Sunday, July 12, 2009

Quick June Review...

June was busy, busy, busy! I went to a couple Homeschool Used Book sales and was able to sell a few things. Noah went to one with me and we had some good bonding time. Patty went to the second one with me and it was great to spend the day with my teen! We even went to lunch together. I can't remember the last time just the two of us went out to lunch.
While I was doing book sales, Scott and Hannah were on the Jr. High SMO (summer mission outreach) in Canada. They had a great time and I'll have Hannah make a slide-show or two of pics later. We had several graduation parties this month. It seems those invites greatly multiply the older your children get. Their friends become family friends and suddenly our social calendar is full to overflowing. What a blessing!
Zac spent a week at Red Cedar in Fort Wayne for Autism camp. He did horse therapy everyday along with karate, fishing, canoeing, arts and crafts and lots more! He loves it!! He raved about it so much last year that Noah has begged this year to get to go to Red Cedar for camp himself this summer. His week at camp is in August. I hope he enjoys it as much as Zac.
On July 4th, Patty headed off on his Sr. High SMO trip to Hazzard County, Kentucky. The teens were putting on a Vacation Bible School in the evenings for a small church we support in McRoberts, KY. During the day they would be working on any projects the church needed done. He is on his way home as I type. I can't wait to hug my little boy and have his spark back in our home! What am I going to do when he heads off to college?
4-H starts this week. Another busy month for us!

WOL, NY part 2

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Word of Life, NY part 1

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She's Ours!!!




Our prayers, our faith, our patience rewarded. Hebrews 11:1


It is with great joy


we introduce the


newest Zeigler...


Naomi Beth


born January 19, 2007


adopted forever into


our hearts


May 18, 2009


Proud parents... Scott & Annette


Adoring siblings... Patrick, Hannah,


Zachery, & Noah


Sunday, May 17, 2009

Our team: back row Claire, Abbey and Laurie Keister, Nancy Zeigler. Front row: Zac, Annette and Hannah Zeigler
Yesterday was the Autism Walk with ACT (Autism Community Together). The monies raised goes to pay for summer programs like summer camp at Red Cedar, hippotherapy (horse), speech therapy and more. Zachery will attend Red Cedar's Autism Camp this year again and will be taking hippotherapy for 6 weeks this summer (thanks GG and Grandma Nancy!) at Red Cedar, also. The week of camp is absolutely amazing! Zac has so much fun and they work him really hard, too. Last year they rode horses every day, learned some karate, yoga, went swimming and fishing, had a scavenger hunt just to name a few things. He grew so much that week! His self-confidence level jumped! It was the best thing we had ever done for him. I can't wait to see what this year does for him!


This year's walk was very cold and rainy. We ended up heading home before the walk actually began. We had Naomi and her baby sister with us (they were warming up in the Excursion during this picture) and they were just way too cold to stay. The baby ended up running a fever that afternoon. Poor baby...

Naomi's EEG


Naomi did super for her EEG. They wanted her sleepy and she was! She fell asleep half way through getting all the probes stuck to her head. She snored while the EEG tech and I talked away. The results were basically inconclusive. The neurologist's words were "it appears to be normal, however, this test was just a blip in time and because of the symptoms she presents we would be wise to do a 24 hour video taped EEG." So... we are waiting for the hospital to call and tell us when that will be. Answers like this really frustrate me!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Naomi's Heart Test Results




We saw Dr. Dick Friday for the results of Naomi's EKG (pictured above) and Echo. Her EKG was normal, but her echo did show a tiny whole in her heart so we are scheduling an appointment with Dr. Ghazali to follow up. Hopefully it is just like Zac's and the doctor will just want to watch it and wait for it to close on it's own. We also discussed the concerns of her speech therapist. Her speech problems appear to be more neurological in nature and she feels we would benefit greatly by consulting with a pediatric neurologist. Dr. Dick agreed and his office is scheduling an EEG to rule out seizure activity and a follow up appointment with Dr. Kahn. So, one more test and two new doctors. On the adoption front, we may be making an announcement of great importance very, very soon!!! ;-)

