Update on our move. Yes, we are still moving. We FINALLY got our orders yesterday and finally have some dates. You can't schedule anything without those special little papers saying that you are really going. So last minute everything here we come. On the week of the 21st they are packing up our house and it will make a head start to England. Hopefully it gets there quickly. We are so excited for this new chapter in our life. It hardly seems real. I am sure that it won't be until we step foot off the plane in the UK and realize..oh they really took us here!
It is weird to think that one more month and we will be leaving ND. Now because of the bad rep of ND I would like to say..we did not hate it here at all. Of course, like any human might think weather is not ideal here. Not if you enjoy being outdoors. You can get out, just not as much as I enjoy to be. So on that note I would change the weather if I could. The school, therapy services, friends, and ward have been great. We had a great time here and are going to be sad to go. Although part of being in the military is looking forward with optimism that the next place will be just as great if not better! Just wanted to update everyone on this move that is fast approaching.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Happy Easter!!!
As always our holidays are quiet compared to what we both grew up with, but we love it!
We started out on saturday having a fun get together with some friends. The Daw's hosted a fabulous Easter Hunt and BBQ. I forgot to take a picture, but it was snowing while Tyson was out cooking. What a trooper!! I loved the image of a t-shirt, long pants, a beanie and snow falling while the grill cooking. The kids had such a great time. It was hard to get shots of Carter and Mason who were a bit frantic about finding eggs. Carter wanted to find the loot, Mason wanted to eat each eggs treasures while he found them. :)
Saturday night we had the missionaries over to our house for dinner. We figured what better way to get our eggs dyed a bit fast them recruiting them to help. They were good sports and all white shirts remained white in the end! The pink seemed to want to spill the most as you will see the spots of spillage getting greater and greater.
Sunday we went to church where Mike and I had the privilege of speaking. It has never really bothered me to speak in church. Mike gets very nervous, but did a great job. It was nice to have a couple weeks to prepare about the true meaning of Easter. It helped us realize what traditions needed some down play, and which new ones to start.
When we got home we had the Easter Hunt for the kids. They loved finding their baskets and we were able to sit down a watch a little family movie. They actually all loved Far From Home.
I hope everyone was able to have a relaxing Easter that centered around the Savior. What a reminder of the most important events to take place in mankinds history. The Atonement and Resurrection of our brother Jesus Christ!
Happy Easter everyone!!!!!
Friday, March 14, 2008
My thoughts this week. This is a novel, just a warning!
So I have been debating about writing this post because I don't want it to come out wrong. Then I thought maybe it is something that I need get out there because of recent comments made around me that have made me think.
First comment. Someone in our ward just had a new baby and I was talking to her about how exciting having that first one is etc.. She said someone actually told her not to teach them to talk because then they aren't that great. It was something along those lines. I about died! How dare someone say that for one, and to a new mom. I just shrugged and thought, "well, they obviously don't know the challenges facing someone who can't talk."
Second comment. The word retard being used to describe how someone looks. "He looks so retarded." "That was so retarded." I am not one that points out to everyone the word choices they use and what it can mean to someone else. I just kept having that word thrown out in a conversation and I wanted to scream! "Does Mason look retarded? Because he is!!" No one die because I just said that. By medical definition Mason is Mentally Retarded and there is nothing wrong with that. I just get irritated that it is such a loose word used in everyday vocabulary. Although I don't feel like I should point it out to people everytime it is said. Then I become that lady where everyone feels they might hurt or offend me and have to walk on egg shells around me. I would hate that. I want to be approachable. I want people to ask, what does your son have? What is wrong? I don't care how you ask. Personally I simply take appreciatation that you WOULD ask. Many just try to figure out why a big child is throwing himself on the floor screaming because we aren't actually staying at the restaurant to eat. Then you hear, "If I was his mother."
Third comment. That person is in a wheelchair and they just got into that van. People like that dont' need a wheelchair. What the crap people? I figure most wouldn't be so blinded to the needs of others. It is surprising what people think though. I have a wheelchair for Mason, he can walk, but he does get tired!!! The amount of energy it takes to keep balanced, walk upright and just plain function is amazing to me!
