Oxi Clean

That's the power of Doxie Clean!

Grumpy

Me: Are you grumpy today?
B: Because all of this not working for me :(

my little problem solver

B. has become quite the problem solver. It's amazing to watch him negotiate his world. We usually explain why make certain decisions- especially when it comes to B. He knows that that doesn't change our answer, but it helps him to understand and make sense of his world. It's frustrating to be a kid. Everyone's decisions often seem so subjective. If we define our logic, he can at least make some sense things.

It seems he is always proposing an alternative solution. "How about..." For example, he asks for milk. "Well son, we have a little, but I think we should save it for later. We won't make it to the store until tomorrow." B: "Hmmm. How about Lemonade (pronounced Momma Maid")?

He asks for a cookie at 8am. "Well son, we don't eat sweets in the morning. Too much sweets makes us sick." B: How about Yogurt?

So Sunday at church, he was up on the stand with me during choir. Choir was over so we went down to our pew. Ian saw Uncle Kyle plugging in the microphone and asked if he could go back up on the stand to watch him. Dave told him, "Sorry son, Uncle Kyle has some long cords for the microphone and I don't want you to trip over them." B: "How about I jump over them?" Dave: "Sorry, if you jump over them you could trip too." A few minutes later, we looked over, B had gone all the way around to the other side of the chapel to go up on the stand without bothering Kyle or the cord. A win-win solution. He knew Dave didn't mind if B. went on the stand (he's up there all the time), he just didn't want B. in the cord. Good idea cute kid.

Now, had Dave said, "No son, Church is about to start, I want you to stay down here." Ian would have complied with the request. He's obedient. But he knew from Dave's explanation that the only obstical was the cord, something he could easily avoid.

It's just kind of funny. Dave and I both are problem solvers... Dave's a programmer/ entrepreneur. I'm an SLP. I find solutions for folks with the most severe of impairments. It's just funny to see the same characteristic being developed so early in life in our son.

He's got my sense of determination. He's gonna do what he can to achieve his goal(s). But he's obedient and kind. He wants to do what's right, so he just proposes solutions which will allow him to accomplish his goals and still be obedient to his parents logic/ requests.

It's not too uncommon for him to propose a solution that I hadn't even thought of. I think, "Oh. Ya. That could work." What a good idea little boy!

Super heroes

Most of you know that I work at a Brain Injury Rehab. It's a funny thing. It's a lot like working in a world full of super heroes. Everyone is amazing. Especially now that the hurricane washed away any residuals--- we are left with a core of some of the most amazing people you'd ever know. They're all a little quirky, but their hearts are absolutely in the right place- fighting every day to help H.A. or P.B. or R.T. to learn this skill or that. To make a difference.

What's funny about doing such a work- Is the relative lack of Thank yous. People just expect you to perform miracles. Even after a miracle or two is accomplished, there is often much work left to be done. And some folks level out lower than we'd wish.

Most of the time, the Thanks come in the form of a memory. We remember how the client came in. We remember how the client left us. And we know the specific skills we fought hard and the client fought hard to develop. Their story becomes part of my soul.

Every once in a while- I actually get a Thank you. This week was a two thanks week. A rare occurrence. My absolutely kind,blind, deaf, aphasic client sobbed for like 30 min straight when I told him it was our second to last session. I fought hard. Made a difference. I wish I would have been able to keep him longer. No one on earth would put in the kind of energy I did to help him. He's still got a long way to go. I'm sad that he left so soon. I trained his wife well. I pray that they will send an amazing home health SLP to him.

My crazy/ fun-loving, brittle diabetic, apraxic/ aphasic client just left this week too. Wow. He came in speaking nothing but jargon, completely and totally unaware that he had a problem. He couldn't understand that he was being asked yes/no questions, much less answer them. He couldn't produce the simplest of consonant-vowel syllables. Couldn't focus on a therapy task to save his life and was pretty frustrated that we thought he should. He left speaking fluent sentences and paragraphs. The thoughts were still re-arranged a bit, but familiar people rarely had problems understanding what he was trying to communicate. He was reading aloud sentences, and paragraphs with assistance. He must have Thanked me every time I saw him for the last couple of months. Crazy guy. I think he drove a lot of people crazy. But I sure enjoyed him. I work hard for all of my clients everyday. But the rare person who says thank you out loud sure is nice.

I hear stay-at-home moms say the same thing... work hard every day and never hear thank you. It's the same way in the work world- rare, almost unheard of. Our society as a whole really needs to work on this. 'Cause every once in a while, it sure is nice.