Friday, April 17, 2009

Hannah and Patty leave for TI



I couldn't resist posting this! Hannah and Patrick are heading for an overnight stay with the youth group for their Regional Teens Involved competition. Hannah can hardly lift her bag and keep it there long enough for me to take the picture! She wants to make sure everyone knows that Patty didn't have to pack any makeup or hair styling tools and she has her Chapel Heirs (choir) outfit and he isn't in Chapel Heirs. However he does have an outfit for the competitions and a casual outfit to change into plus clean boxers and pj pants. She really does not get this from her mom! I would pack a bag that size full of books, but not clothes, make up, hair stuff.... no way! Oh, and notice Patty's jeans, the wholes in both legs. This is the only pair he has left. When he went to Michigan with some teens a couple weeks ago, he ripped the butt out of his other pair so this is what he has left. He went to Wal-mart to buy some new jeans but couldn't find any that fit that didn't look amish. His words, not mine. What is a mother to do? I love them with all my heart and pray for their future spouses fervently! ;-D




Top photo is Patty's wonderful Wal-Mart luggage and the bottom photo is Hannah's designer Vera Bradley luggage.

Patty and Hannah head to Regional TI


Here are their 2 bags together plus Hannah's purse and notebook with her quizzing notes because she will actually be reviewing her material on the bus. Notice Patty has no notes with his bag...this concerns his mother, but I am learning to let it go. :-)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Crazy Birds!





We had some crazy visitors this week. A mourning dove couple were trying (rather unsuccessfully) to build a nest in the windowsill above our front door. We had seen these birds flying around the porch off and on all week. I was afraid they would make a nest too close to the front door and then attack the kids all spring as they tried to go out side. We were shocked on Thursday when Noah and I noticed a strange creature peeking in on us through the window above the front door. The first picture is one of the birds watching us as we watched him. The next picture is their nest debris where it kept falling as it would slide off the sloping sill. Then a couple pictures of the doves and their futile attempts to create a nest. Finally on Saturday they gave up and headed to the tree around the side of the house. Now I can hear their calls from my bed every morning. How pretty!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Race is On!








Zac and Naoh had a blast at their annual AWANA Grand Prix. They both made mustangs. Made it easier on Dad! Of course, Noah's had to be black and Zac's had to be John Deere green. ;o)

The Journey Continues


Naomi had a check up with Dr. Dick Friday (3/20/09) and I went prepared with lots of questions. She had been seen by a nutritionist last month because of concern with her eating habits. She will eat from now til tomorrow if you let her. I have seen her refuse food only 2 times in the year and a half she's been with us and that has been peas both times. Dr. Dick put her on Zoloft 7 months ago to stop her from screaming for the food on other people's plates. I mean SCREAMING, banging her head on her highchair tray, extremely over-the-top reaction. It was pretty scary. The Zoloft controls this, but she still seems unable to tell when her body has taken in enough food. According to the nutritionist she is getting way more calories than she needs and the balance of proteins, fats, carbs, etc is great and this is with me putting a lid on how much food she eats per meal. However, she has never had an ounce of fat on her. Her little ribs and breast bone stick out and her belly is distended like a malnurished child. The nutritionist suggested checking her metabolism (not an easy thing to do Dr. Dick said) and I asked him to check if she is not absorbing the nutrients in the foods she is eating (very easy to do, he said).

Then he proceeded to do the routine check up and would you believe he found a heart murmur?! He gave me an order for an EKG and they will be calling with details on the echo-cardiogram as soon as they get it set up. He then order a total of 16 different labs to run to try to answer all my questions. This poor kid! :( We do need answers, though. I hope this gives us some.

We also agreed to up her Clonidine a little to try to control some new behavior issues that have developed since the last time we saw him. She will play in and eat her feces and pick her nose inside and out til it bleeds. All pretty common for FAS kiddos, but not always easy or fun to deal with as a parent.

On a brighter note, she may be ready to graduate out of Physical Therapy! What amazing progress she has made in a year! She is a fighter and I'm excited to see where God will take her in her life. She is so sweet and loving and gentle. She loves her baby sister and spends lots of time holding her hand and smiling at her. What fun!

Thursday, February 26, 2009


A close up view.

Zac's AlphaSmart has arrived!


