My Life Is...

I subscribe to Rachel Coleman's blog. She's the Signing Time creator and stars in the videos with her daughter. She recently posts a nice blog about what life is. It touched me and I wanted to share it with you. She has a great blog and I highly recommend subscribing to it if you are a part of the disability community and just want to relate to the experiences of another family. www.signingtime.com/rachel

Here's the blog post

My Life Is…

Published by Rachel Coleman at 9:42 am under Crazy Little Thing Called Life

My Life Is…

Almost three years ago I noticed something about my life. I noticed that when I looked at all I was dealing with in work, family, home, and with my kids… when I looked at it all or even a part of it, I found myself saying, “Wow, this is really hard!”

I started to note each time I called my life “hard,” and when I told someone that things were “hard,” and I even noted when I thought that word. Loading a wheelchair into the car was hard. Traveling was hard. Miscommunications with Leah were hard. Lifting Lucy was hard. Communicating with my husband Aaron was hard. Filming and writing music was hard. Meetings were hard. Getting home before the bus arrived was hard. I also noticed that each day I was hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock over and over in a futile attempt to postpone getting up and dealing with my “hard” life.

Wow, “hard” was a powerful word and it was running rampant in my thoughts. It was almost a default word, a word I felt stuck with. I decided to try a little experiment. It was simple really. I would give up using the word “hard” to describe everything and I would find a new word or phrase to replace it with.

Was my life hard? Is my life hard? There are plenty of people who tried to convince me that my life really was hard, because in their eyes they completely believed that what I had was much harder than what they had. I didn’t care. I just couldn’t stand living with that thought about my kids and my family any more. Is having Leah really hard? Is Lucy hard? I dropped the word “hard” out of my vocabulary.

Now, what could fill that space? What would best describe my life? And how exciting to stand in front of a blank sheet of paper titled “My Life Is…” and be able to choose the next word. It was a little daunting. What would I choose to call my life?

I didn’t take the task lightly. I looked from many angles. One thing I saw was that I was managing a lot of unexpected circumstances. My life hadn’t gone the way I expected and I found myself wondering if anyone’s life goes the way that they expect. That would be so boring! I mean really! What if your life turned out exactly how you thought it would? My life could never be called boring. It was quite the opposite. That was it! Three years ago I wrote the words I now use to define and describe my life.

My life is an unexpected adventure!

It was simple and true, and so much more empowering than what I called my life before. For the past three years now, I have been living my life from that perspective and I think that anyone one who knows me or even watches from a distance would agree. My life IS an unexpected adventure.

This year, instead of a New Year’s Resolution, I invite you to take a look at the words you use to describe your life. Listen to the thoughts that are telling your story. If you have a default word, that leaves you clinging to your mattress, I invite you to take some time and fill in the blank for yourself with words that you choose.

My life is…

I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

~Rachel

Photo Op!

Okay, Okay... call me crazy... but if I can capture the nuanses of my little guys... I'm gonna! Colin has really become so animated in his facial expressions. It's hilarious to see him learn and try new things. One night this week during dinner, he was really into his corn on the cob and he also had fun posing for the camera. My kids are so used to me snapping pictures they automatically say "cheese" as soon as I put the camera to my eye!" This time, he decided to be silly for me and I ate it up!

Rub a Dub Dub!

Some nights during bath time, I just want to scream... the kids are crazy... throwing bubbles at each other and driving me nuts. And other nights they are just so cute I can't help but soak up their cuteness. This is one of those nights when I just couldn't get enough of their cuteness!

Mr.Luigi (Pronounced La-Wee-a-Gee!)

Rob has done some cute stuff recently with the boys (I guess it takes one to know one!) He really is a kid at heart. Anyways, the other day I took Chance with me shopping and when we got home we found Rob wearing a chef hat, Colin wearing the chef outfit, and Cannon helping to make some homemade pizzas. Rob was using the most ridiculous fake Italian accent and the boys were mesmerized and so into it. Since then, everyday Chance uses his device to ask for pizza and Colin puts on the costume. Too cute. If you ever thought that the little things don't matter, think again. These are the things our kids will remember.

The Bowler Extraordinaire!

Rob has recently rekindled his love of duckpin bowling. Yes, duckpin. For any of you prepared to make fun, you should read up on the sport... it's harder than golf and some of the greatest athletes of all time helped to launch this cool sport (Babe Ruth for one!) Rob joined a league here in town and has risen to the top rather quickly. Last week he rolled six straight strikes and managed to bring in his highest score ever. He even got his name immortalized on the big board. I surprised him this week by sneaking over there and taking a few pictures, printing them out and having them framed for him. Thought I'd share them on our blog! Congrats Rob! I'm proud of you!

Heroes

This song was introduced to me by a wonderful woman I met just once at a ladies retreat at mom's church. Her name is Jennifer Ford and she is a mom of a special needs child, as am I. She and I hit it off and I took down her name and number. While we've never spoken since that conference, I think of her every time I open my bible, because the sticky note with her name is on the inside cover to remind me to pray for her. A few months ago, I received a package from her with a video of The Isaacs. It's a bluegrass gospel group and they sing a lot of beautiful songs, but one in particular meant a lot to her, and as it turns out... me too! I thought I'd share it with you. Enjoy... and grab some tissues.

2009 Here We Come!

2008 was a year of change around here and we're looking forward to settling into 2009 and keeping things low key! Just being a family and enjoying our time at home together. Rob and I have lined up some respite providers, so we are looking forward to some date nights without the kids to reconnect and have some alone time! Here are some shots in the new year that I took with my new camera. Cannon being Batman and hanging with Daddy; Colin cruising on the motorcycle, flexing his muscles, dressed as Woody, and posing with the umbrella; and Chance hanging with Daddy. Of course I'm never in the pictures since I'm on the other side of the lens!