Merry Christmas~Wow, I still am amazed that it's already Christmas Eve. I've been struggling with some bad headaches the past week and a half, so I think that's at least partly why I'm in a time warp. I'm better today at this time than I was yesterday, so I'm hoping that's a good sign. Larry, my mom and our older kids went to the Christmas service at church last night (I was in bed while Cindy watched the little kids). It was a wonderful service. We're expecting Larry's mom to arrive later this evening....she and my mom will be with us for our traditional Christmas morning cinnamon rolls tomorrow. Then Larry's sister Linda and her husband Ray will be arriving before our dinner at 2pm. We've thought back to how different last year was when we were snowed/ice'd in and no one could get anywhere, it seemed. We're happy to be able to be together this year

.Jamie asked Kristin to tell her 5 things about Christmas today...her answers were....Presents (are we surprised?), stockings, cinnamon rolls, Luke 2 and Happy Birthday Jesus!  I hope we can reverse the order down the road :o)

There haven't been many postings with her being out of school this past week. She's done really well. Missy a friend we've known for a number of years is home from college, so she was available to help us over the break.  Molly is on vacation, so we again appreciate God's provision.  We've mostly stayed at home, but Missy and I took Krissy for a hike this week and the fresh cold air was great for all of us as we walked by the lake and fed the ducks.  

We wish you all a safe and joyful Christmas as we remember the wonderful gift of Jesus,

Janelle

So....the little boy got a reprieve today.  He woke up with a cold, so his procedure was postponed (Dec 28th!)  No starving him after all today.  I hope we can get a morning slot...it's much easier to just delay his first meal than to make him go so long during his awake time without anything. I was able to get to the doctor today myself.  I have had quite a horrible headache since Monday and thought it must be a sinus infection.  I can't just stop everything and crawl into bed, but I know when I'm lying on the stairs between the family room and the kitchen that I really don't feel well.  Monday was the worst, but still today, I just wasn't doing great.  Thankfully they had an 11 am spot and it's very close to home, so I went in.  He didn't buy the sinus theory, but said some of the same nerves innervate the sinuses that are involved with migraines and he really thought that's what I had.  So he gave me my first ever shot of Imitrex.  Said it's pretty diagnostic because it will only affect true migraines....no other types of headaches.  And I am so much better.  I developed migraines during pregnancy and probably wasn't offered this medication because it's not used when you're pg.  However, I've continued to have problem headaches intermittently, so this is actually great news to find something that can send them packing so quickly.  I sound like an infomercial :o), but to get that relief without any loopy side effects is really nice.   I felt like it really helped before I even left his office, but then continued to improve the rest of the day.

Krissy did well at school today and didn't run even once!  We did some hip hip hooray's for her at the dinner table.  I heard from the district today that they have her scheduled to start at the new community school Jan 6th.  They said she would go to her current school the 4th and 5th, but we've decided we'll just keep her home those days.  Too many changes that week may throw her and I want this transition to be as smooth as possible.

We were very thankful today to have our sump pump replaced.  Larry just happened to notice last night that it was running erratically and with all the rain, we hated to risk yet another basement flood (the floor barely dried from last weeks, right?)  He set up a schedule before leaving for work.  Anne is our resident night owl, so she faithfully checked on the situation until about 3am.  I picked up the drill at 6 something until Larry got home.  He put a call out to our plumber and when he called back, he had a cancellation this afternoon and arrived about an hour later.... so no night watch duty tonight for anyone!  That last pump worked hard for over 9 years, so I think it was tired out. 

Hope your week is going well....Love, Janelle

 
Hello again~I just wanted you to know how today went. 9 of us gathered for Kristin's placement review meeting. I had a phone conference earlier this morning with the supervisor from MESD (Mult. Education Service District) and she had done some observation time in Kris's classroom yesterday. It was very settling for me to talk with her. Observations she made about Kristin were very insightful...she reminded me of Amanda, the behavior consultant that has been such a help to us. She said they love to have kids like Krissy in their program and they do their best work with them. Her leaning was not towards the regular public school setting but rather a small community school that is quite close to our home. The kids all have 1:1 help/instruction and special care is taken to getting to understand each individual child and developing a schedule around what will work best for them with their needs. They aren't looking at this so much as a permanent placement, but during this time of upheaval (be in hormones or ???) a place for Krissy to settle and stablize. I suggested that maybe getting her in a different enviromenent may do alot to settle her and perhaps we should hold off on medication until she has a chance to see how she'll do in her new school after Christmas. She thought that sounded like a reasonable idea as well, so I felt very settled going into the meeting. Everyone was in agreement that this sounded like the best option for Krissy at this time. The school has worked hard and we really appreciate their 'over and above' efforts to help her succeed.  We hope one day Krissy may be able to go back there and do well.  So....that's it for now....Benjamin has another procedure under sedation tomorrow...I think the worst part for him besides the mask that's very scary for him in the moment, is that he doesn't get to eat for 6 hrs. before.  He keeps trying to 'tell' people to feed him by handing them different bottle parts, but they just don't get it.  Poor little guy~

