OH, what a fun afternoon! I mentioned how Quinn got to go to the sweetest birthday party last weekend! I think this picture is worth a thousand words, and I'm so grateful for it!

Quinn is loving her dynovox, and continues to find things that I did not know were there. School is going well, I feel like we have a great team, a big team, but a great team. We are figuring things out, and I appreciate all the love that everyone is sharing with us, even while figuring things out, and what works and what does not work. Quinn got to go to a birthday party on Saturday, and it was so fun, it was at Art Planet, and most of the kids there, were from Quinn's special needs dance class. I have to say, I love educating folks on how to talk to Quinn, but it was so nice to be there, as so many folks were talking to Quinn, and had no reservations, and just poured out the love to her, that was such a fun afternoon! Finally we had a new group of kids over to our house for the weekend, and they were great kids. Again, they wanted to learn about Quinn, and loved talking to John about football and wrestling. I started out wanting to do foster care to help out all these kids, but so far, I'm learning so much more from them. We have amazing kids coming to spend the weekends with us, and Quinn is loving being with them.

Oh boy, Quinn keeps figuring out her dynovox more and more, this afternoon when she got off the bus, she started saying, Grandma Vicki over and over, and so we called her, and Quinn was happy as can be. Then after getting off the phone, Quinn found her read me a story button, and we read a lot of books, because after I would finish one, Quinn would click it again, and again, and again, so finally I said dynovox time is over, let's snuggle! Oh, I am loving how she is can communicate so much more! I love it! Oh, and to top it off, we now have a night nurse two times a week, and I'm finding out that she is going to be our Nurse Mary Poppins! This morning I woke up to find Quinn's meds done, and all the things that normally take me a good little while to get ready were done. Oh, I was feeling a little guilty having a nurse, but I'm quickly changing my mind! Thank goodness for Nurse Melissa! We are loving her already! Finally, start saying a prayer or two for us, as we continue to dive into this foster care thing! God has a plan for us, and we are simply trying to figure out what that plan is. So far we have had great experiences, and simply want to do what is best for our family and what ever kids we get, but it's fun and exciting and a bit overwhelming all at the same time! Oh we are blessed and look forward to the future!

What a wonderful weekend! Sometimes getting away from the everyday is great for all of us. This weekend was our first foster care experience. I can't talk about kids by name or share pictures, due to keeping everyone safe and respected. I can however share that we had a great weekend. No negativity, no rushing here and there, just playing and having fun. The kids showed up Friday night. There were three of them, the oldest one was drawn to Quinn. He did great talking to her and waiting for her to answer, and if she did not answer in a matter of seconds, he asked again, not answering was not an option! The littler girls were all about Quinn by the time Sunday rolled around. We watched movies, went for walks, had an ice cream sunday party. Before bed we talked about things we were grateful for, read books, and relaxed. Quinn loved having them here, John was wonderful. The little girls especially were all over him, an example is anytime he would sit down they would be on his lap or right by his side. Getting the opportunity to share our positive experiences with them, giving them time to just be kids, sharing Quinn and how to talk to her or play with her, we just had a lovely time with all these kids. I think John mentioned the only negative, and that was that he did more dishes over the weekend then he has ever done before! If that was the only negative, that shows just how wonderful the weekend was. So now it is back to real life, they are back with their foster family, Quinn and I were back in school, and John was at work. I made more calls this afternoon then I would prefer, calling about medical bills for this and that, as well, as calling a few doctor offices, and now it is off to work on the checkbook and pay a few more bills. Oh how life is busy, and I'll make as many calls as I need to, to have Quinn healthy and happy and in our lives. It sure is nice to have a day or two here or there where we can just play. Oh what a wonderful weekend we had.

Quinn has her first day of Kindergarten under her belt. It has been a very busy few days for us. Getting all her stuff in line, writing endlessly about her and her supplies, so things can run smoothly. We met a number of folks at Maxey and introduced Quinn or reintroduced Quinn. Quinn was amazing at the meeting. She was quiet and after awhile she started talking on her Dynovox, saying I want to hear a story, and listing all of the stories she wanted to hear. On her first day of school she did a good job introducing herself to people through her dynovox. I heard a few stories about it, one being she went up to one of the para's and clicked, hello, then, My name is Quinn, then, I like to play with dolls. I love it that she is getting so good at the dynovox! The second day was not quite as great! There must of been the second day blues or something, as she kept asking for her family! Oh that makes me sad for her. She is so sensitive and sweet and gets so much more then folks might thing, and I pray that they take as good of care of her as I do, and love her just a pinch as much as I do. She is an amazing little girl and I would love to hide her away at times, so she would not feel upset or sad, but we are better then that. We are going to educate folks, we are going to share experiences, let everyone see that just because you have wheels, you are not all that different! Oh, on another note, I always share a bit about me with my kids at my school, and one slide that I show them is Quinn in her new fancy wheels, and I take 6 seconds to mention how she has new wheels to get her into Kindergarten, and how fancy they are. I tend to have one or two kids in most of the classes say, wow that's so cool, that's not fair, I want a chair like that! Oh it makes me smile! The innocents of children! If only we could all keep that sweet innocents that children have, as adults, the world would be so much better! Ok, back to Quinn, after school we also made it to therapy, and I though she would be pooped and not do great, but I was wrong, she did amazing, walking, talking, working so hard! So I know all this therapy, school, and getting Quinn out and about is so good for her, she is going to love Kindergarten, and I'm going to have a girl that just keeps getting smarter and smarter! Finally on another note, we get our first foster kids respite time this weekend with 3 kids. I wish I could share pictures and all, but that is not allowed, but I am sure I will have stories to share. We are excited to start this new chapter in our lives! Quinn keeps saying she wants a brother, but we shall see. Blessings, Susan Oh and a big thanks to Chrissy for taking pictures. Also a big thanks to grandma and grandpa Nelson for watching Quinn on her early out school days.

