This has been a kiddo-sitting week....and a week of the flu. Kudos to all the teachers/custodians/aides who get to/have to clean up during this season. I had one sick one here...and another losing her cookies at school, so I had her the next day. Everyone is well today. Whew! Except Brandi who pulled something at work and ended up at the Dr.'s. This is what she shared:
(Hurt my back at work today, I know, I know!!) My doctor visit went something like this:
Doctor: So I guess you are done with work for the day...
Me: I guess so (beyond irritated that I am at the Dr.'s office and not at work)
Doctor: So I hope you don't have plans for the weekend!
Me: Plans?? No, my kids are going with their dad to Mesquite this weekend. For the WHOLE weekend! First break in 6 weeks!! I soo didn't have every single minute of the next 72 hours planned out, a 3-page to-do list, as well as a zumba class, skiing, a dinner and play, surprise party, gno, shopping trip, a pedicure, etc. etc.
Doctor: (Speechless..........awkward pause.....) so would you like a shot in your buttocks to help with the pain?
(that did make me laugh out loud. Me laughing, not Brandi!)
I do love having David home. After picking Addi up from kindergarten, I was meeting my BFF from elementary through HS- Debbie- in Springville for lunch (post-birthday)this week, David took Addi horseback riding in the gully (we live next to a 800- plus acres equestrian park)....she did 5 miles on her own horse (she just turned 6.) So proud of her...some lady was walking the gully doing weird arm flashing exercises and actually spooked the horse and Addi went off. She cowgirled up and got back on her horse...and the clueless lady went on her exercising way.
Planning a Valentine's Bucket at my house next week. This is fabric that I found for the tablecloth. I love doing Valentines with red, pink and green. Hoping to do lunch out in the cabin and I've got creative juices flowing. Too many ideas, too many projects. Yesterday when I was checking out at Hobby Lobby, the cashier said, "I want to go home with you- you have way too many fun things here!" (can I say, one of the things I love about Hobby Lobby is that they have religious music playing! Although they had a funky sax playing Come Thou Font- which is one of my favorite hymns- but I've never heard it played quite THAT way! And that In-and-Out Burger puts scriptures on their packaging. And no one is freaking out.)
I don't think I can last until the November elections with the dang phone ringing, easily 6 times a day with computers asking my opinion or tooting someones' horn. Enough already! Today I even got grouchy with the computer.....and felt pretty foolish when I hung up.
Made a Chocolate Cola cake the other day for neighbor meals. It tastes like a funky Texas sheetcake...with a Cola chocolate fudge frosting. Definitely a winner. I've seen online that this is an old Southern recipe...and most call for mini-marshmallows as well. The recipe I used didn't call for them...but if you've made this cake before, are marshmallows a must-have addition?
So, after months of testing and years of trying to figure out what exactly is going on, our little Annee (age 11) was finally diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. This has been a trying time for B and T. No one ever wants a rough road ahead for any of our kiddos....but it is times like this that we need to circle our wagons and get informed (thanks to those who have shared information. B. is a little overwhelmed with the road ahead but information is good- and when everyone is breathing in and out, things will get figured out. ) Tanner adopting Annee was a highpoint of this past year....and I think it is a tender mercy, that Annee- who is passionate about horses- got a new grandpa (3 years ago when they married) who is a cowboy. I found this quote this week that spoke to me-
We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it. -John Newton
2 comments:
It's a good thing I worked in a Special Ed classroom with kids who had Asperger Syndrome to severe Autism, because the father of one of my granddaughters has Aspergers and I've been able to help my daughter understand a lot about it, and we love him to pieces. He is almost finished with college with a degree in Graphic Art Design. My daughter's relationship with him has to be adjusted a little, but there are good things about it, too! I love this story, and EVERYONE should read it, not just parents with children who don't fit perfectly into a mainstream category.
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
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 Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After 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 guide books. 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.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. 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 will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very 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.
P.S. One of my sweet, lovely students that was quite a bit farther down the autism spectrum just received her mission call to serve a Church Service Mission, working in the Bishop's Storehouse and Family History Indexing. She's going to GREAT!!!
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