A challenging month

 May has been a tough month in the Gjerde household.  Ashton is very unhappy at school, really disliking his teacher and struggling with his peers.  It's hard to discern what is acting out behaviors and what are developmental brain issues.  I wish I could fix it for him.  I know he gets so frustrated with his ADHD brain.  He's also had some run-ins with law enforcement again.

Among the hard times, we have glimmers of our sweet boy.  There are times he still wants to cuddle with us and tells us he loves us.  For example, at school, he had to write a letter to a person in his life to express his gratitude and he wrote a letter to Daddy and me, thanking us for adopting him.  Today I heard the scripture verse from Jeremiah 29:11 that I personalized for Ashton.  For I know the plans I have for Ashton declares the Lord, plans to prosper him and not harm him, to give him a hope and a future.  I need to remember to claim that for our son!

Waffles continues to be a bright spot in Ashton's life and continues to be his muse!

 

Better late than never

Hard to believe May is upon us.  April as usual was fast and furious!  We had a low key, but enjoyable Easter with some of our neighbors kids, and family friends.  The kids had a good time looking for eggs, although now that the kids are older I think we are going to have up our game--maybe add some moo-la next year!

Waffles continues to be an amazing addition to our crazy familly!  Even though she can be a bit of a bully from time to time, she does tolerate an awful lot of funny business!

Eleven!!!

Last Sunday Ashton turned 11 years old!  He celebrated the day with his buddy Chase playing at the park, going to California Tortilla and eating his favorite oreo blizzard ice cream cake!  He got lots of nice gifts from friends and family, including a "real cell phone".

Life with Ashton is never dull!  I feel like there are constantly little fires everywhere!!!  I put out one fire, and before I have put out that fire, he has started another fire.  I think he is beginning to realize that his brain is created differently.  I can see that he has begun to question why God has created him this way.  All I know is that he is fearfully and wonderfully made and that God makes beautiful and perfectly imperfect people!   I hope the truth of God's design and unfailing love seeps deep into his body, mind and spirit, because some day's it feels like he only get feed the negative.

This week was my spring break and I wanted to do something with Ashton to "fill his tank".  I feel like we take so much from his love tank due to his behavior, I wanted to do something special with him.  Originally we were going to try to go the Baltimore Aquarium, but we settled on doing a high ropes aerial course instead.  We had a great time, but man I was sore!!!

 

Longer days means more play time!

Daylight savings is upon us, which means longer and warmer days.  Ashton has been enjoying being outside and playing with his neighborhood friends. He is happiest when he is outdoors with friends!  I had been praying about his middle school placement and I thought for sure he was going to get into Frederick County's newest outdoor/agricultural school, but that door was not open to us, so currently he is slated to go to his home school at New Market MS, which he is super excited about.   This mama is going to be on her knees!

Always amazing me!

 Ashton is constantly amazing me with his secret talents.  I know he has enjoyed making you tube videos for a while, but recently he shared some of his videos with Waffles as his muse.  So stinking cute!  I've attached the links for two of my favorites.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZIa_izpGehw?feature=share

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/dt9V0-35hs0?feature=share

 

 

Also, since Ashton was little I have noticed he has loved music.  He has played violin off and on, but never really practices it.  But he seems to enjoy it nonetheless.  Over the past 6-9 months he has taken an interest in the keyboard.  This week he had his first piano lesson.  He seemed to like it.  Again I wonder if he will practice, but time will tell.

 

So proud of this boy!

 One of the things I have really want for Ashton this year is larger circle of friends to play with and new experiences, so he can expand his proverbial tent pegs.  I was really hoping with going to a new school he would make some new connections, and even though he has some acquaintances, the one kid whom he really connected with moved away.  So I must say, I was super proud of him when he decided to go to an overnight winter camp even though none of his current friends group was going.  He went to a 2 night camp called Camp Elder, sponsored by the PA Church of the Brethren.  Overall, he seemed happy with the experience.  He enjoyed sledding, playing gaga ball, and loved telling me about the history about the old chapel on the hill.  Not sure if he would want to go again, but I am so proud of him for trying it!

A very Covid Christmas and Happy New Year

 Christmas break was bit of a bummer for Ashton.  He was so looking forward to seeing his buddy Aaron Michael and he got to see him for one day, before Lily tested positive for Covid which totally wrecked our plans, but we made the best of it.  For Christmas he got the one and only gift he had been wanting and Oculus Quest Virtual Reality gaming system, so he was a happy boy.  Thankfully, our neighbors kids had recently had Covid go through their homes, so they were agreeable to let Ashton play with them thank goodness!  Poor Ashton was climbing the walls for sure!  Not sure if he had Covid or not, thankfully on Christmas day he was 2 weeks past the official vaccination period!  So he was definitely the most protected.

 

On New Years Eve, after the CDC changed their guidelines for Covid exposure, we met the Best family and Taylor's gaggle of kids along with some other friends at the local Wegmans.  It took Ashton a while to warm up to his siblings, but after about 30-40 minutes they finally enjoyed one another's company.  Plus we got to meet Ashton's newest sibling Eli.  After Wegman's, we headed to Katie's house to enjoy the company of some other friends!