In Honor Of The Olympics

The Winter Olympics start today. Here is Kyle lighting the Special Olympics torch....a HUGE honor for him, and one of my most proud "Mom Moments".He is a Gold Medal winner many times over!LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!!!

Phase 3 & 4 Complete

Phase 3 of the "Big Project 2010" was to strip the wallpaper and get the room painted. Sounds easy, huh? I told Sweetheart he put that wallpaper up to survive Armageddon!! Finally it came down and I got the room taped and ready to paint. Thank goodness the new occupant was worth all the work!Yes, Kyle was moving back upstairs. I was thrilled! I never liked him 2 floors down and it was easy for him to separate himself from the rest of the family. He would not do this intentionally, but his basement room felt like he had his own "apartment", as he called it. Let me tell you, that paint job was NOT easy. I was certain the orange would cover the green easily and I would not need to prime. WRONG! It took FIVE (5) coats of orange. Good grief that was awful! DAYS later the painting was done and I quickly made up Kyle's new curtains in his beloved Bears fabric.Please note that the oranges in these pictures are WAY brighter than in real life. The orange in the curtains is a regular orange and the orange on the walls is more of a sherbet orange...very soft. Here are some pics of Kyle's finished room....Phase 4 was to move him upstairs.That back wall behind Kyle's bed is all orange with a white chair rail going around the entire room. The other 3 walls are orange on the bottom and a BRIGHT white on the top....the white is showing a tint from the lighting. It all reminded me of being in a dreamscicle! He loves it, as it is the Bears official colors!He slept upstairs for the first time last night and loved it. He had Charlotte in to watch a movie and Zach brought his legos next door and they played for a while. It was a great move and all worth the effort.

Phase 5, and the final phase is also complete, but I will share that next time. Also, the Man Room is all done as I put my next project up on my design wall......I even put 4 blocks together yesterday. Sewing in this room is wonderful. Someone in my comments asked how I would feel being so far removed from the family down here. Well, I think it would be great....a place to escape once in a while. Most of my quilting is done in the hoop in the family room so I spend little time at the machine. Still, it will never happen, as any time I am down here, so are the family.....they follow me where ever I go. ;)

We also got Sweetheart's guitar, mike, and amplifier set up in his area (I always share...and this was meant to be "our" space) and the weights are set up ready for use.Now it is ALL FINISHED! I can start this week fresh. The girls have crochet class this morning so I will take my big quilt along and hand quilt for a couple of hours. What could be better??!!

Kyle's Road

Kyle has been so many things in my life. He is the reason I have the depth of faith I have. He was used as a huge area of growth in my patience. He has become a man, who I am proud of. At 23 years old, I was certain I would never have to explain his road to him. You know, that special road his life has taken him to.
The one only select people travel down. The one that all parents pray their unborn baby will never have to go down.
I was wrong. Less than a month ago, while riding in the van, just the two of us, Kyle asked me, "Mom, why can't I be like Bud?"

"What do you mean, Kyle?"

"You, know. Why can't I drive a car, and have a house? Why do I live at home?"

I caught my breath. What do I say here? He deserves to know. I pulled the van over and looked at him.

"Kyle, you know you had lots of seizures when you were little, right?" He nodded. "Well, all those seizures happened in your brain. Your brain could not take all that extra activity. Kind of like when we plug in too many things and the lights go out and we have to go downstairs and flip that switch." He nods again. "Your brain does not have all it's power because of the seizures. Not enough power to drive a car, or live by yourself, But, you have more than enough power to live a good, full life."

"Why did I have seizures?", he asked.

"When you were a baby, and got your shots, there was a problem with one of them and it made you have seizures."

He looks deep in thought. "That is sad."

My heart tugs. Tears sting. "Yes, Kyle, it is sad."

He turns it around for me, as only Kyle can do, and says with a huge smile, "At least I can walk. Some people can't walk, mom"

"Yes, Kyle, and you have a happier life than most people who did not have seizures, and you know LOTS of people can not drive cars."

He smiles and we continue on our trip. He knows now. I feel sad that he knows. His innocence is gone....or so I think.
That same night I can hear him happily playing with his toys in his room....maybe not all his innocence is lost.

