The Reading Tree

At our house reading is one of our favorite activities.  Especially this time of year with the beautiful weather outside. Crawling up into the tallow tree at the edge of the yard the cascading limbs camouflage the silent bookworm who is engrossed in another world through his book.  Andrew is becoming a fluent reader and enjoys combining two of his loves-books and nature.  This living fort is known affectionately as the reading tree in our yard and is sought after with book in hand when chores and other duties have been completed.  Occasionally, upon ascending the tree with visions of time lost in a favorite book one finds the tree to already be inhabited and must wait with patience for another to finish.

-mom

Can you see J.Michael in the tree?

Did you call me?

An Introspection 3

It has become a tradition in our family to produce a mini-documentary every adoption anniversary (May 20th). It's amazing to see how much Andrew and Kathlena change from year to year and to see the interviews go from "alright sweetie, answer the question please" to "alright, I think that's enough (HINT HINT)" in just three years time.

This year J.Michael helped me with the filming and interviews which was interesting, to say the least. We attempted to use two cameras to capture two different angles but I think we ended up with more outtakes than actual footage. We couldn't turn both cameras on at once so there was always a delay between the turning on of camera 1 to the turning on of camera 2. Then of course, there were the times when we'd forget that one of the cameras was still recording...oops. It was also a typical hot, sultry Houston afternoon and after a while the cast and filming crew got restless as you will see but I won't spoil it. We had a good time making it and I hope you'll enjoy watching it.


So please be sure to visit our adoption blog and see AN INTROSPECTION 3

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas 2010

I first must apologize for the long pause on updates and posting.  I have actually tinkered with the idea of giving this blog up altogether, but I do so love to share some of the wonderful moments the Lord gives our family and to be reminded myself as I look back over the year of God's faithfulness to us.  So, with this year coming to a close I have thought more about how this blog helps me preserve our memories and even though there may be long pauses and I don't get to post all the posts I would like to share that it is worth keeping.

So, here is the drive-by version of the last three months.  Calvin has grown so much especially, since his first birthday-Oct 18th.  He is walking, climbing, chattering, giggling, high five-ing, piano playing, huggy, smoochy, and just plain adorable.  Much training and learning during this sweet season.  We all are learning more about our home from a 2ft perspective!

Camping Meridian State Park November 2010

First Camp out...brrr it was cold.  November 2010 Meridian State Park

Walking

High Fives

Playing Piano

Kathlena's vision has continued to improve since her surgery.  She still needs to wear her glasses for now and we are patching 4hrs daily to continue to strengthen her left eye.  She is doing very well with the patching.  Of course having an older brother who also is patching is a great encouragement to her.
Since glasses and surgery Kathlena has made great strides in her writing and letter recognition.  We are so excited for her as this whole new world of pre-reading is emerging for her.  She continues to be my great helper.  She loves to be in the kitchen with me and run errands...especially to Jubilee.  She loves to help me with the produce.  I am so thankful to the Lord for His grace in Kathlena's life as she continues learn about putting her trust in the Lord and not allowing fear to rule her spirit, but leaning on Christ and His Word for courage.  "We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:37

Go-Cart riding/checking on the cows at Nana's-September 2010

 Sisters September-2010

Kathlena and her morning cup of camp out hot chocolate at Meridian State Park. November 2010

"Just hanging around" at Meridian State Park November 2010

Andrew has been growing in so many ways.  Growing vertically as his pants testify!  It seemed all of the sudden, but really I should know by now as it seems to happen with all of my children around their birthdays.  Andrew celebrated his 8th birthday with a little chilly swim party, but Andrew was thrilled to get to celebrate with friends so the cooler weather he didn't mind.  He is becoming quite the young gentleman.  He is a great help with his younger brother and Calvin just adores Andrew.  It is such a sweet sight.  The Lord has given Andrew such a sensitive spirit and he is drawn to babies and the elderly.   Such a delight as a parent to see their child's God given talents and personalities grow and be used for His glory.  Andrew's vision continues to improve by God's mercy and diligent work to continue to patch.  We are now only patching 2hrs a day which is a cake walk compared to the days of all waking hours, but it has paid off.  Andrew is regaining his binocular vision and can even see a couple of letters on the 20/25 line which is nothing short of a miracle considering where we started.  What an amazing God we serve!  We would be praising Him for any vision restored or maintained, but that He has given Andrew back so much of what he had lost--what mercy we cannot fully comprehend. May Andrew always know, hope and trust in the great mercies of God all the days of his life. 

