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  • Autism Awareness Month

    April is Autism Awareness Month.  As you know, Brother has high functioning autism.  He was diagnosed at the age of 6 the day after I found out I was pregnant with Pumpkin.  It was quite a roller coaster ride of emotions.  On the one hand, I was relieved that his behaviors were not caused by my mismanagement of discipline.  On the other, his life would be so much more burdened by this disorder.  I wanted to weep for him, but I knew I needed to be strong and move forward.  I have weeped for him since for his milestones and for his setbacks. 

    I plan on writing a bit each day about life with a child with autism.  I hope you will be enlightened.

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    This is the face of autism.

  • Note to Self

    Always pack the Xopenax when going for an overnight to your parents' house.  Pumpkin will develop a cough and there will not be anything for her in your suitcase or purse.  Oh, and get a bigger purse.  You need to carry the Epi-pens and the Xopenax with spacer.  They take up a lot of room.  You still need to have a big bag even if it's not filled with diapers.  Otherwise, you'll win a bad or at the very least, guiltiest, mom award.

  • Beauty

    I hate my brother.  Really.  Okay, I'm just kidding.  My brother got all the talent in our family.  He's very artistic and he got the beautiful singing voice.  He used to sing with a cover band for a while.  His specialty is Breakfast at Tiffany's.  We even forced got him to sing it at his wedding reception.  It was great. 

    I wanted to share with you these breathtaking photos he took before and after the baby's birth.  Absolutely breathtaking.  Please click through; it'll be worth it.

    I don't hate him.  Really.

  • Scary Times

    The Anchoress has a slew of links in this post pointing to our country headed in a direction that scares me.  Our Republic is turning into a socialist state and our legislators are gleefully going along with it. 

    A friend of mine has this quote in her email signature:

    American people will never knowingly adopt socialism,but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened. -Norman Thomas, Socialist Party Presidential Candidate 1940-48, co-founder of ACLU

    Am I the only one worried?

  • Small Successes (10)

    Small-success 

    1.  The front area where our bushes sit has been looking terrible for a long time.  The mulch keeps getting washed down in those few days when it rained.  We purchased some border to contain the mulch and planted some flowering perennials.  Honey's comment when we finished was "Now our house looks pretty."

    2.  I started washing all the winter comforters.  It's a small success but one that's not satisfying because, well, the weather is turning colder again.  Have I learned nothing in the past few years living in this state?  😉

    3.  Loaded several talks and music on my iPod.  I've had it for a while now but haven't listened to a thing on it.  My computer is soooo slow that it's been taking me forever to load things on it.  I need some more RAM.  Maybe I'll be able to put that on my small successes next week.

    Check out Faith and Family Live for more Small Successes.

  • Spring

    You Are Blooming Flowers
    You are an optimistic person by nature. In even the darkest times, you are hopeful about the future.
    You feel truly blessed in life and can sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions.

    You have an artist's eye. You are always looking for beauty in the mundane.
    You have a good sense of aesthetics, especially when it comes to shapes and color.

     

  • Blogging and Other Miscellaneous Stuff

    I was looking through my email inbox for an email from about 2 years ago.  I'm awful about cleaning it out.  I couldn't find it, but found a whole bunch of the notifications I receive whenever someone comments on my blog.  That led to me think about the evolution of my blog.  The commenters were people I admire greatly for a variety of reasons.  I realized they don't comment on my blog as much.  I wonder about that.  But, my blog hasn't been interesting.  I am just rambling here.  Please forgive me.

    I've dropped off in many things but not in any of the unproductive things I do around here.  It's almost a kind of lethargy.  I was able to trace it back to a certain point:  my first miscarriage last March.  I've already passed the first anniversary which was really quite hard.  A friend has been helping me as much as she can by making me think.  Losing Mark devastated me even more and I'm still working through it.

    I don't know where I''m going with this.  I do know I want to blog more.  I do know I need to develop more discipline.  I do know that I've been terribly obssessed with having a baby.  I do know I need to be more present for my children especially as a hard 12 months will be upon us.  Do I have a plan?  No.  The first is to get my exterior (house, rooms, etc) organized.  Then, I can work on the interior.

    I'd appreciate prayers.

  • Arranged Marriage Part 2

    Both boys (Part 1) are from the same family.  Their mom* is one of my best friends. 

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    *My friend miscarried her baby.  Please keep her in your prayers.

  • Rappelling

    On Thursdays, the older 3 have a rock climbing class.  This past Thursday, they were rappelling.  Brother made it to the edge, but backed out at the last minute.  Sister was able to do it.

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    It was great watching her.  They gave the moms a chance to do it as well.  There are no pictures, but I did make it down too.

  • Main Stream Media

    Really, where is the main stream media?  If former President Bush had made this gaffe, it would have been plastered all over the place with many demands.  And, what kind of apology was that?  Not a real one, that's for sure.