My last kiddo is officially a teenager!
I remember a few years back when I thinking about the kids and their age spacing, it occurred to me that we would actually have 4 teenagers for almost 2 years. At that time I thought that sounded super crazy, but now I LOVE it. Teenagers are the best!
Let's see what Zeke's been up to this last year!
For Zeke's 12th birthday he wanted us to all go to dinner at Olive Garden for his birthday. For dinner he had his normal Parmesan Pasta and then he had beignets with chocolate sauce for dessert. They wrote a birthday message on a separate plate for him.
Ga-Ga & Pa got Zeke this cool Christian T-shirt and he of course got to open the OJEZ box and get his $112.
Love this gift bag!
The siblings all pitched in and got Zeke a LEGO helicopter. Zeke's gift from us was paying for everyone to eat dinner at Olive Garden!
Papa & Ruth were there too...they got Zeke a game, but we already had it so they had to return it and buy him a different gift.
In early June...we set out for Oregon to on a rafting trip with our church. We drove our trailer down with Ella, Justine and Owen. Jack and Zeke rode down with Micah and his boys in their van.
We stopped at a restaurant called Cousins in The Dalles. What was funny was we left at different times, but we ended up getting to the restaurant just shortly after them so our whole group ended up getting to sit together for dinner.
Outside of the restaurant there were all these fun props that you could get your pictures taken with. Who knows why Zeke chose a sheep! :)
At first I didn't think Zeke was going to be able to go rafting because the sign up said you had to be 14 years old, but the coordinator from our church talked with the leader of Youth Dynamics and he said that Zeke could still go rafting.
He was on the raft with one of the seasoned instructors, Carlin, so that's why they made an exception. He paddled with Micah, Josiah and Allen.
He loved it!
He also had a great story to tell because their raft ended up flipping over and he got caught under it. He remembered his training and crawled out from under it and held on to a rock and waited to be rescued. Thankfully I didn't see any of this because I was following the first group of rafters and Zeke was in the second group. I got to hear the whole story once we got back to camp. He was a little rockstar around camp that had this fun story to tell. Later that night it finally hit him what happened and he got emotional. I snuggled him and we prayed and he was able to go to sleep after that.
We had one week of school left after we got back from the rafting trip and that was the hardest week ever. We were all so exhausted and short tempered....it was rough!
Zeke finished up 6th grade!!!
So happy for school to be out for summer!
In April of last year we started playing volleyball. We had a camping trip planned with the Kuch's in June and we spent a good bit of time playing volleyball with them. Zeke is hilarious because he really doesn't understand how to properly hit the volleyball....no matter how many times I've shown him. He just hits it with his fingers. Of course his fingers just bend out of the way and so it usually doesn't end up going the way he would like. He still tries though!
Zeke is such a cute little guy!
This last year he did grow a bit so now he's 4ft 11in tall. I just looked at Owen's growth chart and when he was 13 years old he was 4ft 9in so that makes me feel so much better about Zeke's height.
One of the days we visited the Mount St. Helen's Visitor Center and then went on a trail they have right outside. Of course whenever there is anything that can be climbed up on Zeke will climb it.
On our walk Caleb decided to hoist Zeke up on his shoulders and give him a ride around...it was so sweet! Caleb has always been so patient and sweet towards Zeke.
There are positives to being the littlest....you get the top of the pyramid!
One downside to being small is you have no body fat to keep you warm!
I think it's pretty typical to be the youngest and have the fewest pictures. For one thing Zeke is usually off doing his own thing and he's not really high maintenance. There was only a few pictures of Zeke at 4th of July and this one is just epic. He's such a character!
During the summer, Owen and Jack were busy working a lot so there were a few times on the weekend it was just Michael and I and the younger two. One of those Saturday's we just decided to head to the beach to hang out, soak up some sun and have a picnic lunch. It's honestly not something we do very often, but it was so nice to get that quality time with just Zeke and Ella.
