Wild creativity with ADHD

Several weeks ago, the idea struck me that it might be fun if we figured out how to go about entering some of Lexi's art projects in the State Fair of Texas.  

Just for fun, 

just to see what would happen.

Don't know if you've heard, but the fair is a pretty big deal down here in the great state of Texas.

So big, in fact, that Oprah herself

came to visit back in 2009.

Like she's the Queen of Sheba, or something.

(We made sure to stay AWAY from the fair that day

since it was crazy packed out!!)

Anyway, Lexi loved the idea

so we pursued it.

We got it all registered and taken to the fairgrounds for judging,

and have been WAITING anxiously since the end of July for the results!!

Well......

today they came,

in the mail.

She got TENTH place!!

I am so enormously proud of her.

Her first ever entry,

at 12 (almost 13) years old,

and she finishes in the top 10!!!

She amazes me everyday!!

Here is a picture of the piece she entered.

Sorry it's not a great picture.....

I'm not the artist....

she is!!

Pictures of the party

Digital scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

This year, I caved to Lexi's request for a sleepover for her birthday because it's a special birthday. She pretty much planned the whole thing from the time schedule to the activities to the kind of cake she wanted. It was a breeze!!!
For her 11th birthday, I had made a "Chocolate Dream" Cake complete with chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate shavings. She requested the same one this year too.
Super easy.
Bake your chocolate cake mix according to package directions.
Frost with store bought frosting using the Wilton Dessert Decorator.
Melt chocolate bark coating in microwave and dip strawberries. Chill until firm.
Grate remaining bark coating for top of cake.
Decorate with shavings and strawberries.
Voila!!!

How does this HAPPEN??

How do you go from this....

.......to THIS

in just the blink of an eye??

I've heard for YEARS that your children grow up so fast.

That you should enjoy them while they are little because they'll be gone before you know it.

I have to be honest and admit 

I didn't believe it.

But low and behold, our oldest turns 13 today

 and it's a bit surreal for me.

I remember when I was 13.

How can my own daughter now be 13?

But I'm excited.

Excited about all she is learning about herself and the world around her.

Excited about how this girl just oozes creativity and discovering things.

Excited to start letting her have a little more responsibility at little at a time.

Excited about watching her discover what the Lord has in mind for her life

and for the gifts and talents He has woven into her.

The quarterly review

Part of the life of the Type 1 Diabetic is the quarterly visits to the endocrinologist.

Yesterday was our third visit this year.

I have to admit that I was more apprehensive this time than in the past.

I'm not exactly sure why.

Ashlyn has had pretty good blood sugar numbers this summer,

and she has been really busy and really active.

The last time we saw the doctor he said that he wanted us 

"to start thinking about the pump."

My initial thought was this:

"The PUMP??  WHY?  She hasn't even been at this for 2 years yet 

and she's only 10!!  Do we seriously NEED to do this?"

I guess most people really love their insulin pumps.

I just don't think we would.

Except for mealtimes,

Ashlyn doesn't even have to think about this disease.

I don't think that I would want to have this mini-computer connected to my

waist with a needle ALL the time.

I think it would be a CONSTANT reminder that you are living with this potentially fatal condition.

What if the needle gets yanked out while she's jumping on the trampoline?

How do you swim or randomly play in the water hose? 

I've heard of tubing that gets crimped or pulled out and then you are without insulin at all.

I've heard of entrance sites for the needles that get infected and sore.

I've heard of pumps cracking, and breaking, and then having to go through

the hassle of getting on the phone and wrestling with insurance to get another one sent to you

the next day!!

I just don't think we're ready for all that.

We've barely got a handle on all the figuring and variances in routines and foods

and how that affects Ashlyn's blood sugar now.

I'm not sure I'm ready to have to take more education classes 

and figure out all the numbers and figures that make the pump run properly.

In the last couple weeks Ashlyn's blood sugars have been all over the map

from really high to really low.

I think my fear was that if her A1C was up quite a bit from our last visit in May,

that the doctor would force the issue and pressure us to go the pump route.

But thankfully that was not the case.
Her A1C this time was 7.8%
In February her A1C was 7.6%,
and in May it was 7.7%.

