Lily's Voice

I am going to update you all on how Lily's speech is coming along.  Before we adopted Lily, we knew she had a cleft palate and a repaired cleft lip, but we did not know how profoundly that impacts one's speech development.  Even after her palate was repaired in December, she did not seem to be making that many new sounds.

In February, she began early intervention therapy with the county's Infants and Toddlers Program (Early Start).  Once a week, a teacher comes to our home for an hour, and engages Lily with games to help her learn to attend to a task (girlfriend is SUPER active and is almost never still - but has come  long LONG way in the last few months), while all the while working on having her produce sounds.

As you can see, Lily has a lot of fun during these sessions, and big brothers can join in, too.

The parachute is a favorite activity that they get to do.  Aaron and Lily are singing "Twinkle Twinkle" while Lorraine (our teacher), and Nathan are holding it over them.  This is the only time that I have taken pictures instead of participating.  The program is actually for the parents - and it is necessary for a parent or adult to be present at all of the sessions.

Lily helping to put the parachute away.

Lily also began speech therapy in April with a speech pathologist who specializes in velopharyngeal inadequacy at Lucile Packard (Stanford's children's hospital).  30 minutes once a week.   She has made a lot of progress in the past few months.  Some of it, I am sure, is because she is settling in more and probably over the shock of transition and now able to learn and grow freely.  Some of it, though, is definitely because of the implementation of these two programs that are a regular part of our weekly routine.

This will probably be boring to everyone else - but I will record it here so that we can keep track of her progress. . .

Now, Lily can make these consonant sounds in isolation:
B, D, G, K, L, M, N, P, R, S (distorted), W
CH (distorted)

She has a lot of trouble if they occur at the beginning of the word.  She is unable, still, to blend them into the rest of the word.  So, she can say, "D" (like duh) in isolation, but then if I ask her to say "duck," she will drop the "d" sound and say "uck."  At the end of the word is better.  April (her speech pathologist) explained that it is harder to blend the beginning consonant because you need to sustain air flow (and she is still learning how to stretch her soft palate to block off the air that would escape through your nose when speaking).  Haha - take all this with a grain of salt.  This is what I understand - but I could have many mistakes in my explanation.  This quote by Einstein is SO TRUE.

And that's how I feel about this cranio/cleft/speech stuff.  But praise the LORD - He understands everything that's going on with Lily's body and with her development.

Lily has really found her "voice" in many ways.  In the last couple of weeks, she has started yelling for me from across the house.  "Mamaaaaaaaaa!"  Although it is not the best habit to get into, I love the fact that she has now realized the power of words.  You can communicate and make things happen by using your words.

Even without being able to say much, Lily says SO much in other ways.  She knows many signs in ASL, but besides that - she expresses her opinions with body language, pointing, bringing me to see what she wants to show me, and by her expressions.

Thank you always, for praying.

A couple of weeks ago, our pilot light went out in our hot water heater.  The PGand E man came to relight it.  When he saw Lily (who was on my hip), he immediately asked, "Does she have a cleft lip?" The reason he asked, I found out, was because his 15 month old daughter has a cleft palate (repaired).  We shared our experiences and talked about speech stuff.  He said to me, "They will talk when they are ready."

We will wait, dear girl, for you to be ready.  In the meantime, we rejoice with every new sound, every new word, and every step you take.

Makin' Pizza and the Scale of the Universe

This is a little video I shot a couple of weeks ago when we took a field trip to Pizza My Heart.  The kids got to make their own pizza.  Even Lily was able to do it with minimal help from me.  They had loads of fun, got a free tee shirt, and the experience of eating their own yummy pizza that they designed.  Sorry, didn't get any footage of Matt.  He was there, I promise, just sitting a bit further away.

I *LOVE* Nathan's pizza.  It is very *him.*  Still waiting for the pineapple here to make the teeth.

There's Matthew!  I love how they had all the toppings within reach of the kids.

Aaron, very slowly and deliberately putting his pizza sauce on just the right spot.

And something that a friend sent to me that is SO COOL.  It's about the scale of the universe.  Click HERE to visit this amazing and thought-provoking site.  You will want more than a few minutes to look at it.  My boys spent a good 20 minutes there, and then had to get off in order to go to bed =).

I was going to post this link as a separate post, but I realized that they are related so I am going to keep it here next to the pizza post.  

You can certainly see the mind of my children in their very individual pizza creations.  Their preferences and their personalities are evident in even something as small as a pizza they made.  There is also pride of ownership and artistry.  

The awesome site I mentioned above makes me think of this verse:

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen and understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Romans 1:20

Makes me think of the mind of God as He created things - from the most infinitesimal to the most grand.  How we can "see" who God is through His universe.

