Day Five: Alone Time

Laila stayed at class all by herself today!  She woke up in a great mood today, and no vomit I might add.  Of course when I asked her if she wanted to go she told me no but once we got there she was all smiles and excitement for her teachers :)  They let the kids bring a little something everyday for a sort of show-and-tell and today she wanted to bring her Elmo balloon that she got at the Dollar Tree the other day.  I was worried it would be distracting because it you know Laila you know if there is a ball or a balloon in eyesight all you hear is "ball, ball, ball, ball, ball....."  and now sometimes "bomb" which is her way of trying to say balloon correctly instead of ball.  I guess we better watch out when we take her on her first airplane!!

So, I had been so focused on her being by herself today and I got back in my car and thought, "huh, what do I do now?!?"  Being a mom for close to nine years now I'm not sure what to do with myself when there are no children around.  Laila had started preschool back home in August but that was three hours which were usually filled up with errands or housework.  Here I don't have much of that so I called a few friends that I haven't been able to chat with since I've been here, stopped by the Christian bookstore looking for a study to do, which I didn't find anything:( and then I came back to the house.  I watched some Beth Moore online, form Grey's Anatomy re-runs on Netflix and cleaned my room.  I got a little excited when I heard a lady vacuuming in the hallway so I asked to borrow it for my room.  I'm a nerd.

I got to school a little early to get Laila because I wanted to see how she was doing.  She was standing at the bar with her instructor fussing a bit but then yelling "I STAND UP!" in her very proud voice :)  They said she did well today and her fits had lessened quite a bit without me there.  They said it really helps the kids to not have someone right there, like their personal audience when they are frustrated.  They play it up when someone is there but tend to do better without.  They said she did fuss about the potty again but they were able to calm her down quicker.  Again, every inch counts so I got to see her walk to the door from me to be able to take her home and she seemed like her steps were even more deliberate today.  She's a long way from walking but it's good to see her be able to do the movements with help.

So at the end of the school day I went to talk with the CLC office manager about the cost for the extra week.  Ouch.   I guess I didn't realized truly how much this costs since we got the REMC grant to pay Laila's tuition.  That final week would actually only be four days and the cost is almost the same as one month of schooling for Emma & Jackson at DMC.  So I called Jack and we talked about the cost of it and how that would be one more whole week at the Ronald McDonald house at $25/night and more food and more gas money for one of us coming back and forth on the weekend but then we talked about how much God has blessed us with so far and how we wouldn't want to miss out on what could be another pivotal four days for Laila;.  We kept going back and forth and decided that we would table the discussion and both take some time to pray about it and then talk later tonight.  Well, only a few minutes later Jack sent me a text and said that his boss, who had no idea and hadn't heard his conversation, walked up to him and handed him a personal check for $100 saying he thought we might need it for something.  I guess there's our answer.  When we need, God will provide and if this is something He wants for Laila, we will make a way.  I just have to say I am very thankful that their are specialized programs for these kids but it makes me so sad how expensive they can be and how it's unfortunate for those that don't get to participate because of that hardship.  Somehow it works out though if it's what is supposed to be.  CLC does a lot of fundraising to defray the cost of tuition for families and I know it is a great deal cheaper for MI residents so they must get some sort of funding only from local people.  Either way, we're going to go ahead with that last week knowing God will provide because we know He will.  Thanks for your prayers!

So for those of you that only get to see that little smiley face girl, here's what momma gets after a hard day at school.  An over tired girl who's fighting taking a nap :(