medical. After 3 hours of waiting we found out that she has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. The doctor said this is a viral illness and that it is really going around right now. He suggessted that we avoid shopping carts even if we use the covers ( unless I washed it after every use, which I dont. I wash it weekly with my laundry). He said a better bet would be to use our stroller as much as possible. She is feeling a lot better today and her fever is much lower but it was a scary night to say the least. We once again used the power of prayer last night and we believe that our prayers were answered. Her fever broke even when the doctors said it would probably take 2-3 days of being that high. Well it broke before we left and now its like 100.2 ish and has been all day! Praise God!
"Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven."
James 5:14-15 NLT
By the way, we love our new camera! We will post some new pics soon! We have just been so busy! That seems to be the story of our life these days!
Have a blessed day!
Much love,
Jacki & Kevin Smith
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Christmas in November???
Is it just me or is it looking like Chirstmas in November??? When I was at the mall today picking up my new camera(replacement for old one that darling 5 year old broke, thank goodness for protection plans!) there was Christmas stuff everywhere! The stores all had Christmas music playing already. They had that playing 2 days before Halloween. I mean people we havent even celebrated Thanksgiving yet! I, for one, like to enjoy the fall and Thanksgiving before I enjoy Christmas! I guess it's not such a bad thing, its just I feel like the stores are just pushing the holidays and there meanings to the way side. I have a lot to be thankful for and I dont want to be side tracked by all of the Christmas stuff. I enjoy Christmas too, but I want to enjoy Thanksgiving as well. Alright, enough of that.
Here's an update on the princess:
Well we made it through another week.Things are getting easier and I think Danielle is adjusting to her meds at a lower dose a lot better. We havent had a meltdown since tuesday afternoon and she attended school 3 days this week. That is a huge accomplishment for her. I cant wait until she will be attending 4 and 5 days all day! She needed to get picked up an hour early on Thursday and Friday but thats okay. She is trying!
Rylie update: I am convienced that Rylie should have been my boy! She is so silly! She is always in to everything! We have had to call poisen control at least 6 times since she turned 1 and that was only 4 months ago! She is starting to talk a lot! She learned her name and Danielle's this week and I think she might be saying "mine" in some funny way! She is still climbing on everything and the whole arching her back when she doesnt get her way thing isnt getting any better either. Dr Stadalsky says its totally normal but man it is scary when she smacks her head on the wood or tile floor! She is getting really tall too. I think they say she is in the 80% for height. She certainly doesnt get that from me! Over all though, she is doing awesome! Doing just what a 16 month old should be!
Kevin and Jacki: We are doing good too! We wish we had a little more alone time to spend with each other and with God but we are grateful for the little time that we do have! Our babies wont be little forever and we realize that we are lucky to have been choosen to parent them. We still have not found a church to attend yet which is making it hard to meet new people in the Summerville area but we feel like right now we should be spending this time with the kids and stablizing Danielle!
Well off to start dinner. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We know that they have been working! Have a blessed weekend!
Much love,
Jacki & Kevin
Here's an update on the princess:
Well we made it through another week.Things are getting easier and I think Danielle is adjusting to her meds at a lower dose a lot better. We havent had a meltdown since tuesday afternoon and she attended school 3 days this week. That is a huge accomplishment for her. I cant wait until she will be attending 4 and 5 days all day! She needed to get picked up an hour early on Thursday and Friday but thats okay. She is trying!
Rylie update: I am convienced that Rylie should have been my boy! She is so silly! She is always in to everything! We have had to call poisen control at least 6 times since she turned 1 and that was only 4 months ago! She is starting to talk a lot! She learned her name and Danielle's this week and I think she might be saying "mine" in some funny way! She is still climbing on everything and the whole arching her back when she doesnt get her way thing isnt getting any better either. Dr Stadalsky says its totally normal but man it is scary when she smacks her head on the wood or tile floor! She is getting really tall too. I think they say she is in the 80% for height. She certainly doesnt get that from me! Over all though, she is doing awesome! Doing just what a 16 month old should be!
Kevin and Jacki: We are doing good too! We wish we had a little more alone time to spend with each other and with God but we are grateful for the little time that we do have! Our babies wont be little forever and we realize that we are lucky to have been choosen to parent them. We still have not found a church to attend yet which is making it hard to meet new people in the Summerville area but we feel like right now we should be spending this time with the kids and stablizing Danielle!
Well off to start dinner. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We know that they have been working! Have a blessed weekend!
Much love,
Jacki & Kevin
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Medication issues...
