4-30-10

Well we got the beds done and in the room. It’s not the ideal floor plan, but this will only be her room until the house remodel. So we will make it work until then. Honestly they have been finished for a while, and she has not slept in her room yet. We wanted to wait until after the sleep study and then with a monitor, and one of us in there if she needs it. So that is nice to check off the list, and we might be able to use the garage to park in again sometime soon.


Well onto the sleep study. We got to Children’s around 7:00 pm and got checked in and read some books and relaxed for about an hour. Then she got her regular nighttime meds, and got all hooked up. There were wires and tubes to check brain waves, oxygen levels, CO2 levels, teeth grinding, snoring, and breathing by way of nose, chest, and stomach. There were also leads down by her feet to see how active she is when she is sleeping. Well, she did not mind getting hooked up. Our technician was great. She was so sweet to Quinn, and so Quinn loved the attention. Jabbering and singing with her. Then we quieted everything down, had her sound machine running and within 20 minutes she was sound asleep. I on the other hand was not. I was listening for everything. Most importantly, I wanted her to have a few of her unusual sounds but nothing out of the norm for her. She does have tone, and sometimes she controls it and is totally quiet, while other times the tone tends to take over due to stress, or something we have yet to discover. So here is hoping and praying they can let us know if there is something we need to do, or keep doing what we are doing. I’ll find out results sometime next week I think. O.K., now that we have the information covered, lets talk about Quinn. I fell asleep around 12:00 and I was told Quinn woke up at 1:00 and gave the technicians and the security guards quite a show. Oh, did I mention they had a camera on her all night, a close up of her face and chest to see how she sleeps and watch her with any noises. Well, as you might know I tend to take lots of pictures of her, and the techs said that for two hours she posed for the camera, tilting her head this way and that, singing, and smiling. Then she got a case of the hic-ups and the techs were laughing still as they told me, she would hic-up and then look around as if, wondering where that came from. The girls said that was the most entertainment they had in a long time. Finally after a few hours Quinn called in reinforcements. I woke up at 3:30 to “mom,mom,mom,mom,mom” So I crawled in with her. She is a smart cookie, and she knew where she was, and also I believe very smart in knowing that blood draws always happen in the morning, so she was doing everything she could think of to keep herself awake. I have not seen her moving herself around so much. Now when I say that, it’s not huge amounts, but it’s getting better and better. She was so funny, as we were now watching her, me next to her and the techs on the camera. Finally at 4:00 the gal from lab came and poked her, and she totally gave me the “I knew it, and that is why I stayed awake look.” Wow, can she get a message across loud and clear now. Well, then we unhooked everything and got ready to go home. Here Quinn did a great job staying awake from 1ish, to 4ish, and then as soon as she was in her car seat going home, she was sound asleep within minutes. Once we got home, she stayed asleep until 9:40, which worked out well because we had therapy at 10:00.

O.K., therapies have been wonderful lately. Our LPS therapist Jen hooked us up with a vest that Quinn can wear for short amounts of time, I guess I would say it’s kind of like a girdle, it will help her hold her core body up easier so she can focus on her head control. We used one like it at Handprints, and she did well there, so we will see how she does with it at home. We also got arm splints to wear when she practices crawling, and wow, they were working great, she was doing great putting pressure on her arms and her legs were going like crazy, half of her was totally crawling. We just need to keep working on those arms now.

Well, she is getting better and better with her arms, because when she was with Staci and Diane, she was moving cards around, and she did three sign language motions. Go, Stop, and More. You can see how hard she works and how hard she wants to do what is asked of her. It makes me so proud of her and so lucky to see her improving. We also talked about how her head control is getting better. We still have a ways to go, but at the same time she has improved so much!

Whew, this has gotten long! We have just been so busy! Wow! I have to admit it’s much more fun writing about her doing well, instead of struggling. I am so thankful for her being healthy because these last few months were trying on many of us.

Blessings!
Susan

4-25-10

Here is one of my favorite outfits on her, and she was in such a good mood, laughing and jabbering and moving around, I had to get a picture of that.

Here are pictures from right before Amanda’s wedding. I think Quinn was extra cute in her fluffy yellow skirt. She was not all that excited to take a picture with mom, look at her pushing away from me.

