Taking For Granted...

Parenthood is a funny thing.  Even though you can't be completely prepared, you know to expect a few things:  endless diapers, crying, adorable smiles, spit up, sleepless nights, and an unbelievable love.

But then there are those things you never would've expected: your kids personality might be totally different than your own, carrying on an adult conversation with complete thoughts will be incredibly challenging if kids are around, and that unbelievable love you have will affect every decision you make for the rest of your life.

Now with both of my boys, I've had to learn some other lessons I never expected.  The lesson of not taking simple things for granted.

With Tate, it was walking, and even just bearing weight and standing. Nowhere on my parenting radar was having a child born with low muscle tone (hypotonia).  Pretty sure I had never even heard of it. We are still incredibly thankful that what he had was treatable with two different sets of orthotics and two+ years of physical therapy and occupational therapy several times a week. I never expected to deal with that. And what it taught me was to never take for granted what a gift it is for your child to walk.

I know every parent is proud when their child walks for the first time.  But oh my word, when you know how hard they had to work at it and how it did not come easily at all, well being proud is an understatement. I still tear up anytime I watch these videos:




So here we are with our second son, and it appears as though there is another lesson to learn. This time it's speech related. And I'm learning to never take for granted your child talking.

The irony is almost laughable. As Will has had to be evaluated  for developmental delays, he scores almost exactly opposite of where Tate's delays fell. Will is at level or above on all gross & fine motor skills, where Tate was significantly delayed. Tate was pretty much at level when it came to speech (and now still talks all of the time), where Will is a good year or so behind.

I'm fully confident that Will is going to be talking at some point and know this is nothing permanent or life-threatening.  I'm thankful for that. But at the same time, it's hard to see your child struggle with and get frustrated by something that should come easily.

And although at times it has been met with my own frustration, herein lies the lesson. I know that I will get just as much joy as the day I saw Tate walk, as the day that is coming one day hopefully soon when Will calls me "Mommy."

I can't wait for that day and will surely not take it for granted.

Six Flags

Shannon & I had such a fun time taking Tate & Mallory to Six Flags for their first time. They both did great in what ended up being a really long day. We got there when the park opened at 10:00 a.m. and expected that by 3:00 p.m. they would both be ready to go home and melting down. We were shocked that 28 rides and 11 hours later they were still going. It was such a fun day!

 We decided to go ahead and start big.

Why not make his first-ever roller coaster experience be in the front car of a double looper?

They both did great. Tate was a little uneasy after the first time. Although he was very safely constrained with a seatbelt and lap bar, his head went straight down during the loops. And with the force, he could barely bring it back up. Woops...didn't think about that. So we tried it again, and I held his head up. That did the trick, and we ended up riding the Shock Wave five times! And by the fifth time, Tate said he kept his eyes open the whole ride. :)

Both of the kids thought it was really funny to pick their aunt instead of their mommy to ride with. :)

About midday, it was getting pretty hot. Shannon is not a fan of water rides (although she will go on the ginormous Titan...crazy girl), so I said I would take them on the Aquaman ride (big water boat goes down the big hill). I've been on it at other places and don't remember getting that wet.

The before...

Be warned.  You get VERY wet on this one. And even wetter if you stand on the bridge watching the boat come down. Even if you cautiously stand on the edge of the bridge. You  will get soaked.

The after...

We were seriously so proud (and shocked) by how well both kids did. The whining was minimal and attitudes were great. I bet we rode at least 75% of the rides...28 was our count. There were only a handful of the really big ones that the kids weren't tall enough to go on. 

We were all there to have fun and definitely got our monies worth. Can't wait to go back!

Easter in Haiti ~ 2012

Finally, my Easter in Haiti blog post.  I'm so behind that I'm at the point that I just need to get it documented.  The small perfectionist part of me is frustrated by that, because I want to perfectly capture and remember the trip. I want to share a story about each and every kid that I spent time with.  I want to write about the crazy roller coaster of emotions you have going there.  It's already way too long before I've added any of those parts.  If you see me in real life, then you know I am happy to talk Haiti any chance I can get.  So ask me...and I want to tell you ALL about Moises, Claudey, Sebastian, Dachelude, Wiselanda, Fabiola, Ruul, Gertrude, Louisanne, Richardson, and on and on.   But for now, here's the somewhat quick recap.  :)

We sang the old hymn, Take My Life And Let It Be, at church the Sunday before I left for Haiti.  I couldn't hold back the tears.  No surprise.  It spoke to me in a different way than I ever thought something written in 1874 could.  I knew in just a few more days I would be back in Haiti loving on sweet children I've already grown to love.  As I sang, my prayer was that my time there would be one of purpose and that every hug, every smile, and every word I uttered would be of good.


The days leading up to this trip were so dramatically different than when I went last summer.  Last time, I had absolutely no idea what to expect.  None...whatsoever.  Nada.  I was a little high on the freak-out meter.  Of course, once I was there I loved every minute.  But boy was I nervous beforehand.  


This time around, I was stressed about just getting everything done before, but the excitement was so different.  It was not nervous excitement, but anticipated excitement.  And just like the last trip, it was even better than I could've hoped.

And what made this trip even more special was sharing it with my sister, Shannon, and some friends from church, the Woodwards.  You definitely walk away from a trip lke this sharing a unique bond with anyone you experience this with.  Here is a post from my trip last year with background on this particular orphanage.


But truly the best part of the trip was getting to see these precious faces...again. So fun.

