Playing DJ

Today's gift is playing dj.

Well, after 2750 miles, 46 hours in the car driving, 10 meals on the road, 6 gas fill ups, 5 Starbucks stops, and unknown visits to Cracker Barrels across the southeast for potty breaks we are back home!  The last 8 hours of our 46 hour drive where in pouring down rain!!!

Through it all the kids were incredible, our visit was perfect and we have tons of wonderful memories to last us a lifetime.

Needless to say traveling by car is much easier for our family, especially our daughter.  She just loves to go for a ride and look out the window.  On this trip she was lucky enough to visit parts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.  We drove two different routes so the kids could see more!

Just as much as my daughter loves to ride in the car she also loves to listen to music while she is riding along.   Don't we all?!?!  We all have different music we like to listen too depending on our journey and so does she.

She had the best time today playing dj in the backseat!!!!  We listened to a little Jack Johnson, Aly & AJ, China Anne McClain, LMFAO, Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Taylor Swift, Michael Franti, and I am sure there is more!  She also likes to dance when she listens to her music.

I enjoyed having her chose our music playlist during our drive today.  Sometimes it was the whole song and other times in was just clips.  Whatever it was, it was her showing us what she likes and we enjoyed every minute of it!

Here is a quote for today....
Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul- Author Unknown


© copyright 2012 – All rights reserved
365 Days Gift

A Message

***If you did not see my post from Friday please go to www.365daysgift.com as I posted it this morning. The title is "A First".***

Today's gift is a message.

Well, we started our 1300 mile journey this morning at 5:10.  We decided to take a different route home to show the kids different parts of the USA.

Our route started us on a Texas road which once you get out of the "bigger" cities you mostly see countryside. The countryside was beautiful, but along with the country comes not many choices to stop and eat breakfast.

After we drove through the town of Garrison, population 895, we hit a "larger" town...Timpson with a population of 1,171!  Would you believe it, we actually found a restaurant...a brand new Subway!  I honestly think it was the only restaurant in the town.  And I was happy it was clean!

When we pulled into the parking lot, there was only one other person dining inside.  It was a gentleman, who looked to be about in his 70's and probably a "local"... given the time!

My husband walked in first with my oldest daughter as I was investigating a rather large beetle in the parking lot with the youngest two.  Everything really is bigger in Texas...even the bugs!  When my husband walked in, the first thing the gentleman said to him was " I can see the spirit of God in her. You have something very special in your hands."

Your speechless....right!?! I was too when my husband told me!

It wasn't like this man witnessed us with our daughter for any length of time!  It literally, was just the two of them walking into Subway.

After we had breakfast, I took all the kids for a potty break and then brought them out to my husband, before it was my turn (mom's are always last!).  As I was leaving I told the nice man to have a wonderful day and he wished us a safe drive home.

When I got into the car, my husband was rather quiet.  Then he said "do you know what that man said on my way out....he said make sure you listen to her when she speaks".

Speechless again!?!

I see why my husband was quiet.  Those were two very powerful messages we received.  Two messages from a complete stranger.  Two messages that I honestly felt were given to us for a reason.

Looking back on our journey driving through the small towns of East Texas we were joking if we would even find a place to eat.   Little did we know our breakfast in a town of 1,171 would have had such an impact on our lives.

And yes, the man is exactly correct, we do have something very special in our hands and I couldn't be happier to call her my daughter!  If it wasn't for my daughter, we would never have met this man or heard his message as we would have flown to Texas.  I am a believer in everything happens for a reason, and apparently there was a reason we were given "a message" today.

Here is a quote for today....
Being a Christian isn't about knowing a set of propositions- it's about knowing Christ and acting on his behalf in the world- Francis Chan, Forgotten God

A First

***I apologize for not posting my blog last night. I completely forgot about it until I was in bed half asleep. We had to get up early to start our 23 hour car ride back home. I hope you can forgive me!!!***

 

Today's gift is a first....as in she did something for the first time.

