Just Sayin' Thanks

I'm sure the chances of the Robertson's reading my little "fan" letter is 1 in a Million - but, Hey!, crazier things have happened.  Here's my letter just telling them how much I appreciate what they are doing.  If you haven't read the book yet - it is so good - I highly recommend it.

Dear Duck Dynasty, Korie, Willie, and your families:
I am a Believer, wife, and mom to 6 great kids.  My husband's family members are big duck and quail hunters and he has known about your videos for years - but the rest of our gang was introduced to your family through your series on A&E.  I am now reading your book (and I know you get tons of fan mail) - but I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your faith in God, your love for family, and your story of perserverance with America.  I especially loved the chapter on raising great kids.  I'm so happy that America has accepted you with open arms and are showing their support by tuning in.  You will be coming to our area - Sikeston MO - this Spring (actually my father in law is a corporate pilot and he is flying you here - How Exciting! - he loves the Word of God and is great to talk to so I hope you get a chance to strike up some good conversation on the plane)and I can't wait to hear what you have to share with our community. Keep doing what you are doing! 

Sincerely,
Camille Lancaster
www.lancasterfamilyfun.blogspot.com

Oh - The Irony!!

As we have traveled down this bumpy road with Lori - we have grown to see her as a happy, healthy, well-adjusted 4 year old ex-orphan who can't hear.  And that's just fine with us.  It's super hard - I never want to give the impression that raising a deaf child is easy - it ain't!  But - it's do-able.  Very. 

However, the professionals in our life - continue to remind me how un-normal she is.  Thanks for the reality check, girls.  I love you and you are awesome at what you do - but I'm seriously growing weary of your reminders.  :-)

Here is where the irony comes in.  I, too, am a Speech-Language Pathologist.  And, in my area of expertise - I am a master Diagnositician and have spent years telling countless parents how delayed their child is.  Ughhh - please forgive me.  I hope I have been as gracious as Lori's therapists - but is all this really necessary. 

Once they show me a test that compares Lori's performance with 4 year olds who are deaf and spent the first 2 years of their life in a Chinese orphanage with no access to sound  - then I'll listen.  But, when they send me pages of well-written reports telling me that she is 2-3 years delayed as compared to hearing children who have been in the homes of loving families with mamas and daddys who have given them constant interaction since day 1 - I WILL NOT BUY IT.

 I refuse to compare her to normal children.  It's hooy! 

And shame on me for comparing all my little clients all these years to normal children.  Each kiddo is unique and beautiful in their own ways.  I know, I know.....we have to have some baseline measures on which we can make educational decisions and decide who needs extra intervention - I get that - but do we as professionals have to be a constant thorn in the parent's side. 

Do you think I don't notice that she can't do what my other 4 year olds have done.

 I am PAINFULLY aware. 

I don't need you to remind me.

- from Lori's greatest advocate - her MOM!

The House that Jay Built

The week before Christmas, Jay was gone for an entire week.  As history always repeats itself here at our house, whenever he is gone for a long period of time, I tend to come up with a plethera of Home DIY  Projects.  And, I've been known to rip up carpet and tear out walls on a mere whim ready to surprise him when he walks through the door.  It helps keep the spark in our marriage!

 

This time was no exception.  I didn't weild any crowbars - but I did let the HGTV portion of my imagination run WiLd.

 

As our family has grown, our house has not.

 

With 6 kids, I feel a little like this on most days

So, after a few months of having our house on the market with no lookers - I decided to present Jay with my plan for increasing the number of bedrooms and living space in our home.  The whole "Let's just stay here and make it work because I'm going crazy in this house waiting to see if it sells" mantra.   It's a multi-phase plan and one which will not be quick.  But, we must make it work on our limited budget - paying cash for most as we can save up.  I thought our bloggy friends might want to follow along - so I'll be posting pics of our before and afters along the way.  Here is the jist of what we plan to do:

Our home is a typical 1970's tri-level (think Brady Bunch).  It is meant to have 3 bedrooms on the upper level, a small living room and eat-in kitchen on the main level, and a den in the basement.  The garage steps down just off the kitchen.  Total square footage is about 1850 sq ft.

