They Crack Me Up!!!

I was looking through a few of our October pictures and thought these were so funny! There are more to come! These guys crack me up! Quinn is obsessed with gourds this year! I think because he learned about them at the pumpkin patch. I have about 22 pictures of gourds in my October photo files. He wants his photo taken with everything and by everything.

No hike would be complete without a soft pink baby.


"Quinn, are you seriously posing for a picture when you are supposed to be throwing the ball back into the game?"


I don't know why he is in the dryer!

If you have ever received artwork from Chloe, you can see she puts her heart & soul & fingers & hands & arms & face & clothes into it! She loves finger-painting (I use the word "finger" loosely).

A Fresh Perspective

On Tuesday night we had Chloe's parent teacher conference with Ms. Heather. Ms. Heather and Ms. Nancy are suching a blessing in our lives! I came home feeling re-energized, especially given the week I had just had. Chloe is talking more, focusing more, and her fine motor skills are improving. She is saying some simple sentences (I think repeat myself in these blogs, sorry). For example, "I want baby show home." (I want to watch a baby show when we get home.) She is making friends. When I walked into her class for walking field trip to the pond, she was in line at the door holding hands with her friend, Marcella.
We still have a ways to go. At the field trip to the pond, I ended up having to carry her the entire way back while her peers held onto the loops and walked together. She kicked and hit at school yesterday. Last night she dumped an entire box of noodles all over my bedroom floor (don't ask). BUT...every improvement is so encouraging. If we could just improve her aggressive behaviors, everyone would benefit, most of all Chloe! Please keep praying!

Miss Heather gave us a handprint poster we did in her class the other day. It has Quinn's hands, Chloe's hands and my hands. In the middle, she pasted a poem. She said, we were the only parents to whom she gave this poem. This is Ms. Heather's first year of teaching and I am really proud of her. She stepped outside the public school bounds to give us this poem that contains words like heaven, Lord, etc. I am so glad that her and Ms. Nancy are Chloe's teachers. Oh yeah, yesterday I asked Chloe who she played with at school and she said, "Thella" (Marcella) and "Nanthy". She loves Ms. Nancy.

Here's the poem.

HEAVEN'S SPECIAL CHILD Author presently unknown

A meeting was held quite far from earth,
It’s time again for another birth.
Said the angels to the Lord above;
This special child will need much love.
Her progress may be very slow,
Accomplishments she may not show.
And she’ll require extra care,
From the folks she meets down there,
She may not run or laugh or play,
Her thoughts may seem quite far away.
In many ways she won’t adapt, and she’ll
Be known as handicapped.
So let’s be careful where she is sent, we want
Her life to be content.
Please, Lord, find the good friends who, will
Do a special job for you.
They will not realize it right away, the leading
Role they’re asked to play.
But with this child sent from above, comes
Stronger faith and richer love.
And soon they will know the privileges given,
In caring for their gift from Heaven.
Their precious charge, so meek and mild, is
Heaven’s very special child.

Happy Feet

I wonder if Chloe feels like Happy Feet some days.

Top 5 Reasons I feel Like a Failure this Week

1. I forgot to go to Quinn's school to volunteer on Wednesday
2. I forgot to go to Chloe's parent teacher conference tonight
3. Because Quinn said (as I tried to solve yet another problem re: therapy programs), "Mommy, I just wish you could play with me."
4. Because my house is an absolute mess and laundry is piled high
5. God has entrusted me with a child that I don't feel capable of parenting much of the time.

I truly feel as though I would be a great mom to two "normal" kids. Trying to keep one foot in Italy and one in Holland is too hard. Parenting two "only" children is breaking my spirit and my heart. I own every craft book ever written but never do them because I cannot get it together enough to do so. We have tons of great games but can only play them when Chloe is asleep or when we are in the waiting room of some therapy or she will destroy them. There are so many days when I wish we all would have just stayed in WI so the family support network was built in.

just wish for a couple weeks I could parent the way I always thought I would. I wish that people could see me as the together, fun-loving, up for anything person I once was. I feel as though my friends in CO have only known me as a disheveled, unorganized, sad, excuse for a mom/friend/wife.

Was talking to my dad and tearfully telling him (in code cuz the kids were in the car) that the hitting, biting, pinching, scratching (new), etc. was getting old. He asked, "Does he ever fight back?" Huh...I was talking about the fact that I was tired of getting hit, bitten, pinched, scratched. As for Quinn, he's tired of it too. No, he doesn't fight back. He yells because he knows he would get in trouble if he "fought" back. Now he gets in trouble for yelling (not from me). Dad asked what they recommend for Chloe's behavior and I told him (now sobbing), "More therapy." He replied, "For goodness sake, you are therapied out already." Yes, I know...the alternative is to live like this for the rest of our lives.

Got great advice tonight, "You just have to deal with it."