Wow.  Very cool!

"For from him and through him and for him are all things.   To him be the glory forever!  Amen."
Romans 11:36

Lily's Adoption Hearing

We had our court hearing this morning for Lily's readoption.
I know, it's a bit confusing.  She's already adopted.  However, being REadopted in the States means that she will have a U.S. issued birth certificate.  It also means it will be easier for her to access her benefits, etc. as she grows up.

It was such a cool experience!  We had never been in a courtroom before!  Cameras are actually not usually allowed inside the Superior Court buidling, but they allow the exception for adoptions :-).

Our family!

Waiting our turn to be called back to the judge's anteroom to sign the papers.  You can't see them, but there was a whole room of families with their adopted children.  It was awesome to think about how all of these families were being put together.  So beautiful!

Our turn to meet the judge and sign papers.  This is the Honorable Thomas Cain.  He is such a nice man.  I would imagine that this is one of the nicest parts of his job - finalizing adoptions.  He was smiling the whole time :-).  Dave and I had to raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  We promised that we would treat Lily as our natural daughter, with all the rights and privileges and benefits thereof.

The court even gives each child a chance to choose a toy or book.  Lily chose the the little teddy bear that is on the right side of this picture.  She discovered also that the sash on her dress would allow her to babywear her two "babies."  The bulldog, who she calls "Wowo" is from home and her usual travel companion.

Our dear friends came to celebrate and witness the event with us.  The K family is the closest thing to family that we have up here.  So happy they could make it :-).  Afterwards, we walked to downtown San Jose for lunch at the Sonoma Chicken Coop.

Lily is poking her eye here because she is asking if she can try on Nicky's sunglasses.

You can see that he obliged :-).  What a happy day!

We are just so delighted to be Lily's family.  She is truly such a great gift that has been given to us.  It is hard to imagine how life was without her here.  Hoping to update you all in more detail about how her speech is progressing in the coming days.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Romans 8:14-16

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Galatians 4:4-6

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6

Fluff and Burdens

This was going to be total fluff post. But a couple of hours ago, as we were going to sleep, Dave started talking to me about schooling and well...it's now 3:00am and I am still awake with all the thoughts swirling in my head. As many of you know, we are homeschooling right now, and it is a good fit for our family. When Dave brought up the idea of sending Matthew to school in the next couple of years, it felt like a bomb. Honestly, I have always thought and planned that the kids would eventually go back to school. My attitude all along has been "we'll take it child by child and year by year." Well, I guess in my heart I feel so loathe to change something (or to even plan to change something) we are all enjoying so much. So Dave's questions and bringing up the topic really felt like a searchlight examining my heart.

Our discussion led to much larger questions like: where is our family going, what are our priorities, what is the best for each child. And of course, most importantly, how do we live as the Lord has called us. What has He called us to? It is good to live deliberately, so I know it is necessary discuss, reflect, pray, and wait upon the Lord for His leading and to obey.

But maybe next time we shouldn't start these discussions in the middle of the night!

So, whether you homeschool or not, could you pray for us? There is a lot our family is thinking about now, a job change for Dave, possibly moving to be closer to family... These have ignited a lot of uncertainty and introspection. I need to remember to look to the LORD -He knows and understands far more about everything that is going on.

Ok, will leave you with the promised fluff. In the nursery at church this morning, I was planning our activities and thought it would be fun for the little guys to do a little gardening.

Here's Lily watering and sweeping up afterwards. For those with tiny ones, I got the idea for making the plastic soda bottle into a watering can from a preschool teacher I know. You just make a few holes with a hammer and nail in the cap. Fill the bottle with water and the kids can easily gently water their plants by squeezing the bottle.

Around Here. . .

Well, this has been an utterly s-l-o-w day.

Matthew and Aaron are still out of commission with their stomach bugs.  Nathan took a 2 hour nap this afternoon, which does not bode well.  I have a feeling he is coming down with it as well.  It is a terrible bug.  Matthew was up until 3am, throwing up and just in general feeling miserable.  Poor lamb.  Thankfully, Aaron seems to be getting better now, but he is still sooooo out of it.

Nearly all of our silkmoths have emerged.

A drawing Nathan made in his silkworm science journal.
Here is an excerpt from his journal dated 6/10/12:
"One of are moths has hatched from is cacoon!  And all the moth will do is lay her effs. (if of course it is a female) they lay eggs to about 300-400 eggs.  And when they mate they stick there abdomen together.  When the moth first emerges it will spit out a liqid, (don't ask me why because I don't know).

The reddish liquid actually comes out of its behind, and it is called meconium.

You can see all the eggs that are being laid by these moths.

Totally unrelated, but a rare family photo of us from a wedding we attended a couple of weeks ago.  

