Horse Lessons part 2...

Since my last post about our great new horse lessons, I have some new pics for ya.  

And I have to brag on my boy…a few weeks ago he started letting the sidewalkers let go of him so he can ride on his own, that’s HUGE.  He also has started working with the reins again, even when no one is holding onto him!

Ms. Joy and her compadres are working wonders with J, we are so blessed.

J's 12th Birthday!!

My boy turned 12 this month…sniff sniff :~(.  Well, it’s not exactly a sad time, but it’s bittersweet.  He woke up wondering if his voice had changed…and after several attempts at recording it on his iTouch, he decided it has dropped just a bit, ha! 

We took on the whole “sleep-over”…uh-hum…I mean “Boys Night Out” (because “sleep-over” is just too girlie apparently) this year and it was a huge success!  J invited 5 of his friends for a Star Wars themed party.  

 After a quick pizza dinner, two great cakes (yea, ok, I didn’t go all out as usual…I am SO grateful for action figures, lol!) he couldn’t wait to open his gifts.  

And while I had them all captive at the table, they made pretzyl lightsabers (and ate more sugar).

All of that lasted about 45 minutes total…the rest of the night was video games, video games, video games. 

We had the wii set up in the front room, the old PS2 in the dining room and the PS3 in J’s room.  There were no arguments, no frustrations…

(as you can see, T handled himself very well)…

I was able to play on my computer and by 2am, we had them on cots watching a movie to get to sleep.

It was a great party, a fantastic group of boys who are all wonderful friends to J, and definitely worth staying up for J

T turns 40!

He may be 40 but he just gets better lookin' with age!  

My man turned 40 while on his annual trip to Wyoming, something he plans on purpose so he doesn't have to be at work on his birthday I think (I could say it's so he's away in the peace and quiet but I choose not to accept that J & I could be a part of that non-peace and non-quiet!).  

Upon his return, I planned a small surprise party for the following weekend.  I am always so sure he knows my surprises but he has told me many times he didn't see this one coming.  

We had a Whataburger party for him :~) If you aren't from Texas, you may not understand the value of a Whataburger burger...I am from Texas but it took being married to T for several years before I "got it". Even my dad, a devoted Whataburger fan, couldn't sway me in my early days.  Now I see the beauty of it!  

A few family and friends gathered, all donning Whataburger gift cards for the birthday boy.  We all met up down the road away from the house (using Nana and Pop as our decoys since they just "happened" to come in that day to visit).  Everyone, of course, had picked up Whataburger for lunch. One by one, I sent them on to the house.  When Bling and her family arrived, he thought it was odd but not too out of place.  After Mville and her family showed up he still didn't get it but was wondering why I had told our friends to come eat with us after "running into them" at Whataburger.  Once his brother and kids showed up, it dawned on him :-)    Mom and Dad were the last to arrive before me.  

 

We had cake, lots of laughs and a great lunch!  Such a fun day and a wonderful man of honor.

Blogging in Bed

Well, since it's been a month from my last post and I've been pushed off of the couch for the night, I thought I'd finally try to get some blogging done and where better than from my nice warm bed? ;~)


What has been going on lately? What hasn't! Atleast it feels that way. Schooling, horses, church, co-op, holidays, cub scouts, more schooling, planning upcoming vacations, designing, (obviously NOT blogging), oh yea...and college football (lol!)

I am still not sure how some homeschoolers are done in just a couple of hours a day, apparently I will never learn that secret, but truly this is what takes most of our days. And I love it (especially the days we get to stay in pj's for hours)!! We have spanned Columbus to the Gold Rush this semester. We will be heading into some Texas events and the Civil War after the holidays. J can name off the first 7 presidents and give you at least one interesting fact about each of them (oh...and me too! I love re-learning this stuff, assuming I learned it years ago but apparently didn't care enough to remember back then). He now knows where Alabama, South Carolina, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Maine are located on 3 different maps (something with which I have NEVER been adept)...I'm letting him choose 4 states a week to learn about and memorize on the map so it's not so much like "work" since they aren't assigned. This may sound basic, but there are some simple things he really hasn't had the chance to focus on over the last couple of years and I am not blaming any teachers. Sadly in Texas, they have to focus so much more on state testing that they miss the fun of the basics it seems. I could be wrong...but on with my braggin' ;~)...