Shared birthday dinner with PawPaw at The Goose's Acre in the Woodlands. September 2010

A quick pic with his sister Emily while we were shopping at Hubble and Hudson after dinner. September 2010

Andrew is so sweet on his sisters.  Here is another snapshot with Kathlena in the produce. September 2010

Birthday boys-Andrew and PawPaw Shiflet September 20th

Andrew's first kid birthday party.  Water balloon fights were so fun.  Thanks DoDad for helping!

Andrew is an influential big brother who takes seriously his role.

My always inquisitive, thinking little boy.

A new bike for his birthday.  He has worked diligently even through patch therapy to learn how to be a responsible bike rider. 

J.Michael definitely has to be given notice to his phenomenal growth as he now stands just taller than eye level with me.  Literally, he grew inches over night and his clothes look like he was wearing Andrew's! What a young man he is becoming.  Working with his father and our Mr. Fix it man around the house.  He can assemble just about anything.  He is now working with his father and learning new carpentry skills. A great opportunity for him to learn from his father both skills and application of  biblical truths as he "walks along the way" with his Dad.

Kayaking with Andrew at Meridian State Park

Emily and J.Michael bike riding at Meridian State Park during our family camp out in November

Christmas 2010

Emily celebrated her 16th birthday in October.  She is such the young lady.  She contributes greatly to her father's house both in deed and in spirit.  She is still our song bird who teaches/practices with her siblings hymns of the faith.  Her beauty radiates from within.  Her love for the Lord manifests in her love and service to her family and those she comes in contact with through church and community.  Most of the pictures and videos in this post have been taken by Emily.  We appreciate that she has taken on the role of historian in our family as our family has grown.  

At church in October 2010

Emily and Calvin at Meridian State Park November 2010

 Merry Christmas 2010

As for David and I we are beginning a new chapter in our lives.  Earlier this year David surrendered to a call to the ministry as one of the pastors of a new church plant from GFBC Spring called GFBC Conroe.  A call to ministry that he has wrestled with for some time, but the how and when was confirmed through the GFBC leadership training class and the Elders of GFBC.  Through the planting of this new church it has become apparent that now is the time for us to make some significant changes that have been a long time in the works.  

So, in October David left his corporate job of ten years to dedicate more time to the church plant, developing his skills as a pastor/teacher and to explore some long time goals of starting a family business where he could work along side his sons and daughters.  He is currently working on developing a custom woodworking business.  Woodworking has been a skill he has been developing since shop class in high school and pursued a little at a time over the years.  While mostly self-taught he has had a few opportunities to take some classes, and attend woodworking conventions.  Woodworking has proved to be a handy skill that he has used to build furniture and create custom organized areas in our various homes throughout the years.  I have to say that he has spoiled me with his talent in this area.  I design or tell him what I want for a certain area of the house and he then creates the picture in my head.  I have rarely found just the item I want in the market place, it is usually a combination of pieces that David can then put together and make it fit in the space I have for it.  Now, we are hoping to share this skill with others to create custom woodworking designs for their homes and allow his sons to learn this trade (or I should say continue to learn and spend more time doing it!) with him.  Where all this will lead we do not know, but we are walking in faith, trusting the Lord to provide through our diligent, honest, hard work. 

 

Meridian State Park November

Merry Christmas 2010

In November we were given another gift.  The gift of life.  A new little Shiflet to be born next July.  My cup runneth over.  We are so grateful to the Lord for His mercy and grace on our lives.  I am feeling well.  What an amazing year 2010 has been for the Shiflet's.  It truly has been a year of learning to live Deuteronomy 6.  We marvel at all that the Lord will do and bring us through in 2011. 

Learning to read

Andrew loves books. He loves to have books read to him, and he loves to sit and "read" the pictures, which I believe has motivated him to want to learn to read the words. He also is surrounded by a culture of reading with his siblings and parents who he sees reading. I will be honest, I really have not pushed the mechanics of reading, as I believe strongly that a love for reading is more important to develop first. The mechanics can be achieved quickly when a love for learning is the motivator and guide. Andrew--on his own--had begun to try to sound out words and letters when we were out in stores or anywhere he saw a word that he wanted to know. From his initiative, I thought it was time to give my old trusty Alpha-Phonics book a go and see where it leads us. Here is a little clip of one of our lessons. Can you see the excitement on his face when he finishes a sentence? I love that! There is nothing like seeing the light come on and watching a child learn to read... a whole world of wonder has been opened up, ready to explore.

*remember to turn the music off in the sidebar to listen to the video.

