New Cell Phone

I got a new phone. My old one finally died, yay!! I know it's funny to be happy when something dies, but when it's a 2.5 year old bulky cell phone with bad reception, it's a happy time because you get to replace it with the newest technology, which doesn't cost hardly anything because our previous 2 year contract has been fulfilled.

Above is a stock photo, so not mine, but this looks exactly like mine. I've finally been able to combine my Palm organizer with my phone. Now I'll really kick butt in the keeping track of things department!

So, feel free to call, text, email, or IM me anytime. I can get it all on my phone. :-) It also has a Facebook program, so I can check that on my phone. Technology!! :-)

Spring Gardening and Flowers

We've also been doing a lot of spring gardening. I planted some great flowers in our front yard, as seen in the pictures above. The purple and pink colors are so great!!

Some beautiful pink, hot pink, and yellow flowers. Amazing shape and colors!
Purple petunias in the front yard. There are three groupings of them, here is one of those groupings.

These are the kids' flowers and herbs. They chose them (so it's an eclectic collection).

LDS Site on Disabilities / Getting Out There

Brian found this site about disabilties from our church. This page that I linked lists Ways to Help. .
I like what they said here:
"People with mobility and movement impairments may find it difficult to participate when facing social and physical barriers. Quite often they are individuals of courage and independence who have a desire to contribute to the fullest level of their ability."
.
This is my favorite:
"It is okay to ask if someone would like help, but do not assist a person without his or her permission. Consider safety and liability issues. "
.
Just yesterday, I had one person grab my groceries from behind me so that she could "help", and then when I got to my car, another lady grabbed my car door to open it for me. Neither of whom spoke to me first. I didn't even see them until after they had touched my stuff. This happens about every other day! I know people are trying to be nice, but at some point, it's just plain inappropriate to touch someone else's purchased groceries and car without their permission. If I had a nickel for every time....

.

No wait, I think this one is my favorite too!:

"Show compassion, sensitivity, and sincerity by respecting the individual’s wishes. Maintain a balance between helping and allowing the individual to grow by providing for him or herself."

.
That’s been my argument all along, that I need to learn to do things for myself. People are always trying to help, and I know they’re trying to be nice, I really do, but I also really need to learn this.
.

March 1st was my one year anniversary of when my physical abilities began declining incredibly quickly. With that anniversary, I realized that I’ve completed my basic lessons on how to do things. I can do pretty much anything I want. I use a grabber for high things, can cook, clean, homeschool, do laundry, and grocery shop. I can also drive a car, go up and down ramps, go over grass and rocks, pop a wheelie, and my newest trick, going in and out of a stepped up doorway.
I can go up the doorway by pulling on the door frame, which I why I can’t use that trick on any step, I have to pull on something. But, I can go down any one step now. From a single outdoor step, to a doorway threshold plus step combined. Anything up to 5 inches high, I have learned to drop from. I can’t just go straight down because my footrest will get caught on the ground.

.

What you do is balance on the back two wheels, which I’m great at now, the go forward to the edge of the step, then in one move – with no hesitation – push forward over the threshold, while at the same time bringing your front wheels down (just like landing a plane) to meet the ground at the same time or immediately after your back wheels hit down on the lower step. It has to be in this order. If the front goes down first, you’ll hit footrest instead of wheels. If the back wheels go down alone, you have to be really talented to keep from falling backwards to the ground. So, it’s like falling, and timing the fall to let the wheels land at the proper times in relation to each other. At first it was very scary, falling and being in mid-air for a moment, with no control. But I’ve been practicing for a month now, and now that I’ve got it down, it’s fun to do!

Anyway, the point of all this is that I think I'm ready to allow more help when people want so much to give it. I just needed to know that I could do it first, and now I know. So, I'll work on this. Of course, I've said no to help 7 out of the 8 times it's been offered in the past week since I made this decision, so clearly I have more work to do on it.

.

.

