Just kidding...

Okay, so I guess the trip to Ukraine was just too luring. :o) John Michael and I have decided that we can work out the details around his work for me to be able to travel to Ukraine once again. I am really excited! The crazy thing is that we only have one month to prepare. There are five of us going (3 physical therapists, 1 speech pathologist, and our trip coordinator.) I think it will be a fabulous team. We have been meeting at least once a week to get things in order. We will be fortunate enough to work in the orphanage where Lance is from (as well as 4 more of our kids), an orphanage for children above the age of four who where not sent to the institution, and the NICU! We are hoping to start making positive changes earlier in the development process to prevent the common delays we see in these children. Please be praying for our team's safety, wisdom from our Heavenly Father, that the orphanage and hospital staff's hearts and minds will be open to our teachings, and that we will be able to gather necessary items for these children.

I have attached the information from a flier we made to be distributed. Unfortunately, I was unable to attach the 'real' version with pictures and pretty font. ;o)

Therapy Mission Trip to Ukraine

March 7-15th, 2009, a group of Children’s Therapy TEAM therapists are traveling to Ukraine to train orphanage and hospital staff in how to improve the life of special needs orphans in Ukraine.
Any donations would be greatly appreciated and will go directly to orphans in Ukraine.

We would appreciate donations of any of the following items...

Exercise/Therapy Balls
* All different sizes: 45cm, 65cm, 75cm, peanuts
* These can be purchased at Wal-mart, Target, etc.
* Also available at various websites such as www.isokineticsinc.com ~ Caddo brand seems to be
the most reasonably priced

Basic Hardback/Board Pictures Books
* Simple pictures of basic objects, animals, numbers, colors, and shapes. Minimal words as it will have to be translated to Russian.

Pacifiers and Teethers
* A variety, must be able to sanitized and must be in original package.

Children’s Music CD’s and DVD’s
* Instrumental music and Baby Einstein type DVDs.

Flashcards
* Simple pictures of colors, numbers, shapes, animals, and basic objects. No alphabet please.

Crib Mirrors
* Unbreakable with washable surfaces.

Small Toys
* Minimal batteries, washable surfaces that can be sanitized.
*Rattles, crackly toys, noise makers, stackers, shape sorters, nesting blocks, pop beads. More examples at http://funandfunction.com/infant-early-learningc-7_29.html

Therapy Equipment
* Seating systems, positioning, medical equipment, sensory integration tools, adaptive feeding supplies, and orthotic equipment will be purchased with any monetary donations.

Monetary Donations
*Any monetary contributions are 100% tax deductible.
* Please make checks out to New Heights Church with “Ukraine Therapy Trip” in the memo.

Donations may be mailed or delivered to:
Children’s Therapy TEAM - 2474 E. Joyce, Blvd., STE #2 - Fayetteville, AR 72703

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Upcoming Ukraine Trip

I am so excited that a trip is planned for March to help out in the orphanages in Ukraine again. As you might remember, this is what started our whole adventure with Lance. (For more details on that, please go to the first posts on this blog.) Thursday night was the first meeting to get the details planned. It looks as though there will be two physical therapists (Kym and Kate), at least one speech pathologist (Carmen and possibly Amy and Kristy) and Amanda, our trip coordinator. We would love to have a pediatric occupational therapist!! Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to go on this trip due to John Michael's work schedule. I have to say that discussing the trip at the meeting brought up a lot of good memories and I long to go. I would love to see the people, be completely drained from working for them all day, and love on the children.
Please pray for:
-proper preparation (planning, gathering, and most importantly the hearts of those involved)
-funds to serve these children and caregivers as Christ would have us
-safety
-any role you might play

We love these people- adults and children. They desperately need to know that God has not left them. He knows them intimately, as he does us. Each and every one of them. Instead, He tells us to reach out to them. Psalm 139 reminds us that he knows our every thought, every move. There is no where we can go to hide from Him. We are all made perfectly. Sometimes that is hard for me to comprehend about myself. I can only imagine how these orphans must feel. What a privilege to share that love.

OOOKra!

Happy Saturday!
It is still cold here, but nothing like the last two days. The sun is shining and we might actually get into the 50's today! Still a great day to sit for a few minutes with a cup of coffee though.
While the boys are out trying to tame Lance's mane I thought I would check in and share my favorite thing Lance is doing this week.