After we got home she was out like a light, so we finished working on her new big girl bed. Thanks to Lynette, we got it for free. Thanks to John for stripping it, and then I finished it up. I guess I should say, John finished it the first time, but I changed my mind on the color, and so John stripped it again, and then started staining, and I finished it the second time. Thanks Daddy for helping with my bed! Hey, I can change my mind right? Oh talking about Quinn and daddy. I know I recently mentioned how excited I was to have Quinn calling out for me. Well, dad regained his title. The last few nights, as soon as he gets home and scoops her into his arms she melts, and smiles and they sing together. It really is so wonderful that it almost wants to make you throw up, but not quite. They are amazing together.

What a good weekend we have had. We went to Amanda and Shea’s wedding, and Quinn was pretty good. We stayed close to the back incase Quinn wanted to start yelling. I’m starting to think she likes the echo of her voice in big places like church. It’s funny, even in church today I’m shushing her over and over, and here most of the time we are trying with all our might to get her to talk. In church she sings and sings, and past that she is pretty quiet. Hmmm, makes me wonder. She did great at the wedding, even though she loved the stained glass, and when I moved her to my other hip, she fussed and complained, and we got a few glances, but once she could see the windows again she was just fine.

Past that we have been working on Quinn’s new bed. We are almost done with it, which is good, they are delivering mattresses Tuesday. We will have two beds in her room, I’m just not comfortable with her by herself, so if she is having a hard night, one of us can be with her. While other nights she does just great. So that is good. Past that our sleep study is this Wednesday night. We will see what gets figured out there.

4-21-10

Well we had our doctor appointment. We got to Omaha, had a nice lunch with Grandma Martha, did a little window-shopping, then got to the appointment. Normally we are very fortunate and get into all our doctors with in minutes. This was not the case today. We waited in the waiting room and waited just as long in the room where they meet with us. Finally after apologizing for being late we got the meeting started. Hey that happens, and we got to spend some good time together so it was fine. We talked about how surgery on her throat is a big deal, a small surgery for other kids is a big deal for her so this is not a simple thing. He also talked about how her adenoids and tonsils are pretty small and he does not think that is the issue. He went further to state how that surgery could easily lead into a tracheotomy, where she breathes through a tube in her neck. Following that up with how dangerous that is. So after making me nervous and grateful for not wanting to rush into anything. He followed it up with solutions. We are going to do a sleep study to figure out her saturations, (the percentage of the oxygen in her body) when she is quiet and noisy, and when she breathes through her nose and mouth. We are good there, she has always been in the high 90’s (100% is the best) even when she has been in the hospital, so we thank God for that. We are also quite sure when she is making noise, it’s stress related and she is breathing fine through all of it, but we will have a scientific answer after the sleep study. I’m feeling good about this. I don’t want any surgeries unless they are going to make things better. If not, I agree with the doctor that we don’t want to do it. I am also thankful that instead of saying “not now” to the surgery, he is following up with figuring out what is going on, and this is a super safe sleep study that will tell us lots of information.

Well, after the doctor appointment we were going to go to the zoo, but it was closed, so we were going to go to the glass chapel outside of Gretna, but it was also closed, did I mention we waited for a long time. No complaints though! So we walked the Gretna outlet mall. It’s true there has been a recession, about half of the shops are closed, but we ran across a couple of kids clothing store’s and Quinn is now set for summer thanks to my credit card and Grandma Martha. A bit of retail therapy does wonders. We also got her a life jacket for swimming and a backpack for next school year. Granted I’ve already switched everything from her diaper bag over, but it’s nice and it fits everything, and we decided a three year old deserves a backpack over a baby bag.

I once again am reminded how she is three years old and has a very wonderful personality. After John and I left for work, Quinn put on her best act for Grandma Martha and got all pouty and cried for “Mom, mom, mom.” Finally she is letting us know, using her words, what she wants, and I’m one of those choices, not dad! I have to admit that makes me feel good, to have her want me and share her feelings with grandma! You go Quinn! You go Grandma Martha too, for listening to her, calming her down, and distracting her. Quinn - I’m so lucky to have you in my life! I have to say sometimes I want to get all pouty during the day and be with you too!

