Thanksgiving 2012

We spent Thanksgiving at my Mom and Dad's house.

For the last several years after we eat, we make home made Christmas ornaments.



I forgot Noah's tray for his chair. At first I was pretty upset with myself and then I sat Noah's chair all the way up and it fit right under the table. I was so amazed how well he held his head up.  He held his head up 95% of the time.

 I just couldn't get over how well he was doing.

Morgan, Emily and Noah with their ornaments. Noah was too interested in the ornaments to look at the camera.

On Saturday we had Thanksgiving at Scott's brother Paul house with his Mom and Aunt Janet.

We enjoyed watching the Ohio State Buckeyes beat Michigan.

Over all it was a good Thanksgiving. This year we had a lot to be thankful for.

I'm Thankful For......

I'm thankful for a amazing husband. He has stuck by me through thick and thin. The last few years have been really ruff for us but, we have made it to the other side a much stronger couple because of it. I can't imagine my life without you by my side. We make a great team you and I. I feel so blessed to be your wife.



I'm thankful for my beautiful daughter Morgan. I'm so proud of her.

She is married to the love of her life, working almost full time, student teaching and still manages to be on the Dean's list at school. She is going to make a great teacher one day.

I'm thankful for my son-in-law, Brad. He is such a mature young man.  I'm thankful he loves my daughter will all of his heart and makes her so happy.

 

I'm thankful for my other beautiful daughter, Emily. She is so beautiful inside and out. I'm thankful she is able to help out with Noah as much as she does. She is my right hand gal. I can always count on her. Emily has grown up to be such a compassionate young lady. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her. 

 

 

I'm thankful for my amazing son, Noah. He has taught me so much the last 14 years. I'm the person I am today because of him.  I've had to step out of my comfort zone more times than I can count and I have learned so much because of it. He has taught me courage and how to love unconditionally. He has grown into such an amazing young man. I don't know what I would do without him in my life. I feel so blessed to be his Mom.

 

Noah's Ears

 On Wednesday we took Noah to the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center.

These are Noah's ear impressions. They look a lot like chewed bubble gum to me.

We picked out the colors we wanted and now we have to wait until insurance does their thing. It will probably be a few weeks before they even decide to look at the request.  Hopefully we'll have them in a month. I'm really looking forward to see Noah's reaction when he can hear what is going on around him.



Our ABR Journey

We first heard about ABR when we were at the The Cole Center for Healing in Cincinnati Ohio for hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Another family approached me and gave me a piece of paper and on it read, ABR. They told me to check it out.  I filed it away in my notebook. ( I like to call it my handy dandy green notebook.) It has everything I needed for Noah, doctors, phone numbers and etc. About a year later I found that piece of paper and decided to do some research. After a lot of research and consideration we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately it was another therapy that wasn't covered by insurance. We then put it into God's hands and said if this was something we were to do for Noah, God will provide. It has been a four year journey thus far and we are still able to provide ABR for Noah. Praise God!!!

The end of August I posted on Facebook how excited I was that we again had enough money for our ABR training. The only thing we needed was money for our traveling expenses. My friend Barb, who is a Celebrating Home consultant asked me if I wanted her to set a Fundraiser Party online to raise money? I said, "Sure why not" I then posted it on Facebook. (Thank you everyone that helped out with that. We really appreciate every ones support.) Another friend contacted me on Facebook and asked me how much I needed for our traveling. I reluctantly told her a dollar amount. That was Friday and on Sunday she was knocking at on our door. She proceeded to tell us that her church family (St. Mark's Church) wanted to help us out. She then handed us the exact amount we needed for our traveling to Montreal.

She then proceded to say that they wanted to purchase a swing for Noah that Scott had posted on Facebook. It took me a few days but, I sent her this:
With thoughtful consideration about the swing..... Scott and I feel, yeah it would be great to have something like that but, we really don't feel it would get much use. It could only get used during the summer months and the way this summer was Noah spent all his summer inside out of the heat. It would have honestly made him sick to be outside for any length of time. So, we feel it would be waste of money to have someone purchase it for us. We would rather have help with things that Noah would benefit more from.... Like ABR....



