living and loving, autism and deafness

My family blog is back home --

2010-05-15T08:21:00.001-07:00

At www.criscollrj.com Please add me at NetworkBlogs - thanks!

Thanks, my Facebook Friends!

2010-04-25T05:55:00.000-07:00

Since with new wonders of Facebook, my blog now appears in my profile when I update, I just wanted to thank you all for being on my friends list. Many of you have joined recently and I haven't been able to personally write you, but I thank you for being in my circle of friends and family.

I do have some prayer requests at this time.

Roger continues to heal from his gall bladder surgery, but has hit some difficulty here and there along the way. He had to have a more complicated surgery than normal due to a cyst he had, and I believe that is why it's taken longer to heal. The doctors have also been watching another cyst he had in another area of his pancreas, but it was not prudent to work on that at the same time as the surgery so they were waiting and watching. He still had it as of last week at his CT scan, so they will be watching it another 6 weeks. If it is not gone they most likely will have to do another surgery to drain it. This also may explain why Roger has had a slower recup time and extra nausea and pain. Lately, however, he has had more good days than bad so we are grateful to God for that.
We are in prayer that he can resume work slowly and get back to normal. Whether he has to have a second surgery will determine how fast that will happen. We would also like him to get home SOON (he's at his mom and dad's house) but with Ryan being rough in his affection for his daddy we were afraid to have him stay at home yet all the time. Ryan talks to him every day on the phone and gets so excited when he gets to see him sometimes!
My paperwork load has been very heavy but I'm trying to get through one project at a time. It has been harder to keep up on my paid transcription work with the hundreds of pages I've recently had to scan and fax and mail and drop off to various agencies lately with different updates the agencies had to do on our kids, etc. They all came up at once, and multiplied with just trying to keep up on calls in regard to hospital bills and just keeping up the checkbook and filing and all the items one has to do, it has been a little overwhelming!! I am now trying to get ahead of my transcription a little this week, and am hopeful the largest part of the paperwork elephant is now behind me. There are still some things left to do though, and I'm trying to keep track of them.
Christopher's placement. We had a meeting at Christopher's school Friday about how to help him progress more and learn more and learn to self-regulate with some aggressive behaviors and his not sleeping still, often. We all agreed that we need to contact the autism school I mentioned in my last post, in Florida, and I will be doing that this weekend. I pray the Lord's will will be done in that area, and that we know the best thing to do for Christopher.

Thank you for prayers. We are all just trying to get through all this the best we can, and still enjoy the spring with the blossoms, and enjoy the family when we can all get together and communicate as much as we can. Rog and I had our first Facebook chat last night! That was fun :) And I'm going over there and visiting a few times a week - Friday after my school has become a tradition.

I only have 3 classes left of my first class in 23 years. I still have 4 papers to write to catch up on my homework, but I will do it. It's a good thing I love to write. Then I have a final paper to do along with a power point that I plan to do on music and religion (it's a religion class). Next semester I am taking two online classes, first summer session computer introduction, and second summer session my first remedial algebra class. So I shall continue to be busy.

Autism awareness personified --

2010-04-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

Watching our children grow up in the world of autism and deafness, it has become harder for me to really be active in the community of autism, as it takes all our energy to just keep our children safe and well in the world. It is hard to see outside our own lives. I am grateful,however, that many people in the world, even people who don't have children or family members with autism, are working so hard to promote awareness and that today instead of being a rare condition it is becoming one of the most discussed and researched conditions.

I am hoping through my life to also work to be an advocate and learned person in the world of autism and deafness, which is the condition that most affects us personally. That is an area of deficit today - there is little information or services on individuals with autism and deafness.

Here are a few:

I am encouraged that there are way more than when I started these blogs in 2006. I actually printed the Gallaudet University article (60 pages) and have read through about 30 pages of it. We also are applying for Chris to go here: http://www.nda.com/services/autism.php It will be hard to send him all the way to Florida, but it really sounds like they could meet his needs there.

I am also thrilled that I am back in school and headed for this degree: http://www.kent.edu/ehhs/spa/index.cfm with http://www.kent.edu/ehhs/sped/index.cfm (the autism certification). I also hope to get fluent in ASL either now at Lakeland (where I am currently attending) or at Kent. I hope in the end I can be of more help to my boys as well as other individuals.

Thank you to everyone in the world working to make a better life for those touched by autism, as well as autism and deafness.

MIRACLES

2010-03-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

It's a fitting day to thank the Lord publicly for His grace for us. As most of you know, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day every year thanking Him for a miracle we had in 1994, when we had a mortgage and additional payment for a trailer, a baby on the way, and fear in our hearts that our trailer wouldn't sell. Right on that day suddenly a person bought our trailer, with cash, and I'll never forget crying in thankfulness looking at that money on the table.

This weekend, 2010, right before St. Patrick's Day we had a financial deliverance once again that was sorely needed, and was a surprise. Things are still difficult but I am so grateful!