Andrew-Happy 7th Birthday

It seems impossible that Andrew is already having his 7th birthday (second birthday with us). Time just flies by too quickly. Andrew has grown and changed so much since his last birthday. He has lost more teeth than I can count and now those little front teeth have been replaced by big kid teeth that make him look so grown up. His adorable smile has stayed the same though and I am so thankful for that. He also now has his eye surgery behind him so gazing into those beautiful blue ocean eyes that are straight is an amazing blessing we are so thankful for this year.

Andrew requested green beans, cooked carrots and steak for his birthday dinner. He is my vegetable lover. He also wanted a Thomas cake this year that we ordered from Sam's in a large size so we could take it to church tomorrow (on his actual birthday) so he could share it with his church family. We decided to have his dinner and family party the night before and let him open his presents and blow out his candles. It was a sweet family night together.

Andrew loved getting to open presents from Mom and Dad; grandparents and siblings. Kathlena made us laugh as she thought that your birthday "comes in the mail". Meaning that's how you get a birthday through the mail since packages and cards arrived in the mail for Andrew's birthday. Too cute! She thought her birthday could be any day...she would just keep checking the mailbox to see.

Andrew enjoyed opening his gifts and was not quite as shy about tearing open the gifts this year. He has gotten the hang of opening presents over the past year. It really didn't even take much practice. :) He loved his star wars clone helmet and gun from Nana & DoDad & Uncle Todd, scooter from J.Michael, Candy & coloring books Emily picked out for him, His new lefty baseball glove and boxing set from Mom & Dad, some really cool robot magnets and robot game from PawPaw and Grandmommie and birthday card with $$ from his great-grandmother. Thank you all for making Andrew's 7th birthday so special for him.

We are so blessed by our extended families and I love the sweetness of the thoughtfulness of our kids to each other. Birthdays are a fun time around the Shiflet home that remind us of the whole year that has passed and we look forward to the year to come and all that the Lord is doing in our lives.

Hurray for Andrew...vision update

Today we went back to Dr. Mazow for our 6wk follow up. We have been patching again for 5 hrs a day which we increased to more like 7-8hrs a day after about 2wks. From our experience patching Andrew prior to surgery we could tell the 5hr patching was really not long enough so we increased the time as the 7-8hr seems to be what works for Andrew. Even a few weeks ago we began to notice some changes. Andrew would tell us that he could see better (while patched) and he was reading numbers, letters, and signs from the car that told us he had improved some. We never imagined how much though!
We arrived at Dr. Mazow's office and it was very busy. I guess everyone was trying to get in before school starts back. Anyway, it was the usual routine only we had forgotten that we were to have his eyes dilated today. So, that made it a little longer visit. Andrew tested 3 lines better, with a strong 20/60. We were so excited to have so much progress in a short time. This pretty much put us back to where we had started before the surgery. Once dilated though Andrew blew us all away with an unaided 20/30 in his left eye...what we were told would be next to impossible! I was fighting back tears of joy for Andrew! It has all been worth it!! Truly an amazing gift of the Lord to restore Andrew's vision in this way. Tears well up even as I write this that we are witnessing a miracle in little Andrew's life.
Sweet Andrew didn't even really understand why everyone in the office and David and I were so happy. To Andrew it was just another eye test. I had to explain it to him in the car. We grabbed a sandwich at Subway after and as we were going in Andrew had time to process all that had just happened and this is what he told me. "Mommy, I am just so grateful that my eyes are better, I am so grateful" Andrew never ceases to amaze me with his tender heart and genuineness. I told him I too was grateful to the Lord for all that He has blessed us with. For all the eye appointments this past year that ended in tears of frustration and sometimes moments of a loss of hope that led us back to prayer for mercy on our little Andrew we are so very grateful for this precious gift of sight from the Lord that truly is a miracle.
We still have a long road of patching and work to do to improve and keep his vision, but this was a huge day that has given all of us a renewed "vision" and hope to continue in faith trusting the Lord with each step and giving Him abundant praise for all that He is doing in our lives.
We will be back to see Dr. Mazow around the first of October and as long as we are continuing to hold and improve vision we will begin to decrease the patching time over the course of the next year. As Dr. Mazow explained it the patch will eventually be like a retainer where Andrew wears it only a few hours for a few days a week. At this point it would seem that a second surgery on the right eye is off the table for now. We will still need to work on his binocular/3-D vision as he is still not able to see with both eyes together passed his nose. We pray that even this would be restored to him. In addition to our work with patching we are looking into a NeuralDevelopmental Program that may also help improve his vision. I hope to post about this soon. I am still researching and reading about it, but have found a good source that encourages the program be done by parents at home...just what we have been looking for...PTL that He continually opens new doors when others close. I also want to thank all of you for your faithful prayers for our family and comments of encouragement. It means so much to us! We are so blessed by you.