Please pray for me/us.

Just like with Jesus

A couple months ago Quinn was playing with some magnets. I was out of town and I received a call from Joe and he was excited to tell me about the interaction he had just had with Quinn. Quinn said, as he showed his dad how magnets repel one another, "Daddy, magnets are like with Jesus. When you are born there is a wall between you and Jesus, just like this." But then...he turns one of the magnets around, "Then you accept Jesus into your heart and it is like this." Click - the magnets are attached together.

Of course, we were excited by his obvious intellect :). He is making analogies. He is making analogies about magnetic fields. He is making analogies about magnetic fields and the Bible. He must be very smart.

We were far more excited about the subject of his analogy. Sometimes I really think he gets it. He loves the Lord. He understands more than we think. Just a few days ago he decided that he wanted to be a missionary when he grows up. What a lofty, prestigious goal for a 5 year old boy.

I still get goosebumps when I think of him as a toddler. It was right before or after Chloe was born, Quinn was about 18 months old. I was sitting on the floor of their bathroom singing "Jesus Loves Me" to him as he bathed. I really didn't think he was paying me any attention as he dumped water and splashed. He interrupted my beautiful singing and said, with all of the seriousness of a religious scholar, "I have two daddies." Bewildered, I said, "What?" And he repeated, "I have two daddies, daddy and Jesus." Now, I had NEVER told him that Jesus was our Father or that Father meant daddy. He hadn't heard any sermons, he didn't listen to any religious programs on the radio. The child was 18 months old. Where did this come from?

Do you ever get the feeling your kid will accomplish great things? This was one of those moments for me! It was and still is, a "wow, there's something a lot bigger than me working on this child's heart" moment. Every parent has a couple of these, I'm sure!

Two nights ago, we got home late from AWANA at church. Though I shouldn't have, I started doing laundry rather than putting Quinn to bed. Joe said to Quinn, "Let's go upstairs and read Sticky Situations (a book about making the right decisions written just for kids) and the Bible and then Mommy will come up and tuck you in." Quinn had a meltdown and sassed his daddy saying, "NO, I want mommy to read me Bible." Joe, frustrated by his sassing said, "No Bible tonight. Let's go. You are going straight to bed." Meltdown no longer describes Quinn's reaction. He lost it.

He cried, "You cannot take away Bible. You can never take away Bible." Ahhhh...Daddy did not know (my fault) that I had made a deal with Quinn a long, long time ago that Bible would never be taken away. One of Quinn's favorite things in the world is books. Occasionally, we have to punish him by saying he doesn't get any books at bed time. However, I told him that no matter how naughty he was, we would not take away Bible reading time. I felt like it was precisely those times when he most needed Bible time.

Big mistake...I forgot to tell Daddy about the deal I had made with him. Joe came to the laundry room and said something about Quinn being really upset and told me the story. I told him about our deal. He agreed with the "deal" but was now in a bind as to what to do. The books all say to tell the kids when you make a bad decision. So...we said to Quinn, "Mommy forgot to tell Daddy about the deal we made that we can't take away Bible for punishment so we came up with a new punishment." Quinn, "What is it?" Mommy, "You cannot sleep in your top bunk tonight (it was the first time he had decided to sleep up there in months - the warning tag says, "kids under age 6 should not sleep in top bunk" and this was a real problem for Quinn but his cousin Parker (age 3) got bunk beds and he is sleeping in his top bunk. Quinn finally decided it was time for him to sleep in his top bunk too). He cried, "But I was getting ready to sleep in my top bunk all day." Mommy, "I am sorry but you made a bad choice." Quinn, "I am so sad right now...zzz, zzz, zzz"

All's well that ends well!

Chloe's Friendship with Marcella

Today I received the best note in Chloe's little school notebook, it said that Chloe has been playing with a little girl named Marcella during recess. I emailed Miss Nancy (the para-professional in Chloe's class) and asked her to tell me more. Her reply was far more than I had ever expected. It has to be one of God's miracles. Please pray that God continues to help Chloe build and maintain friendships. Here's Nancy's response to this question, "Nancy, can you please tell me more about Marcella? Heather said Chloe has been playing with her on the playground."

Marcella is a wonderful little girl and she and Chloe are becoming great friends. Marcella is not disabled - she is a typical peer and so tender hearted towards Chloe. Today it was sweet. Marcella pushed Chloe on the swing and then Chloe pushed her. They like to sit together and Chloe is very content when she is with Marcella. I think they make a great pair. Chloe and Marcella spend a lot of time laughing and Chloe seems inspired by Marcella to use as much language as she can! I have watched as this relationship has grown and it has developed into far more than I dreamed. At reading time they sit together and yesterday they were laughing so hard. Both Heather and I loved to see them truly playing. I can't wait for you to see them with your own eyes! It's so fun to see Chloe with FRIENDS!