Last week............

On Monday we met up with this fun group and went to the

L. A. Science musuem.

Favorite part of our day at the musuem....

http://youtu.be/M66tf12zg0M

Our future news anchors hard at work.

I love how Regan continues on under preasuer

and begins to describe the fight that is breaking out.

One day was beautiful and cloudy so we went to Disney with Nana! 

We LOVE Nana!!! 

One day we met up with this fun group and got our bowl on!

I am in LOVE with this wonderful kids bowl free program. 

We went and saw this handsome young man that is doing GREAT!!! 

I LOVE Holland.............

Welcome To Holland

by

Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

I am truly grateful for my Holland.

I am grateful that because of our wonderful trip

to Holland a moment of a little boy watching from the side..... 

Can quickly turn into an adventure of getting his little legs to work.....

and end with new adventures and BIG smiles.

I am grateful that because of my wonderful trip to Holland I

am able to go on slides much more than I would ever go on in Italy.

What is Fancy Bowling??

Check it off the list...

Remember THIS post and my promise

of a sleep over to these two  girls??

Not only was it a promise but luckily

 it was on the list....

have an AWESOME sleep over

We knew Daddy would be working and gone so

 it was the perfect night to have the sleep over.

We had a funky gunky night complete with pizza and candy.

We watched Veggie tale marathon and did mani pedis.

The girls were up until 11pm laughing and talking.

The next morning as soon as they woke up they asked...

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TODAY!?!?!?!?"

I had to wing it... ummmmmm.....

"We are going FANCY BOWLING!!!!"

They quickly asked.."What is fancy bowling?"

Well, Fancy bowling is the BEST kind of bowling!

You get to put on make up, do your hair

fancy, and put on pretty clothing!

Don't forget the sunglasses, they are a MUST!

It was Bubba's last day of summer school

so I knew that we needed to do something

SUPER special and super girly!

Oh, and don't forget that you need one

 CRAZY Mommy that is willing to join in the fun!

As we walked through the bowling

alley people kept asking....

"what are you celebrating???"

We told them...

"It's Friday....

and we are GIRLS!!!!

what elese do you need to celebrate??"

It is a MUST to always make sure your

 lip gloss if fresh when you are fancy bowling!

Don't forget, even your table needs to look Fancy!!!

At the end of the Day we all jumped for joy over

 our AWESOME morning of Fancy Bowling!

{OH, and one more thing got check off the list!}

{Things around here}

have been BUSY!!

I have so many fun adventures to blog about

BUT for now some quick fun pictures.

Alot of you have asked how

Stanley is fitting in our family. 

He is fitting in perfectly!!!

He is such a sweet and gentle little dog.

Potty training is going good.

He is getting along with the kids GREAT!

Bubba started vomiting the other night

 and Stanley was so concerned.

He would not leave Bubba's side and

 kept putting his head in Bubba's lap.

This is a GREAT sign that maybe we will be

able to train him to let us know when

 Bubba is having seizures.

We love our little Stanley :)

{35}

This weekend we all got together

 to celebrate this cute couple!

They have been married 35 years

 and we wanted to celebrate!

They might be "Jason's family" but I

LOVE both of them with all of my  heart. 

Regan LOVES her big cousin Aubrey.

They had so much fun together. 

Stanley came and made new friends.

Oh, he was so good with the kids!!! 

One of the best parts of the day........ 

Bubba's pre-K aid, Ms. Lauria was

there and he was in Heaven!! 

Oh, and how did the make it last 35 years?????

HMMMMM..................

