the mind...........

It's very interesting how the mind works. Thoughts come flying in and out all the time. It's not fun when the thoughts are not glorfying to the Lord but on the other hand when thoughts come that do point us to God well that's a good thing. This morning I had a nice thought. This oldie but goodie of a song just popped into my head while I was cleaning up the kithchen this morning.

As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after you
You alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship you.

I want my hearts desire to be as this song states.

The eagles again........

I went to see the Eagles again a couple of weeks ago and that time I saw one. Wow! it was so cool to see he or she flying all around. Seeing the white head just really gave me a thrill I was squealing with excitement as I had my binoc's trained on it. So we went to visit mom today and then Diane, Mom and I went to see the Eagle again. This time we didn't see any. For those of you who want to know where the Eagles have there nest here's the directions. Go to Intercourse turn right on Hollander Rd. Follow Hollander all the way till you come to Peters Rd. Pull into Zeltenreich Church and face your car towards Peters Rd. and as you look across the field you will see the big nest and hopefully some Eagles. I here the best time to see the Eagles is either in the mornings or right before dusk. Let me know if anyone heads down there I'd like to here how it went.

Rico's progress.......

Rico is reading is at the 1st grade level. He is reading books at school from the "Reading Milestones" series. There are 10 books in the series and he is up to book 8. The story he is currently reading is called "Friends".
Rico is working on filling out simple job applications. He is also working on comprehending advertisements, utility bills, check writing and understanding local newspapers. His teachers work with Rico on explaining the listed things and he has to answer comprehension questions about them.
Rico has mastered printing his address. He is working on writing "friendly" notes. He will work next on writing the return address in the proper place on an envelope.
Rico needs to apply himself more at following directions. He has demonstrated he is able to do read directions but is not following through with this lately.
Rico is doing Saxon Math. He is able to count pennies up to 100 4/6 times accurately.
He is also counting by fives up to 30 and using nickels. This is hard for him to do.
He is learning to use the calculator. He is also working on filling out bank deposits, and withdrawal slips. Rico is learning how to use an analog clock and tell time.
Rico is taken out with his class and is learning how to navigate through people and places like the grocery store.
Rico goes out on job training weekly. I am told he works well and is diligent in his work.
Rico is continuing in learning how to use his Dynavox to speak for him. He navigates it well but must be reminded to use it in conversation. He can use his Dynavox for many things such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Rico needs to learn more about using his Dynavox to ask questions and share his feelings and tell about his life. We want Rico to learn how to initiate conversation using his Dynavox.
Rico is still learning how to button his pants, tie his shoes, zipper his jacket.
Concerning Rico's diagnosis of having Celiac Disease. He is adjusting very well to eating his gluten free foods. Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner consist of either mac and cheese, spaghetti, rice, french fries, yogurt, applesauce. Snacks consist of Utz potato chips, pretzels and corn curls. He drinks milk, and o.j. and can have some soda I know that the brand Pepsi and Coke are gluten free so I'm sticking with those. I have a goal of trying to get Rico to eat meat. Since he is anemic it would be so good for him to get more protein in him.
I give Jesus all the glory for making the transition for Rico from gluten to non-gluten foods. It hasn't been that difficult and I thought that it would be. The hardest part is myself having to always make his food which isn't hard just takes more time.

a peek............

Okay well I thought I'd give you a little peek into my morning routine for a change. This morning I got up at 5:30 and got a shower. 6:00 went downstairs and started making breakfast. Pancakes for Rico and eggs for the girls. During the hour from 6-7 is probably the most trying time of my day. Sin is usually flying none stop through out the morning. Whether it's my girls not getting along or me being inpatient and angry that the girls aren't getting along, me trying to hurry up my one daughter who daily pushes the envelope on not getting ready on time. Me yelling for the girls to hurry up and get downstairs the bus is coming up the hill. It's very rarely that our mornings go well. God is definitely using that time to point out all my weaknesses and the areas we need to grow as a family. Honestly at times it can feel overwhelming and hopeless that we are ever going to grow in our patience and obedience. The very thing I'm asking my kids to grow in is exactly what I need to grow in. What a circle. Many times I take my eyes off of God and only think about everything I'm doing wrong instead of keeping my eyes on Jesus and all that he accomplished for me and the hope I have in Him for grace to change. So if you think of me during the hours between 6 & 7a.m. please throw up a prayer for me you can rest assured I most definitely am needing it.

Fab 5

 

 

Fifty is Nifty. At least that's what I hear. Two of my Fab 5 friends Connie and Roxanne have already found out since they turned 50 this year. The Fab 5 ladies had a little surprise get together for the birthday girls. We met at the "Blue Pacific" which I highly recommend eating there it was super. Good food, good conversation, birthday cake, balloons, and gifts were the order of the night. Have you ever heard of Pandora bracelets. Well they are these really cool charm braclets and that's what we got the ladies. It will be a tradition now that we will all get one when we turn 50. After dinner it was back to Sharon's house for a sleep over. Fun times!

Celiac Disease

As you can see I'm making up for lost time with my blogging entries. I've been busy lately doing a lot of shopping and running around for my boy Rico. Through routine blood work we found out that Rico probably has Celiac Disease. Celiac is an autoimmune intestinal disorder. What it is is your digestive system stops working properly when you eat gluten. Gluten is a type of protein found in things such as wheat, rye, barley and sometimes oats. Gluten is also found in many other things which I'm finding all about. Rico had an endoscopy done this past Tuesday to determine for sure if he has Celiac the procedure went well and we will know a positive diagnosis in about 2 weeks. Meanwhile we are to change his diet from basically all gluten to NONE! God has been very gracious to us. Rico is taking very well to eating a new way. We have been able to find many substitutes for the things Rico would normally eat and he's eating the different textures and tastes of them. Amazing grace because Rico is a very picky eater. But God has made a way for Rico. We started Rico's new diet this past Wed. It has led me to run all over the area looking for good gluten free food. I met with an Celiac Dietitian and she was very helpful. Also a friend at church has Celiac too and has been very helpful with telling me what is good and where to get things. I would like to get Rico to eat meat which he has not done so far in his life. He needs to start eating it though it would help him so much because we also found out he is Anemic. I'm so glad we found all this out because it explains a lot of things about Rico. Symptoms Rico has that is directly related to Celiac is gas, gas and more gas, slow growth (only gained 3 lbs since last year), itchiness skin rash, anemia. So here's to a new Rico. We hope and pray that Rico's new diet will bring wonderful new graces to him and us as a family. God bless our Rico.

 

Bow Wow.........

I love this video of Elijah and Gracie. Elijah calls dogs Bow Wow's. So cute!!

pics of Gracie

 

 

 

Gracie is a biting machine! That dogs got sharp teeth. Can't wait till her baby teeth fall out. It is a full time job trying to get her to not bite. Gracie listens to Edwin the best. Edwin always says he's the leader pack. Then we all laugh and say Daddy or Edwin it's the pack leader. Gracie is learning how to sit and she's a natural at fetching. Rico is still getting used to Gracie he doesn't like when she is loose in the kitchen when he eats so we have to put her in the crate when he's eating.

Lunch with Erika & family

Here's a few pictures of Erika and her family. We had a nice lunch at there house 2 weeks ago. The grandkids had a great time with the our dog Gracie. Erika made a great lunch and we enjoyed a nice afternoon together.

Eagles...........

 
 
 
No I'm not talking about my Philadelphia Eagles I'm talking about real Eagles. Last week my sister Diane and some of the kids went down to Zeldenright's Church (sp.) and checked out the huge Eagle nest that the pair of Eagles has built. Momma Eagle I believe has layed her eggs. Some people who were parked beside us said that the one Eagle was sitting in the nest and would at times poke her head up so you could see her. We didn't see that. We have to go with better binoculars next time. For anyone looking for a nice little adventure for your family head on out to the nest. It's a nice drive.

We got a puppy!

Yes, we have an addition to our family. Her name is Gracie. She is part Corgi and part not sure. Edwin and I picked her up yesterday and brought her home to the unknowing kids. We kept it a surprise for them. Bella is already in love with her and Rico is tolerating her which is a step in the right direction for him. Bri is away overnight so she will be surprised when she comes home and Noah hasn't seen her yet he came home late and is still sleeping. Gracie did well last night sleeping in her crate and she's been sleeping in it today with the gate open for her to go in and out when she chooses. She's really cute and hopefully the 3rd will be the charm. We had two other dogs over the years and they didn't work out the best for us.

pictures.

rescued........

It wasn't easy but as you can see we rescued mom! My sisters and I plus Ian had a great time in Sarasota Fl. It was so good being with mom. We went to Jungle Gardens as you can see from the picture. We saw a lion show, did some sight seeing, watched a sunset, looked for shells on the beach, ate icecream at Big Olaf's, went to a Whole Foods grocery store, did some clothes shopping,played "Aggressive Skip-Bo", and ate out. The plane ride there and back were both good. TranAir came through for us good flights cheap. We spent time with our friend Lizzie too. She's down the whole month like mom is and is coming home with her. It's good to be home again but it was hard leaving mom there. And it was hard for mom to see us go. Tears were flowing as we said our goodbyes. But I'm so thankful we had this opportunity and I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband who so kindly let me go without a single complaint. I have to give props to Janie's husband and Diane's husband as well they all made it easy for us to go. So we had our week in the sun and now it's back to freezing temps. Well it won't last long and we will soon be hearing the birdies sing and see our slice of earth turn green again. I still love the different seasons.

 

Florida here I come.........

