PRACTICE XRAYS OLIVIA TOOK ON ME TODAY!!!!!! GREAT JOB OLIVIA...

olivia continues to do well!!!!!!! she is learning by leaps and bounds.  you can all be so proud of  her.

we have had a wonderful weekend.  i felt that i should offer oliva an opt out of the flea market if she so chose.  even though it meant that she would be home for most of the weekend alone, she opted out.  i have had a great time with my daughter logan and i believe olivia has enjoyed her alone time.

it is saturday evening as i am posting my blog,  and olivia left  2 hours ago  to attend another outdoor music concert.  she left with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.  i know that she appreciates us giving her the freedom and abilitly to go. 

i am looking forward to hearing a challenging message a church tomorrow and then joining logan again for our last day at the flea market.  i love that place so much! i can't imagine why olivia would chose to not be there from sun up to sun down for 3 days in a row.

avery and olivia are doing our family grocery shopping tomorrow.  this is a chore that i have always hated doing and i am learning to delegate it to other adults that live in the home. why should i have to be the one to go?  i assure you - olivia will return with something chocolate.

we have a super busy weekend ahead of us as we are working at the nashville flea market.  we will set our booth up this afternoon and then be there bright and early friday, saturday, and sunday.  olivia is a good  when left with the option to stay home she rarely chooses to do so.  she almost always opts to join us where ever we go (whatever we do).

as a side note - i see a huge improvement in olivia's depression.   i know that the attributes this much to her medication.  she has been deligent to take it and make sure that she doesn't run out.   she is being as responsible as she knows to be! 

Hard at Work

good weekend!!  olivia cooked dinner for us saturday.  she borrowed avery's car and went to an outdoor music concert all by herself.  i told her that i felt as if i were sending my 1st grader off to school.  i think she felt much the same way.  she left with a smile on her face and returned 2 1/2 hours later with even a bigger smile.

she called her dad today to tell him happy father's day today.  she said that they had a good talk and she seemed to be encouraged afterward.  she said that she knows he is in the right place and that she is in the right place.

i am sleepy and headed to bed! will post more later...

we were commenting today on the fact that olivia has been here for exactly 2 months.  she is amazed  at how much she has learned during this short amount of time.  i am also amazed at how well she has fit into our family and become apart of our lives.

she passed her nitrous oxide monitoring class today and we rejoice with her in that.  we had a birthday celebration for andrew tonight.  she joined us in a game of "taboo" which  she had never played before but gave it her best shot.

in a family, when one rejoices we all rejoice and when one hurts we all hurt.  my daughter, avery, and her boyfriend have put an end to their relationship.  avery is hurting and olivia sincerely seems to hurt for her also.

i am trusting God in olivia's life just as i am trusting Him in my own personal life as well as avery, logan, andrew and ole's lives.  i rest in the fact that i have never, never, never had a need that He has not more than met.

       

this week has been an exceedingly hard week.  i can't really explain exactly why but some days are just a struggle and then some weeks are a struggle.  my family is not perfect.  we are not trying to show olivia what a perfect family looks like.  that would be impossible since as i just stated we are not perfect.  in fact, we are not really trying to show olivia anything.  we are simply living our lives.

lucky her!  she gets to watch.  she gets the front row seat in our reality show.  our reality must be better than the reality that she knew before coming to our home.  i asked her a few days ago if she was homesick and she said NO.  i asked if she could see herself ever becoming homesick and again she said NO.

i don't have the above plaque perfected but i am working on it. 

God is good and we are blessed!!!!!

i have to constantly fight the urge to make  plans and timelines for olivia.  i have a very nasty habit of coming up with "wonderful" plans and then scheming about how i can bring these great ideas to fruition. God more often than not jolts me into the reality that my plans stink.  it is actually quite gracious of Him to do so.  this is His merciful way of letting me know that He has a much better plan than i can ever imagine. this is true not only for olivia but for myself and all of those around me.

pray that i will be wise to see the doors that God is opening for olivia and then walking through them rather than planning for her and then finding an accomodating door.

i know that she is nervous about the nitrous oxide monitoring class she will be taking on friday.  keep her in your prayers!!!!

our pastor spoke yesterday about how the enemy wants to rob us of our God given potential.  i am so thankful that even though Satan sought to eraticate all potential from olivia's life he was not successful.  Satan is a mighty advocate but God's love for olivia is greater!

it's a reminder for my life also. i have regrets and am sure that i have allowed Satan to rob me of potential but God's love has won out over and over again.  He has and is continuing to fulfill His potential in my life too.

i gave olivia a hug and told her that i see potential in her life.  she smiled and nodded yes.  i hope that means that she sees it too!!

i apologize for not blogging everyday.  there is often not enough time in the day to do everything that i want to do!

we went to a "centering prayer" workshop today.  i hope that olivia walked away with a better understanding of exactly what meditation in our yoga practice is all about.  not everyone that practices yoga has the privilege of having a yoga instructor that is a believer.  as she pointed out today -meditation has been around for thousands of years.  isn't it sad how the world can take ANYTHING and turn it away from God.

Psalms 19:14 -  "may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in you sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. "

this is a big week for olivia.  she begins some grammar/english tutoring on thursday and takes a nitrous oxide monitoring class on friday.  keep her in your prayers!

olivia and i had a discussion last night about moving forward so i thought that this saying was very appropriate for today.

i complemented olivia on the way home today about how well she was doing and the improvement that i see everyday in her people skills.  when she first arrived and she spoke to the therapist he asked her what one thing she would like to improve about herself and she said she would like to "have better people skills."  i have racked my brain about what i could do to help her in that area and have even felt discouraged because i didn't feel there was much i could do.  i have had to simply trust that God knows her every need and would meet this one as well as many others.  i should not be surprised each time i hear her speak a little more confidently, a little more clearly.   however, i never cease to be amazed at God's goodness!!!!  this is no exception.

Luke 1:46 - my sould glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.    

God is very mindful of olivia's state and will tend to every detail.

it's been yet another blessed (and productive) day! logan and i got up bright and early to head for the office to tend to the bitter sweet job of mailing out bills to our patients.  it is bitter because some patients refuse to pay, others pay but ever so slowly, then there are the ones that pay but complain miserably about having to do so. it is sweet because we have many patients that understand totally that it's their bill and their responsibility to pay. period.   SORRY!!!!!! i couldn't resist the opportunity to vent.

olivia opted to stay home and do her cleaning and laundry.  i think it had something to do with our bright and early departure this morning.  otherwise, she is usually right there with us. she accompanies us just about everywhere we go. i hope she is beginning to feel that she is a part of our family. she is.

we ended the evening again at an outdoor music concert.  i am amazed by how much olivia loves music. she loves and appreciates all genres.  i cannot help but think that had her circumstances in life been different she would have been a musician.

a wise person once told me when i was going through a difficult trial - "you can't go back, you can't stay where you are, you must go forward."  when i am tempted to wonder what olivia's life could have or should have been,  i dwell on that thought.  she has no where to go but forward.