Make that two referrals to Doernbecher's

I've been wanting to give an update on Elias. Most people know that three years ago, we had him seen by a children's behavioral pyschologist who diagnosed him with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (a disorder on the autism spectrum) and with Sensory Integration Disorder. At the time, Elias was four years old. He rarely spoke intelligibly, did not respond to his name and was constantly engaging in risky behavior (checking out electrical outlets, running away and into the street, climbing on top of things and jumping off). The diagnosis was a relief (more information is always helpful!) and frustrating (now what do we do--we were living in a third world country after all.)

God provided, as He always does with just what we needed right when we needed it. He was able to receive weekly help with a special education teacher at Natasha's school. We were able to find an English speaking Occupational Therapist nearby--who even came to our home at first, a real help since he did not transition well at the time. Over the next two years we focused on building up his weak arm and hand muscles, challenging him to speak, working on letters and numbers, getting along with his sisters and maintaining eye contact among many other skills. He was unable to write more than one or two very poorly constructed letters before becoming fatigued and melting down. We continued to homeschool, thankful for a curriculum that was based on auditory learning.

Zoom to current day. Elias is now attending first grade in public school. He entered this year a full grade level below his classmates in regards to reading, writing and math. I struggled with feeling like a failure as a homeschool parent. But when I remembered where he was two years ago, I knew we had focused on what he needed at the time. This year we, along with his two wonderful teachers, have witnessed an incredible growth in areas which formerly seemed impossible for him to grasp. Literally. He couldn't grasp a pencil correctly. Now he writes out self-composed short compositions (Why I want to be an Army Man when I grow up) and is working happily addressing 44 Valentines for his classmates tomorrow.

In October, we met with the special ed. team at his school to approve testing to see if he qualified for special help. We met with them last week after they finished his evaluation. Not to brag, but he's a smart kid! His results were impressive and encouraging. The team decided, and we concurred, that he currently has NO learning disability. His teachers both said that reading the report from three years ago, they both thought, "this isn't the same kid!"

I am so thankful for his progress, for his OT in Bolivia, for the opportunity to homeschool and focus on where he needed help most instead of him getting frustrated with academics. He still has a bit of a way to go before being at grade level in all academic areas, but he loves school. He is making good progress. He has two great teachers who see his potential and invest in him every day.

Some may look at where he is currently and think, "if this boy had been in formal school the last two years, he wouldn't be below benchmark." But I know that is not true. I looked at last week's evaluation report as a badge of honor. It took, sweat, prayers and tears to get to where we are today. I'm thankful and optimistic.

That said, we are still looking at getting Elias help with some medical concerns we still have. So, we will be making an appointment for him soon at Doernbecher's Children's Hospital. Just another aspect of his health, but we are hoping for more answers and more progress.

For those of you who pray for us and especially for Elias, thank you! God has done so much for us. Thank you for lifting us up in regard to Elias's health!

Happy Birthday Ana Sophia!!

This is a day late, but we celebrated Ana's fourth birthday yesterday with a well-child check-up, pizza and a pink butterfly cake. In retrospect, getting five separate vaccine shots wasn't a nice birthday present, but she did amazingly well.

Ana is our bright eyed, sweet, curly haired dimpled princess. If it's pink or princess-y she likes it. If it isn't, then, well, it should be. She even thinks her hair is pink. I mean if you love pink so much and you love your hair, then it only serves that said hair is pink, right?

Speaking of hair, we finally got the phone call today about a referral for her to see a dermatalogist. The balding has increased greatly with half a dozen new spots and the original spot now 3-4 inches in diameter. The LNP we have been seeing wants to do some more blood work soon, but the big hit came today when the referral was for Doernbecher's Childrens Hospital.

My stomach sunk and my heart raced. I knew we would have to take Ana to Portland if we were referred to another doctor, but I guess I wasn't expecting Doernbecher's. I'm thankful that we will be going there. But after raising money in school and hearing so many stories of the work they do there for kids with very serious illnesses it was a shock to hear. That said, I'm thankful for so many things and we have had a great week of seeing God work, even in the small things.

He is good. He provides for our needs before we know we have a need. His gifts are good. He has blessed us greatly with a funny, sweet, curly-Wehrley-girly, Ana Sophia.

Hair Update

We had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas. In fact, we are still having one. We will have our final family get together this coming Friday with my parents.

