The summer was wonderful. We only took Garrett to speech therapy 30 minutes from our home weekly, and he had been asked to discontinue PT for a while because of some sensory issues. SO we scheduled an OT evaluation per the PT. Meanwhile, our local MDA neurologist said she thought we could just lay off PT for now.....hmmm.....who do you believe?? Anyhoo, yesterday was the OT eval, and the precious OT, whom I adore, told me all the things I knew but didn't want to hear includint that Garrett has lots of sensory issues and agreed with my estimate that he is likely at about 18-24 months for his abilities in that area. It's so strange how when he was much, much younger, besides his feeding issues, his fine motor skills were on track. But now he is 4 and when she asked me all the questions about what he can do in the OT area, many of the answers pointed more and more to Sensory Integration Disorder. She asked us to read a book The Out Of Sync Child. Last night I ordered a copy for us and had another copy sent to my mom. She saw some of what had been bothering me about Garrett while she and Dad were her with the children last week while we were out west. We also need to get him back into speech therapy in the private setting. Trouble is getting all this arranged so he doesn't miss any of his 4 year old preschool program. His teacher is AMAZING, and I know he is getting so much from her class. He has, however, not been napping at school, so he is getting more and more difficult in the evenings. We are putting him to bed earlier so that helps, too. So we will try to get his appointments for therapies just after his school lunchtime since he doesn't nap when he should at school. Then there's that whole screaming and crying in the car thing. Today going to Baton ROuge for the ENT doc was a nightmare. He was absolutely raging, snotting, kicking, and I was about to cry. The ENT told us he needs to scope Garrett's throat, check on his ear tubes, and do a hearing test...things a normal kiddo has done in the office, but after just being in the exam room with Garrett and trying to look in his ears and watching the nurse try to get his temp on his forehead, he opted to have it done under sedation at Woman's Hospital in two weeks. Meanwhile, his teacher says he is complaining of loud sounds at school and asking for the music to be turned down. We are seeing the same thing at hom. Garrett has also had a strange cough on and off for a few weeks, but wasn't having other signs. He now has a little nose drainage and his eyes look  puffy. The ENT put him on ear drops to soothe his ears, Omnicef antibiotic, a steroid, Nasonex and a med to help with his congestion. So we are back to appointments. He also needs to be seen by a developmental pediatrician. And we will be back at the ENT next week to recheck his ears and all, then the next week have his outpatient procedures done at Woman's Hospital.
SO just when I thought things had settled down and was feeling in a little bit of a happy groove, here we are again....chains of appointments and endless weeks of therapy ahead. Did I mention I would do ANYTHING for my children??? I really should not complain. I have them on this earth adn they are in our care for a reason. I just pray I am doing all of this right.
Thank you for listening to me whine. Want some cheese with that??? Life really is good, I promise!!!!

We are coming home TOMOROW!!!! In about 23 hours we will be back where we belong...with our awesome kiddos!!! We have missed them terribly while Nina and Pop have had them at our home this past 7 days. We see and do and sometimes just say things that make us think of them. It's much more fun to share things with others, and we have missed sharing things in person, but we can at least enjoy sharing this way!!
Today we left Teton Springs, just a few miles from the Grand Tetons, at noon after we enjoyed an hour long walk and breakfast. We drove criss-cross the Wyoming and Idaho border a couple of times, then into Utah, finally! We had dinner at Outback and are now in Salt Lake City, Utah at a Hampton Inn. We catchc our flight at noon tomorrow!! We can't wait to be home!!!
The drive here was long, and there were lots of beautiful farms and ranches, but I didn;t stop much for photos. I did love the picture below with the train in it because we could see both sun rays streaming from the heavens on the right side of the photo AND a heavy rain falling from the clouds on the right side.
Then as we neared Ourback we saw TWO rainbows, and one was so bright it was so clear that we could se each color separated from the other. It was stunning. Doesn't look as bold  here, but I thought I would share it.

Hey, other AWESOME news....should have mentioned this first....The Douberlys now are OFFICIALLY the parents of the Ukranian boys Alex and Andrew!!! That's right, Joshua and Jacob are now BOTH big BROTHERS!!! AND that means even more fun on our vacations with them!!!!! Please pray for safe travels home in a couple of weeks and smooth processes of getting birth certificates and visas completed.

