It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Well dear friends, this has been a wonderful, busy, a bit crazy, a little sad but non the less, the most wonderful time of the year!
I have still been struggling with my health some and so by the evening some nights, I haven't even had the energy to blog.... I have missed that.
I had my computer get another virus, and so for 5 days that has been down and unable for me to use. I think it get's sick as much as I do:)
We have had a Christmas visitor, a young person who needed to get out of a bad situation and needed a safe environment to be in. So we opened our home to her a week and a half ago. We are all learning from this experience but trying hard to provide a safe and healthy place and yet encourage her to make different choices and take advantage of this opportunity. Lots of late night talks and that is probably a bit of why my health is struggling a bit. Sleep is vital to me and vital to my healing.
My heart is missing my kids this time of the year, I realized as I put up Christmas decorations by myself, that this was the first year that I haven't had Lauren and Lee here to help me with that. I am sure Lee probably isn't missing that a lot, but Lauren has always loved the holiday decorations and I have been missing her enthusiasm and love for the holidays!
The girls came over for the weekend, and we were able to do some wonderful Christmas things. I will update you all on that later.
Still this video that I watched today, reminded me of what Christmas is all about. May we be able to slow down and truly think about that...these upcoming days. 
I have missed you dear friends....thanks for being a part of our lives!


Special collaboration results in largest live nativity in the world!

What happens when you gather world-class musicians, YouTube celebrities, a donkey, two sheep, a camel, and 1,000+ people dressed as angels? The Guinness World Record for the Largest Live Nativity Scene, plus an epic YouTube music video. Watch The Piano Guys, David Archuleta and a host of others in this newly released video sure to bring the spirit of the holidays into your home.
You can watch the video HERE:

Sleep Over with Miss Jenny!

I cooked most of the day yesterday so I could just play with Jenny today, at her Sleepover. First after we picked her up...we went to lunch at Taco Time. After that a trip to Hallmark to look at all the wonderful Christmas stuff there (love that place). Then off the grocery store where we picked up a few of our last minute things for tomorrow. Then we stopped by and saw a friend who just had her baby a few days ago. Jenny brought their little boy and the baby a balloon, she loved the baby of course. Came home, Jenny and Poppa played for awhile with her Purple Blanket. ( Jeff always teases her about how much he loves her Purple Blanket, they run around the room over and over again, trying to get the blanket from each other ). Jenny told me that she thinks we should get Poppa a Purple Blanket for Christmas  :)
Then after dinner we made a few more Thanksgiving deliveries and we headed to Menchies ( a frozen yogurt place ) and had a treat. After that, a quick movie and then headed to bed. When she went downstairs to watch the movie I told her that I might stay upstairs and get a few things done. Her response, "But Nana, I want you to watch the movie with me, I love you". Yes, how grateful I am for Sleep Over Days and all the fun memories they bring. Seeing everything through a child's eyes...truly does give you more Gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving Dear Friends!



 This is her true smile, she is a very fun, energetic, spicy, and always funny !

Burrito with nothing but chicken, rice, and cheese...with ketchup to dip it in! Yuck, but she likes it! 

 

 Apple and Chocolate Yogurt mixed together...yum!

Unstoppable spirit

I found this story and couldn't wait to share it. I used to work with severely handicapped kids. That was my job that I truly loved. After working there for a short time, you know longer looked at them as handicapped, but incredibly special spirits inside those little imperfect bodies. As I read this story, I thought about some of our kids (at work ) who could never speak. My niece who I love so much has been unable to speak her whole life, she is now in her 30s and yet, without saying a word...she has taught us all so very much. Our lives have been blessed and richer because of Farah. How I wish she could have spoken to us, like this young woman in the story. I know she too had a voice which we have never heard. Thank goodness God hears us no matter what. He knows our thoughts and our hearts. When you spend some time with Farah and these other wonderful kids that I have, you feel like you have just spent the day with an Angel.
So I hope you read this story and not only count your blessings, but maybe change your outlook on others that are different than we are.
Good night dear friends.

 
 Photo from here

Teen Locked in Autistic Body Finds Inner Voice
2009-08-06, ABC News 20/20
Something extraordinary happened to Carly Fleischmann, a severely autistic 14-year-old who, unable to speak, was once written off as mentally deficient. "It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't speak." There are experts and skeptics who believe that nonverbal people like Carly are incapable of thinking or writing. Her words may never have been found if not for the relentless determination of her family, who never gave up on her. Carly's story is how one child found her way out of the dense forest that is autism, and how her experience may unlock the mysteries of this baffling disorder. In the beginning, Carly's delays prevented her from walking and sitting up, but as she grew, it became painfully clear that Carly couldn't speak. But then one day, three years ago, when Carly was 11, she was working with two of her therapists when she started to feel sick. Unable to communicate what she needed, she ran to a computer and began to type for the first time. First she typed the word "H-U-R-T" and then "H-E-L-P" and then she threw up. Her therapists were shocked: They had never specifically taught her those words, and they wondered where she had learned them. Carly's typing showed them that there was a lot more going on inside her head than they had thought. For the first time she was able to communicate independently. After nine years of intensive therapy, and not much to show for it, Carly was finally emerging out of her silent, secret world.

 I found the story here:http://www.wanttoknow.info/inspirationalnewsstories

Watch her story here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vNZVV4Ciccg

"Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone."  

~Martina Navratilova

"The more I read and the more I talked to other parents of children with disabilities and normal children, the more I found that feelings and emotions about children are very much the same in all families. The accident of illness or disability serves only to intensify feelings and emotions, not to change them."   ~Judith Weatherly