Summer in pictures

Destin, Florida


Legoland Discovery Center - Jonny Rockets - Atlanta, GA

Catfish Farm, Alabama

Darby Wive's Challange - Fort Benning, GA

Trip to North Carolina (Visit with friends)

A trip to Petsmart to get cat food - New member of family...Georgia

Catch up April and May

 My Brother and his family along with my parents were here for a few days in April. They had a conference in Orlando, FL and I was honored to take care of my little nephew for a few days. When they returned, the boys went to an Atlanta Braves game.

We had a little pre-birthday for Christian while Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Josh and Aunt Liz were here.

 Ashlee and her cousins

The big 10! 

Christian has been really into Coke since we visited the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta back in January. He really wanted a "coke" themed birthday party. Well as luck has it, Coca-Cola sponsors the Columbus State University's Space Center here in Columbus. I also had a great coupon! So we had his party there and incorporated space into the coke theme. Here is my attempt at a coke cake

anxiously awaiting the cupcakes

May is a busy month of birthdays for our family. Christian's is the 9th, Rande's the 25th, Eden (my niece) is a couple days before Rande's and my dad's is a couple days after. My sister (Christie) has a birthday just a few days into June. Here is our little family celebrating Rande's birthday. He invited his friends over the next day for a party. =)

Ashlee chose to do ballet/tap this year after basketball. She had her first recital at the end of May. I must say, she is really good and has a natural ear for the music and moving according to the beat.
Mommy was proud.

Zoo time!

Christian's friend, Nathaniel, from school asked if we could all go to the Atlanta Zoo together over spring break. His mom is a member and had several free tickets for us three to use. I was not too impressed with the zoo. It was small, but loads of fun. They had a train ride there as well (not free like the Portland Zoo - one of my favs). Christian also wanted to try to climb the rock wall. He's never attempted this before, nor has he even had the desire to do so. But he did and was pretty successful. I was proud of him even if he did not make it to the top.

Ashlee and her Elephants - she just loves them!

Climbing buddies

Easter

Thanks to Aunt Christie the kids were stylin' for Easter.

Silly Photo
Cute and sweet photo

The church we are attending had four services last year with over 5,000 in attendance, therefore, they suggested we, 11am Sunday attenders, choose a different time. So we decided to go to church on Saturday evening. It was so different, but an amazing service. They took secular artists like Usher, Creed, Matchbox 20, Van Halen, Brad Paisley, and others to share the story of Jesus. I was curious how they were going to do this, but it turned out great and we enjoyed the experience. The kids had the Easter story told on their grade level, an Easter egg hunt, and bouncy house.

On Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt and then made a ham dinner with all the fixin's and invited our neighbors over. I hope your Easter was blessed as well!

Love the confused looks

**UPDate**

Last week we were given the results of Christian's blood work. They reveled that he is allergic to the following:

Turkey
Sesame Seeds
Oranges
Grapefruits
Yogurt
Cottage Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Cow's Milk
Swiss Cheese
Casein
Whey
Egg whites

Since his tests revealed pretty much mostly dairy we are on a dairy restriction diet for two months at least (among the other foods). Yogurt was his highest followed by cottage cheese and Swiss cheese. We are repairing his intestines with a Glutamine powder twice a day and hoping that he will be able to add back some items listed above in small doses.

This whole process has really opened my eyes to how food sensitivities can really inhibit your moods and overall health. How the doctor explained it to me was his intestinal wall has been destroyed by these foods, therefore, allowing toxins and bacterial to enter his blood stream. This can cause depression, anxiety, ADHD, Autism, etc. I am looking forward to reporting back with some good news. It has been difficult to find non dairy/egg products down here without traveling 2 hours to Atlanta. So far the commissary has been the most helpful place to shop. We have discovered that Coconut milk is bland but Almond milk is pretty yummy. We did find some coconut milk ice cream. I also found a chocolate chip cookie recipe if I can get my hands on some dairy free chocolate chips. My grocery bill however has been a lot cheaper without buying so much dairy.

Keep us in your prayers especially when you are sitting down for your nightly meal.

Spontaneous Weekend

Spontaneous is something this planning girl aspires to be. I want to be more relaxed and a "go with the flow" kind of girl. Slowly I am becoming more so and here is an example of that.

A few weeks ago when talking with a friend I realized that we as a family do not take advantage of the long weekends we are blessed with. With the kids in different schools and Rande's job a roller coaster we are tied to our location for one reason or another. However, President's Day Weekend was a blessing. Rande came home on on Thursday and said, "why don't we go out of town this weekend?" I said, "that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about". So we looked up hotels and booked a reservation in Savannah, GA. (Side note - I would have loved to stayed downtown but because we booked so last minute we were blessed to stay at the quality inn for an amazing price of course- Dave Ramsey would be proud) On Friday Rande picked up Ashlee from school early, (Christian didn't have school) I finished my school work for the week, and packed the car so we were ready to go.