Well my friends, Danielle has had a rough 2 days. Yesterday she was rushed to the ER around noon time for what they called a "Dystonic medication reaction". Yep. I am sure you are all wondering what that means. It basically means that her adverse reaction caused stiff muscles and a loss of consciousness. She was down for about 12 mins and then when she came too she had no idea what was going on. Her heart rate was in the 180's and she had some shallow breathing. They gave her some O2 and then we got into the ambulance where they hooked her up to everything else. When we got to the hospital they gave her some IV fluids and drew some blood and did a CT and an EKG all of which came back normal ( thank goodness ) They sent us home with the adverse reaction diagnosis and told us to follow up in the morning with her psychiatrist. We did and he feels like she would benefit from restarting the medication at a lower dose. When you consider the alternative to the medication, which is basically hell on earth, the benefits definitely outweigh the risks.
So tonight, against my wishes and better judgement I will restart the dreaded medication and pray that the Lord will keep her safe and that he will show us what the right thing is to do. I wish that I could approach this situation with hope and knowledge that whatever happens is Gods Will for her and for us. But for some reason that is not how I approach it. And it plain out sucks! I hate this for Danielle. I hate this for my marriage. I hate that Rylie can not do normal baby things because of the beatings that she has taken from Danielle. I hate that we cant even make to church for fear that Danielle will not want to be left with people that she doesnt know and that when we get home she will melt. I hate that my life revolves around Dr. appointments and therapy sessions, previewing and fighting with my family. I hate all of this. I really just want it all to go away!
I know that God must be giving me the strength to get through this because, maybe at the end of this struggle He will be Glorified. And after all isnt that what we are all supposed to do through the good times and bad???
So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.2 Timothy 2:10 NLT
Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen 2 Timothy 4:18 NLT
So after a very emotional day I am back to the trenches of my so called life. We do however what to thank everybody for their prayers and support. Keep them coming! If it weren't for those we probably would have no strength to handle any of this. We will keep everybody updated on the situation and of course all of the joyous things as well as they happen!
Have a wonderful day! Until next time,
much love jacki
So tonight, against my wishes and better judgement I will restart the dreaded medication and pray that the Lord will keep her safe and that he will show us what the right thing is to do. I wish that I could approach this situation with hope and knowledge that whatever happens is Gods Will for her and for us. But for some reason that is not how I approach it. And it plain out sucks! I hate this for Danielle. I hate this for my marriage. I hate that Rylie can not do normal baby things because of the beatings that she has taken from Danielle. I hate that we cant even make to church for fear that Danielle will not want to be left with people that she doesnt know and that when we get home she will melt. I hate that my life revolves around Dr. appointments and therapy sessions, previewing and fighting with my family. I hate all of this. I really just want it all to go away!
I know that God must be giving me the strength to get through this because, maybe at the end of this struggle He will be Glorified. And after all isnt that what we are all supposed to do through the good times and bad???
So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.2 Timothy 2:10 NLT
Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen 2 Timothy 4:18 NLT
So after a very emotional day I am back to the trenches of my so called life. We do however what to thank everybody for their prayers and support. Keep them coming! If it weren't for those we probably would have no strength to handle any of this. We will keep everybody updated on the situation and of course all of the joyous things as well as they happen!
Have a wonderful day! Until next time,
much love jacki
Monday, November 3, 2008
Not so quick family update...
Good evening friends and family,
Just a quick family update: We are doing better and better as the weeks go by. It's getting easier to swallow reality. I was just telling Kevin that I need to look up the stages of grief because I think that i might be in the angry part...i dont know though. I have these days where I am finding myself asking God why HE did this to my family. And why, especially when He knows the other health issues that we deal with daily, would He not heal one of us to make it easier for us to handle this awful diagnosis! I mean, I know that He didn't bless us with this evil disorder but because I am so alone in this battle with little or no armour I always feel vulnerable. And when I have no answers and I don't understand what in the world He is trying to teach me through all of this its just easier I guess to blame the ones you are closest to. And unfortunately for God its Him right now...I often wonder if my old job at the hospital was preparation for this time of my life. I met a lot of families who go through this type of loneliness daily, who often didn't visit(but would call) because they needed a break from the day-to-day, and the medical knowledge that I gained was tremendous. Well one day when I have time to think about my life and not always the ins and outs of Danielle's then I might just figure it out!
On a much lighter note we only had 2 meltdowns this week and that is awesome! Danielle has learned from therapy to recognize her angry feelings and do her 3min cool-down techniques when she feels like she is about to loose control. Since she has shown us a lot of effort in that area we decided to reward her with a movie nite! We all went to High School Musical 3 and it was awesome! Then we came home, had dinner together and read books before bedtime together. We rarely get to do that all as a family! For these days I am Thankful!
