Gardening Book Giveaway!

Go to this site http://sweeps4bloggers.com/2012/02/giveaway-the-heirloom-life-gardener-by-jere-emilee-gettle-2-winners-ends-31112/comment-page-1/#comment-1465144 for a great giveaway! It's a gardening book, so all you home gardeners get over there!!!

Not much to say, but...

Just thought I'd do a short update. It's been a couple months since I last posted. Not sure if I mentioned my youngest and her dental surgery, but we made it through that in October. Made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving. Now Christmas is upon us in just a few days.  All of the church programs are over and done with, and they were great!  Now we are looking at Christmas Eve and Day celebrations.  Especially the kids! They can hardly wait to open their gifts and enjoy all the family time! So that's what we've been up to. Short, sweet, and to the point! LOL Hopefully I will have more to update in the New Year. Health-wise, I've been okay. No severe blackouts that I can think of, just moderate problems. Nothing I can't persevere through!
Anyway, Merry Christmas and I'll see you next year! :)

Such a busy and tiring week...

Well guys, it's Sunday the 23rd of October 2011. It has been a very long week! This leaves me very tired and cranky but at the same time very blessed.  On Wednesday morning my four year old had an extensive and complete oral surgery under general anesthesia. She had to have her four top central teeth extracted and once they were in there they found that they were also abscessed. It's strange to me that my daughter never complained with pain and was continuing to eat! Anyway, she also got ten crowns... yes TEN!  And some fillings. I know what you might be thinking... this is a kid who never had dental care, but the truth is she has had the same care as my seven year old and she only had 2 tiny cavities! It blew my mind at how much work was needed on my 4 year old. She has soft teeth, she cut all her teeth early (at 11 months she had the full set), and she drank a LOT of juice for tummy problems. All this combined left her with a mouth full of problems which she handled like a champ! So we are four days post-op and she's eating almost everything she wants. It really just blows my mind at how quickly children recuperate! But I am so blessed because everything went so smooth during her surgery. It was about 2 hours that she was back and under general anesthesia and the first day she was sleepy and had moderately mild pain. But God truly kept her in the palm of His hands! Now I'm trying to recuperate and of course it takes me much longer to regain strength!  So I'm resting and sleeping and resting. And still never feel rested! *smile*  But I'll get there... eventually!
This week I have yet another Dr. appointment for the girls. The four year old has a follow-up with her pediatrician about her new allergy meds and my seven year old has shots. Oh and both are getting their flu shots. So another week and another doctor visit. It's like we never leave those offices anymore!
On a better note we have both girls Halloween costume bought and they are looking forward to Halloween. I think their favorite part is getting all dressed up as whatever they want to be... well almost anything they want to be. I mean I've got to draw the line somewhere and I draw the line at trampy looking costumes and ghoulish costumes.  But I never really have to govern in this area to much because at this points my girls are still vying for those cute little butterfly and barbie costumes!  So the upcoming weekend will be full of cuteness ( my girls of course!) and candy and trunk or treating at church. So in between all this we are still homeschooling this week. Last week was a light week considering the surgery and all. But we have plenty of days already and plenty of time if we need it. So until next time have a less tiring week than I've had! :) God Bless!

a lost voice is back...

Hey everyone! I've been either busy or sick and as a result my blog has been vacant of a lot of posting! But today is a pretty good day. My kids are doing their homeschool work which at the moment is a book about halloween that they are coloring and reading. This means I have a few free minutes to get a quick blog in. 

So, what's been happening around here?  I'm still hangin' in there. I did have another silent migraine episode or something on Saturday and as a result I couldn't speak for about 3 days. But thankfully things are back to normal. I still find myself having to think sometimes before I can get the words out. I know what I want to say, but I have to concentrate at times to get my mouth to get it out! Weird feeling. That should pass soon too, it usually does. I'm also having to try and "fix" my sleep schedule again. Everytime I have a bad episode I sleep for HOURS more than the average person for several days. And then I have a day or two where I can't sleep much at all. Then I have to start working myself back to sleeping a normal nights sleep. Last night I lay down and just stared at the ceiling for so long just trying to bore myself to sleep!  Finally I was able to fall asleep and slept well enough that I could get up 2 hours earlier than yesterday. So by the beginning of next week I should be back to rising around 7 and sleeping by 11. That's the goal anyway.