I think, thanks to Teaching Textbooks, that he might, MIGHT, finally soon learn the literal value of a dollar. I said soon so don't test him yet! Sadly he inherited my poor financial skills. Math is not so scary to him anymore, still not his all time favorite class but he doesn't dread it any longer.


We added a little Spanish and Art Appreciation last month for fun and he's enjoying that change of pace. We also switched our grammar a couple of months ago to Time4Learning which he loves as it is more interactive on the computer. In co-op he has recently learned about China, snot, volleyball, textures in art, pH and has made some great new friends.


He and T have also started spending more time reading at night together, lately finishing Carry On, Mr. Bowditch...great book and T loved reading it but man, it's a sad one! We are discovering that about 1 out of 3 of the Sonlight books for this year are sad ones, someone usually dies...if not more than 1 someone...but they are extremely good stories.


And here's what I really love...I secretly snapped this pic late one night...J had just received the new Diary of a Whimpy Kid book and begged us to let him stay up to read...how can you pass that up?

Now no...it's not all sunshine and smiles, but so far the positives are outweighing the negatives for us.

Frogs for the Cure...very cool :-)

One of these days I won't only have the shirt, but I'll get to attend a Frogs for the Cure game. In the meantime, here is the video they made and played at halftime this year, so proud of my school :~) And go download the song at iTunes, it's a great one! Proceeds go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Of course!

Team Priceless 2010 walkers!

In 2008, after seeing a commercial for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk, and after going through a time in my life where I was wondering "what have I done to help others?  really?  I mean, something totally "outside" of myself, something big, not just for my family, my son...something out of my comfort zone", etc... etc... I signed up and Mom joined quickly after.  That first year was hard, I made about 45 miles out of the 60, was walking for my grandmother who had been a breast cancer survivor and my aunt (mom's sister) who hadn't survived her 3 different cancers.  Mom walked with me and we were hooked from the first step.  Even those who donated to us that year really weren't sure what we were doing and why.

In 2009, Team Priceless was born. Wendy and Tina joined us...three walkers and one crew member.  When I first signed up for year 2, I knew it was for all 60 miles this time, a pride thing I guess.  Then, when we found out Dad had cancer, I KNEW I would make all 60, motivation overtook pride.  We all 3 made it and mom worked her tail off on the Check-in crew.  We and our donors understood the walk better...although they still wondered about our sanity?

2010...Team Priceless continues and it was full of bling and bright pink!  This year, Wendy, Jennifer and my sis-in-law Carrie joined us...4 walkers and one crew member.  This year, again, I knew I was in for all 60.  All I have to remember is what Dad went through.  The pain he suffered, the sickness, the weight loss, the fears and insecurity, things he still has issues with because of chemo.  I wasn't able to train as much and my knees are talking to me today (and reminding me to train better next time, ha!)  On Day 3, with just 2.5 miles to go (the longest 2 miles of the walk it seems!), Wendy and I just started thinking that no matter how much we were hurting, our friend Amy, who is fighting stage 4 breast cancer, isn't able to walk much right now because of hip deterioration from the cancer...how so very much harder that is.  What better reason to finish the walk??!!  Sure our feet were screaming and our knees aching, but blisters don't need chemo.  And hopefully, because of friends and donors like you who support organizations like Susan G. Komen, one day soon chemo will be a thing of the past.  Imagine just for a moment, a world without cancer or chemo.  Can I get an Amen to that one? 

2 years together, 240 miles together! (Day 2 morning)

Yes, the main reason for the 3Day for the Cure is to raise money for research...and this year, the DFW walk raised over 7 MILLION dollars!!!!  That's all from you, our friends, family and donors!!!  We are just the messengers.  That is the part that satisfies that selfish need in me to "be a part of something bigger than myself".  Walking even a few miles after raising that money is just the icing on the proverbial cake because we are out there in a visual support of friends and family members who are fighting, have survived or have lost the fight with cancer.  Walking is obviously not the main point of the 3Day.