I know I mentioned in my post 'A Little Fish' that when my daughter has her aqua jogger off and my husband holds her up (horizontally) in the pool she will use her hands and kick her feet. This has been the only time she has come closest to "swimming".

Her aqua jogger is a little belt which goes around her waist. It does a great job of allowing her head to stay above water, but also letting her roam about on her own. She "swims" vertically more like riding a bicycle than swimming through the water. In the past two years she has figured out how to float more on her back with her aqua jogger on too.

But today...

She figured out how to get herself horizontal in the pool....with her aqua jogger on....and swim using both her hands while kicking her feet! We have never seen her do this. Yes she kicks and swims about...but as I said always vertical...never completely horizontal!

I am so proud of her for figuring out how to do this! And you can tell by the smile on her face just how proud she was of herself too!

Now that we know she can do this, we ask her to "swim" for us before she wants us to go "d" (down, under water) for her.

With repetition and lots of swimming I am sure before we know it this will be her "normal" swimming.

Here is a quote for today....

You've only got three choices in life: give up, give in, or give it all you've got- Author Unknown

 

***It is hard for me to post pictures while I'm gone. When I get home I will add pictures and video to all my posts. Then I will put links to them in another post. Thanks!***

Meeting New Family and Friends

Today's gift is meeting new family and friends.

Usually when we travel we always meet someone new.  This is no different for our current trip we are on.

My children have seen more family in the last two months than they ever have.  Between my grandmother's 85th birthday party and now this trip to Texas.  While in Texas they have visited with their grandfather, grandmother, great-grandmother, two aunts, cousins and boyfriends. Of all these people, my daughter had never meet three of them before.

She loves meeting new people.  I love watching her when she interacts with new family or friends.  She says things in "her lingo" and I love to watch them try to figure out what she is saying. But the best part is watching both of them when they "connect".  She gets them wrapped around her little finger too.  She gets them to smile as her smile is contagious.  She lets them get a glimpse of her world...one they want to learn more about.

This afternoon we were visiting with my cousins and meeting my cousin's boyfriend for the first time.  She just kept smiling at him and trying to get his attention.  It was so cute.  And then when they left we all went into the pool.  This was the first time my dad had all his daughters and grandchildren together!  And his son-in-law and my sister's boyfriend...and his mother.   We were all either outside by the pool or in it.

 It was a very happy moment for me to see everyone playing with each other and having fun.  I loved watching my daughter tell my sister's boyfriend "d" which means down...as in you must go underwater. He quickly learned every time she said this to him, she wanted him to go underwater.  And she would belly laugh every time.

Just as much as it warms my heart to see my daughter interact with new family and friends it equally warms my heart to see them treat my daughter just like my other two children.  From a mother's perspective this is all I could ask.

Today was a fabulous fun- filled day.  One which filled my heart with lots of joy.  Family is important and I couldn't be happier for my children that they have so many family members who love them.  And who knows...maybe the "boyfriends" will be family one day too....and if so my daughter gives her seal of approval!

Here is a quote for today....

Family...we live, we laugh, we play, we love- Author Unknown



© copyright 2012 – All rights reserved
365 Days Gift

A Little Fish

Today's gift is a little fish.

As I have mentioned once (or twice) my daughter loves to swim.  She is so happy when she is in the water.  My middle daughter summed it up best tonight...she said " mommy, she is free when she is in the pool ".

She is free.

Free to swim.  Free to move about where she wants to in the pool.  Free to be herself.

I love watching her in the pool.  She loves not having anyone be "on her" like when she is on land.  I'm not saying we are not watching her...we are...we are just giving her her space.  The space she deserves.
If you think about it my daughter has someone "on her" throughout her day.  Because of this she also doesn't have much (if any) privacy.  So her pool time is "her" time to herself.  Her time to think.  Her time to be herself.  Her time to be free....for a little while.