Also, Danielle has found a new baby to play with...her sister! Yep! She has been pushing Rylie around in her baby stroller and Rylie loves it! Now whenever Rylie sees the stroller she wants in. It is hilarious to watch! Rylie has a few new words now toothat we would like to share with you all...uh-oh, sissy, daddy-do, mine, kitty and doggy. I am going to post a video of her saying all of these things soon. It is just so cute!
Well anyway so much for quick update! I am off to put away the Laundry and then go to bed! Goodnight,
Jacki
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wow it's already November!
Happy November! I cant believe that it is already November. That means that Thanksgiving is only 27 days away and Chirstmas is only 55 days away! Wow! It will be 2009 before we know it!
Family update: Well because we have had 2 bad weeks now, we have had to start the dreaded medication. It is an anti-psychotic. It has awful side affects including producing swollen breasts and lactation. We are just praying that she doesn't get that side affect. That is ridiculous! But because it is the one that has the most research done on it and it is approved by the FDA for use in children with aggression caused by conduct disorders we feel like it is a reasonable drug to use. So I feel a little better about this medication trial. However we dont think we will use the other medication, Lithium. I have seen the side affect of this medication working in Behavioral med at st. francis hospital. Basically we want Danielle to be happy and live the most normal life that she can and if that means a little medication then we will do what we need to do. So far she has tolerated the medication well. As for the rest of us we are all very tired. We are busy with all of her appointments and then of course life in itself is busy. The positive is that we have our family worship time in the car on the way to all of these appointments. We have had some awesome conversations in the car! Even Rylie is trying put in her 2 cents about what we are talking about with a shaking of her head. It is so cute. And when we have worship music on in the car, especially the kids mixs she will sing along(in baby talk, of course). It is cute to watch how much she look up to Danielle. If Danielle is raising her hands in praise then Rylie will do it too! I just love watching that interaction between them.
Other than all of that heavy stuff we have been doing good! We haven't been sick in 2 weeks and that is a wonderful blessing considering the stress we have been under this week! Praise God for our health! We have recently done some painting in our master bedroom...well it's finished being painted. The furniture, however is not finished. So we are still in the process of sanding down the previous finish and applying the new one. I will post some pics when it's complete!
As for Halloween: We went to a freinds house in Goose Creek and hung out there. I dressed the kids up as Minnie Mouse and A ladybug! They were adorable! We got some candy from a little bit of trick or treating but becasue it was way too cold to be out we just went to like 10 or so houses. It was fun but I am glad it is over. I am ready for Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!
I also want to thank all of those who have been praying for our family! We know that the prayers are helping. I cant explain the strength that we have had to deal with all of this and we know it comes from Him. So please keep them coming! :)
Have a great weekend,
Jacki
Family update: Well because we have had 2 bad weeks now, we have had to start the dreaded medication. It is an anti-psychotic. It has awful side affects including producing swollen breasts and lactation. We are just praying that she doesn't get that side affect. That is ridiculous! But because it is the one that has the most research done on it and it is approved by the FDA for use in children with aggression caused by conduct disorders we feel like it is a reasonable drug to use. So I feel a little better about this medication trial. However we dont think we will use the other medication, Lithium. I have seen the side affect of this medication working in Behavioral med at st. francis hospital. Basically we want Danielle to be happy and live the most normal life that she can and if that means a little medication then we will do what we need to do. So far she has tolerated the medication well. As for the rest of us we are all very tired. We are busy with all of her appointments and then of course life in itself is busy. The positive is that we have our family worship time in the car on the way to all of these appointments. We have had some awesome conversations in the car! Even Rylie is trying put in her 2 cents about what we are talking about with a shaking of her head. It is so cute. And when we have worship music on in the car, especially the kids mixs she will sing along(in baby talk, of course). It is cute to watch how much she look up to Danielle. If Danielle is raising her hands in praise then Rylie will do it too! I just love watching that interaction between them.
Other than all of that heavy stuff we have been doing good! We haven't been sick in 2 weeks and that is a wonderful blessing considering the stress we have been under this week! Praise God for our health! We have recently done some painting in our master bedroom...well it's finished being painted. The furniture, however is not finished. So we are still in the process of sanding down the previous finish and applying the new one. I will post some pics when it's complete!
As for Halloween: We went to a freinds house in Goose Creek and hung out there. I dressed the kids up as Minnie Mouse and A ladybug! They were adorable! We got some candy from a little bit of trick or treating but becasue it was way too cold to be out we just went to like 10 or so houses. It was fun but I am glad it is over. I am ready for Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!
I also want to thank all of those who have been praying for our family! We know that the prayers are helping. I cant explain the strength that we have had to deal with all of this and we know it comes from Him. So please keep them coming! :)
Have a great weekend,
Jacki
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Pumpkin Patch Fun!!
Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted and I apoligize. We have had a rough couple of weeks in regaurd to our Danielle! I cant believe this much time has gone by....