Some of you know that we (my husband and I) decided before children that homeschool was the way to go for us. It makes more sense now than it ever did and I'm so grateful that I'm allowed the opportunity to spend all this time with my kids. Watching them learn every day and getting to be a part of that is a blessing! Granted our homeschool routines are likely MUCH different than your average family! For starters I spend the entire lesson sitting with my feet up on the sofa. We pull a fold up table out from under the sofa and they drag over a couple kitchen chairs. I have all our supplies on the counter behind the sofa so everything is within an arms reach for me. This helps me not be as symptomatic as if I was standing or sitting with my feet hanging. This small detail is very important because the longer I stand or sit with my feet hanging the less blood flow I get to my brain which means less oxygen and that just spells disaster! But we have a system that works for us and so we use it. The girls have their responsibilities as far as who get/does what. The less physical work that I have to do, then the more clear-headed I remain. 

Anyway on a good note. I was so scared and worried going into this school year. I worried all last spring and throughout the summer. I just couldn't figure out why my oldest daughter, now 7, couldn't read yet and why she was still having trouble writing some of her alphabets correctly. I even talked to my husband and mother in law about putting her in public school because I felt as if I were failing her. After much encouragement and a lot of prayer I did some research online about kids who struggled to read and write like she does. I found a lot of answers. All under one little word... Dyslexia. We haven't had her tested because it usually isn't covered by any medical insurance because it's not considered a medical problem and it's VERY expensive. But she meets all the criteria for a dyslexic child. So I changed my method of teaching her. I let her guide me in what worked best. I never considered asking a child what would be best... after all I am the teacher! How blind we can sometimes be as adults, huh!?!  So after a couple weeks we worked out the kinks. I left the alphabet up for her so that she could look at the letters and then write what she saw. This worked well because she is great at drawing what she sees, so she would refer to the alphabet every time she came to a letter that she typically mirror imaged. Now it did take time. I still catch some of those letters mirror imaged if she's in a rush. I still have to look at her work and correct her by letting her know she mirror imaged a number or a letter, but by doing this she's began to check her own work more and compare it to the correct letter/number to see if they match. It's working out great! 

Another thing I learned about kids with dyslexia is that they may be able to read a word at one moment and in one situation but in the next not recognize it. This was SO true with my daughter! Take a word out of a sentence and she'd be lost. Take the pictures away from her reading and she had no way of guessing what those words were! So I let her guide me in how to correct the problem. Phonics don't really make sense to her. When she sounds words out, there will be sounds and letters that aren't even in the word! BUT if we cover part of the word and work one letter at a time, most of the time she can get it. Her reading has improved from reading simple words like cat, dog, etc to reading at her level! I did a reading test this past week on her and was surprised to find how much she'd improved! Very blessed to have family who supports us in our decisions and prays for us to find guidance! I know that without God guiding me I'd have never learned so much about my daughter and would not be able to teach her the way I do now! 

Let's see... other news in the Powell household.  We've had to do numerous Dr. trips. Vision for the oldest, she needed very low prescription reading glasses. Dental for both. The oldest had a couple small cavities and got sealants. The youngest, now that's a dental nightmare. She's having dental surgery the 19th of this month. Keep her in your prayers. She also had to have a pre-op appointment before the surgery and we've gotten that out of the way. Total Dr. visits in all so far? 6 I think. I might have missed one in my counting though! That's not counting my husbands dental visits! Whew, that's enough to wear a healthy person down...just ask my mother in law who has taken us to every single visit! (Thanks Ni!) 

For an extra curricular activity for the girls they chose to do the Build and Grow program at Lowe's. They go twice a month on Saturday morning and build a project. They get a certificate and a badge to sew on their Lowe's apron. It's a great project and I was surprised at the amount of kids they have going! The girls really enjoy it and we've made this our family day. They get to spend any chore money they've earned and they get to pick where we eat for lunch. So every other Saturday they have chosen Chinese food! Good thing we all like East Palace! :) Maybe next time they'll choose Mexican, Italian, or anything else kind of food... but I doubt it! 

Anyway, the oldest is finished with her book. She's colored it and then she's read it aloud to me, all on her own. Two months ago that wouldn't have been possible, so right now I'm a very proud mama!