On July 10th, Michael's work had a Birthday BBQ for him. Ella, Zeke and I got to join them for the celebration. One of the office workers makes an amazing ice cream dessert that Michael loves so we got to enjoy that! It was so good!!
The kids also got to climb up inside the dump truck and on the backhoe.
Our church had a booth set up at Kent Cornucopia Days. I signed us up to volunteer for two days...on the first day I signed up Jack and Zeke to join us. There ended up being a lot of volunteers and we didn't really need all of us. Zeke was already complaining about the heat so I called Owen and he came and picked up Jack and Zeke and took them both home.
Zeke is such a homebody normally, but get him out on the trail and he is a happy guy.
He does so much better now that he can carry his own water and snacks.
Dipping his feet in the freezing cold lake on one of our hikes.
While the older kids were at summer camp, Michael and I went on a hike with just Zeke. It ended up not being the most fun hike since the lookout point had been overgrown by trees, but we made the best of it and it was so fun just having one on one time with Zeke.
Cute kiddo!
This kid loves his Daddy so much! In fact Zeke and Michael are so alike in so many ways. Both the youngest of 4, both string beans growing up, both very creative, both love PC gaming and I'm sure loads more than that!
Zeke is officially big enough to sit in the front seat of the truck between Daddy and I. Zeke is usually a pretty quiet kid, but get him in a car and he becomes a chatterbox. Put him in the front seat next to two parents that are strapped in and have to listen to him....he's in heaven. I usually like to read when we are driving to go on a hike or go camping, but Zeke just kept interrupting me. I listened and chatted with him for a while and then I had to tell him I was going to have reading time. That's when he just shifted to chatting Daddy's ear off.
Look at this handsome guy!
Zeke was such a good helper at VBS. He helped with the games station.
After VBS one day we needed to do some shopping at Costco. Most of us just wore our volunteer shirts while we were out and about, but Zeke took his off. We were tired from our busy day so halfway through shopping we took a break and sat down on one of the couches for a rest.
One of the kids attending VBS was named Zeke too. Zeke had never met another Zeke before....he has met boys with the name Ezekiel, but this boys name was just Zeke. The even crazier thing was he had a younger sister that was named Ella...small world for sure!
Same sweatshirt different hike!
It's so interesting how you shift things as you have more kids. I was so involved with the other 3 in regards to their clothes, but with Zeke I honestly don't care. We don't let him leave the house in pajamas, but he can wear camo shorts and a striped t-shirt and it doesn't make a difference to me. Just like in the picture above his socks don't match....who cares!
Zeke and Daddy were the only ones that wanted to hike up to the top of the hill behind them, but in the end they didn't go....maybe next time!
Love these sweet kiddos of mine!
When we went camping in Ephrata, Zeke set the table for breakfast.
All of the kids just love camping at Ephrata...it's a tradition and we have to go every single year!
Part of that love is for the golf course. Zeke loves to golf and the office supplies him with his own set of little golf clubs. It's so cute! Although I doubt he'll think it's so cute now that he's a teenager.
My sweet snuggly boy!
All the work Zeke finished in 6th grade!
Starting 7th grade!
Zeke is completely at grade level so he only has to complete 12 PACE's in each subject. Actually for 7th grade he only had to complete 6 Social Studies PACE's and then he had to write a State History Report.
Jack and Zeke are still the ones that play together the most. Right now they've been playing with a homemade racetrack they built in their room.
Right after the new school year started, I took Zeke into the eye doctor to get his eyes checked. He'd been complaining that he couldn't see well. Now 66.7% of our family wears RX glasses full time. Michael wears RX glasses when he's on the computer at work and Jack doesn't need glasses at all....who knows how long that will last though.
Zeke realized that he really likes putting puzzles together...mainly 500 pieces ones. 1000 piece ones take too long and he loses interest. He thinks it's super cool that he can put them together and then pick them up off the ground and they stay together.
