Random Thoughts with Liz

*Tomorrow morning, our church will have a baptismal service. It never fails to make me cry watching daddies baptize their children. And tomorrow, I will either cry my eyeballs out or I will be totally distracted. Ya know... running a video camera! Tomorrow morning, Larry will baptize Savannah & Samuel. Both of them have recommitted their lives to Jesus & they will be re-baptized (by their request). We have family coming into town to be there for the occasion. It will be a fabulous morning!

*In a couple of weeks, we will be undertaking something we've been thinking we should do for a while. Samuel will be tested for A.D.D. We have wondered for several years if he might have it and recently it's become a serious problem at school. His grades are dropping and it's only the first six weeks! If we are correct in the diagnosis, hopefully we can get him on medicine & salvage his grades and help him gain some self-confidence. Right now, he's feeling very down on himself & frequently tells me that he thinks he is dumb. I hate to hear that from him because he is NOT a dumb kid---he just lacks the ability to focus for a long period of time. Especially if it's something he's not understanding too well. He's not hyperactive....at least not to an extreme that it's problematic for him...but he definitely has an attention problem.

Some of his obvious symptoms:
1. It takes him 2-3 WEEKS of being grounded from everything to get his bedroom cleaned, and even then it's only halfway done. And he can't keep it even semi-clean for more than about 24 hours. He can't clean his room by himself at all. He has no idea what steps to take to get it clean, despite the poster I've made him that hangs on the wall right outside his bedroom door (in the hallway) and the times that I tell him step by step how to do it.

2. He's horribly disorganized & forgetful.
3. He can't stay on track with any job that requires more than a few steps & focus. (cleaning his room is just one example of that)
4. He frequently 'zones out'. Sometimes in the middle of a conversation, you realize that he's not "there" anymore & you have to get his attention & bring him back "in". It can be incredibly frustrating!
5. Earlier this week, he took an end of the six weeks math test at school. It had 20 questions on it. The teacher allowed him extra time to complete it. It took him nearly 2 hours. It was pretty much all review of things he learned last year. He made a 35 on it. The teacher said that most of the time he was taking the test, she noticed that he was sitting & staring into space.

So, it's time. Unfortunately, that means spending a lot of money that we don't have. We are praying that the insurance company will pay more than we're expecting or that God will provide a way to pay for it. Today, an idea struck me! Samuel's been begging us to get rid of his matching captain's beds in his room & get him a single twin or full bed in their place. I listed them today on Craigslist. If they sell, it will cover about 1/2 the cost of the testing, which will help greatly & we can "pay out" the remainder of the bill. So cross your fingers for us!

*Last night, our little small town football team won the first game of the football season! Hooray! It was only by 1 point, but we won! We are a happy little town today!

*It's hard to believe, but September is almost over! I can hardly believe it's about to be October, but I guess it should not come as any surprise that we're still regularly seeing temperatures in the 90s. That's Fall in Texas for ya! I am looking forward to the latter part of October when we get some cooler weather!

*This morning, Larry & I attended a symposium at a local college about kids with anxiety. Since both of our girls struggle with it, we thought we might gain some new information, some new tools for helping them get through panic attacks....that sort of thing. Unfortunately 99% of the info they shared was focused on parents whose child might just be showing symptoms of anxiety problems or maybe for teachers. It really focused on how anxiety disorders are diagnosed & various treatment methods (therapy vs. meds). We really didn't learn anything, but it was nice to have a morning alone, even if it meant being surrounded by strangers in a quiet, dimly lit room for 3 hours. (can you say naptime??? ha ha)

*This past week, my nephew and his wife welcomed a new baby boy. Say hello to my sweet new great-nephew, Cole Christian! Isn't he precious?


What's been going on at your house??