A Kyle Post By My Sister and Mom

My favorite moments with Kyle

By Aunt Debbie
Brenda and I took the boys, Kyle and Andrew, shopping at the mall. The boys were about 11 years old and Kyle was very much into Toy Story. He had a small action type figure of his favorite character, Woody. On this particular trip, Kyle had enough of his own money to buy the new talking Woody doll. He had been wanting this for some time and was very excited to make his purchase. Needless to say, it was our first stop. After opening his new toy, we continued on with our shopping. Brenda had to stop at the fabric store (go figure) so the boys and I sat on a bench right outside the store and listened to all that Kyle's new talking Woody had to say. After about 50 pulls of Woody's string, I had had enough so I told the boys to stay on the bench while I walked about 20 feet away to look at something. Keeping a close eye on them, I saw Kyle talking to a stranger, a man in fact. I started walking over to them when I noticed Andrew laughing so hard he was almost on the floor. The man was storming off, looking over his shoulder at Kyle as if he were from outer space or something. As I approached, I asked my son Andrew what was going on. Kyle had stopped this man and said, "I used to have a small Woody but now I have a big Woody....want to hold it?"!!!!!

Another one of my favorites happened while I was on the phone with my sister. She would often call me (as sisters do) when she was frustrated with Kyle....just to vent, get advise or simply to escape for a brief period. Kyle had seizure behaviors that resembled unmedicated ADHD. On this particular day I could tell she was at the end of her rope with Kyle, who must have been about 8 years old. After several interruptions by Kyle, she threw out the ultimate threat, "Kyle, if you don't leave me alone, you are getting a spanking!" I could hear Kyle say something in the back ground, but could not make out the words. Brenda whispered into the phone, in a very frustrated voice, "What the hell is wrong with that child, he is asking what kind of spanking?" I am trying not to bust a gut on the other end of the phone and practically begging her to ask Kyle what he means by this. I remember promising her that it would be worth asking the question. Very hesitantly and very frustrated, she asked, "Kyle, what do mean, what kind of spanking?" His response.... "Is it the spanking of my life, or the one where I can't sit down for a week?" Baadah bing!!! That's our Kyle!

A Favorite Kyle Moment

By Grandma

ONE OF MY FAVORITE STORIES REGARDING KYLE WAS WHEN BRENDA AND HER FAMILY WAS MOVING TO THEIR NEW HOME, AND KYLE STAYED WITH US FOR THE NIGHT. WHEN I PICKED KYLE UP, HIS MOTHER TOLD HIM NOT TO ASK FOR THINGS WHEN WE GO TO THE STORE.....WELL WHEN KYLE AND I WERE AT THE STORE HE SAID "I SURE WOULD LIKE SOME CHOCOLATE MILK. I KNOW MOM SAID NOT TO ASK FOR ANYTHING." HE LOOKED AT ME WITH A BIG SMILE ON HIS FACE, AND PLACING THE CHOCOLATE MILK IN THE CART, SAID , "I KNOW YOU WANT ME TO BE HAPPY." YES, KYLE, GRANDMA WANTS YOU TO BE HAPPY....

Thanks Mom and Debbie, for sharing your Kyle moments with us!

(These were copied and pasted from e-mails sent to me. They had several I was unwilling to post....heehee....too much information. On another note, please know that I did not ever give Kyle a spanking where he could not sit down for a week. LOL)

A Kyle Post

"Every family needs a Kyle". That is what my sister and I say to anyone who meets Kyle and is taken away by his charm, which is most anyone who meets him. I am the blessed one in our family to get him! If you have never been close to a mentally handicapped person, you are truly missing out! If you are unaware of Kyle's story, you can read it here. Kyle is pretty high functioning, but not high enough to ever live on his own. He has no concept of time...minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months. For example, he may be awaiting his friend who is due here at noon. He will come to me at 10 am and say "only 2 more minutes til Robert gets here." He told me the other day that Christmas was only 2 days away....it was really 2 weeks. If left to himself, he would never take his meds, wear the same clothes for days, never change his sheets, he would have no teeth because he needs to be told to brush them, have a full beard, drink WAY too much Mountain Dew, and eat pizza for EVERY meal. He would, however, shower everyday and keep his room tidy. He keeps his dvd's in perfect order and over the past year he cuts his fingernails without being told. Still, he needs his family. I can not count the times my sister will call me out of the blue and say, "Remember when Kyle......." and we will laugh until we cry! My nephew Andrew is Kyle's biggest fan....he is 2 weeks younger than Kyle and they grew up together, so he was around for alot of Kyle's antics!

Over the next few days, I thought I would record a few of our favorites here, so that some day Charlotte and Zach can carry on the memories of Uncle Kyle.