Zeke was my buddy at the corn maze while Ella and Jack went off together. We beat them out of the first maze by a big margin.
It was fun having that one-on-one time with my sweet guy! After the first corn maze, Logan and her mom, Jen, showed up. Logan, Ella and Jack went to do the other maze while Jen joined Zeke and I and we still ended up beating the other kids with a ton of time to spare.
Zeke dressed up as Marshawn Lynch one last time. In all honesty I'm not even sure if the kids will dress up and go trick or treating next year.
Ella already decided last year that she didn't want to dress up anymore. This is Zeke freaking out because of how "scary" her costume is! :)
Zeke needed a new sweatshirt for our family pictures so I ordered him one online. When it came it was the perfect color and it just so happened to match a sweatshirt I had.
Zeke is always cold so I got him this nice warm winter coat, but I can count on one hand how many times he actually wore it.
For Christmas I take the kids to Walmart so they can point out a few things they want from their siblings. I just take pictures of the things they want instead of having them write up a list. Zeke really wanted this car...he cute creepy face is just hilarious though!
My sweet boy wanted to bake with me at Christmas time and it was such a fun time together.
He chose chocolate chip cookies and even though they looked a bit funny they still tasted amazing!
He still gives the best reactions to opening presents.
He even got a couple LEGO cars for Christmas!!
The boys table at Ga-Ga & Pa's for Christmas dinner!
Zeke loves to play games...he also loves to create his own.
Costco is a favorite because hello pizza and all the samples. Zeke is very good at trying things if it's a sample. I even got him to try Lemon Ginger Kombucha...I was so proud of him! He did not like it! :P
Look at these gorgeous kiddos!
Zeke has been trying some new foods this last year. He is still extremely picky, but he's definitely getting better. We actually have a menu on the frig of all the foods he likes so he doesn't have to sit there and think about what to eat...he can just go over to his menu and pick something. He just added a few more things recently like Rice Cakes and Belvita Bars. He has also learned how to make Top Ramon, Scrambled Eggs, Grilled Cheese and Cheese Quesadillas. He can also heat anything up in the oven and he's no longer freaks out about taking stuff out of the oven.
Working at our church's coffee bar to raise money for winter camp. Josiah is Zeke's best friend....in fact during the Men's conference Josiah got to come over and spend the most of the day with Zeke and they had a blast together watching Holey Moley!
Zeke is a maximum comfort kid. He loves to wear sweatpants, fuzzy socks and be snuggled up in a blanket most days. He also sleeps with a bean bag chair in his bed surrounded by stuffed animals. It's a whole vibe for sure!
It's been fun seeing Zeke hang out with the big guys.
These boys have grown up together! It's crazy they are all teenagers now and three of them have their license and jobs!
School this year has been amazing for Zeke Man. This whole year has been life changing for him.
At the end of his 6th grade year I was struggling, he was struggling and school life with him and for him was not good...at all! Most days would end in frustration and tears. I talked with Michael about having him tested for ADHD and autism. At first Michael was worried that he was going to get this label and then the doctors were going to want to pump him full of drugs that would totally change him. I honestly was a little frustrated because I was the one dealing with this situation day in and day out and he's wasn't seeing it for what it was. Plus Zeke was starting to really get down on himself and berate himself and that was when I drew the line. He was tearing himself down from the inside and I was not okay with that. We needed information and we needed knowledge and those things are powerful tools that can set you on a path to success.
I reached out to my Naturopath and she recommended Zeke be seen at The Yellow Brick Clinic to be tested. I contacted them and we had to fill out endless amounts of paperwork. We did hit a roadblock when they needed his teacher to fill out paperwork and they would not accept it from me even though I'm his teacher. We worked around that by having his Sunday School teacher fill out the paperwork instead. Thankfully they accepted that. This process took a long time, but honestly not really in the grand scheme of things. After the paperwork was submitted and all the online surveys taken we had a meeting with one of the therapists at YBC. They interviewed Zeke and then took all the information that was submitted and reviewed it. That process took a month and then after that we had another meeting where he was given a diagnosis based on all the information she had. Zeke was officially diagnosed with Inattentive ADHD and High Functioning Autism.