Back home soon!!
Godspeed,
MOM

Hi Everyone!!! We have had a whirlwind past three days. We left Whitefish, Montana and headed south through Kalispel, down through Missoula, then through Butte and over to Bozeman to stay with Granddaddy's best friend's wife, Kathy. Somehow I didn't get photos there. She has a precious dog named Lucky, and he is certainly lucky to have a mom like he has!!! I am attaching lots of photos as we were in a beautiful place today, GRAND TETON PARK!!!! Oh, yesterday we left Bozeman after a delicious brunch, and oh my, Tuesday night, Kathy had hot Huckleberry Cobbler!!! We loved each bite and BOTH helpings!!!!! So yesterday we left Bozeman and went south again just west of Yellowstone Park to Dillon, MT, then spent the night in Idaho Falls, Idaho. DiDi, that's two states in one day.....whew!!! We drove through some beautiful country with tons of orgeous farms. Lots of harvesting grain going on now. The small towns are our favorite, I must say. Some of the views are so awe-inspiring. Words and photos cannot provide enough.....you have to come here!!! We checked out of a hotel in Idaho Falls this morning and headed to see the Grand Tetons. We booked a two hour float trip. We parked in Moose, Wyoming, and van picked us up. It was pulling a trailer with a 12 person raft we used to float in. We had a great trip. There were a couple of class I rapids, but we didn't even get wet. I had fun dangling my feet over the side getting them wet in teh very cold water. It was our guide's 1000th trip down the Snake River today!!! He was really nice as were all of the other tourists on the trip. It was a great way to relax and get many good photos. We came back over to Idaho,  close to the Tetons to stay at a luxurious lodge....not expensive...that is in a golf community. We took a long walk at sunset and enjoyed the views. Daddy-O is already snoozing and I am enjoying figuring out which of these Teton photos I plan to order on a large canvas for our home. Can't wait to bring the whole family up here. I dream of bringing Pop and Granddaddy up here for a fly fishing float and Nina ad DiDi for a float trip like we enjoyed today. Addie and Ainslee, you two are going to have to take a whitewater trip with us!!! Who knows, Garrett might be able to go, too!!!! That is much more bumpy, and you get really wet!!!
Good night and enjoy the shots!!! Godspeed, CL

Addie and Ainslee, meet Nadia and her dog, Friday! Nadia was a baby-friend of yours, Addie, but you two have not played since you were 8 months old or so!! She is a really, really cool little lady, just like both of you! She plays the violin and takes piano, likes to snow ski and rides horses some, too!!! Tonigt she found the string I needed to do a hair wrap in her hair just like yours. She also found a little heart bead, and we wraped it into the deal....way cute!!! You will LOVE Nadia, and we plan to come visit in less than a year when you all can come, too!! The guest house on her farm has FOUR bunks, so you girls can have a slumber party!!!! I am attaching a few photos tonight as I am very tired and the computer is spazzing tonight. More later!! WE LOVE YOU!!! Mom and Dad

While Daddy-O and I are in Montana, we thought the kiddos might enjoy seeing our daily photos. Addie and Ainslee, it feels so weird that you are not with us on this adventure. We had such a blast with you in Colorado earlier this year exploring new places. We pray someday Garrett will enjoy these kinds of adventures as well. You would love it here in Montana, but we have been doing lots of driving, and I know you would not love that part! We landed in Billings, rented a car and drove about 3 hours to Great Falls, Montana, where that cool log cabin is that we wanted to buy if we moved here. A family has moved into it and already put up a little horse shelter and a little corral. It was even more beautiful of a place than I imagined, but it was almost dark when we were there, so I couldn't get a photo to show you. The photo of the dog was in the Denver airport. I saw the dog peeking his head out of his carrying bag and he looked JUST LIKE CAMPER at first from the side. I met his owner, a nice young lady, and she adopted him through petfinder.com. Actually, the dog is a girl. She was at first scared of everything, but she is a sweetie now. I cannot remember her name. The windmills are on what they call a WIND FARM here. It's just huge amounts of land that have these HUGE windmills on it the make electricity. The last photo is of the rolling, open, dry, grassy land we drove across today. In the moring we will be getting up early to go for a run, then driving a couple of hours to Browning, Montana, which is on the Blackffeet Indian Reservation. I am sure I will think about the American history we are studying in our lessons now. I will try to find something special for you that the Indians made. We will attend a United Methodist Church there and then drive on to Whitefish, Montana to say with our friends Jason and Sarah. They have two girls, and the oldest, Nadia, is just a month or so older than you, Addie. When you were little babies in Virginia, you went to the beach together one day! Remind me to show you photos! Signing off for the night so I can get these pictures on here and get some sleep. We love you and miss you very much. Watch for mail coming soon!!!
ILYWAMH!! Mom