Beth Turns 40!

We'll be celebrating her birthday on Sunday but October 10 is her birthday. We've got a lot of surprises for her, one being the chair in the header photo!

We didn't know Beth had Down Syndrome until after she was born. We were stunned when the doctor told us but we knew right away we would still love her.

Funny story - unbeknownst to us, my doctor relaxed our visiting hours. Beth was in my room all day while our families came and went. After a few days my dad stopped by again to see us and I was told they couldn't bring Beth to my room. That's when I learned the doctor wanted to see if we were planning to keep her. How would we treat her? When he saw how much we loved her he put the visiting hour restrictions back in place.

When she was just a couple months ago the Regional Center of San Diego sent therapists to our home to work with her. She learned to sit up at one year, and learned to walk at two.

Beth at One Year

Beth at Two

In this picture Beth is three and Sharaya is one

The Regional Center only worked with kids until they were two, then they started going to preschool. A contained class with other kids with special needs. I drove her the first few times, and this is Beth taking her first bus ride.

She absolutely loved riding the school bus! And did so for the next 19 years.

She's traveled all over the country. We've been on over 40 road trips in her lifetime and she does really well in the car.

Back when car seats were for kids under two

Beth's grown up with the best sisters. They look out for her and make sure she's getting the best care. They fight for her, and with her. 😊 We couldn't have asked for better kids.

Sharaya and Beth

Beth, Diana, Sharaya

Has it always been easy? No. We didn't expect this journey. We didn't even have time to plan for it. Forty years ago we made a decision to bring her home and to love her. She's been bringing joy to our lives ever since!   

A Birthday, and Technology Fried My Brain

Oh my gosh, I have had the most difficult time with technology!

Last week I got on here to post, but when I got on my phone to send pictures it said it couldn't send mail because our username or password was incorrect. Only we hadn't changed our username or password. I spent the next four days trying to figure this out. Finally took it to the store and the guy couldn't figure it out. He spent about 30 minutes trying everything he knew. He added a different app but that didn't work. I finally came home, deleted the original app, then added it again. That finally worked. 

Yesterday I had done a bunch of work around the house and decided to watch a movie while I ate dinner. (Chuck was at work and Beth eats downstairs.) Found the app I wanted, started the movie, only to see subtitles. I don't know about you but I do not like subtitles. I end up reading them instead of actually watching the movie. Anyway, I spent the next 20 minutes trying to turn them off. I was on the verge of tears. I finally texted the family and Sharaya helped me. I think she actually did it from her house. About 20 minutes in, they showed an ad, and it froze. I could hear the movie playing behind it but the ad was still on the screen. I hit the back button and it took me out of the movie completely! I burst into tears, turned off the TV and went to take a shower. I tried again later that night and was able to finish the movie.

Tonight, I sat down to finally write a post but it wouldn't bring up the blog. Instead I got a pop-up telling me I needed to clear the cache - on a browser I wasn't using! After a few minutes I took the laptop out to Chuck, I'm so thankful he was home! I read the directions from my phone while he clicked all the things on the laptop. It didn't work. We restarted the computer and started the process all over again. This time it worked, and sent a verification to his phone, then another verification to our email... oh my word. I'm so done with technology. 

So, tonight I'm just going to wish Sharaya a very Happy Birthday! October 6, she was delivered by c-section. She's always had a very sweet and gentle spirit, she's thoughtful and oh so funny! Family game nights she makes us laugh so hard! She's such a light to our family. 

Let There be Light, Comin' Up on Forty, and Trying Something For the First Time

Hi,

It feels like forever since I've been on here. I've got more time on my hands but I'm sure filling it up fast!

 

Beth's and Sharaya's birthdays are in a couple of weeks so we've been working on that. They're two years apart but Sharaya's is October 6th, and Beth's is the 10th. Beth turns 40 (!!) so we've got a few surprises planned.

I've been making my own greeting cards for many years and for the first time ever I'm going to try selling them. Our church has been hosting a holiday market every October and that's also coming up in a couple of weeks. It's a lot different making them for fun, vs needing a certain amount and having a deadline. I've reserved a little 6' table at the market and I'm trying to figure out how to fill it up. Many of the sellers have two-to-three times that much. I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and got some fall flower arrangements that match my cards (sunflowers, etc.) and little boxes to display the cards. I'm excited, and nervous at the same time.