Recent events:

Caused by unsuspected gall bladder trouble, Roger has been in the hospital since February 11, save 5 days he was home and had to be readmitted. We are hoping his surgery is SOON. He had complications from the gall bladder trouble of pancreatitis, heart trouble, and pneumonia. His dr. appointment is tomorrow; we believe these should be resolved enough for surgery hopefully! Roger is aching to get back to work after being off for over a month!
I went back to school in January, just part time. Taking a comparative religion class -- starting off getting my Associate of Arts degree which I need to complete in order to go on. Planning to get my Master's in Speech Language Pathology along with an autism certificate from Kent State.
Chris is at his grandparents, and still struggling with his sleeping. We are still planning to most likely try and have him admitted to National Deaf Academy in Mt. Doro, Florida.

More soon -- have massive transcription to do today ----

I am alive

2010-02-28T07:15:00.001-08:00

Testing out Windows Live Writer. Working at the moment, and have had a ton of stuff happen in our fam since Christmas, and will try and update soon. Really would like to get all three of my blogs seriously underway and active on searches soon. Prayers for my family’s health issues appreciated at this time.

Christmas Newsletter 09

2009-12-22T22:52:00.000-08:00

Psalms
Chapter 121

1: ¹ A song of ascents. ² I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From where will my help come?
2: My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.
3: God will not allow your foot to slip; your guardian does not sleep.
4: Truly, the guardian of Israel never slumbers nor sleeps.
5: ³ The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade at your righthand.
6: By day the sun cannot harm you, nor the moon by night.
7: The LORD will guard you from all evil, will always guard your life.
8: The LORD will guard your coming and going both now and forever.

Another year of challenge and change, and we know that God was with us through it all and continues to be. It was a strange year of ups and downs, but God brought us through and still continues to. We do praise Him and continue to pray for wisdom.

As I wrote last year, Christopher went into a group home in September of 2008. Though he had a rocky start, things seemed to even out later in the later fall and winter, and we thought everything would be fine. However, as he seemed to scream out more and not sleep, talk of his being asked to leave the group home began to become more active, and by August or September we had a solid decision by the group home management company that Christopher would have to leave.

We looked at some group homes in the area in September or October, but none seemed more able to meet his needs than the wonderful-seeming one that he was leaving. Most of the staff was very caring, and it was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye on November 1st. We weren't really sure what to do, but our early plan has been to share care with Christopher's grandparents, Roger's parents. He has been in our custody since November 1st and mostly he has been staying with Roger's parents, where we have him some of the weekends and take him on outings and appointments.

A glimmer of hope is that he does actually seem happier and also seems to be sleeping a LITTLE better, though he still often stays up all night -- 2-3 times a week, usually. He also just now (last week) obtained his old aide back who had him in 04, Vicky, whom he loved to be with. He also is still attending the school system he started last year, that works with autism and seems to have a good plan for Christopher. My mom has also watched him some in our home, after school.

We also are still considering a school for the deaf/autistic disorder that is in Florida and still may be looking into that. But for the moment we are trying to still reach a sense of routine and normalcy and figure out how to best meet his needs as an extended family. He is a senior and will still most likely attend the school he is at until he's 22. We will also be seeking what adult workshops, etc. he will be attending, and that is an exciting time of exploration.

Colleen with Uncle Al's dog

As a sophomore Colleen is now observing classes at the vocational center, and she hopes to attend in the graphics program. Hard to believe she'll be a junior next year. She has been wishfully speaking of driver's ed but with her birthday all the way in May we feel this will be a junior, not sophomore, activity! She is ready, but we're not!! Of course she is still creating her artwork and videos, working to keep grades up, and is hoping to get her first summer job this summer. She also attended another anime convention this past spring.

Colleen is planning another holiday party this year with pizza and friends over, as she had a blast last year with one of those at Christmas and another at her birthday (where she and her friends slept out in a tent out back). Colleen has also been taking care of a fishtank full of goldfish, and just recently obtained 3 tadpoles in another tank. Along with all this we also adopted her a cat recently; we had had a cat earlier in the year but sadly Stella died of cancer suddenly (she was a stray and we didn't realize how sick she was until her 2nd visit to the vet for vaccinations). Sophie so far is very healthy and will have her first maintenance visit at the vet in January.

Sophie, our cat

Ryan's speech is really growing by leaps and bounds this year. He has not been successfully wearing his current hearing aids, but we will be soon ordering new ones. I hope we can get a different style that he'll be comfortable wearing, and I'm sure his speech will be getting even better. Right now he is in love with the Cars movie and is watching it many times a day. Our county awarded him a new computer in the fall, and he is greatly enjoying it. He loves www.Starfall.com and also loves to watch Youtube videos about the alphabet, Leappad, and, of course, Cars.

He got to see a few movies in the theater this year, Madadascar II and also Veggie Tales, the search for Noah's Umbrella. He loved it! We hope to take him again soon and can't wait for Cars II to come out but hear that's in 2011 so we have a little wait!

Ryan swinging at the Potato Festival last fall.

This was the year where Roger and Dorene first attempted to take business trips together, as Roger's out of-town county duties grew and it was sensible to share the work between two people. We went on these trips in February, April, July, and end of September, and are about to go again the 2nd week of January. This is one of the mountain views we saw in July and September, where we took a side drive away from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania (one of our courthouses) and discovered the beautiful world of Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.

