Pun'kin Carving

Our first run at pun'kin carving!  The last few years we've just painted our pun'kins, but we went all out this year. It's a tough concept to describe ahead of time, but he figured it out.  He was the master artist, my job was to execute...

He had a bit of a Picasso theme going, so I had to improvise.

It took some coaxing to get him to touch the inside of the pun'kin--I should have seen that sensory overload coming--but he did it with a spoon! And in classic boy style, it was to scoop out the eyeball that had just fallen in side. *eyeroll*

My favorite is the little one---we grew that in the garden ourselves!!  And was the final product in Isaac's pumpkin life cycle project we've been working on since spring! 

It took us exactly 27 times of lighting the candles because SOMEONE kept singing happy birthday and blowing them out!  But once it was dark....lots of 'wow!'s and smiles came from that same someone. :)

Pun'kin Patch 2017

Fall has been particularly kind to us this year. The colors on our side of the mountains have been spectacular!

We took advantage of a day off school to enjoy the pun'kin patch in the valley still steeped with morning fog:

Eeekkkk--this sweatshirt!

Mom, I found one!

Um...that one might be a bit too big, buddy. 

Pun'kin Chucking---you all, the sequel that escaped from his little body when he got to chuck pun'kins!  PRICELESS.  I so wish I could have caught it all on film but I ran out of hands (he forgot to let go and almost got chucked himself along with the pun'kins!)

Sorting through the more reasonable sized pun'kins:

He sang the 5 Little Pumpkins the way home--I think he ended up with a pretty good collection for himself this year!  Now...for our first pumpkin CARVING!

My not so little pun'kin

Date to Aladdin

I introduced Isaac to the movie "Aladdin" about 9 months ago---it changed his life! It took me weeks to figure out that when he would stand in front of the TV with his mouth wide open and eye glaring downward that he was being the ominous CAVE OF WONDERS (echo-echo-echo)/ Sword fighting, running with food, a monkey....it's basically the best movie ever.   When I heard that the Broadway production of "Aladdin" was coming to town, I knew it was going to be a perfect Momma-Isaac date. 

Catching up on the plot line details on the way to the show:

I don't thing he really understood what going to "see the REAL Aladdin" meant, until we turned the corner to the theater and he saw the sign; his eyeballs nearly came out of his head and there was NO stopping him from proudly holding his ticket and getting seated.  "Hey Isaac, let's take a picture."  "NO! Aladdin! Go!"

His little body still gets gobbled up in theater seats, which means the best seat in the house is Momma's lap.

Oh, my goodness---he got to touch the lamp! 

He was out of his mind excited and it thrilled my heart to know I got to give him this experience. He'll 'talk' about it for days and I hope this will be a memory that he files away in the Favorites Folder.  Twenty years from now it will thrill me again to hear him say "hey Mom, remember that time we went to Aladdin?"

Weekend Chores

I knew raising a son would involve sports and cars and monsters and wrestling and belching. All of which Isaac seems to understand well.  But very early on I set my mind on making sure this boy of mine could manage himself in the house, with or without an extra chromosome...I will proudly be your mother, I will not be your maid.  Those are two very different things.  

Isaac does well in the kitchen. He can make his own toast, nachos and Popsicles (three course meal!). He "loads" the dishwasher and puts away the Tupperware. He also proudly sets the table and makes sure every setting has a napkin.  He has been folding laundry (towels, shirts and socks) for a while now, but I've upped the game to doing a basket of laundry from start to finish. So every Saturday morning he is in charge of taking the basket of laundry from his bathroom, putting it into the wash, setting the machine and pushing the button.  When it beeps, he gets to stop whatever he is doing and transfer the clothes over to the dryer and set the timer.  When the dryer beeps, he gets to put the dry clothes in the basket, help fold the clothes and put them away.  It's a multiple step process that gets broken up into little steps which is perfect for us.   I want him to understand that: 1. there are family chores that need to be done; and 2. he has every capability of doing those chores, even at 6 years old & with an extra chromosome; and most importantly, 3. chores don't have to be work. Turn on the music loud and lets have some fun!  Diligent hands and a happy heart gets a lot well done. 

His wife will thank me later!

Lifeguards in the Desert

Getting to share a bit over at Village21:

The adoption journey is fraught with hoops, hurdles, speed bumps and honest to goodness battles. Sometimes they are struggles in advocating that require your full emotional and physical presence. Frequently they are medical fights that drain your very soul as you stand strong for your sweet & fragile child. More often than not, it is the spiritual battles that drive you to your knees weak and emotionally beat-up interceding for the heart of a young one that has known nothing but pain & rejection. Rarely can you see the next attack approaching on the horizon as it has a nasty habit of broad-siding you and yours while quietly recovering from the last spiritual bloodshed. It can seriously feel like being caught in the surf; wave after wave of conflict with little opportunity to come up for air.  But the true tragedy is believing the lie that you are fighting the war alone; that there is is no lifeguard keeping watch.