Anyways on a happy note, Saturday I took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch in Monks Corner and we had a great time! They had hay mazes, hay rides, a petting zoo, pumpkins, a milking cow and much more. They even had a food stand with BBQ! It was a great time! We went with my Aunt who loves to go with us to these types of things and we enjoy her company! Thank you Diana for joining us!!!
Rylie and Danielle both really enjoyed the hay ride the most. Rylie was running around all over the place and Danielle was just as happy as can be! I loved, for once this week, to see my children smiling! The day-to-day around here is not the best it can be with a BD child living here!
Anyways, I will be posting some pics up so hope you all enjoy!
Until next time,
Jacki
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Cold weather & Holiday planning
We are finally wearing our winter clothing! Its only 69 degrees to day! 
Having fun At Rollie Pollies on a rainy day
Having fun At Rollie Pollies on a rainy day
Good morning!
I hope eveybody had a good weekend. We have had an okay one but thankful none the less. We are starting to plan the holiday festivities and with the cold weather this weekend it seems like they are already here!! Once Halloween gets here, it's all a whirlwind from there. I just hope and pray that we dont loose sight of what each holiday is really about. We will continue to pray that we never loose sight of the real meaning of each holiday and that each one we celebrate is a gift from Him! And also that we are thankful for everyday we spend with each other, weather it is good, bad or just plain miserable. (We are having less bad and miserable days lately.) :)
Danielle update: She has had a couple of bad days this week. She missed school 3 times and has been really down. We have just been loving on her and trying to show her that no matter what is going on inside her she is still loved and cherished just like Rylie and everybody else. I think she just thinks that she is "Bad" or "Too hard for mommy to handle" (these are things that she has said to us). It is heart breaking to hear these things but it is all part of the disorder. We constantly pray for her understanding and a peace that will get her through each day. It just seems like no matter how much we pray, it still isnt enough. If I could and had time, I would pray for her all day! And night! On a lighter note, we still havent had a visit from the tooth fairy yet. It is still hanging on by a tiny string and she wont let us pull it! So when it does we will post a new posting with all of details.
Family Update: We are super excited about the Holidays!!!! I love to decorate and this year I might just learn to cook my very first Thanksgiving dinner and my very first Christmas dinner!!! (No more Honeybaked Ham Store food) !! Kevin and I are actually starting to plan details! We are going to be missing my family, but maybe his family will be here! We dont know. We are just so excited to have Christmas in our vey own house this year! What a blessing from God!
We are also getting ready to redo the Master bedroom. We are still picking out colors and we think we might just refinish our furniture instead of buying new stuff! Wish us luck as we have zero experience in "Redoing" anything in a house!!! :)
Rylie, oh Rylie....she is something else! I think she should have been my boy! I dont remember Danielle ever being as wild as Rylie is! She is everywhere all the time!! Always into to something! So my days usually include being on the floor doing damage control! I dont know why I do it because it just gets all messy again! Oh well I love every part of being her mommy though. I really took for granted these things with Danielle, but after so many losses I fully take in everything that Rylie does and I try to remember it and revisit the memory often. I am very thankful that God gave me an ability to scrapbook because I can revisit Danielles memories as well.
Well, its lunch time in the smith house and that means grouchy children, so its off to the kitchen!
Until next time, have a blessed day!
jacki
Friday, October 17, 2008
Danielle's first loose tooth....
Guess What???? Yup, you guessed it! Danielle has her very first loose tooth. We haven't had a visit from the tooth fairy yet but we think it should be sometime this weekend. We will keep everybody updated.
It is so exciting to have a first happen for Danielle these days because usually we are excited about Rylies firsts because most of Danielle's first have already happened. I guess I forgot about the first loose tooth! Silly me!! Well while I am just extatic about this I dont think Danielle is. She is absolutely terrified that she will bleed.(And she will) But we explained just a little and that it would feel better once it came out. We shall see though how it goes! Keep checking for updates!
Family update:
We are all finally healed from the illness that lingered forever it seemed. We will continue to pray for a healthy winter!! :) And as for our new life, we are adjusting well. With gentle reminders from the Lord that He is always near, our life has been somewhat pleasant. Praise God!!
Well off to start the day....until next time,
Jacki
It is so exciting to have a first happen for Danielle these days because usually we are excited about Rylies firsts because most of Danielle's first have already happened. I guess I forgot about the first loose tooth! Silly me!! Well while I am just extatic about this I dont think Danielle is. She is absolutely terrified that she will bleed.(And she will) But we explained just a little and that it would feel better once it came out. We shall see though how it goes! Keep checking for updates!
Family update:
We are all finally healed from the illness that lingered forever it seemed. We will continue to pray for a healthy winter!! :) And as for our new life, we are adjusting well. With gentle reminders from the Lord that He is always near, our life has been somewhat pleasant. Praise God!!