Phase 1:  Make 2 bedrooms in the basement - giving us 5 bedrooms.

Phase 2: Move all the "garagy stuff" to a storage shed and make the garage a den and another bedroom (grand total of 6 bedrooms - we were going for 7 - but 6 will do)

Phase 3:  Create a computer/work area in the kitchen, expand the countertops to include a big "cookie making" counter (does anyone else envision cold winter nights spent rolling out cookie dough with the kids in a big country kitchen like the Waltons?), build a small pantry into the kitchen corner,  and move our family dinner table into the current living room making it the dining room

The biggest faults with this house are the small size of the bedrooms and the lack of space to have people over for meals.  By creating more bedrooms - even though the spaces will be on the smaller side - we can spread the kiddos out a bit.  Then, by moving our living/dining spaces around - we can accomodate more people around the table. 

We are gaining excitement and have used our bit of Christmas money from parents to buy 2x4s, drywall, and mud.   So far, a stud wall is up in the basement and the sheet rock is being prepped.  It should be a fun winter!

Here are a few "Before" shots.  Excuse the Christmas present aftermath.  Storage is another problem around here.  This side of the basement will become a bedroom and where the Barbie house is - that's a future closet.

So...where are we headed?

As I face the morning today, I just continue to shake my head in disbelief. When I think about the fact that a little over half our country is proud to support a movement that praises homosexuality, that welcomes the killing of the unborn and calls it ‘choice’, that rallies around muslim nations while it lifts it’s hand of support from Israel, that encourages a socialistic agenda encouraging the nation’s poor to sit back and collect handouts while eliminating any and all incentive to succeed on their own, and that continues to spend money we don’t have creating a mountain of debt for our children and grandchildren to face one day….it troubles me…it saddens me…and honestly, it scares me.

I believe that God’s people reside in the United States of America, but it is becoming obvious that we are no longer the majority. And if this course continues, and wickedness and laziness are commonplace, but labeled things like tolerance, choice, and welfare…eventually, if history repeats itself, God will allow judgment to befall the USA, and we will see our great and glorious nation fall like the empires that preceded us in history.

I was blessed recently to watch the documentary “Monumental”, which is phenomenal (You need to buy a copy and pass it around). It takes a hard look at how this country was founded. All too often, progress is made in the best way, by looking back and ‘reforming’ what has happened by looking back and going back to the basics. In looking back to the true story of the pilgrims, we find an incredible group of courageous people that sought to glorify God, and wanted to establish a nation that would be a blessing to the world and to their children’s children. They had multi-generational thinking. Their actions were not to achieve self-centered results for them during the here-and-now. They knew that they were planting seeds that they may not see the results from in their lifetime, but they knew it was the right thing to do. And they knew if they were focused on being obedient to God and seeking to glorify him, that their efforts would be blessed in due time, and that others would join them in their efforts.  But their thinking, their perspective was multi-generational. They looked beyond what the effect would be in the present.

I feel that one of the main problems we have today is that people (a) no longer seek to glorify God with every aspect of their lives, and (b) primarily think in the here-and-now. That is why I believe the election resulted in the way it did. People no longer have God in their thinking…and their focus is on how will this candidate help me now…how will he or she make my life better, easier, more the way I think it should be or that I deserve in the immediate present. Thinking of what is best in the overall and how it will affect the next generations is no longer a trait for the majority…and this can be true for people of either party.

What we need is a generation of people that like the founders of this country go back to the principles of God’s word, and that make decisions that bring God glory and that sustain us for generations to come. And that we once again have the courage and the character to think from a multi-generational perspective. The blessings of 2 Chronicles 7:14 are only promised “IF” the nation seeks God first. That is what made this nation great…and it is the only thing that will make it great again.

And the Winner is......

Becca Underwood!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the American Girl Doll Giveaway.  The Williams' Family are getting closer to their boys everyday!!

