Radical Faith

I went to Mass this morning.  Not the original plan for the day.

Today my daughter turns 7!  I’m giving her the day off from school (homeschool) but I still have some other obligations–an Adoration Committee meeting, lunch duty at Frassati Catholic Academy, and a preschool program at St. Mary of the Annunciation–then a basketball game tonight at St. Bede’s!  (really–but it was fun to get all those saint names into one sentence!)

So a busy day, but my intention was to drop the 2 boys off and then treat the girls to a Starbucks hot chocolate before the first meeting of the day.

My “today” 7-year-old ASKED if we could go to church instead of going to Starbucks–her thought was “we can go to Starbucks anytime.”

How can I argue with that logic!

The reading today was about the friends who lowered a paralyzed man in through the roof.  What kind of people have a best friend who is paralyzed? devise a plan to drop him through a roof?  be so radical in their faith that they would seek out Jesus in such a big way?  were they afraid to be so “out there” or were they SO faithful that it didn’t matter?

As Father Nate was talking I thought about my own life–what I think is a natural way to follow the Lord–I”m sure some people think it is radical.

  • we don’t watch much TV
  • we try to be wise is how we use the earths resources
  • we are conservative in what we expose our children to–regarding media–in our family we talk about topics in an age appropriate way at the age appropriate time
  • we are conservative in our dress (I don’t wear Prairie dresses nor do my girls–we are fashionable without being too short, too low-cut or being a temptation to anyone)
  • we homeschool
  • we do not hide our faith
  • we celebrate our God-given talents
  • we try to find Jesus in all that we meet
  • we “give thanks, in everything”
  • we serve God by serving others
  • especially hard this time of year–we make an effort not to over indulge (toys, food, drink, number of ornaments on the tree–excess is so easy)

I’m at a point now on my journey that I seek God things.  The music I listen too, spending time in prayer, finding joy and blessings in every moment of the day–I’m feeling very peaceful in just serving God by serving my family and gradually expanding that circle of service.

I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you . . . Philippians 1:4  My internal dialogue is becoming one long prayer through the day–of thanksgiving, praise, guidance and grace.

He must increase, but I must decrease.  John 3:30  Each time I give praise to God, I  become the blessing to someone.  If to give to God is to “decrease” than I’m really ok with that.  In our culture of more, more, more–the thought of giving away isn’t something that our minds grasp quickly.  It is in the giving that we receive our most precious gifts.

I’ll be honest–I might not be dropping my friends through the roof of a house . . . but I will continue to be faithful in my own radical way.

Be Blessed as you go through your day, seeking God in your own way.

Everyday Occupational/Speech Therapy

Now that I’m looking at my Title–I’m overwhelmed by the topic!  But to be honest–I’m overwhelmed a lot!  I have a child with speech and language delays and motor coordination issues–both fine and gross motor!

I manage my child’s speech and occupational therapy.  I’m not a speech pathologist but I’m guessing that spending the last 3 years in therapy 3-4 times a week . . . 45 weeks times 3 = 135 sessions a year x 3 years=405 speech therapy sessions!  How many credit hours is that?  I have been involved in making sure that all of the speech therapist are on the same page and they are working on the same sounds.  I’m a barracuda when it comes to my kids and making sure they are getting the care/help they need.  I’m not in it to make friends–I’m in it for my kid!  Yes, I have stopped therapy.  Yes, I have told fancy doctors I thought they were wrong and walked out of the office.  No, I’m not really afraid of anyone or what they might think . . .

My son has had private therapist, hospital therapist, school therapist, early intervention therapist–8 different speech therapist in all–I have found almost all of them to be wonderful, assisting me with keeping everyone working together–for the benefit of my son.

My son has also had music therapy!  He loves Music Mike!  Since we moved he can no longer have weekly sessions BUT when travel back to Ann Arbor, MI–we try to stop in!  My other kids Skype their piano and guitar lessons with Mike–totally cool, but music therapy is more hands on so we are exploring some new ideas in this area.  We are always open to seeking new options and opportunities.

