Summer school and stuff...

Well, we just finished our first week of summer school. When I say we, I mean Fletcher is a student at summer school and Maddie is volunteering with the 1st and 2nd graders. And I have managed to get myself on the payroll at Bethany Elementary, as a teacher's assistant! It's only for four weeks so I think I can handle it. The teacher Maddie is helping absolutely loves her and thinks Maddie is the best helper! Maddie thinks she's 'teaching' the 1st and 2nd graders! She's very excited to go each day. That's such a blessing.

First day of summer school...

We went outside to write on the sidewalk with chalk...

Maddie and Fletcher on the shuttle headed back to TCC...

Maddie has surprised me quite a lot this summer with her independence. She has always been a mama's girl, so I've been blown away by the fact that she has walked into two different elementary schools, not knowing a soul in either school, once for Summer Spectacular and now summer school. Last weekend we went to my sister's lake house and Maddie rode on the back of a jet ski AND she went tubing on the back of a boat for the first time. I was a nervous wreck the whole time, her not so much! I'm so thankful for this new independence and sad all at the same time. She' growing up on me, y'all!

My independent girl...

Like I said earlier we went to my sister's lake house at Texhoma last Sunday and had a wonderful time. We just went for the day, but there we lots of Milgrims camping out at her house and we had so much fun! We spent the day at a little beach and the grown ups pulled the kiddos on the tube and gave them rides on the jet ski!

Cousins swimming at the beach...

Getting ready to go tubing...

There they go!

We brought Fletcher home for the 4th of July and had a great day with family and friends. The 4th is one of my favorite times not only because we are celebrating the birth of our great nation but also because it's the only holiday Fletcher has been home for every year. I love that we can come together and enjoy each other. Our friends the Jarvis' and the Drechsler family came over throughout the day. The kids played Just Dance and we had sword fights and lots of food! We ended the day at TCC, where we were able to take Fletcher out in the parking lot to watch fireworks. It was a fantastic day!

Our 'famous' Old Navy t-shirt picture...

again...

Fletcher and Aunt Kristi...

Me and my sweet friend, Emmy...

Megan and Kayleigh playing Just Dance...

The Long Journey Home...

I can hardly believe I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving! Boy, do I have a lot of ground to cover to catch you all up!

I really don't even know where to start! Well, we've been really busy. Kayleigh is officially a SENIOR!!! Next week she and I will make a trip to OSU OKC to get an idea of what we need to be doing to get her ready for college. Kayleigh's still not sure what she wants to do career wise so it's time for us to get busy! Kayleigh is also looking forward to spending a few weeks in Mississippi with her maternal grandparents. Maddie finished up third grade and had a great year academically. She is enjoying summer! This year Maddie is attending a little day camp called Summer Spectacular. It is three weeks long and each week she took a different class of her choice. The first week was Math Mania, which she loved! The second week she chose a reading class and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the last week and she's taking a French class and I'm pretty sure it's her favorite of all three classes! Next month she is going to summer school with Fletcher to volunteer with the special needs kids. Then hopefully a break before school starts!

Fletcher turned six last December and right after his birthday they started slowly weaning his ventilator settings. By the end of February, Fletcher was on CPAP settings, meaning he was initiating all the breaths by himself! On May 24th I got a phone call from his nurse practitioner, Julie telling me they had just 'sprinted' Fletcher off the ventilator for 15 minutes! He was completely OFF the ventilator, breathing on his own for 15 minutes!!! So the process has begun to get him off the ventilator completely! Each week since, Julie has added 30 minutes at a time of him being off the ventilator. He's off the ventilator twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Tonight he will go for 2 hours!!! He's tolerating it well. He's still a bit anxious about the whole thing but there is always someone near when he's off so they can help him if he gets in any trouble. If Fletcher can come off that ventilator completely he can come home and live with us! I don't know how long it will take but, there is an exit plan in place, kind of! We, of course, have always said we would bring him home when he got off the ventilator but I'm not sure 'other people' really thought he'd ever leave The Children's Center. It's very exciting and scary all at the same time. Exciting, because we'll all finally be under one roof. Scary, because he's still a kid with some pretty intense special needs and we'll be taking care of him by ourselves. Financially, it will probably be a stretch for us and I can't in my feeble brain see how the Lord will work that all out, but I'll let the Lord think on that one and work it out for us! I'm standing on Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." The Lord is faithful and finishes what He starts. Our children belong to Him and He will take care of them. A good friend, reminded me that the Lord is not only preparing Fletcher, He's preparing ME for this new adventure of having Fletcher at home full time. I'd appreciate your continued prayers as we travel this Long Journey Home!