I just wanted to write an update on Ana's hair. She is still losing hair. The first spot is now a silver dollar size and a new spot has started. We are taking her back to the doctor Friday morning. I will be asking for blood work and to make sure we check for anything serious or treatable. But I am resigned to the alopecia areata diagnosis: untreatable, but livable.

A mother's heart

My heart is heavy tonight. It's full of wonder and hope during this advent time, but that special mother's heart of mine is heavy with unknowing and sadness for my dear Ana-girl.



It seems silly in the grand scheme of things. I know so many others who are suffering much worse, but I'm still sad for my girl. Last Monday I noticed a dime-sized section of her hair was missing. MISSING! At once I began the third degree. Did someone pull your hair? No.
Did your hair get caught in a toy? No.
Does it hurt?
Is it itchy?
Adam, do you remember anything happening to Ana's hair?
KIDS, do you guys know what happened to your sister?
No, no, no and no.

The skin looked a bit dry and scaly, so we massaged some olive oil into her scalp and left it overnight. Adam's theory was "if it's good enough for Jesus..." The next morning the dry and scaly part was gone. It did not, however, regrow my poor girl's hair while she lay sleeping.

By Tuesday night, the patch of missing hair had enlarged to the size of a quarter. By then I had decided to seek medical help. I got an appointment for that Friday.

We are now treating Ana with anti-fungal in case it is ringworm--highly unlikely given it's appearance. In fact, the doctor wishes it to be ringworm because we can at least treat that. More than likely it is alopecia areata. Hair loss with an unknown cause and varied outcomes. It could grow back. It may be permanent. It could spread. It could stay the same.

I'm thankful that we have ruled out scarier diagnoses. It's not lupus or a nervous disorder. We're going at this with all guns blazing: treating her for ringworm at several angles, increasing her protein and iron in case it is a deficiency in either area. I have hope that she'll regrow the missing hair.

But tonight I am sad for my girl who has to hide a bald spot at age three. Who has always been complemented on her beautiful curls and now may be noticed for a different reason. Who has such faith in me that after I applied some ointment the other night gave me a hug and said, "Thanks Mom for fixing my head."

Life and Death

In the wake of two recent deaths in my scope of acquaintances, I have been thinking about this time of year. How I have always rejoiced in the wonder and mystery of Christ come to earth; but how others struggle through the holidays grieving loved ones or not able to cope with life as they see it. Especially now as so many Americans are out of work. I'm right there with you!

I was thinking earlier today about something I learned in college. Not in class, but during a prayer and bible study meeting. We were talking about different levels of friendship. I can't remember everything, but basically there are three levels of people we know. Acquaintances (we know who these people are), people we call friends (we have things in common and hang out with these people), and friends who are our heart friends. I remember especially how these friends were described.

"These friends know the song of our heart and sing it to us when we forget."

I have been more than fortunate to have several heart friends through the years. They have often sung to me and reminded me of so many truths that I tend to forget or refuse to believe on my own.

My mom reminded me over and over that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Jeana reminded me that I am God's beloved.

Adam reminds me of my talents and strengths and loves me with a phileo love.

It was the love of these friends who have dragged me out of the depths many times. I can't thank God enough for loving me through these people.

At this time of year and after seeing so many people hurting from loss, I want to encourage you to sing that song that someone needs to hear. Has someone you know forgotten that they are loved? ...that they matter? ...that they are capable of more than they know? Let's remind them.

Here is my favorite Gaither song--(yeah, yeah...I know, but my grandma loved them and it wore off a bit). Make sure you get all the way to the last stanza. It will be worth it!

A new direction

Hello once again.

I'm back on the blog, hopefully for awhile. I've been wanting to write more than the occasional Facebook status to update people about our life. Some things seem too personal and heartwrenching for public perusal; but I feel the need to have a place to show others our life with honesty. Not to try to impress or even provoke sympathy, but so that we can all sit back together with anticipation and watch God work.

Since the last post, we have been keeping a sporadic blog via Avant Ministries at http://www.avantteam.com/wehrley/. There you will find some posts about life in Bolivia, some health issues I dealt with there (endometriosis) and then it kind of leaves off.

Let me fill you in:
We had plans in order for a short return to the United States during the Hebron Seminary's Christmas break so I could have surgery and seek care for my endometriosis. Then I got pregnant. A great way to put endometriosis on hold for awhile!