My personal favorite was from several years ago. We had just moved here and Kyle started to go to a school which housed only mentally/physically handicapped children up to age 21. Kyle was 15 at the time and he LOVED this school. He is very social and because the previous school system wanted to mainstream him, I chose to homeschool him. Anyway, he was on cloud nine at this place and he had joined the choir. A local organization called the "ARC" was having a big fancy charity dinner at an upscale restaurant and Kyle's choir was going to sing for them. We were all going to watch (at $20 a ticket) including my mom and sister. A day or so before the performance, Kyle asked me, "Mom, what does ARC mean?" I told him is stood for "Association of Retarded Citizens" Kyle's eyes got big and he said, "GREAT!!! You mean I am going to sing for a bunch of retards???" I about fell out!!! I had no idea what to say to him and told him, "No, honey, they are an organization who help retarded people." He did not believe me because in his mind who would want to help retarded people. Now you have to understand that Kyle only heard this word used in a negative way. We did not use it in our home and he would hear it out around other kids who used it in a derogatory way, like..."That's so retarded!" Kyle also had no idea he was handicapped, nor were any of the other kids in his school. Everyone in Kyle's world was just fine! He called my sister and told her she may not want to make the long drive to watch him sing as there may be retarded people there. He told her what ARC stood for and she (while holding her laughter at bay) explained to him it would be ok. Kyle felt he had never seen a retarded person before and had no idea what to do if he saw one in the crowd. Aunt Debbie told him, "If you see one, just smile and wave". She is SO naughty! We went to the dinner and Kyle and his choir went up to sing. He was standing tall with all his classmates lined up with him. Right next to him was a young girl in a wheelchair who could barely make a noise. She had on a bib and every so often Kyle would lean over and use that bib to wipe the drool from her mouth. On the other side of him stood a young girl who's arm curled in disfigurement. She looked to Kyle many times for, what appeared to be, reassurance. Still, my son stood tall, singing his heart out, all the while smiling and waving at one, singled out, well dressed, older gentleman in the front row. At one point he caught my sister's gaze and gave her a thumbs up. He had found the retarded person in the room and was handling it just fine!!!
Yes, every family needs a Kyle!

Maundy Thursday

Kyle came home from work yesterday with this picture he made for me. He said it was for "your quilt blog". I was happy to post it!!

I have spent the last couple of days preparing for Easter. Lots of cleaning and shopping. My mom, Rachel and I went food shopping yesterday. Glad that is out of the way! Our menu will be our traditional Ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, broccoli casserole, mac and cheese, baked beans, cottage cheese, deviled eggs, spinach dip and Hawaiian bread, dinner rolls, grape salad, and 3-4 different desserts.

I have also worked on binding. I found this quilt that I made waaaay back in my earlier days of quilting. It was for my niece. I machine quilted it in the ditch and was not thrilled with the results. I packed it away for the last 14 years or so. I looked it over and determined it was not awful, so I began to continue the wrap around binding where I had left off.I will give it to my niece's daughter who will be 8 in June. I made this little girl a quilt a few years ago for Christmas....hand quilted friendship stars, and her mom "lost" it by February. It is only fair she gets her mother's quilt, right?

My binding skills have improved greatly since then and I no longer do wrap around bindings. Here is a ribbon of binding made for my sister's quilt.I attach it to the front with the machine and then onto the back by hand. I think, next to hand quilting, binding is my favorite part of the quilting process. My newest book arrived yesterday. Copperswife reviewed it a while back and I am looking forward to reading it.
My Zachary is an explosive child. 35% of babies born addicted to drugs (specifically crack cocaine) are explosive children. He has gotten a LOT better, but still it is sometimes a daily issue. He over reacts to the slightest thing. Yesterday, he was struggling with a math problem and had a complete meltdown in a matter of seconds. When sent to his room for a "time out" (he got disrespectful) he stomped up the stairs and yelled (at the top of his lungs) "I HATE MY FAMILY" This was new...he had never said anything like that before. I gasped and said "Zachary Brendan, what a hurtful thing to say!" He immediately calmed down and said,

"I did not mean that in a bad way."

Ok, so I need to read this book!