In a very large coincidence, we discovered after a friend wrote to us after seeing our blog pictures that she and her husband LIVE there, and thus we were able to meet them for dinner in that town in September. We hope to do this now every year or two incorporated into our business trip.

We have both been thinking again of returning to school, where I was thinking of returning in the spring semester and Roger perhaps in the fall. I actually signed up for a class towards my Associates of Arts degree and will be starting on Fridays starting 1/22 at Lakeland with my first class in 22 years. I have approximately eight classes to take to get my Assoc. of Arts, and this class I start with, that fits into my schedule, is Comparative Religions. So it shall be interesting!

I have decided to study Speech and Language Pathology with an eventually transfer to Cleveland State towards a master, as I would like to be a speech therapist in the schools. Roger and I would both like to work with the deaf/autistic population, including our own sons, and Roger is still deciding what major he would like to have (possibly deafness captioning).

In the meantime, we are continuing with our present careers of transcription and court research which we do enjoy very much. My main client at this point is a firm that assigns me cases about Immigration deportees; it is very interesting and plentiful work!

I had the enjoyment this year of being contacted to fill in as a sub at my first law firm where I worked in '88-94 and '02-03, while the head attorney's secretary goes on vacation or is out on any extended break. That has been nice extra money and also a chance to see old friends and have a change of scenery. I worked for a few days in January, February, April (I think?) and quite a bit in July/August, then again in early December. I'm supposed to work in March again, for about a week.

We just continue to work and pray and live in the hope and goal of helping our family as much as we can while still enjoying each other and doing our best with whatever we are doing. We did get to go away on some outings this year, and I will close with some pictures from these. A blessed holiday season to you and yours.

Our beach outing, last summer. Paula came with us and we also brought Colleen and Brenda who were swimming.

Fourth of July parade, Fairport.

Fourth of July picnic with Rick and Nancy and kids at the park

That was Chris's 1 sleepover during this 14-month stay at the group home - he slept all night for us --

Our first look at mountainous Maryland in July.

Humphries reunion - Gayle & Craig's dog loved Colleen!

Colleen at her summer camp that she attended with Ashleigh.

Eric's graduation party - we were so happy Chris had a good time there.

Ryan loved the rope swing there!

Outing with Ryan the day we saw Veggietales, went to the beach, and had pizza out in Madison.

Fish we obtained in May --

Kitty in September. This is Stella but she did pass away in October.

Beautiful neighborhood flowers

Grandma with us at the fair

Fall leaf-burning festivities! (I'm in the leaves, yes)

Thanksgiving dinner and Chris, Papa, and Grandma's birthday party.

At Christmas World, and afterwards we had Spaghetti dinners.

Our Christmas party, with Chris, Gayle, Chuck, and Rick & Nancy, Ashleigh & Nick

EMAIL: transcribing.mom@gmail.com

EMAIL: typealign@att.net

EMAIL (Rog) thedodger1@att.net

BLOG:NEWEST - http://criscollrjblog.blogspot.com/I decided to move my blog from Wordpress.com to blogger.com as my other new blogs are at Blogger. So far as of 12/22/09 I have moved one year of the six years contained; the rest are on the blog following.

BLOG: 2009, most of the year - http://criscollrjblog.wordpress.com/ - intermediate blog that I copied everything into when my Wordpress.org blog was closed (www.criscollrj.com/blog, now closed) when I didn't renew my domain at that time. Will probably just leave up as a backup.

LEGAL TRANSCRIPTION BLOG, 2009 - http://type-align.blogspot.com/ All about how I got into legal transcription and tips I think of as I go.

AUTISM LESSONS BLOG, 2009 - http://autismlessons.blogspot.com/ New blog where I am writing about the things we're learned through the years about autism and deafness.

PICTURES: http://www.flickr.com/photos/criscollrj/

HOME PAGE: www.criscollrj.com - home

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com - search for Dorene Enea Humphries and contact to be added.

BUSINESS BLOG/INFO: http://line-brightservices.web.officelive.com/default.aspx. This (replacing line-bright.com, where I also did not continue to renew the domain) is the area where we will be explaining more about both of our businesses, summarizing my legal transcription (which will be more in detail on my legal trans blog, above) and discussing Roger's court research position.

Roger, Dorene, Christopher,

Colleen & Ryan

Switching to Blogger --

2009-12-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

Decided to switch my word press com blog over to blogger so my blogs can be in the same area. Christmas newsletter to come. Testing to see if the date appears on this post -- I redated the last ones to mirror the dates they were actually written on WordPress. Christmas newsletter will be coming next.

old favorites --

2009-11-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

I started crocheting again a few weeks ago -- I'm making a table scarf for my computer table and plan to make another for the other table. I used to knit and crochet a lot when I was a young teen up until maybe 15 years ago. It's really soothing to do it again. Planned to watch the new episode of 90210 on the computer, but ended up watching My So Called Life instead (the final episode) instead, on Hulu, as last night's 90210 is not on yet. I really loved My So Called Life, and can't put into words how I sometimes can identify with Clare Danes' character in that show - - -as well as Brian. So, back to work tomorrow after busy day today running around town trying to reestablish Chris's items such as bank accounts, SSI, etc. It's amazing how long all that takes and how tiring it is. Now I have another large packet of papers again as his SSI recert for his medical need is due. Still waiting for test results on Colleen - - posted on Facebook but not here that she's been tested for anemia and mono for how tired and exhausted and weak she's been on and off lately. Hopefully we'll find out by tomorrow --

2009-10-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Upon a time of turmoil this Amy Grant song lifted me up through tears of grief yet tears of cleansing, and it is doing it again.