 

When Beth isn't at work or bowling or church... she sits at her desk, watches TV and draws. She has stencils and draws the alphabet over and over. It's a common thing among people who have Down Syndrome. Not necessarily drawing, but things with repetition. That's why the same schedule each day works best for them, rather than constant change. Beth is right-handed and her ceiling light is on her right, so she wears a light, like a miners light on her head. Hers is attached to a soft headband. Well I have a lamp at work that I thought she might like, it's got a USB port where she can charge her phone. And it can sit on her left so her right hand won't block the light while she writes. She chose the pink one of course and it arrived the other day.

So far she loves it. I hope it works for her. New things are sometimes hard for her to accept into her already set routines.

I should get started on my day. Even though it's already noon on a Saturday. I'm tellin' ya the days are absolutely flying by! I hope you have a great weekend!

Chicken, Past the 'Best By' Date, It's been Five Years

One thing I didn't write about in my last post was that my dad died on 9/11, in 2019. We had seen him in August and he was doing pretty good for 93. Just a couple weeks after we left though, he fell and broke his hip and was put on hospice.

I flew back to San Diego and got to be with him when he died. Most of the family got to say their goodbyes. We all flew back down in October for the memorial. I sometimes dream about him. The other night I had a dream about him, my mom and my sister. An interesting thing, whenever I dream about someone who has died, they never speak. They'll laugh, we're doing things together, but they never talk.

Okay, on to lighter things. Beth has been asking me if we could make chocolate chip cookies so Monday night after work I got out all the ingredients. Since our kids have grown up I just don't bake anymore. So all of our flour was expired. Well I don't know, does flour actually go bad? It was definitely past the 'best by' date so I tossed it. Same with the vegetable oil, we were out of butter... sigh. So I jumped in the car and ran to the store.

Beth puts in the flour, baking soda, salt, she helps add the eggs, runs the mixer, then puts the dough on the tray. I let her make one tray, then she gets to take those downstairs for herself. In this picture she's telling her friends, "Hey everyone at All Aboard! I'm making cookies!"

Have you been able to see the Aurora Borealis this year? It seems to be happening a lot lately. I headed outside this week and looked up through my camera and all I saw was pitch black. Holding my phone up and looking at the screen, there was nothing. But as I took pictures, I could see a light image appear. When I got in the house, this is what I had:

 

 

Just a little bit of pink, but it's there! I was shocked! There really was nothing to see with the naked eye, not even the clouds. It was dark. I don't like the dark so I'd be outside for just a minute, then come back in. Then I'd go out again a few minutes later. I'm such a chicken. 

Honoring

Honoring 9/11 becomes more important the older I get. I'm not sure why. I was no where near there when it happened. I don't know anyone directly impacted by the attack. But each year it seems to hit me harder.

 

(Please forgive me if this post causes anyone pain. That's not my intention at all. It just breaks my heart when I think of what the men and women who were impacted by this attack had to go through that day, and the months, and years following. I'm sharing this out of deepest respect.)

 

I spent most of Wednesday morning going over in my head what I wanted to write on here. I thought about the pictures I wanted to include, the stories I would tell. Then after work I picked Ally up from school and took her home, I stopped at Target to buy Beth an ottoman, came home, fixed dinner, showered, Chuck came home, and by the time I sat down here to write, all I could think of was "What have we been up to?" Completely forgot what day it was. When I went to bed that night I couldn't believe I didn't write about it.

The first time we went to New York was in 2004 and we stopped at Ground Zero. They had cleared most of the site and were now starting to rebuild.

 

 

These beams were found like this in the rubble. It became a source of hope for all the men and women working at Ground Zero. It's now in the 9/11 Museum in New York.

This firehouse was across the street from the Twin Towers and was demolished when they fell. They lost five men that day. Last week we watched a documentary that included some of those men.

 

This was shown on a documentary I saw a few years ago. You can see the firehouse on the left. (Sorry it's such poor quality. It's a screen shot from the TV.)

Twenty years after 9/11 we were in New York again and stopped at the beautiful memorial fountains that are now in the exact places where the towers once stood.

Plus thanks to our girls, Chuck and I got to see a play about 9/11, on Broadway in New York, the week of the twentieth anniversary. It's one of our favorite productions of of all time. We watch it again every year. (You can find it on Apple TV.)

 

We've had the honor of visiting the museum, a place we'd love to see again. There just wasn't enough time to see everything that day.

I took Ally home from school on Wednesday and I asked her if they did anything for 9/11. She asked, "What's 9/11?" When I told her then she remembered, but no, nothing was mentioned at school. What are we doing to make sure it doesn't happen again? I hope we truly never forget.