Well off to start the day....until next time,
Jacki
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness
Please pray for all babies that have been taken from their mothers and fathers to early. Thank you!Jacki
Sunday, October 12, 2008
God is AWESOME!!!
Being in the car this week has been a learning experience from the Lord. A friends of ours introduced us to the radio station 100.9FM and it is so AWESOME!!! Everyday the announcers read from the Bible , maybe only a verse or maybe a couple of verses, but its always a joy to reminded that while I am out in my car with the typical background noise of two precious little children, that I can hear from the Lord. While I was out and about today in the car running the typical weekend errands, I was reminded after a very hard weekend with Danielle, of His love for me. Not only me but for all of His children. I have been crying out to Lord for strength and knowledge, patience and peace and I was starting to feel like my crys for help were going unheard. ( I know he hears them, but the devil has been working overtime on me with this whole Danielle thing.) When I am in the car I am usually taking that time to pray with the kids or just pray ( I know this might sound selfish, and it probably is) for myself and Kevin. So when this reading was announced I was in a Walmart parking lot and on the verge of crying. I had been feeling overwhelmed and like my world was crashing down on me. And then just at the right time He spoke to me. I know it was for me. It was my answered prayers. It was a reminder that he hears my cries. He knows every tear. Praise God!! Glory in the highest!
5 Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. 6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O Lord. 7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. ---Pslams 36:1-7 NLT
Isnt God Awesome??? Needless to say my day has been a lot better....and so has Danielle's!
5 Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. 6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O Lord. 7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. ---Pslams 36:1-7 NLT
Isnt God Awesome??? Needless to say my day has been a lot better....and so has Danielle's!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Finally feeling better
Good evening,
So basically I am better. I am done with my antibiotics and the cough syrup is really nasty but works so good. Enough of that. Thats crazy! You can tell I have been couped up this week.
Family update: We are all starting to feel normal again. The whirlwind of emotions has started to subside and reality has set in and we get it. We get that not very many children get this diagnosis at age 5 and also that there are not many support groups for families that suffer from this wretched disease. I am actually thinking of startinga support group for our area. I have to get my family stable first, but I think that after we do we need to reach out to other families. It's really hard to accept this diagnosis when nobody can even imagine that your child could even fit that diagnosis. So basically we are all in it alone. And that sucks! For us, we have found strength in our Father. We pray a lot. We cry a lot. We pray a lot more and we look for the blessings in the horrible situation. And believe it or not we have. They are still unfolding but as soon as we know the full extent of what they are we will be glad to share them!
(Sidenote) Some of you dont know that Kevin and I have had several miscarriages and 1 late term miscarriage(I hate this word). This month is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. Please keep us in your prayers as we mourn our loss. We recently lost one of our angels the day before our 3rd wedding anniversary in July and we are still sad about this. We love every one of our babies from conception to death and we know we will see them all one day in heaven and they will wipe all of our tears away. But until then we will queitly mourn them on October 15th at 7pm by lighting a candle for each one of them. Please feel free to do the same. Thank you!
Okay...Danielle update: She is on her way down. Unfortuantly she has been reminded of a trauma that happened when she was really little invoving firemen and since this week is fire prevention week at school she has been exposed to them all week. The therapist says that it is "stiring things up inside her" which is good in one way but not in others. We will be at the therapists office 2 times next week to battle this one. As far as her behavior though, she has done well with boundries. We have been extremely consistent with discipline and it has worked. We have a little more patience with her then before and that helps as well. (That is definitely a blessing from God). So overall she is making progress. We know that we have a long way to go, but if we can make this kind of progress in 1 month then we can make great progress over the next 6 months and hey, she might even be completely stable! YEAH!!!!!! WE are looking foward to that day.
Rylie update: A little stinker but totally worth it!!! She is everywhere! She is really starting to talk...A lot!!! It is hilarious! And she nods her head yes and no now too! She is growing up so fast! I will have to get some video of this and post that! Maybe tomorrow....until next time,
Have great night
jacki
So basically I am better. I am done with my antibiotics and the cough syrup is really nasty but works so good. Enough of that. Thats crazy! You can tell I have been couped up this week.
Family update: We are all starting to feel normal again. The whirlwind of emotions has started to subside and reality has set in and we get it. We get that not very many children get this diagnosis at age 5 and also that there are not many support groups for families that suffer from this wretched disease. I am actually thinking of startinga support group for our area. I have to get my family stable first, but I think that after we do we need to reach out to other families. It's really hard to accept this diagnosis when nobody can even imagine that your child could even fit that diagnosis. So basically we are all in it alone. And that sucks! For us, we have found strength in our Father. We pray a lot. We cry a lot. We pray a lot more and we look for the blessings in the horrible situation. And believe it or not we have. They are still unfolding but as soon as we know the full extent of what they are we will be glad to share them!