Words by Brown Bannister, Chris Christian, Amy Grant
From the album Never Alone

I had laid some mighty plans
Thought I held them in my hands
Then my world began to crumble all away
I tried to build it back again
I couldn't bear to see it end
How I hurt to know You wanted it that way

[Chorus:]
And I'm so glad, glad to find the reason
That I'm happy-sad that You've torn it all away
And I'm so glad, though it hurts to know I'm leaving
Everything I ever thought that I would be
Once I held it in my hand
It was a kingdom made of sand
But now you've blown it all away
I can't believe that I can say that I'm glad

Long before my plans were made
I know a master plan was laid
With a power that superceded my control
And if that truth could pierce my heart
I wouldn't wander from the start
Trying desperately to make it on my own

What a timely song! I just heard it by chance on Pandora Radio (I have it set to play Amy Grant & similar artists) and I was just like, wow, that was MY song in the winter/spring of 81 when I went through some really really hard stuff ---

Anyway, we're about to go through some changes with Chris that aren't exactly unexpected, but still hard to go through when you want to go AROUND, UNDER, BYPASS TOTALLY. I don't know what the future brings, and things surely aren't going as we'd planned.

Chris's official discharge date was Oct. 1, but they gave more time after that. We saw some homes last week, which was kind of later than I think everyone planned as we had our out of town trip, and I was also ill either before or after that (can't recall now). Then there's been other things going on with work and others' illness and just stuff going on that only gave us a few days to really think of what to do after we saw the homes.

We kind of liked one a lot, but probably not enough to take a chance on it. We are so burned by what happened -- him being asked to leave, as merited as it may be -- that it's hard to "take a chance" on a new place.

So we made the decision that he will stay at his grandma's & grandpa's (paternal) most of the time at this point, with us helping a lot as well as Rog's sister too some. We do have a pretty nice local home that doesn't have any openings now that we may be considering as well. There is something we are awaiting that will help a lot, and it's called I/O Waiver that will give us way more options for watching him at home/family's. We can even get property for him then and hire caregivers so he could have his own home but we would still be in charge. Our county, however, in 2002 quoted that this could be somewhere around a 20 year wait.

What is heartbreaking is that he was on the "waiver list" for this waiver, and they lost his place, in 1996. We didn't discover until 2002 that his place on the list had been lost, and I had no proof of his placement ON the list -- could find no paperwork. Actually I want to tear my file cabinets apart AGAIN and see if I can find anything. 6 years on the list lost - maybe that would be the difference where he could have the help SOON. I had 2 huge notebooks I compiled on his autism topics back in 1997 - I can't remember if I searched through those back in 2002 when we found this out but I will search now.

We just want him to be healthy, happy, and well taken care of. His health is SO good now -- I'm a little nervous with losing all the hands-on supervision he has now and the strict routine, that especially right now when we don't have the help lined up, and CAN'T really until he gets home -- he can't even be evaluated for medicaid home health care until he's home, and will have to wait a while while it's lined up -- that he will be getting into more food he shouldn't have and not have the routine he needs. However, Gayle is VERY good at routines, and I just have to trust she'll be able to do it for a while with our help until we see what we're going to do next. Right now without the I/O waiver we hopefully should get Medicaid home aides for 14 hours a week, and then after that he should be able to get Health Chek (up to 56 hours a week) once that is approved. Then that lasts until he's 21 (only 2+ years away). Then to get that much help still he's going to need the I/O Waiver. There is another waiver too called the Home Care Waiver and it was explained to me that you get some home health with that but not as much, but you get more home remod funds and stuff like that.

This home care site was just given to me today and I'm going to go now and read more about what will help Chris that we can get for him.

Completely overwhelmed, but still soothed by nature’s glory

2009-09-27T03:43:00.000-07:00

042

Originally uploaded by criscollrj

I've noticed that nature greatly soothes me as well as prayer. And also just being with family and laughing.

But things are crazy, and I just have never any time for blogging, etc. I often think lately that I'd just like to totally quit working so I can catch up on pretty much everything and spend more time just hanging out with my kids and hubby. But I love my work, and right now it's necessary. So I continue to get up at 3 to type and have toothpicks holding my eyes open most of the day --

97 minutes to get out, proofed, by tonight - I have 6 minutes done - so why am I here? I'll be quick!

Chris is officially discharged from his group home Oct. 1. However, they're still keeping him while they look for more homes for him. I believe he'll be home here and G & C along with us will share his care.

Chris's school is going very well and they have him in a new language program that is helping him a lot!