Back in November, Zac's Occupational Therapist suggested we apply for a grant from the ARC Foundation to purchase an AlphaSmart. It is basically a personal word processor with a few added features to help those with special needs. The public schools use them with their special needs kids.

For Zac this will really help his writing ability. He has tremendous trouble with remembering how to tell his hand to write the letters. His mind can work through the spelling portion pretty well now, but then taking that info and transfering it to written form is torture for him. Also, the legibility of his handwriting is very rough and we can't seem to make it any better. Believe me, we have tried everything!

I can type up worksheets on my computer, download them to his AlphaSmart and he can fill in answers then print the page on our printer. He can also practice spelling words on it, type copywork or dictation, etc. I'm excited to experiment with the many ways we can use this tool.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Do you need to change your mind?

I've been struggling with where I spend my time lately and how much gets spent on me verses housework, schooling the kids, changing diapers and bottle feedings, etc. Is it okay to set apart time for me and why do I feel so guilty when I do? God gave me Prov. 14:8 to chew on these last few days. I'm reading The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan, a book about reclaiming the Sabbath rest God intended for us to use, but so many lessons in this book can apply elsewhere in my life, too. I love Mark's breakdown of Prov. 14:8...
The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways,
(they think about where they are going)
but the folly of fools is deception.
(they keep lying to themselves.)
Mark goes on to say..."Wise people ask, Does the path I'm walking lead to a place I want to go?
If I keep heading this way, will I like where I arrive?
Fools keep making excuses for themselves, justifying and blaming, all the way to nowhere.
They dupe themselves right to the grave. They never change their minds."
This has challenged me to look at the path I'm on and the choices I'm making every day and ask "Do I want to continue down this path? Will I like where I will arrive at the end of this path?" To change our direction, we need to change our mind, our attitudes, thoughts and actions and head down a different path. This idea of changing my mind has been a lightbulb moment for me. I have been the fool, lying to myself, making excuses, justifying, blaming. For instance, with my weight...I can blame the hormones my doctor put me on or my hysterectomy for messing up my hormones. I can justify my decision not to exercise with the fact that there is not enough time in my day to add it in. I'm too busy with all of these kids. My list could and did go on and on and on. I'm just duping myself right into the grave! I have to face the truth about my weight and the physical problems it is causing and the fact that I'm the only one who can do something about it. I won't wake up one day and find it magically fell off while I was sleeping. I must change my mind, my thinking, about what I need to do everyday and the choices that are best for me. That is when I will begin to see real change and improvement.
I can apply this "change of mind" to many, many things in my life and I plan to make more changes in the coming days. What a difference it makes when we do as it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5
Take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Naomi's adoption UPDATE


Our attorney officially filed our petition to adopt on Feb. 11!!! We are just waiting (as we have for the last 6 months :( ) for the county and state to finish up the paperwork on their end of things. Our caseworker was out this week and we signed a few more papers. Hopefully we are getting close to the end. We don't have a date yet, but I'm hopeful we will soon.



Okay everyone, I never got around to sending out our Christmas letter this year so I decided to make it my first post on our Zeigler Zoo blog. My goal is to post an update every week, but we'll see how that goes. Hope you all are doing well!







Zeigler Family’s 2008 in Review


January
January started off with a surprise Retirement Party for Annette’s dad, Bernie. A week later we celebrated the first birthday of our foster daughter, Carlie. We are thrilled to announce her pending adoption! It should be finalized in the early part of 2009. Her name will officially change to Naomi Beth Zeigler.


February
Zachery turned 11 in February. Hannah participated in her last AWANA Grand Prix and Noah in his first.


March
Our dear friend, Chris Gaff, lost his battle with ALS. We will miss Chris and still mourn with his widow, Jody, but rejoice in the fact that we will be reunited in glory!


April
Naomi began physical therapy and developmental therapy for severe delays.