Alone :)

WOOOO HOOOO!
Somehow magically the sanity gods have smiled upon me this morning. B spent the night at his Auntie's house last night. And Dave left bright and early to help with some scouts stuff. So it's just me... well, me and the dog. I find myself paralyzed here for a minute. What? I get to choose what I want to do??? Without all my family members hanging off of each arm. The relative silence is tantalizing. What shall I do? I could take this opportunity to get something done, but somehow the idea of basking in the silence seems so much more appealing. I know what Dave would do... He'd strip down, lay on the couch and watch some sci-fi show. (I know- "Thanks for the visual apes".) But me... hmmmm. It's just so rare.

Siding

It's amazing to me how in life... as long as you keep working on it.. problems usually eventually work themselves out. You may have to nurse them for 2,3,5,7 years and sometimes even start from scratch but it usually turns out ok.

So we bought our house 5 years ago. About 2 months later, I looked closely enough to realize that the siding on our house was falling apart. I talked to my father to hopefully determine a reasonably easy solution to the problem. Apparently there was none to be had. So since then I've just been watching the siding fall off our house. It went into the category of things you worry about and even feel bad about.... "It's my home, I should take care of it"...But can't do anything about. It just kept rotting away. We had someone look at it 1.5 years ago. Estimate- $9000. Aaaaaahhhhhhhg! We decided to focus on our debt plan and trust that it would all work out.

So Ike hits, several months later we realize it killed our roof and our ceilings (a little) so the insurance pays. We fix the roof, but there is still a huge leak into our garage. They ripped away more siding in the process of fixing the roof. Turns out it was the siding that was causing that leak. Hallelujah.... not happy about the leak, but I am happy that the $ to repair the ceilings (not such a big problem) could be redirected to the siding. That and $3K from our recovered debt plan funds.

So the guys come to fix the siding. I found myself sitting staring for 30-45 min at a time. I must have thanked them 8 or 10 times. I certainly brought them lots of lemonade, pizza, and cookies. It was like watching a miracle occur before my very eyes. That problem weighing you down that you couldn't do anything about- besides ignore- suddenly dissipating into thin air. Whew. And WOW. It's beautiful!!!!! Far better than I could have imagine.

I've always believed that if you just keep doing the right things- Life just works out. That's not to say that crappy things don't happen, but it all works out- eventually- somehow. It's just nice to know that's still true as a grown up. Just trying to build a safe and happy life for my baby. Be still my soul. The Lord really is still on thy side.

New Siding Before & After

Our new siding was finished this week. Here's the before and after.

Happy Mama

Young Women

I absolutely adore the Young Women I work with. I am so grateful for them. I love being with them and learning from them. You see, they are building the spiritual foundations for their lives. It's amazing to watch them build, without even knowing it, important pieces of the person they will be in 10, 15, 20 years. They have my respect and love. They are courageous, they are learning, and they love the gospel. They seek diligently to be close to their Heavenly Father.

It's been along time since I built my spiritual foundation. An amazingly strong foundation, forged in adversity (like steel pounded carefully in a fire). But since then, I have been quite busy... learning how to survive as a young single adult, building a happy productive spiritual young single adult life, building myself as professional, building myself as a wife, a home owner, building myself as a mother, as a Young Womens leader. Wow. My little pyramid has gotten quite tall. It think it's easy for all of these roles and responsibilities to get a little top heavy on the pyramid if you work so hard that you forget about the foundation. I am grateful for them. For their reminders to focus on the foundation and let that foundation strengthen everything else, from the ground up.

32

Ok. It sucks being 32. I know it's taboo to be so honest, but for me, it sucks being 32. I smile and I'm happy, but in a very real way, I find myself in mourning. Mourning the loss of my mother. In shock that she really was this young (my age) when she died. (I still think I'm 20.) Mourning all the years of my childhood- or what was supposed to have been my childhood-- alone. I just read this story about this young girl who was orphaned when her dad died her freshman year of high school. It told of her joy, her sucesses, and her determination. It was like I was reading my own story- only extend the thing all the way back to 3rd grade. Add a LOT more home turn overs, schools, living inches from the streets, poverty.

When I was a sophomore at Texas Tech, we watched a video about kids living on the streets. Everyone else in the class was shocked because of their conditions. I was shocked because their situation looked so familiar- and I had never realized that we were living "on the streets" or close to it all those years. Digging in dumpsters for cans, "camping" for months on end, nomads. My father finally got desperate enough that he drove us up to my aunt's house (I was 13- 7th grade). My father left, supposedly for the weekend, but he never came back. And when he left, We were alone! Left to be taken advantage of. Vulnerable. Without a father, our only protection was the gospel. I clung to it for dear life. My brother wasn't so lucky. I escaped Sodom and Gomorrah when I was 15. But only to experience another 3 sets of parents before I went to college. Either they couldn't provide a safe environment- or they really didn't want me- It was always one or the other.

My pain, my loss, my fears. They are real. And sometimes, I guess, the soul inside of me just needs to me to acknowledge the inflamed old wounds, change the bandaging, and try to let it alone again for a while to let it heal some more.