My older kids....Bud, Rachel and Kyle, started softball on Tuesday night. That means I get Grandbaby time!This girly is so much fun! Fresh diaper and jammies and an evening snack of rice cereal and a bottle and she is tickled beyond words!We never see her fuss. She has such a sweet disposition. TJ, like always, was not in the picture taking mood. I did catch him at the dining room table. He immediately said, "No pictures, Grandma." I assured him I was just checking my lens. Oops! Sorry TJ, I pushed that button by accident! Now I am off to do some more cleaning and binding. Today we go to our church, anytime between 7am and 7pm for communion. A personal time between you and God to partake of the Lord's Supper. Tomorrow night is "The Journey of the Cross" which my whole family (Sweetheart included) will attend. It is a half hour journey following different stations which take you from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Resurrection.

May you also reflect on the Amazing Love of our Saviour.

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

Spring Days

We have had some gorgeous weather here. 60's and now today will hit the 70's...and all sunny! We spent Saturday celebrating Kyle's birthday. A nice dinner of his choice....Taco Bell/Pizza Hut. The kid has no taste in his mouth!

TJ was impressed with the cake and candles and is practicing for his own birthday in a couple of weeks.It was a great day and it ended with me, my mom and Rachel playing bunco with our ladies group at church. Once a year we allow the guys to play and let me tell ya, they are more competitive than the women!! It was a fun night.

Sunday we attended church. Rachel brought the kids to service and then they all came over in the afternoon for a cook out. Burgers and hot dogs on the grill. Mmmmmm. Emerson was as cute as she could be!

There was a huge kickball game in the back yard. My family (minus me as I played with Emerson) Kyle's friend, and several neighborhood kids made a game of 13 people. The kids took no mercy on Sweetheart who wiped out twice. I told them all to be careful with him....he is old! Not too old to play baseball with his grandson!! After all the kids moved to the front for basketball, TJ and Paw Paw worked on some batting practice. TJ has quite the swing!

Monday was bright and beautiful and full of plump chirping robins. Robins everywhere!!! Spring is officially here! I noticed since the time change I wake up to birds chirping in the tree outside my bedroom window. A nice sound to wake up to. A day of school, some light housework, and a couple of walks outside. The kids came to play for a while in the late afternoon. TJ had so much fun here on Sunday that he said on the way home, "I don't belong at home. I belong at Grandma's house." Thankfully my kids (Bud and Rachel) laughed at that. I think TJ and Emerson will be spending the night on Saturday night and by Sunday he will be singing a different tune! TJ played in the sandbox with Charlotte and Zach and a couple of the neighborhood kids. Little Miss Emerson Avery was dressed for a walk!!

We loaded her in her buggy and off we went!!
I had received a phone call yesterday from the leader of our women's Bible study and she asked if I would lead last night. She had an unexpected dinner with her son who made it in from out of town and needed to be there. I told her I would, though I needed to re-do my lessons. We do 2 chapters of a Beth Moore book a week, and it is very different studying to participate and studying to lead. I am not loving this book, but I knew taking a deeper look and doing a more in depth study would be necessary. I am glad I did. The study went well and we stayed on topic and made it through with time to spare for intercessory prayer.

Today we will hurry to get our school work done so we can enjoy the outside again. I need to do some laundry and get a few chores done around here. There will be no need to go out tonight. Thank goodness!! In the last 6 days, I have been out 4 nights until 9 or 10 o'clock. I will be happy to sit and enjoy the evening. Tomorrow night will be Awanas and another night out. Ooooh, I just remembered, I have my little Emerson this morning as Rachel and TJ are going to Monkey Joe's with their MOP's (Mother's of Preschoolers) group. I better get off of here and get ready for her!

Have a blessed and productive day. Enjoy the Son today!

"I delight greatly in the Lord;

my soul rejoices in God."

Psalm 61:10a

A God Thing

This is Sharon. She goes to my church and her husband Joe hands me my bulletin and shakes my hand most Sunday mornings. Sharon always has a cheerful "Good Morning, Bren" for me and I usually get at least one hug from her. I know them both pretty well, however, I had never known their last name. In doing the library project, I kept running across the name "Sharon K*******" in books I was cataloging. It sounded SO familiar. I asked my mom in passing one day, "Do we know a Sharon K*******?" She said, "Oh yes. They bought our house on 9th Street from us back in 72."Now anyone who reads here regularly knows about this house. I talk about it every so often. It is where my all time favorite picture of me and my sister was taken....
That was taken on the enclosed front porch, which has the same flooring, by the way. I lived there from 4-12 years of age, and all my best childhood memories are in that house.

