My family blog is back home --

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

Thanks, my Facebook Friends!

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 --

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:

• http://deafness.about.com/cs/multipledisab/a/autism.htm This web site contains this magazine pdf as well:  autism and deafness article, click on the second link after you clink on this main link. 
• http://www.raisingdeafkids.org/special/autism/
• http://www.mugsy.org/connor113.htm
• http://autismparents.net/deaf-with-autism/
• http://www.autism.com/families/hearingandvisuallyimpaired/networkfaq.htm

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

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

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

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 --

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.