I AM

Did you realize that we are awesome, not because of what we do, but just because we exist. Think about it. What does a new baby do to make us love him/her? They sleep, they cry, they eat and fill diapers. They do nothing else during the first few weeks of life. They are not loved because of what they do, or because of their personality. They are not loved because they're witty, smart, adventuresome or anything. They are loved, just because they exist. We too are that valuable. I AM, and by virtue of that, I am incredible. YOU ARE, and by virtue of that, you are incredible. We don't need to judge others, compare ourselves to others, or try to fit a mold or ideal created by society. We are enough, just because we exist. We don't have to earn love, earn approval or anything else. We just ARE precious because we exist. What an awesome concept

Laughter

I've been attending conferences the last couple of days. At the end of one conference (for preschool educators) was a session where the presenter was so funny, we laughed and laughed! Her topic was about Relieving Stress. Did you know that the average child laughs 200 to 400 times a day and the average adult laughs 12 to 14 times per day? The second conference tonight for deaf educators, the keynote speaker was talking about humor and it's importance.

Here are some positive effects of laughter.

• reduce stress
• boost immune system
• elevate mood
• connect you to others
• protect the heart
• foster instant relaxation

Between both speakers today, I feel like I upped my quotient of laughter! Since I'm fighting off a cold, I surely appreciate the fact it will help boost my immune system! :)

Here some of the funny anecdotes I heard today:

• A single teacher of a 6th grade class had students who were very curious about her. They wanted to know her first name, how old she was and on and on. She would never tell them. One day while she was in the faculty room, they got into her purse in her drawer and found her driver's license. When she came back to the room, they were laughing and laughing. "We know your first name!" then told her what it was. "We know how old you are!", chimed another. Then yet another said, and we know that you got an "F" and flunked sex!"
• Our presenter this afternoon was stopped for speeding, through a construction zone. She was let off with a very stern warning. The policeman told her, I don't ever want to see you speeding through this construction zone again. If you do it again, I will give you a ticket then. It was all she could do to stop herself from say, "When's your shift?"
• Then there was a student of our keynote speaker tonight who was listening to a oral report from one of his students about "Abraham Lincoln". He said, "He was born in a log cabin he built with his own hands!". He was just laughing so hard, and none of his students could get why that was so funny.
• Two missionaries knocked on a door here in Utah, in fact I think it might have been in the Provo area. The lady was so rude and told them to get out of her yard and off her property. As they were leaving, one missionary said, "There's another door behind the house". His companion explained it was the back door, and that they needed to get off the property. His companion said, 'It could be another apartment, as sometimes there is a separate entry for other apartments in a house". So they went around back and knocked. The door was opened by the same woman, who stared at them just dumbstruck that they were there. Before she could say anything, one missionary was quick enough to come out with this quip, "We're so glad we got you, you should have met the lady at the last door we knocked on!" The woman actually started to laugh and laugh after that remark!
• I thought I'd add another anecdote of something that really happened to me. I don't know if I've written this down in my blog before, I might have. So apologies if I've written it down before. A colleague of mine, back when I was in business (and before my implants), young family came to visit him at work. When introducing me to his little boy, he told him that he had to look at me all the time, since I couldn't hear and had to read his lips. With a puzzled expression his little boy said, "But Daddy, there are no words on my lips."

There were a ton more, but I'm finding it harder to write them down! Find the joy, find the laughter, find the humor, and have a joyful day!

Latest Challenge and Upcoming Fun

It's always tough to see someone you love go through hard time, challenges or pain. You want so much to help and to fix things, but you can't. You can try to be a good friend, listen to them, and hope when wanted, you can offer insight and in general, give support.

We all know that we have to go through some rough times in life. There's no avoiding it. I've gotten pretty good at learning how to get through any of the tough stuff in mine, and turn it around and keep a positive attitude and attempt to grow.

However, I find that while I'm getting good at dealing with my tough stuff, I'm not good at learning how to not let other people's stuff get me down. With my life, I can control it, I can have positive thoughts and know I'll find my way through. With other's lives, I not only have no control, but I have found myself getting upset about what others are going through, especially if I view something happening to them as wrong or unfair. I hurt when they hurt and I feel sadness. My challenge is learning to not let other's burdens, become mine. I realize that I have to show my support and love in any ways I can see to do so, then I have to return to my peace and positivity that keeps my life progressing. I have to work to make sure I learn how to not let my peace and progress be stopped due to devastation I feel on the behalf of others.

I've not got the answers, but I do feel it's progress just to realize and that I need to do this, and then to work on it consciously.

On another front, I'm going to have a birthday this week, and while it won't be the big blowout I had for myself on my 50th, I know that I will look for what is meaningful for me this birthday, and do it! I used to be depressed a lot over the things that never happened on my birthday, often feeling isolated and alone, and wishing people would do sweet things for me. Last year, I learned that "a great birthday" is in my control. I will have no expectations (that can often be followed with disappointment), of what I want others to do and just do for myself what I want. What I want this year, it's simple; a dinner with my loved ones! I can't think of anything sweeter than just time over a meal to enjoy the people I love! Maybe sweet little Dalia and/or Mackie will want to sit on my lap and help me blow out the candles?! You think? That would be bliss!

Tagged yet again!

I got tagged, by name in another blog. I don't know why, but my sense of etiquette tells me I need to reply! I'll play on this one, just because I like the person who tagged me! :) However, fair warning to all family and friends, please don't tag (read:guilt) me anymore!!

Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you. Umm, not sure how to do this, so I'll break this rule!

Post the rules on your blog. Done

Write six random things about yourself.