(Sidenote) Some of you dont know that Kevin and I have had several miscarriages and 1 late term miscarriage(I hate this word). This month is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. Please keep us in your prayers as we mourn our loss. We recently lost one of our angels the day before our 3rd wedding anniversary in July and we are still sad about this. We love every one of our babies from conception to death and we know we will see them all one day in heaven and they will wipe all of our tears away. But until then we will queitly mourn them on October 15th at 7pm by lighting a candle for each one of them. Please feel free to do the same. Thank you!
Okay...Danielle update: She is on her way down. Unfortuantly she has been reminded of a trauma that happened when she was really little invoving firemen and since this week is fire prevention week at school she has been exposed to them all week. The therapist says that it is "stiring things up inside her" which is good in one way but not in others. We will be at the therapists office 2 times next week to battle this one. As far as her behavior though, she has done well with boundries. We have been extremely consistent with discipline and it has worked. We have a little more patience with her then before and that helps as well. (That is definitely a blessing from God). So overall she is making progress. We know that we have a long way to go, but if we can make this kind of progress in 1 month then we can make great progress over the next 6 months and hey, she might even be completely stable! YEAH!!!!!! WE are looking foward to that day.
Rylie update: A little stinker but totally worth it!!! She is everywhere! She is really starting to talk...A lot!!! It is hilarious! And she nods her head yes and no now too! She is growing up so fast! I will have to get some video of this and post that! Maybe tomorrow....until next time,
Have great night
jacki
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Strep throat!!???
Hello everyone!
Just thought I would let everyone know that I actually took a turn for the worst yesterday and I ended up in urgent care for 2 hours. Well come to find out I have Strep throat and Bronchitis! What!! Where in the world did I pick that up from???? I know it was the grocery cart or maybe the gas pump....either way I hate this. My house is a wreck and my children are running around like banchies destroying what they can reach. And you're probably wondering "Wheres Kevin?". He is at work! Yep. He is at work. He cant miss any work for illnesses because we have to keep his time available for Danielles episodes.(Yes, thats part of our new life. Waiting to see if Danielle will have an episode runs our daily life.) Please God, help to to be grateful for your blessings and your grace.
So anyways....while I am suppossed to be resting I am chasing Rylie, Typing this post and coughing my head off. So I know I can eliminate 2 of these thinga if I lay down so thats all for now! I will post tomorrow about how I am doing. Good night!
Just thought I would let everyone know that I actually took a turn for the worst yesterday and I ended up in urgent care for 2 hours. Well come to find out I have Strep throat and Bronchitis! What!! Where in the world did I pick that up from???? I know it was the grocery cart or maybe the gas pump....either way I hate this. My house is a wreck and my children are running around like banchies destroying what they can reach. And you're probably wondering "Wheres Kevin?". He is at work! Yep. He is at work. He cant miss any work for illnesses because we have to keep his time available for Danielles episodes.(Yes, thats part of our new life. Waiting to see if Danielle will have an episode runs our daily life.) Please God, help to to be grateful for your blessings and your grace.
So anyways....while I am suppossed to be resting I am chasing Rylie, Typing this post and coughing my head off. So I know I can eliminate 2 of these thinga if I lay down so thats all for now! I will post tomorrow about how I am doing. Good night!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Still stuffy...
Good morning everybody!
I thought I should write and say that I am still here. However I am still sick! The family is on its way to being better, but I am not! I am hoping that I will be able to kick this thing before the new week starts considering that I have so much to do from now until Halloween!
Alright, enough nagging...update on Danielle. She is in what the therapist calls a "hypomanic state" right now. We have been reading several natural remedies books and researching what we can do without medication. We think we owe Danielle that much considering we cant make this thing "go away" or "make her better". She is still our Danielle no matter what diagnosis she is given. Overall, we are doing very well adjusting to our new life. It is definitely not anything close to what we are used to but it's our life and we are learning to appreciate everyday that we have with our children. Good days and bad days!
Update on life in the new house....We are totally excited about the holidays coming up! We are going to have our very first Turkey day celebration and then our very first christmas! We are amazed at the yard work, the fact that no matter how long we work at completing the "honey-do list" we are never done, and that we are still not totally unpacked yet! WOW!! We cant even believe that we have been here 4 months already! Well it's all worth it! It is definitely rewarding to pay a morgage payment and not a rent payment! We are grateful for that, and for Kevins job! His job has been so good with everything that has been going on with Danielle! Praise God for all of his amazing Grace and the life that he has blessed us with!
