Calming the Storms

I haven't written in a while. Our lives here on the farm have been incredibly busy! I can't remember ever having a summer with so much to be done. BJ had to have major surgery on his right rotator cuff. It ended up being more damage than he thought but his surgeon, God bless him, did a fantastic job. He has been unable to do much of anything for three weeks and we have three more weeks before he can drive again.

Before this surgery we had three projects to get done. The first, a garden, second, painting our livingroom and dining room. Third, making a space in our room for a recliner, for BJ to sleep in the first few nights after surgery. The garden ended up being very small but it taught me what I'm capable of doing by myself. The second, the painting, is almost complete. Just a few little things and we will be done, thanks to my daughters Maria, Ireland and Trinity. The space in our room is fantastic and the wheels are turning for how to modernize our room next year.

I have learned to use a riding mower! I mow a couple acres of grass. It takes a couple hours, this has become my time of conversations with God. It has been very good for my soul. Brought me peace. The biggest lesson I have learned through worry, working and praying is that I have to learn to ask for help and there are going to be things left undone.

In a couple of weeks, Maria will be in her own house, Ireland will be taking college courses, Trinity is doing massive amounts of classes on line this year and Kate is back to a new school year as a first grader. I am delving into a new chapter of my own with a big writing project and possibly being published.

This November BJ will be getting his other shoulder done. So the holidays will be calm this year. We all love Fall so much! We received a special needs stroller for Kate since she doesn't have the stamina to walk for long. We plan on doing a lot of Fall festivals that she will love. I always wondered how families could have so much on their plate and be happy. It is because Love Conquers All and God is love!

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Don't Judge a Special Needs Family

Have you ever been misunderstood? Have you ever tried to do the right thing and have a whole bunch of wicked come hurling at you? What did you do? Did you start to endlessly explain your motives so it could be twisted by the few people that dislike you? Or did you stay silent? Staying silent is not my strong point, thus the blog.;) When I became pregnant with Looly (Kate), I noticed some big changes within myself. I had to fight to keep her alive because of a difficult pregnancy. Then at the end of my pregnancy I had to fight to keep us both alive. Then we were told Looly had Down Syndrome. At that time, we were grateful to God that she was alive and later we were thanking God that her heart was healthy and there was no neurological damage. She just has Down Syndrome. Just Down Syndrome. Say those words...just Down Syndrome. That is what I do, I simplify difficult things, then reflect and think I'm crazy. I was connected to this child at conception. I begged God to let me car...

Finding Peace with Kate

Today I realized something amazing has happened. I found peace. Every weekday morning Kate happily gets out of bed EXCITED to go to school. She loves it so much and so do we. When we walk into school in the morning she can barely contain herself, waiting for her teacher to come and take her to class. She smiles bigley! For the first time since I was pregnant with her I am not worried about her. We see her changing so much! She is calmer. She is more engaged. She is listening to directions and she is so loving. To not worry about Kate is so new and so peaceful. The teachers and all the workers are so kind and caring. We knew this school was a perfect fit. Trinity and I witnessed a very stressful event with a child in the parking lot, one morning. The school was so on top of it and expertly handled the incident professionally and lovingly. To work full-time with special needs children, you need a loving heart. That is all I see. I see parents that want so much for their ...

Aborting Down Syndrome Babies

I read this article this morning. As I read the comments from parents that said they would abort their baby if they found out it was going to have Down Syndrome, it occurred to me what a different conversation there would be if they didn't know they were going to have a baby with Down Syndrome. These people would learn that they were given a gift. The comment "I would have a very hard time dealing with a retarded child. Retardation is relative, it could be so negligible that the child is normal, or so severe that the child has nothing… All of the sharing things you want to do, the things you want to share with a child – that, to me, is the essence of being a father. There would be a big void that I would feel. I would feel grief, not having what I consider a normal family." Let's talk about this statement. If you had a "retarded" child, the first thing you would do, is stop using that word. You have a child that has Down Syndrome. This is not who t...

Being Up With Down Syndrome

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