Splendid Mayhem: Blog Award

Welcome To Holland

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.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

I'm Fabulous :P

I'm tickled! My first blog award! Thank you Anelys, you rock!

Along w/ this award I am to list 5 addictions I have.

1) Chocolate

2) Procrastination of school work. I work well under pressure I guess.

3) Kissing & loving on my boys. I gotta get in all the smooches I can now b/c I know that soon I'll be told that's gross!

4) Blogging- reading yours, working on mine, etc (although I don't have as much time as I'd like)

5) Asking people to pray for Logen. In the last 2 months, I've asked nearly everybody thats asked about him to pray for him. Wal-Mart check out people, lil' old ladies being nosey- you name it! :) And, God's been listening... I just know it!

Now, I must nominate 5 FABULOUS blogs. I don't like picking *just* 5. Every blog I read is fantastic. After all, I wouldn't read it if it weren't great!!! :)

1) Erin's Blog (Live Laugh Love)

2) Dallas

3) Ellen (To The Max)

4) Popcorn House

5) Kiera Beth