Alright off to the grocery store now! Until next time....
Kevin and Jacki Smith
Oh yeah...I have an adorable video of Rylie in our kitchen window that I will be uploading soon! It is so cute. It might be in the next post though!
This is Rylie's new thing. We cant get her to stop doing this! When can we start timeout??LOL Needless to say she didnt get down and she protested when we finally got her down!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Today we feel yucky!
Good evening everyone!
Well, we offically are all sick! We have Viral Pnuemonia. Where we got it from....who knows!All I know is that it is aweful! I wish that we could just go one month without being sick!
Okay..finished ranting. Now, we want everyone to know that we are not ignoring our family and friends but you all should know that we are still trying to figure out life with this new diagnosis. We have to walk on eggshells pretty much all of the time and when we have quiet time we try to spend that time just Me, Kevin and God(and the Bible). If we even for one day forget to pray or praise him, or just even decide that sleep is much more important...then we have a REALLY BAD DAY!!! We know it is not from Him. We know that we depend on Him for strength,peace, hope and love. When we dont ask we dont recieve. We become very cranky, short and ugly with each other. So when we dont call or return your emails/voicemails, it's really not you. It's the fact that we have spent every ounce of energy trying to live a semi-normal life and not only that but to give honor and praise to our Father for his continuous blessings everyday through prayer which can take some time. (It is totally worth it though)
Well we are off to bed now! Have a blessed evening and a wonderful day until next time.....
kevin and jacki smith
Well, we offically are all sick! We have Viral Pnuemonia. Where we got it from....who knows!All I know is that it is aweful! I wish that we could just go one month without being sick!
Okay..finished ranting. Now, we want everyone to know that we are not ignoring our family and friends but you all should know that we are still trying to figure out life with this new diagnosis. We have to walk on eggshells pretty much all of the time and when we have quiet time we try to spend that time just Me, Kevin and God(and the Bible). If we even for one day forget to pray or praise him, or just even decide that sleep is much more important...then we have a REALLY BAD DAY!!! We know it is not from Him. We know that we depend on Him for strength,peace, hope and love. When we dont ask we dont recieve. We become very cranky, short and ugly with each other. So when we dont call or return your emails/voicemails, it's really not you. It's the fact that we have spent every ounce of energy trying to live a semi-normal life and not only that but to give honor and praise to our Father for his continuous blessings everyday through prayer which can take some time. (It is totally worth it though)
Well we are off to bed now! Have a blessed evening and a wonderful day until next time.....
kevin and jacki smith
Monday, September 29, 2008
School Pictures
My baby girl is having her very first school pictures taken today! This is a milestone in her life and now we will have a picture for her "School Memories Book"! She is just growing up so fast! When she left for school this morning it kinda hit me...she is not a baby anymore. I have to let her little personality develop and pray for her to make good decisions and have great friends. Anyways here is a before school pictures pic:
Update on Danielle's day:
She is doing well today. She also is starting to understand that she has this disorder and is having a lot of questions. I am really bad about telling her exactly what is going on and I know that I should but it's hard for me to understand it all so how can I expect her to understand. Everyday I pray for strength and peace for our family but especially for me. I want to be able to live a normal life and I know (this sounds really selfish) that will never happen for us. I feel like I have failed at family life. I really wished I would have been able to make it to the Family Driven Faith Confrence 2 weeks ago. I think that would have helped us tremendously! Our friends Chris and Shelley are a remarkable couple and have a wonderful family. They have unshakable faith in our Lord and I think that if I had that, this diagnosis would have been a little easier to swallow. I continue to follow there blog for a daily dose of Family Driven faith! Thank you guys! You are awesome! Elliana's Life continue to touch me and remind me everyday of God Love and Promises to us!
Praise to our Lord and Saviour!
kevin and jacki smith
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The weekends prove to be difficult...
Good morning friends and family!
Well I wish I was in better spirits today and could bring everybody a positive entry. But because we have a really bad time on the weekends with Danielle we usually are just finished by this time in the weekend. Anyway, Kevin and I have been reading a lot of parenting Bipolar children books and we are feeling a lot more confident in parenting and handling her mood swings and her meltdowns. They have given us a lot of hope and understanding of what she is going through and how we can help. We are also really starting to see the Hand of God working in our favor through this whole thing. We havent been able to find a home church yet and eventually when we do we feel it will be an enormous help.
For now though we are hanging in there. We dont have a "normal" life but we try to keep it as "normal" for Rylie as we can and we try help Danielle understand that she is still loved and that we would not change her or anything about her. God has given her to us and we believe that she is a precious gift from Him. Our prayer is that she will understand/know that we are going to get her through this and we are going to help her understand her diagnosis and when she has any questions we hope that she will feel like she can come to us and ask them.
