July Newsletter!

July 2011 Newsletter

Mother's Day

I know Mother's Day has come and gone this year, but Robert just found this sermon and told me I HAD to listen to it. He cued it up, took the kids on a walk and made sure I listened to it. I'm so glad he did - it's a refreshing, passionate sermon on motherhood from I Samuel. As he points out, women are constantly being told what they can't or shouldn't do, but what are we called, wonderfully, to do?! Legacy. You can listen to the sermon by Eric Mason of Epiphany Fellowship here.

Where has the last year gone?

Hmmmm, why haven't I posted in a year? Here's part of the reason:


We've been having too much fun with V! Had to take this picture because I asked R to put the bowl of hummus on the table...10 minutes later I discovered that V really enjoys hummus!

Another big reason is that we're preparing for Robert to start at Covenant Seminary in the fall!!! Scary, exciting, all kinds of emotions going on there, not to mention this will be our first major move with 3 kiddos.

Trying to remember to rest in the strength of Christ in all this!

Reading about autism, Part 2

#1 Temple Grandin (movie) - We LOVED this movie by HBO, starring Claire Danes. Temple is definitely a hero of mine and this movie did a fantastic job of showing how her autistic mind works. I must confess that I sort of scoffed when I heard that Claire Danes was playing her, but I think she did an outstanding, award-worthy job. I get the giggles now every time I hear the phrase "animal husbandry"!

#2 Potty Journey by Judith A. Coucouvanis - This book was a good starting point, with lots of troubleshooting, a helpful overarching theme and, most helpful of all, some reproducible charts for keeping on track. Ultimately, an ABA article from his teacher at school gave me the "Aha!" I needed to figure out that he was not afraid of the toilet, just afraid to change the routine that he had established around doing his business.

#3 Facing Autism by Lynn M. Hamilton
If you only have time to read one chapter, read Chapter 6: Applied Behavioral Analysis. She is a "poster child" for ABA therapy and does a good job summarizing what it is and, most importantly, describing in detail all the work that she and her husband put into implementing this therapy for their son. She also lists the major objections to ABA and thoughtfully responds to them. She paints a very realistic picture of what this therapy looks like on a daily basis, which can be very helpful for other parents trying to decide whether they have the resources (time, money, energy, motivation) to pursue it. It's not much different than starting your own business!
Chapters 7-11 describe most other interventions and advice, e.g. dietary, biomedical, speech therapy, education, etc. I would recommend just skipping these chapters, especially if you've already read a bit about these therapies. They contain some good information, particularly about her good relationship with her speech therapist, but also a lot of outdated information (published in 2000). She rightly criticizes certain programs for lacking empirical evidence for their claims and encourages parents to analyze carefully the claims of therapies, but then she seems willing to accept some therapies that I would deem sketchy, at best, e.g. chelation therapy. She seems to rely on anecdotes from other parents. Unfortunately, the researcher she touts several times throughout the book is Andrew Wakefield, who has been proven over and over again to be, at best, a bad researcher and, at worst, a fraud. I was also disappointed to find Speech Therapy on equal footing with Therapeutic Listening and the Gluten-free/Casein-free diet, even a step below since it was at the end of Chapter 11!
Pros - Very detailed description of an intensive, in-home ABA therapy. I also appreciated her perspective as a Christian.
Cons - In my opinion, unbalanced portrayal of orthodox and unorthodox treatments, but, of course, it is her book, not mine.

My latest internet/movie wanderings..

Watched a PBS American Experience program called War Letters which presented excerpts from letters written during wars spanning the Civil War to the first Gulf War. The readings were arranged topically. It was fascinating! Your blood can't help but boil by one particular letter written by an African American soldier in WWII who related how he had watched German POWs being served along with white Americans in a train station in the Southern United States while the African American soldiers had to eat in the "colored" area in the back of the kitchen. I am deeply impressed with the discipline and patience of these soldiers.

An amusing blog post about remedial language lessons for mothers because their kids are obviously not understanding.

Free special needs/visual learner printables from senteacher.com

As usual, Albert Mohler does such a good job of analyzing events and their greater meaning, this time regarding Moral Clarity and the Fall of the Wall.

Article from Der Spiegel on the confusion of climatologists regarding stalled global warming. Seems clear to me that our level of technology would require us to take seriously what effect we're having on our environment - for our own safety and as stewards of the world God has given us. However, I find it difficult to summon the outright panic that is expected of me when scientists do not seem to have a solid grasp of what is actually going on! Also, I'm dubious of politicians' "altruism" in wanting to save the world...by consolidating their own power, of course, right?! Again, I'm not against making changes in technology, finding different sources of energy, etc., but I would like to see a lot clearer thinking and less panic.

A great PBS documentary about Churchill made by his granddaughter. It's a fascinating overview of his life and career, from early childhood to his death. It skims over a lot of details, but gives a great overview of the extreme fluctuations of his life and gets into the background behind a few of the most important events in his life. They spent a lot of time interviewing his family and those who had worked closely with him. It was focused on the character of Churchill, not just a list of his accomplishments and failures.

9/27/09 Prayer from RPC evening service

I've decided that the liturgy and hymns at Resurrection Presbyterian Church (where we are members) is too beautiful not to share, so I'm going to try to post something from it every Sunday. Here's this week's:

Author of life divine, who hast a table spread,
Furnished with mystic wine and everlasting bread,
Preserve the life Thyself has given,
And feed and train us up for heaven.

Our needy souls sustain with fresh supplies of love,
Till all Thy life we gain, and all Thy fullness prove,
And, strengthened by Thy perfect grace,
Behold without a veil Thy face.

--Charles Wesley

Covenant Seminary

Robert and I visited Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO this month and had a wonderful time. We loved the campus, the professors, the students, the classes and the administration! I'm still salivating over the library (and all of the other libraries in MO that are connected to it). Everyone was so hospitable and open to answering all of our questions, especially about finances. We were very encouraged to meet several families with small children who were almost done and had NO school loans. That's a big plus for us, especially considering it is a fairly expensive school.

Another big plus: the seminary is located in an area of St Louis with the best services for kids with autism!

Some of you may be surprised by our interest in seminary, but the truth is that it has been in our minds (whether consciously spoken or not) since before we were married. Recently, the little tickle in the back of our minds has turned into a full fledged itch to explore the possibility of going to seminary. Robert spends so much of his spare time reading theology anyway, it will be a fairly natural transition! For now, our hope is for him to get an M.Div. and work as an Associate Pastor somewhere here in the Pacific NW. However, we also expect to be exposed to a lot of different options during 3 years in seminary, so who knows where God will lead us! Robert has put in his application, so we'll keep you posted.

Here are some more pictures from our trip. Our camera is acting up, so some are a little blurry.

This is Edwards Hall where we stayed on campus. This was a beautiful old farmhouse on the property where the campus was built.


This is the Log Cabin on campus where child care is provided. Not sure how it all works, but apparently they offer free child care for certain times of the day so that couples can have a "date night" during seminary or to go shopping without the kids. One of the reasons we like Covenant so much is that they are committed to supporting a student's entire family, not just the student.

This is one of the on campus dormitories. They have 2 and 3 bedroom apartments for students with families to live on campus.


Here is the awesome playground right in front of the dorms! It's completely fenced in and has a covered picnic area. Definitely a plus.


Community garden!