Now let me tell you how hard it was for me to be even consider asking someone else for any help at all. I was literally sick to my stomach when I sent that message.
This was her reply:

Well, give us a cost of such n item if we can't pay it all it doesn't mean we can't start a nest egg for it. Don't feel bad about talking about this or the cost. We are asking!:)


 

 

 

This was my reply:

I'm not the one to ask for anything. In fact I always feel so guilty. We always just plug away and do what we can. That being said..... ABR is the therapy that we do for Noah. We go every 6 months to Montreal for training. It cost us $1700 each time we go and if we were rich, there is a machine that would provide therapy while he sleeps. That would be 10 hrs of extra therapy Noah would receive besides the 3hrs of manual therapy he gets every day. I can't even imagine the progress he would make with the machine. There is a deposit of $1800 for the machine and an additional annual fee of $3150. I'm not sure how the other families do it.....
Gosh I feel so bad even typing all this out...... Its going to take a lot to even press reply. Here it goes  1 2 3.....

Her reply:

 

Hey all I can do is ask okay? Don't feel. Bad for telling me, I'm the one that asked you. Will let you know after the next vestry meeting. Keep fingers crossed and prayers going.

 

 

Again on Sunday, there was a knock at the door. This time we were told that St. Mark's Church was going to sponsor or even "adopt" Noah if you will.  Then proceeded to tell us that they would provide the funds for Noah to continue ABR indefinitely, including the ABR machine.

Can you say answered prayers? God will provide.

With great excitement, Noah, Emily and I traveled to Montreal, Canada to attend our ABR training and brought home the much wanted ABR machine.

When we returned the whole family attended St. Mark's Church on Sunday morning. Scott played and sang three songs through out the service. Again I'm not the kind of person to go and feel comfortable in a new surrounding. I was very anxious about going. In fact I was sick to my stomach just thinking about it but, I knew I had to go. How could I not? Now mind you this is a very small church in our little community. There maybe 20 people attending church that day. When we walked in I looked around, I recognized everyone of them.  Each person had been touched by me and me them, even way back when I was 15 years old and I baby sat their children. I felt the biggest wave of peace I've ever experienced. I saw that our ABR journey was God's plan all along.

Gives you chills doesn't it?

ABR Fall 2012 Progress

 

These pictures show the progress we have made in the last 6 months with ABR.

 

 

Montreal ABR Trip Fall 2012

 Our training in Montreal went really well. Pictures of our progress from the last 6 months will come in a later blog post. Stay tuned.

 We received excercises for the Lateral neck, Mid-thorax across, Platform Mastoid, Lumbar across. Posterior ribs and along the Mid thorax.

 On Wednesday we adventured out and rode the bus to downtown Montreal. We went to the Under ground Mall.  Downtown Montreal is very old and not very attractive. Although this street is where our bus stop was to catch our ride back to the RM House.

 Noah wasn't real sure of the bus ride with all the swaying and stopping. Even though it was very hard for me to step out of my comfort zone and agree to go, I'm glad Emily encouraged me to go. ( I had my moments when I wasn't too sure.)  It was fun getting out and seeing parts of Montreal I've never seen.

 This is Noah's new friend Vincent. He is the one that came up to Noah and said, "Hi" to him. He was such a sweet little boy that would make everyone feel special. He is definitely one of God's Angels here on Earth. I couldn't get Noah to look at the camera. He wanted to keep talking to his new friend.

 On the way home we stopped in Niagara Falls, Canada for the night.  In the past he would always cry and not enjoy it much. When we got down to the falls, I picked him up and let him see. With our recent diagnosis of 90% hearing loss, I thought maybe he was hearing the low roar of the falls and couldn't see because of the ledge and the sound scared him. That must of been what it was because, he seemed to enjoy himself this time. Times like this I feel so bad that it took me this long to figure out what he was trying to tell me. I'm glad he was able to enjoy it for the first time. It made the side trip to the falls worth it.

 Emily and Noah with "Da Moose" Noah has such a goofy grin.

 Emily treated me to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

Thank you, Emily. I love you.

 Noah really enjoyed looking at the fish tank and all the animals around him.

 On the way back to our hotel, Noah spotted Fraknenstien and wanted his picture taken with him.

  Noah's favorite thing to do at the  hotel, swimming!!!!

 He was all over the pool.

 We have been home for 2 nights now and Noah has been using his ABR machine all night long.

Can't wait to see what changes will we see.