And fun really was the theme of the trip.  We had SO much fun.  I'm not sure how to organize all of the pictures. We'll start with this HILARIOUS icebreaker game we did first.  The Woodwards taught all of us the game where you see which team could get the most balloons inside the kid's ginormous shirt.  The kids thought it was so funny (and probably a little weird). It was hard to even play because we were ALL laughing so hard.

(The winner celebrating his victory!)

And then throughout our days there, we would hold and hug kiddos, jump rope, play Duck, Duck, Goose, play ball, arts & crafts, Red Light/Green Light, dance, play with playdoh, make jewelry, sing, etc.  All of the things kids like to do.

Another very unique part of this trip was being there over Easter.  I have to admit that I had some reluctance being gone from my own family on Easter.  Mommy guilt was in full operating mode right before I left.  But once we were there, the guilt was completely gone and I knew without question what a wonderful Easter this one was proving to be.  It started with a sunrise (which means you wake up at 4:30 am in Haiti) Easter service on top of a mountain overlook Port-au-Prince. No disrespect to our own church that I love, but there may be no comparison on future Easters.

Beautiful, breathtaking, and memorable.

And since it was still really early when we got done, we had some time back at the Guest House to make 40 Easter baskets and fill 500+ Easter eggs with candy.  

We shared the Easter story with a Bible story and using the Resurrection eggs. Whoever invented those was pretty smart.  Great way to engage to kids in the story and make it come alive in a new way.  Even with an interpreter!  :)

Oh how I hope and pray those words spoke to them.  The powerful words of the Easter story are all about being redeemed.  I continue to pray that these precious children know full well they are just as much part of that redemption.

And then we had some good 'ol Easter fun.  We gave them each a personalized Easter basket filled with so many wonderful gifts. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of my family and friends who donated items.  They absolutely loved them. 

And then we hid the eggs everywhere.  Everywhere, I tell ya.  Our translators, Sylvester & Jonas, really got into the hiding part and thought it was the funniest (and probably strangest) thing ever to hid these eggs.  There's a field of banana trees on the property that they hid eggs for the older kids in. It was hilarious just watching them do the hiding.


And then it was time for the countdown to find them.  We let the little kids grab the easy ones first.  And then let the big kids go.  Just like with any egg hunt here, it was CRAZY.  I barely got any pictures of the big kids. They were so excited.  And fast.


The best part was seeing the kids LATER realize that there was something inside the eggs.  They had no idea.  So add even more excitement...CANDY! :)

Yes Easter baskets and Easter eggs have nothing to do with the true Easter story and are kind of silly.  But seeing the joy and fun of those kids experiencing something like this for the first time was absolutely priceless.  So glad we did that.


Also with the monetary donations we received, we were able to shop in the local market and buy new shoes for some of the kids, some clothes, lots of supplies, and a TON of spaghetti noodles and sauce (it seriously may have weighed a ton!), which is a big treat for them.  Thank you so much to all those that donated!


And speaking of donations, on a whim I decided to ask friends at church and on Facebook to send us any of their kids unused sports jerseys.  We ended up taking over 120 jerseys! I couldn't believe how many came in. It was so much fun getting to lay them all out and let the kids come pick out 2-3 each.  They loved them.  

Even the adults.  :)

Perfect timing, now everyone is dressed and ready for some soccer!

As much as I enjoy writing, I can't fully get across how wonderful this place is.  There is absolutely nothing glamorous about it.  In fact all of the elements pretty much work against you in so many ways there.  But still, my time in Haiti is like nothing I've experienced.

And this trip was made even better because of the incredible team we had. I have to brag on this group and say how impressive everyone was.  No complaining, no one was difficult, everyone worked well together, every single person operated with flexibility and a great team attitude, AND we all got along.  :)  I loved being with these people.

Our group leader, Adrianne, is incredible, and I admire so much the selfless work she is doing for these kids.  Carter (only 8 years old!) was the trip rockstar. I really don't know many teenagers (maybe even adults?) that could handle all of the elements and the really hard parts of being there near as well as this guy did. The kids ADORED him, and he was wonderful with them.  That could be an entire blog post itself.  Seeing how much they enjoyed him would make even the coldest person tear up. Ben, Amber, Mallori, and Shannon were all so much fun to be with, worked their tails off, and had an incredible love for these kids.  And I hope it won't be the last time, but this trip was definitely the best "sister bonding trip" I could ever ask for.  So thankful for my sister Shannon!

(The kids saying goodbye to Carter.  He's squeezed in the middle of all the hugs in there.)

And the trip wouldn't be half as wonderful, if it it weren't for the best translators in all of Haiti, Jonas & Sylvester!  Truly two of the hardest working people I know.

I'm sure I'm leaving out so many parts of the trip. 

Just like I said after my first trip...It's the hottest, the sweatiest, and at times, the most uncomfortable I've ever been.  But somehow when I'm there and with those children, I love every single minute. 


It is a beautiful thing to see these kids get a chance to have a ton of fun and just be kids.  And it is a wonderful moment to hold them while they take a nap. And to look them in the eye and to tell them they are beautiful and they have a purpose...no picture or words can communicate what that is like.


Yes I leave a trip like this happy, excited, and so ready to go back.  But I also leave even more confused as to why just the place you are born can put you on a path of such a different life.  I don't get it.  And I'm sure I never will.  So all I can do for now...is do something now.  Share the Lord's love, help get them what they need, and just give them a chance to be a kid.


And now every night when I rock my little one before bed and sing Jesus Loves The Little Children, All The Children Of The World,  I have a completely different perspective and have these sweet faces to remember. Until next time.


Here's a great video Ben put together from our trip: