Weekend Procrastination

I am supposed to be working on this AssessMe thingamajig for my friend-church (we don't go there but a couple of years ago I forged some friendships there and we still keep up). Its 87 questions, so I am procrastinating - just like in school. Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. Procrastinator - just wanted to say it one more time.

This weekend I drove in my car, by myself, for 4 hours. FOUR HOURS. It was the first time since 2008. No, really. I went to this indescribable retreat for moms of special needs kids. Not special needs moms - I said that accidentally to a friend this morning at church. Belly laugh.

Listen, I am not a women's retreat or conference go-er - the thought kind of makes me grit my teeth and make me order my own hotel room, by myself (I like my alone time - in case you couldn't tell).

But this was prefect in every way. I read a blog post by Jen Hatmaker the other day where she referred to our generation as her tribe.

I have to say these ladies are my tribe and I could not be more proud to be associated with them, to eat, laugh, cry and worship with them. We speak the same language and have the same fears. Check out their whole-family ministry at the Rising Above FB Page.

And then there was the included spa - but I digress.

God is so good. 

Over the last few months, the giant recurring theme has been God's Provision. If I am repeating myself, it cause He's been repeating Himself! I am - I know its crazy - still in the middle of reading one of George Muller's books. Mine doesn't look like this because I borrowed it from the illustrious Mr. Skip from church and its from 1941. Yeah, you read that right. Something Muller did that stuck with me was he wrote his requests to God down. Yes, I know you've done that before, but I mean like a dated sentence or less on one side of the book and the corresponding answer on the opposite page. At last count, there were fifty thousand prayers God answered for Muller, five thousand on the same day.


Here are two ways God met our needs that have nothing to do with Little Handsome from my notes: 4/12/13 seeing God: saw a 31 verse party in my neighborhood with strangers, wished I could stop and get this organizing wall thing, but decided I didn't need to spend the money. Three days later one of my aunt's emailed and wanted to gift me something from 31.

Also on 4/12. Squirrels in the attic. Sweetheart isn't sure what he's going to do. Even if we hire someone, our tall house needs a creative solution. Our across the street neighbor randomly rents a manlift to get their house ready for a party and Sweetheart solves the problem (with Him) for free.

He is so good to me. Even in the very smallest things.

He is FIGHTING for me. 

He is FIGHTING for YOU.

 ²⁹ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. ³⁰ The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

 Deuteronomy 1:29-31

The LORD carries you.

Visual Schedule Part 1

One of the very first things the therapists encouraged us to do to help Little Handsome was to make a visual schedule. Practically speaking, I was completely overwhelmed by this. We were starting new therapies/ evaluations all over the place and the thought of such a ginormous arts and crafts situation was sending me to crazy town. It literally consumed my thoughts constantly for like three weeks before I put pen to paper - like that twenty page paper I would always put off until the night before in seminary.

We tried a picture exchange system (PECS) pre-made off eBay. While it was worth the twenty bucks for a few weeks, eventually it drove me bananas with its fifty million cards, Velcro and the fact that Little Handsome wanted to take it in the car despite its large size. Then our ABA therapists encouraged us to only use photorealistic pictures, not cartoon-like ones. Peace out PECS - you weren't a good fit for us (although you have been a life-changer for many nonverbal kiddos).

I even had a meeting with our ABA therapist to talk about how to accomplish it...yeah, that cost us 75 buckaroos peeps. Even though I researched Pinterest, etc like a madwoman, I couldn't find exactly how to get from a to b. And when your brain is already somewhat fried, that's what I needed. After much trial and error, here is what's working for us right now. So here is what I did for our large visual schedule that a hangs in our kitchen...

Step 1: Buy a pocket chart.

Step 2: While you are waiting for that to ship, start taking pics of daily routine stuff like a madwoman. At first I was very detailed, like taking pics of his toothbrush, brush, him taking off his PJs, don't do that to yourself at first. Your brain will explode. Here are some that we use on a daily basis: waking up, getting his sister, breakfast, lunch, snack, supper, nap time, watch tv, playtime, outside, pic of his ABA therapist, get ready to go(there are three pics on that one card) - I think I probably have about thirty I use on a weekly basis in the kitchen visual schedule.

Step 3: format pics. I had requirements in my head for the next two steps - affordable, easy, and I wanted each pic to fit on the cards for the pocket chart without having to reformat craziness on my Mac. So to the joy of my friends and family who follow me on Instagram, that's what I used. I did everything on my iphone. Taking the pics with my phone, I used Frametastic (another app) to put four pics in one Instagram pic, then published them on Instagram.

Step 4: print pics. Then I used the Walgreens app to print Instagram square prints at my local Walgreens in an hour- dont't think you can print your square pics on 4x6s to save money and cut off the excess - it doesn't work without major finagling on your part. Check retailmenot for coupon codes for photos at Walgreens to save money before you purchase.

Step 5: Before cutting, laminate. This is related to my next post on an on-the-go schedule. I chose to laminate the pics because I knew I would also be using them for that and the run-of-the-mill paper they use at Walgreens would not have withstood Little Handsome. I bought this great little laminator at Walmart for around twenty five dollars. Worth. Every. Penny. I have used it for all sorts of things.

Step 6: cut those bad boys up - do yourself a favor and use either a cheapie papercutter or one at your church or office. I have only just recently organized the probably hundreds of photos I have that now include daily routine, people, and places. More on that later.

 

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