Deep in the Heart of Texas - Girl's Weekend

What an awesome weekend! I just got back from visiting my friend Jodi and her friend Karen in Dallas. They were going to work on scrapbooking and have some down time away from their kids and I went down to work on Evan's daily and weekly schedules and all his PECS pictures to help him communicate with us at home. I got a lot done but got a lot more. I relaxed, made a new friend and just learned that I am not alone with all of my struggles with Evan. That is the most valuable thing and I am grateful for that.

I also got to see Jodi's beautiful kids. Brady, Kenzie, Conner, Jailyn (we were with Jodi and Bryan in China when we adopted Evan) and Jorga. I got to sit in on Jodi's newly created Adoption Ministry meeting (the first) and most important thing I got to do was to laugh with friends at myself and all the silly things that happened while we were there. Thank you Jodi and Karen!

Oh, the pictures are of Jorga and Jailyn dressing up. Jodi, Karen and I and the hallway of our hotel after a pipe burst. Notice, Karen in the doorway and oh yes, our room is in the caution tape area. :) We were not notified. Something else that we laughed about.

Sue

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy new year!

Sue

Another Quilt, another gift finished just in time

I finished this quilt on 5pm the night before we would see Maude, Evan's music therapist right before Christmas. I didn't think I would make it. Maude is a very special person, always helping us fight to get the best for Evan. I wanted to make her something very special to show her how much she means to us. Thank you Maude for all that you do to help Evan.

Merry Christmas and fun in the snow

Merry Christmas to everyone. Emma and Evan had a really fun day. We wish you all a very Happy New Year too.

Evan's Surgery Today

Evan had surgery early this morning to cauterize his nose and also to clean his ears from wax that had decreased his hearing significantly. Well, things went well in the nose but the ears I think will always be a problem area.

Evan's right tube had to be replaced and the doctor noted that there was a great deal of scar tissue so he didn't know how much the tube would help to improve the hearing in that ear. Should I mention that this is his good ear! The left ear has a major perferation, or rupture. He did not replace the tube and is willing to give his eardrum upto a year to heal itself before he would do a skin graft to repair it with surgery. That just seems like such a long time for a non-verbal four/almost five year old to wait to hear better. The doctor wants to see us in a month to check how the hearing is. He thought hearing aides might be an option if it doesn't look good. UGH! I feel like we have just stepped back in time by two years since back then we thought he might need them.

Evan does seem to be in good spirits and is playing nicely after a long nap this afternoon.

Sue

PS, I forgot to mention that they drew blood to see if Evan has a clotting disorder with the severe nose bleeds and how much his ears bleed after surgey each time. Please pray that this is not the case. This poor little boy doesn't need any other issues.

Emma's Second Meet

Emma had her second gymnastics meet this past Friday. She did well but still did not qualify for State, but the third time will be the charm. We are so proud of her. One of the other mom's on our team is a professional photographer and took this cool shot of her and many more. Thanks Jennifer. I have tried several times to upload some of the short videos of her routines with out success. Maybe someday.

Emma's Scores:

Beam: 7.10
Vault: 8.80
Floor: 7.90
Bars: 8.05

Sue

The Diagnosis

Lately this cute little boy does not want to be upstaged by his big sister. These are just a couple of the shots in which Evan didn't want me to take pictures of Emma with out being included. He loves to run in front of the shot. As is saying "what about me?".

These last few months have been very difficult for our family. Evan's behavior has been even more challenging. We have had several doctor's appointments in the last few weeks and all the doctor's agree. Evan is AUTISTIC! He now has a diagnosis. While it is very upsetting, it is nice that it is finally out there and almost three years of stepping around that diagnosis is over. Four doctor's have agreed. Yesterday we went to Shriner's for a behavioral exam and IQ test. The doctor thinks that Evan is a mild to moderate Autistic and has a borderline mental retarded IQ. She also mentioned that she thought if we could get him to sit longer to work on the IQ test that he would have scored higher. He just struggled to keep focused for the two hour exam.

This is still good news. Last week at Evan's parent teach conference I was told that Evan will be tested at school and would most likely be labeled as severely mentally retarded since a good portion of the testing is verbal. As you can imagine, I was DEVISTATED! Now I am only mad at the schools inability to administer a test for a non-verbal child that doesn't take that into consideration. UGH! This information will determine his Kindergarten placement. Again I was told that he would most likely be put into a Life Skills class since he won't probably be a functional adult so it was more important to teach him daily skills. What do they think that I am working on everyday at home.

I am hoping that U46 will now look at the testing that Shriner's took yesterday and at least consider it for Evan's placement next fall. I am now looking into other options even if that means moving into a better school district. Not the option I want to consider monetarily but if needed we will seriously consider it.

I will keep you updated as more information comes our way.

Sue