At the start of a brand new week, we'd so appreciate your prayers for Kristin in her last week of school before Christmas vacation.  For reasons unknown, she has been particularly difficult at school, preventing her (and no doubt, others) from learning.  The staff has been vigilant in protecting her safety, but we all understand that her current school isn't set up for the type of behavior that Kristin seems unable to rein in.  We have a placement meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss other school options.  We want Kris to learn appropriate social behavior in the school setting as well as make progress in her learning.  Thanks for praying with us that a good solution will be arrived at...a place that we all agree would be the right fit for her.  

Benjamin has his next procedure scheduled for Wednesday.  He seems to be doing better than last week at this time, so maybe we will make it through Christmas without surgery.  It would be so good to be able to help Krissy settle in after break before I have to go back to the hospital. I don't actually think this surgery should be BIG....I am optomistically thinking we could be in and out pretty quickly, but no one has said yet.

For those of you not in the area, we awoke to a sheet of ice outside this morning, but by afternoon we were able to be out and about without a problem.  Thankfully they don't predict low temperatures tonight, which is good for Larry who has to travel to a higher elevation to work.

Have a great week~

Love Janelle

Good Evening from Sacramento...
My mom and I flew down this morning to have a couple of days with my cousin Steve and his wife Julie. Our tickets were purchased some time ago, of course when we were unaware of how topsy turvy life would be right now. Poor Larry worked all night, arriving home just in time to hear that the basement was flooding. He needed to take us straight to the airport, so Jamie got Kristin on to the morning bus. (I did sincerely offer to stay home....really) He was still up about 2pm when I called to see how things were going. He had just learned that it would be about $1700 for the plumber to come and replace the connecting pipe between the house and the street where ths suspected leak was happening. They had called the person who was going to do the work and he was available...at the last moment, they spotted something in the yard that made them walk over to investigate...only to discover that this was exactly the point of the pipe break. Thankfully, it was able to be repaired for about $300. Happiest $300 we've spent in a long time :o) We didn't hear from Krissy's school about her day, so we're thinking it must have gone better than yesterday. She did very well at home today, I hear (Thanks Molly!)
Mom and I had a wonderful dinner here with family and feel ready to turn in early. Benjamin seems to be doing ok, so I'll be really relieved if we can continue to hold him off a bit longer before surgery.
I talked with Larry about 7:30....he wasn't feeling great after so little sleep, but Krissy was happily in bed for the night and he is off work....so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!
Janelle

The above school day report was discovered in Krissy's backpack this morning.  Does anyone else find this as funny as I did?  The first 3 points about Krissy were certainly reassuring, but then there seemed to be an abrupt change....am I to interpret the "i" statements from point 4 onward, as the assistant now telling me how HER day went?  Much as I'm relieved to hear that she's able to get thru the day with out screaming or disrobing, I guess I just always assumed that would be the case.   Oh my....one more thing to worry about.

I was able to have a short visit with Kristin in her classroom today and she seemed to be doing pretty well.  She's looking forward to putting some (non-breakable) ornaments on the tree with Jamie after school.  Jamie and David are going to watch her while I'm at the hospital with Benjamin.  

We were blessed again by the generous thoughtfulness of Nichole, a woman who helps with Kristin.  She brought over 2 'Dream Dinners" on Saturday for us....Jamie is going to put the chicken and dumplings in for us tonight, so a warm dinner on a very cold day (it's in the 20's out there for those of you out of the area) will be really nice.  Bless you Nichole!

I'm hoping to be able to talk with the surgeon a bit more today to see what the plan is going to be over the next few weeks.  

Love Janelle

A heartfelt thank you to those of you who have been praying.  Krissy has had 3 good days now, so we're catching our breath.  

We had the girls closing show of Pocahontas last evening and had another big crowd.  With it being the final show, many of the kids were in tears in the final scene when Poca died, so it was quite realistic and moving.  The 'strike party' was held this afternoon and that was really fun.  Jamie was honored by the "Rose Award" the only award that the cast and crew vote on.  This is the highest honor given based on character.   Larryboy & I both fought tears on that one.  It was a really enjoyable time with good food and wonderful friends.  

Thanks for your prayers tomorrow....for Kristin at school especially.  I'm hoping to get over there again for awhile.  I really enjoyed being there on Friday.  Anne has a field trip (leaves Clackamas at 9am) Jamie has her pre-calculus final (need to take her to Mt. Hood CC and then pick her up a couple hours later) and I have to pick up Benjamin at school early to get him to the hospital for his sedation appt (procedure is at 3:30).  Oh yes....and the contractors are coming to re-do Kristins room (again).  If there aren't any surprises (that's your prayer assignment!) it should all work...but if it doesn't pray for the grace to compensate and be flexible too!