Since moving to Georgia I have wanted to visit Savannah desperately. A little unknown fact about me is I love antiques, old architect, and just about anything that dates back to at least the '60s. If I could, I would travel back in time just for a day. I love how simple things were back then.Well now that you know my passion for things of old you can see why Savannah was #1 on my list of "must dos" while stationed here.

Here are a few pictures from our fun, short and memoriable weekend. First we visited Tybee Island.

A view of the Atlantic Ocean

Crazy and adorable

The weather turned on us, but we bought pails (something I forgot to pack) and a picnic lunch. I think all those cold and chilly days in Washington at the beach prepared us. This was the first time the kids and Rande have been to the Atlantic Ocean. We plan on taking the kids to the Gulf of Mexico in May - Can you believe that at the ages of 10 and 7 they have both seen and touched the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico!? That is one reason why I love the Army.

Our sandcastle

After the beach we visited Fort Pulaski (and Fort Jackson). These were way cool! Here is a little bit of history of Fort Pulaski (again why I love that we are here in the south - the history is so rich!)

Fort Pulaski, built by the U.S. Army before the war, is located near the mouth of the Savannah River, blocking upriver access to Savannah. Fortifications such as Pulaski, called third system forts, were considered invincible, but the new technology of rifled artillery changed that. On February 19, 1862, Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman ordered Captain Quincy A. Gillmore, an engineer officer, to take charge of the investment force and begin the bombardment and capture of the fort. Gillmore emplaced artillery on the mainland southeast of the fort and began the bombardment on April 10 after Colonel Charles H. Olmstead refused to surrender the fort. Within hours, Gillmore’s rifled artillery had breached the southeast scarp of the fort, and he continued to exploit it. Some of his shells began to damage the traverse shielding the magazine in the northwest bastion. Realizing that if the magazine exploded the fort would be seriously damaged and the garrison would suffer severe casualties, Olmstead surrendered after 2:00 pm on April 11. (Heritage Preservation Services)

So if what you read was "blah blah blah" - basically this battle changed how we build our infrastructures for defense.

A visit to the local cemetery. This was actually sad. It was built for the victims of the yellow fever outbreak. Several of the graves were children no more than 2 years old.

And of course, you cannot leave Savannah without visiting Paula Deen's restaurant. I wish I had taken a picture of the front of the restaurant. We are planning a trip to meet some Friends whom we were stationed with in Fort Lewis in June. I will get a picture then. It was amazing! I had Shrimp and Grits and Rande had the Chicken Pot Pie. The kids had something friend and unhealthy - but it was good!

The Diagnosis

" Your son has PDD-NOS, with ADHD symptoms.", is what the neuropsychologist in December said to us after three days of thorough testing with Christian.

When we moved to Georgia, going on 8 months now, something in Christian changed. After school every day we noticed how depressed and irritable he was. After completing his home work he isolated himself in the bedroom for the rest of the evening. I won't go into great detail about what happened because we are trying to move forward and a forgiving heart is what I pray for daily. Although the wounds are healing, they are still tender. We decided to remove Christian from this school and his last day was November 18, 2011 (a national holiday at our house-Ashlee's birthday).

Taking a leap of faith I home schooled Christian until Christmas break and we decided to have a neurological psychiatric evaluation done on him. The neuropsychologist agreed that removing Christian from his former school was in his best interest. She also strongly suggested we enroll Christian in a private school with smaller classrooms to help his social deficits. We prayed, searched, and interviewed a few schools when we stumbled upon Westminster Christian School. It is so quaint and you feel the love when you walk through the door. His teacher is amazing and has a very gentle, firm and loving heart. His class is combined (3rd and 4th grade) with a total of 8 boys. Yes, that's right, the class is ALL boys - I pray for his teacher daily. I firmly believe God had directed us to Westminster and this was affirmed when I received a hug the first day from the principal after she saw how nervous and scared I was about leaving my precious child. Please allow me to take a few steps back and explain the diagnosis.

Here is a well worded description from Autism speaks website: Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) is one of the autism spectrum disorders and is used to describe individuals who do not fully meet the criteria for autistic disorder or Asperger syndrome. PDD-NOS may be thought of as “subthreshold autism," or a diagnosis one can give a person who has “atypical symptomatology.” In other words, when someone has autistic characteristics but some of their symptoms are mild, or they have symptoms in one area (like social deficits), but none in another key area (like restricted, repetitive behaviors), they may be given the PDD-NOS label.An individual with PDD-NOS may have completely different strengths and challenges than another individual with the same diagnosis. One treatment that is the most significant and most effective for one child may be completely unnecessary and ineffective for another. As a result, treatments and interventions must be very individualized based on the information gathered from the thorough assessment.

Christian is a well functioning individual who's disability isn't visible or noticeable to most people. Basiclly his quirky behavior is what makes up the PDD-NOS. This diagnosis has given Rande and I a better understanding of Christian and how to address or just accept certain behaviors.