The target range is between 7% and 8%,
so she's doing fine.
But it doesn't go by me that she is slowly inching her way up.
The nurse practitioner (we see the NP every other visit) did mention
that they see a lot of blood sugar swings in the summer time because people
are all over the place and they are eating differently
so that tends to throw things off for a time.
It was hard to keep track of every morsel Ashlyn put into her mouth this summer,
especially when she was at VBS every morning where they serve
some novel snack.

So, now that we're nearing the end of the summer schedule,
I do anticipate that we'll get a better handle on her blood sugar ranges
as we settle into a more consistent routine.

After our visit, Ashlyn and I took a couple minutes to look at this amazing model car
display that was set up on the ground floor of the medical facility.
We hoped it made her daddy jealous that he didn't take her himself this time!!

Close your eyes

We're getting ready for school over here in our neck of the woods.

Organizing.

Choosing the subjects to study.

Cleaning things out that have accumulated into space taking piles.

I was talking to some other home-schooling parents yesterday afternoon while our children were in choir

practice at church.

We started chatting about "learning styles."

I had to admit it.

I'm a visual learner.

I learn better when I see a picture of the subject I'm studying.
I need the big picture.
The finished product right in front of me.

Reading was never a problem for me.

I love to read and always excelled at it.

Didn't really need books with pictures.

But when it came to Chemistry.......

I needed models, pictures, something to hold in my hand.

For those of you familiar with homeschooling curriculum,

I went to an A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education) school.

We used "Paces.
They are little study books you completed at your "own pace."

It was beautiful for me.

(Now, for my ADHD children.....not so much.

Too much sitting and having to concentrate on lots of reading

and a mind-numbing amount of pages to complete in a day.)

I did fine with English, and Social Studies, and even Math.

But when it came to Chemistry,

I just wanted to SEE how the electrons rotated around the neutrons

and how an atom was constructed.

It was so difficult for me that they called in a special tutor to get me through it.

On my early morning walk this morning, I was thinking through some situations we are facing here at home

that just seem so insurmountable.

I was also listening to a dramatized audio Bible, and was finding encouragement in Psalm 77.

David was voicing his frustration at the beginning of the chapter,

and even seemed to wonder if God was even aware of his struggles.

By the end of the chapter, David seemed to have righted his thinking

and was determined to focus on what he KNEW of God instead of just what he was seeing at the moment.

That is something that I always struggle with.

And I wonder if it's because I tend to be such a visual person.

I love to see how our mighty Elohim reveals Himself to us daily in nature.

It is a wonder to me how intricate and magnificently designed the human body is.

I love to see how flowers are put together,

and animals,

and habitats,

and music,

and babies.

I like to see how things are put together and how our history all falls together on a timeline.

I like to see pictures in magazines of the recipe I'm going to try,

or pictures of the toy I'm putting together for my children.

I can get things done in HALF the time with a picture instead of just written instructions.

But what about the times when I can't understand why things happen the way they do.

Why bad things happen to good people.

It looks like God doesn't have the plan right.

Why do we struggle and struggle to do the right thing,

and yet nothing productive comes of it?

Why there seems to be no fruit for the agonizing amount of thought and effort we put into our children,

or homeschooling, or our finances.

But maybe that's what a life of faith is all about.

The Lord tells us that His "yoke" is easy and His burden is light.

How can that be when our responsibilities feel so heavy that we're drowning?

Am I missing that He has this all planned?

He is the great Captain of our ship and is navigating us through the storms.

He sees what I can't see.

He wants me to trust that He is working, that there is a plan,

and that just because I can't see what it is
doesn't mean He doesn't have everything under control and taken care of.

I just have to learn the discipline of closing my eyes to what I see around me,

plug my ears to the doubts I hear from the culture around me,

and TRUST HIM.

Is that when we can relax and leave the results up to Him?

Is that when it gets "easy?"

Is that what it means to live a life of FAITH?

"Now faith is the substance of thing hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1

Continuing on in what I know is right even when it seems the obstacles are too insurmountable.

When the flavor of life has gone tasteless,

and the colors have faded?

"Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being alone."
James 2:17

Trusting in the unseen.

NOT being a visual learner,

but a truster.

When I'm worried, and I can't sleep.....

