March 21 (3/21) is World Down Syndrome Day because individuals with Down syndrome have 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. Pretty cool, eh?
Let me be honest with you here... in 10 days someone veeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy special to me will be having a birthday, so I am saving a "big" post for that. But I didn't want to let this day slip by unnoticed.
So today I want to ask you... what do you think of when you hear the term "Down syndrome"? Or the term "disability"? Or "special needs"?
Yesterday we met up with some friends after church to go bowling. It is the first time we have been bowling in 2-3 years! Yikes! How are my children going to have a normal childhood when they only get to bowl once every 2 to 3 years?!?
Anyway, this was Roo's first bowling experience, and it definitely taught me some important life lessons. Here they are, in no particular order...
DON'T go bowling at lunchtime.
DON'T go bowling at nap time.
DO get Roo his own lane, so that he doesn't have to suffer the indignity of waiting for his turn. Failure to heed this bit of advice will result in wailing, gnashing of teeth, tantrums, and other gentle reminders that he prefers his own personal space.
DO grab the lane next to two special needs care providers. They will love him to pieces, and will even go play arcade games and win him a ball to play with, should you ignore the above rule and the poor child has to wait for other people to bowl.
DON'T press your luck. He may seem to settle down toward the end of the first game, but don't be fooled: starting a second game will only begin a new wave of tantrums and squirming.
DON'T forget your running shoes should you decide to let him "walk it off" for a bit, or in case some nice person gives him a ball that he then throws and chases around the bowling alley for the better part of an hour.
DO dress for summer. Wrangling and chasing Roo all over the establishment will be the best workout you've had in weeks. A long-sleeved shirt, sweater, and jeans will just be overkill.
DO go with caring and patient friends who will put up with all of the above.
Monkey is home from school today on doctor's orders. He has strep throat, but is really feeling pretty good. It's like a dream come true for a 7-year-old boy--you HAVE to stay home from school when you're feeling well enough to enjoy it. It's almost like you're getting away with something.
I was folding laundry upstairs when he came running, calling excitedly.
"You'll never believe what just happened! I was downstairs, and I thought, 'I need to do something nice for Mommy.' So I decided to play Mario Kart, but I picked YOU at the beginning instead of me. And guess what! I got first place--and I won you a new circuit AND a new vehicle!!!! And I did it just for you, Mommy, because you're such a great mom."
He flashed me a proud smile & a thumbs up, give me a wink (Where did he learn that?!?), and practically skipped back downstairs, so proud of his kindness.
Two years ago, I had the privilege of meeting one of my heroes. She and I had common friends, she used to attend my church before moving to Colorado, our lives criss-crossed over and over. And when I had a chance to plan an event, I asked her to come and share her heart with us, never having heard her speak. And she did not disappoint.
And now I have the honor of encouraging you to go out and buy her book, her debut as a published author. And once again, she does not disappoint.
On December 22, 2010, Tricia Lott Williford was sitting in Starbucks, working to meet deadlines. Her husband texted her to let her know that he was miserably sick, and she worried about their Christmas plans.
On December 23, she held him in her arms as he died, their two small boys sleeping in the next room.
Words fail me right now. What can be said about a man who dies to soon, a wife without a husband, boys without a father? And yet, Tricia captures their story--not just of Robb's death, but of their life together, and of her journey to find life without him.
And Life Comes Back is a story of grief and of happiness, of weakness and of strength, of uncertainty and confidence. Tricia's openness combines with her beautiful prose to create a book that you just can't put down--so be prepared to hold your Kleenex in one hand and the book in the other. She is not afraid to take us, her fortunate readers, into her despair--but she doesn't leave us there. She reminds us that God is faithful and sovereign and good, even when we can't make sense of it all. She tells us that, even when winter is long and lonely and cold, spring is coming.
I want to write you dozens of pages of praise for this book. I want to give you a whole list of my favorite anecdotes and quotes and lessons learned. But I can't, because that would spoil it. You need to read Tricia's words in Tricia's timing. You need to read.this.book.now.
And Life Comes Back was released on February 18, and is getting fantastic reviews all over the place, so you don't have to take my word for it. ;-) But I hope you do. I hope you buy it and read it and love it and read it again.
And when you do, you'll feel like Tricia is an old friend, and you'll want to keep in touch. That's when you'll want to head over to her website. This is one of my favorite places to visit in the whole entire bloggy universe. And now I'm sharing it with you. You're welcome.