I've also hit a phase in my life where I'm starting to understand why there's a prevalence of people on wheels who do a lot of sports and activities. I need those things too. I need to seriously get out there and have fun. Fear be damned. Murderball (wheelchair rugby) is looking pretty good right now. I think that would be a lot of fun. I've been searching the ends of the earth and finally found some groups, mostly in Dallas however, who have activities I can go to. They have handbikes I can borrow, they have boating trips, and rugby. On our own, our family also wants to try kayaking and archery.

.

So, we're using the chair as a motivator to get ourselves to finally get out there and do the activities we've been dreaming about for years but were too unmotivated to schedule. My stronger desire to actually do something physical, combined with the fact that I live with 3 boys who thrive on physical activity has left us no choice -- we've got to go have some fun!! :-)

.

By the way, I love this guy and this chair he made (see above picture): http://www.axessoutdoors.com/

Facebook / John

Hey there friends. I've been behind in blogging because I discovered Facebook. Here's my profile. My mom got me on a while ago. She started a group for our family to keep in touch. That is working well.

Then, a week and a half ago, I found out that you can find old friends from High School on there, as well as people I know now! My whole world has expanded. It's so great getting in touch with all of my friends. I can combine the worlds of my past and my present. I love it!

One friend I tried to get a hold of but then found out why I couldn't find him. I found out last week that my good friend John Holt died last October. He was only 53! It was quite a shock to me, my old friends, and even some people at "I went to Mt. View a long time ago" group. It's a good thing I didn't hear about it then, I couldn't have handled it with all the other stuff I had going on in my life. But now, in March, I was ready. I don't know how his wife is doing, but I know she's a strong lady, and I wish her all the best.

John was originally our English teacher. Brian and I were in his class together in 10th grade, 1989-90. After high school though, he became our good friend. We and some other friends shared our poetry and writings with each other often. He and his great wife Suzellen were some of the few, if not the only non-family members who were at our wedding. He was a great friend and a great motivator. He always saw a lot more potential in me than I did. And now, I'm starting to wonder if he was right. He was one of those guys who is very smart, is always nice, and is always genuinely trying to help others. You don't meet many like that. He and his wife also loved horses. They owned many and his wife teaches centered riding. He had moved on to become a middle school principal in his last years, and from what I hear, he was excellent at it.

So that's a hard thing, to know that someone you care about isn't here anymore. Very complicated, lots of emotions with that. I wish him well on the other side, and look forward to meeting him again in person someday.

Dance Party -- my house -- be there!

We've been holding our dance party more often. We're trying to do it every week.

Dance Party is a thing we do on Friday nights. We clear out the furniture from the middle of the living room, turn out the lights, get out some blinking colored lights and flashlights, and listen to the dance music that's on the radio. Usually we just rotate through the channels and can get a pretty good mix from 70's & 80's through to current alternative rock. If we ever run out of good music there, we can hook up Brian's computer to the speakers and listen to MP3s. It's a lot of fun!

The kids dance, and also make forts that they play in, and do tricks with the flashlights on the ceiling. Brian and I like the occasional slow dance too. :-) We all just dance and jam like there's no tomorrow.

It's so fun that everytime we do it, I wish I would've invited some friends to come over and dance with us. So, if you want to come over and dance with us, great! Let me know and I'll tell you when our next one is!! I figure we could fit at least 2 more families with kids in our living room/kitchen dance floor. :-)

It's great. Like dancing as a teenager again, but with your husband and kids, which is even better!!

Krysten's blog

My nephew Jacob

My newphew Jordan

Krysten, my sister, started a blog! Yay! It's at http://livedeliberately.net/. You're so cool Krys. I love the title, I wanna be like you! I really look foward to following along and seeing how she's doing. Love ya Sis!

Marley went home!

Kim, my sister, holding baby Marley (she's small -- get your magnifying glass out!), her husband Michael, and their son Sebastian.

My niece is home! I forgot to mention that earlier. She was allowed to go home from the NICU on February 27th, when she was 10 days old, at 3 pounds, 10 ounces!!! They had lots of car seat problems, since kids are almost never allowed to leave the NICU that small. She’s doing so great at home. She’s already up to 5 pounds now! That’s my niece! She and my sister are doing great, I’m so proud of them!! Love ya Kim!