But, having said that, I realized on Sunday that I have now become one of those "Of course!" walkers.  During my first year, I clearly remember talking with a lady who walks and then crews every other year.  I asked her if she always did all 60 miles on the years she walks and she looked at me like I was crazy and said "of course!".  I wanted to be able to say that...I'll admit, a bit prideful of me, and I apologize for that...but what can I say?  It sparked desire.  So, when T asked me this year after the closing ceremony "So you made it all again?" I looked at him with a matter of fact "Of course!"  It just came out.  I'm not sure if I had the "are you crazy?" look on my face, but I have the feeling I did.  That is the part that satisfies a part of me I had forgotten is inside of me...determination...but not so much for me physically.  I realized it's a determination to get over myself and keep moving no matter what comes. 

Doesn't mom look great?!  She had "Team Priceless" painted on her back-end too!! (end of Day 2)

I have always wanted to go on a mission trip but in so many ways, this has become my mission field.  These things, if we are honest, do start out "about us"...but never, ever end up that way.  It's not just about the walking or just about the "I'm proud of you"'s, it's not about being cheered on for accomplishing a crazy endurance walk and it's definitely not about enjoying a weekend full of port-a-potties.  It's about the lady who stands there EVERY YEAR at the cheering stations with her sign that says "My right boob thanks you".  Yep, she was out there again this year with an amazing smile on her face.  It's about the man who last year had a sign that said "My wife is a 2 year survivor" and THIS YEAR, he had the same sign but the 2 had been changed to a 3.  inspiring.  It's about thanking God for using us to help them, to encourage them to keep up the fight, to maybe encourage those drivers around Dallas who look at us funny to think of a way to make a difference in someone's life.  Who knows how God will use this?  It's about praising God through the pain, both our small pains and a cancer patient's enormous pain.  Just like my incredible friends who go to the Amazon year after year...it's not about the "you are amazing for going there"s they get and it's not about sleeping in hammocks for a week.  It's about sharing love, God, compassion, inspiration with people who need it desperately, sharing yourself, letting God work and letting go of "me".  I am committed to helping doctors and researchers find an end to breast cancer.  I am committed to share this passion with others, no matter what cancer we each actually seek to end...I feel sure that once a cure is found for one, others will fall in line.  We have been inspired and it's hard to quit, just like my Amazon friends, and I pray it's in God's plans that we continue.

Team Priceless, end of Day 3...slower physically but elated emotionally!

My Dad is now a year and a half survivor.  For the next few years we will continue to hold our breath, it's hard not to.  Every time he has trouble breathing or looks tired you get scared.  You can't help it.  He is the reason I will continue the 3-Day, working and walking, for as long as I can.


Next year, Wendy and I have decided to be on the Crew.  Give our legs and feet (and donors) a one year walking break :~)  Mom is "retiring" her position and we are signing up and hoping we will get spots.  If they fill up, we will go for the weekend anyway and be official Cheering Station peeps, because it's in our blood now. We want to be the cheerleaders, maybe even end up as toilet paper changers at a pit stop, this time because we love watching the other walkers come in at the end of each day, knowing the look on their faces...whether they make a whole day or a whole mile...it's a look of "I am helping to end breast cancer".  Don't get me wrong...while I can't lie and say there still isn't a little prideful feeling in doing this, it's so much more than that...it's a humbling, sad, joyful, amazing and overwhelming feeling all at once.  Anyone who works for any charity can say this.  It's hard to explain...come experience it for yourself!!  Since we will be working it next year, we are looking for walkers for Team Priceless in 2011!!!  So we can be there each day to cheer you on and hug on you! 


Oh...and just in case you are wondering...it only takes 3 years of the 3-Day before you DON'T try to flush a port-a-potty.  Talk about a huge accomplishment! (more pictures to follow...I misplaced my camera after Day 1 so I am waiting on pictures!)

Memory Walk

Somehow this slipped up on me this year.  I didn't even realize it was happening until last night, but thankfully we had a beautiful open Saturday to attend.  

J and I decided to walk in the 2010 Memory Walk for Alzheimer's, in honor of our Uncle Chick.  Our local walk raised over $17,000 for Alzheimer's research!  