Monday night or so we had him swinging in his new swing and he ended up taking a tumble out and scratched his back on a box left over from Christmas decorations. (Yes, we were a little behind.) It looked like it was going to be pretty painful and started swelling so I grabbed the quickest cold pack I could...frozen okra. At the time he was crying and fighting the cold touching his back. When he calmed down a bit he became very interested in the 'cold pack.' We showed it to him and explained that it was okra. Since then he has randomly called out "Oookra" when he gets really excited. I'd love to know what that translates as in Lance language, but it must be something good. :o)

On the subject of communication, Lance has started back with a picture book (PECS) to help others know what he is trying to say. He is pretty proficient with it. That gives me hope for his future communication/comprehension even if he is unable to speak as clearly as we would hope.

Back in the swing of things

Good Evening! Today has been a great day. Actually, the past week has been fabulous with Lance. He is opening up and I can not wait to spend more time with him each day. He is making an effort to be around us, communicate and play. That may sound like a simple thing, but for John Michael and me, it is HUGE. Lance has been known to want to spend hours by himself, not wanting to interact, and it was really starting to take it's toll on us. In fact, Christmas eve I had a heart-to-heart with God while taking a walk. I pleaded for Lance to show interest in life around him. I also asked God to open my eyes to all the talents and gifts Lance possesses. He has completely changed our relationship. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true. It wasn't overnight- but what...6 days instead. I believe more than anything, I am able to see how truly amazing Lance is now. He, in turn, can sense my passion for him. Please don't take that the wrong way, I have always loved Lance and wanted to be around him, but frustrated by things I couldn't change. We pray daily for him, his health and development, but maybe I needed to truly be on my knees and not trying to control the situation.

Our time at home is a blast now! It became more apparent today. I took him to school after a long Christmas break. Typically Lance LOVES school and asks to go daily. So, I thought he was going to be ecstatic today. Also, he never cries when we leave him with people. We arrived at school, went to his classroom, opened the door and the flood gate opened. He clung to me, crying "no, no, no, mama". I can not explain how my heart was breaking and somewhat rejoicing at the same time. I did consider taking him back with me, but realized that would not be a very good idea. (They called 30 min later and reported he was doing well.) Needless to say I was chomping at the bit to pick him up today. Then this afternoon/evening was a ball. I am posting a few pictures so you can share a little of the joy.

JM was standing half way in Lance's tunnel and I was pushing Lance with the swing around his torso. We fixed it so that Lance was swinging into the tunnel to his daddy. I think he would have asked to swing all night.

Once taken out of the swing he jumped onto his horse. He literally rocked himself to sleep on his horse. So much so that we took this picture with a flash and he didn't flinch. The funniest part is his little body was still moving back-n-forth about a centimeter at a time. What a great time!!

The new addition

Here is Lance's new cuddle swing that JM was able to hang through the attic. Lance was just chillin' out and enjoying the ride. We are so happy that we finally have this much needed piece of equipment for Lance. The last few months have been a little sluggish for him, but I have a good feeling about the coming year. I think we all are turning a new leaf. I was able to get a few things done for him today that I have been meaning to do for some time. We had a fabulous day! Seriously, it was probably the best day I have had in a long time. There was a lot that went into it, but God really surrounded me in his glory today. Thank you Father.

Running through the fields

Merry Christmas everyone...just a little late. And Happy New Year! I hope each of you has many things to be thankful for.

We were able to go home (Texas) for Christmas and see both sides of the family. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly the romantic relaxing trip for which we had hoped. John Michael's mother had bronchitis, John Michael, my mother, father, aunt, and cousin all came down with the stomach virus, Lance and my niece both had a cold. Fun, huh? Ha! Well, I think everyone is doing pretty good now and we all lived. One thing I truly wish we had more of during the holidays is adult time with good conversation. We get so busy taking care of the kids and running about that we don't get to talk to each other about what is important. Then the holidays are over and we feel like we did not even see each other. Not to mention, even more saddening is that Jesus' birth gets lost, too, even with the Christmas Eve services and manger scenes. Anyone else feel that way? Sorry, I am not trying to be a downer. I just would love to spend more time with the ones I love and find out what is going on in their world.