A cool photo I got of Matthew and Lily about a week ago before the stomach bug hit.  And Lily's dress is mama-made.  It is from a pattern in Handmade Beginnings.

Looking forward to better health next week :-).

Father's Day

This is our most low key Father's Day ever. Aaron and Matthew have some nasty stomach bug. They are in no shape to do much other than lie down, make trips to the bathroom and in Matthew's case - cradle a barf bowl :-(.

Also, my email was recently hacked. So I have been dealing with that as well.

However, I want to wish Dave and all fathers a wonderful day. You do so much, and I know I couldn't parent our children without you, Dave. It has been a privilege to witness my husband as a loving father. Let's celebrate when everyone feels better!

Cleft team appointment at UCSF

Lily had a follow up this morning at UCSF. I am pooped and am seriously looking forward to a group nap :-). The sooner the better. I wanted to update though.

All in all not much new news. The speech path is very optimistic that Lily does not have an insufficiency and wants her to continue speech therapy. In fact, she wants us to up it to twice a week.

The plastic surgeons defer to the speech path, and we don't need Togo back for 6 months.

There were families lined up in the hallway waiting to see the Cranio facial team! The Lord gave me a grateful heart when after chatting a bit with two families in the waiting room, I found out that one family was from Los Banos (2 hours away) and one from Bakersfield (3 hours away). So...one hour drive from Sunnyvale is not so bad :-).

Also, there was a boy maybe 8 or 9 waiting who I think had a repaired bilateral complete cleft lip (like Lily). He looked so handsome :-). And seemed so well adjusted and happy. It was encouraging.

First pic is of Lil in the waiting room with the shape sorter lid as a "helmet". Second one is aarbear and Lil once we got home. He made a pile of pillows for her and said, "lily is in medical bay."

As always, thank you for praying!

Silkworm Science

This is our second time studying the silkworm lifecycle.  The kids think the silkworms are very cool.  I think they are cool, and a little bit disgusting at the same time.  Dave does not like them at. all.  He nicknames the silkworms things like, "End Times," and "Naked," "Wretched," and "Blind."  Hee hee.

What do you think?  Cool?  Gross?  Apocalyptic?

Our stockpile of mulberry leaves, the only thing these guys eat.

I promise that Aaron's green smoothie does not contain blenderized mulberry leaves!

Here is a fantastic site about the rearing of the domesticated silkworm aka bombyx mori.  Silkworms have been bred for silk production for thousands of years.  These guys are now very resistant to disease, tolerate a lot of handling, and spin lots and lots of silk when they enter their cocoon (pupa) phase.

Even Lily thinks they are cool.  She can even very clearly say, "Wormie!"

So the kids have been keeping science journals about them.  They have been measuring them. . .

Comparing them to other objects. . .

Making observations. . .
Here you see one of them in the first stage of spinning his cocoon.  Pretty neat, huh?

Some of them even had to accompany us on our road trip to Southern California that we took over Memorial Day weekend.  I needed to keep feeding them mulberry leaves, so we stuck them in a shoe box and put them on our car console for the trip.  Dave was not happy.  Here he is saying (while I am trying to get a photo), "Don't open that box!"

All of them in their cocoons!  After they had finished spinning them, we took them out of the enclosure and put them on this tray lined with paper towel so we could observe them better.

And look who I found this morning when I got up to check on them!  Our first moth has emerged from her cocoon :-).  As gross as they may be, they are very fascinating and an amazing display of God's creativity!  Who would imagine that something wrinkled and floppy would become this winged, fuzzy, six legged creature?

A sketch from Nathan's journal dated 5-16-2012.   Here is what he wrote (with original spelling and mechanics):
"We'v Been studying silk worms in school.  Silkworms are a certain catterpilar that only eat mulBerry leafs, spin silk, and make cacoons of silk.  my biggesdt is about 1 in. .75, my smallest on the other hand is about 1/2", the biggst is named Mushroom, the mediumest is named black out, and my Last and smallest is named silkie."

Aaron just climbed out of bed and I showed him our new moth.  Can't wait to see what the other kids think.
More to come about these guys. . . stay tuned. . .

Aaron is 5!

On Saturday (June 2nd), my littlest boy turned 5! Wow! For those of you who know Aaron - he can be very shy. The shyest of all of my kids, at least for now. I think it was only last year that many people at church even knew he could talk :-). When he is comfy, though, he is a regular chatterbox and smiley-face. Thank the Lord for good friends up here in the Bay Area, who in the absence of extended family, made the birthday boy's special day a treat! I made the Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Cake Ever for the occasion. The kids all liked it - but I thought it was soooooo sweet. Too sweet for me. I think you can halve the sugar and it would still be fine.

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