I have encouraged you before...and I am encouraging you again...get out and walk for a cause.  There are so many out there.  Take your kids and walk.  There are autism walks now, alzheimers, March of Dimes, many many cancer walks...and most of them just ask for a minimum donation or sign up fee.  It's a great thing to teach your children and you get some fun exercise in the process!  You both will learn what's out there, what's going on in the research and you will meet some amazing people. 

Our friend Ms. J'nay nay (not real name, ha!) walked and worked out there!

After about 2 miles, I asked J if he wanted to hang out on the side of the track with a friend of mine, but he wanted to keep going with me. Granted, he was being pushed in his wheelchair, but he was an official participant :)  And he thinks about Uncle Chick sometimes, tries to think of ways to help him remember Grandad (U. Chick is my dad's oldest brother)

Holy Horses!

Thought I'd give you all a break in the South Carolina trip...and because what happened today at horses was pretty cool.  

We started J on horse riding lessons again this fall, it's been about 3 years since he's been on a horse so he was a bit nervous.   Nice thing about these lessons, they are just 4 miles from our home :)  Awesome thing about these lessons, Ms. Joy (his instructor) started off his first lesson with scripture and prayer.  And the scripture focused on fear, which as most of you who know J know he has a high fear level.  Fear of being left alone, fear of loud noises, fear of falling, etc.. etc...  
God put Ms. Joy in our lives not only for therapy and fun but so J could hear His Word and see it working in his life.

Meeting Paco the first lesson

3rd week (I was avoiding the horse's legs this week, lol!)

Here's were the the Holy Horses comes in :)
Today was his 4th riding lesson.  (Lesson 2 is where I was kicked by Holy Horse #1...it HURT..and it's still numb, isn't that fun?)  He's been so excited about horse lessons since the first one and today was no exception.

Paco the Wonder Horse, as Ms. Joy's son and J call him, started us off well.  Instead of just riding and working on steering the horse, J was to go around some cones on barrels to put rings around the cones while on the horse.  

Well, Paco apparently wanted NOTHING to do with these cones.  He wouldn't get close to them and when Ms. Joy tried to pull him to one, he started backing up quickly which of course, freaked J out completely as he was still on Paco.  Now yes, Ms. Joy's son was right beside J and he was fine, the horse simply backed up but to J it felt like he was going to fall right off.  He used a lot of leg muscle to anchor himsefl and he grabbed Paco's mane to hold on, which we were proud of...thankful he didn't just let go altogether.  Still the tears came from the fear.  And horses are big, it's hard not to be frightened sometimes.

After we discovered Paco is not a fan of orange cones and blue barrels, Ms. Joy just let J continue to work on turning the horse and riding him around the arena.  

Here's part 1 of the cool...for the next 10 minutes while riding Paco, Ms. Joy continually talked to J about fear, comparing his fear with Paco's, but letting J figure it out.  How Paco's fear of a cone really isn't a rational fear, just like some of J's and how if we think we're going to fall, etc...all the time, chances are we will.   She also had him repeat 2 verses she has been telling him about for the last few weeks.  

Here's part 2 of the cool...once J was off of Paco (and he was totally relieved), Mrs. Joy decided that we would use a different horse next week, Dusty.  One that was used to cones and not scared of anything.  This became even more a teaching tool for J that wasn't planned.  We are moving from "fear" to "confidence".  From Paco to Dusty.  We are leaving fear behind.  J became much happier once he met Dusty, an old horse who simply begs for petting and isn't scared of a thing.  


And here's the ultimate part of the cool...when J asked Mrs. Joy why we didn't start with Dusty she told him she had prayed about which horse to use at first and Paco was the choice.  Today after he became "fear" to J and she decided to introduce us to Dusty, she was at peace with the change and so was J.  She looked at me and said "You know, I think God wanted us to use Paco so J could see what God wants to help him with.  I think we're going to do just fine from here on out."  


On our way out of the gate, she had J turn around to the arena and say "Goodbye fear, you are not my friend".  He had a hard time getting it out because truly, fear is quite a companion in his life. 


What an amazing and personal God we have.  I love that He works even through an hour long horse lesson for one 11 year old boy :)  It's a great start!

Day 3...South Carolina finally!