Until next time, stay strong, fight hard, and LIVE! Life isn't worth anything if you don't live it to your best ability! Keep fighting Dys, and have an awesome day! Oh, and here's some spoons to help you through your day!

Homeschooling with Dysautonomia

Hey everyone. Just thought I'd do a quick update. As you all know I have Dysautonomia. Some of you know I homeschool our children and that the last couple years was VERY difficult having been diagnosed as well having a child school aged. I'll be the first to admit that school was very lax with my oldest for the last couple years, but she has just reached compulsory age anyway, so this year is actually the first she "has" to be schooled. So we are off to a great start. I don't feel great but I'm able to work with the girls and get their school time accomplished. Most everything else has had to take a back burner due to my feeling so sick afterwards, but my girls are first and the most important anyway.
Anyway, they are doing so good! I'm very proud of them. They have very different lives from children who haven't got a sick parent, but they are exceptional little girls despite or because of my illness... who can really say for sure! I do know this.... they are very compassionate and very prayer and God believing little girls because of the life we live! It's amazing watching them grow up, sometimes WAY too fast for my liking, but yet they are growing up knowing and loving God and life around them. I pray that they see that I take no moments for granted and I strive to enjoy every moment available to me... and I do believe they see this because I see it with their own little lives!
We don't have a typical structured school day. Some days we start early and are done by lunch. Some days we eat lunch and then school and are finished by mid afternoon. It just depends on what works for that day. Yet every day has it's routine. They do their chores before school and earn their points to cash in on Eric's payday for their allowance. This is something new and they are doing GREAT with it! Then we eat either breakfast or lunch, depending on the time, followed by school. And they have the rest of the day to pretty much be kids!
That doesn't mean that it is "learning-free" time though. We still do activities they learn from. Gardening is one of our favorites to do together. Working with the animals is another. Both of my girls want to be some form of animal doctor when they grow up. So I think it's important to let them learn the responsibilities of working with animals. When we are working with the garden they are learning so much that can help them in their adult lives as well as current school work with science and math. It's amazing where you can tie in school with every day living!
Anyway, that's pretty much been what's going on life wise. Health wise I am struggling with extreme nausea, headaches, heart rate fluctuations, blood pressure doing it's own thing, sleep is insanely messed up, blurry vision, all over aches, and on and on.... It seems like my body is just in a weird funk and can't pull through it. But God will grant me strength to get through each day and I'll make it! So if I look or sound funny in the meantime, just laugh WITH me about it...lol  Can't go through life without finding humor in what ails us! Until next time, God Bless and keep fighting Dys! Love you guys!

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

Hey everyone. Sorry for the really long delay in getting a Dys. update posted. I've just had a lot going on lately. But, here I am... finally!
So topic for today is SLEEP! I have been sleeping SO much. Just can't seem to get rested enough. I guess my body finally said, "OK! ENOUGH!!!" and now every chance it gets it sleeps.
Like I said, we've had a LOT going on. I still don't know how I made it through everything other than strength from God! Our church's had a State Convention and our church was on program to lead worship for one of the services. So we had practices for that, but I didn't make it to all of them due to not feeling well. Then my husband had dental surgery so we stayed with his mom for a few days in case he needed a ride back to the Dr. since I can't drive... not to mention he was VERY sick and I don't handle vomiting and things well...lol Then there was the state convention. Then I had a few days to rest up and my family from S. Ga drove up and stayed from Sun. through Thurs. And I've pretty much been sleeping since they left. Not always restful sleep, but sometimes sleeping so deep no one can wake me. Anywho...
Quick shout out to my mom.  Today's my mother's 50th birthday and again, I'm stuck here in B'ham AL unable to travel to be with her on her big day. I miss spending birthdays and other holidays with my family.  But I hope she has an awesome day today! My mother is the best! I love her with all my heart and can't wait for the day when they are able to move closer or something. I really miss them! It's been 9 + years now that I've been living here in Alabama and apart from my family. I love it here though and can never imagine living anywhere else. Good thing is they also love it up here and hope to move in the next few years I think. That would be awesome! Maybe then I can handle the trip well enough to visit them! Anyway, Happy Birthday to you mama.... I love you VERY much! You're the best!
Signing out until next time, Miranda

Dysautonomia - video 3

Just realized I never blogged this video! It was video number 3 taken June 4, 2011.