"as long as it's healthy"

This phrase is one that causes one to ponder...

My brother and his wife are the proud parents of 5 beautiful daughters! My interactions with their family always leave me in awe as I am so impressed with their thoughtfulness and wisdom in raising such kind, talented little girls.

I visited them a couple years ago as they were expecting their 5th child (of which they did not want to find out about the gender). I noticed right away that when others inquired about the gender or made comments indicating that maybe they "will get THEIR boy" my sister-in-law was quick to say.... "We will love whatever we get".

This comment from a wise mother who didn't want her daughters to ever feel like they weren't wanted.

Due to my employment, my days are filled with interactions among pregnant women. Pregnancy, for the most part, is an exciting time with a large focus on "what they will get". Quite often it is made clear that maybe they are a little disappointed to find out "it's a boy", or "it's a girl" depending on their desires and situation. Inevitably, they will almost always say... "it doesn't really matter as long as it's healthy".

*gasp*

How can I not feel a somewhat stunned by that comment? Why does it feel like a slap in the face? Why does it hurt so much? Why... because it feels like they are saying, "As long as he/she isn't like your boy"...

I want to say... "what if it's not healthy"? Then sometimes, I really just don't want to hear the answer.

PERSPECTIVE

I've posted about the "Everyone Can" program before. S took it upon himself to submit an entry for their art contest. I didn't give him any ideas... it's just something he decided to do on his own. The art was judged by several artists and not only was he picked as a WINNER for his age group but his picture was selected to be on the cover of a calendar.

I love the way this kid thinks:)

"No reason to treat him different"

One of the elementary schools in our district recently held a disability awareness week. My sister, who works to educate children and youth about people with differences, was asked to do a short presentation at the end of their disability week. After the assembly, my sister found out that the PTA had sponsored an “Everyone Can” essay contest where she was able to judge the 4th and 5th grade essays. “Everyone Can” is a program geared towards teaching children that EVERYONE is good at something.
Together, sister and I, spent several hours reading hundreds of essays. We were asked to pick 10 winners from each grade. As we began reading, it was very disheartening to discover that these children had been given the message that:
1) Everyone has a disability. Teachers equate disability to, “broken arm, forgetting peoples names, wearing glasses”.
2) You can do anything you want to if you just try hard enough.
3) Disabilities can be overcome with effort.
4) Disabilities were equated with “challenges”.
We reviewed 50-60 fifth grade essays and could only find 7 that did not state this.
Really, I was just sick as I thought about the message that these children had received. My child, who spends more time with doctors and therapists in a week than most kids do all year, will be viewed as someone who isn’t “trying hard enough” to overcome his disabilities. In an effort to educate these children, the teachers and PTA instead instilled false ideas.

Here are some of the things we found throughout the essays:

• Many kids when spelling “deaf”, spelled it D-E-A-T-H
• Apparently, disability is like a convenient hat… hence the word, “handy cap”.
• Another class wrote a lot about Helen Keller. One child wrote, “Helen Keller was blind and death, She didn’t learn and always got her way until one day her teacher, Mrs. Sullivan, locked her in a closet.”
• Reference to people with disabilities was always in the “they” form. It was clearly a “them” and “us” attitude.

Ironically, my favorite essay was written by a boy who clearly struggled with his reading and writing skills. The spelling was horrible and his sentence structure was lacking but the message so sweet. He told about a neighbor boy with autism. He said that this boy is “ten years old and still watches Elmo… but that is no reason to treat him different”.

Briana Walker and lots of SNOW

Today we finally got to experience the calm after the storm. It all started on Wednesday when we woke up to about 6 inches, then it continued to snow all day long. I think the snow totals for that day were well over 12 inches. Then it snowed again on Thursday and again this morning.
The snow plows have had a hard time keeping up with it all and Wednesday it took me 20 minutes to drive my kids the two miles to school and back.

S and H have spent hours building snowforts, making snowballs, oh and shoveling.
Crew and I zoomed around the block today. There were a few snow flurries at the time and he would open his mouth hoping to catch one or two.

Yesterday I met Briana Walker. My sister, Sheri, was able to get her to come to our little town to speak to the Elementary students. Her story is an inspiration. I was already kind of having an emotional day and then while listening to her story I had a hard time not crying. I can't really explain the feelings. She is just so beautiful inside and out and exemplifies a zest for life. A car accident 6 years ago left her paralyzed from the waist down. Today, she lives life to the fullest... wakeboarding, skiing, and dancing in her wheelchair. She is a model for "Colours", a company that sells wheelchairs. You may have seen the commercial. And most amazingly she performs across the nation dancing hip hop. I would love to see that! Sheri is on a mission to promote disability awareness and talks to children in our schools about the theme "Everyone Can". Learning to recognize that EVERYONE has something that they are good at. Sheri too is amazing with her ability to educate others on the importance of seeing the person and not the disability.

Oh, and a pic of my house so you can all see how hard I've worked to keep the snow cleared off. **patting self on back**

I really don't mind the winters as much as I use to. I just wish it didn't last so long;)