Compassion

I want to introduce everyone to a new member of our family - Isai! He is the sweetest little 4 year old that I have ever seen... besides the two that I've raised. I wanted the boys to be able to learn a little lesson about how other children live around the world as they grow up. They need to learn that other people out there can be extremely happy with much less.

I want them to know that this little guy is blessed by a little bit from us every month -- just $38.00 a month does so much for him, and enriches his life in so many ways. He gets bible lessons and healthcare... snacks, and nutrition enrichment... his parents will benefit from his sponsorship as well. I hope that we are able to go and meet him one day, but that's of course me dreaming out loud.

We sponsored Isai with Compassion International - you can go there and look through their online catalog of children waiting to be sponsored from all over the world. I personally wanted a little boy roughly James and Tyler's age... and this face just grabbed me from the screen. If you have girls, maybe you'd like to sponsor a little girl that is your kids' age. It really doesn't matter that much who you choose - just get in there and help these kids.

Another thing I love is that we can send him letters through the Compassion website - which I feel like gets there faster as well as it's easier to send photos that way... just upload and then it's able to be translated for him. We've received our first letter back from Isai and got a sweet little picture from him since he is so little - he doesn't write yet.

Additionally, I love that at his birthday we can send him a gift - which they recommend $10 for him... or at Christmas we can send his family $25. They do have maximums for the kids of $100 over the course of a year... and $1,000 for the family. That's a lot for us, but I imagine that even sending the small amounts would bless them greatly. I can't wait to learn more about his family...

So far, he is an only child and lives with his parents in the country. His parents both are employed, which is wonderful! I hope that our relationship grows and that he is truly blessed by getting to know us too.

I'm so proud to be a part of this journey with him, and I hope that the boys learn a lot through the experience as well. Maybe one day the three of the boys can be pen-pals as well! 

Why We Chose Homeschool

You might be wondering why we have chosen to homeschool since both of us attended public school as kids. There are lots of answers to that, but I thought I'd lay out a few of them in the event that someone stopping by these parts of the humble internet might be weighing their options on how they'd like to handle schooling their children.

First, let me say that I absolutely think that this is something that every family needs to consider for themselves... what works for us, won't work for everyone... and I'd like the same respect. Disagree with me, no problem... but I won't tolerate attacks on my family because of our choices.

1) The initial decision came because of our family's unique situation in that our boys are only 6 months apart in age. We didn't feel like it was fair for Tyler to have to wait to go to school for another year because of his birthday month being just after the cut off period for traditional school. He is a very advanced learner, and while his maturity might not be quite there -- I don't think that he should be held back from learning. They are so close that we felt like they should be in the same grade together. They can help challenge each other.

2) James has some challenges with his motor skills, but he is smart as a whip! He needs some extra time to get his cutting, writing, and other skills developed - so we can work with him one on one to get those skills caught up. He is crazy smart though - it's amazing what he can do if he is given the right environment and encouragement.

3) I've wanted to be a teacher since I was very young, but I'm not 100% on board with some of the things that are taught in the public schools. Additionally, I wanted to have some Bible study as part of school without having to pay for the boys to go to private school. Having a program that is all integrated together using the Bible as a basis for everything is good as well. The program we chose has 5 major subjects covered, but also has everything set up in a very user friendly way. That way the kids can use all of their knowledge as they gain it in each subject. For instance, there is spelling and vocabulary covered in all subjects -- and when the subject matter can tie back to the Bible, they cover that as well.

4) There is a lot to learn outside of the classroom as well: like home maintenance, car maintenance, health, cooking, baking, menu planning, budgeting, grocery shopping, time management, and so much more... that they can learn everyday while they are going through life. These things can be taught on the weekends and free time from school, true... but for us going through our whole day is a learning process.

5) This one might be harsh, but there is a lot going on in the world these days that I don't think my children need to learn from right now. While I don't want to completely shelter the boys from everything, I do think that kids are far too exposed to the bad things too early these days. I want to reserve the right to be able to talk to them about the good and bad they see around them on my own terms and in ways they can understand. While there are some bad things thought about Christianity these days, I want to teach them about the good that comes from our faith. I don't want to spread hate - I want them to learn that while there are things (sins) in everyone that aren't good, but you love them anyway - just as Jesus would.




