Waiting...

January 27, 2008

Waiting...

This has been a long week for the family. It was Wavey's first full week of school - she did great and really likes it. We are so proud of her. Matt had a speech Friday morning at a women's organization. He wrote a great speech on the women's suffrage movement. This weekend Oliver was still sick. Today Matt took Waverly to the Natural History Museum for some Daddy/Daughter bonding. Wavey especially loved the "baby elephant". We have been preoccupied waiting for some test results for Waverly. This has kept us busy. I hate waiting!

Comments

Matty McFatty said…

According to one exhibit at the museum, an adult elephant is 177 times the size of Waverly. Now you don't have to wonder about that any more.

January 28, 2008 at 4:54 PM

nAt said…

umm..those would not have been real elephants, right? from the picture it looks as if they are real and therefore im a little concerned about Waverly's safety... however im thinking they are just made to look real as you were at a history museum and not a zoo...just checking:)

January 28, 2008 at 11:11 PM

piqua said…

hi everybody. What lovely elephants behind Waverly. She is very brave to stand in front of them.

January 29, 2008 at 5:25 PM

Anonymous said…

Oh Shannon! She looks adorable! Praying with you my friend!

January 30, 2008 at 9:08 PM

Laura said…

We're all praying for you guys.
So glad that these days are peppered with fun and grace, even if they are rough, rough, rough.

February 1, 2008 at 4:04 AM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.