Church Camp

The girls and I leave tomorrow for church camp leaving hubby and pets behind. My girls are more than excited!

This is a great opportunity for Miss R. She gets loads of independence in a safe, loving environment. Last year she won an award because of her Christ-like behavior and for the way she lets the love of the Lord be known to all.

I will be a counselor for the first to fourth graders - quite the fun group. I hope to have some good stories to tell when we get back. I just hope I can find the time to tell them!

Oh, and I'll be in a communications black-out. No TV, no radio, no computer ---- no electronics at all. How is an information junkie to survive!

Road Map to Holland

This book is a mother’s story of the first two years of her life with her son born with Down syndrome. I really didn't plan on reading it. I have had more that my fair share of time with my children in NICU, PICU, and CVICU. I’ve been in Holland for 13.5 years – been there, done that – I know the story!

When I first heard this book was being published, I put it on my Amazon wish list. Recently, I placed an order with Amazon taking the books I wanted off my wish list. As I reviewed my order and saw the additional book, I thought maybe it was just meant to be so I left the order as it was.

The order arrived just before our trip to the Rockin’ Roller Coast – Cedar Point in Ohio. My hubby and children are roller coaster fanatics while I prefer to skip the thrills and sit in the shade with a good book. Road Map to Holland, by Jennifer Graf Groneberg, immediately sucked me in and I could not put the book down.

I found Jennifer’s story profoundly moving. She is so honest in telling her story that, at times, I could feel her pain and her joy - and my own memories became alive. She moves through the premature birth of her twin sons, Bennett and Avery, and the post-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome that Avery receives in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The first two years of life with Avery are portrayed with touching clarity. It is a story of love, family, friends and growing understanding of the gift that Down syndrome is. I love the last lines of the book, “He is the child that I always wanted, that I did not know I wanted. He is my son.”

This is THE book I would give parents of a newborn with Down syndrome.

America's Rockin' Roller Coast

My hubby and children are roller coaster fanatics. Every year we journey to the best (so they tell me) roller coaster park in the US – Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. I prefer to sit in the shade with a good book. I’ve had enough excitement in my life and certainly don’t even want to know what getting air means.

My family will wait as long as it takes to ride in the very front of the roller coaster. Here are the girls in the front of the coaster (The Magnum) having the time of their life!

I'm Back!

Life has been eventful since my last post. I'm so far behind, I may never catch up but I've had a good time getting here! I've put 4700 miles on my car since my last post and don't even want to think about just how much money that might add up to be.

I've visited my parents in southeast Florida - my mom had her hip replaced and was recovering nicely until a blood clot formed in her lower leg. So, recovery is a little delayed while she goes on blood thinners and a few days of complete bedrest. She is in good spirits and taking everything in stride.

I then drove over to the gulf side of Florida and vacationed in my favorite place on earth - Captiva Island, Florida. Captiva is a place where I relax - get refreshed and refueled. The hardest thing I have to do is make it to the beach. I love it! See the gorgeous sunsets below

Then back to Illinois to unpack and repack to travel to Wisconsin for graduation festivities at the seminary my hubby is now attending...and back to Illinois to repack for our trip to the Rockin' Roller Coast. Are you tired yet?

Now, I have to face the house I've ignored for the last nine months and the 1000 posts on my google reader!

Excuse me please...

I just have to share this sunset with my hubby. You see, he is slaving away finishing exams and I am in paradise. This is his kind of sunset!








I like my sunsets a bit more colorful with lots of clouds for interest - like this one from another evening:




This is what R's entire body looks like when we leave the beach. She is a sand magnet!

Kidnapped?

I grew up in a time of innocence. I lived in a small town in the Midwest where everyone knows everyone. We lived in a modest ranch home with a small fenced backyard. Across the street was a field planted with corn and far into the distance was a wooded area.

During those idyllic times, mothers sent their children out to play after breakfast and didn’t worry about the dangers we know exist today. In my childhood home, we were sent out after breakfast and wandered in randomly for lunch. Most of the time made our own sandwich – then back out for fun in the neighborhood until dinner time. My mom was very busy during my early years with four of her five children born in five years. She was either pregnant or caring for a newborn during this time.

There were few rules – don’t play in the street, come when you're called, don’t go into the cornfield and never, ever enter the woods.

I have no recollection of the year this event occurred. I don’t associate it with anything but a carefree summer. Given what I can recall, I would say I was four or five years old.

Early one day, my younger sister and I were outside playing. Two teenage boys approached us. They were familiar but I didn’t know their names. I felt no fear thinking they were just going to pass by but before I knew it, I was hoisted upon the shoulders of the taller one and my sister on the shoulders of the shorter teen. Off we went into the forbidden cornfield and, to my horror, into the woods. We eventually reaching a little wooden shack - perhaps a clubhouse of sorts or a hunting shack. I remember cowering on the unfinished wood floor trying to comfort my sister who was sobbing hysterically.

My next memories are of being set free and the huge sense of relief. We knew we were in big trouble for going into the forbidden woods and decided to never tell a soul. We returned home where we hadn’t been missed at all.

I cared enough over the next few years to learn the names of the teens and where they lived – just blocks away. For years, I wanted to knock on their doors and tell their parents what they had done but knew that would start a chain of events that (in my immature mind) would get ME in trouble.

Was it a prank or did something sinister happen? I don’t recall and don’t want to know. Today, the event seems small and insignificant. I am safe and secure in the one Truth – the love and saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Fun - What is Your Spiritual Type?

I ran across this (apparently old) quiz last night and decided to take it just for fun. I really don't take these kinds of quizzes to seriously. Turns out I my score was quite high - falling into the Candidate for Clergy category.

According to USA Today a candidate for clergy is:

Happy with his/her religion but searching for the right expression of it.
Have doubts about the particulars but not the Big Stuff.
Little doubt they've found the right path.
Very informed and deeply committed

6.4% of respondents fall into this category.

I wonder if my seminarian husband will find this funny?

...and no, I am not even thinking of going to seminary. I will be content to be a clergy wife!

Tagged...

I've been tagged by my cybertwin, Amy. I am to share 6 things about myself that few people know.

* I was kidnapped when I was five years old.

* I was one of those people who didn't have to work to get good grades - until I got to college.

* I have never been ticketed for speeding or any other moving violation. No parking tickets either!

* I always wanted a dozen children.

* I am the black sheep of my family. I was raised by parents who had one goal - creating future liberals. I endure endless grief for my beliefs when the family gathers together. In the end, the grief I endured with my family has been a blessing as I now prepare to defend the orthodox faithful in my home parish. I am stronger for the experience!

* I hate to fly. It didn't bother me until I had children. An incident over the Pacific ocean where we had to don life jackets and learn the position for ditching left me scarred for life!

If you are reading this post, consider yourself tagged!

Finally...

Spring has arrived at my house! K went around snapping a few pictures:




One of my hardy magnolias

















Another magnolia




















Hyacinth
















Forsythia















And this is where the morel mushrooms are waiting for me!

What do you do when you feel stressed?

I have had a stressful week this week - nothing big just a few added stressors that I usually don't have.

To top it all off, I had a very rude awakening this morning. I mean I literally had a rude awakening as I was awakened by the shaking of my house! I live about 200 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake that rocked the midwest today at 4:40 a.m.

What do you do when your stressed?

I cook! I leave everything behind as I peel, chop, slice, stir and tweak. I am very happy in my own kitchen creating feasts for my family. Today was only a minor feast since hubby is away.

Our mini Thai feast - my favorite cuisine and I like it Thai hot!



Sticky Rice
Thai Fried Rice
Pad Thai
Green Curry

Lots of carbs and lots of calories!



If hubby had been here, we would have had another curry, Chicken Satay and perhaps Thai wontons.

Why is it so hard to take food pictures?