Monday, November 24, 2008

Church

We went to church on Saturday night, at Bethlehem Baptist where we use to belong. Akila was begging to go to the church where she was dedicated so decided to give it a try. There is no children's church during the service, so the kids stay with us the entire 1 1/2 hours. In the past, this has not worked well with Akila. To be honest, we were nervous.

It went pretty well. For some reason, Akila was very obsessed with Pastor Piper, which man he was, where he was sitting, what he was going to say, etc. After the service, she went up front to see what was going on. They invite people up to be prayed with, or to speak with a Pastor or elder. Akila wanted to talk to Pastor Piper and I couldn't talk her out of it. There was a long line. Pastor Kenny was also up front and I told Akila how when she was a baby, we went to his house all the time for small group. She decided she wanted to talk with him.

She was telling him how she has Turner Syndrome, has a growth problem, had her eyes dilated (which was more than 6 months ago), and she would have went on and on if I had let her. It was nice to talk with Kenny. We then left and went to Perkins where kids eat free on Saturday nights, and everyone was hungry!

Shortly after we arrived, we realized what a bad idea it was. Akila was in overdrive, as hyper as I have seen her in a long time; and she knew it. She couldn't sit still, wanted to be up and dancing around, was being very loud. And then something put her over the edge. She saw that at a table not too far from us, Pastor Piper was there and eating dinner with some other church members. You would have thought the Jonah's Brothers were in the restaurant. She went nuts. She wanted to go talk to him, she couldn't believe he was there, and she kept on repeating that over and over and over.

I took her for a walk, tried to distract her until the food finally came. The food came, she ate a bit, and Michael couldn't stand it anymore and brought her out to the car. The other kids and I finished up quickly and we left. Michael and I realized that we had made a dumb choice in going out to eat. Akila had gotten up early, at 4:30 in the morning, and had awakened Imani as well. I think she just couldn't hold it together anymore. I am just thankful that she made it through church. I pray that I make it through the 5 day weekend we are approaching. It is sure to be a long one.

7 comments:

Torina said...

You never know unless you try and we just have to keep on trying to have those moments of normal with our kids. I hope your holidays go okay!

Anonymous said...

My daughter has Turner syndrome too so I can totally relate to the perseveration at the restaurant!!! Sometimes it all just gets to be too much --overstimulation on top of overtired. My daughter is 14 now, but when she was your daughter's age it didn't take much to send her spinning off over the edge.

Your blog showed up on my Google news round up. Thanks for sharing your story. I'm also a big fan of avoiding housework!

A said...

You will be in our prayers over the rest of this week. You sound tired and in need of a good week or two of good behavior. I know that feeling, and I wish I lived nearby to try to give you a break.

the johnson crew said...

wow... i am praying for you barb... one of these days we have to get together. life doesn't seem to slow down does it?

our kids have the WHOLE week off... my babies are sick... and yet i want to to be a special "vacation" for the kids.

we will have to visit perkins on saturday nights.

A said...

You're totally entitled to have some down time. What you're living is not parenting as it's supposed to be. It just is what it is. None of us were made to endure that on a consistant basis, but you do because you are awesome and amazing, and because Akila is also awesome and amazing - just in a different way sometimes. LOL
I want you to get another long string of good behavior like you had a while back. Do you think she's due for a medicine evaluation?

Anonymous said...

Kudos for making it as far through the day as you did!

I have a nephew in-law (hard to explain that relation, so whatever...) whose parents were told when he was small that he would murder the whole family before he reached his teens. When he turned 12, he had the opportunity to be given some responsibility at church - and you wouldn't believe how much that meant to him! At that point forward, his disorders calmed down, and he turned into one of the sweetest, calmest young men I've ever known. Being around him as a 20-something is a joy.

I know it is hard for the family, but don't underestimate the influence just a little bit of church can have. I'm just sure that God watches out for parents with troubled young ones - He's the only reason I've made it this far (and my troubles seem like a cake walk next to yours!).

Okay, enough preaching from me... *grin!*

the johnson crew said...

how are you doing? miss you! - janelle