One more story – Stacie is Quinn’s speech therapist and she is amazing, as I’ve stated before. Quinn is testing boundaries to say the least right now. Yesterday they were playing this game and Stacie was giving Quinn choices on what toys to play with. Quinn wanted this duck and Stacie wanted her to say the word “duck”. Well Quinn just sat there and would not talk. So Stacie said something to the order of – o.k. Quinn, we won’t play with the duck, and set it off to the side. Quinn freaked out and started breathing heavy and squeaking and basically freaked out on her. Well, Stacie told her that they could not play if she acted like that and put the board down and acted like she was cleaning up the game. After a few minutes, Quinn calmed herself down and very nicely said “duck” and they got on with the game. Wow, is she ever 3! She is busy testing us right now. I have had a few conversations with her on her breathing issues, and luckily I feel like I can tell what is what with her, and her therapists agree, so we will just keep talking, and learning, and continue timeouts and stopping games. She is an amazing little girl, and wow, she teaches me so much!

4-17-10

Here Quinn is multi-tasking! Kicking her feet to make that toy vibrate and light up. Eating,being sure to close her eyes when I have the camera by her, but I caught them open once. As well as pusing a hand switch to make the music box play and the dancers dance. She is also ready for the Nebraska Football game, Red White scrimmage. What a good day this is starting out to be.

Well, our last journal showcased how naughty Quinn can be, while this one focuses on the other extreme. Today she almost made me cry twice because of her willpower and amazing strength. Well Martha was watching her today and when I got home to a smiley Quinn, ready to go swimming, I ended up finding out that while Martha was feeding her thickened lemonade, she always puts a second spoon dipped in lemonade in Quinn’s hand. In the past she has gotten her hand up to her mouth, but that is about it. Today 3 times in a row, she not only lifted the spoon up to her mouth with her right hand, but also turned her head to meet her hand and put the spoon in her mouth. The third time Martha had to help her so she would not choke, since she was putting the spoon so far back into her mouth. Yeah Quinn!

The other big excitement was at the pool. Two weeks ago, she did a good job kicking, last week she did a good job moving her arms around more. Today she kicked and kicked, and did a good job using her arms and hands to knock a ball out of my hands with just a tiny bit of help, anyone watching could see she was doing almost all the work, and every time she did it, she got more confident and stronger with each push. She even talked, not to many real words, but that is a start for her with new people. Finally to end the session, she said bye, plain as day, only I was still talking so Michelle could hardly hear her, so I then said can you wave to her? This is a big deal for Quinn, because it takes a lot of muscles to get her arms to move the way she wants them to, but easy as can be, she got her arm up and waved, no question at all as to what she was doing.

Wow! What an amazing little girl!

Well, on another note, I’ve been having some fun figuring out what we want to do for a few other days in Colorado when we do the rafting trip with the National Sorts Center for the Disabled. Well John brought up the natural hot springs, and how that could be so good for both of them. So I’ve been looking into that, they go from extremes of staying in a holistic tepee of sorts to posh luxury. It’s fun looking, but we need to find one that is safe and geared for Quinn. I think I found a couple good places that are not to far off from where we will be for the rafting trip. The strange little coincidence that made me think we really need to do this is right after I found a couple of places, I had take out Chinese, I’m still being pretty good with my diet, this was my splurge for the week, and it was veggie based, but the point is the fortune cookie said “The physician heals, nature makes well.” How crazy is that! Right after looking at the sites of these natural hot springs and how they help heal our bodies. Hmmm! Oh, we have our doctor appointment Monday for Quinn and her adenoids and maybe tonsils. I am nervous about it. Any surgery for Quinn is a big deal, that anesthesia is scary stuff, but at the same time, I know how much it will help her. So I’m praying and asking for more prayers for the correct decisions to be made and Quinn to continue to improve and flourish! Whew, I can tell it’s been a busy week. Kids at school are squirrely, Quinn was all over the board with her behaviors, I’ve got a canker sore the size of Mt. Rushmore in my mouth, well maybe not quite that big, but it sure hurts. I have to say that John is actually doing good right now. So I’m glad to have the weekend to snuggle and cuddle Quinn and get outside for some good walks and fresh air. I know how hard this time of year is for teachers, parents, and kids alike. I also know how hard life is in general. I keep thinking of the saying - Be kinder then necessary, for everyone you meet or speak to is fighting some kind of battle.

So since I am asking for prayers from you I will also send some up for you, some of my kids at school, a few close friends, a few family members who are struggling, and I continue to remind myself how lucky I am to find the silver lining and be grateful for all our days.