The New Testament is full of beautiful exhortations of carrying each others burdens (Gal 6:2), caring for others before yourself (Phil 2:4), and being unified in Christ (Eph 4:4). My favorite visual of spiritual life-guarding however is from deep in the Old Testament:

“...So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill.  As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage.  Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset.  As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.” (Exodus 17: 10-13)

This is what I see in the lifeguards our Lord provided to Moses in the desert:

• They were so engaged in God’s work through Moses, they climbed the mountain alongside him to prepare for his warfare. It's wasn't their battle, but they were going anyway.
• They were acutely aware of Moses’s strengths & weaknesses so that when he became emotionally overwhelmed and physically exhausted they could immediately intervene. They KNEW Moses; they had a deep enough relationship with him they understood the core of who he was.

• They were sweating in the heat of Moses’s battle providing direct support. None of this 'call me if you need anything' nonsense. Aaron & Hur were RIGHT THERE with him providing practical & spiritual care. 
• They remained fully involved in supporting their friend until the sun had set and the battle had been won. They gave their 101% as their ministry and gift to Moses & the Lord.

This feels powerful. And significantly beyond the social norm of our American culture. To be so intimately and healthily connected with a brother or sister in Christ outside of your immediate family can feel uncomfortable and strange. But the impact!  The spiritual impact of the Family of the Lord coming together to diligently guard, defend and rescue each other through the storms...that is a total game changer in the adoption journey.

Let me quietly point out, what made it possible for Moses’s lifeguards to do their job successfully was Moses’s humble and willing acceptance of the ministry of his friends. There are two lies whispered by the Enemy: 1. There is no help when we need it; 2. We don’t need the help that is available.  Let us not believe either! And stand BOLDLY with our adoption lifeguards to fight the battles required to win our children’s heart for the Lord!

First Week of School

We've finished our first week of Kindergarten 2.0!  After a good experience with general education inclusion last year, I decided to take advantage of the LACK of educational gap between Isaac and his peers and let him be King of the Kindergarten this school year while we focus on communication strategies and working out the balance of general education inclusion vs. special education. It's been a process that's involved moving schools and starting from scratch and trusting the Lord to guide me in very unfamiliar territory. Finding your child's educational success sweet spot within the unique framework of communication delay, down syndrome and attachment issues is a battle--fighting for equity within the education system often feels like a full time job. Thankfully, Isaac enjoys learning (when he thinks it's his idea!) and is emotionally prime for academics: his favorite letter right now is R--I've found it written about 2,000 times on various pieces of paper around the house. *wink* 

It's going to be a good year!  Full of growth, new learning, partnership, some failures and A LOT of successes!  

Reading his own sign. We've been practicing hard over the summer!

Like last year, I got to spend some time with Isaac and his new classmates during jump start. It was good to see him in the environment that he'll spend his time away from home. Although this is a new school, teachers & routine, he figured things out pretty quickly. The benefit of a 2.0 year is having the foundational skills like gluing and cutting DOWN.

His new teacher is quickly learning sign language and integrating it into the class so all of his new friends can understand my little boy. We are blessed to have a special education support that is fluent in ASL. Yeah for hand talking!

Final Weekend of Summer (Going to the Fair)

It's the final weekend before school starts. It's been a GOOD summer. Lots of road trip adventures, hikes, beaches, pool time, airplane rides and friends. My decreased work schedule this year has given us lots of opportunities to just be at home too---it's been good.

We spent our last weekday at the Washington State Fair with Isaac's auntie & cousins. He loves even the mention of them so spending an entire day together fed his heart deeply. 

My adventure seeking son is a roller coaster boy. His mother is not...but she'll do just about anything to see her boy smile...so:

I had a headache for 14 hours afterwards, but he'll never know. He got to sit in the front of the kiddy roller coaster and raise his hands and hoot & holler with his mom at the Fair. That's a pretty solid memory to have for a little boy. 

My must-do this year was an exhibit on the history Camp Harmony--the Japanese Internment Camp that had been on the site of very fairgrounds we were walking around. Sadly, I personally know people that were interned here when it happened. This ugly piece of US history happened just 3 miles from my house--the house that I am raising my immigrant Asian son. Those last four words deeply impacted how I took in his exhibit:

 A replica of one of the barracks---a barely converted horse stall:

Isaac participating in the exhibit--making his own straw pillow then taking it to lay on a straw bed in one of the barracks.  He said it the bed was 'owie'. It sure was buddy. It sure was. 

Riding the gondola:

  Fair food!

The Fair was a good way to end our summer. The rest of this weekend will be lunch boxes and back packs and freezer meals and going to be early for Monday morning comes quickly...