{I LOVE their answer!}

{our big news}

Jason comes from a family of six and I am the 4th of five children. We both loved growing up in large families. When we talked about our future and children we both agreed that we would have a BIG family. When we found out that Bubba's illness was genetic and that there was a 25% chance that any future children will also have TTD I was heart broken. We prayed, fasted, and put our trust in the Lord when it came time to decide whether or not we should have another child. There were several promptings that there was another special child waiting to come to us. Despite these feelings I had a hard time taking the LEAP of faith. Then while in prayer asking the same question yet AGAIN I received the same feeling but this time it was more like a slap up side the head. Almost if God were saying "don't you trust me?" At this point Jason and I decided that it was time to have another baby. My entire pregnancy I was at peace and calm about our decision. God blessed me with an overwhelming feeling of love and peace. I can't even begin to describe it, but it was amazing. After our sweet little Regan was born Jason and I would occasionally visit the question... "do you think our family is complete?" We prayed and took our time making this very important decision. We both felt good and at peace with the thought that our family was complete. We knew that if we had any more children, more likely than not they would also have TTD just as bad as Bubba if not worse. So, we made our decision permanent. We both agreed that maybe if the right time and promptings came to us we might adopt and expand our family that way. I am grateful for the peace that I have been blessed with about not being able to have any more babies of my own. I was afraid that when I held my friend's little ones I would get jealous or long for that feeling again but that has not been the case. When I get the chance to hold these sweet little babies I am beyond excited for their mommies. Trust me, I don't miss a chance to "steal" a baby when even I can. I LOVE those sweet cuddles BUT I don't long for them or miss them. I am happy with my little family. Shoot, we say that Bubba's care is that of about four children so in theory we really do have five! wink!

Along with children a constant topic of discussion in our home is that of a family dog. Jason has wanted a dog for.... well, pretty much our almost 12 years of marriage. We were excited about the idea of getting a seizure dog and we were bummed when we found out that they didn't want to work with him because Bubba can't be involved in the training. Then Jason started doing research to find out what kind of dogs we could train ourselves. We knew that IF and when the day came we wanted to be prepared. We prayed, I PRAYED about this one. Let's face it, we all know that if we got a dog most it would fall on Mommy. Well, one day we decided hey let's just go and LOOK at the dogs at this adoption, rescue place. Man, what was I thinking.... just look REALLY!!!! I thought we would go in and tell them what we were looking for, give them our number, and then get a call one day to come and meet it. Ok, so you all know how this story is going to end. We walked in and told them our needs and what we were looking for. Then she said "STANLEY... oh he would be PERFECT for you family!!!!!" Before I even realized what was going on she we were playing with Stanley in a little play area. Bubba loved him, of course he loves and dog. The tricky part is Regan, she has a fear of jumpy dogs. Well, sweet Stanley was not jumpy one bit. He showered us all with kisses and was sweet as can be. Jason and Regan were ready to get him right there on the spot. I told them that we needed to talk about it first. So, here we all sat in the mall having a family council. "who will walk him.... Regan you have to keep your room clean and toys off the floor..... " Everyone agreed to do their part, we voted, and then headed back to get our Stanley. On the way home he just sat on my lap happy as can be! I looked over and I swear I saw a tear in Jason's eye. He might not fess up to it but the little boy in him came out loud and clear and I think he was happier than anyone else. Stanley is fitting in well. I am sure there was some type of abuse in his past so we are taking it slow. He is GREAT with children, only whimpered 5 minutes when we locked up in the kitchen the first night, and we are still yet to hear him bark. He isn't the most handsome dog but that is one of the things I love most about him. We tend to like the "under dog" around here. We tend to see beauty where others might not. We love our new addition, our family is getting bigger by the day! Wish me luck!



swim coach

On the list this summer:

LEARN TO SWIM

Regan has always had a fear of putting her face in the water and was NOT water safe one bit at the beginning of summer. At the family reunion earlier this year I about had a panic attack when I went to the pool to find Regan wanting to keep up her cousins that could swim. She was in the deep end with a simple little noodle. This scene scared me!! So, at the beginning of the summer this was at the VERY top of THE LIST. I was determined to find the very best swim coach. I contacted a couple places and private spots were full. Oh, no!!! Did I wait to long? I was telling my wonderful friend CeCe about my fear and she told me "let me try." I can't even begin to tell what a blessing she is in my life. They have a pool and at least 3 or 4 times a week for three weeks she has had swim lessons from CeCe and her wonderful husband. At first it was HARD. CeCe and I both agreed that we needed a tough approach. There were days when she cried BUT before long the tears stopped and she started to be ok with putting her face in the water. Then in no time she LIKED putting her face in the water. Then she was jumping into the 4ft. end with out floaties. Then today I was amazed to see my sweet little girl doing cannon balls and swimming the entire length of the pool. In just 3 short weeks CeCe and Robert have managed to teach Regan and Laney how to swim!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to be blessed with such AMAZING friends in my life!!!!! They are the BEST swim coaches EVERY!!!!!