Holiday Guide

I just received this in my e-mail today from CLC Network:

"Children who experience and live with disabilities along with their families often struggle with the many changes in routine due to the excitement and celebrations that surround Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year." So true! The link below will take you to an article by Barbara Newman on putting together a holiday plan to help these children receive the support they need to have a successful holiday season. Barb is a friend of mine and a wonderful educator in the field of special education. She has some great ideas here and also has given permission for you to reproduce and share this article with anyone who may benefit from the information.

http://clcnetwork.org/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=95851

Treatment Tuesday

I've been gone for a bit. First I was sick, then my kids got sick. Ugh! Ready for everyone to be healthy and happy again.

Maria has her treatment today so that should help her be a little stronger. Jon Felipe has a bad cold. Cold medicine seems to hype him up and trigger behavior issues so that's a bad idea. It also makes him not sleep and not sleeping is a really bad idea. Being sick triggers seizures. Yep, really need everyone to be healthy.

In the midst of all this, Colin had a birthday. He and I both had to work the evening of his birthday, so we postponed his celebration until the end of the week when everyone would be home. Dwight made a yummy dinner with some help from Maria and we followed up with a chocolate tres leches cake. It was a nice evening.

Wordless Wednesday - Hallelujah Party

Jon Felipe's Birthday

My parents drove out to Iowa for the weekend to help us celebrate Jon Felipe's birthday. Unfortunately, they both came down with colds on the day they drove out here so they weren't feeling their best. Still, it was so nice to see them, even if it was only for a short visit. Several months ago, they had made a promise to Jon Felipe that they would come out for his birthday and he had been counting the days. He would have been so disappointed if they hadn't been able to make it. So, I'm glad they made it for his sake, but I'm also glad they made it for my sake. I miss them. I wish we didn't live so far away. I wish I could see them more often. I wish I could just drop by their house for a quick visit and a cup of tea. Talking on the phone is good, but it's not quite the same. Thanks Mom and Dad for making the long drive to see us!

Wordless Wednesday - Pumpkin Carving

Host Family

This year we signed up to be a host family for international students at Dordt. We were matched up with these two sweet girls. Chan is from Korea and Aziel is from Mexico. There was an organized host family get together in September and the plan is that we will continue to do things with our host students about once a month or so for the rest of the school year. Today Aziel and Chan came over for Sunday dinner after church. Then we made sugar cookies and decorated them. They enjoyed doing this and were pleased to be able to take the cookies back to campus to share with their roommates. We look forward to getting to know them better over the course of the year.

The fall weather has been beautiful here. Last weekend we headed out to the Dordt farm to get some pumpkins. Don't you wish your place of work had a farm with a pumpkin patch?