God-given

sometimes...it's just a hi, a phone call, an unexpected prayer, a gentle small, a big embrace, being in the same room w/ a friend w/o saying a word that speaks volumes....God-given friendships. you should know who all of you are...w/that said i love you...for the unexpected and the expected. it's a breath of fresh air, an encouragement from His word, a touch of HIS hand....that is enough for me. thank you!

school today

(this is from Mrs. Knox...brooke's teacher at school.....thought i'd pass along the good news.)

Brooke had a good day today. When kids do well I let them hit a balland run the bases for good behavior. I got Brooke's hand to take her to home plate. She grabbed my shoulder then siad "Gotcha" and put her arms around me. Just thought you'd like to know about that. That is the first time she has done that here.

my daddy

my daddy loves to swim w/me!

testing, testing, 1,2,3

talked with the doctor's office today to go over results from the latest round of testing done on Brooke. news is good. the chelatiobn is going well and Brooke's body is tolerating it well, also; some metals are moving around and being pulled from her system; some supplements are being added; and an additional chelator is also going to be administered to the present routine to help the process along. overall, we feel like good things are happening and Brooke is doing well.

will do it all again in 2 months. (woohoo)

our week

monday...our day at the nashville zoo!





swim day...on thursday!

pianting classes continue..w/a break on the couch. these momenst are rare...this lasted about 5 minutes...we take what we get!

so....all together brookes summer went well....friday (tomorrow) brooke starts school. it kinda makes me nerverous...but we will see. i'm excted though. it's chelation weekend...we'll keep things down low. i want to welcome tammy fleming to the group. she'll be working w/brooke on some weekends. she is a dear friend and one who loves brooke. she'll start on saturday....pray that things run smoothly as brooke and tammy ajust to their new surroundings.

painting

as the artist of the family--i've been getting brooke to paint. this is one of the painting she did today....she's been doing about 2/3 a day. this has been a favorite....look for the face on the right side of the painting...we call it "the angel"....

the diet

as most of you know...brooke is on a special diet. she cannot eat any wheat or dairy products. this of course makes it hard to feed everyone else in the family and her at the same time...i'm finding ways to manage in that area....we've avoided the boys and brooke eating together. that is just too hard....so we eat in shifts. Brooke eats between 4:30-5:00 and then the boys eat after she gets done...her favorite is soup....beef soup w/veggies, chicken stew, chicken noodle soup, and anything else i can come up w/in soup form...she eats it. someone has to sit w/her to help her not make a complete mess....but she manages pretty well. some want to know what the deal is about the diet....so i'll give it my dani "terms":
the food that you and i eat digest well...but she is not able to digest her food like you and i can....so it sits in her stomach and gets into her blood stream which acts as a foreign substance...which causes numerous problems such as "behaviors".
so....there ya have it. i'm not good at explaining alot of this bio-stuff...however, i do know something is working.
brooke is now saying "want tv please"...and candy please...and other 2 word phrases that she "wants".....we will start working on "i"...which is a bigger issue than i thought....we have been working on this for sometime now and she just can't seem to get the word "i" down....
i love seeing her progress....even though the diet is hard it's worth if for me b/c i know that she is getting better not only mentally but physcially and before i never thought she was as sick as she really was.

weekend

brooke has had a pretty good week over all. this was her last week of summer school so things will bounce right back into things come monday. we start chelation again this weekend....we will soon get test results back to find out her levels. we are looking forward into getting those.

we are headed to memphis this weekend for my friend Blaire's wedding. brooke will be staying here in good hands. pray for her that the weekend will go smoothly and peacefully.

"hold me Jesus i'm shaken like a leaf You have been King of my glory won't
you be my prince of peace"---rich mullins

cats & biscuts

we've had a good week w/brooke. although things started off rough w/her adjusting to summer school....it slowly tappered off. just yesterday i was cooking homemade pizzas for the boys (they were in the oven)..brooke had already eaten but she made her way in the kitchen (her favorite room in the house)....and said outloud "biscut"..."biscut". I was amazed b/c even though she didn't see them, she smelt them. before the diet brooke's favorite food item was biscuts....so it made complete sense. it was precious to see. it reminds me of the passage....though you have not seen ME you still believe. thanks brooke for the reminder in God's word.

today we went to walmart....her trip there went very well...as we were walking she noticed the sign of "PETS" w/the picture of a cat and dog....and she said "cat". it was great. it was very busy in walmart...when does it ever slow down...but for that split second my world stopped to notice the un-noticeable.

brooke is showing me a different vision. One that i can't afford to lose.