We are unable to get Chris's waiver yet as there's still a huge huge wait list - like 15 more years maybe.

Ryan has a new teacher this year as well as a new autism coordinator oin his school. He is doing well but won't eat lunch or wear his hearing aides - sigh. Sunchips are my friend . . .

Colleen is working hard at school and enjoys times with her friends -

They're all growing up so fast.

I am seriously seriously considering going back to school in the spring to become a speech therapist, and need to apply for my financial aid. This of course means a little cut in my work but I need to try.

We're going back to the Maryland mountains Tuesday as part of our business trip and I'm going to meet my good friend Pat from a transcription board I'm on!

The Western Maryland Mountains--

2009-08-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

DSC00859

Originally uploaded by criscollrj

The new header I made (first one on Wordpress.com!) is of the Maryland Mountains we saw on our business trip in early July. I know I "facebooked" about it in the pictures on there, but never typed on here. Then I found out a friend of mine from the transcription board lives RIGHT there at Deep Creek Lake. We're going to meet the next time we go out there.

Deep Creek Lake

Then I saw another friend on Facebook had just seen the Backbone Mountain in Maryland near that area and had beautiful pictures of it as well. It's so neat that such beautiful mountains are so close to our business trip area (we did travel a few hours East in the evening to get there, but it was so worth it!)

And check it out, googling for images, and there's a lot for sale!

What a beautiful lot! Wish we had the $$!

Almost August and I haven't even been swimming yet!

2009-07-31T05:44:00.000-07:00

DSC00709

Originally uploaded by criscollrj

We took this back in June when we did take Colleen & her friend to the beach for a while. We haven't been back. I didn't go in that day and neither did Ryan -- Ryan has been afraid of the "different" lake water and this is the closest he's ever been to it! It was the first time he ever played in the sand.

So we're hoping to possibly go Saturday -- it's supposed to be 83 and sunny so I think it sounds like a good day for a picnic lunch! We're also taking Ryan to the free screening of Veggie Tales in our area.

After working 4-5 weeks at the office and most of the time blending that with transcription fairly seamlessly, this week got fairly rough! I decided in the future I will either work at one job or the other and not try and combine them. Of course that will involve having plenty of notice for the out-of-the home job -- I imagine it will be a few months now before they call me in again. I love working there though -- it's like family (worked there before 88-94 & again 02-03).

I FINALLY got some sleep last night and have one more day of work today-- if I have time at work I'll start some of my transcription due next week but at least it's thankfully not something due today! I also am working on sorting all the papers that have stacked up the last 6 weeks or so.

Got Chris's guardianship and trust papers all done and am in the middle of filing them. These are papers we had to do with his becoming an adult. He may be coming home soon -- we'll find out for sure on Tuesday. I am very nervous about this but have to have faith, and know that 99% sure he will now get 24-hour care with his being discharged. Our eventual family goal with Rog's parents is to have our own small group home for him and some other individuals.

Please stay in prayer for Rog's dad who has been very ill, and doctors are still doing tests to see what is wrong.

progressing --

2009-06-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

DSC00670

Originally uploaded by criscollrj

Wow, June 18th already. AND one month, one day on Weigh Down/Thin Within. I WILL DO THIS.

And we're almost done with Colleen's summer school and about to start Chris's. I'll be transporting in the morning and Gayle in the afternoon, bless her.

The only time we won't be transporting children one place or another is the 3rd week of August, I believe.

Finally got our new checking account open - one of those open this and you get $100 free!! accounts - and I'm so relieved! Now everyone can say FINALLY Dorene will stop talking about how we have to get that DANGED CHECKING ACCOUNT open lol!!!!! It's done. Now I have to get the new direct deposit form faxed in which I'm going to do right now.

And my thanks again to a certain angel to made it possible to do this today, on my husband's only day available to do it, before the coupon expired for the account :D

Ryan's having a good time on his break - making sleep forts like this, playing with his Leapster, running around. His aide has also been taking him outside to play while I'm working.

summer

2009-06-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

DSC00661

Originally uploaded by criscollrj

Another summer has sprang its way into my life. It always comes faster every year than I expect.

Colleen has had her anime convention and had a great time (more pics in flickr). We also took Chris out on Saturday and we all went to the buffet. I'll be taking him to summer school every morning soon for about 4-5 weeks -- It'll be nice to see him every morning!

Ryan's aide is coming every day for 2 4-hour shifts so I'll have a good amount of time to work still. That will be helpful.

Rog and I are planning to go away again for business early July -- that is always a busy yet fun time doing something different than just typing transcription. Though last time I worked with Rog and did transcription at the same time at night THAT WAS NOT FUN. ZZZZZZ.

Well, laundry and dishes await as well as two new jobs to start…

Hopefully sometime I'll get a little more creative than this -- lol

OH, I've lost 5 pounds!!!

AND sometimes I really do miss all the flexibility of themes in Wordpress.org - but this is NOT BAD :D

Colleen's new fishtank

2009-05-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

DSC00536

Originally uploaded by criscollrj

I love the calming sound the filter is making… And they're so pretty!

