Like Pulling Teeth

This week has been especially busy. Last Saturday night, Sharlene, the boys and I went to the ELC to work on the packs that each of the children will receive as they leave for the final time or when they leave our break up party. It was a late night for me, I burned almost 50 CDs, caught up on comments in communication diaries, and sorted photos into individual files. Sharlene was  huge help as she put certificates, diaries and CD's into the appropriate pack. The rush that night was due to our break-up party being on the next day. 

I had hired the Mackay Society of Model Engineers to come and run their model steam trains for our ELC children and families on Sunday. It wasn't all easy getting everything there, but the day really did go well and it seemed that everyone left happy. That afternoon, I borrowed a trailer, got a load of dirt from behind the ELC, took it home and built a garden. (The soil/sand at our house is pretty gutless). 

All this week has been quite emotional, saying goodbye to a number of families for the final time and receiving gifts. We have such a wonderful group of parents this year. 

On Thursday, Sharlene finally got her wisdom teeth pulled. Now she has a very swollen and bruised jawline. She ended up getting them out under general anaesthetic. She has kept ice on her jaw ever since. 

Today, we had our final wet day on the slip 'n slide for the year. Numbers were down today but we all had fun anyway. I took Zemiel with me to work and Sharlene's parents took Azariah and Zekiah. Azariah joined us for our wet play, while Zemiel stayed all day and was reasonably behaved. The highlight of today for him was getting his face painted for the first time. It only happened because I was painting some other children's faces - mainly tigers and butterflies, while Zemiel would constantly interrupt and point out the picture that he wished to see on the next candidate. He would grab a brush and start bringing it ominously close to the poor child's face. Finally, I allowed Zemiel to paint my face, which he did with conviction. I had orange and black everywhere - in my eye and up my nose too! When this was finished, I pinned him down and asked him what picture I could do for him, and he chose a lion. I painted the mask and got him to look in a mirror and he was hooked! He started rarring and off he went to rar at all the other children who yet remained. He commented several times this afternoon that he was 'a big lion.' I'm pretty sure now that he will get his face painted again. 

Ten Years

This weekend marked ten years of married life for Shar and I. It possibly doesn't seem to be so long when one takes it all in at once, but then again, when we thought about it today, we decided that we actually had done quite a lot in that time. First of all we looked at the individual years.

Year 1: Rockhampton -  in a condemnable house. (We were the last tenants before it was demolished).
Year 2: Bowen and Cooranbong -  living apart. I studied, and Sharlene worked hard to help me do that.
Year 3: Cooranbong - I was studying and Sharlene working while living in another terribly old house. It was once the original farmhouse, then the morgue, then our residence. We also enjoyed our epic drive through the centre of Australia with Luke, just as he met Amy.
Year 4: Cooranbong - Both of us working. Bought our first house in Morriset. Diesel dog joined the family.
Year 5: Morrisett - Both working until our first son Zemiel was born.
Year 6: Morrisett - I worked. We both learned Auslan.
Year 7: Morrisett - I worked and welcomed our second son, Azariah.
Year 8: Bowen - Sharlene worked and I take on being a house dad.
Year 9: Bowen - Sharlene worked till mid year and then I took work in Mackay. Lived apart for a few weeks before Sharlene and boys joined me. Moved into house owned by Sharlene's dad. Welcomed third son, Zekiah.
Year 10: Mackay - bought unit in Mackay. Sharlene return to work part time, besides keeping house, and taking Zemiel to Brisbane every few weeks.

Well that about sums up the years in a nutshell, so to speak. We are still young and definitely have plans for big adventures yet to come.

Bowty Downter

Azariah has had a special friend for quite some time now called Bowty (or Boaty) Downter. This friend comes along with him everywhere and lends his name to many different objects and situations. When in doubt of what to call or name something, Bowty Downter is Azariah's naming fallback.

Today, Azariah and Sharlene sat down and wrote a song about Bowty Downter. The lyrics are as follows.

Bowty Downter has a friend,
His name is Bowty too.
At the creek they play all day,
And I play with them too.

Of course, Bowty Downter also gets blamed for misdemeanours and infractions of our home boundaries. So one may ask, just how long will the friendship will last?