We made our planned trip to Oregon, but then hit a snag. We didn't receive our needed re-entry visas to Bolivia. The Bolivian Embassy needed more paperwork from us. So, we hurriedly rescheduled our flights, filled out more papers, paid more money and then, once again, we were not granted the visas. This time their requirements included more paperwork from the seminary in Bolivia. The time was too close to my delivery date and we had to wait for our daughter, Elsie-Mae, to be born before reapplying again.

After Elsie's birth in May we found out that all of the many ways we had worked on for getting the needed paperwork from the seminary or another sponsoring ministry in Bolivia would not work. It would take a year of continuous work and extra money for the seminary to "register" and get the documents in order for our successful visa application. After so many months of struggling, waning financial support and being in limbo, Adam decided that the door for us to return to ministry in Bolivia was closed. Our family and our sanity were falling apart and we needed to move on.

It has been a time of fear and trust.

Of craziness and peace.

Of scraping by and of plenty.

We are still looking for full-time family supporting work for Adam. We have settled in Beaver, Oregon next to the church I attended throughout my college years. We are blessed with wonderful friends, both here and in Alaska. We are enjoying being close to family for the first time in our own home.

I wanted to start writing here again because of one main thing. It was the topic of a sermon given the first Sunday of Advent.

Hope.

It's been easy for us to lose hope over the past year. Hope that we would return to ministry. Hope that we would get this job, or that one, or even hear back after sending off so many applications.

With the coming of Christmas, I was reminded that I am not to live like those who have no hope, but to be ready to give a reason to all that ask about the hope I have.

So, here it is: My hope is in Christ. He alone can provide for us so mysteriously, miraculously and lovingly. He has provided for our every need through our poverty. And I don't just mean finances, or food or clothes. He provided a way out of my sin. A way to be justified when I face a just God and have to give an answer for my sin.

My hope is not only in Christ--my hope IS Christ.

A Quick update regarding the seminary

Exciting things are happening here at Hebron Seminary. The second term started this week and the student population has grown some more. Many of my fellow professors are moving forward with their own education, and making progress in their own preparation to train others for decades to come. The seminary is reaching out and partnering with a wider variety of like minded churches and institutions both in Bolivia and beyond.


I am very excited about the focus on the fact that depth of love and depth of knowledge are not contradictory, and knowing Christ’s Word and lovingly serving His people never have to be pitted against each other. I sat in on the first Masters of Arts in Theology class, a two week modular on the History of Theology. It was informative, entertaining and great for my Spanish progress. These same men will be my students for several classes next year, along with the MA in Bible students and everyone taking Hebrew.


Molly and I are continuing to learn Spanish. I plan to teach Greek III in August. Next year I know I will be teaching Hebrew I, II, and III, an MA course on the writings of John and the book of Amos. Please pray for us in the next couple of months as we hope to finish our Spanish tutoring and pass our proficiency exams.

Same planet. Different Worlds.

An oft-quoted phrase regarding our son, Elias. Today I decided to see if he could answer some basic anatomy questions.

Me: "Elias, what do you smell with?

E: "A DRAGON!"

*hmmm...let's try this again.*

Me: "Elias, what do you use to smell?

E: "A nose."

*phew!*

E (now getting the hang of our Socratic game): "What do you pick the boogers with? .....Say 'a pinky.' A pinky."

*uh, yeah. Thanks for the demonstration with that one, bud.*

A makeover

So, the ol' blog is about to be revamped, spiced up and pretty-fied. Well, not pretty-fied since Adam sees it as representative of himself and he doesn't like to look all girly.

I am layout shopping this week. I don't like what I'm finding though. After cruising around and reading blogs and blogging for awhile, I have an idea of what I like and don't like--but no clue on how to make it all myself. So, I'm left tweaking something that is as close to what I want...which takes a lot more time than the kids want to give me. It may be awhile in the making, but I'll get there.

In the meantime, does anyone have suggestions on where to find free layouts? I've checked with Pyzam, blogger and Lena.

I would also love (when there is time) to put in links to friends' etsy shops. I'm just so impressed with everyone's creativity. If you'd like to be included, send me your info. and I'll see what I can do.

Chau for now.

What would you do?

