Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: August 2012

Thursday, August 23, 2012

"I could never imagine..."

Random thought...I've made it through and am in the middle of some of my, "I could never imagine" moments. I'm sure you've had those....you know, "I could never imagine having to go through this or that." Yet, God, in His infinite mercy and grace presents us with those moments and reminds us that He is in control and He does not ask us nor want us to walk this path alone. So, my two "imagine"'s are...

"Wow, I could never imagine losing a child." (at hearing of someone's miscarriage or stillbirth)....and then down the line...We excited anticipated the arrival of our sweet Levi Elijah and four months into a perfect pregnancy, he was gone...I couldn't imagine...Yet, God is full of grace and mercy and He provided us with peace that only comes from Him and one year later, we were blessed with a beautiful little girl, Lily Eve. Now, I couldn't imagine not having gone down that path with Him at my side...

While teaching..."I couldn't imagine having a special needs child. That's a lot to handle." Even when I was pregnant with Lily and the Down's counts came back elevated, I remember thinking, "Maybe God has allowed me to stay home during this season of our lives because Lily will have special needs." Meanwhile, God was whispering, "Daughter, your sweet little girl, who you have known for 5 years, is the one with special needs." Again, God, in His infinite grace and mercy, walks the path before us and alongside us. And...I could not live without my sweet, precious Lydia...She points me to Him and for that, I am so grateful.

So, anyway, there's some random thoughts for the day... :-)

Tonight, we go to Meet the Teacher, where Lydia will meet Mrs. Wasner, her kindergarten teacher. She is soooo excited!!!! and I am excited for her. I know our path will not be easy, but I trust God to help us understand and teach His precious child, whom He fearfully and wonderfully knit together!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Kindergarten

Reality is finally setting in...My big girl is going to Kindergarten!!!! Today was our ARD to discuss Lydia's placement at school. We have gone back and forth on what we feel the best placement would be. Lydia's IQ places her in a situation that has the school offering a Life Skills class. So the options we were facing were:

* Life Skills Class - full or part day

* General Education Kindergarten with Resource Reading and Math

* General Education KN with Inclusion Support

The school started the meeting by offering Life Skills for Lydia. After much thought, prayers and discussion, we decided we wanted to give Lydia an opportunity to be successful in the regular education class with support. At the ARD, the principal was called in and agreed to allow us to try that setting to see how Lydia will do. We will reconvene in October to have our annual ARD and see what, if any, changes need to occur. Lydia will have 2 hours of inclusion services each day and 2 30 minute sessions of Speech each week. We requested an Occupational Therapy evaluation. They said that we could not have that until it was determined that Lydia was unsuccessful on her IEP goals. Overall, we feel pleased with the outcome of the meeting. However, we signed off on the discussed decisions and left without any paperwork. I'm hoping everything is typed up and implemented as discussed. While at the school, we were able to meet the teacher and see Lydia's classroom. We continue to pray that God will prepare her teachers' hearts and allow her to have a great KN year...she is sooo excited!!!!

The next few weeks will be busy for our family. On Monday is Lydia's first day of KN. Then Tuesday and Wednesday will be Mommy and Lily's In-Service days at preschool. I'll be teaching the four year old class at our church's preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays. Lily will be going as well. I'm sure she will be excited to play with some little friends - right now, I'm not sure...it will be the longest time Lily and I will have been apart. :-)

Big girls shopping :-)