Wonderful church service today.....Also really enjoying our new car and yes.....the dishwasher too!

Love janelle

Catch up....

Happy Saturday~What a week it's been~ I will try and give you at least a condensed version of it.  Some of it has been great, some of it I don't want to re-live.

I last left you Tuesday evening after I brought Benjamin home from the hospital.  As I mentioned,  Krisin, who apparently was playing "Can I Top That??" for worst days ever, had an incident that day at the athletic club where she swims.  Apparently she had viewed a Disney cartoon at some point of Pluto really doing a number on a Christmas tree, so when she walked thru the door of the gym that day and saw a beautifully decorated tree, she decided to reinact the story. There are many details to her time there that day...I ask myself "if Krissy woke up tomorrow and didn't have autism, what parts of this story would she feel ok with me sharing publically? And that becomes my grid for this blog.  Even though she doesn't care too much right now about dignity I want to remember to respect that on her behalf.  So, suffice it to say, I think they'll be ok if we don't come back for awhile.   Poor Molly deserves a medal for getting Krissy home safely that day.   Larry or I will be stopping by soon to see what we can do in terms of restitution.  

Wednesday came and we decided that it would probably be ok with Larry off, for my mom and I to go ahead and use our train tickets that afternoon.  Mindy took us to the train and we left Portland at 4:45pm.  My night on the train, by comparison made my night in the hospital seem quite restful.  I just could not get comfortable.  We arrived in Whitefish (16 degrees) at 7am where my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Irvin were waiting for us in our new car.  I thought it was their new car (they had just ordered the same car, same color to replace it) it was so nice.  It was only when I saw the odometer with 22,000 miles that I realized "WOW, this must be IT".  They treated us to a wonderful breakfast out and then we went to their home where we were also able to briefly see my cousin Janet.  We then said our good byes and after a very brief stop by my Uncle Dick and Aunt Donna's home, we were soon on our way home.  We had light snow, but clear roads and beautiful driving weather.  I am normally very prone to getting sleepy while driving, and didn't have much confidence that the lack of sleep wouldn't catch up with me.  But I think God just gave me grace  for the trip....I had great company (Love you Mom!) and felt just fine, never drowsy thruout the 600+ mile trip home.  We arrived in Gresham at 10:30pm, both ready to crawl into our own beds.  

Due to the wonderful technology of cell phones, I heard on the way home about Kristin having another terrible day at school, complete with running and melt downs, etc.  Since I didn't plan to be back until Friday evening from the trip, I really didn't have anything I had to do, so I decided to go spend some time in her classroom yesterday morning.  She was having a really good day, but I was able to have a number of good conversations including a meeting with the principal, vice-principal, and her teacher as well as lengthy talks with Krissy's former teacher who is now the district's autism specialist.  We came up with some ideas.  The school is going to have a placement evaluation done, which is very appropriate.  If her behavior remains as out of control as it has been, we can't help but agree that this is not the safest place for her to be, nor is it fair to everyone involved to deal with this degree of intensive behaviors.  We're waiting to get in to the Dr. to get her started on medication...a very difficult decision, but an obvious one for where she is right now.  

After a couple hours at school and checking in at home, I went to pick Anne up (Girls both had a 'matinee' show yesterday morning for school field trips) who was with friends.  Then out again to pick out a new dishwasher...we had been without one for close to 2 weeks I think.  Thankfully their installer was available today, so he should arrive soon.  

Then it's off to the theater for the last 2 shows of Pocahontas (3pm and 7 pm).  Larry worked last night and surprised me this morning with a dozen beautiful winter white roses.  Another sweet moment happened too.  I went in the living room and Krissy was curled up in a chair, reading out loud the Christmas story from Luke 2.  She memorized this several years ago when she was with our wonderful friends, the Deffinbaugh's.  Soon I spotted a bookmark in her Bible at Luke 2 (see photo) where she had written on a small scrap of paper "The Best Christmas Ever".  Sniff sniff.  I really hate to put her on medication :o((

Would love to hear from you..... julians2@juno.com  
Love janelle

Tuesday Evening...The good news is that Benjamin and I are safely home. His procedure went well today; he is scheduled to return Monday for another, but we can do it out-patient, presuming (!!!) he is well. I think I am too tired to go into the bad news tonight, but we could use your ongoing prayers for Krissy. Today it involved a lovely Christmas tree at Cascade athletic club that was (past tense) nicely decorated. More tomorrow unless a good night's rest helps me forget all the details I heard from Molly when we arrived home. She's a trooper and a great help to us. We love you Molly. Sweet dreams.....really!

Silent Night...

He's sleeping and I'm wide awake.  I might start pushing the buttons on his toy pretty soon.  Just kidding.