Hiccups

I am beginning to doubt whether there will ever be anything in Zemiel's life that will 'proceed as planned' - without interruptions, delays, surprises, distress or alterations. 

Zem took a ride to Brisbane this week to see some specialists but has ended up getting sick. He had fevers yesterday and today Sharlene took him to emergency. Now I find out that, instead of returning home tonight, Zemiel has been admitted on an I V drip for the night because he wasn't recovering as fast as he ought to have been and wasn't fit to fly. I don't know what the new schedule is. 

Riah has spent some very happy days with Aunty Ellie and is now back with dad for the weekend. 

Our new chickens, Eor (pronouced ee-oh-are) and Book-Book are now both laying eggs. Eor's first egg was today while Book-Book's first egg was last sabbath.

Nava (one of our original chooks) has ceased to pick on the younger ones unless they are directly in her way. I got some pavers for their pen yesterday and Riah helped me put them in this morning.

Recent Holiday and Operations

At the end of September, Sharlene took the boys for a three week trip down to New South Wales to see friends and family. It was a great time for her to spend with the children and especially to have quality / quantity time with them. On the way home they stopped in Brisbane.

On October 12, Zemiel got his adenoids taken out and some gromits put in his ears. He went in at 7am and was able to leave the hospital in the mid afternoon. Everything went well for the operation. Although we now know that he had a lot of residual fluid in his ears. His left was infected and his right had 'glue ear'. I flew down to meet them, spent the night with Trev and Roni and then drove them home back to Mackay.

Zekiah had his first birthday while they were away but while he had started to take a few independent steps before he left, nothing really changed until he came back. But it was only when Sharlene took him to Cape Hillsborough for her women's retreat that he really jumped ahead. He went from only a couple of steps alone to almost completely independent.

Sharlene will be off to Brisbane again this week. Zemiel has an appointment with the ENT, Developmental specialist, Opthimologist, and Audiologist. He will be remapped and hopefully we will begin to see/hear the difference the gromits make.

Window Shopping

Sharlene was telling me a story yesterday about how she went shopping with the boys. They bought a father's day surprise for me and after that, instead of the usual whine for everything that glittered and sparkled, Azariah began to chant, "Don't need that, don't need that!" at everything that he saw. It made Sharlene smile.

Personality Plus!

Our boys have such personalities!

Zemiel loves our chickens. Whenever we come home from a car trip he will check the nest every time. It could be the fourth time that day (and we only have 2 chickens). When he gets an egg he holds it up triumphantly above his head and brings it in safely to the kitchen. Yesterday, after already collecting two eggs, he decided that it wasn't enough and proceeded to block up the door to the next box, pick up each chicken and place them down inside the next box and push them down into the straw. I don't think the chickens were convinced though.

Azariah has taken a new interest in his old doll 'Rusty'. It is the doll that he got when he had his gall bladder removed in hospital. Today he made sure that the music in the car was turn down so that Rusty could 'sleep'.

Today, Zekiah found his way to the dog food outside. Mum finally found him and scraped the food out of his mouth. However, the toddler had the last word, deliberately sucking each of his fingers as if they were sugar coated.

