Not True Anymore

Beth doesn't really talk, did I tell you that?

Well, I guess the best way to describe it is she doesn't often engage in conversation. She doesn't walk in the door and talk about her day. She will answer questions, the same questions that have become part of her routine.

On Tuesdays she's on a bowling league. She'll come in after it's over, put her score sheet and newsletter on the counter and go downstairs. We usually try to catch her, "Beth, did you have fun?"

"Mmhmm."

Looking at her scores for the day I see she bowled a personal best of 129!! Four spares and two strikes!! "Wow Beth, this is awesome! Congratul..." She's already downstairs with the door shut.



I wrote this post about 4-5 months ago and saved it as a draft. The only time I've ever saved a draft. I was going to title it Anderson Detective Agency. We had to constantly ask questions, inquire about everything and basically beg Beth to talk to us. She just didn't say much.

But that has all changed the last few months. Now, we can't get her to stop talking. :)

I'm not sure what made the difference but she started greeting at our church about 8 months ago. Every other Sunday morning she stands at one of the doors and shakes hands with everyone who comes in. She looks at them and says, "Welcome" or "Good morning." That's the only thing I can think of that would have helped bring her out of her shell.

Her job coach told us the other day (we had our annual meeting with the state) that Beth is interacting with her more and participating more in job class.

In fact, she's talking so much I gently told her the other day that it's okay to be quiet sometimes. We were in the car (it's hard to understand her unless I look at her and read her lips when she's talking) and I was having to ask her to repeat everything. We had gone out shopping (5 1/2 hours!) and I was drained. She had literally talked the. entire. time. I don't mean a few sentences here and there. I mean absolutely, non stop talking. I'm surprised she didn't get a sore throat.

We were standing in line at the bathroom and the handicap stall became available. As she was going into it she turned to me, "Mom it's big enough. You can come too."

At a shoe store, she sat down on a little bench to try on shoes and said, "Man I love shopping!"

Went went to get her hair cut and as the hairdresser was showing her to the chair, Beth said, "I like your music." Beth spoke to her first, that was huge! They continued to talk the whole time.

While we were sitting in the food court eating our Auntie Anne's Pretzels she told me about her bowling teammates; her volunteer position at the elementary school, then she jumped up from the table. "Beth where are you going?" She pointed to a table behind us. "My friends!" And she went over to their table and talked to them. Actually started the conversation with them. I was just stunned.

She's also learned to text. Oh my has she learned to text! So much so that we had to change our plans to 'unlimited' because I was going over my limit receiving and answering all her texts! Diana has unlimited but Chuck, Beth and I didn't text that much. Until now.

These changes have been such a breath of fresh air. Beth is spending so much time upstairs, eating breakfast with us, talking with us, engaging in life with us. I don't honestly know what's caused this change but we love it!! This has been one of the biggest changes and one of the highlights of 2012 for me.

I am excited to see what 2013 has in store!

We Thought of You

Christmas morning we had The Christmas Carol on the TV while we opened presents. The noise in the room would usually follow the noise on the TV, louder, then softer.

We were at a break in the gift opening when the part came on TV where Scrooge is with The Ghost of Christmas Future and they are watching Bob Cratchit's house. We all got quiet as they showed the empty chair of little Timmy.

I said, "This makes me think of the children from the elementary school in Connecticut. I wonder what kind of Christmas their families are having."

The living room got quiet.

We talked about what the parents would do with all those unopened presents. Some of us mentioned, if it was us, that maybe we'd give them to a shelter.

Ryan said he'd probably keep them all.

The tears were flowing now.

Sharaya said she heard that one of the kids was into horses and that her parents had bought her new cowboy boots for Christmas this year. She said if it was her daughter, she'd definitely keep those.

We talked about maybe keeping a few special gifts. Putting them in a special place somewhere in the house. I mentioned Kristen's mom and how she's kept Kristen's room the same.

The kids agreed they'd probably do the same.

By now we were passing around the kleenex.

I thought of Carly and Brad's mom and dad. I thought of everything they've gone through in the last couple of years. I wondered what kind of Christmas they had this year.

My heart aches for all of them.

I pray you were able to find a little piece of joy at Christmas this year.

Our Turn

Our turn to post all those Christmas pictures! :)

While the girls were growing up, Chuck's mom would buy them pajamas and a stuffed animal and that was the one gift they opened every Christmas Eve. I'm now continuing that tradition with Allie!

 

We had Christmas at Ryan and Sharaya's this year. 

It was fun to go to their house and see the way they do Christmas. 

 

 

 Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

After we opened presents, Ryan and Sharaya went over to Ryan's folks and the 4 of us went to see Les Miserables. We've seen it live on stage 3 times and were so excited to see the movie! If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it! It is such a great story about redemption and the amazing things God can do when you turn your life over to Him.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

It Only Comes But Once a Year

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my blogging friends! 