1. I love musicals! I've been known to start singing, "Food, glorious, food, and on and on (from Oliver), when about to enjoy something delicious! Obviously, I expect everyone to forgive me if I'm terribly off-tune. Gotta use the "deaf" excuse whenever I can! :)
2. I've turned into a Diet Coke addict. I always figured that wasn't a problem because it was better to be into Diet Coke than all the doughnuts, ice cream, potato chips and other junk I would love to consume! I don't know when, but one day I'll wake up and decide it's time to break this addiction. For now, "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony". Now if that doesn't come from a Diet Coke commercial, blame the deafness again, I didn't know it didn't! For now, I persist in thinking they did a commercial with this song. :)
3. When I was a young girl, I got impatient with how long all the girls in the family took to get ready for church. I started walking. I was picked up walking down the highway on the dotted white lines in the middle of the road. I remember thinking the white lines were for people to walk on! Einstein? I think not!
4. The guy who picked me up from the highway and found my home, (sorta like a stray puppy here), turned out to be a VIP in my life and the very first deaf person I ever met. You know, I wonder if I was deaf yet when that happened (I was found to be deaf at 4 1/2 and I don't know how old I was when this occurred). His name was Swede Ostergar and he was the most congenial person. All the kids loved him, and knew he would hand us candy from his pocket when we came flocking around him.
5. "Necessary" has become a somewhat special word to me. I won the spelling bee in 4th grade, a feat I'll never forget. They kept me going and going until they found a word to bring me down. Necessary was the word. I couldn't remember if it had two c's, or two s's in it. For years I got confused over that very thing still. Then when I got my cochlear implant, I was working on my auditory skills with a colleague who was doing auditory habitation, necessary was the first word that she read from her list that I understood without looking or lipreading!
6. My favorite time of the year as a young girl growing up was lambing season. This was right in the middle of the dead of winter (starting around January and lasting a month). We'd (ok, my brother and dad were the ones who did this) had to go out every few hours and check the corrals for new baby lambs. Then they'd take them and their moms to the lambing shed, indoors and thus warmer I suppose. The reason I loved this season, is that every so often a lamb was nearly freezing to death, or had lost it's mother and needed to be brought inside the house to be warmed up or to be fed by hand. There's was nothing funner than having a little lamb in a box near the heating vent while I got to play with it, then feed it using those old glass pop bottles and with a nipple attached to it. When I was in middle school, a set of twins were orphaned and we kept them all the way until their adulthood. I got the fun responsibility of going out and giving them their bottle for many months. I loved it! They would play with me, butting me around with their noses in my calves, and then drink some more. I loved it!

Tag six people and let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. You know what, I'm usually pretty polite, and I was going to break the this rule here. However, I decided that it was funner than I thought coming up with six random things about me. I thought I'd love to read this on some other blogs. I'm going to name two people instead of six and egg on one more person that was already named in the same tag I was named in. So, guess who? Yes, Cami! You tagged me, so you're it! Ang, you never did me anything to deserve this, but you're tagged, just because I would love to read what you could come up with. So I'm tagging you. Kasey, you did good to start your blog, you need to add it. Staci tagged you, I'm double teaming you. Get a move on and add another entry! :) Ok, I did half the rule!

Let your tagger know when your entry is up. (Don't forget to come back and tell me you completed this tag!) Eh, my tagger is reading this now! So she knows!! :) Right Staci?

Comparison of Photos

I thought it would be fun to compare the photo taken of me when 3 year old Dalia was a newborn in June 2005. Then compare it to the one of me and her youngest brother, who was born Friday. First let me apologize for the quality of the photo from 2005. It was taken with an old PDA, that no longer has service, so I can't send the photo anywhere. I had to resort to taking a picture of of the picture, glassy display screen and all!

Cutest Little Roommate!

Here's little Finley. Born at 12:40 a.m. on October 10, 2008 weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz. We are all thrilled he's finally here!


Here's me holding my little roommate for the first time. I couldn't be more thrilled!

Quiet Heroes

Do you ever look around at the people in your life, and notice some of the quiet heroism that goes on? As I was driving today, I thought about the daily example that I am seeing in my own home.

As most people know, I live with my niece, who is pregnant. She has the kind of condition, where she struggles with frequent, increasing over the months to constant pain and contractions from 22 weeks along all the way to delivery. Her body has pretty much been in labor day and night for the last 3 or 4 weeks. She's rarely gets sleep, and constantly is in so much pain. It seems to keep getting worse. The heroism? She's a mother. I watch her manage to be so patient and kind with her little 2 and 3 year old, trying her hardest not to take make them struggle as she goes through this. No matter how hard this is for her, and it is HARD, uppermost in her mind at all times is her kids, taking care of them and protecting them. She's not first, they are.

As the pain draws out, wears her out, makes her nights eternal and her days even more so, she finds a reserve somewhere deep inside to show love, patience and forbearance to the little ones. While she's the example I'm seeing in my life, I know that around us everyday, there are people living quiet heroism in a multitude of different ways. I hope to keep my eyes open, notice the heroes, appreciate them, be thankful for them, as well as to learn and grow from them.

Oh, and as a p.s. she's finally at long last at the hospital in labor as I write this. I am so relieved her pain will soon be over, as well as excited for the new bundle of joy that will soon be part of my everyday life!

Memories II

A friend of mine had this entry in her blog today. It was fun for me to jog my memory, and write something about a memory of her. I even decided to follow her instructions and copy, paste (and edited to fit me) the below items from her blog into mine.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

I'm hoping to hear from as many of you in my life as possible! :)