A week in the life of us

Well I thought it time that I braved the internet and wrote about our general week. We have so much that goes on and I would hate to look back on this time and not remember the fun and hard work that makes up our lives.
Sundays are family days playing together and generally going outside to eat from our wonderful vege bed. Even Zekiah gets in on the action and reaches up to pick silver beet leaves to munch on. Zemiel and Azariah search daily for the new peas and beans and eat them as fast as they find them. They really love the fresh food.
Monday are usually home days. Every day I have a goal of what work Zem needs to do. This week it is  sign language cards based on the book "The hungary caterpillar", speaking practice with words starting with the 'f' sound, listening practice (on what is called minimal pairs), recognition of emotions worksheets, plural practice, barrier games to improve listening, I Spy, and I try to squeeze in some math concept. Usually I tackle four activities a day but more if Zem is having fun with them.
Tuesday is when I pretend to be Daniel's secretary and do some shopping for him. It is also a big house clean day. Even with a small place, it needs constant cleaning. Zem enjoys using the vacuum cleaner and also enjoys putting washing powder in our front loader washing machine. Azariah loves to spot clean with a spray bottle and cloth. He attacks the spots on the floor with great gusto and persistence. Zekiah loves to follow around the vacuum cleaner and climbs to where his hair is blown around by its air vent.
Wednesday is washing day. It is also the day that I try to water the plants. We currently have a nectarine tree, peach tree, pomegranate, miracle fruit, cape gooseberries, blueberry, lemon, lime, numerous baby tomato plants, lemongrass, longan, geranium, aloe vera, raspberry, quondong, sweet potato, potato, basil, oregano, indian almond, malabar spinach and possibly some more that I can't remember the names of. All these plants are in pots and so require attention each week. I made some watering cans from old spaghetti and baked bean tins so that Zem and Riah help.
Thursday is the busy day. Zem has preschool at EDCP (Early Development Childhood Program), I drop of Azariah either to Aunty Ellie's or to Poppy Brian's house and then go to school to teach Home Ec. Once finished I pick up Azariah, then Zemiel and then come home to make dinner.
Fridays consist of going to the speech therapist, then to the EDCP, then home to get ready for sabbath. It is also my phone call day to specialists if necessary. I pick up Zem and come back home to clean up the house and then help the kids remember their memory verse for the week.
Oh - I forgot. I also tutor 2-3 hours per week in the afternoons. Busy, busy.
Praise God for Sabbath!
Anyway - that is a week in the life of us. I hope you had fun reading about it.

Daniel and the Lions

Azariah and Zemiel have a new favourite story - Daniel and the Lions. When the boys have learnt it well enough, I'll put it on the blog for you to see.

Big Camp 2012

Our family has just returned from our big camp in Townsville this year. We had a fantastic time! Zekiah has recently started to crawl and became more mobile as he scuttled around the tent. It was a great place for him to learn to crawl. Azariah had his 3rd birthday party and grew more and more confident in walking around the grounds. Everyone was his 'friend' at camp. He also adopted certain groups of boys and girls who be came 'my boys' or 'my girls' whenever he saw them or played with them. Zemiel also grew more confident in interacting with other children and coping with situation without mum and dad there to interpret for him. By the end of the week, he attended the kindy sessions alone and spent long blocks of time playing with other children without Sharlene or I watching over. Zemiel loved playing with the junior aged children who were keen on playing handball. He also began to climb trees at camp.

Some funny events happened at camp and one was when Zemiel took Zekiah for a ride in the pram. On the previous day, we had purchased some 'big camp' shirts for Zem and Riah to wear. Both boys had chosen yellow from the colour options. On this day, Zemiel steered Ki right up to the table where the shirts were being sold. He immediately reached under the pram and retrieved Sharlene's purse. He opened it and found 40c, which he offered in exchange for a yellow shirt. I thought he as buying another shirt for himself, but it quickly became apparent that the shirt was for Ki. What a kind boy he was to think of his baby brother! This is just one example of how gentle and considerate Zemiel can be, and is, most days.

Zemiel's Results

Well, I've been putting it off and I've also asked Sharlene to write this post, but she's refused to do it too. So it falls back to me to let you know what is going on with our Zemiel. Sharlene has been to Brisbane twice this year. She has found out some useful information about the boy, and some things that took some adjustment. Let me start at the beginning....

Once upon a time a boy was born to a family in Murgon...whoops, too far back.

Let's try again. 

Zemiel had a series of tests done earlier this year which culminated with a report being sent to us stating that he is loosing his hearing slowly and ultimately he will become deaf again. We should, therefore, continue to sign with him and pursue means of giving him signing support at school. The thought that he would loose his hearing hasn't been easy to take. There was also a perplexed debate between specialists as to why he hasn't learned to talk more than he has. Theoretically, he should have caught up by now. While all these specialists were left scratching their heads, Zemiel, Zekiah and Sharlene came back home. 