I did get to talk to one of my aunts on the phone for a little bit. My aunt and uncle lost their daughter, Laura, at the age of 17 in an automobile accident. They know real loss. They have been a beautiful example of leaning on Christ and using their tragedy to help others. I wanted to share something she shared with me. After Laura passed away, a friend of my aunt and uncle sent them a note. This particular lady had lost three children in separate events. I can not even imagine the pain that family must have gone through, so her words mean a lot to me. Her note said, "Some people take the long road to heaven, others run through the fields."
I love that picture. What a way to get to our Daddy in heaven. Skip a lot of heartache and troubles and run through the fields. Yes, for us, we miss them. Yes, we wish they could experience the joyous things we are blessed with, but does it even get close to the joy they feel right now? No way.

I know that all of my sadness is purely selfish. Autumn is very happy partying with Jesus. ha! It is all the things WE didn't get to experience that make us sad. Most of the time we get through the day well. However, it is really hard for me on other days when people seem to forget the pain we are feeling. Not that I want to be babied because that doesn't help either. I just am not ready to listen to others talk about how much fun it is to decorate the baby's room, feel the baby kick or how much fun it is to have a baby. At the same time, when we hear people complain about their pregnancy or taking care of their baby we want them to realize how blessed they are to have the opportunity. John Michael and I REALLY want each of you to enjoy your pregnancies (there are many friends of ours who are pregnant who might be reading this). We love you. I want to know that you are happy and healthy. Please just forgive me for not being able to listen to all the details right now. Emotionally, I just can't handle it yet.

As some of you may have noticed, I added a link to another blog...Bring the Rain. Thank you Kate for sharing this blog with me. To get the whole story of the blog you have to start from the beginning. The lady's story starts very similar to ours. Unfortunately, her struggle goes on for much longer than ours did. But her words are amazing and such an inspiration. Her faith is unbelievable. It is happy and encouraging. Please check it out. One warning though, it was really hard for me to stop reading once I started.

I want to leave you with this picture of my youngest beautiful neice and my baby (dog) Maddie. Charlotte loved to follow Maddie, sit with her or better yet, sit on her. :o)

In the swing of things...

Looks like we are back into the normal day to day activities at the Hairston household. Everyone has gone back to work, we are cooking dinner again (hee hee), and trying to be 'normal.' I know for me at least, I can absorb myself in what I am doing at work and kind of forget our past several months temporarily. Don't get me wrong. I don't really want to fully forget, just not to hurt all the time. As I mentioned before, God has truly given us an overwhelming sense of peace through these times. I would say 75% of the time I can talk about Autumn and what happened without attaching all the emotions to the conversation. I have had several people that I am not around often ask how the baby is or if I know the sex of the baby yet and I have been able to handle it. Part of it is because I have pepped myself up for these situations and I think God has helped me see that these people already feel bad enough by asking without me falling into a heap on the floor. I do have to say, you have to love working with kids. I am not being sarcastic when I say that. Today I had one of the kiddo's I work with said, "My mom won't let me talk about the baby." Ha, such innocence.

For me, talking to John Michael, praying, and journaling have been extremely healing. That way I am still able to think/talk about Autumn without driving people crazy all the time. It is amazing how often I think about her or the pregnancy. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find enough time to write all that I want to in the journal. It is as though I am afraid I will forget about Autumn or all the special details of these days. There have been many things that have warmed my heart. Most of the time, people who do or say them probably don't even realize they have made such a huge impact on me. Of course, I probably cry to half of the songs on the radio right now too. ha!

Well, I don't know why I felt like I should write all of this, but I guess I felt like I needed to add an update. We are doing pretty good, really. Just every once in a while something will hit me when I'm not even expecting it. I can not wait to go home for Christmas, though. It just makes me happy to think about it. Only a couple more days! We will be with John Michael's family the first half of the holidays and then my family the second half. I pray that it will be a relaxing and joy filled time with loved ones. I also pray that Lance can sense the excitement of Christmas. I can not wait until he can comprehend what we are celebrating!...the birth of our Lord and Savior!

For now I am going to call it a night. Lance was up most of the night last night. You know what that means...I may have slept three hours. Goodnight!