Happy Anniversay 33 years and still counting!

33 years ago I got to marry my best friend for time and all eternity in the Washington DC Temple! It was by far the greatest decision of my life! I am truly a different and better person because of him. We dated for 2 years and then we both took time apart and served a mission for our church. Jeff went to Montreal Canada and learned how to speak French. I on the other hand went to Salt Lake City and got to get rid of some of my southern language. :)
I was pretty sure when I came home that I was going to go on to college back in Utah, and that maybe Jeff and I would maybe do some more long distance dating again. But once I got off the plane and I saw him waiting for me at the airport along with my family... and I knew that those plans weren't going to be coming to life, I was still head over hills for him and I couldn't wait for us to start dating again! But just a day later, the dream came true and the rest is history...we were married 3 months later! June 23rd, best day of my life!

Normally Jeff and I go somewhere special to celebrate our anniversary, but today I said goodbye to him this morning as he headed out for the airport. He is going to Texas to help Krystal, Brad and Kai move into their new house! I wanted to go, but I will be going in September when Miss Oakley comes, so we thought he should go help them out!

So tonight this anniversary was a bit different and a bit lonely. Instead of eating dinner outside on the deck ( which is one of our favorite places to eat ), I decided to eat downstairs and watch a Hallmark series someone told me about on Netflix.

 Still I just know things are worse when you are sick. My voice is still totally gone, for someone who likes to talk alot...this has been tough! :) And because it's night time, things always seem to get worse. I am hoping by tomorrow that the antibiotics will start kicking in!

But I had a sweet friend bring me some groceries and this beautiful orchid today. She told me it was a Get Well gift / a Congratulations gift for my new Studio! 

I was so thrilled, this whole new Sewing Studio is really happening! I can hardly believe it! 

So Happy Anniversary to the Love of my Life!

 

Good Night dear friends!

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