At first Zeke did not like being labeled as "different" at all. We had lots of talks about how he's still the same Zeke Russell Martin and nothing has changed. We just know more about him and now we have this knowledge so we can help adjust things to better suit him and how he learns and we can help him succeed.
Zeke was feeling really down like he was inferior because of his diagnosis and the sweetest thing happened one night. Jack and and him share a bedroom and Zeke was crying about everything and Jack started singing the Bruno Mars song...Just The Way You Are...to him and it made him feel all better. It was so precious and so true....we love Zeke just the way he is. Nothing has changed...he's still Zeke and we wouldn't want him any other way.
After the diagnosis we talked with his therapist at YBC and she knew that I was big into naturopathic healing instead of tradition medicine so we decided to go that route in regards to helping his body. He's been on this protocol now for 9 months and it's going so well. Every 3 months we have Zeke's hair analyzed to give us a clear picture of what's going on in his body and then we adjust his supplements to that. Unfortunately the therapist that was helping us with this at YBC has since left so now we are working with Zeke's Naturopath Doctor. Once we hit the year mark we are going to switch from doing hair analysis over to blood analysis. Overall the supplements Zeke has been taking have been making a world of difference. The best part is he's not on a bunch of drugs that have altered who he is.
The second portion to the puzzle was setting Zeke up with an ABA Therapist. The YBC gave me a list of all the different clinics that offered therapy for the entire state of WA. To say it was overwhelming was an understatement. Of course I narrowed the list down by regions, but since we live in the most populous county in WA the options were still plentiful. I asked God to lead me to the one he wanted for Zeke and then I started looking. Care Wise Behavior Therapy stood out to me and I decided to only submit Zeke's information to that clinic having faith that God would open up doors for Zeke to receive the care he needed. YBC said waiting list to even be contacted was averaging 3 months and then longer to start sessions. By the grace of God, we were contacted after only 1.5 months and Zeke started therapy on the very first day of the school year.
In all the timing was amazingly fast! Zeke's first appt with YBC was on June 6th, he was diagnosed on July 2nd, he had his intake interview for Care Wise on August 12th and then started in-home therapy on Sept 16th. It was amazing and a total answer to prayer!
Zeke's therapist, Miss Caitlynn, was at our house most weeks from 9-1 every day for months. She was unbelievably helpful for Zeke and she absolutely was an answer to prayer for our whole family. Zeke went from crying most days over school to being able to focus and do his work. He was able to learn how to advocate for himself and ask for help when he needed it or ask for comfort as well. He went from hating being touched to asking me multiply times during the day for snuggles. It's honestly been night and day. Now I don't want it to sound like everything has been perfect it's just such a huge change from last year it's unbelievable.
Fast forward to January 2025, I was actually going to let Miss Caitlynn know that we could change from her coming over 5 days a week to only 3 days a week, but then she let me know that she was actually moving on from Care Wise. We were sad of course, but at the same time Zeke was ready to be on his own. There was definitely a transition period of about 2 weeks where he struggled, but since then he's done phenomenal. I also know if we need a therapist in the future all I have to do is contact them and we can get back on that track if we need to. This year has definitely been a huge growing year for Zeke and God has been so good through the whole process.
We hosted the youth group at our house almost every Sunday from September - March to watch all 4 seasons of The Chosen. We were hoping to get to watch Season 5 with all the kids in the theater. We ended up making our goal and it was an amazing time with all the youth. During one of our Sunday nights, Zeke was laying there playing with his hair and he ended up making it stand up and it actually looked amazing!
