Answered Prayers and the Letter Q

We have had so many people calling and sending messages to ask about how our little Josiah is doing. It has been a crazy road with lots of uncertainties, but we are happy to announce that he is doing WONDERFUL!! A couple of weeks ago, I tried going gluten-free to see if it was possible that all of the vomiting and fussiness was because he was allergic to something in my diet. After looking at what I ate on a daily basis, I saw that I was eating an abundance of wheat, and decided to eliminate it. Only a day went by when I started noticing a difference in Josiah. He took longer naps, slept longer at night, and was HAPPIER!! I was THRILLED! Having to go without a few things was no big deal if it meant that my baby would feel better. But the bad part was that he still wasn't nursing properly. I knew he wasn't getting enough to eat. So, we tried formula. In the past Josiah's digestive system seemed to be too immature to handle formula, so this was another desperate attempt, hoping that he would be able to digest the formula without pain or discomfort. He took one bottle, no reaction. We tried another the next day, then another, and another. Again, he started to improve even more!! We could tell he was fuller, happier, and more comfortable. He has started putting weight on faster than I can believe. Just the other day he was wearing a shirt that Jayce got for his first birthday!! My not even seven month old baby is wearing 9 and 12 month old outfits now! And just a month ago he was underweight and couldn't keep anything down! GOD IS GOOD!! We still aren't sure if all of this was because he was sensitive to wheat, or if there was something else in my milk that was making him sick. But he seems to be thriving now that he's on formula. God has answered our prayers and we are so joyful. Thank you all for praying and encouraging us, for bringing us meals, and Mom, for coming over to give me naps after the many long sleepless nights. We are so thankful for all of you! You have been God's hands and feet to us! Praise the Lord for His goodness!

"They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness." Psalm 145:5-7

Now on to the letter Q

We are trying to get through the alphabet so that we can be finished with school before summer is here. So, we've only been spending a week on each letter and trying to get in as much outside time as possible, that's why our classroom posts won't be as long, we're not doing as much as we used to in the actual classroom. We're taking more field trips and spending more time outside. After all, that's where the best learning takes place.

We learned about the quail. He has a funny feather on top of his head called a "plume". We got to make one! Jayce makes a really cute quail.

We counted 7 quarters.



We set out quiet toys and noisy toys. I told Jayce to find all the quiet toys and take them to the quilt. He did a great job, but he wanted to play with all the noisy ones.



We also took a trip to the library and got books about quiet and quack.

We had fun learning about the letter Q and reviewing the number 7. Jayce is really learning to follow directions and he's growing so much. It is such a blessing to experience these fun moments with him. Next week is the letter R and celebrating SPRING!!

Lots with Letter P and Number 8

We started out by finding some animals that started with the letter P. Penguin, pig, and panda. We talked about how God designed each one with special qualities.      Then of course, for one of our fun projects we painted!

We learned all about peanuts and George Washington Carver, the "Peanut Doctor", then we counted out 8 peanuts and ate them. YUM! Did you know George Washington Carver made soap and ink using peanuts? Pretty cool!

We read a neat book from the library called "Playful little Penguins" and then we tried a new activity, trying to form playdough in the shape of our letter.

Mommy did the first one, the Jayce got to try. He did a pretty good job for his first time!

We also made YUMMY Peanutbutter Blossom cookies!!!

Jayce is a really great helper!

For our field trip we had a picnic at the pond near Daddy's work. (And actually I'm wondering if it would be considered a lake, but for that day, it was a pond!)

We saw ducks, turtles, and a ladybug. Jayce really wanted to see a frog, but unfortunately we didn't find any.

We also did another tot book about the pond. You can find the tot book we did here http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/PondLife.html

We are working on recognizing the letters in Jayce's name. Jayce would shout out letter by letter how to spell his name, then we would find each letter, and put them all together to spell JAYCE!

Jayce liked that there was a picture of him and daddy at a lake at the end of the "I like Ponds" book.



We gathered more things throughout the week that started with "P" Jayce really enjoyed coloring with the special colored pencils that his Auntie Googie got him from Russia. (Don't make fun of the pictures I drew for him, I'm not an artist, just a Mommy.)



In the number area we learned about 8 and how 8 is great!

Jayce practiced making circles and we made snowmen out of our number 8s to help him remember and recognize the shape.



We counted out 8 Popsicle sticks.



Then we used them to recognize other numbers in our neat book that Mrs. Bekah gave us.



 

Other Activities We Did

I worked on positions with Jayce. I asked him to find a certain shape, then place it "on", "above", "beside", or "below" one of the pictures. This was a REALLY good exercise, it was fun for Jayce, and it also showed me that he needed some work in this area. This will help to prepare him for writing later on.