Weighing my options.. literally

2009-05-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

A year ago I typed this --

http://criscollrjblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/thin-within

but I never did anything seriously about it. I am THROUGH GOD'S help starting again today. I will eat only when really hungry and just eat a small portion, brushing my teeth between meals. If I'm going to have the energy I need to deal with everything in our lives right now, I have to get this weight off. And I need to start exercising more. I am walking every day for 10 minutes (weekdays, after Ryan gets off the bus) but that's not enough.

2009-04-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

Something Ethan said on 90210 last night made me think. He was in the woods with a friend and just talking. He said this:

Ethan: "People think I'm someone different than I am."

Friend, Liam: "Let me ask you something, why do you smile?"

Ethan: "I smile because I don't want to cause trouble for anyone. I don't want to make anyone's life harder. Not my teachers, not my coaches, definitely not my parents. My brother's autistic, so they need me to be easy, not make any waves. I don't want to cause any conflicts so I just pretend like I'm fine. Even when I'm not."

That really got me thinking. That is exactly the way I am…

25 years ago

2009-03-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

25 years ago today Rog and I went out for the "last time as just friends." We had breakfast or lunch with my mom, and went to a Petra concert (I think that's who it was?) We had been best friends for 4 months since meeting in our band in December, but I was actually dating someone else!

We had gone out as friends with the gang from college and a few times by ourselves. However, the attraction was growing!! The evening of March 25th we realized that I had a decision to make, as Rog said for the first time the words "I love you" to me.

On March 26, 1984, I made the decision to break up with the first guy (a great guy, and he's happily married, to my knowledge to this day!) and I have been with Rog ever since.

25 years (and many pounds!) later, here we still are!

Love you, Rog!

Graciously accepting help

2009-03-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking this morning that this is one of the lessons I've had to learn. I've been thinking about, what are the things I've had to learn in this walk we've been on in life? Graciously accepting help, though I've not yet gotten very good as ASKING for help; accepting my limitations; and not being a perfectionist. There's probably more, but that's a start.

Years ago I made this web site: http://criscollrj.com/cleaning.html . Beth D. if you're reading, I'm sure you remember helping me with this way back on Geocities in '97!!! All the tables and everything for HTML coding. But I felt so guilty that I could not follow it. And I did not want to ask for help.

I simply thought I wasn't organized enough, good enough, to get all this done along with working outside the home or at home, whichever I was doing at the time. I did stay home for 2 years - 2004-2006, but during that time Chris was hospitalized about 4 times, Ryan was just over being a toddler and still very hyperactive (he was not on meds yet most of that time) and then we also moved. So my plans for Better Homes and Gardens were not fulfilled then, either.

It has taken me a while, but I've learned that I do need some help. My day pretty much now consists of, organizing some laundry and washing some in the morning about 4:30 a.m., then getting the two kids still home off to school, and then trying to get a plan for the day. I'm either working or running errands/doing family paperwork. With three children with special needs there's a lot. I'll try and have some plan for dinner.

About 3:15 I either stop working or get home from errands or whatever, and stack dishes for washing. We do a lot of cooking at home from scratch so have TONS of dishes and don't have a dishwasher. I used to feel guilty that I didn't have them done - now I stack them neatly and rinse them. Wipe off the table (usually!) and make sure the stove's clean. Then Ryan comes home and his aide Paula comes. She works 20 hours a week and is provided through his Medicaid. What a blessing she is!

She works with Ryan then and usually I start working again or completing whatever project I've been working on (I've had tons of paperwork projects lately for Chris/family/taxes, etc. that are necessary). I'll do a few sinkfuls of dishes as well but Paula always goes and finishes them. I have learned to not feel guilty about that. Her help enables me to get my projects done faster. I also make dinner and we take time to eat at the TABLE! (Something we also weren't so good at doing!)

Often Rog helps me with some dishes as well or helps get laundry together in bins to take downstairs. He also helps take the garbage out and mops floors. We work as a team. He also works like 24 hours a day - ha ha, not really kidding! No, probably 12 hours a day.

We're just getting Colleen on a schedule - she has to take all dishes left out of the kitchen into the kitchen, wipe surfaces, clean her room, and make her bed. Ryan is next.

So we're working on all this. I had to realize I couldn't do everything myself, and give up that control.

I also needed to realize I needed help with Chris. I felt bad I couldn't continue to handle all three kids and the job and the housework. He was becoming trapped in the house with us not having the manpower/wisdom/strength to provide him the structure/instruction he needed to go about things safely. He ended up in the creek across the street several times last summer and then was just pretty much locked in the house except when he went to school or grocery store. Now he has supervised outings to dances, basketball playing, swimming, and has 5-6 people sometimes to interact with!!! I miss him very much but know he's living an active fulfilled life now!!

Spring fever --

2009-03-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

I'll never forget what this day means to us personally!

http://criscollrjblog.wordpress.com/2005/03/17/st-patty/

And the food's awesome!

autismbites blog author's letter to the President--

2009-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

letter that dad of 6 autistic children wrote to the President.

Thinking of how to share most with this blog--

2009-03-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

With having a new domain, I have been trying to think of the best way to reach out to others with this blog.