6) Even though we went to public school when we were kids - life sure has taken a drastic turn. I mean, there weren't school shootings in the 80s and 90s when we were in school. There weren't teachers paraded on the news every night for raping students or anything else for that matter. Life was simpler then, and while bad things can happen anywhere... I'd like to protect them as much as possible.

7) All of that being said, we do have a FANTASTIC network of homeschoolers that we are able to interact with and share our experiences. We do lots of field trips together, and have a Moms Night Out once a month to let the moms get together and refresh our batteries to teach our littles. So, we do have a village, but it's a village of our choosing. A village of like minded families for the most part - not just people thrown together by geography.

8) Another reason would be standardized tests -- when I was young, they were a part of our schooling every year, but they just happened... there wasn't any taking months to prepare for them and teaching just what was on the tests. It makes me sad that this is what schooling has come to. I want my kids to have better than that - I want for them to learn without the pressure of an annual test. Our program does have tests, but they are done differently and I will be intimately aware of what we need to work on again vs what they have mastered.

9) As their Mom, I am uniquely qualified to be able to give them proper encouragement for their work. I can help them work when they are at their best, and around our own schedule. If someone gets sick - we can always work on the weekend to get caught up... if life gets in the way for a month... we can work during the summer. We have the flexibility to do what is best for our family.

10) Their Dad gets to participate as well! We call him the principal, but he is intimately involved in choosing our curriculum... he helps teach when needed too. He helps drill the boys on certain aspects of their learning, goes over their worksheets with them. He encourages them, and is a big part of our reward system as well. He truly is a huge blessing and help!

These are some of our reasons for homeschooling our children. I know it's not the right choice for everyone, but it is right for us.

Busy Homeschool Day

Yesterday was a very busy day for us - it was a field trip day with our homeschool group friends. We went to tour the local mounted police stables, and got to feed the horses carrots & apples. The boys had a good time feeding the horses, but had a hard time with the portions that involved sitting in the classroom. I think it must be their age and the fact that they are SO close in age, but they just pick at each other the entire time they are supposed to pay attention. I hope that gets better with age because I need a break from that level of crazy.

Here are some pictures from our field trip...

After we left the stables, we decided to go have a surprise lunch with Daddy. It was $.92 cent hotdog day at James Coney Island - so the boys could eat as much as they wanted for CHEAP! They loved it, and then once we were done with lunch - we went up in Daddy's office to visit all of his coworkers.

Finally, last night was our Homeschool Group's Moms Night Out - so we went to Shogun for hibachi. It is always nice to be able to catch up with other moms that can relate so much to what your own life is like on a daily basis. In our little group of 5 moms out last night... there were truly some amazing warrior moms there. Two of them have autistic children, one deals with severe gluten allergies in herself and her children, one has 4 children and is trying to sell her house, and one has a child with severe ADHD. There were 5 moms representing 12 children. We had a great time, laughed a lot, and just had some time of fellowship and relaxing. I can't wait until the next one on June 1st.

My Testimony - Part 3

To read from the beginning -- Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

Today also happens to be World MoyaMoya Day - I am happy to be able to shed some light on this rare disease on behalf of my family and my cousin's daughter as well.

In January of 2013, I had a health scare. I had a TIA (mini stroke), I was slurring my words and unable to answer John’s questions, so I spent about 5 days in the hospital having all sorts of tests. I was released from the hospital and followed up with a neurologist in Memphis, but the doctors couldn’t tell me much other than I had evidence of several mini strokes and small veins in my brain. They told me then that as long as my blood pressure stayed in control, everything should be fine. As you can expect, Memphis doesn’t have the world class medical providers that we were used to, but God protected me. 

In October of 2013, we moved back to Houston… and during that move, I had another TIA. In my Dad’s driveway – I was totally disoriented and slurring my words. I took some aspirin and continued on with the move. I didn’t take it seriously; like I should have, but thankfully God was in control. After the first of the year, I started a wellness group and we challenged each other to drink nothing but water. Initially, I thought I was detoxing from caffeine… but it kept on going and I had a migraine every single day of January 2014. I went in to see my doctor, and then a neurologist. 