There are more but I will keep it at that. I hate that if I admit I sometimes wish Mason was typical I sound mean or hurtful toward who Mason is. The reasons I sometimes want him typical are not why some might think. The other day Mason got home from school. Taylor and Carter were both asleep and the house had been so quiet! I was so excited to have Mason home because he is always smiling about being home. Well, then it hit me. This would be a great chance that most moms would be able to talk with their child about their day. How was school, what did you do, who did you play with? Mason and I went through his back pack got his few work sheets out and just sat there in silence while he had his snack. I do ask him those questions, although sometimes he looks at me like I am ignorant for asking such questions he can't answer. We get little notes from his aide and that is great. Although what Mason enjoyed in her eyes and what he enjoyed himself could have been totally different. Then I was making bread that same afternoon. Mason was 'helping' like he likes to do in the kitchen. We ran out of flour and it occured to me that the big bag of flour we just bought was still in the van. So I start to walk out of the kitchen and realize I can't leave Mason here alone with all of this(although feeling irritated that he is almost 7, most moms could leave it). So I proceed to put the bowl of half made dough on the freezer, make sure the lid is tight on the oil, put oil away, sugar away, one more glance and I head out. I was gone for all of 45 seconds. On my way back in it dawns on me that I have left the salt on the counter. Sure enough that salt is being dumped, smeared, and tasted while I walk in. So I roll my eyes to myself and clean up the salt. Mason again is realizing that didn't taste very good. Mind you that is only the 20th time that child has downed a good spoonful of salt..does he remember, no. I tell Mason after we put the rest of this flour in we can read some books or something. He had decided to watch a movie prior to bread making, but apparently it was one of those times he pointed to something he didn't actually want to watch. So I am stirring the rest of this flour in when I hear the familiar sound of something being dumped in the pantry. I walk around the corner to see my new can of peanuts being dumped. You can only fit so many things on the top shelf people. I tried to salvage some of them, but while getting up to run away Mason steps on the whole group of them with his shoes. So now, they need to be thrown away. Just think about where his shoes have been and tell me if you could have eaten them? So I am throwing those away and thinking, well that is 5 dollars worth of peanuts down the drain. None of this is a huge deal, as I know that it could have been much worse, it has been much worse.
The point in sharing this is that sometimes people think that I am always happy about Masons disabilities. Always confident in my skills as a mother, and for some reason can handle anything. I can handle anything, because if you aren't handling it, you are letting it pull you down. Everyone can handle anything if the have confidence in themselves. I had a big break down at church and people were in shock that I was crying. Don't we all feel overwhelmed at times? I love the following story in relating to having a child with special needs. It is written by a mother that has a child with Down Syndrome.
A Trip To Holland(by Emily Perl Kingsley)
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability -- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans... the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!" "Holland?" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place. So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
I wish I had such a way with words. This is a touching relation to what it is like.
I love Mason with all of my heart. There are many things that if given the chance I would change. Not for my sake, but for his. Although he is trully happy, he's not just smiling because that is part of Angelman Syndrome. Anyone who would say otherwise does not trully know my son. He never tries to hurt when he is pulling hair, squeezing to tight for a hug, smacking you out of frustration because you just aren't getting what he is trying to tell you. He doesn't fit a mold of likes and dislikes because he has Angelman Syndrome. He is Mason, he is smart and sneaky. He challenges himself with tasks all of time and is sincerely proud of himself when he is able to accomplish something. If anything holds him back it is myself as his mother. Not intentionally, but because I don't understand him always and how his mind works. I love this calling in my life to be his mother. That I was given this privledge is a testiment of what the Lord feels I am capable of. I fail many days at loosing patience, loosing control, not staying focused on what trully matters. What mother doesn't? Although I am the best at loving Mason. No one is better than Mike and I at trully loving our son. He shows us what true unconditional love is. Mason shows us what true forgiveness is. He shows me what it is like to take true joy in the simple things of life. If I could catch a picture of what he looks like when he is focused on pictures of Christ, that would explain it all. He loves the Savior and has a relationship with him that I will never understand. I look forward to the day when Mason will hug me and say I love you mom. That he will be able to tell us how he feels. When he will have complete control over his body.