The pool is probably the only place she can roam and do what she wants.  She loves to explore every inch of the pool.  Today if she wasn't kicking a toy animal around at the bottom of the pool, she was feeling the current coming out of the jet or touching the water coming out of the waterfall.  Or she was just enjoying swimming and floating from one end to another.  On.  Her.  Own.

The one time we are on her in the pool is when we take her aqua jogger off and we let her swim.  She loves to be free without her aqua jogger.  But without it, we have to be on her.

When she was swimming with my husband today, she was kicking her feet on her own will and pushing her hands through the water.  This is huge, as her hands are usually always wringing!  The whole time she had a smile on her face...a smile that could have lit up the world!  She was so happy!!!
This. Makes. Me. Happy.

It is days like these which make me realize how much not only does she deserve days like today to be free, I need to see her enjoy days like these to make me realize these "free" days are important for her. Just like you and I need time to ourselves, she does too.  Just like her siblings roam the pool and do what they want...she wants to too.  She wants to be "free" and I pray one day very soon she will be 100% "free".   But until that day, her being a little fish is the only way to let her be "free" for a little while.

Here is a quote for today....

My heart sleeps by the sea- Author Unknown

Bedtime Conversation

Today's gift is our bedtime conversation.

As I was putting my daughter to bed tonight we both grabbed the covers and cuddled underneath them together.  The bed we are sleeping in at my dad's is really comfortable and you can't help but want to cuddle!

We talked all about our day..our day of pure leisure.  We talked about how nice it is to not have any place to be and to just play all day.  We talked about how nice it is to detox a little from technology...the kids have hardly watched anything on the tv or iPad until tonight as we watched America's Got Talent. We had a great time iPodding about it!  We disagreed on three acts and agreed on one.
We talked about how we called Poppy and sang " Happy Birthday" to him via FaceTime.  We talked about the videos we made.  We talked about getting fro-yo.

As we were talking a text came through from "Anne Sullivan".  She is vacationing this week too!  So we decided to take a picture and send it to her.  My daughter had the best smile as she loves "Anne Sullivan"!

I loved talking about our day and watching her face as we talked.  I can tell by her eyes and facial expressions which part of the day excited her the most.  Recapping our day together is a nice way to end the day too.  Talking about the day out loud helps you to remember all the little things, as well as, all the big things.

The best part of the conversation was watching her smile as she was looking into my eyes with her big green eyes...and then watching her eyes as they got heavier and heavier and heavier....until she drifted off to dreamland.  Sweet dreams honey...sweet dreams.

Here is a quote for today....

Do small things with great love- Mother Theresa

Adjusting to New Time Zone

Today's gift is adjusting to a new time zone.

Whenever we travel we always try to keep the kids on their normal schedule as much as we can.  There are times to "bend" the rules a little, but for the most part the kids do best when their routine is consistent.  Especially my daughter with special needs.

Since we are in Texas now, the time zone has changed.   We are an hour behind our time zone at home. To most this doesn't seem like a big adjustment.  To my daughter it is huge.  So how do you try to stick to your normal routine when adjusting to a new time zone?

You just play with it and adjust as you go.  We try to stick to the new time zone for the most part and she has adjusted very well.  However, the one time where we see her wanting to go back to her "normal" schedule is with bedtime.  When her "normal" bed'time' rolls around she is ready!
On the other hand, if she goes to bed on her "normal" time, then it means she will get up earlier on her new time. Which we don't want!

So we split the difference and push her back a little.

And she has adjusted great!  Hasn't skipped a beat!  In fact she even slept in this morning...which was great for both of us!

Traveling is always an adjustment for us in general, but throwing something new in...even as small as a time change is something "big" we must get used to.  While I am sure it is hard for her body to adjust I am so proud of her for adjusting so well.  I still get tired at certain times and know it is later at home, so I am certain she feels it too.  And as soon as we get 'used' to the difference, it will be time to drive back home!

Here is a quote for today...

Wherever you are, be all there- Author Unknown