Blessing!
Susan

4-15-10

Well, have I mentioned how smart my daughter is lately? She figured out a way to get me to stay home with her, and that is pretty smart. Tuesday night, she started breathing super weird, like a sharp squeaky noise that sounds like she can’t get her breath. I can’t say for certain, but I am quite sure Tuesday night she was messing with her breathing. She had had a great day and did wonderful in her walker, moving around at Virginia’s. She also worked hard at therapy and had a great day over all. Well, now that I think about it, once I got the therapy, she stopped talking to Stacie. So she is three, and is starting to be naughty. Well, back to Tuesday night. She started making this super weird noise. Well I freaked out, which I think scared her and then she freaked out and could not get her breath under control for quite awhile. Not until dad took her outside to sit. He does a great job staying calm and singing. She still would have a few freak out breathing issues, but it was under control enough to make me ok not taking her to the hospital. Well she slept great and only woke up once, then did great again. So Wednesday morning, I got her up and dressed and meds given, and she was calm and doing fine. Honestly I did not mess with her very much, because I wanted her to stay calm. Well I got a call at work around 9:00 to Virginia saying I needed to get home ASAP. I could hear Quinn in the background making that crazy noise again for Virginia and dad. Later I found out, she was fine until she heard the garage door open, and then decided to put on a show for Virginia. I guess she was hoping for a daddy day. Instead she got a trip to the doctor’s office and a large lecture from me. So I got home and heard her freaking out just a little. Well when she saw me, I think she figured out that her plan was messed up. She calmed down right away. I already had a doctor appointment lined up from 20 minutes before that, so we went in and I felt like a big liar. She was breathing fine, not even a sound for the nurse, doctor, or PA. So we did go over a few meds and made a few changes. We talked about how the wind could have triggered a bit of it, or allergies, or a few more of her big teeth coming in a bit more. However we think more of the issue was her being a three year old, and throwing a fit in a way she thought she could control. Then when I freaked out Tuesday night it made it worse. I don’t know why I did. I know that makes it worse, because she is more in tune with peoples emotions then anyone I know. So I know I need to stay calm around her, but I guess she caught me off guard, and I in turn lost it, which lead her to loose it even more.

Well Wednesday after the doctor appointment, I practiced some tough love. I talked to her about when she throws a fit and mom has to take off of school because of her fits, we will not play. Instead she will rest by herself and mom will clean. We will not have fun days due to her being naughty. So she ended up taking a 5-hour nap, which also could have been a factor in her freak out, she was overly tired. She does not want to miss out on anything and will force herself to stay awake and get overly tired. So that was our crazy Tuesday night and Wednesday. She was fine the rest of the day, and I even limited daddy time Wednesday night, to get the point across that she can not play games like that with her breathing, it is to serious and she will have to be more creative in throwing fits. So the challenge is on for her to get more creative then her breathing to be naughty, and hopefully this time I will keep my cool and not let her take control of the situation. Wow, we have such a smart girl on our hands!

4-11-10

Seriously, I get the camera out because I have not taken a single picture of her this week, and both of them pose and look at each other, I’m not sure if they are thinking oh, lets’ pose, or thinking not again with the camera mom! I’m leaning more toward the second one. Notice Quinn’s shirt is riding up! I just went out and got her a couple of shirts that are a 7/8! Wow, that is just crazy! She needs them a little big because of all her wiggling and long torso, but wow, a 7/8!

We have had a busy week. I feel like I have not really had that much time with Quinn. Busy with laundry, cleaning, working… then a nap yesterday and today, due to the fact that I was awake until 4 in the morning reading a book. Here I am getting after my students for acting like its summer and forgetting how to act in school, when I am doing the same thing at home, I guess I better be careful to follow my own advice.

