Skylar and Fasting (Take 2) and More

First of all, Jamin, you crack me up. :)

If you didn't see the updates on Skylar in the comments section of the last post, here is the latest:

We are home!!! We got home around noon on Thursday. She is sleeping right now and has spent the afternoon lying in bed and watching tv. She is getting pretty bored with the whole situation. She is getting very spoiled with everyone waiting on her. She has said the temp cast is too heavy for her to really move. We are supposed to go next Thursday (14th) to have the pins removed and a regular cast put on. Please continue to pray that we have a smooth week with no bumps, falls, or anything else that might go wrong. We are still supposed to watch her for any circulation problems. I don't think there will be any but we aren't taking any chances.

Thanks for the prayers already!
Jessica (Skylar's mom)

So, so, so glad that she is doing well. Thank you all for your prayers and keep them up.

Fasting has been spectacular. I've done fasts many times before where I just drank...no food (long ago...pre-kids as I've said), but I got to thinking about it. I don't think that I've ever done a water-only fast...ever. Not that I can remember. I would drink only, but at that time, I hadn't really had a LOT of teaching on fasting and hadn't researched it myself. No drinks were off limits...my fave drinks during a fast were the Mocha Cappucino thingies that come in glass bottles (Starbuck's namebrand) and a Mocha Blast frappucino thingy from Baskin Robbins. :) I would have a couple of the coffee bottles and one Baskin Robbins thing per fast usually (3-4 days). Not always, but usually. I was still denying self of course because I wasn't eating...and it was still the power of God 'getting me through' since I didn't change anything else about my life during those days (was usually working 12 hour shifts at the hospital, lifting patients and walking the halls for those hours), but still. Far from a water fast.

So, I did the water-only fast for 2 days. I'm feeling real breakthrough. By the end of just the 2nd day, I'd already gotten clear direction on several things. Oh, what happens when you de-clutter!!

One of the things that I got direction on was that I am supposed to fast longer...much longer actually. I will be doing an extended juice fast. So, I had a small juice on Thursday night and one yesterday morning. Then I went shopping last night and got all the goodies (MANY fruits and vegetables) that I need in order to juice (no store bought juices...all prepared by me in my trusty Vita-Mix...oh how I love that thing!). I started with the juice regimen this morning.

So far it's been really easy. It's always been the case with me...when God truly calls me to a fast, it's not difficult. It is just really supernatural and incredibly powerful. So far, like I said, I've gotten clear direction on several things already...and I'm only on Day 4! I also have a hunger for the Word like I haven't in a really long time. I'm pretty pumped.

All of that to say that I really don't know if I'll be on here for a while. I might pop in and post occasionally. I might not. Just know that if I seem to have 'disappeared,' you know why. And be praying for me that I get all that I am supposed to out of this time. Thanks.

Quick update on each kiddo, just to tide you over:

Grady - You know that he lost his first tooth and is riding his bike all over tarnation now. He is also doing very well with school and is reading!! We are on Lesson 37 of the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and he's learned lots of sounds so far...m, s, w, l, u, n, f, t, e, a, o, i, th...and maybe some more I can't think of right now. He can read words that have those letters/sounds in them...with the sounds that he learned (for instance, we have only done short o, not the long o sound). He loves it and I'm loving the satisfaction of seeing results as I teach them.

Hadley - Hadley is really shooting up and looking like such a big little girl these days. Her hair is super long and she's getting tall. It's weird, but fun. She's still her feisty little self, but has learned very well how to use that feistiness for good. ;) She is so good with her little sisters and loves to display how good she is with them, often telling me "we're friend." She and Grady remain SUPER close though...I still have to remind them to include Eissa sometimes, but much more rarely than before. :)

Eissa - Such a funny little girl. She LOVES to play with Cass now and Cass really, really enjoys it too...Eissa is SUPER at making Cass laugh. I love to hear them in the other room, Eissa doing some crazy tricks and motions, making Cass do these HUGE belly laughs. So fun. Eissa is still the little mother of the family, loving on her babies always. I'll look over and Grady and Hadley will be tussling on the floor. Eissa will be sitting in her chair, feeding her baby, just watching the show.

