Paying It Forward

I am so inspired to bring you today's post.  For those of you that have been following my blog, you may remember me asking for prayers for Evan Pattison.  Evan is a 9 year old boy with Autism.  Last month, he was struck by a car and has been at Rainbow Babies and Children's hospital ever since.  I first learned of this incident through a yahoo support group that I am a member of (AutismNE) and not a day goes by that I am not praying for this family.  There is a prayer vigil set up on Facebook that has been very good about posting updates from Evan's mommy.  Each update is is full of despair, hope and unconditional love from a mother who is just wants her baby back.

The family is currently in the stages of working with the medical team at Rainbow to transport Evan to a hospital in Chicago where he can receive the therapy he needs.  A current update shows that he is beginning to make responses with his eyes in response to light.

(Family photo of Evan)

I remember being a "resident parent" of Rainbow all too well because of the time we spent in NICU with Michael when he was just a tiny baby.  The sting of sleepless days and nights, staring at monitors, waiting for the daily doctor's rounds, one day encouraged and the next completely discouraged, a constant knot in your stomach and being in constant overdrive.  I am forever grateful to God and the medical staff at Rainbow that we we "got our baby back".  I also know how expensive it was just for a week and a half to not live at home, and here the Pattisons are going on over a month and a half, ready to embark on a journey to Chicago.  This family is stronger than you can ever imagine.   Having a child with Autism in the first place is a series of one step forward and three steps back and now this.  If you read the updates from Evan's mom, they are never without request for prayer for another family she has met in the hospital going through the same motions.  I cannot wait for the day to read an update that she "got her baby back" too.  

How you can help:

The reason I posted this here on my blog is because I want as many people as possible to be able to read this and not everyone has Facebook.  Through my Scentsy business I finally have the resources available to to a fundraiser for the Pattisons.  I first want to say that 100% of my "profits" through this fundraiser will go to the Pattisons.  This is not a solicitation for my personal gain in any way.  Here is the double whammy:  

Meet Sasha the Bear, Scensty Cause Buddy.  You'll make a child's day when you give Sasha, Scentsy's first Charitable Cause Scentsy Buddy, in support of the mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities® to improve the health and well-being of children all over the world. Scentsy will donate 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of this Buddy directly to the organization.

If you want to be a part of the Pattison Fundraiser, but are not in the market right now for anything Scentsy, her ya go!  Sasha the Bear is $30.00 and Scentsy will donate 100% of net proceeds from each bear to Ronald McDonald House Charities®. 

You can purchase this bear and choose to have her donated to a sweet patient at Rainbow Babies and Children's hospital!  If you would like to do this, please email me with your order so I can arrange it.  In turn, you will have "paid it forward" THREE times!  The proceeds that Scentsy pays me go to the Pattisons; Scentsy's proceeds go to Ronald McDonald, AND a child gets a new best friend!  Sasha is not just a teddy bear, she is a Scentsy Buddy.  Each Buddy has various textures on each part of them and have a pouch in back for a soft Scent Pak.  The best scents if used for a donation for a child at the hospital would be:  Vanilla Cream, French Lavender or Black Raspberry Vanilla.  These would have the best soothing effect, coupled with the textures of a Scentsy Buddy for a child. 

Any purchase in any amount of course will be so appreciated for the Pattisons. Thank you for reading this. 

Overcome...

I had a blog post planned for this evening, but will get to that tomorrow.  Until then, please pray for these heroes and their families.

"Greater gift has no man than this then to lay down his life for his brother." -John 15:13

"The Ogden City Police Department suffered a tragic loss today with the loss of one its own, in addition to five other officers who were severely injured. The Bank of Utah has set up a fund under each of the officer's names for any assistance that the public or anyone else would like to provide. 

 Any Bank of Utah has been set up to assist with this process." Ogden Police Department (via Facebook)

Two-fer!

Tonight, you all get two posts!  If you need a smile right now, here is a little hug package for you:

First, a video:



Then, a new blogger makes her debut:  http://thepinkwiggle.blogspot.com/.
Her mom (also a blogger, and a most precious one at that) is a bloggy friend of mine.
Meet Miki, "The Pink Wiggle".  She bakes, she sews, she dances, and she loves pink.

And finally:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called 
Wonderful Counselor,The mighty God, 
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)

These are the things that are making me oh-so happy tonight.

Time with the baby and other fun

This past week has been busy!  Lots of late nights and early mornings. 
Christmas is almost here and I finally have a handful of presents finished and given to the intended recipients.
Still have a long way to go and am taking it one day at a time.