 
 
My sisters and I and Ian are heading to Florida to rescue mom. As you can see she needs us. No, actually the pic of mom was from two years ago when my sisters and I went for a surprise visit to my parents while they were vacationing in Flordia. So now once again Janie, Diane and Ian are going to visit once again but sadly it's only mom we will be with this time. Daddy was so good at showing us around and finding things for us to do. We will be missing his presence with us for sure. We are leaving Tues. for a week. This is the house we stay in. It's a very nice place and Mom and Dad have stayed there for many years. I'm glad my mom has decided to keep going a little R & R is good for her she works hard. Bye for now.

NASCAR

Tonight was our annual NASCAR dinner. We have a group consisting of the Mellingers, Kinderwaters, Dale and Carol Landis, Colly and Daryl Landis,the Bueche's the Smith's and Edwin and I who for the last 9 or 10 years have had a competition between couples to see who can pick the NASCAR drivers that will accumulate the most points.
The winner gets a nice dinner out paid with the rest of the gang. Jerry and Dawn once again were the winners. I think it's the third time for them. My mom graciously allowed us to use one of her 15 passenger vans so we could all go together to the Appalacian Brewing Co. near Harrisburg. We all said how good it was so we recommend it. It was fun to be together again and I think we all had a great time.

sephora.........

Okay all you makeup junkies out there myself included. Sephora is coming to town. Yes ladies all you could want and need cosmetics and skin care store is coming to Park City in April. Lancaster City has arrived ya all. It used to be you would have to go to King of Prussia to go to a store like Sephora. I'm pretty excited about it. It's a fun store to browse around in and try anything and everything on.
So keep your eyes peeled for the grand opening. I know I'll be checking it out.

stuff...........

My tooth is healing nicely although my stitches came out after two days. I don't think that was supposed to happen. But my tooth never really hurt or was very sore after being pulled. Thank you Lord! Although I do have this flapper type thing where my tooth was hopefully this will close up.
Last night Edwin and I, Rico and the girls went to see the L.S. Lady Pioneers J.V and Varisty play against Manheim Central. Wow what a game! We won and are solely in first place. Brianna had a game earlier in the day but there team didn't do so well against Manheim Central they lost. Bella has a game today that we are going to. I really enjoy watching b-ball that's a good thing since we go to a lot of games. I also enjoyed that little bit of snow we got. The girls built a snowman that night it snowed. They took a lot of time decorating it but alas till morning poor snowman's head had fallen off and was on the ground. Here's to more snow!

Mark Walker

Some of you may know of the Walkers. Very close friends of the Haughery's. Yesterday Mark the husband of Marie passed away after a lengthy illness. Please pray for the family and all who loved him so much through this tremendous loss.

crackalackin....

Today I had my first tooth pulled as an adult. A couple days ago the left side of my jaw started hurting. So a trip to the dentist ensued. He said well it's cracked going to have to send you to another doctor to see if they can save the tooth through a root canal. I'm thinking man not a root canal they cost at least 800 dollars. Amazingly I did not get charged for my dentist visit. Next I went to see Dr. Samii a nice quiet doctor. He said yup it's cracked vertically and there is nothing he can do for me. No charge there either except for the xray. My dentist doesn't pull teeth so I was sent to a third doctor the oral doctor to have my tooth pulled. Thankfully they got me an appt. for today so I wouldn't have to go through the weekend with a hurting tooth and jaw. I must say I was pretty tense after they stabbed me in the roof of the mouth with the needle. I sat in the chair trying to calm myself. Big breaths in out in out any minute he's going to come back in the room and yank this tooth out. Okay Jesus please help me and please make sure it's completely numb before they do the deed. I here the door open ahhh he's coming. Here we go. First he cracked up the tooth a little and then he said sorry I'm going to have drill a little. Okay it's not going to bad I don't feel anything but the whole time I'm thinking any moment a searing pain is going to occur. Praise God there was no pain but there was a lot of tugging on my tooth to the point where you think please give tooth and then it did. I'm telling you the roots felt like they were a foot long. I should have asked to see it but I didn't. And the best part of the story is there really was no pain during or after. They offered me Vicadin but I said no. My first doctor had already given me Tylenol with Codene and it was working fine. What a relief it is to have the tooth out and it's amazing how good I feel and the tooth is way in the back where you can't see it anyway. Actually my experience is that pulling a tooth is easier then getting a filling. Grand total 330 dollars.

Bri's birthday.........

 

 

Yesterday was Brianna's birthday. My 3rd born came into the world at 7:35p.m. on a Friday, Dec. 30th 1994. She is now 13 and she is officially a teenager. What!!! We started the day off with baked oatmeal and then church. Came home and I made her a Chinese meal with shrimp. She loves shrimp! Later we opened her gifts and had her cake and icecream. Then my good friend (the other white Carol) and her son picked us up and it was off to the IO party at Prince St. Cafe. It was very crowded but it was a very fun evening. There was a lot of good thought and hard work put into the night and we all benefited from it. Plus we had all the coffee, cookies and pizza we wanted. A good time was had by all I think.