I compulsively bought an 8 oz package of cream cheese a few weeks ago. It was the first I'd seen it since our move down and I couldn't help myself. I won't even tell you what I paid for the imported goodness of Philadelphia.

Now, nothing seems quite "worthy" of such a purchase and I need your ideas.

What is your favorite, tastiest, most scrumptious way to use cream cheese?

I'm going to talk honestly about...

Diapers.

So, that's fair warning for anyone not interested in that kind of potty talk, or has too much of it in their lives already to waste precious free time on the computer to read about it too.

When we headed down to Bolivia with a five month old in tow, I was stocked and almost mentally prepared to cloth diaper her little hiney. After we settled in, I realized that I didn't have a good way to wash all that cloth goodness. EVERY laundry detergent here contains perfumes and additives which will eventually cause the cloth to stop absorbing--not a result I was going for! So, I was relegated to hand washing them in very hot water with laundry bar soap. This worked well enough but was obviously time-consuming, back-breaking work. Which is fine, but there was a better way.

We ended up returning to the states for a couple months last fall. While it wasn't our primary purpose for returning (those pesky visa requirements and a potential political coup are responsible there), I saw it as a prime opportunity to stock up on homemade laundry soap ingredients. (I won't go into a "how to" post here, it's all been done very well by my friend Jeana at "Frugally Green".) already.) I'm sure Adam loved that we ended up bringing back an entire suitcase of Fels Naptha soap, Borax and washing Soda! But it has been truly a blessing and the cloth diapering fell into full swing upon our return.



Until...I just got tired of it. It was frustrating.

But not for the reasons you might think. Once I figured out how to fold and "pin" (which you don't do these days because we have snappies.) the actual changing of the diaper wasn't any harder than a disposable. It wasn't a big deal to take the diaper into the bathroom, rinse it out and put it in our diaper bucket. I loved the satisfaction of knowing I wasn't putting *another* diaper in the trash! It smelled a lot better than several dirty disposable sitting in the garbage too. Plus it was kind of therapeutic to see all those white diapers hanging out on the line.

Relaxing and energizing almost.



No, the worst part of all was that I was the only person who would use them. I guess I forgot, as I told Adam about my beautifully environmentally friendly plan, to ask him if he'd like to join my on my cloth diapering journey.

So, we've had a few weeks of disposables recently. But now I'm ready to go back to cloth. I'm looking forward to that next freshly laundered load of whites!

My brain is running circles around me today. (Not that the two cups of coffee had anything to do with that!) I have thought of quite a few things to write about, but mostly my thoughts keep returning to two things:

1. My parents are coming to visit!! We've been trying, literally, for months to figure out how to get our homeschool curriculum here from the States. Well, Mom and Dad decided they'd just bring it down and stay a couple weeks. A great air fare from Miami to Santa Cruz and free tickets to Miami helped a lot with that decision. God bless air miles! So we are super excited. Now we just have to figure out how they will pack everything since they graciously gave us their larger suitcases when we moved down last summer. Anyone have an old duffle lying around they can borrow? We'll throw in some Bolivian gift and send it back to you!!

2. We have prayer meeting tonight. Every other Monday a group of missionaries "of like mind" meet and pray together. Tonight it is at a home across town from us. I've been there before, but Adam was with us and gave directions. I'm a bit nervous going solo this time, especially since I do not know the landmarks (or their Spanish names!) very well. So, I'm off to find the place on my map, translate my directions into Spanish and look for cab fare (oh, and the kids would appreciate being fed somewhere in there, I'm sure!) Chau!

more pics

And some more fall photos from November in Kansas City.

Fall is approaching here in the southern hemisphere. It's hard to tell. It's almost as if trees are neither deciduous or evergreen here. There are no leaves changing colors or falling to the ground. The weather has changed only slightly, though we are not acclimated enough yet to really appreciate the change. In remembrance of fall, I'm posting some photos of the kids from last November taken while we were in Kansas City.

Ever have one of those days?

It's not horrible, terrible or very bad. It just is.

The baby refuses to sleep (cutting the last canine, I believe).

The boy refuses to use the toilet.

The girl refuses to be nice to the boy.

Both toilets are broken (the seat on one and the innards of the other).

I have no idea what to make for dinner.

Just another day. I think I'll have some ice cream and start over.