Reading Time

All four kids have daily reading time. This for Andrew and Kathlena means they sit quietly and "read" books to themselves either because they remember the story or they "read" the pictures. Andrew has an amazing memory. In this video he is "reading" from memory a book that he has only heard twice. Andrew and Kathlena lOVE books! Andrew loves having his older brother and sister reading to him and wants to do the same for his little sister. It is so sweet...he also likes to work with her on her numbers and letters. Mommy and Daddy also read volumes of books to all four kids so, it would be hard not to have a love for reading living in the Shiflet household. When it is not so hot outside we take our reading time to the yard so even Chase, our dog will curl up next to us and "listen" to our stories. :)

Update on Andrew's Vision Progress: Post Surgery & Children's Museum Trip

Learning about viscosity. The density of different liquid
materials.


Learning about the density of different solid
materials.


The robot arm building the toy trolley.


The boys built their own wooden trolley then
tested it to see how well it was built. They
did a good job of following instructions.


Water works! The kids had a great time exploring
the different types of levies and currents with their
boats on the water.




Emily had to get a few belly pics in...boy was
it hot!


Inside a police car simulator


Playing market...one of their favorite things to do at home
too. This was a really large market though.




Mimi making a rare photo appearance! Mom grabbed the
camera from her for a moment. Trying to do that more often :)



Andrew the artist!




Today we headed back to Dr. Mazow for our 4wk post op appointment. While Andrew's eye is healing up nicely he is still having some double vision in his left eye. According to his vision test he has lost vision in his left eye again. We are now back to 20/90 which is close to the vision he had when we started with Dr. Mazow. While this was disappointing and down right frustrating for all of us, especially Andrew we were not entirely surprised.

Andrew's right eye has been dominate for 6+ years now and given the opportunity to do so it will dominate and keep the left eye weak apparently even with the new alignment. This is the amazing ability our Creator, Almighty God gave our brains to compensate and make the most of what works well in the absence of treatment. So, given the time gone untreated the re-training is hard! This is the major difficulty with untreated amblyopia...it just isn't an easy fix and likely may take us a long time to re-train his brain to accept the second signal. We are praying for healing and persevering. Andrew being a little trooper is complying with going back to patching 5hrs a day...bless his heart! We will be doing this for 6wks then we go back to check our progress. Best case is that we have regained what we lost and we are back up to 20/60. Now how we hold that once we get there is still unclear to us. We are hoping to understand more on this at our next visit

Another issue that we had hoped would not be the case, but knew there was a chance is that Andrew's right eye is also out of alignment. We opted for the Dr. who was more conservative and only wanted to operate on the left eye (many will just do both eyes and not even consider that one may be aligned). After discussing this with Dr. Mazow we were even more convinced that only operating on the left was the right course since Andrew has such perfect vision in his right eye and the risks outweighed the benefits.

So, now we see that possibly Andrew has an alignment issue in the right as well. If so, it is just very slight and given the severity of the left was really not easily detected. It is likely that we will have to do surgery again...possibly soon. The main reason for the additional surgery is that with the eyes out of alignment it will make it more difficult for both his right and left eye to work together in what is called stereo or binocular vision. I might add that the "misalignment" in the right eye is virtually undetectable when looking at him. It is only at a certain angle that I thought there was a slight discrepancy...in fact I wasn't sure that it was not an optical illusion as his left eye is still healing and has stayed recessed some as a result of the surgery. So, I just thought (hoped) that that was all it was. We continue to pray for the Lord's will in all of this as He knows best what Andrew needs.

After our visit with Dr. Mazow we headed for the Children's Museum which Kathlena called the Zoomeum because we generally go to the Zoo after our visits. Since, Mom is 6 months along and we are in the middle of a heat wave I thought the Museum would be a better choice for us. So, we had our usual picnic lunch with Daddy at Herman Park then Daddy dropped us off at the Museum while he went to call on customers downtown.

The museum was packed! I couldn't imagine so many kids in one place. There were many day camp groups there as the Children's Museum had opened some new exhibits. We had fun. It was Andrew and Kathlena's first time to go to this museum and Emily and J.Michael had not been in years so it was a treat for all of them. I was so proud of Andrew and Kathlena as they did so well with all the excitement to stay right close by and not get distracted and wander off. I don't think we could have done this last summer for sure! It was a real testimony to their growth and training and I was so blessed. We had a great time.