On the most recent trip, he again met with a plethora of specialists, sometimes twice. One of the results was that we were given the option to label him as either Autistic or with Executive Function Disorder. We also discovered that Zemiel's apparent continued loss of hearing was connected to the new mapping program  sent out by Med El. We reverted to the old program and everything seems a lot better now and Zemiel is responding better as well. Another result was that Zemiel is getting very limited information from his left implant and may be a candidate for a second operation. Instead of the Med El device, he would be receiving a nucleus processor. We'll keep you posted about that. 

So you can see that it hasn't been smooth sailing for our family yet this year. We are still not sure if he will be able to go to the SDA school here in Mackay due to funding. Who knows, perhaps with ASD funding he might be able to get more support at the school. The disparity between funding of state schools and private schools is astounding. In a state school he would receive an aide, an Auslan model as well as the teacher. In a private school, he would have the teacher and a part time aide.

I'll let you know more as the information comes in. 

Auslan Story - Gideon

Big Nut

Something funny occurred last week and I thought I should write it down before the whole event is lost to obscurity in our memories.

Last Sabbath was Adrian's last day of his week visit from America. We spent the afternoon at Sharlene's parent's place, lounging around and generally relaxing. Adrian had found some coconuts and sugar cane stalks during the week and brought them back to the house. At some point in the afternoon Brian went outside with Azariah and Zemiel to show them how to eat some sugar cane, which they enjoyed while he was there. But when he returned, Azariah soon found another use for the sugar cane. He began to hit a coconut and shout at the top of his voice, "I'm hitting the big nut! I'm hitting the big nut!"

Gideon

Zemiel and Azariah have a favourite story that I tell them at nights before bed. It is the story of Gideon and how he put to flight the Midianite army who had invaded Israel. Azariah loves it because there's fighting involved and breaking pots, and Zemiel enjoys the depiction of the fires flaring up and horns blowing. I sign the story to them and encourage the boys to tell the story back to me. Zemiel is getting quite good at retelling the story.

Birthday # 33

Yesterday was my birthday. I like my birthdays and 33 doesn't sound so devastatingly old either.  Anyway, the day was good. Had a bit of quiet time and then played with the boys, went for a walk around the park and finally spent the night with the Mackay Deaf Club's 30th anniversary dinner celebration. It wasn't my first choice for a night out but it certainly was good to see some of the deaf community.

Ironically, we won the free raffle prize of a nice silver serving tray, 6 wine flutes and a bottle of white wine. Ironic because we were probably the only people in the room that didn't drink. We sat with the other 'hearies' and the photographer and her partner. The guest list extended from Townsville down to Brisbane. There were about 65 folk there with wide range of ages and signing ability. Sharlene and I held our own pretty well I thought but we need to work on our vocabulary.

Old garden, new position

It's lovely just to hang around the house once in a  while. Today I just loitered and it felt great. I'm having such busy weeks that I absolutely want to stop when the weekend arrives. I've been finding some interesting things on youtube for Zem to watch. He loves watching cars going over jumps and bumps. I'ver grabbed down some rally car footage.

Originally, I was planning to go with my father in law and raid some bee hives but the day started overcast and we didn't end up going. We did get our old raised garden bed though. A lot of the good soil we had has been used at the old place to fill some of the holes and divots. So, we're starting again with the soil. It won't be so bad. We've grabbed some sheep and chicken manure, as well as some lucerne hay and some other garden soil. Tomorrow, Sharlene will be putting these on and planting some peas. Azariah it seems has come down with an ear infection. Yay. Well we'll see what tomorrow brings us.

A New Place to Live

We are really enjoying our new house. Only it isn't really a house. More of a unit.  In any case, we are enjoying it. We've actually thrilled at the challenge of throwing out all our resources. First making electronic copies of it all and then binning the piles of paper.  The boys have taken the transition really well and don't seem to be missing our old place much at all. Zemiel came with me last week to mow the lawns there and didn't seem to attached.

Zemiel has only been back a week after spending 5 days in Brisbane with tests and assessments galore. Azariah spent the week with me. I, in turn, farmed him out to friends and family. We had a great week, although our dog had decided to abandon us when he could.

