Lets Ride!

We went to the Abilities Expo yesterday and had a great time as usual. They had quite a selection of adaptable vehicles including one of these:

http://youtu.be/BlCRQchy158

Daddy? Pweese?

13 more years darlin' . . .

Takin' It to the Net!

Quote of the Day

"I'm a godmother, that's a great thing to be, a godmother. She calls me god for short, that's cute, I taught her that"

- Ellen DeGeneres

Grounded

by Joyce Sutphen

My father will not

climb into the trees

today.

He is eighty-four

and tells me

that he was never

fond of heights,

that he hated

putting up the pipes

to fill the silo,

that he did not enjoy

climbing to the top

of the barn

to fix the pulley

on the hay-sling.

I have no desire

to be in the air,

he says.

And I always thought

he loved walking

the rim of the silo,

waving his hat

in circles overhead,

shouting down to

where we stood

grounded and gazing

up at him.

The Thorn

by Martha Snell Nicholson

I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne

And begged him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own.

I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart

I cried, “But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.

This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me.”

He said, “My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee.”

I took it home and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore,

As long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more.

I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace,

He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face.

Disabilities Prove God Still Has Hope for Us

We recently had a meeting with Annie's teachers to evaluate her progress and make course corrections as needed. I love teachers in general and God bless them for the work that they do but I can't expect them to be as passionate about my daughter as I am.

Annie has some significant learning delays and it will take significant effort on our part, as parents, on their part as teachers and especially on Annie's part. That means extra effort, extra patience, extra thought. It means extra hard.

But I BELIEVE in Annie.

I believe she can catch up. I believe Annabelle is gifted beyond what her teachers see, what her mother and I believe and what Annie herself can presently conceive. And so I choose the hard road. The push. The effort. The challenge. I want to push Annie to her greatest potential. This will not always be fun or easy but it will be what is best. I BELIEVE in my Annie.

That got me thinking. Maybe God has not given up on us quite yet either.

God BELIEVES in us. He believes that we are gifted beyond what we ourselves can imagine. He believes that we can become MORE compassionate and LESS judgmental. Our father believes that we have great storehouses of understanding and humility that we have not yet discovered. God believes that we have within us the ability to make a better society - one in which ALL are cherished as the immortals which we are.

And so God chooses the hard road. The push. The effort. The challenge. He wants to push us to our greatest potential. This will not always be fun or easy but it will be what is best, for God BELIEVES in us.

So he makes us the gift of disability and calls all of us, those with disabilities and those without, to step up and show what he has made us of. He calls us to be better beings and there are few places in which that call is louder than the community of those with disabilities.

God makes us the gift of disability because he BELIEVES in us even when we don't believe in ourselves.

God makes us the gift of disability because he still has hope for us.

http://youtu.be/sdA3Equ1I3s

Glow Stick Bath!

How Many Times Does Our Culture Have to Relearn This Lesson?

That a person's appearance is no indicator of their talent, ability or worth . . . .

http://youtu.be/ZsNlcr4frs4

Garden Fairy

I know I haven't been posting many photos lately. I have a good excuse - our camera broke (the new one arrives today!) A couple of weeks ago Annie went to a birthday party and the theme was "Garden Fairies" complete with a May Pole.

It was a blustery day which combined two of Annie's favorite things: Wind and ribbons! She had a blast!

Quote of the Day

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

- Anonymous

Quote of the Day

My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast

- CS Lewis

Quote of the Day

"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."

- Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day

"A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities."

- Charles De Gaulle

Quote of the Day

"No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education." 

 — Plato

Quote of the Day

We survived Bush. You will survive Obama. 

 - Facebook Page

Quote of the Day

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have." -

Unknown

Oh Dear . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGKuDhaBDfU&feature=youtu.be

Quote of the Day

"Fear less, hope more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours." 

-Swedish Proverb

Quote of the Day

"Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution long after the emotion with which it was made has passed." 

- Brian Tracy

Happy Saint Paddy's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y07at1bU89Q&feature=player_embedded



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zff9hVH3ptY&feature=player_embedded

Quote of the Day

"A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding." 

- Marshall McLuhan

Quote of the Day

"In life you need either inspiration or desperation." 

- Anthony Robbins

Prayer

by Marie Howe

Every day I want to speak with you. And every day something more important
calls for my attention—the drugstore, the beauty products, the luggage


I need to buy for the trip.
Even now I can hardly sit here


among the falling piles of paper and clothing, the garbage trucks outside
already screeching and banging.


The mystics say you are as close as my own breath.
Why do I flee from you?


My days and nights pour through me like complaints
and become a story I forgot to tell.


Help me. Even as I write these words I am planning
to rise from the chair as soon as I finish this sentence.

Quote of the Day

I am going to make it through this year 
if it kills me

- The Mountain Goats

Quote of the Day

"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui." 

- Helen Keller

Quote of the Day

"Don't wish me happiness -- I don't expect to be happy. It's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor -- I will need them all." 

- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Thank You

http://youtu.be/U_RPux7-ynM

This Almost Makes Me Miss My College Days (Almost)

http://youtu.be/QDGlgH_ZsrY

In a Parlor Containing a Table

by Galway Kinnell

In a parlor containing a table
And three chairs, three men confided 
Their inmost thoughts to one another.
I, said the first, am miserable.
I am miserable, the second said. 
I think that for me the right word
Is miserable, said the third.
Well, they said, it's quarter to two.
Good night. Cheer up. Sleep well.
You too. You too. You too.

Keep Calm Carry On

http://youtu.be/FrHkKXFRbCI