While Michael is in school, Isaiah and I have had some one on one snuggling and play time.  He has his first teeth and I can see more coming through.  I am trying to get a picture of his new smile, but the little guy is very secretive with his two new pearly whites.  This might take some time!

 We have been to see Santa:

We also had our first ride in the grocery cart sans infant car seat:

The little guy is having so much fun learning about the world we live in!

A few days after our eventful trip to see Santa and shop at Marc's, I needed to pick up some things for gifts that I am making.  I needed spices, and a lot of them.  Have you been shopping lately for kitchen spices?  It is insane how much they want to charge you in the grocery for a tiny little bottle of any given spice!  In keeping with my plight to buy local, I visited the Mediterranean Market in Middleburg Heights.

I love, love, love this store.  Need spices?  Check.  Olive oil?  Check!  Fresh pastries?  Check, check.  The Mediterranean Market has everything, including hot meals made to order.  I cannot believe how much stuff I walked out of there with for the price I paid and the staff is just so friendly.  I have everything that I need to make chai tea kits and some other surprises for over 30 people!  Just thinking about them makes me crave a gyro, ha ha! 

This week has been so hectic and in order to keep awake for everything, I finally tried an iced coffee recipe that I have been dying to make.  Yes.  Iced coffee.  I drink it indoors where it is warm so I do not care that it is December.  The Pioneer Woman said it was delicious so it must be, right?


Right.  It is heaven in a glass. Cheers!  And Merry Christmas!

Merry Monday!

Busy day!  Had the most disorientating conversation with someone at the electric company.  Our meter was read incorrectly, causing the bill to be extremely higher than it should be.  It took some time but was finally resolved.  I officially know how to read an electric meter and will be watching them very closely for now on to make sure that does not happen again!  Finally gathered my projects for Christmas crafts.  Yep, we are almost onto the 13th of December with pretty much no one's gifts bought or made.  We are busy making memories.  Procrastination is just the way we roll, but it will all get done.  I want to share my crafts so badly but I do not want anyone that might be receiving from me to read this!  After Christmas, I will make it up to all of you with tutorials and some giveaways.  I am saving at least one of each Christmas craft and some lucky readers will win them!  In the meantime, if you need Christmas ideas, check out my friend Cheri's blog. 
Good stuff, I tell you. 

Have some cuteness to keep you entertained for now, courtesy of my little loves:

What an interesting box!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I will not nap. 

No I will not.







 
Statistics say that 10% of all people won’t like us, so let’s enjoy the 90% who do and stop worrying about the 10% who don’t! –Joyce (Meyer)

I added her last name in parenthesis because this was a status update from Facebook yesterday from
Joyce Meyer Ministries.  Joyce always has the best advice right when you need it most. 
She has quite the gift of Godly counsel.  Now, I do suspect that the statistic may be higher than 10%, but hey, we all get what she means. 

The problems that this 10% (ish) have might not even be EVERYTHING about you.  It might be the way you speak, how you carry yourself, your parenting methods, etc.  Whatever their hangup might be,
Joyce is so right...let's STOP WORRYING about it!  Life is just too crazy for each of us to spend your time distracted with such things.  Distraction leads to doubt.  Doubt leads to depression. 
These are not things that are of God. 

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. 
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  John 10:10 KJV

Now, I am not telling you that the 10% (ish) are the enemy.  This cannot be true, because we are not all the enemy.  Did you get that?  We have all at one time, either though silent (or not so silent) thoughts criticized someone.  Maybe it was someone dressed oddly that made you hold your purse a little tighter or someone that got too close into your personal space while shopping.  This group of people are not necessarily people you have even encountered more than once in your life.  Have you ever just had a trying week and then that ONE glare, that ONE comment or not-so-subtle giggle from someone across the room just
tipped the iceberg?  

This is where it becomes something bigger.  We take that iceberg and make it something bigger.  We wonder after our children are in bed if we have "done enough".  We look at our home made Christmas gifts and think, "this is a foolish gift".  We set a 15-minute timer to clean up our homes after a day of making memories with our children and think, "Martha would have that ceiling fan dusted and new drapes sewn" while wiping the sweat off of our brow just from making the common areas livable! 

We become distracted.  We suddenly forget the joyful giggles that we received from wearing hampers on our head and running around like lions.  Slobbery kisses and games of peek-a-boo can instantly become a distant memory if you let them.  Your joy can feel miles away if you let it.  The excitement you got from gathering ideas for Christmas gifts on Pinterest and the happiness of the intended receiver can be brushed off as a foolish idea if you let it. 