Saturday we visited our landlords (also our friends!) who live two blocks away from us. They had five one-month old cocker spaniel puppies. Elias has been talking about "his" black puppy since then. He is really stuck on having a black dog. Poor guy. Our pup is white and brown.

Playing in the sandbox with their daughter. Elias came to me afterwards just filthy! I asked him what he was doing. "I made sand angels, Mommy!" Oh, right.

Ana with one of the cute little black pups.

Having a bit of tea. Well, more like grapefruit juice and chicken salad sandwiches.

Oh, yes and Elias with the jaguar skin. He was VERY impressed with this! (We were too. Edgar bought it from a friend, but it was a Bolivian jaguar before it's demise.)

The Exterminator has come

The fumigator was here yesterday. It was a very long day. Adam basically had to take the day off, though he studied quite a bit in the neighbor's yard. But, he had to let the guy in, let him out, wait two hours to open up the entire house to air out, then wait another two hours until he could let us and the dog back into the yard. By that time, the kids and I had been out of the house for over four hours--Ana had completely skipped her morning nap by then. And then we had two hours of cleaning: sweeping all the floors, and washing every unprotected surface.

It was quite a chore as I was already sore from exercising at 5:30 that morning. (Why, oh why did I pick that day to start exercising??!!) Thankfully, Ines was here to help otherwise it would have taken me three or four hours. While we were cleaning, Adam took the puppy to the vet for his shots and to get rid of his ticks, fleas and niguas (little sand fleas that burrow in his feet, lay eggs and form a painful, white pustule). We didn't want him to bring all those insects right back into our de-bugged yard.

While I knew the fumigation was necessary. I hate chemicals, but when there are harmful insects around it's a requisite evil. The funniest moment was when the fumigator arrived. He had just finished our neighbor's house, so he was already "in gear."

Elias did NOT want him here! We were waiting by the gate for our taxi, when he arrived. Something about a guy in full gas mask, backpack full of chemicals and gesturing with his bazooka as he spoke muffled Spanish just didn't sit right with the poor kid! The dogs didn't really like him either!

The biggest blessing has been a day without ants in the kitchen! I'd gotten so used to them I didn't think I really needed them exterminated. But now I realize how stressful it was to not be able to prep a meal without ants crawling on the cutting board. ...to not be able to leave a dirty dish near the sink without being covered in the little guys when you washed the dishes after the meal. It is truly a blessing!

Oh, good, it's a Stihl.

Ow!

I have two words for you: OW-wwwww.

Okay, the words are really: Krav Maga.

It's good stuff.

But, boy, am I feeling it right now.

Again, let me just say "Owwwwwwww."

Thanks, I just needed to whine.

How to eat my mom's lasagne, by Ana Sophia

Ana would like to show everyone how to eat her mommy's yummy lasagne. She realizes that her plate is clean. This is just for demonstration purposes only.


"Watch Closely"


"First You Stab"
She likes to stab her fork repeatedly until something sticks. This way you ensure you eat all the yummy pasta first, then mommy has to help with the cheese, meat and tomatoes left on your plate.


"Then you eat"


"Don't be afraid to lick your plate if you need to!"


"Good Stuff!!"

The Exterminator has been called

It is a moment I've been anticipating and dreading for months now: calling the exterminator.

As mentioned in the previous post, I don't like bugs. And we have a lot! The worst offenders to me have to be the ants, scorpions (we've only had one, but the fear remains), and the very occasional cockroach...oh, and the ticks. The fleas aren't so fun either. Okay, they all bug me!

So, the line has been drawn and the exterminator is coming Tuesday. Now for the part I dread. I hate chemicals! I was loathe to call them any earlier from the thought of my sweet baby crawling around in nasty chemically badness. But, the baby is walking and I'll have someone to help me clean up after the guys with the spray guns leave.

I also have this horrible image of them spraying down the drain or somewhere sinister and a hoard of cockroaches (we've really only seen three in the last four months) comes spilling out only to die a twitchy death all over my kitchen counters and floor. Bad things man, bad things!

That said, there is NO WAY I'm going to be here when they let their spray guns blast forth. I will be taking the puppy to the vet to be de-ticked. Then I'll take the kids out to lunch. Then I just might stay in a hotel until I'm sure the bugs are dead. And cleaned up. Perhaps a week will do the trick. Let's just hope there's internet access.