So what are you still doing here? Get yourself on over to Amazon and buy And Life Comes Back by Tricia Lott Williford. And some tissues. Definitely remember to buy some tissues.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. --2 Corinthians 12:9-10 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. --Philippians 4:11(b)-13 Both of those passages of the Bible were written by the apostle Paul. He also wrote this: "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked." (2 Corinthians 11:25-27) Yep, the same man who said that he delights in his weaknesses, who says he finds his strength in his weakness, who says he is content no matter the circumstances, he survived all of this. This morning I found myself repeating and praying through those top two passages. I needed strength in the middle of my weakness. I needed contentment. I needed to feel like I could do whatever needed to be done through Christ's strength. I was getting the kids ready for school. Sometimes I feel like maybe I need a little perspective on what it really means to "have a rough day." But then I remember this verse: "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." --Psalm 68:19 Every day. Every burden. No matter how big--OR how small. God says, "I've got this for you. I will gladly take that."
And then... And then... it's not your own strength your using. It's GOD's strength. And that is some major power.
"For when I am weak, then I am strong."
What's your burden today? I can promise you, God will take it if you will just.let.go.
Because if you were this boy... on this day... you would be SEVEN. Today.
Yep, yesterday he was 6. (Actually, according to him, he was "6 and 3 quarters and 2 dimes." He's his father's son, what can I say?) But today... he's SEVEN.
Happy birthday, Monkey!
Thank you, Lord, for every second of laughter with this boy ("You are the best mommy ever--and the second best parent!"), every tender hug, every moment of thoughtfulness ("Mommy, I'll tell you about that later. I want to hear about your day right now.")--for every rock and stick and blade of grass that he brings me as a present. You really outdid yourself when you made this one, God. And then you saw fit to give him to me--I am crazy blessed.
So... I haven't written in a while. Are you still here? Hanging with me? It's been hard for me to blog because--well, no. Just no. My life is 27 kinds of crazy right now, but... seriously, isn't it always? I have no excuse. I'm glad we're together again, friends.
My heart is so full of things to share with you that I hardly know where to start. But for tonight, my head is also full of decongestants--not the mention the congestants that were already there (Blogger is trying to tell me that's not a word, but what else would you call it? Get with it, Blogger.)--so we're going to keep it light. Let's go with vacation pictures.
About two weeks ago, our family had a chance to take a company cruise. My hubby is self-employed, so we took our family, all of our employees, and a "plus one" for each of the employees. It was lots of fun! I'll try to give you the highlights...
First of all, let me tell you that I was a bit apprehensive about this cruise. We left out of Baltimore and traveled to the Bahamas. If you are even marginally familiar with geography (which is my level of mastery of that particular subject), you know that "Baltimore" and "Bahamas" are not exactly neighbors. This meant lots of time at sea. With three kids. One of whom is Roo. Yeah, just tell me your heart isn't already beating a little faster just from reading that. We had 3 days (out of 7) that were entirely at sea--no ports of call. But I have to say, it went surprisingly well. For one thing, those days afforded good opportunities for naptime... for Roo and his mama. Also, cruise ships have this wonderful childcare program where you can drop your children off and they entertain them and keep them safe and all that while you... pretty much do whatever you want. To be honest, they were only in there for about 2 hours a day (and less than that for Lamb, who wasn't wild about the whole deal), but it was a nice break--for them and for us.
One of my favorite things about cruising is the food--or really, the food service. I mean, the food is delicious and all, but no one at home does this for my kids...
Another waiter one morning brought out our breakfast, then asked if he could help cut up the boys' pancakes so that Mr. Fantastic and I could eat. Ummmm... YES PLEASE! And is it wrong for me to kiss you?
And of course, let's acknowledge that the food is fantastic...
This is "best French toast", which is crusted in Frosted Flakes. And then drenched with syrup. Duh.
Oh, I have to show you this--this is one of my favorite pictures...
This is actually from the first day of the cruise. Roo was already so worn out, he fell asleep sitting up during an informational session in one of the showrooms.
It was adorable. You know how people will post pictures of their kids falling asleep in random places, like in their high chair or passed out on the floor or something like that? That has never been my kids. EVER. I couldn't believe that he would fall asleep sitting up, with people walking around and talking and laughing... but he did. One minute he was chasing the big kids through the aisles, the next he just climbed up next to Mr. Fantastic and ZONKED. I love this kid!
