once a month...

Once a month... I think that is all I can handle doing for this blog apparently. Life keeps coming at me faster and faster. It makes you appreciate the fact that God is sovereign and He knows what is coming even when I don't.
BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) will be ending in 3 weeks. Those 9th and 10th graders are something else- I have seen my future and I am afraid! They are either as silent as stones or non-stop talkers. My co-leader Sheree and I had dinner together last night and had a great time talking about our families and the students. She has been so great- I have always admired her transparency and sense of humor. We are finally starting to get things down and there are just 3 meetings left. I can really see the growth in me this past year- definitely NOT a fun year, but a growing one. Funny how you can look back and see transformation but not feel it. All year our theme has been, "Are you going to be the same person at the end of year that you were at the beginning. All the stuff you have learned from studying God's word isnt worth it if you havent applied it to your lives." I am looking forward to processing everything and evaluating myself- 3 more weeks!

wishin' and hopin' and dreamin' and livin'

Well.... here it is again. Long time no write. Where does the time go? Will someone please let me in on the secret? Things are settling down at our house- thank you to God! To make a reallllllllly long story short- Jacob was not having seizures. He quite promptly met our $900 deductible in 2 visits- one for an EEG, one for the neurologist and a bonus MRI under anesthesia. We are still getting bills 2 months later. Our neurologist (sent to us by the Lord) has given Jacob the diagnosis of 'Autism Spectrum Disorder,' which is as confusing as it sounds. Basically, there are 5 disorders within this spectrum, 3 of which are Autism, Asbergers and PDD-NOS. They are all similar in appearance but different in classification. For example, Jacob has many of the characteristics of autism but not enough of them to meet the criteria for diagnosis. He is most similar to PDD-NOS which is pervasive developmental delay-not otherwise specified.

But all that to say, he is doing FABULOUSLY! We weaned him off of his meds and tried some new ones with good results, but decided to leave him off of medication for right now. He was doing so much better on his new meds, but spectacularly on nothing. God has so used all of the speech-language therapy, social skills training, pre-school and what we have been doing at home to work wonders in him. He is a totally different little boy. Ask anyone who has known him his whole life and they will testify to what I am saying! There is such peace in our home! I am tearing up right now just writing about it. More on this later.

Keep us in your prayers. There are many deep, dark places in our souls that God is plowing up through all of this. Areas of stubborn rebellion and ignorance. Pray that God would show Himself faithful to us as we struggle through these raw places. Thanks for listening. Andra

Seizure or sleep deprived?

Well, it is 11:30pm and Jake and I are watching Toy Story II and eating popcorn as we try to stay awake for his EEG tomorrow. He is supposed to be sleep deprived, because somehow that gives them better brain wave activity readings.

Anyways, I was looking through some of my photos on the computer, when I came across this one. THIS is what makes me think he fell asleep and didnt have a seizure. I just want things to be cleared up. Maybe its denial, but I dont think he is having seizures. If he is, I need some clarification, big time. I hope its a $750 insurance policy- get it done and rest easier. We'll know soon wont we?

Christmas tree

Well, I sit here looking at my forlorn Christmas tree, stripped of its beauty- all except for its twinkling lights. It still has lots of presents under it though. We havent done Christmas yet with my mom and the boys. We went to Arkansas for Christmas to be with the Sterzik clan. We left the boys there for 3 days and we go back to pick them up Saturday. When we return we will do a very belated Christmas at home. It doesnt really seem like Christmas now until we do it here at home. But in the interest of saving my sanity, I packed up all the decorations before the boys returned. Chris and I both have colds right now and are struggling to breathe through congested systems. We have gone out to eat and went to the movies to see 'I am legend' with Will Smith. Scary but excellent movie.
My house seems so quiet. Every morning I think I hear one of the boys as I walk into the kitchen. I miss their cheerful talk and even miss their bickering. No, I dont miss the bickering. I miss their sweet faces though. Cant wait to see them. So kind of my in-laws to watch them for a few days for us. I wonder if I could pay them a million dollars to drive them home so we wont have to spend 6 hours in the car on Sunday?

Lots and lots and lots of photos from many moons ago...

A trip to Frank Buck Zoo with all the wild animals

Jake's first day of preschool- check out the uniform baby!

First ever trip to Chuck E Cheese- the roller coaster ride of their lives!

The big birthday boy in his silly party hat! 2 yrs old

Super duper hot day in August at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens

Day at the Train Museum- cant figure out how to rotate this thing!