Here is a list of his "quirkiness":

• Christian is 9 years old and has a blanket - this is how he self sooths when over stimulated
• He OBSESSES over particular things
• He flaps his hands or snaps his fingers when he is really excited
• His mouth, has no filter - he tells it like it is
• He doesn't handle change as well as most children
• Christian is extremely intelligent, therefore, we have to be cautious and discern wether he is manipulating the situation or not
• Christian cannot handle large crowds
• He needs "his space" and has no problem invading yours
• Christian can emotionally drain us by the end of a difficult day - he is more challenging than a "normal" child
Some of you may think that it's a "parenting issue" and "Autism isn't real" because it's diagnosed so much these days. Yes it is real and yes it is being diagnosed more now. It has always been around - but people weren't diagnosed due to insufficent information. I also firmly believe that the medications out there today have an effect on the precious children we mothers carry in our womb. I was on an antidepressent when I was pregnant and I believe that it is partial cause to Christian's diagnosis. This antidepressent is NOT reccomended anymore for mothers who are pregnant or nursing. 10 years ago, it was safe. I also believe that there is some relivent information concering the vaccines we are subjecting our children to.
Are these things that we can live with? Absolutely. We love Christian for who he is. God gave this precious child to us and I believe that his "quirkiness" makes him special and God has a big plan for his life.

Now that I've filled you in on the PDD diagnosis, what do you think? Buckle your seat belts and be prepared for what I have to say next.

Disclaimer: The following is strictly MY OPINION. Each child is an individual and so each case needs to be examined separately. I am not a doctor, but rather a mother who has been given the duty to care for this gift God has given me. Through God's wisdom this is what I believe.

First of all I want to define what ADHD is. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a development disorder. It is characterized primarily by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.

Despite the doctor's formal education and experience I believe Christian does not have ADHD. She informed me that ADHD couldn't be diagnosed along with PDD-NOS due to the rules outlined in the DSM (Diagnostical and Statistical Manual for mental disorders). Christian is impulsive and he does have a hard time focusing on certain tasks, I saw this for myself during our brief home school days. Take a moment though and read the symptoms of adult ADHD and I guarantee each one of you exhibits several of these symptoms.

What did you think?

Although ADHD can be real in some children (remember I am not a doctor), I believe that our country is over diagnoses this condition. I so believe that the pharmaceutical companies have more control over psychologists and medical professionals by showing them the $ followed by several zeros to push their harmful medications on children.

The author of a book that I recently read, shows how parents can be empowered to turn around their child's problem behaviors safely and effectively, without the use of stigmatizing psychiatric labels or potentially harmful medications. In the book are stories of children with all sorts of problems: bullying, school failure, anxiety, depression, school phobia, fears and compulsive behaviors. Specifically she talks about two children who had been incorrectly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and a little boy who had been misdiagnosed with ADHD. She shows how these children overcame their challenges and got back on track with the help of their families.

We realized something had to be done to help Christian but medication wasn't an option to us.
One morning, during my devotions, God spoke to me and said to persevere and that medication wasn't the right choice. Despite criticism from the doctors and other parents who have chosen to medicate their children we stood our ground, trusted God and searched for a different solution. I prayed daily that God would heal Christian and clearly show me the answer. I realized that I was spending so much of my time trying to find the answer on my own and what I really needed to do was trust him and spend my time in prayer and meditating on his word.

When I obeyed God, he answered. I found a homeopathic doctor here in town and thought I'd give them a try. They did some testing on Christian and the results indicated his neurotransmitters were out of balance. His excititory ones were beyond the normal limit and his calming transmitters were low. She also said that if we medicated Christian with a stimulant, his symptoms would get worse. Hmmmm, I thought the medicine was suppose to suppress the ADHD symptoms, not increase them. This is why I don't believe every child who is diagnosed with ADHD actually has it -if so the medication would work on all children.

Side note: Something she said that helped us make sense of all this was: Imagine a soldier in the middle of a war zone; bullets flying around them, bombs going off, their life is threatened. Then imagine someone asking them to sit down and complete these math problems - 1+1, 2+2, etc. They can't. They are in a fight or flight mode and are unable to focus on simple problems that they know the answer to." WOW!

The doctor prescribed herbal supplements and put christian on a low protein/tyrosine diet for a week. The first day his teacher and us noticed a huge change in him. Christian was even able to express in his own words, "I feel calmer" and "I feel like I did when I was in Kindergarten and 1st grade". We were all so thrilled to have our little boy back. He is getting along with other children and able to complete his work at school and at home. We are currently exploring some sensitivity to certain foods like dairy, gluten, etc. I'll let you know when we get those results.

Pardon the length of this post, but I've been trying to sort my thoughts, feelings and words so I can share with you what our family has been going through. I hope I communicated with you well. Thank you to those who have been praying for us, your prayers have worked and God is good.