Another advantage of the multiple "at sea" days: time for homework.
Yes, this picture is of Monkey, but I have to tell you... it was Lamb who really had to devote time to her studies. Third grade is no joke, friends. She had work to do. Sister cranked out close to an hour of homework every day, not to mention that she spent tons of time getting stuff done before we even left so she would have less to do on vacation!
So our first stop was Port Canaveral, Florida. And here's an interesting story... if you are a Facebook fan, you likely saw my post about Roo needing a fingernail removed. Yep, a fingernail. My digits are tingling just thinking about it. Anyway, he had developed an infection in his finger a few weeks before our trip, and it just wouldn't go away. I kept putting Neosporin on it, and it wasn't terrible looking (I even had a pharmacist look at it, and he said it wasn't bad enough to warrant a doctor visit.), so we decided to just wait it out a little longer. Unfortunately, on the ship it got much worse. Mr. Fantastic finally took him to the infirmary on the ship, and the doctor said we needed to take him to the ER at our next port (Florida) to have the nail removed. Fun times. (Spoiler alert: Mr. Fantastic took him, the doctor there decided it didn't need to be removed. He prescribed a stronger ointment--to be given 3 times a day--and an antibiotic--to be given FOUR times a day. On vacation. Right. Oh, and he recommended that we soak it for THIRTY MINUTES AT A TIME three times a day. Did this guy even LOOK at that child?!?)
Anyway, while Mr. Fantastic and Roo were off on their own little adventure, I took the kids to the beach. Ah, the beach in Florida. Doesn't that sound lovely? OK, honestly, it was lovely. But it was not especially warm. I think the high that day was 60. So we didn't do any swimming, but we had lots of fun just playing on the beach.
Lamb decided to do a little photo project...
That's my girl! She was so proud of herself!
The next day we were in the Bahamas
Again, lovely to be out of the great Midwest, but not the weather one might expect in the Bahamas. Another day at the beach, another high in the low 60s. But this time, we were in the water. Yep, we froooooooooooze!
But it was so worth it.Because we weren't alone in the water--we were with dolphins!
(Yep, just 4 of us. Lucky for us, Gram--my mother-in-law--works for my hubby and was on the cruise with us. She volunteered to take Roo for the day so that we could enjoy the dolphin encounter with the big kids!)
Oh, Little Miss Lamb is very into dolphins right now, and I thought she was going to absolutely BURST with excitement. We had tons of fun doing this encounter!
And then... we just wanted to get warm.
There's nothing quite like a good cup of hot chocolate when you're on vacation... on the beach... in the Bahamas...
Next up: our third and final stop, also in the Bahamas. In a cruel twist of fate, this was the warmest day of our trip... and we weren't at the beach. At this stop, our whole crew (11 of us) did an excursion together, and we visited a botanical garden. It was a little bit of a bummer to be away from the ocean on the nicest day, but the place we visited was beautiful.
They have a labyrinth there, which was not at all what I expected. It was actually just a big slab of... something... with a path printed on it. The idea is that you walk the path slowly while meditating/praying/thinking/humming, and as you journey to the center you also find your "center."
Our family took a different approach: Run as fast as you can, making sure to be loud enough that everyone on the island knows exactly what you're doing.
After the botanical garden, we had a chance to do a little shopping on the island, and there was a courtyard with live music. I took Lamb and Roo out to teach them the electric slide...
Then Roo decided (as always) to dance to his own beat...
But the real magic happened back on the ship that afternoon. We went up by the pool (which was actually covered with a retractable dome roof! Is that cool or what?!?) after Roo's nap. I set him down, thinking he would run to Daddy. Instead he did this...
I love this video. Seriously love it. Do you know that at this time last year, that kid couldn't walk? Check him out, people. This boy is amazing.
So that pretty much sums it up, but let me give you a few other random shots that I enjoy...
Wake up, Monkey!
"Seriously, Mom? Do you see this girl behind me? THIS is why I refuse to grow hair. Bed head. I don't have time to deal with that. I have places to go and people to see."
And don't forget the super-cool towel animals that you find in your room each night...
There should be 6. I have no idea why I only have pictures of 3. But still. VERY cool. It's such a little thing, but one of my favorite parts of cruising. :-)
It was a great week--I'm so glad we had the family time.
Come back tomorrow for more pictures, but not of vacation this time..................