American Girl Raffle for the Williams' Family Adoption

It's been exciting around here lately!  Our dear friends, Mark and Shawdi Williams, have been matched  - not just to one little boy - but 2 little brothers, ages 3 and 4.  They never expected this - but are overjoyed (and a little nervous).  As many of you know - this now means their adoption costs are going up!  So, we are offering a chance to win the American Girl doll of your choice
                                                                                                (yes - you get to pick it!). 

We are selling chances to win for $10 each or 3 for $25. 

This is the perfect gift for any little girl in your life and Christmas is only 3.5 months away!  So - dig deep and buy some chances.  The winner will be announced on Sept. 24.  That 's only 3 weeks away so please help us by posting this on Facebook, your blog, or sending to your friends and family through email.  Our goal is to raise $1000.

Hybrid Homeschooling

Recently, I was having a conversation with my 13 year old and she shocked me with a hard-dose of reality.  I was asking her about school clothes and mentioned an article of clothing that seemed to be "what everyone else was wearing these days".  She profoundly said, "I don't want to be like everyone else."  Ughhhh.   That's exactly what I'd wish for her to say - yet I missed it myself.  We are not to be conformists.  We should live true to ourselves and our callings.  Yay for her!  She gets it.  I love that about her - always willing to live outside the box.

This is our 7th year to homeschool - yet I've never had every kid at home every day of the week.  We frustrate both the  homeschoolers and the public schoolers because our decisions don't "make sense" to those who live inside their respective boxes.   We are ok with that - it was hard at first and I've probably jeopardized from friendships.  But the real friends have stuck by and don't judge us - at least not out loud :-)

The first year that we felt God calling us to homeschool - our two oldest were in 2nd and 4th.  They had already been accepted to the Gifted Program at the local public school - which met 1 day a week.  As they transitioned home - they continued to go to public school 1 day a week for the next few years.  As #3 came along, she did not jive well with our homeschool routine. She's a different kind of child - very lively and social - easily distracted - loud, boisterous, needs lot,s of attention.  We quickly knew that our homeschooling program was not a good fit for her.  Without numerous options, we thought public kindergarten might work.  So, in October of that year, she started public kindergarten and thrived!!  She came home in 1st grade and it was a little better because she had learned the ins and out of being a "learner".  When she started 2nd grade at home - she needed lots of attention from me or things would go south really quickly.  I would look away for half a second -and she'd be busy painting her nails, playing with toys, or bothering someone else.  To give her more time - I enrolled my twins in kindergarten - they loved it!  My big girls were in 6th and 8th grade - and they were working more independently at home by then - so it seemed like the best decision.

Since during that school year - we were also adopting Lori, when it came time to plan our trip to China, we enrolled our 2nd grader in public school for the 2nd semester because I knew I'd not only be out of the country for a while - but once we got home - Lori would need my attention.  So, once again, we were a mixture of homeschoolers and public schoolers - it was a beautiful fit.

Now, here we are this year.  My oldest is a Sophomore at the local high school.  Jay really felt that she needed the high school experience and some time to transition into the world while still under our umbrella.   I love it.  She gets to come home and debrief and has already had opportunities to put her faith to the test.  She's ready for this and has stood up under pressure.  I'm not naive enougth to think that she will always make the best decisions - but for now, it's working.

My next oldest is in 8th grade.  Since we foresee transitioning her to HS next year - this school year she is attending the Jr High for 2 classes each morning.  She loves it.  Her teachers have accepted her with open arms and the kids have been really friendly.  It's been a great way to connect with our community and meet some folks we wouldn't meet otherwise.

My middle is at home.  We are muddling through - bless her heart!  It's still a struggle to get through the day.  Ughhh

My little guys are again at public school and doing great.   They may come home next year.  We'll see.
And my little bitty is home - and is busy learning Sign Language and a few sounds. She will start going to the PreK two mornings a week for therapy and instructional time.  I hope it goes well.

It's a busy year of a little this and a little that at the Lancaster House.  Lots of fun - lots of craziness!  That's what we are all about.  Like she said, "we don't want to be like everyone else!"  Sometimes I lose sight of that - good thing my kids are quick to remind me.