Do You Know the Cookie Rules?

A friend sent this to me a few days ago, so I just had to share...if only I were this clever to think of all these rules!!

Christmas Cookie Rules:

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you're making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calories free, (rule #1) yours is also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five - one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!

7. Cookies eaten while watching "Miracle on 34th Street" have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!

So, go out and enjoy those Christmas Cookies - we only get them this time of year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New year

One Incredible Moment

If you have not discovered author Max Lucado, I simply cannot begin to explain how much you are missing. He is truly one of my favorite authors. Introducing him to my children brings me such joy. This is our second Christmas book we have begun reading aloud. I knew it would happen, but I certainly didn't think I would break in the very first chapter.

A massive, golf-sized lump stuck in the middle of my esophagus . . . and then the tears flowed. I finally finished that chapter and decided I had to share it with you all. I could tell you that you must buy this book, but unless I give you ample reason to, you probably won't. I'm typing out the entire chapter for you in hopes that it will stir your soul to purchase this book and read it to your children.

From One Father to Another


"This isn't the way I planned it God. Not at all. My child being born in a stable? This isn't the way I thought it would be. A cave with sheep and donkeys, hay and straw? My wife giving birth with only the stars to hear her pain?

This isn't at all what I imagined. No, I imagined family. I imagined grandmothers. I imagined neighbors clustered outside the door and friends standing at my side. I imagined the house erupting with the first cry of the infant. Slaps on the back. Loud laughter. Jubilation.

That's how I thought it would be...

But now...Who will celebrate with us? The sheep? The shepherds? The stars?

This doesn't seem right. What kind of husband am I? I provide no midwife to aid my wife. No bed to rest her back. Her pillow is a blanket from my donkey...

Did I miss something? Did I, God?

When you sent the angel and spoke of the son being born - this isn't what I pictured. I envisioned Jerusalem the temple, the priest and the people gathered to watch. A pageant perhaps. A parade...I mean, this is the Messiah!

Or, if not born in Jerusalem how about Nazareth? Wouldn't Nazareth have been better? At least there I have my house and my business. Our here, what do I have? A weary mule, a stack of firewood, a a pot of warm water. this is not the way I wanted is to be!....Forgive me for asking but...is this how God enters the world? The coming of the angel, I've accepted. The questions people asked about the pregnancy, I can tolerate. The trip to Bethlehem, fine. But why a birth in a stable, God?

Any minute now Mary will give birth. Not to a child, but to the Messiah. Not to an infant, but to God. That's what the angel said. That's what Mary believes. And God, my God, that's what I want to believe. But surely you can understand; it's not easy. It seems so...so...so...bizarre.

I'm unaccustomed to such strangeness, God. I'm a carpenter. I make things fit. I square off the edges. I follow the plumb line. I measure twice before I cut once. Surprises are not the friend of a builder. I like to know the plan. I like to see the plan before I begin.

But this time I'm not the builder, am I? This time I'm a tool. A hammer in your grip. A chisel in your hands. This project is yours not mine.

I guess it's foolish of me to question you. Forgive my struggling. Trust doesn't come easy to me, God. But you never said it would be easy, did you?

One final thing, Father. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another? If not an angel, maybe a person? I don't know anyone around here and some company would be nice. Maybe the innkeeper or a traveler? Even a shepherd would do..."


Oh, how I love the way he writes!

Thanksgiving Blessings!

I know I'm REALLY late posting this but I just couldn't make the time to sit here and share! Even though I'm three weeks late, I still want to share what we did for Thanksgiving this year.

I am always trying to find new and creative things for us to do together as a family. Having an age span of 13 to 18, mixed with two of them being deaf, the interest and ability levels vary tremendously. From activities to games, books, movies and read alouds, it's a constant struggle that I will not give up on!

As we were having our traditional Thanksgiving lunch at Mimi's Cafe, I brought a notebook and explained a little game that I thought of that morning. Although this may seem very remedial to some and rather silly to do with an 18 year old boy, it proved to be a very memorable experience for us. Using the alphabet as our guide, we went around the table and had everyone tell us what they were thankful for that started with their assigned letter. We continued until we were at the end of the alphabet.

Now, what was so amusing was listening to every one's feedback after they heard what someone had picked for their letter. Shouts of 'how could you be thankful for egg salad when the elephants that God created are so amazing!' So, once we were finished, everyone wanted to do it again so they could give their answer to a letter they didn't get the first time. My cheeks were actually sore when we left from all the laughing and several times my husband kept trying to hush us up as the onlookers were really looking! My oldest informed me that he has given me plenty of blogging material in just one luncheon with the family :)

I realize that this list may mean nothing to you and it probably won't even make you giggle, but I'm posting it anyways because it's my blog and I want a written record of these items and this day!! (wow - that sounded really snotty but it sure was fun typing it - baaahaa!)