Nonna getting a chance to love on both boys at the same time.

Picking up the boys after a week spent at G-pa and G-ma's house in Arkansas.

Luke, prior to giving up the passeys for good. He looks pretty attached doesnt he?

Crazy life

Our life is crazy. Now I know that everyone's life feels crazy these days, but we have never experienced this level of craziness before in the Sterzik household. Chris is adjusting to the new job he took back early this summer. It is in a rather new area for him, and the learning curve has been high. We are leading a home group with our church, and finding the time to spend with everyone and giving these relationships the time they need has been stressful. We want to spend so much time with these folks we are 'doing life with' as we walk with Christ. Its frustrating having to go to work and clean the house when there are people to get to know!
I am also a Children's leader again this year with Bible Study Fellowship here in Denton. I have a fabulous co-leader, Sheree. We are teaching the 9/10th graders- whole new experience for me. These students are either as quiet as rocks, or we cant get them to stop talking. I am not sure which one of these is harder for me! The time required for the home group and BSF are exposing exactly how weak I am in myself. Somehow, every week God helps me get it all done, but I want so much more than just getting it done. I feel my inadequacy every day- it just keeps pushing me back to God for his aid.
Jacob was diagnosed a little over a month ago with ADHD. This was not a big shock to us, but since getting the diagnosis, all the waiting for intervention has turned into a flurry of activities. We are being reassessed through the school system, more thoroughly than this past spring. We have our ARD meeting next Tuesday to see if he qualifys for school based intervention. A speech pathologist will be observing him this week. His IQ testing showed a significant difference in his verbal versus non-verbal IQ. He struggles with any type of verbal instruction and has a very hard time understanding words in their contexts. Socially, this causes problems at school with his peers and his teachers. Thankfully, his teachers love him, which I pray for all the time. He loves school, loves learning and loves to be around other children. We are praying for him to get more help. He goes to a social skills class once a week to work on learning skills that 4 yr old boys need to have to carry on conversations and communicate effectively. It is all so overwhelming for our family. I am so blessed that God has placed another family going through similar circumstances with their 4 yr old son recently diagnosed with Autism. The mother Becky, has been such a source of encouragement and prayer. God is so good.
Luke is amazing. He is so charming and fun right now. He is also going through the 2 year old toots I like to call them. The tantrums and attitude have officially begun. He is such a little light in our house though. The boys are such great friends and love each other so much. Almost makes me want another one. Getting super sick a few weeks ago gave me a clue that I can barely keep up with life now, if I had another child, the floors would stay permanently sticky and crunchy here.
Well, I think that is enough rambling for now. I am going to add a bunch of photos for you to see, starting way back this summer. I love each one of you!

How long has it been anyway?

Well....good night! Its been forever since I posted. I couldnt even remember what my password was to login. So much has been happening that I can barely keep up. In a nutshell, we have been a part of a church start-up, leading a small home group that is growing bigger by the week, Jacob started preschool 5 days a week, Luke is in gymnastics, Chris is trying to play softball, I want to scrapbook but dont have time, family here occasionally, Andra is co-leading a Bible Study Fellowship class for 9th and 10th graders... did I forget anything? Most likely. Anyways, hopefully I can post again soon, and with photos, because we have got some good ones to share. Talk with you soon...

Wild weekend at the 'W' hotel in downtown Dallas

In February, my girlfriends from UNT had a girls weekend in honor of Kim Holt who was pregnant with her daughter Georgia. We stayed in this fabulous room at the posh 'W' hotel. We even went to the 'place to be' bar - no stars spotted though. In addition to our dinner out at Fireside Pies for pizza, we had an early morning wakeup alarm the next morning. An alarm was going off telling us that we needed to evacuate the building immediately because there was a fire in the hotel. Wewere still in our pj's as you can see above- and it was freezing. We had no idea how long we would be outside so we went out for breakfast at this uptown joint. We were quite the lovely group, especially me in my lime pants and Kim in her snowman bottoms.

Here is a snapshot of the street right outside our third floor room. There were about 5 or 6 firetrucks and multiple police and ambulances there. A friendly fireman told us it was only a fire in the trash container. We were downstairs for about 15 minutes before most of the people were escorted out of the building by hotel staff- guess they were not too concerned about the fire. A tv helicopter and crew were set up in the parking lot across the street.
Here we are! Tara, Amy, Kim and me right before our big night on the town. Smokin' right? Seriously, it was a weekend to remember with my sweet, sweet friends.