Such a happy boy...

Doing one of his favorite things...

At the OKC Zoo...

Happy Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! We will bring Fletcher home today to spend the day with us! Also Craig's mom and his sister and her family will joy us! And I'm hoping to have a few extra friends drop by. Kayleigh's grandparents and her aunt should be here Friday. Busy, busy time for all of us.

Sorry I've been so bad at blogging lately, but like I always say Facebook is so much easier and I get instant gratification with comments! Selfish I know, but these days I'm going for easy!

Things are going pretty well around here. Kayleigh is busy with school, work and babysitting. And her social life! She's a busy bee and we really don't see her a lot. I'm guessing this is the Lord's way of easing us into her going off to college. Kayleigh's really a great kid and I'm so grateful for her!

Maddie's doing really well. She's gearing up for the church Christmas play, where she has the lead role and gets to sing a solo. Albeit it's a small Christmas pageant but she is taking her role very seriously! She is one of the older kids in Grace Kids so she thinks she's hot stuff! School is going very well for Maddie as well. She's a natural when it comes to learning and she loves it.

Fletcher is doing extremely well these days! I am so thankful for all he's doing and how 'healthy' he's been. Kindergarten is going particularly well and he has lots of sweet, new friends. Fletcher has been invited to the birthday party of one his friends at school! So he's going to his first friend party! We also have begun the potty training phase in his life! What an interesting process!

Craig and I are doing well. He's working and providing for our family and I'm just busy with the kids and life. I'm ready to start Christmas shopping and getting the holidays started! Well, that's it for now!

David Lee Burns...

On August 15, 2010 my father-in-law David, went to be with Jesus after a 7 week battle with lung cancer. David was a wonderful husband, a great dad, an even better papaw and a loving father-in-law. David lived out his faith and he was very involved in the Kairos prison ministry, Good Shepherd hospice, church and VERY involved with his family. He will be greatly missed by all of us.

July - it's been hot and it's been busy...

We brought Fletcher home for the 4th. It dawned on me that the 4th of July is the only holiday that he's been home every time. It's a tradition I'll do anything to keep going. Craig's dad, David was in the hospital so we decided that since we had Fletcher out that we would swing by the hospital and surprise him and hopefully brighten his day. The look on his face when we wheeled Fletcher into his hospital room was precious. He loved getting to see Fletcher! Later in the afternoon Craig cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and we enjoyed having his family here as well of some dear friends who have made being at our house on the 4th their tradition! I love being apart of someone else's traditions. We ended the evening by going downtown to watch fireworks. It did make for a long day but it was a blessing to be together.

our traditional picture in our old navy flag shirts...

sweet friends...

the Hess family...

the Jarvis family...

getting ready to watch fireworks...

The Children's Center had their annual Olympics and Fletcher participating in them like usual. He was kind of cranky that day and really only wanted to be in constant motion, meaning he wanted me to keep that wheelchair moving. We had fun anyway. The girls and I would walk him around between each event that he participated in. I loved being with all three of my kids at the same time.

Fletcher didn't want these medals around his neck so Mommy 'got' to wear them...

Marathon event...

killing time and comparing shoe size...

Pipe Wars event...

Demolition event...

Another wonderful thing that happened in July was a visit from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Christian. We went to elementary school, Jr High and High School together. But it was in high school that we became best friends. We walked together at our graduation. He's always been a great friend to me and I treasure our relationship. Christian now lives in New York City so when he comes to town he let's me know and we always try to get together. This particular visit he wanted to meet Fletcher so it was my pleasure to introduce them!