Anyhow, I asked a friend from church if Sharon K******* attended and low and behold it was MY Sharon. She and Joe STILL live in the house and send my parents a Christmas card every year. So for 9 months I have been greeted by and hugged on by the very people who live in my childhood home!!! We were promptly invited to a luncheon and yesterday my sister, mother and I went for a wonderful egg casserole and a visit down memory lane. It was SO fun!!!!

All the original wood work is there, including the carving I did of my sister's name...I don't come out looking good in that story so we will leave it alone ;) Better than the trip down memory lane, was my old neighbor Lou.

Lou is now 98 years old. She is complete in all her faculties and walks quite well. She uses a small tripod walker on wheels because she says her knees are bad, but she basically picks it up and carries it over any obstacle. I was tickled to get to have lunch with her. She was a huge part of my childhood. I thought she was so old back then, but she was only 56 when we moved in!! Her husband Russ was like a grandpa to me. He sold "dew worms" from a big dirt filled sink in their basement to fishermen. He has been gone for 12 years now. Lou still lives in the same house next door and Sharon and Joe care for her if she needs anything. She still goes down to her basement and works in her sewing room. Lou taught me to take my first sewing stitch by using a big tin of buttons. My sister and I use to play for hours with those buttons on Lou's living room floor while she sewed wedding gowns and other dresses she was commissioned to make. Yesterday we were able to go through that same tin of buttons.
We each pulled a handful of buttons chosen carefully, even though we were told to take all we wanted.See those 3 big ones? Those were the ones I remember learning to sew on. Lou makes quilts too. She pieces them on the machine and then ties them. She has 25 tops in her basement and has asked me to come another day and go through them with her. Here is one on the spare bed at Sharon's house that Lou made.
That was my old bedroom, which was much smaller than I remembered!
The rest of the house was exactly as I remembered, with the exception of the remodeled kitchen and bathroom. Still the kitchen held that same "feel" to it and I would have recognized it anywhere.

After our wonderful visit, I walked Lou home. She had mentioned a small tree on her side yard between our houses, and how when I was 6 or 7, I had jumped over the newly planted tree and had broke the entire top off of it. While walking her home, she pointed out that tree to me. It has to be 60 feet tall!!!! (I am not good at estimating height, but it was VERY tall)You can see the base of it up against the fence...the fence was not there when I was a kid. She says my jumping over it made it grow crooked and said she thinks of us when she looks at that crooked tree! Yeesh.

I am sorry for the terrible picture here of Lou, but she just wanted to chatter through the pics so it was difficult to get a good one.

As I left, I noticed the narrow sidewalk leading from the back door to the garage. It did not seem near as long as it did when I was a child. It seemed to go on for a mile. I skipped up and down that same sidewalk pretty much every day of those 7+ years. It was not a walking sidewalk...it demanded to be skipped down.
The massive cherry tree that was just to the right of the sidewalk is gone now. It split down the middle several years ago, but I have such wonderful memories of climbing that big ol tree. Sharon said her 2 children had the same wonderful time in the cherry tree. Plus it produced awesome cherries!!

Now was that a God thing or what??!! Call it fate or coincidence if you want, but I see God's Hand all over that! Next time I will have Lou and Sharon to my house for a luncheon.

The day was not over. We left there and headed out for some shopping. I found this wonderful miniature stool that has a storage space in it at an antique shop. I just love it. It will hold my basted hexagons nicely!

My mom's doctors appointment went well. She is most likely having issues caused by another medication. It is being monitored and maybe she will have to change meds. In the meantime, continue to pray for her. I had such fun with my mom and sister and think I laughed more yesterday than I had in a month combined!! My sister is quite the cut up.

Even waiting to get labs done, she was playing tricks and making me giggle.

Around 4:00 my sister needed to head back to the big city so my mom and I dropped her at her car and headed to a salon. I got all my hair cut off!!! It was so over processed and just needed to go. It is very short, but I am ok with it. I did not get home til 6:30, so had been gone for 9 hours. What a fun day!!
Today is Kyle's birthday. I will make him a spice cake (his favorite) and we will celebrate with a late lunch, early dinner because I have bunco tonight. Here is a picture of Kyle around 10 months old. He is 23 today!!! He let me know this morning he is getting old. I think if I have this right, he is the same age as my mother was when they bought that house on 9th street and raised their family there. I guess he is getting old!!

Thanks for sharing my "God thing" with me!!!

Have a blessed and productive weekend!

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him."

Lamentations 3:25