A: Adam and apples
B: Bananas and bats
C: Cochlear Implants :)
D: Dad and dogs
E: Egg salad and elephants
F: Flirting and Fords
G: God and Grandparents
H: Holy Spirit and hospitals
I: Ice cream and International Airports
J: Jesus and Joy
K: Kyle and Kitchen
L: Love, lakes and Lego Universe
M: Mom, mall and Monopoly
N: Nintendo and nachos
O Oven, onions and Oreos
P: Prayer and paper
Q: Questions and queens
R: Racing and restrooms
S: Shopping and Savior
T: Teaching and Model T's
U: Us, underwear, utters and uniqueness
V: Victoria, victory and vase
W: Water and WWW
X: Xmen!
Y: You and yellow
Z: Zipper and zebras

If you know my children, you can pretty much guess which child gave which answer!

My wishes are tardy, but I still hope you had an incredible Thanksgiving Day and that most of all...I hope you made memories!

Update on My Kids - Part 3

Sitting here with a smile on my face as I listen to a very intense but giggle-filled speech therapy session. This session is after hours and on a much personal level with pillows and blankets surrounding the participants. I happen to dearly love both parties involved. One is my precious daughter and the other is my dedicated husband.

Although I have no regrets - I mean completely, 100%, ZERO regrets, I certainly had no idea we would be treating my 15 year old daughter like a toddler and struggle as much as we have the past few months. I also had no clue that my son would soar past the expected goals only to be released from speech therapy three weeks after the first implant since he was already talking and hearing on the phone! A household full of mixed emotions is putting it quite mildly.

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I signed to Adam. His second implant surgery went even better than the first and activation was all it was meant to be. This child, so full of life, smiles even more now than he ever has (he has been known as the 'smiling boy' by many people!) He's confident, secure and engaging in conversations that he dared not even think about 5 months ago. After only 3 months of guitar lessons, he is being moved to the intermediate classes starting in January! I have also noticed an improvement in his reading skills as well as his sense of humor :)

Here is where the mixed emotions break into the scene.

Victoria is a different story. She struggled with the first surgery, implants and activation, while the second surgery was even worse. She had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia and threw up 8 times before we even got her home. Her equilibrium was massively affected, so she had trouble walking by herself and the dizziness lasted almost a week. Poor girl even got a 24 hour stomach bug in the middle of her recovery time! She finally turned the corner and made it to activation day. I will say that I was a little shocked to learn that we were starting all over again - just like the first implant. I fully expected her to be able to hear even better with two implants (and eventually she will). Instead, she stated that she 'feels' the sounds and really only hears beeps. Sheepishly, I sat and listened as our audiologist explained that you have two hemispheres to your brain so each side works independently when referring to auditory paths. I should have known that!

We have now been back twice for remapping (fine-tuning) and I can finally say that things are looking up (which is why I haven't blogged until now). She is still very timid around a group of girls since she can't understand everything they are saying, but I do believe that one day she will be able to have a complete conversation with a friend and never have to ask for repeated sentences.

The biggest hurdle is remaining consistent. Determination will pay off but the process is shattering to your patience bucket. Last
week I spent 7 minutes working with her on one word. It was tedious and patient-taxing. I know now that her brain can hear these sounds but they have no idea what they are since she's never heard them before. We have to re-train her brain to know what a "g" sounds like, etc. With that knowledge, I can't make excuses anymore, like in the past. I had to teach her what a soft c and m sound like and I wasn't giving up. We both finally broke into a giggle and I accepted her pronunciation of the word. 7 minutes was long enough.

We are still under directions to repeat every word or sentence three times before we resort to signing. In my determination to NOT sign, it took us 11 minutes the other day to go through dictation. It was two scriptures verses that Adam did in 3 minutes, but I kept having to repeat myself numerous times for Victoria. It was mentally draining but I was very proud of her since she never got upset or lost focus. I couldn't say that a month ago.

After explaining to Victoria that her success of these implants solely rests on her determination and effort, I have begun to see some changes. She is now asking what certain sounds are and is increasing the volume each day on her own. Just yesterday she was telling me about a friend and then stopped herself to ask if she was saying the name right. I spoke the name about 6 times until she had it perfect. I chuckled internally knowing that she finally crossed the threshold - she wants to have better speech, therefore, she will!

The speech therapy I spoke about in my opening sentence is something daddy asked us to do. Throughout the day, I write down any word that she has trouble speaking. I work with her for a while and then move on. The list then lands in daddy's hands for him to critique her sometime after dinner. I love listening to them - his persistence and her girly-ness! Not only does she get the chance to work on these words twice, but she gets to hear how they sound from a male voice as well as a female voice.

It's December 7th and winter is here in full throttle - 14 degrees when I awoke this morning. The leaves crunch under our feet, the garden lies empty and the flowers no longer bring a splash of color to my front entrance.

However, there's a massive contrast when you walk through my front door. In here, it's spring! Conversations are budding, patience is anew, smiles are blooming and there's a fresh spring in the step of two children who are experiencing what we take for granted everyday.

Sound

Not only am I thankful for an on-time God, but also for children with more perseverance than most people I know!

And these little babies...no longer don our household :)