fall creek

brooke & molly

quick updates

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• chelation weekend
• tests will soon give results to see where she is in this bio-med stuff
• went to fall creek falls yesterday......brooke didn't like it so much!
• stayed home today....great day
• bill is home from trip....yeah, NO you must have not heard me YEAH!!!!!
• this morning i laid in brookes bed w/her for 3o minutes...having wonderful mommy/daughter time...it was very precious and i'll be hanging on that for a long time. this is a rare occasion
• brooke starts summer school again on monday for 2 weeks.
• still weary---but seeing some fragments of time to re-gather

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my storm

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have i said how much i hate autism?

the storm outside is in our home. yes, we've had great moments like her counting to 10...but we sure have had the bad like constant screaming and bad behavior for not getting what she wants. there are good and bad to all storms, true?

as before, i'm tired and weary in great need of a break from the storm...oh Lord...walk on the waves of my storm and cause them to be still i'm desperate for Your coming.
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tired and weary

the picture...

has the subtle ever taken you by surprise, caught you off guard, gotten your attention, or made you aware of something you've never noticed before?

this picture was taken in my back yard at my neighbor's fence....it's been there..hum, couldn't tell you how long...but one day i glanced up and saw the cross...and it all came back to me. it made me realize that there's alot in our day to day we take for granted b/c we don't glance up...we don't linger (as a dear friend told me the other day). so...i captured it and exposed it to the world.....the picture of the cross.

then there's brooke. wow...she sure can make you take a second look (at least those in stores do...ha/). i've learned something from her....not to take her for granted. not to glance but to linger longer in her presense, expect more than what you put in...and bam she'll do something or say something that will knock your socks off. you get so excited about it you capture it and expose it to the world....the picture of faith.

why do we make it so hard....

long day

brooke sure had a bad day today. everything that happened bewildered my mind. into the evening she seemed to calm down but before that her behaviors were really high, lots of potty accidents, and strange behavior.

tomorrow (thursday) we are headed to b/ham for a doctor's appointment w/ the rhetts specialist. every 6 months we see them...dr. percy is doing a study on brooke. i'm sure everything will be fine...

it's been a long day...and i'm not ready for tomorrow...thankfully i don't have to be.

matthew. 6

our day...

brooke has had a good day today. we went to the movies (which didn't go well...), but the rest of the day went well w/ only 1 accident. she is doing alot better at counting to 10...it sounds SOOOOO good. we will do 'test' on her in the next few days to see where her levels (toxins)....so we will know which step to take next. tomorrow is swim day!

behaviors, chelation, mall

well...we just finished our 4th round of chelation and if the behaviors get better we are doing super duper! her behaviors are down...she is echoing more and more (even counting to 1o w/help). but, i must say the potty issue could be better. we've had to take some backward steps but hopefully w/good reinforcement this week we will be back in swing.
we have regular schedule this week....therapist come from 10:30-6:30.
i have to share what happened yesterday at the mall. molly and i went to the mall...she had brooke and i had the boys. we just walked for a while and brooke saw a chair and sat down. well, if you know brooke that is a shocker right there...anyway...she whipped her feet around and put them on the side of the chair like she was at home. so...we all found seats and sat there. as we sat molly pulls out a balloon from her pocket and gets brooke to imitate her...touching head, nose, lap....clapping hands. IT WAS CRAZY....the boys chimmed in and we were all getting brooke to do silly things. the balloon was flying all over the place...we were all laughing and felt like we were the only people in the mall. great experience! loved it!
it got me thinking.....in the midst of my crazy life....i sometimes feel like it's just me and God and the world is just a'going.....what about you.....when was the last time you were in a whirlwind and it got so still inside your heart that you felt Him right there....just you and Him? great experience i must say! love it!

hinds feet

I'm reading "Hinds Feet on High Places"....again! love the story...if you haven't read it yet, grab a copy, a cup of joe, a nice place to get taken away to the mountain.

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail, And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold, And there be no cattle in the
stalls, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my
salvation. 19 The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds'
feet, And makes me walk on my high places. hab. 3.17-19

Ps. 18 has grabbed ahold of me as well.

This past thursday i got a chance to go see christy nochels in concert...(watermark). it was great to say the least...even though i was surrounded by people i felt as if i was the only one in the room worshipping, listening, lingering, resting, and being loved by HIM.

I desire hinds feet...God take me to the high places, you are my strength from day to day.

quote

"His morning aid comes before the morning." amy carmichael

i don't know really what part of this i should focus on....the "comes" or "before" or even "aid"... wait--maybe "morning". I love amy carmichael...love her thoughts, poetry, passion. This quote came at a really neat time in my life a several months ago and has just stuck w/me. i am need of His aid...i'm in need of His coming...i'm in need of the morning...i'm just in need of Him.