Back to School!

Yesterday was the first (half) day of school. Ethan is now in middle school and his bus leaves at 7 a.m. so it was an early morning for us. Fortunately Ethan is a cheerful morning person. He was very excited about his new school, and his day went well, except for a bloody nose. But he said people were nice to him about it so it wasn't too bad (at least he didn't throw up!) Anyway he has a nice homeroom teacher and said his other teachers seemed fine as well. None of his close friends are in his classes, but there are kids he knows, and he makes new friends pretty easily. Also one of his friends is on his bus, so that's great.
Noah was so excited about school that he ran out the door 45 minutes before his bus came and I had to drag him back inside. He also wore a jacket, even though it was plenty warm outside. He wanted to wear gloves as well, but I put my foot down. He was so happy to see his bus driver and when he got home he said he'd had a great day. I'll be going in to talk to his teacher later and make sure we're all on the same page. There are only 7 kids in his class, and his best friends Jacob and Vanessa and Leah are all in it, so Noah just couldn't be more thrilled to be at school!
And I'm pretty happy about it too!

Nice Weekend

Kyle flew in to visit this weekend! Actually we asked him to come and babysit for us on Saturday, there was a High Priest Group party that we had to go to, and since there was a stake dance that night there were no available babysitters. Great excuse to have one of my favorite brothers come to stay. He got here Friday afternoon and we immediately pulled out some board games and started playing. Noah was so excited to see his "Unky." Noah had camp all last week, going to farms in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. His buddy Vanessa was at the same camp, so he loved it. Anyway on Saturday morning Scott and Kyle and the boys went swimming at the gym, and then in the afternoon Kyle watched the kids while Scott and I went to our party. A member of the ward has a huge, beautiful house on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and every year we have our HP activity there, dinner at the house and then dessert on a boat as we cruise around the lake. It was so fun!
This morning we had a special fast for Aidan. I was so proud of Ethan, he didn't even hesitate about joining in. We've been praying for the Daws ever since we learned of Aidan's problem. Instead of regular church we had a special stake meeting with Richard G. Scott as the main speaker. The stake center was just crammed with people, all of the big classrooms were full, as well as the chapel and cultural hall. We ended up sitting on the stage. Ethan's favorite part was advice from Elder Scott: "If you want to wake up with a smile, go to sleep with a coat hanger in your mouth!"
After the meeting we had a brief picnic lunch and then took Kyle to the airport. I wish he could have stayed longer, but it sure was fun to see him!

Sign the Petition

Many of you might be aware of the controversy surrounding the movie "Tropic Thunder." In the movie the characters make fun of people with special needs and use the "r word." Since no one I know would go see the movie I hadn't really thought about getting involved, but then I heard that they're selling shirts on e-bay with lines from the movie that use the r word. That did it. There's a petition you can sign, by going to ipetitions.com and clicking on the Tropic Thunder petition. The text for the petition is a letter written by the mother of a child with Down syndrome, very moving. I hate the thought of Noah someday understanding how cruel people can be.

Dancing Videos

Here are a couple of videos of Noah dancing. You can see why the kids love Miss Lisa! Check out Noah hitching up his shorts!

The F.I.N.D.S. Picnic

Last night was the annual summer picnic for the Family Ideas Network for Down Syndrome group (of which I've been president since December). So this was the first big event I was in charge of. It wasn't too bad, all I had to do was follow what we'd done in the past, and everyone had a great time! We had about 100 people there, half adults and half kids. We started out with games and face painting. A couple of young women from my ward helped out with the games. They were simple, like beanbag throws and a duck pond. I also had the kids pick up ten pieces of garbage to get a prize (in the past we've had scavenger hunts, but this was easier and more earth-friendly). The face painters were great, Noah had a zebra on one arm, and an elephant on his other arm, his head, and his tummy! Noah's two best buddies, Leah and Vanessa, were there and the three of them played together all night. They haven't seen eachother much over the summer, so it was a joyful reunion for them! We had a huge buffet dinner with sub sandwiches and then appetizers and desserts that everyone brought. After dinner we had door prizes (we won a croquet set, I'm excited to try it out!) and then dancing and music. Our DJ was Lisa Gomez, she's done parties for us several times in the past and the kids just love her. She plays fun songs like "the Silly Dance Contest" and the chicken dance and the kids just go nuts. Noah danced the entire hour. I wish I had a better camera but I did get a few good pictures and I'll try to load the video as well.

They're Back!

Ethan and Scott are back from a fun trip out West to visit our friends John and Cynthia Fulmer. The Fulmers are building a house in Sand Point, Idaho, which is near Coeur D'Alene (above the "spud line"). Noah and I were invited as well, but Noah has not been easy to travel with lately, and we decided to not risk it. So he and I stayed here and he went to camp (his 3rd year doing day camp with the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association), and I cleaned the basement. Not as much fun as Scott and Ethan had tubing and boating and eating pie in Idaho. They did get stuck out there for an extra day, due to some fierce thunderstorms here in Chicago, and didn't get home until this afternoon. Boy was I glad to see them! When we picked Noah up from camp he said, "Ethan, you back! Oh, so much," which I think meant Oh I love you so much. It was really sweet. And when Scott got home from work tonight Noah was practically doing backflips from excitement. I sure do love my boys!

Adoption Woes

We've been working on adopting a baby for about a year and a half now. We tried China first, then Taiwan, and settled on Vietnam. About 6 months ago Vietnam closed and we decided to stick with our same agency and do a domestic adoption. We just got word today that our agency is closing down and filing for bankruptcy. Those who have gone through the adoption process know the hours and hours of paperwork, home studies, doctor's appointments, fingerprinting, etc. that we've had to go through. Now another bump in the road. Our caseworker said she'd do her best to help us to transition to another agency, but of course there is going to be new paperwork and we are going to end up shelling out a lot more money (and the several thousand dollars we put into our old agency is gone for good.) Sigh . . . Well we know this is the right thing for us to do, and anything too easy wouldn't be worth it, right? We'll keep you all updated. I'm sure at some point things will work out.

I Love My Calling!

For those of you who might not know, I'm the secretary for the Young Women at church. I have really enjoyed getting to know the girls, it's been a long time since I worked with them. I also have a great presidency I work with, we have a lot of fun at our meetings. Well this morning one of the little beehives brought me a birthday present, a bag of candy and some lotion, along with a sweet card thanking me for the monthly calendars I make and wishing me a happy day. Earlier that week I'd gotten a card from her mother, so the apple didn't fall far from that tree! Oh I hope I can teach being that thoughtful and kind to my children. I was moved almost to tears from that sweet girl's gift. I love the new Beehives (12 year olds) because they are so enthusiastic. The older girls get a little bored sometimes, but never the young ones. A couple of the girls are helping out with the Down syndrome picnic which is next week. I know that not only will they be a big help, but they'll also be great representatives of the church. Anyway I hope I can be as much of a help to these girls as they are to me!!