I feel like I have written a novel and trully didn't mean too. I just felt overwhelmed with some thoughts about what it means to me to have Mason. This is probably my most personal post. I hope that if you did get through it that you know what I was trying to convey. Maybe not to any of you, but just to myself. Thanks for listening on this reflection of my life. :) I guess this week I was just missing being in Italy.
First comment. Someone in our ward just had a new baby and I was talking to her about how exciting having that first one is etc.. She said someone actually told her not to teach them to talk because then they aren't that great. It was something along those lines. I about died! How dare someone say that for one, and to a new mom. I just shrugged and thought, "well, they obviously don't know the challenges facing someone who can't talk."
Second comment. The word retard being used to describe how someone looks. "He looks so retarded." "That was so retarded." I am not one that points out to everyone the word choices they use and what it can mean to someone else. I just kept having that word thrown out in a conversation and I wanted to scream! "Does Mason look retarded? Because he is!!" No one die because I just said that. By medical definition Mason is Mentally Retarded and there is nothing wrong with that. I just get irritated that it is such a loose word used in everyday vocabulary. Although I don't feel like I should point it out to people everytime it is said. Then I become that lady where everyone feels they might hurt or offend me and have to walk on egg shells around me. I would hate that. I want to be approachable. I want people to ask, what does your son have? What is wrong? I don't care how you ask. Personally I simply take appreciatation that you WOULD ask. Many just try to figure out why a big child is throwing himself on the floor screaming because we aren't actually staying at the restaurant to eat. Then you hear, "If I was his mother."
Third comment. That person is in a wheelchair and they just got into that van. People like that dont' need a wheelchair. What the crap people? I figure most wouldn't be so blinded to the needs of others. It is surprising what people think though. I have a wheelchair for Mason, he can walk, but he does get tired!!! The amount of energy it takes to keep balanced, walk upright and just plain function is amazing to me!
There are more but I will keep it at that. I hate that if I admit I sometimes wish Mason was typical I sound mean or hurtful toward who Mason is. The reasons I sometimes want him typical are not why some might think. The other day Mason got home from school. Taylor and Carter were both asleep and the house had been so quiet! I was so excited to have Mason home because he is always smiling about being home. Well, then it hit me. This would be a great chance that most moms would be able to talk with their child about their day. How was school, what did you do, who did you play with? Mason and I went through his back pack got his few work sheets out and just sat there in silence while he had his snack. I do ask him those questions, although sometimes he looks at me like I am ignorant for asking such questions he can't answer. We get little notes from his aide and that is great. Although what Mason enjoyed in her eyes and what he enjoyed himself could have been totally different. Then I was making bread that same afternoon. Mason was 'helping' like he likes to do in the kitchen. We ran out of flour and it occured to me that the big bag of flour we just bought was still in the van. So I start to walk out of the kitchen and realize I can't leave Mason here alone with all of this(although feeling irritated that he is almost 7, most moms could leave it). So I proceed to put the bowl of half made dough on the freezer, make sure the lid is tight on the oil, put oil away, sugar away, one more glance and I head out. I was gone for all of 45 seconds. On my way back in it dawns on me that I have left the salt on the counter. Sure enough that salt is being dumped, smeared, and tasted while I walk in. So I roll my eyes to myself and clean up the salt. Mason again is realizing that didn't taste very good. Mind you that is only the 20th time that child has downed a good spoonful of salt..does he remember, no. I tell Mason after we put the rest of this flour in we can read some books or something. He had decided to watch a movie prior to bread making, but apparently it was one of those times he pointed to something he didn't actually want to watch. So I am stirring the rest of this flour in when I hear the familiar sound of something being dumped in the pantry. I walk around the corner to see my new can of peanuts being dumped. You can only fit so many things on the top shelf people. I tried to salvage some of them, but while getting up to run away Mason steps on the whole group of them with his shoes. So now, they need to be thrown away. Just think about where his shoes have been and tell me if you could have eaten them? So I am throwing those away and thinking, well that is 5 dollars worth of peanuts down the drain. None of this is a huge deal, as I know that it could have been much worse, it has been much worse.