I know I need to update my resource pages and do more research on what could help people most on ideas for autism spectrum and deafness.

I think I may also type more of the kids' histories in here and what happened at certain ages. I think also going back and proofing my posts may be good (sometimes in blog transfers you get strange font characters in the switchover, and I know I did see some at place). I also need to tag.

I have really enjoyed sharing through blogging, now for 6 years, and would like to do it to its best purpose and to be a help to others.

Missing writing, missing an important part of me!

2009-03-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

I need to take more time to write here. I do feel my life is kind of taking on a pace all of its own that half the time I feel I have no control over!!!

First of all, Chris is doing great -- We went out to eat with him today and he was very happy. Ryan also had a plate of spaghetti

So, then also Colleen is keeping busy, her grades are up, and she has a new boyfriend that is very nice. Rog and I are busy working as always. There are more picks in the Flickr sidebar!

I made some changes in my sites which I do need to publicize and am slowly getting the word out. Obviously this is a new address for our blog which used to be at www.criscollrj.com/Blog. That site at least at this point is no longer valid. We moved our criscollrj.com site over to http://www.000webhost.com/134729.html where it is free and I have my basic site over there. So far however their Fantastico blogging installation program isn't working - so one of the results from going over free, I guess. It's okay - this Wordpress.com is actually very awesome as well, even though there's not quite as many frills on it.

Our business blog is reborn over at http://line-brightservices.web.officelive.com and is under construction. Line-bright.com unfortunately is no more as I was unable to afford to renew two domains. But it's okay…

My present goal, along with working as hard and smart is possible, is to get all my filing done in the next few days!!!

Spring is in the air!

2009-02-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe not for long, but after a few months of a blanket of snow continuously it was so nice to see the grass this week!! We had snow pretty much continuously since November with maybe 2 short breaks. I love winter, but it was getting to be too much!

I managed to get my Christmas stuff put away in a fairly timely manner this year! I then just kept working, and amazingly we all stayed healthy (until two weeks ago!). I'm working for about 5 contracts and pretty much just switch between them (not quite coordinated enough to work for 2 at once!). Uusally I stay about 30-40 hours a week with it all, sometimes more or less.

Ryan managed to somehow catch strep about two weeks ago. Due to his not taking his antibiotics he had to have a penicillin shot. A few days later he got a cold, and Rog and I left for out of town while my mom watched him. He went to school at first, but then on Wed last week (we were still out of town) he developed ear pain and Thursday when we got home we took him back to the dr. Ear infection! I thought the shot would have prevented that!!

So 3 antibiotics later (again trouble with taking them) he apparently has a virus, too, as I have it as well, and it's nasty - cough, fever, aches and pains, and exhaustion. I went to bed at 6 last night.

I hope he can get back to school tomorrow. He has been so miserable since Sunday with this virus on top of ear infection!

We went out of town last week, Rog and I, so that I could help him catch up on handwriting files in one of his counties. There are plenty of pictures on the right in Flickr about it!!! We had such a good time and also were very busy and productive. The scenery was beautiful! We even saw some snow in the mountains and hills that usually don't get very much (not too different from home - ha ha!)

Now I'm just hoping Ryan and I get better soon and no one else catches it. Spring is in the air, and also brings these spring viruses!

I never posted my 08 goals--

2008-12-30T09:23:00.000-08:00

So thought I'd post here. I will then look over them over the next week and make up my 09 goals. I don't even expect to reach some of these, it's just good to have them all written down to have an awareness of them.

2008 GOALS (the year that will be over TOMORROW! wow)

HOMEWORK
• Every few weeks check Colleen's progress on web site and follow through with teachers on items needed to be made up.
• Boys - try and get them to write their names, and spell extra, 1-2 times a week. Find computer games for them to play. Try and help Chris focus on academics a few times a week and show Doreen how to do it too.
CHORES
• Colleen to continue picking up her room and to start doing her dishes (soap squeegie!) and laundry.
• Get icon board up and done for boys' chores.
• Try and get us in position where dishes and laundry and daily pickup gets done every day and figure out as a family HOW!
HEALTH
• Me - Weigh Down. Lose at least 20 pounds. no dieting at this stressful time.

• Walking
• Rog - ??? diet? Walking.
• Try and improve kids' diets (cut back on refined sugar/flour and watch the nutrisweet in Chris's drink powders)
• Monitor kids meds
• Continue to research whether Chris will go to the Florida deaf academy
• Get Chris and Ryan scheduled for in-home deafness therapy we just found out about from Florida school
• Schedule Chris's blood tests and boys' ABR's and Ryan's genetic tests.
• Get my breast ultrasound done.
• Decide whether to try Mannatech Ambrotose on kids again ($$$)
• Try and get their hearing aides in 1x a week at home.
• FIND MY HEARING AID!!
TIME WITH CHILDREN
• Read Floor therapy info from Emily and practice with boys as much as possible, even when everyone's home.
• Have projects Chris can do with Doreen
• Play with Ryan in tub
• Have Colleen list things she'd like to do with us after school or on boys' camp days.
• Encourage Colleen to play with her brothers and be kind to them.
• Teach Ryan to be kinder to his brother and sister.
• Praise Chris for his kindness.