This is where it is no longer a matter of what another person thinks, but what the enemy wants you to be cheated of.  He sees that this bothers you and runs with it.  This is why we must be careful not to criticize others, if even only in our silent thoughts, because we never know if we might be the tip of someones iceberg. 

You see, it is not even the 90% that we need focus all of our energy on. 
Yes, it is wonderful to have friendship.  God wants us to have each other for fellowship.
What matters in the end is One.  In the end, everything is between you and God. 
Keep your eyes on Jesus and hold fast to His Word.
Enjoy the abundant life He brings. 
This is His birthday gift to you.

Change of Perspective

Well, hello everyone!  It's almost the end of Wednesday and what a week it has been.

 I have been thinking all day about what I would write tonight and man, how my thoughts have evolved!  Also, I do want to apologize that I still am not able to comment back, I have no idea what the problem is.  I do appreciate your comments and am reading them, so thank you!

I spent most of the day with a terrible headache and thinking about the events of last night. 

As I mentioned last week, we had tickets to see Celtic Thunder, Michael's favorite musical group. 

That SO did not go as planned.  It was a huge disaster of sorts, way too many things going on at one time for the poor little guy.  By the time we came home, everyone was exhausted.

 Brian had a huge bump on his eye, among other battle scars, I was emotionally drained and

Michael was sleeping, still clutching the glow stick a kind man gave him to try to calm him down.

Side note:  This is one of those posts where, if you are reading this, I must ask that you please stick with me until the end of it.  I promise, I am going somewhere good with it. 

I must also apologize ahead of time that it might not be the most well-written, as my headache is still plaguing me to no end.

It was terrible.  Just terrible.  What made the experience so bad was watching Michael in such despair and all the terrible comments and glares from onlookers, like we were the worst parents in the world.  I kept my composure all most the whole evening.  When I tried to get Isaiah to go to sleep, he would cry and cry if he was put down. So tired, I laid down with him to snuggle and calm him.  This did not comfort him at all and he started to scream.  Finally, I began to cry.  "God, why won't either of my children let me hold them and comfort them, (a feeling that I'll bet He is not a stranger to)

what is WRONG with me?". 

Then all of the sudden, Isaiah was quiet.  He put his little hand on my cheek and looked at me, sucking away on his pacifier.  He let me hold him.  Then he went to sleep.

The above picture is really from today, but I thought I would sprinkle in some more cuteness :). 

Instead of going on and on about what happened at the theater that night, I want to tell you about promises.

On Monday, I was able to get out for a while with Isaiah because our wonderful friend and respite worker came for Michael.  The weather was not the most pleasant, but I really wanted to get out for a little while.  After bundling up the baby and taking the stroller up to the corner Dunkin Donuts, I decided to purchase a box of k-cups and get a warm drink.  It ended up that I was .98 short.  Instead of accepting plastic to cover the balance, the cashier pulled out a dollar from his pocket and refused to let me cover the drink.  I thanked him, standing there confused for a moment.  Then I sat down and noticed Isaiah sleeping in the stroller.  The top blanket I had on him to protect him from the spraying rain was a little damp, so I carefully removed it from him and fixed his little hat.  I sipped my coffee (gingerbread is awesome!) and reached for my Ipod.  Realizing that I could not do much on it without wireless access, I began to stare off into space for a while and lose myself in my own thoughts. 

The rain was coming down much harder and I began to worry we might get stuck there. 

It was time to go home, but I worried about Isaiah getting wet. 

I took off the fleece pullover I'd worn in lieu of a coat and draped it over him.  Then we left.

We'd made it back to the apartment complex, which is only a five minute walk from where we were.  Just at the apron of the parking lot to the street, a gold van pulls up to us. 

 I heard a woman's voice, but did not really hear what she was saying. 

"Excuse me?", I said.  "Sweater!", as she hands a sweater out of her window to me. 

 "I saw you put your coat on your baby, put this on to keep warm" she said to me.

I took the sweater, and for the second time in half an hour, thanked a complete stranger for their gift to me.  Then I watched her pull into the parking lot, do a u-turn, and exit back onto the road.

She was not even a resident of the complex! 

Fast forward to this evening, as I am dealing with this awful headache and trying my best to care for the boys.  I still felt pretty awful from the events at the concert.  Then, a knock at my door.  Cautiously, I answered it.  I was not expecting anyone and Brian was at work. 

The UPS man was on the other side of the door with two packages for me.