May
Scott and I celebrated our 15th anniversary. Scott faced some tough competition on May 6 in the General Election. He won this round, now let’s wait and see if the Democrats can find someone to run against him in November. To make election day more exciting, Noah broke his finger and had to go to the emergency room. Scott lead our church’s first College and Career mission trip. They spent a week at Camp Assurance in Illinois. Scott’s dad, Paul, had surgery after several months of chemo and radiation treatments fighting colon cancer. He is slowly getting his energy back and trying to return to a new “normal”. Patrick turned 17 and got his driver’s license for his birthday! He even bought his own truck a few months before in anxious anticipation.
The last week of May our family went on our annual mission trip to Word of Life Bible Institute and Camp in Schroon Lake, New York. This was our family’s 5th year. A total of 9 families went this year! What a blessing it is to share the joy of working for the Lord. Many hands make light work!


June
Scott went with the Jr. High Teens on their Summer Missions Outreach trip to Word of Life, Canada. Zac’s highlight of his summer was spending a week at “horsy camp” (Red Cedar)! This was a special week for autistic children only. He rode a horse everyday. He even stood up in the saddle once and on the last day of camp he was chosen to lead the other campers on their daily horse ride around the lake.


July
Naomi began Speech Therapy and had tubes put in her ears. That was one of the best things we have ever done for her! She finally started babbling and calling me mom! Scott’s brother, Todd and his family came up from North Carolina for a week during 4-H Fair time. All 4 kids had 4-H projects this year. Patrick, with his busy schedule, ended up with only Bowling this year. Hannah took Bowling and Foods - breadsticks. Zac took Bowling and Lawn and Garden (which includes a tractor driving contest!). Noah took Bowling, Electric -circuit board, and Lawn and Garden. The day after the 4-H Fair ended, Patty packed up and went on the Sr. High SMO trip to Word of Life, New York.


August
We spent 17 days in our motor home traveling along some of the Lewis & Clark trail. We went all the way to the coast of Washington and Oregon. While we were gone Naomi’s mom and dad voluntarily terminated their parental rights and agreed to let us adopt her. We were shocked to get that phone call but utterly thrilled with God’s timing. Zac had a check up with his heart doctor and we learned his hole in his heart closed up on its own! He was one excited little boy. The fear of heart surgery had been weighing on us all for the last two years. God is so good! Volleyball season began again for Hannah this month. She also began attending the coveted Teen Club at church. School began again upon returning from vacation. Patrick is a Junior, Hannah is in 7th grade, Zachery is in 5th grade and Noah is in 4th grade.


September
Hannah turned 13 on the 11th and got the birthday present she had been praying for. Naomi’s baby sister was born on the 10th. We were called on the 11th and I brought her home from the hospital on the 12th. It is quite possible we will adopt her also. She weighed 5# 9 oz. and was 17” long. She is growing like crazy and entertaining us all. She just started smiling and cooing. She has a giraffe on her mobile above her bed that has become her best friend. She lights up every time she sees him and can spend 20 minutes laying there talking to him. Adding two babies to our family less than one year has been quite a challenge, but we thank God everyday for his faithfulness to us and for finding us worthy of this high, high calling. Hannah and Noah began another season of Tae Kwon Do. Naomi dropped Developmental Therapy this month to add Occupational Therapy. Our total therapies are as follows…Tuesday -Naomi/OT, Wednesday - Naomi/PT, Thursday - Naomi/Sp and Friday -Zac/Sp and OT. Whew!


October
Puppets ministry started up again for Patrick and they performed for the Albion Harvest Fest this month. Noah participated in a basketball camp. Hannah and Patrick both began Quiz Team this month. We spent a Sunday with Scott’s family making apple cider. We made around 40 gallons!


November
Noah turned 10! Scott ended up with no competition for the General Election so he will be the Noble County Surveyor for 4 more years! Hannah finally was allowed to get her ears pierced. She took her friend Claire with her for support. This Thanksgiving we spent a week on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina with Scott’s entire family. The weather was chillier than we expected but it was still a great adventure. It was a great “memory maker” for us all!


December
Zac and Noah sang in the children’s Christmas program. Zac got to be a shepherd kneeling at baby Jesus’ manger. Annette’s family met up for family portraits. We had never had the entire family present before so this was one for the record books.



May Christ be first in your heart this season and all the new year through!
Hand to the plow,
The Zeigler Family
Scott & Annette
Patrick, Hannah, Zachery, Noah, Naomi, & Savannah