TIME WITH OURSELVES AND DEVOTIONALS
• Read devotionals on internet first thing in AM
• Stay away from "garbage" sites
• Pray and listen to praise music when cleaning, etc.
• Try and have date day with Rog 1x a month during boys' camp
MEAL PLANNING/FOOD ORGANIZATION
• Continue to use leftovers and freezer items creatively
• Begin to write down meal plans
• Use flyers more consistently for stores
• Clean out fridge and pantry more often and organize as you go
• Put moth-attractive foods in sealed tupperware or canisters.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
• DMP - obviously keep on it no matter how hard as it is our ticket to freedom
• Work as much as possible and save $1,000 by summer break for that time off.
• Put $10 a month in retirement. If still in Avon, $20 a campaign will still go in there.
• Get U-Promise into a college fund.
• Get Googlesense fixed so you can access and follow it on your blog.
• Perhaps have us do more blogs with a plan for earning money on them.
TIME MANAGEMENT/ITEM MANAGEMENT
• Decided to go back to paper calendar - just wasn't consistent on computer.
• Keeping calendar and shopping list in purse. Get notebook for to-do list in purse.
• Find some way to stop losing papers and items - set up ONE place for urgent items, another place for items to go out the door with you, etc. Keep keys in purse and cell phone next to you.

Christmas Newsletter 08

2008-12-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

DSC00074

Originally uploaded by criscollrj.

Well, here in NE Ohio we have managed to have a white Christmas after all, after having a white "Pre" Thanksgiving and it all melting before Thanksgiving, and then having a foot of snow just a few days ago in a generous Lake effect Northern Ohio storm, and having it all melt yesterday. So now the little flakes are coming down on our green grass that had emerged yesterday, and it's enough to make me feel indeed it's a White Christmas.

It has been an eventful year, full of changes and unforeseen events, but God's hand in all as always. He continues to oversee us through the years and we trust He always will.

More pictures are in Flickr to the right.

DSC03191

Originally uploaded by criscollrj.

CHRIS moved into a new home this year. It was quite a surprise to everyone, and came about when he was almost 18, in September. We had turned down about 4-5 other residency placements over the past few years, but this one seemed perfect. It's a small home in Northeast Ohio, with 8 people.

He has adjusted well and he enjoys our outings and visits. He has lost weight and looks great! He is also attending a school local to his home and ours, instead of his old school, in the 11th grade. His health has also greatly improved. Sleeping is still rough, though.

Chris has outings with us frequently, going to the chiropractor, mall, restaurant, and sometimes our house. He is also doing very well in school with increased focus. He is also on some new medications.

DSC03177

Originally uploaded by criscollrj.

COLLEEN had some changes this year too, with briefly homeschooling (ECOT method) from May to sometime in July, then again in September, then returning to her district school in late September (I needed to increase my work hours). She's still involved in her art, anime, and friends.

Colleen had her first teen Christmas party this year and had a ball in the basement with their doing DDR and Playstation games, along with several them bringing over Guitar Hero and X-Box. She also went to 2 anime conventions with friends this year, one in Columbus and one in Beachwood.

Bass lessons are a near future possibility and she is excited about that. She also is still involved in art and received recently a lot of art supplies to practice painting, and an easel.

DSC03183

Originally uploaded by criscollrj.

RYAN is in first grade in a local autism class and is getting great grades and is able to write many words and do simple math. He loves school and is thriving with a recent med change he's had that's really calmed him down a lot.

He is enjoying a Leapster he just got, and also had a lot of fun with the crayons, playdough, cars and coloring books he received for Christmas this morning. He has fun seeing his brother and says, "Chris is at the blue house."

DSC03185

Originally uploaded by criscollrj.

ROGER and DORENE are still in the same jobs, and Dorene is hoping to test for the AAERT certification in June of 09.

Roger is still performing court research in many N.E. Ohio and PA counties as well as some southern Ohio and PA counties. We are planning to travel together to one of the PA counties to gather information together in a few weeks as they do not allow laptops in their courthouse.

I just recently got a laptop for work that I'm enjoying, and Roger updated his in May, as his old one had crashed. My old 4 or 5-year-old work computer also crashed, as far as programs freezing and an external (but essential) hard drive failing. So we both entered the land of Vista this year, entering the later end of our decade finally.

I have not updated web sites very much this year. I mostly go on Facebook, if anything, and update here occasionally. I usually do put new pictures on Flickr every time I take any. Below is the pretty up-to-date list of our sites :)

EMAIL: transcribing.mom@gmail.com

EMAIL: typealign@att.net

EMAIL (Rog) thedodger1@att.net

BLOG: www.criscollrj.com/Blog

PICTURES: http://www.flickr.com/photos/criscollrj/

HOME PAGE: www.criscollrj.com - home

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com - nick: dori typesalot

BUSINESS BLOG/INFO: www.line-bright.com - business

Transcription 101 publication - http://generaltranscription101.com/?hop=criscollrj

Roger, Dorene, Christopher,

Colleen & Ryan