We hope you have a very happy New Year!

Tis the Season...!

I may have used that same title last year when describing a certain someone in our house who CAN'T KEEP A SECRET!!

I won't name names.

(But it's her!! She did it!!)

 

This girl cannot, I repeat, can NOT keep quiet about Christmas gifts! We've gotten to the point where we just don't even include her in our, "Guess what I got Sharaya!" conversations.

She happened to be in the room when such a conversation took place and I immediately looked at her, "Do NOT tell dad. Don't even tell him we were talking about a gift. Don't even mention Christmas!!"

A few minutes later Chuck walks in the door and Beth says, "Don't tell HIM about it? About the gift?" 

Arrgg!!!! Then what happens is this:

"What?? Don't tell me what about what gift??"

"Nothing! Elizabeth, I told you not to say a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g!"

"No, no you can tell me. Really!"

"No, let's just change the subject."

"ELIZABETH MEIGAN!!"

Only 3 more days....

Full Circle

When I was in high school, I'd sometimes find my mom just sitting at the table looking out the window. She usually had a cup of coffee in front of her and she'd just sit there.

"What are you doing?" I'd ask condescendingly. Being in high school, most of my words came out that way.

Her sweet voice would answer back, "Just thinking about life."

'Weird!' I'd think. 'She's so strange and so old.' I'd only think this of course, I'd never say it out loud! I knew better than that!

"I'm going out." Out to live my life, not just sit there and think about it. I wondered what on earth she had to think about. She went to work every day, she was old, her kids were grown. What on earth was she doing??

Well, now I'm in my 50s. My kids are grown. I work outside the home. And I occasionally find myself sitting at my kitchen table looking out the window.

Thinking about life.

I usually have a cup of tea in front of me. What on earth do I think about??

Usually these guys:

That's my mom with the girls in downtown Edmonds.

 

Beth

 

 

Sharaya

 

Diana

 

 

Chuck's mom

 

 

Twenty One Years Ago

21 years ago, Diana was turning one.

Beth and Sharaya were both c-sections so we scheduled Diana's birth date.

They gave us a choice of anytime between December 19 and January 6, I think.

Chuck's mom was turning 60 on December 27 and we knew it would create a bond between the two. And we were right. :)

So our third daughter, Diana Lynn was born on December 27, 1990.

Also...

Another thing that happened about 25 years ago...

Sharaya had just turned one. 

If we had a boy we'd name him Charles William III.

If she was a girl, we'd name her Sarah Dawn. 

Then we heard the Unguarded album by Amy Grant. 

(Yes, it was an actual record album, 33rpm!)

On it she sings a song to a friend named Sharayah.

(Pronounced Shuh-ray-uh.)

We fell in love with that name!

We dropped the h and named her Sharaya Dawn!

 

25 Years Ago

Twenty Five years ago Beth was 3.

Where Has The Time Gone?

The time has flown by. I'm sorry I haven't written.

The three days of Beth's treatment went very well. Every time I'd go down to check on her she'd be smiling, singing, watching TV... it really wasn't difficult at all. Over the weekend we washed her bedding and her clothes. I also scrubbed the bathroom she used. I don't know how much I was supposed to do so I washed the walls and the floors and everything in between. :) She sees the doctor at the first of next month for lab work so he can make sure this radioactive iodine treatment worked. Then they'll prescribe her new medicine. I'm hoping and praying it's better then what she's been taking. She's been eating healthier plus has been off this medicine for over a month and she's lost 20 pounds already!!

Diana was at the European premier of Les Miserables today. (Her reason for going to London.) I watched it live on Yahoo Movies and got to see her in the crowd. Helena Bonham Carter was walking the red carpet signing autographs and passed right in front of Diana. The cameras were there to capture it all! A short time later I got a text saying she received a free ticket and was in the theater waiting for the movie to start! I guess you could say she had a pretty good day today.

We bought our Christmas tree. It's not decorated and there are no lights on it, but it's up!

This Sunday we're going to Ryan and Sharaya's to celebrate Allison's 3rd birthday! Sharaya has been working for weeks to create a Rapunzel party theme. She even painted this:

 

I still can't believe Allie is three. Time is going way too fast.

 

I've been working on our Christmas card but it just doesn't look right. I think I need to start over. We haven't taken a family photo this year so I've been trying to get pictures from our facebook pages. It hasn't been as easy as it sounds.

There will be some changes coming at work in the new year. It's something I've expected for a few months, but we're still gonna have to make some changes here at home to accommodate. 

So that's what we've been up to this week. I hope you're doing well!