Zeke loves to volunteer at Church events. For the Awesome Easter Adventure he was in charge of the Egg Assembly station. Here he is getting his picture taken with the Jack Rabbit!
Here are some of the kids we took to see The Chosen in the theater...of course Zeke sat right next to his best friend!
This happened to be the last time we got to hang out with our Youth Pastor before he moved to California. The kids love Yeaab so much it was hard to see him go, but we know that God has awesome things in store for him and the youth at RCC.
For Mother's Day we went to this restaurant in Federal Way that I had been wanting to try call Biscuits. I didn't think it would be a long wait, but boy was I wrong. It was an hour, but I felt like it was worth it. Zeke got a cinnamon roll for his brunch, but he didn't like it very much. Instead of icing it was more like cream cheese frosting which isn't his favorite.
I noticed he was really antsy and wanted to leave, but he held himself together. When I got home it dawned on me that that situation was probably pretty tough on him. Like I've said he's a homebody and he doesn't like unfamiliar places especially when they are busy. He just gets super overwhelmed and overstimulated. He honestly did great and once we got home he went straight upstairs into the master bedroom to be alone to read. I went up there later on and talked with him and he started to get emotional about it, but I just told him I was proud of him for handling that really well and I promised him I would try to think about those things and see if we could adjust to be more accommodating for him in the future.
Not that we aren't going to go and live life, but thinking back on it now it would have probably been nice if one of us had gone back to the van and waited there with him instead of in the busy waiting area. It would have grounded him and then made it so he wasn't already visually spent. For the most part Zeke's life is very routine and not much changes so when those rare occasions come up we have to remember oh yeah this might effect him so we need to think through the situation and adjust accordingly.
Lately Zeke's favorite thing to do is play Call of Duty: War Zone on the computer with Daddy, Owen or Justine. They could spend hours playing that. Justine is so sweet with Zeke....he really is just like another brother to him. Zeke really enjoys having him around...in fact he's coming over for Zeke's birthday dinner tonight.
Zeke Man...
You are a teenager buddy....what!?!?! You are such an awesomely fun kid and it's been a privilege to watch you learn and grow. I am so thankful that we reached out and got you the help you needed. This year has been so much better for you and for me. I don't want you to let a diagnosis define who you are! You are amazing, creative, funny, bright, silly, loving, tender and so very smart. I want to make sure that we know how to best help you be the best you can be. We are here for you buddy - to lift you up and support you in anyway we can and we always will be.
This summer the 3 older kids have jobs so there's going to be times where it's just you and me. You tend to want to stay home most of the time, but I'm hoping I can get you to go out and go hiking with me or go to the beach and enjoy the outdoors a bit. It will be like when you were little and the other 3 were in school. You and I went everywhere and did everything together. That was because you had to since you were so little, but still I loved having that time with you.
Zeke Russell this was a big year for you and I have a feeling this next year is going to be too. You are on the cusp of some big changes in regards to growing up. I pray that as your body grows and changes that you will still be that fun-loving, silly guy we know we know and love. That you will go with the flow for the most part and enjoy what life brings you. That you will continue to advocate for yourself...for what you need and how you feel. Your feelings and opinion matters.
My sweet youngest boy...I can't really explain to you how overwhelmingly blessed I felt when Daddy told me, "It's a boy!" on May 22nd, 2012. God knew we needed one more boy to complete our family! Baby Z was now Zeke Russell and we couldn't be more over the moon in love with you. You were the most content little guy right from the start and for the most part you still are.
Zeke Man...I pray that as you grow this year physically that you will also grow spiritually in your personal relationship with Jesus. You love Him and you have lots of Biblical knowledge. I pray that this year your heart will be set on fire for Him. I know God has you here for a purpose and I pray that He will use you in a mighty way for the glory of His kingdom.
I love you sweet man and I'm so so proud of you!
Happy 13th Birthday!
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