Our big outing for the weekend was going to Southeast High School to help with the Easter Seals weekend. Once a month during the school year a group of folks working with Easter Seals watch kids with special issues and play and play and play with them. I got involved thanks to Chrissy and Annette. It gives their parents a break, and the kids get to have a weekend away. Win, Win for everyone! Well, I learned a lot. First, as to be expected, kids with special needs are just like any other kids. They are on all different levels of functionality, and at the same time, they all have totally different personalities. I did not have time to interact with a few kids while a few of them really touched my heart. I talked to a high school student for a while who I asked, “If Annette was a good teacher?” He replied, “No, she is an awesome teacher.” We also talked about his love for the Dungeon and Dragons games, but he was quick to add in, not the naughty kind, but the Star Wars kind. I really have no idea how the games work, but I knew enough to really get him talking, and that was nice. The experience that made my heart ache was when I was attempting to walk one of the girls to the bathroom, (Southeast is a maze to me, and most of their bathrooms were locked, but that is another story) she saw a bunch of boys standing around that triggered her to tell me a story. Her speech and actions are a bit choppy and I really had to listen to understand what she was saying, but through her actions and words, I easily understood that a group of boys called her a faggot and she knew that was not a good thing. Oh, my heart hurt for her. I wanted to talk to her and help her understand how some people make bad choice and how we have to be stronger then that, but I did not know her well enough to have her be comfortable with me to really try to talk it out. I hope I helped her a little by talking, but I’m really not sure. The most positive thing about the weekend was seeing all the volunteers and leaders working with these kids. They were all young adults, a good mix of men and women in their 20’s and to see them interacting with these kids was amazing. They treated them like kids, no special issues, just kids, and it was wonderful to see. I can learn from them, sometimes I catch myself acting a bit overprotective and cautious around some of my special kids at school, and that is not what they need, they are kids, and all kids have different ways to learn and be successful, but kids are kids, and they are all so precious. So my point is that these young adults are amazing! (I guess I felt like the mother of all of them, when I’m not all that much older then any of them, but I felt very motherly, maybe because they were all right in there with the kids playing and interacting. Yeah!) A group of them took Quinn under wing and I came out to find her flying a kite with a bit of help and blowing bubbles, what a great group! They taught me so much and inspired me to want to get out and volunteer more and give back, because I know how fortunate we are and I always get so much out of every experience.


Oh, talking about being fortunate, we are hoping to go to Winter Park Colorado for a Dreams Unlimited annual river rafting trip with the National Sports Center for the Disabled. We got a personal invitation to go, and they even help cover some of the costs to participate. I am excited to learn a lot through this experience as well. So we will see. Our summer is filling up fast, with me trying to take a class, Quinn’s therapies, volunteering with the Special Olympics, hey if you can volunteer for it, you will get a lot out of it! It takes some time to get registered, so try to get signed up soon!

http://www.2010specialolympics.org/

Oh, Virginia had her first heart ache with Quinn. They went to the Children’s Museum on Friday and a woman who I’m guessing has not been around many kids with special needs came over to her to ask if Quinn was all right. Virginia is amazing and loves Quinn so much and I appreciate her so much for that. I think the two of them taught that woman a lot that day. So thanks Virginia for being willing to take Quinn out and get her out of her chair to play with trains and water and get her involved in the fun, instead of just watching. Again, we know how lucky we are. Quinn is a great teacher with a bit of help! Sometimes I want to hold up at home and not face ignorant people who don’t know any better and call names or act inappropriately. More often then not, we have positive experiences, and almost every time we go out, I get compliments on how beautiful Quinn is. I see that sometimes the person saying that wants to say so much more but doesn’t. So we do have so many positive experiences. Positive and negative experiences both help the teacher side of me come out, and I want to help educate for all of our sake, and help everyone learn and accept each other for all our abilities and disabilities, because we all have a good mix of both of them in many different ways.

Blessings!

Susan

4-4-10

You are my Wish come True
by Marianne Richmond

"Mama," said Barley. "Tell me again how I'm your wish come true."...

"A long time ago," said Mama to Barley, "a wish started growing in my heart. At first, it was a quiet wish that nobody knew. Then it became an out-loud wish that grew and grew and grew. Until one day my wish came true."...

"Why did you wish for me, Mama?" asked Barley...

"Because," explained Mama, "I had an empty place in my heart that I wanted to fill with love for a special child like you. Someone who would be my cuddly little one and I would be his Mama."...

"Did you wish for me all day, Mama?" Barley asked...

"All the time," said Mama softly. "I wished for you with my morning coffee and when I made my bed. I couldn't get my wish for you out from in my head."...

"When I first wished my wish," said Mama to Barley, "...I asked God to think about my wish and to create the child who would be the perfect one for me....Of all the children in the whole wide world, God made you for me."...

"Did you ever think," wondered Barley, "that your wish might not come true?"

"Oh yes..." said Mama, remembering how long the waiting seemed sometimes..."

"Did you imagine me to look exactly like I do?" asked Barley.

"You, Barley, are more beautiful than I ever dreamed." said Mama...

"What did you do when you first held me?" asked Barley...

..."I fell deeply in love with you. I looked into your sweet face, and right then, you became my wish come true."...

