Skip to main content

Family

Anyone who has known me for any period of time knows that I have a disabled sister. Once a week she goes for therapy in the pool on the grounds where she lives. Cheri can't swim per se, but she does things in the water that she can't do on land or from her wheelchair. Since we moved back here to Seattle, I was able to visit her while she was having pool time.

Photobucket


As I walked through the dressing rooms to get to the pool, my memory took me back in time to when my youngest was a baby. We spent a good deal of time there in that pool in a baby therapy class for disabled infants. Ash and I had such fun in that warm therapy pool week after week. We were there with other mothers who were all members of Wonderland Developmental Center, a birth to three organization that provided incredible support for us as we navigated through the shock and pain of Ashley's diagnosis.

It was and is an amazing organization and in another odd coincidence, Wonderland is now located in the school where I'll begin teaching on Monday.

But I digress.

The little baby girl that I held in my arms in the therapy pool that my sister now uses, has grown into an incredibly bright soon-to-be-ten-year-old who loves to play with her Papa.

My father, one of the most dedicated dads ever, goes to watch his daughter in her therapy swim sessions every week. He grows flowers in his yard just for her. He's been through a lot and just keeps on.....keeping on. I think he's getting a kick out of having my kids here in his house right now. Here they are on the bench at the pool having some fun while Cheri swims. As a grandpa, he's a great tickler.


Photobucket


And she loves it right back.

Photobucket

Comments

  1. Now you know where your strength has come from! Hope your feeling good again. take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. what a great family you have!
    it must be so nice to be home again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, I have good examples of strength and love.

    Kelly, I am greatly blessed. It's such a joy to watch my father and my youngest child as they laugh and play. It warms my heart.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead....tell me the truth :)

Popular posts from this blog

Wheeeeeeee!

Today I was awakened to the not-so-delightful sounds of enormous dump trucks, (you know the ones that are a dump truck and they haul a trailer behind?) dumping truck load after truck load of dirt behind my house. Then the most incredibly noisey and squeaky (do they not grease the tracks on those things??) grader began shoving the dirt and rocks around. I had to fight the urge to throw a can of WD40 over the fence to the driver. It wasn't even eight in the morning. It wasn't even 7:30 yet. So I reluctantly arose from my bed and cleaned up the kitchen. After it was spotless, I went back upstairs to my freeze-zone (the only room in the house with AC) to do some online banking and make calls to check on medical bills, etc. As I was finishing up, in walks my husband! At first I had a moment of Oh-no-he's-lost-his-job terror. Then it passed after he smiled. Seems they ran out of work for the day. Odd, but then that's Boeing. So hubby was roped into going school cloth

Peace Begins with You

In my readings this week, I came across a video of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. He gave a talk entitled, "Peace Within." Who doesn't want peace? Who doesn't crave peace within their soul? In their lives? In their hearts and in their homes? How often do we have complete peace? I'd say my answer would have to be that there isn't enough peace in my life, heart or home. It's not like I live in a warzone--I do not. I'm blessed to live in a nation where I have freedoms granted to me by the founding fathers and I do not risk being struck down by bombs or shot by snipers when I venture forth from my home. My neighborhood is relatively safe, so much so that I take solo walks. The peace I speak of is something different. It's the peace that can be with me no matter my circumstances. I crave that peace. Elder Wirthlin says that peace begins in the hearts of righteous individuals. How does it begin? With a relationship with our creator. In ferven

She's Something...

Most of you know that I've got four children. My eldest is seventeen. Oh heavens...how did that happen? Wasn't I just seventeen the other day? I'm sure I was.... Well, she's amazing. I know the majority of mothers have very high compliments to pay their children--and rightly so. However, my baby girl is astounding by anyone's standards. She is going to high school and college at the same time. In high school she's taking mostly AP (Advanced Placement) classes, which also count for college credits. She gets up at five a.m. every morning, goes to Seminary, then goes to school, she works four hours daily as an office manager at Winderemere Real Estate. She speaks Spanish, plays piano, guitar and flute. She goes to the gym daily and it shows. This was her yesterday. This is a picture I just took of her, after getting her braces put on. Now, having said that she is gifted and talented, I should ammend this post to tell you the following. She just got home