Diesel hasn't taken the move well. On the second day he jumped the low fence and was off. We found him down the road and I bought an static correction collar and system. After setting it up, it has taken Diesel quite a while to get used to it. He got zapped and has been quite shy of it ever since. Although, one day while I was at work, he still jumped out getting zapped and all. He didn't want to come back either when I eventually found him. He's been living in the house more than out of it, just to get his equilibrium back.

Today, the church had a youth rally and so Sharlene went to the afternoon meetings and I kept Zem home. We ended up taking the dog for a walk to the nearby park. Zem rode a small little car toy that really is too small for him. We nearly got carried away with mozzies too, but we loved it. Zem is just amazed by big spiders and their webs. It is one of his best motivational thoughts at them moment. We found a huge one the other day and we took a photo. (coming soon).

Zekiah is now sitting up confidently and is getting very interactive. We've moved his cot into the boys room and it seems to be working so far.  I'll try to convince Sharlene to give a review of her Brisbane trip shortly. Suffice to say that there is both good and bad news.  More later.

Photos of the boys

Here are a few photos from the last weeks.

Zekiah

Azariah

Zemiel

And now... some incredibly rare photographs of all three boys actually getting along with each other.

Zekiah is now five months old. He has started eating rice cereal, and loves pear added to it. I guess that makes him a bit of a sweet tooth. He has just started to roll over from tummy to back and has recently had some restless nights with sore gums. Unless he is in a growth spurt, he generally sleeps through the night.

Zemiel and Azariah both love Zekiah. Zemiel has a special bond though and is so very gentle with him. One of Zemi's big joys is to hold Ki for a while, or have Ki lie on his tummy.

Answered Prayers

Hi everyone. Yes, it has been a while since I posted. No, we didn't get that house previously pictured. It was a bit of a sore point for a while and every time I pulled up the blog intending to write something, I couldn't bring myself to do it. So there it stayed. Suffice to say that the building inspection showed some issues that our finances couldn't rectify. Instead, we have spent the last six weeks looking for a new place to live and we finally found one. Well actually, we found two. One in Pleystowe and one in Andergrove. We put an offer on our favourite (Andergrove) yesterday and last night the agent rang and said that the owner's accepted. Hooray! We think that this is God's pick for us. We think this for a couple of reasons.

First: Two days ago, I was going to make an offer on the Pleystowe property and God 'lightning bolted' me - twice. I was dialling the number of the agent and I was praying: 'God, if you don't want me to ring, you need to do something major like crash my computer' - and the program I was working on suddenly flashed and gave up the ghost. Okay, I thought. perhaps a coincidence, but if Sally (my co-worker) walks into my office now, then I know something is up. Within 3 seconds, Sally walked into the office.

Second: We put in quite a low offer - about 30 000 dollars less than asked. About 20 past 7 in the evening, I said a prayer with the boys and then at 7:30, the agent rang and said that the contract was signed. I asked her what time the owners had said yes, and she said, 7:20. That's a testament to the power of prayer and I think a clear sign that God wants us to get this place. The agent later said that she really didn't think it would work and that, at best, the owners would need to think about it overnight. But God had other plans.

This morning I opened my Bible randomly to Psalm 38 (about the power of prayer) and hasn't our faith been refreshed by this experience! Praise God for his goodness.

White House

Yesterday we made an offer on a house here in Mackay and today it was accepted. All going well, we should be starting to move in the next few weeks. It is a small house, quite old, but with a big yard - space for gardens. Sharlene and I will have fun fixing it up. It is in a good position for access to the rest of Mackay - for Zem's schooling and for my own work. It is all very exciting and we are looking forward to the challenge of fitting our stuff into much smaller house than we have now. It is a good reason to cull our stuff (again). We are calling it the 'white house' to distinguish it from the 'new house' that the boys have called the house we have been enjoying for the last 6 months.

Some other interesting events have occurred recently relating to Zemiel. His reports have come through after Sharlene's trip to Brisbane. Some more details on these in the next post. Zemiel has been working on the iPad for the last few weeks and he has gotten a lot clearer with his speech. He has a long way to go yet though, and his social skills are still lacking. We have been toying with the idea of home schooling him as we really don't think he would cope in a classroom.

We'll have more on that as things develop also. Alright, it's been a big day. Time for bed.