Day 3 started out with the knowledge that we would finally reach our main destination!  Most of this day was spent driving, but we did get a small break in that fun when we stopped for lunch in Madison, GA.  While we noticed that almost every town in Georgia is "historical" according to the brown signs all over the place, Madison was a bit unique.  They still have most of their pre-Civil War homes in tact, in beautiful shape I might add.
According to the story, Joshua Hill was able to convince the generals/soldiers to leave the homes alone when they burned down the mills in the areas.  This was his home...

And they were all like this, some smaller but still gorgeous.  And there are blocks and blocks of them. Here's one for sale...I'm still trying to talk T into it...it's called Broughton Hall.

The reason we stopped in Madison to begin with...Arby's.  For some reason, J had it in his head that we HAD to eat at an Arby's since our town no longer has one.  He wasn't as thrilled as he thought he would be, but the deed was finally accomplished :)

And then we finally reached South Carolina!!

After this, unfortunately...there aren't many pictures because 4 miles into SCarolina, we ended up stuck in a traffic jam on interstate for over an hour...had to take some back roads before finally heading in the right direction to Charleston. 


So to make up for the lack of pictures, I thought I would start sharing drawings from J's travel journal :)  Now, just remember, his little cerebral palsy drawings aren't up to Picasso's par, but I love them.  And also remember, he just doesn't care much about coloring or drawing (especially when it's sort of like school work and when it's not Star Wars related!).  I asked him to draw something from each day of the trip to help him remember his travels.


Monday's drawing:  the USS Cairo from Vicksburg park and a Coke (from the quick stop at the museum)

Tuesday's drawing... a bullet (like a statue at Vicksburg), an army man and Alexander Bridge at Chickamauga (there was a group of army men touring the park, he asked them what they were doing there)

And last drawings for toda...Wednesday's drawing: cotton ( we stopped on the side of the road and Grandma snagged it for him)

And the trip continues...

Since we ended up staying the first night in Tuscaloosa, and just one mile from University of Alabama, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a quick picture in my TCU shirt.  I mean, come on...who knows how many times a Horned Frog will have the chance to be this close in the rankings to the number one team in the nation in college football! 

 Then, for reasons unknown to my normal Krispy Kreme radar...we totally missed this coming in the night before, but J & I spotted it pretty quickly the next morning :)  After a quick stop for gas and the world's best donuts (yes, Round Rock donuts still just about tie Krispy Kreme, but there's just something about KK donuts!), we headed on to Georgia. 

 Our goal was ultimately Chickamauga National Military park, but on the way, we found a Lego store...so to appease the youngest member of the traveling party, we hopped on over to a mall in Birmingham.  He even made a quick video tour of the store to send his cousin.

 

We had to head up through Chattanooga, TN to get back down to the battlefield, but it was a great drive.  Not only is this a Civil War battlefied, where the bloodiest of the battles occurred, but my great-great-great grandmother lived in a house as a girl that was on this battlefield.  There is even a bridge (has been modernized a bit) named after the family, the Alexander Bridge.  

Where the house once stood.

Alexander Bridge

All that's left of the house is remnants of a root cellar and cistern, but it was cool to see the name Alexander on all of the battlefield signs throughout this part of the park.  At the visitors center, once the park rangers knew we were related to the Alexander family, Grandma was given a copy of the contents of a folder that had all of the information the rangers had on that family.  We learned that the Alexander family had actually left this home in December 1862, months before the battle.  We also learned that the house burned down the day before the battle (when a different family was living there) because of what they think was a misfired artillary shell (mom can correct me here).  It was really interesting and made a bit of history much more personal for us all.  Ok...well, by this time I will admit that J was about done with touring for the day, but he thought having a bridge in his family was pretty cool :)

After taking this picture, J noticed that this canon was actually called a 12-pounder Rifled James, ha!

The "Butterfly Man" never stops, even in Georgia!

Decided on Cracker Barrel for supper, stopped somewhere around Rome, GA to stay the night.

Poor J, the schooling never stopped...although I promise I didn't make him do much.  He really got into writing postcards and we collected state information at all borders and fun tourist stops.  Notice the Legos...they were never far from his hands from this day on.