I open the first box and find a full size Scentsy warmer that says "Autism Speaks" on the side of the box.  Three bars were also nestled in the paper:  Pumpkin Marshmallow, Mochadoodle, and Just Breathe.  "Amy, no you didn't!", I thought out loud.  My eyes welled with tears and my heart welled with love.  Michael was already tearing at the second box, which was filled with tons of wonderful books and an envelope of pictures of my wonderful family.  My sister-in-law is wonderfully skilled with the camera and sent pictures from her recent visit with my nieces and mother in law, as well as pictures of everything they have been up to!  Michael's eyes lit up at the sight of all these books and immediately began pulling them out and sitting them on my lap, ready to read each one!

Nothing like ending the evening with your child sitting in a Scentsy box and joy in his eyes as he looks at his new books.  Looking at pictures of your smiling family and beautiful nieces. 

Opening a box of wonderful gifts from a wonderful friend. 

I took that sweater from the closet and put it on, hugging my two babies. 

Oh, how He loves us!

A Day In Pictures (Mostly)

Today was an early day.  Very, very early.  Isaiah did well in his crib...until 4.  We tried ever so quietly to sneak out of the room so that Michael would not wake.  After a change and a bottle, I had a happy baby.

One cup of coffee and a few snuggles later, I hear Michael's talking alphabet toy singing the ABC's.  Start your engines, we are off and running for the day!  Michael likes to start his day with a banana and "Sesame Street".  This morning, he was a little groggy while enjoying his morning routine.  Standing next to Isaiah, he chomps away on one piece of banana and it sort of waving another piece with his other hand in the air.  Isaiah was so intent on grabbing this piece on his first given opportunity.  As Michael stared and waved this delicious looking morsel, Isaiah drooled in anticipation and flapped his hands in an attempt to take a piece.   "BA!  BA!  BAAA!", he would exclaim to Michael, but to his dismay, Michael was always just a centimeter too far for his reach.  It was quite comical.

Finally, he gave up.  I made it up to him with some smashed banana and lots of kisses.

Michael had a bit of a hard morning, so during Isaiah's morning nap, Michael and I watched his favorite YouTube videos and snuggled.  We switch between his favorites:  Sesame Street clips and Celtic Thunder.
I can't wait to post about Celtic Thunder next week, we are taking him to see them live at Playhouse Square!

We always start with this video, and probably watch it about 10 times before moving on, but eventually back to it:

 

By 1 p.m. I was extremely tired and Isaiah did not want to sleep.  My mom came and saved the day while I took a nap.  When I woke, Michael was just getting up and Grandma and baby were having applesauce and playing.  We managed to get the Christmas tree up and my mom organized my pantry for me!  It was a sorry state of affairs before she worked her magic.  Michael was very testy, because of course, Grandma is ONLY there to play with him!  A plastic ladle and serving spoon kept him occupied for a while.

Now, of course, a post would not be a post without a prayer request.  Enter, Evan Pattison:

 Doesn't he have the sweetest face?  This past Tuesday, this sweet little boy has Autism.  He was struck by a car last Tuesday and is in a medical induced coma at our local children's hospital.  PLEASE pray for him.  If you are on Facebook, you can also join the prayer page that was set up for him by a good friend of mine.

Christmas decorating has officially begun here in our cozy apartment.  After much discussion, my husband and I have decided not to use our traditional tree and ornaments.  I know, there are some people saying "Oh, you HAVE to have a tree!" and to that I say, "we do!".  It is just not this huge cone of sparking lights, crinkling tinsel, and tons of shiny ornaments hanging from every limb.  We do not feel it is fair to completely overstimulate Michael with that sort of thing and then tell him "No!" for the next 28 days.  So here is our tree:

 You can only see the top half, because the bottom is barricaded by the couches, to keep our monkey from knocking the whole thing down.  We love it and this is what works for us.  I have begun to see that we should continually find ways to "look outside of the box" and do what is right for OUR family and not care about how others think we should do things.  I can't wait to have Michael help me make sparkling fish that we can hang from the ceiling.  We are going to have fun!  Little Isaiah just likes to take in all the twinkles.  

Michael ended the day on a happy note.  There was a disaster a bit later in the evening that I will not speak of...it was dastardly.  Bedtime for him went pretty smoothly.  Isaiah was not so easy, and I almost had to enlist the emotional support of my good friend to keep me out of the room and try to calm him.  I was strong tonight.  She will be proud :).

Only problem is he woke around 11 and Daddy was home.  I turn my back for one minute and that softy has done this:

He eventually put Isaiah back in the crib, only to go lay in bed "in case he needs us".  Japan can hear that child, I think we would know!  I might just sleep on the couch tonight, just to get some rest!  

He is just so darn cute, though!