Christian, Fletcher and me...

We had Fletcher's Patient Care Conference (PCC) in July. We meet every 90 days and Fletcher's doctor, nurse practitioner, teachers and therapists get together for a round table discussion where everyone reports on Fletcher's progress over the past 90 days. What an amazing meeting we had! Fletcher has gained two years in his comprehension and is almost age appropriate. They consider him to be around 4 1/2 years of age cognatively! He's doing so well in school and in all his therapies. We're so excited for him. By the end of the meeting Fletcher's nurse practitioner asked what the possiblities were for Fletcher to attend public school. It seems that the possiblities were endless! They believe Fletcher will thrive educationally being mainstreamed into a regular Pre-K class. So, this fall Fletcher will be enrolled in Pre-K at Bethany Public Schools. He's going to attend class three days a week. At this point the plan is for me to go to school with him since I'm medically trained to take care of him. But TCC is looking at every option such as a nurse or RT to go with him. So we'll see how it all works out. I'll be honest with you...this scares me to death! But I know it will be so good for Fletcher and the kids at Bethany. I think everyone there will fall in love with him just like they have at TCC. It's scary to me because he's safe at TCC from kids being mean to him and teasing him. We went to the Bethany Library one day last week for a toddler time sing a long and the kids turned around and just stared at him. Fletcher didn't even notice, but I did and it was hard for me. But I know once they get to know him it will be okay. One of my friends said she would pray that I would have peace in the release...I need to let him go so he can reach his potiental and with as great as TCC and his teachers are he doesn't really have peers at TCC. He's very smart and social and he needs that interaction with 'regular' kids. So pray for us as we step into this next phase. It's going to be great, but at the same time it's going be hard on this mommy.

So this is June...

June was a busy month. Fletcher got his summer haircut so he's good to go! TCC had a land run/western days event which was a lot of fun. We spent a Saturday on Route 66 and went to Pop's and the Round Barn that was a nice day trip that same evening we went to a drive in movie! Maddie's recital was in June as well. This year she was in two classes therefore she had two routines and two costumes. She did very well and we were very proud of her. Fletcher's teacher came up with a great idea of inviting some of his peers outside of the TCC to come and go to school with him so we invited some kids from church. I'll be honest and say the experience was a new one for our church kids and Fletcher. But it was a great way to expose them to each other and see Fletcher in his element. It was a great success! Maddie has wanted to cut her hair and donate it to Locks of Love. So we waited until after her recital and off we went to Magnolia Salon and our sweet friend Jill cut off about 14 inches! She looks precious and she loves it! We brought Fletcher home for Father's Day. It was a very low key day and we enjoyed it immensely! So low key I only took one picture! Not happy about that but it is what it is. Craig's best friend, John's daughter Jordan got married and we had a great time at the wedding! Lots of dancing and lots of laughing! Great night! Craig had knee surgery and is healing up quite nicely. TCC had a their annual Treble Makers concert with a patriotic theme. Fletcher's little group did 'You're a Grand Old Flag' where they used their 'voices' on the word 'flag' too cute! Maddie did a dance with the little girls from church who came to school with Fletcher. That was awesome! Last weekend my nephew Kyle got married at The Dominion House in Guthrie. It was a beautiful ceremony with an absolutely fun reception. Something about being with my sisters dancing and laughing our heads off that was truly good for my heart! Well there you have that was our June! Hope you enjoyed it!

Fletcher's summer cut...

Western Days store where Maddie took over the cash register and was really good at it!

the land run where Maddie & Fletcher were 'sooners' they copped a nice spot with a shade tree and handicapped parking!

The Round Barn...

Maddie's recital...

we went to see the boy after the recital...

our friends come to school...

before...

before...

after!

Father's Day...

Maddie, Jordan & Kayleigh...

chocolate fountain at the wedding...

me and Craig at the wedding...

best friends...

Burns granddaughters...

my patient...

Treble Makers concert...

sweet friends...

Kylie & Kaleb at Kyle's wedding...

my sister Kim & me...

me & Craig...

my niece Amber and me...