What a fun weekend we had.  Quinn got very lucky and had Nadean come over in the morning, and we found out that Nadean does get to be our school nurse for part of the week.  We are so thankful for that.  They know each other, and I'm not totally sure who loves the other more, and I could not ask for more!  It makes me feel so good sending them both off to school tomorrow.  Then the evening brought Chrissy over, and she brought Quinn another sweet present, and she wrote the most lovely card to Quinn, and as she read it, I had to fight back the tears.  That is another relationship Quinn has that makes her such an amazing little girl!  I've said so many wonderful things about Chrissy over the years, and I feel like I have hardly scratched the surface of how amazing she is.  I still say that I am a better parent to Quinn because of what Chrissy has taught Quinn, but more of what she has taught me.  I simply can not thank her enough!  These pictures show what she brings out in Quinn.  Look at this personality.  Quinn comes to life, is animated and so excited when every she is around Chrissy!

I also have to give a big thank you to both of Quinn's Grandma's! They both helped us out a lot this last week, as I was working at school, and Quinn was being entertained and loved on, and spoiled rotten! I can't say it enough, life is good, and I am so thankful.

We had a fun last week of summer before Kindergarten starts next week.  I have been back at school getting my art room ready and learning all kinds of new information.  Quinn on the other hand has been busy hanging out with Grandma Martha and Grandma Vicki.  She is playing and working hard on driving her powerchair.  She is doing so much better then she was a week ago.  She still has a ways to go, but she is making great progress.  She has driven through a few doorways, and is more comfortable driving outside, and is a bit worried about driving inside right now.
We went to the county fair, and she did all the driving, of her chair that is.  I would need to put my hand on her arm to help her make turns, or do hand over hand at times.  We got lots of comments on her chair, commenting on how cool it is.  That was fun. 
The sweetest story from the fair was that we were walking through the carnival and stopped at the food booth, as we needed a corn dog, and this sweet little girl with this big pink bear, came up to Quinn and us, and asked if she could give Quinn her bear.  We (grandma and I) asked if she was sure, and if it was ok with her parent, and it was, so I had a wonderful teachable moment.  I love these moments.  So I showed her how to talk to Quinn and ask if she wanted it, and told her how kind it was, and gave her as many warm fuzzies as she gave us.  Life is so good, and there are so many folks that give out the warm fuzzies of life.  We hear about so many cold prickles of life, but I can report that the warm fuzzies are there, and I'm so fortunate to be able to share those moments more often then not.
Blessing!

Oh, on a personal note, we had our school open house last night, and I am so ready to start teaching again, seeing these kids come in with excitement and joy.  OH, it was great to see them, and it gave me that final push I needed to be ready to get started.

Susan

Wow, we have been busy.  Dad and Grandma watched Quinn over the weekend while I went to my “10” year reunion.:)  Well, I’ll fib about that for now.  They did great, and I actually had a good time.  I still say some of my dearest friends are from High School.  It’s so nice to have forever friends that know all your secrets from 4^th grade.

Past that, let’s get to Quinn.  We have been working on her chair, and weird enough I’m as tired as she is when it comes to working on her chair.  In fact, I messed things up today.  I was waiting until the last minute to drive to a doctor appointment in Omaha, as Quinn was sleeping, and I messed up the times and we both fell asleep and we missed the appointment!  Oops! 

Getting to the best part!  My amazing daughter is loving her chair, and Tuesday she got her hand on and off of her joystick all by herself!  That is such a big deal, as there are only a few things she really likes to hold onto or reach out and pick up, like her duck, and she does like to hold hands, but past that she does not tend to reach out and pick many other things up.  Well, she was driving, and rather then wait for us, Chrissy and I to help her pick her hand up and move it onto her joystick, she did it all on her own!  It was amazing!  Amazing I tell you!  She is going to be an amazing driver, I just know it!  Being able to be in control of yourself, what is better then that!  Finally she can control what she will be doing.  I still just can’t believe what a big deal this chair is.  We are so thankful for her having enough control to be able to do this.  So thankful!  As well as being so thankful for therapists who have faith in her and help her be successful!  Yup, I feel like a broken record, but we are so lucky!