Big Hopes for the Big '10

Big Hopes for Health...
*I have paperwork here to fax next week so that our records and slides from DuPont can get sent to CHOP for a second opinion. We are cautiously hopeful that they will either confirm our suspicions or tell us we are wrong, but offer the right path for us to go down. I'm not sure I can endure another year of "we don't know" from another set of doctors. Okay, I know I can endure it...God's grace is sufficient and his strength and mercies and joy renew me daily. However, I don't want to endure it another year...I want answers...the right ones. More than answers, I simply want my children to eat without symptoms and to feel well.

*Rocklin goes tomorrow morning for bloodwork. We are hoping for clear direction and answers on why he's suffered through so many years of pain. Even more we hope to find why it's so much worse the past six months and what we can do about it.

* A strict diet with little variety and little nutritional sustenance has gotten us at least to a managable point. I worry about it longterm, as it certainly does not meet the nutritional needs of growing children. However, it's equally unhealthy, a lot less stressful and much more painful to eat a "good" diet and have your children vomiting and rashy along with a whole host of other symptoms daily. It is what it is, I do the best I can in feeding them and hope it's someday different.

*We will begin next week trying to get an appointment for several children to see a developmental pediatrician. It's quite a wait, as there are only two in the entire state. The issues are a bit different for each kiddo, but one of the primary ones is essentially the same: sensory. Different issues for each in that realm, but issues none the less. Parker especially needs this I think. At a time when he should have outgrown or be outgrowing things, they seem to be getting worse.

*Aaron's EEG results came back normal, so we are glad to finally have something that was black/white and not a gray area. There was little concern otherwise, but it was good to rule out seizure activity.

Will 2010 be the year for answers? We hope so!

Big Hopes for Homeschooling...
*Next week we will be starting a few new things I had intended to start earlier in the year. After much consideration, we decided to school by the calendar year instead of the school system year. This makes more sense for our family since we homeschool year round. So we'll start new things in the new year rather than September.

*We will be switching from Mystery of History to Tapestry of Grace for our history curriculum. For those interested, we are starting with Year 2 of the 4 year cycle.

* We will be switching our science to Noeo science, starting with chemistry. We still love the Apologia Exploring creation series. However, they are a better fit for us to read together, and for the biggers to independently do some activities. It's not the best fit for us to use as our primary science text.

*Everything else, will remain the same, but I'm hoping for more structure and more consistency. Story of my life. I need to be more diligent and more disciplined in about every area. Sigh.

Big Hopes for Home...
*We have several projects we hope to complete. Finishing upstairs, clearing out the basement. A lot of little things, like painting the trim in Mag's room that wasn't finished when I painted her room *gasp* nearly three years ago.

*I am working on a book list to complete. Books that I want to read for me. I didn't even begin to reach last years reading goal. This year I hope is different. I love to read, I simply need to make time to read.

*We hope soon will be the first time since 1999 that we will have no one in diapers (at least during the daytime).

*We are hoping to add to our family this year.

So, yes we have Big Hopes for 2010, but I trust in a Big God. A God that can bring our hopes to fruition when they are in His will and Lead us gently back to the path when our hopes stray.

Happy New Year!