Danielle knows that we have a "TEAM DANIELLE" helping! We have all kind of specialists and therapists, teachers and family who love her dearly and are dedicated to being there for all of us but most importantly, Danielle. She feels very special and is excited about this.
Well, I cant be away from the girls for much longer because of safety issues but I will keep everyone up to date on the progress we continue to make. Please pray for confidence for Kevin and I, Peace for all of us, and understanding for the doctors and therapists handling Danielles severe case. Thank you all. WE love you!
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Isaiah 58:11 NLT
(We find hope and Peace in this verse)
kevin and jacki
Well I wish I was in better spirits today and could bring everybody a positive entry. But because we have a really bad time on the weekends with Danielle we usually are just finished by this time in the weekend. Anyway, Kevin and I have been reading a lot of parenting Bipolar children books and we are feeling a lot more confident in parenting and handling her mood swings and her meltdowns. They have given us a lot of hope and understanding of what she is going through and how we can help. We are also really starting to see the Hand of God working in our favor through this whole thing. We havent been able to find a home church yet and eventually when we do we feel it will be an enormous help.
For now though we are hanging in there. We dont have a "normal" life but we try to keep it as "normal" for Rylie as we can and we try help Danielle understand that she is still loved and that we would not change her or anything about her. God has given her to us and we believe that she is a precious gift from Him. Our prayer is that she will understand/know that we are going to get her through this and we are going to help her understand her diagnosis and when she has any questions we hope that she will feel like she can come to us and ask them.
Danielle knows that we have a "TEAM DANIELLE" helping! We have all kind of specialists and therapists, teachers and family who love her dearly and are dedicated to being there for all of us but most importantly, Danielle. She feels very special and is excited about this.
Well, I cant be away from the girls for much longer because of safety issues but I will keep everyone up to date on the progress we continue to make. Please pray for confidence for Kevin and I, Peace for all of us, and understanding for the doctors and therapists handling Danielles severe case. Thank you all. WE love you!
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Isaiah 58:11 NLT
(We find hope and Peace in this verse)
kevin and jacki
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Parent-Teacher Confrence
Good evening everyone!
Well I just thought that I would share a little about the confrence we just had with Danielle's Kindergarten teacher. Basically she is doing very well in school and is really retaining a lot of what she is learning. She enjoys all of the "Centers" that they do in the mid-morning time and she loves going to the library. We are happy and thankful for that. She is also very shy but has many friends. Overall she is doing awesome!
On a another note: We have had a better week this week. Her behavior has been better controlled and the counseling seems to be working. We have also implemented a new behavior modification plan and that really helps her identify the feelings that she is having and the consequences of her actions. We can now help her through her bouts of anger and frustration. We believe that our Father has had His Hand in every aspect of this situation and we continue to sing praises to Him! We are so blessed to have such a Loving and All-Knowing Father! He knows what we need and when he needs to remind us that He is still near. I wish I was better at quoting the Bible, but I know it says that in the Bible somewhere and I am thankful for that!
We want to thank you all for your prayers and concern and we will keep you all updated on how everything develops from here...until next time....
Happy Fall Y'all!
Well I just thought that I would share a little about the confrence we just had with Danielle's Kindergarten teacher. Basically she is doing very well in school and is really retaining a lot of what she is learning. She enjoys all of the "Centers" that they do in the mid-morning time and she loves going to the library. We are happy and thankful for that. She is also very shy but has many friends. Overall she is doing awesome!
On a another note: We have had a better week this week. Her behavior has been better controlled and the counseling seems to be working. We have also implemented a new behavior modification plan and that really helps her identify the feelings that she is having and the consequences of her actions. We can now help her through her bouts of anger and frustration. We believe that our Father has had His Hand in every aspect of this situation and we continue to sing praises to Him! We are so blessed to have such a Loving and All-Knowing Father! He knows what we need and when he needs to remind us that He is still near. I wish I was better at quoting the Bible, but I know it says that in the Bible somewhere and I am thankful for that!
We want to thank you all for your prayers and concern and we will keep you all updated on how everything develops from here...until next time....
Happy Fall Y'all!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Our Summer Vacation
This summer we went on our very first family vacation without anybody else in the family. It was very exciting! So I will share our most funny moments!
Here the kids are riding the merry-go-round:
The Flamingo's were really stinky!
Then Danielle got to ride a pony:
And when it got really hot we went into the aquarium:
and then it started to rain really hard:
SO then we went bak to our hotel where we had fun with the shower caps!
Danielle at "Little Gym"
I know I said that I would post some pics of little gym and I have totally been lagging on that so I thought I would very quickly add t hem to our blog! I hope you enjoy!!
It wouldnt be complete without Rylies playtime at Little Gym....so here she is!
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