The neurologist diagnosed me with MoyaMoya Disease in March, and the only treatment (there is no cure) is brain surgery. Thankfully we were back in Houston, and the Chief of Neurosurgery at Houston Methodist has lots of experience with MoyaMoya. It’s basically that my blood vessels are too small and it causes pressure to build up in my brain – so they needed to bypass those vessels in order for newer larger vessels to grow. I needed a bypass on both sides. 

in the ICU after surgery

 day after surgery

So I had my first brain surgery on May 1, 2014. I recovered for 8 weeks from that one, and then had the second on July 8, 2014. I’ve been extremely lucky, because this is usually diagnosed in children. My cousin’s daughter is 12 and had surgery for the same thing a year and a half before I did. God kept me from having a major stroke, and I’m forever grateful for my relationship with Him because I’m not sure how I could have gotten through all that we have without Him. 

second surgery scar

 

shaving my head

We still struggle with getting over all of the issues that came along with being out of sorts for basically the entirety of last summer. Tyler still has issues with being left without one of us, as a lot of you have seen with his fear of being in Sunday School without John. He still thinks every time someone comes to see them that I’m going to leave and go to the hospital. I know that in time things will settle down, and we’ll find out this summer how things are going when I go back for a day surgery procedure where they will test my blood vessel growth. 

God has been with me for my whole life, and even though it took me a while to come around to Him… I know that he knew what he was doing. He got me through all that we’ve walked through up to now, and I know that he will be there with us for all that will come in the future as well. I pray that my story has blessed ya’ll in some way.

If you'd like to read more about my MoyaMoya Journey, click this link to all of my stories regarding my experience. 

My Testimony - Part 2

If you want to start at the beginning -- Part 1 is here.

The desire to have children still weighed on my heart daily, and in 2009 we started the process of seeing another fertility specialist. I went through some serious craziness with the fertility drugs and all, but I never was able to produce a viable egg for the doctors to use for any of the procedures. Not one single egg. We were in the middle of the 13 week New Testament Challenge at the time with the church, and I stuck with that challenge… I even have a journal with the notes I took and my daily prayers – which are interesting to go back and read now. During the challenge, I remember the doctor calling me in to tell me there was only one last ditch effort they could try, but somewhere in my heart I knew that it wasn’t going to work out. We had gone to just tell them we were done, and that we were going to explore adoption. They talked me into the meds, and having my tubes cleared out with dye… so we went through with that procedure in September or October of 2009. 

I started taking that last medication, and the same day – I literally became virtually blind – I couldn’t see a thing. We were driving to John’s parents house that day, and decided that we were officially done. So we called the doctor and told them that we couldn’t do it anymore. There were 3 huge signs from God that we needed to look at adoption, and not just any adoption agency… but New Life Adoptions specifically. A friend directed me to one of the counselors and her daughter, then we heard another friend adopted from there, and I think we saw a billboard at our friends’ church for the agency. I’m talking it was clear that this was it. 

We started the adoption process, and had our first meeting with the agency in December of 2009. By February of 2010, we had been matched with a sweet birthmom that was going to give us a baby girl. February 20, 2010 – we were at the hospital and heard the chimes that the baby girl was born, but in the process – the birthmom decided to keep her baby. I was devastated, but even then I felt the presence of God. I never really worried about the baby other than just knowing that we could have given her more worldly things, but I worried about that sweet girl that must have felt so many emotions and fear. She never responded to the counselors trying to reach out to her after the birth, but I asked them to mail her a card for me. I think of them every year on her birthday, and pray that they are doing well. 

8 years, 1 month, and 17 days after we got married – we welcomed James Edward Hawkins to our family. He was born during the Women’s Retreat that year, and I remember texting pictures of him to a few close friends. The very night that we brought James home from the hospital… a mere 5-6 hours after signing the adoption papers for him, we found out that I was pregnant with Tyler. Can you imagine the looks you get when you show up to your first prenatal appointment with a newborn?!?

My pregnancy wasn’t easy by any means, and caring for a newborn at the same time was rough. We made it through, and Tyler was born at 36 weeks. We found out at my delivery that if the doctor had chosen for me to try a traditional birth instead of a c-section, I would have bled to death because the veins in my placenta were 5-10 times the normal size. He spent 12 days in the NICU, but was a little champ. We were thrilled to have everyone home. 

 

We had been praying about my job situation as it wasn’t good, and they fired me for being out on leave with two maternity leaves in one year. God was in the details there too, because he provided John a huge promotion… but it meant moving away from all of our friends for a couple of years. When Ty was 6 months old and James just over a year old we moved to Memphis.