Occupational Therapy has been a challenge for me–I did not agree with his original diagnosis nor the treatment plan.  My son had been in the system for 2 years already and although was still basically non verbal, he made his point that OT was not something that he was going to cooperate with.  So the therapist to her credit–gave me the homework and I began working with him daily and she would check on our progress monthly.  Did I mention that I’m not an OT?  But still we worked and worked and worked.  Now he has OT once a week through the local school district and we love our therapist!  My son challenges her to make if fun and interesting.

During the last 3 years we have had speech, occupational, and music.  These services are provided privately, by insurance and the school district.  The first two years we had 5 scheduled therapies a week!  Just therapy time–not travel time  . . . or the waiting time if someone was running late or when the therapies did not dove tail with the other kids schedules and we wait 15, 20, 30 minutes here and there.  It made for some very long days.   We still have long days and will continue to have long days–I get tired, my son gets tired the other kids in our family need to be reminded that they have activities as well . . . therapy has defined how we live.

My other kids had soccer, music lessons, away school to shuttled to and from.  Life has been crazy busy.  I try to keep it a simple, yet enriching environment.

By being my child’s best advocate I also discovered that I had a knack for teaching him in a way that only his Mom could.  I began developing my own curriculum.   I based my lesson plans on:

  1. What my son’s current “thing” is.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Legos, eating muffins, “iPad time”–and work within those perimeters.  I will drive to Toys R Us and look at toys for a couple of hours–if I know I can get some great speech happening.
  2. How can I incorporate movement–we have an exercise ball and I often sit with him on my lap (or big brother) and we bounce to a sound or some cross lateral movements.  We do a rhyming game–I cross his arms when he makes a rhyme–it gets more and more exaggerated as he rhymes more and more times.
  3. I incorporate food–we cook, we decorate cookies, we watch the food network together and talk about what we see.  I can get a ton of fine motor skill work done while he picks up mini morsels!
  4. I work on a sound 100 times a day–I’ve been doing this since we met Carol–a phenomenal speech therapist–it was her suggestion and at first it was hard but now I break it down to a word or set of sounds–it is still hard and some days I admit I give up . . . thank God for tomorrows!
  5. We do lots of Art.  We paint, we have those dot paints, we water-color, I put putty on the wall and he needs to sand it off . . . then we paint the wall.  I go to great lengths to keep it interesting and fun.
  6. My son loves music–singing and dancing are everyday activities in our home.

I love my kid–that is what motivates me.  I love his laugh.  I love how he sees the world.  I want to share with you how I embrace his challenges.

I would love to hear how you embrace your children who are might see the world differently.   Wouldn’t it be great if we could support each other?  I so need that.

Be blessed.  My hope is that all mothers and fathers will see their children as a true gift from God–sent to us to make us whole, to make us who we need to be, to give our lives a purpose greater than what we could have ever imagined.

My Mom’s Skillet (Ultimate Recipe Swap)

carrots, purple potatoes, onions, celery, stew meat

carrots, purple potatoes, onions, celery, stew meat

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the purple potatoes gave the gravy a deep, deep brown and the flavor was incredible I served it with biscuits, butter and honey!

I found my Mom’s skillet when I was cleaning out the basement–I have this basement project ongoing and I have friends helping me weed through years of stuff laden with memories.  I have friends who are generous and loving (both with the gift of time and emotional support) instead of being judgmental.  A blessing for sure.   So, this skillet . . . I’m still not sure if I’m going to keep it or give it to Goodwill but for now I have a couple of recipes that I make in it.

My stew recipe:

I browned Laura’s Stew Meat–I bought it at Target and it was very lean.

I added onions, carrots, celery and potatoes to the meat, with a little olive oil and sautéed them for several minutes–until the onions started to caramelize.

Add 3 tablespoons of flour and stir until everything is coated but you can’t see the flour.

Add beef stock–and bring to a boil, then simmer until the veggies are cooked.

I keep it on simmer until the gravy is just how I want it (some days I want it thinner and some days thicker).

Serve with biscuits, butter and honey!

Be Blessed.

Linking up with the Ultimate Recipe Swap and Thrive@Home.