Cass - Right before she turned 1, I wrote about how her ABSOLUTE perfection had disappeared, although she was still pretty perfect. Well, it is still the case. And I think that now that we are accustomed to her actually voicing her wishes occasionally, she has moved back into the absolutely perfect category. For instance, we had to run many errands last Saturday. We left our house right around the time that she takes her morning nap. So, she was going to miss that. We figured she would later fall asleep in the shopping cart as we grocery shopped after lunch. No...she just played merrily in the cart the whole time. She NEVER fussed, the whole day. We got back pretty late and she just played until it was time for bed. ALWAYS happy. In-credible. (as you can see, she also loves to climb)

Cass is so different from the other ones in a couple of different ways. One is that she is still not walking...and doesn't even seem interested in trying. Cracks me up. And that is TOTALLY fine with me. I've decided that is just God...since I don't have another baby on the way already like I did with the others, He is allowing me to have a 'baby' for longer with Cass since she is not walking and is also so small...seems more like a baby for longer. :) Also, a new development is that if she takes a morning nap, she usually doesn't sleep when I put her down for her afternoon nap...she just plays in her crib. The others took 2 naps a day until they were at least 18 months old (even a little older). I like that. Cass actually took 2 naps very easily yesterday...she had woken up a little earlier in the morning. So, I don't know...we're figuring it out. It's just different.

I'm still just doing the normal Mama stuff. I love homeschooling and am loving, like I said, seeing the results of doing school with the kids. I am able to teach them so much...really important life lessons type stuff...all throughout the day. I wouldn't be able to do that if they weren't with me. We are over halfway through with our Sonlight curriculum. We have been working on learning to recognize and write our numbers in Math for quite some time and this week started learning about the 10s place value. Fun.

I am still not going to Portuguese class, but I think that I will probably start back soon...if only for one night a week. That is one of the other things I felt like God said to me. He seemed to make it clear that it was time to go back, not for Portuguese sake (although, obviously that is beneficial), but because my Portuguese teacher is my outside ministry right now. Hmmm...ok. That put a new spin on going back and makes me excited to go back. LOVE it when we get God's perspective on things.

Joel continues to love his work at Asas. He is soon taking a big test...his airplane mechanics test, for his A&P license here in Brazil. It's been about 9 years since he took that test in the U.S., so he's been studying up alot. 9 years is a long time...he was understandably a little rusty on some things. Add onto it that it is in Portuguese...many names they have for things in Portuguese as related to airplane mechanics he has had to learn and memorize as he studied because they are totally different than in English. Anyway, just be praying for him. He is also going to start taking an avionics class soon there at the Asas school. He's excited about it.

O.K., not so 'quick' after all, but we have a few people in our family...we automatically need at least 6 paragraphs for an update. :)

Alright, I'm off. Again, I may pop back on occasionally, but if not, you know why.

Oh, and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! :) By the way, that 'news bulletin' email that some of you didn't get, go here and fill in your name in your head. Or send one to yourself (that's what I did :) ). It was my Mother's Day well wishes to you, but for some of you it didn't work for whatever reason. Be blessed!

And, now also for your viewing pleasure, some videos for you that were taken in April. I hope you enjoy them because it took me literally all. day. long. to upload them. Whew. Enjoy!!

4-3-09 Joel says that Cass is going to make such a cute little old lady. :) She LOVES to use walkers...but not her actual walker. She loves to improvise and use her own. Her favorites are these kiddie chairs and the sit-n-spin (which is there by the kids' table). Too cute.

April 2009 - Using Daddy's legs to walk...and some cuteness from Eissa too. :)

4-12-09 This is the little song presentation the kids at church did on Easter.

April 2009 - The kids got a kick out of Cass handing them things...helping them pick up. :) She also displays one of her many interests...talking on the phone. ;)

April 2009 - Cass doing more helping...and the kids getting a big kick out of it again. :)

April 2009 - Eissa doing some moves to make Cass laugh hard...and Cass joining in the dancing.

April 2009 - Eissa "wasn't feeling good" so Hadley was taking very good care of her. :)

4-17-09 An impromptu little song and dance session Joel and the kids had one Saturday morning.

April 2009 - Another thing Cass loves to do these days...jabber!