He was so excited about his number 8 pond coloring picture. He could hardly wait to show Daddy when he got home from work.

Still one of his favorite exercises, put a dot on all the "p's".

Jayce got his first treat from the ice cream man, a penguin ice cream!

And one of the last pictures in our special word column that we have on his letter poster was present. So, I wrapped up a little surprise for him.

This may not seem like much to some of you, but it's definitely one of his favorite treats and he hadn't had any for a long time. He was SO excited!

 

 And of course, no study of the letter "P" is complete without a trip to the playground! Both the boys had a great time! We really covered a lot of ground while learning about "P" and now we're ready for "Q"!

Considering it PURE JOY to face trials of many kinds

As some of you know, our little Josiah has been on quite a difficult journey. Just as his RSV and asthma seemed to be calming down, a new challenge started to arise. Out of nowhere he started spitting up, large amounts, and very frequently. Josiah has never been a "spitter" as some call it, and we were very perplexed as to why it was happening. We hoped for the best for the first couple days, maybe it was something mommy ate or he ate that upset him and it would soon go away. By day five, we were concerned and made a trip to the dr. Little Josiah had lost weight and now, a new element to the mystery, he wasn't pooping either. They wanted to bring him back two days later to see if his weight continued decreasing and to monitor a little more closely the amount he was spitting up. Two days later, it was confirmed, he had lost three more ounces. A long story short, we made two more doctor visits in the next week and Josiah continued to lose weight and despite medicines and other tactics, so did his spitting up and not pooping.



The doctor ordered xrays and some blood tests, and at first my heart began to rejoice "Finally, we might get some answers so we can get closer to how to make my son feel better." Then, the darkness hit, and instead of fighting against it, claiming the promises of the Lord, I crumbled. The fears started swarming, "What if..." would come pounding through my brain with every possible worse-case-scenario. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't sleep, I woke up the next morning and my jaw was sore from clenching it so tightly as I restlessly tossed about. I knew when I was getting ready that morning that something wasn't right, and it had nothing to do with my sick son or the test results, it was me.



I was disobeying my Lord, I wasn't trusting in Him. After all, no matter what the outcome was going to be, was He not still good? He absolutely was and is! NO MATTER WHAT!! Doesn't His Word say to "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds"? And why does it say that? "For you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance MUST finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking ANYTHING." Not lacking ANYTHING? WOW! How many of us would love for someone else to describe us in that way? And who do I know that lacks nothing? MY LORD, MY KING, MY JESUS!! And again, doesn't His Word say that we are to be like Him in ALL things? I WANT to be like Jesus. I MUST trust Him at all costs and rejoice in the fact that I have He who lacks nothing on my side.



So it doesn't matter if the doctors missed something or if they don't know the answers or if the xrays show something...for my Lord lives in me and He is working all things to bring Him glory and for our good, that is reason enough to rejoice. In ALL things!! My King loves Josiah more than I do, and I believe that is why He entrusted Josiah to us. He knew we would love him and give him the care he needed.



As it stands, the blood tests came back normal, although spitting up an excessive amount and losing weight, Josiah was not dehydrated and did not have any kind of infection. The xrays also came back showing nothing!! :) Today, Josiah has had a wonderful day! He hasn't spit up hardly at all!! And for the past two days he has been pooping like normal :) Perhaps the medicine has started to work, maybe he did eat something that he wasn't ready for, (we are switching back to one ingredient foods for another month, then slowly putting him on two ingredient foods, looking for allergic reactions to certain fillers.) we're still not really sure. We are hoping that he keeps getting better and better and the spit up occurs less and less. It has definitely been a difficult road to watch our little warrior be in so much pain and struggle with one thing after another. But, oh what a blessing he is, what a gift! My Lord is good and His ways are PERFECT! Psalm 18:30 and Psalm 33:4 "The Word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in ALL He does."



We thank everyone for your prayers and encouragement. I truly believe God gives strength to the weak through friends and family during difficult times. You all have been His loving arms reaching around us. We love you!

Letter O, here we Go!

For the letter "O" we got to make an ocean! We started with a big bowl of water and then dumped in some sand.

Next came the shells.

Then we added some salt and some ocean animals

Then we had our complete ocean, entertainment for hours, and a big mess, but sometimes learning can be that way and it is a wonderful thing!

We read about otters and learned how God made them special.

Then we read "Leap Hops, Pops, and Mops" and tried to recognize the short "o" sound.


How exciting it is to learn about all the wonderful things God lays before us. Next, we learn about the letter P, penguins, and pigs, and ponds, and peanuts, O My!