My entry –

There are a few blogs I’ve come across that touch my heart and feed my soul. I’ve totally stolen parts of what they have written because I read it and think how they totally understand what I’m going though and understand how it can be difficult, yet the most wonderful gift in the world to have a child who has special needs. I appreciate finding those other families like ours who can totally understand what I’m going though because they are too. They are also finding the positive and amazing moments with their special kids, just like I am trying to. Well, they mentioned this book, and it got to my heart. This book is a book everyone should want and have in their home. I ordered mine and got it the other day. I love it. So thanks for the info on the great book

I think back to 5 or 6 years ago when I did not know what was going to happen with my life, and back even farther to 7 or 8 years ago, when I did not know if I would ever get pregnant. It’s a horrible feeling when you want something like that so badly and go through tests and surgeries and try all kinds of things to help get pregnant. All in all, I believe the entire experience is what made me the person I am now, and has given me perspective on how lucky I am. I believe even with everything that has happened with Quinn, she is my wish come true. I believe that God works in mysterious ways, and I can be the first to say I don’t understand why things happen the way they do, I do however know that we can handle what is handed us. It might be hard some days, but we can handle it. Then when we get those good days, they sparkle and shine, and we can feel honored and blessed to have them. I love Quinn with all my heart, and I’m so thankful for her. I’m thankful for the other afternoon with her, where Virginia handed her over to me and she had this huge smile and started laughing and laughing. I have not idea what it was about, be it she saw me, or felt the warm sun on her face, but that laugh is better then anything. It makes my heart dance. She is my blessing and I do love her sweet face, and she is my wish come true. I don’t know what the future holds, but I am so blessed to be able to hold Quinn. She is my wish come true!

Oh, we started water therapy! I did not think it would happen for a while, but things changed around and we are now in water therapy! Yeah!

Here is Michelle Wiggins and Quinn at her first water therapy appointment at Madonna. Did you know Larry the Cable Guy donated over a million dollars to Madonna to help with therapy and care for kids like Quinn that are there. So thanks from our family, who will get to use some of the things that money will buy. That is such a big deal.

I got a call the other day saying there was an opening at 4:45 on Fridays for therapy! Horay! That works perfect for us! So we had our first therapy session. It was great. Quinn went from loving it, and kicking and smiling, to seeing Michelle and remembering how she does not like to show off for anyone new, and spitting and sputtering. So I think as we get into this more and more, I will learn so many techniques on what to do, as well as finding and working on new ways to help Quinn keep improving.

Oh, after therapy we went shopping to find a nice big bag to carry our swim stuff around, so we went to TJ Max and had another 1st experience. We had just found the perfect bag, and were walking out of the bag section when a lovely woman who I did not know, looked at Quinn and said “Is that Quinn?” I, a bit taken aback, said, “yes, this is Quinn”, She went on to introduce herself as one of my wonderful student teachers mother, and she reads this blog about Quinn, so thanks again to all of you for reading. That was a pretty wonderful and humbling experience. I know how blessed I am to have her. I blog for myself to get my emotions out, I also blog to ask for prayers for continued improvement and to share our joyous small miracles, as well as hoping to educate a bit. I grew up in a small town and was not around many special needs kids. My mom did a great job with Deb who was mentally challenged, she was a young adult and I started to see that we all make a difference, but that was really my only experience. So I hope this does bring joy and inspiration to others, at the same time, I am happy to share how amazing Quinn is. As I think about it, Friday Quinn, Grandma Martha, and I went to the Friday service at St. Paul. Part of the service was where we picked up rocks and then later in the service, we put all our burdens into the rock and placed it at the foot of the cross, it was a symbolic physical action to release our burdens. Quinn’s journal is like that for me, it’s a place where I can share joys and concerns, and once I get it out and onto the computer, I feel like I can release that emotion from my body. So I guess I get so very much out of this, and then knowing that a few of you are hopefully getting something out of this also, that just makes it better yet. So thank you. Thank you for reading, praying, and sharing in our experiences. This is a pretty powerful tool.


Finally here is Quinn in her Easter dress after church. We had a good morning, she got a few things from the Easter Bunny and Grandma and Grandpa, and she grinned and giggled and loved every bit of it. She loved all the music at church, and finally loved the orange that she sucked on at Cracker Barrel for lunch after church. Now she is snuggled into dad’s chest for a midday nap. What a great day.

Blessing and thanks to each of you!

Susan