The point in sharing this is that sometimes people think that I am always happy about Masons disabilities. Always confident in my skills as a mother, and for some reason can handle anything. I can handle anything, because if you aren't handling it, you are letting it pull you down. Everyone can handle anything if the have confidence in themselves. I had a big break down at church and people were in shock that I was crying. Don't we all feel overwhelmed at times? I love the following story in relating to having a child with special needs. It is written by a mother that has a child with Down Syndrome.
A Trip To Holland(by Emily Perl Kingsley)
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability -- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans... the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!" "Holland?" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place. So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
I wish I had such a way with words. This is a touching relation to what it is like.
I love Mason with all of my heart. There are many things that if given the chance I would change. Not for my sake, but for his. Although he is trully happy, he's not just smiling because that is part of Angelman Syndrome. Anyone who would say otherwise does not trully know my son. He never tries to hurt when he is pulling hair, squeezing to tight for a hug, smacking you out of frustration because you just aren't getting what he is trying to tell you. He doesn't fit a mold of likes and dislikes because he has Angelman Syndrome. He is Mason, he is smart and sneaky. He challenges himself with tasks all of time and is sincerely proud of himself when he is able to accomplish something. If anything holds him back it is myself as his mother. Not intentionally, but because I don't understand him always and how his mind works. I love this calling in my life to be his mother. That I was given this privledge is a testiment of what the Lord feels I am capable of. I fail many days at loosing patience, loosing control, not staying focused on what trully matters. What mother doesn't? Although I am the best at loving Mason. No one is better than Mike and I at trully loving our son. He shows us what true unconditional love is. Mason shows us what true forgiveness is. He shows me what it is like to take true joy in the simple things of life. If I could catch a picture of what he looks like when he is focused on pictures of Christ, that would explain it all. He loves the Savior and has a relationship with him that I will never understand. I look forward to the day when Mason will hug me and say I love you mom. That he will be able to tell us how he feels. When he will have complete control over his body.
I feel like I have written a novel and trully didn't mean too. I just felt overwhelmed with some thoughts about what it means to me to have Mason. This is probably my most personal post. I hope that if you did get through it that you know what I was trying to convey. Maybe not to any of you, but just to myself. Thanks for listening on this reflection of my life. :) I guess this week I was just missing being in Italy.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The season of moving...
Living in a ward full of military and students we often get the chance to say "See ya Later." We have made some great friends here in ND and one family is getting ready for their next chapter in life. James, Heidi and their boys have been such wonderful friends and it will be sad to see them go. We did get together for a joint FHE on Monday and enjoyed some quality time together. I decided to go ahead and make a slide show of our fun because there are too many cute pictures to choose from! It is great having the oppurtunity to meet so many great people in our life!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Swimming
Our friends had a birthday party for their daughter at the base pool and it turned into a great family night for us. We swam, had fun with friends, and picked up some pizza for dinner. The kids had a blast. We also discovered that Taylor is a fish!!
Taylor had no fear jumping into the water. I could even let her go under and she still dove in one time after another. Certainly didn't get from her mom!! :) You will notice that mom is more nervous about her jumping than she is.
Swimming with daddy! Mason loves just to hold on for the ride.
Taylor's favorite thing to do was chase after the many balls floating around the pool. She alone emptied the big basket of balls on the side of the pool.
Carter loves the water as well, even though he is a little timid. Each time we go he gets better and better at getting in deeper. We are grateful for great services that we have on this base that are free for the taking! :)
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