School Party

November 25, 2008

School Party

Wavey's teacher just sent me these photos from Wavey's birthday party last week. I LOVE the first photo. She looks so happy. I brought Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cupcakes for her class.

Comments

Traci said…

Happy Birthday Waverly! Shannon--I don't know if you remember me or not, but I went to Taylor and lived on 3WO with you. I've been following your blog and praying for your family. Your courage and strength and honesty have been amazing. I just thought I'd post a quick note and say hello. I have a little boy who just turned 5 in September (and another boy who is 2), and I know how special birthdays are. Thanks for your blog and God bless you guys!
Traci (Baker) Noble

November 25, 2008 at 2:50 PM

Pamela @ Frugal Vet Tech said…

Waverly does look happy in that first picture! She's beautiful!

November 26, 2008 at 10:27 PM

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.