Camping

On the road again.....

I'm going to try to be a better blogger. 

I've been (finally) filling out the boys baby books

and this blog is really the place I've chronicled the big and little stuff to look back on. 

I hope the boys will enjoy it too when they get older. 

Its also been a great way to keep out of town family and friends in the loop with the boys

and I'm always pleasantly surprised when I get an email from someone we don't know asking information about spina bifida or food allergies because a friend of a friend pointed them our way. 

We've relied on so many others during this journey and I"m sure we will continue to do so 

and it feels really good to be able to give back a little bit of our knowledge or experience 

to any one who might need it the way so many others have done for us. 

 Anywhooo.... We kicked off our summer this weekend with our first camping trip of the season. 

It was Father's Day weekend and that was exactly how hubby wanted to spend it. 

Its not a big secret that hubby is more excited about this camping business than I am, 

hence why we gave up roughing it by tent a few years ago 

and got the camper (a.k.a the hotel on wheels). 

 Its honestly a lot of effort to get all the clothing, meals, food, sheets, pillows, diapers, loveys, toys, medicines etc. all packed up just to unpack them all again two days later. 

So I guess I'm kind of a grinch about it, begrudgingly getting everything ready and packed up, all because hubby really likes it, and its good for the boys, yadayadayada.

And our boys who are just a wee bit OCD with routines and everything has to be the way it "normally" is, well lets just say that first night of camping was not all that much fun initially. 

Except I admit when the 'work' is done and we are unpacked and settled at our site, 

there is something very special about getting away like this. 

We are unplugged from the Tv, internet, and phones and just focus on

being together. There isn't a mile long list of things we "should" be doing like if we were at home.

When you are camping, you are "supposed" to take walks, 

dig in the dirt, find sticks and bugs, jump in puddles, 

or just wear your rain boots every where

Camping is about just being a kid, exploring, playing

 trying new things

sometimes new things are a little bit scary

  or hard work (alex climbing all the way up)

but on the other side....

it sure feels great and gives us confidence for the next thing!

  

Oh......and every one knows its just not camping

without the marshmallows!!!

A very good and humble reminder that sometimes

it truly is the little things in life that are really really sweet :)

We have a walker!

this video was taken just a week into Alex having the walker.

I take for granted that every one is on facebook these days so things don't get to our blog as readily as they used to. Some things don't get here at all, bad blogger! So for any of our family or friends who follow here, here it is. 

We have a walker!!!!

To think that there was a time that we almost didn't pursue this. The doctors, therapists all told us it would be cumbersome/heavy/sweaty and take A LOT of effort on Alex's part (and ALL of those things are true) but he LOVES it and as with everything else, Alex lets us know when he's ready and he defies our expectations every.single.time!!!

Thank you to our "Miss Patty" who decided almost immediately that we should try a walker after seeing him want to move around in his braces. We had NO idea what to expect but agreed, sure lets see what he wants to do with it.

Alex you are so sweetly shy, hesitant with new things, new people but when you figure out that you want something, watch out world! Your determination, your strength, your mile wide stubborn streak, they all make me love you more. I'm so unbelievably proud of you Alex!!!

The Invisible mom

This was shared to me by a friend and I think its a perfect reminder on Mother's Day.

To all the incredible Mother's I am blessed to know especially and including my own!!!!

THE INVISIBLE MOM

One of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was Almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

Author unknown

Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know... I just did.

The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.