Do you know the rest of the words to this song?

Can you remember what lovely, old movie you will hear this song in?

As parents of a rather large family (though I think that's really all about your perspective),

my husband and I have found ourselves fretting lately.

Fretting about.....you know.....money.

The fact that there never seems to be enough of it.

No matter how much we cut back.

No matter how close we trim the fat.

No matter how many hours we both work (he outside of our home to bring the money in....

and me inside of the home to keep the money from bleeding out.)

And not for fluff.

Simply for the necessities.

For shoes.

Diabetic medications.

School books.

Groceries.

Gasoline.

We don't take family vacations.

I only shop at THREE stores once a week to limit the impulse spending

 from those extra trips throughout the week.

We don't eat pizza or steak every day, much less eat out....hardly ever.

We don't shop for clothes.....ever.

My husband drives the same car to work that we had when we first married......14 years ago.

We don't have car payments or voluntary debt.

But we still worry.

Doesn't everybody at times?

Isn't that a plight common to ALL adults?

"When my bankroll is gettin’ small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall asleep, counting my blessings"

But then things like this happen:

A neighbor is moving to a new house and wonders if we could use this......

(A piece of organization that I've been wishing for for a long time!!)

The very same afternoon, another neighbor is cleaning out his backyard and wonders if we would like this for our children:

(Something I've read over and over is so very beneficial for ADHD children because of the energy it burns!)

Last weekend my MIL brought us a large box STUFFED full of this from some lovely ladies at our former church who love our children:

(A year's worth of supplies for homeschooling!!)


Wednesday I received a call from some lovely, thoughtful, generous friends from our church family.
They have been cleaning out their daughters closets and wondered if we could use a some things:

Things for the big girls........

.....as well as the little girl.

It's when these kinds of things happen when our anxiety is at it's height that I'm reminded of these scriptures:

"......do not be anxious for your life, 

as to what you shall eat,

or what you shall drink;

nor for your body,

as to what you shall put on.

Is not life more than food, 

and the body than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air,

that they do not sow, neither do they reap,

nor gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not worth much more than they?

.......And why are you anxious about clothing?

Observe how the lilies of the field grow;

they do not toil nor do they spin.

.....Do not be anxious then, saying,

"What shall we eat? or

What shall we drink? or

With what shall we clothe ourselves?

.....for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."

Matthew 6: 25-26, 31-32 NASB

"So if you’re worried and you can’t sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings."

It's hard to fly like an eagle, when you're surrounded by a bunch of turkeys!

In all my reading about foods most beneficial for the ADHD brain, I consistently found that starting the day with a high protein breakfast was essential.

Okay, so having that information is terrific. How to implement it is another story.

Neither of my ADHD children would I classify as "morning people," and neither do either of them wake up

and immediately want to eat.  If I tell them "they eat now or wait until lunch," then they just pick and are starving by 11 am which only triggers behavioral issues.  So, in the past we would resort to a bowl of cheerios with milk.

Not horrible, but too much carbohydrate, and not a ton of protein.

As you've seen in my post from yesterday, we do have pancakes once a week or so, and even some muffins now and then.  But I'm trying to think of ways to add more protein to the menu without scrambling eggs everyday and shooting their cholesterol levels through the roof.

So I stumble upon this recipe while reading through this website.  

PERFECT!!

My children enjoy sausage now and then, but I've been hesitant to purchase it because of it's high fat content and  all the chemicals in it.  Plus, it's rather expensive.

But this recipe for turkey sausage hits the SPOT.  It's super easy to put together and tastes dynamite!!

My children like it (expect for a couple, but they all are slowly warming up to it) and my husband LOVES it!!

Homemade Turkey Sausage

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. sage

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

Mix all the ingredients and chill for an hour or so.  (I mixed mine up the night before.)

Chilling the mix enhances and blends the flavors as well as helps when forming the patties.

Make into patties and fry in a skillet or on the griddle.

Cool and then freeze or enjoy right away.

If you don't have all the spices you can make it without using them all, except the sage.

The sage gives it that great sausage flavor!!

** I double the recipe for our family and use garlic powder instead of onion powder,

and onion salt instead of regular salt.

I also skipped the cayenne pepper so my children would actually eat it!!