How can I keep from singing?

Amidst the heightened struggles that we have had lately, there has been a constant reminder that our trials are in perspective. Throughout his life, Dawson has never gone more than a few hours in a day without singing. This music-making has never been far away for him, and as a result, the bad times can never last long.
Lately, he has been seemingly singing more than normal. It's been amazing seeing how even after a few days into the week, he'll suddenly be singing and remembering a new song that he learned in church on Sunday. The memory is astounding. It's as though he has a photographic memory in a musical sense.
And the way he sings from the heart! We are always encouraged when he'll be singing "Show Your power oh Lord our God. Show your Power oh Lord, our God," in his very broken pronunciation. It's as though he believes absolutely every word that he is singing (we could all learn something from that when we worship).
And the pitch! I don't know many kids that can sing with such near perfect pitch. It's actually been fun in the last while, because he can carry his voice quite well now, that it allows me to occasionally sing in harmony to him. For me as a regular leader of worship, it's a dream come true!
I hope that if you're reading this, that you can also be encouraged by someone making music. I'll leave with these words from one of my favorite sections in Psalms (95:1-3), and words that Dawson seems to testify to us every day;
"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods."
With words like that, how can we keep from singing? -t

He will come through-Always

We grew up believing in the simple concept that when times became seemingly unbearable, God would never allow us to experience more than we were able to bear.
This concept has become more real than ever as time goes on.
In our entries, we have often expressed the difficulties Dawson has regarding nighttime. In the last few weeks, it has gotten worse than normal. Dawson frequently gets up at 2, 3, 4 and so on. Often he falls back asleep, but often, he is up for the day. This of course becomes very tiresome as you can imagine.
It was becoming almost too much to handle. Then, as we have grown to realize, God provided a beautiful little reprieve for us. One of our many loved ones offered to watch him for both nights on the weekend at our place. How amazing! See, it never fails. Good is good.
Now, I'd love to expand on this thought, but for now, I'm still tired, and I'll just close to say that first of all, God is always good- He has proven over and over, that He will come through. Second, we have an incredible group of supporting cast around Dawson. Amazing. Now it's time to go to bed. -t

Dora

Dawson has had a variety of fixations over his lifetime. When he was 1 1/2 or so, he was fixated on cars and the spinning of wheels on them. After that, he became fixated on Veggie Tales, then it was Nemo, and now it clearly is Dora.

We watch (and play) Dora from the time we wake up till the time we go to bed! If you are at all familiar with Dora, Dora and Boots always have someplace to go. They always have three steps to get to their location, such as jungle-river-Dora's house!! or Bridge-rock-waterfall!! We, as parents and caregivers have the honor of distinguishing which episode he wants to watch by key words such as: "River", or "library", "friends" or "Baby Dino"(that's a pretty easy one). At this point, we rummage through our brains to figure out which episode has that item in it. Then we locate the DVD or VHS (copied episodes from TV) and find the right location on the movie to watch. At that point, Dawson rushes to the closet to pull out his bin of "Dora blocks", finds all the charachters, and away he goes. He acts out the movie perfectly, and ALWAYS knows exactly what the next scene will be. He quickly finds the correct props, be it a string for the 'zip cord' or an empty container for the 'tram car'. He usually has the charachters in the right order just before the next scene, and when checking against the TV, they are in the exact right position! Unbelievably excellent visual memory! Often, when you hear him sleep talking at night, he frequently says phrases from the show in his sleep.

Tonight we bought some 'emergency' toys. The kind that you pull out when you either pull out a new toy, or your hair!! Guess what? Everything was Dora something or another! But he loves it; and it's a safe show, so who cares? We all will know the songs or catch phrases from the show till well past retirement, but, it makes him happy.

Now does anyone know of an equally catchy show about Bible stories?

-st

The Last Sale

It's almost that time again...
Twice a year, for several years now, a local store has been donating all of their returns and write-offs to us, and we have been hosting a garage sale to raise funds for Dawson's therapy-related things. What started out as a small operation selling plants and donated items has now ballooned into a huge sale that needs to be done 2x a year in order to sell everything. We have been so blessed by this endeavor, and we would have never imagined that it would become so big.
But alas, as with any fundraiser that happens, one gets burned out quickly- and it becomes very hard to manage the enormous task every six months. The list of people that have been involved is endless, especially our immediate family- but none more than Grandma and Grandpa W. Their tireless efforts of hard and painful work have been tremendous through the years. Aside from simply being normal grandparents to Dawson, they have heaped hours upon hours, and evenings upon evenings into this project. There is no way to properly thank you, except to say that may God find a way to bless you, and may Dawson's next kiss on your cheeks carry loads of gratitude and love for what you've done.
So here we go- tomorrow we start, and Saturday we complete the last time we will do this particular project.
Honey, did you bring any Tylenol with? -t

Learning for parents

Spring is here, and Dawson seems to be enjoying the outdoors this spring. What a blessing!

We've been doing lots of learning again, as Spring seems to be the time of year that conferences and appointments come around. As the picture shows, Dawson doesn't mind brushing his teeth, and based on one session I attended, it's a great thing! Prevention is the key! Actually, his front two teeth are a little wobbly, so it appears we may be close to reaching the next stage of his life! I wonder if he'll notice it when they come out. We expect to complete this task one night while he's sleeping, with Daddy's assistance, of course. I don't think the comprehension is there for the 'tooth fairy' quite yet!

Of course, the more obvious situation in this picture is the intense love for his father! Interesting how one moment, Dawson is completely overwhelmed with love for us, and the next moment, he's ever so angry! We do feel the love - most of the time!

Other sessions we've been able to take in recently include one on sleep for FAS children and an intense appointment with his developmental pediatrician. We are also planning on attending a full day session shortly on Sensory Integration from two renown people in that field of study. I'm really looking forward to it! I find this field of study, with all of the conferences I've attended, to be most interesting, as the sensory issues are often underlying issues to anything he does.

It is truly amazing how much we've learned over the last few years, and how that is helping us work with him. With this knowledge, I think he has come much further than he would have been without all of the strategies. Now if only we were more faithful at implementing the strategies all the time!

As you can tell from the posting time, it's late, and life must go on, so off to bed I go! Have an excellent week! -s

Water, Water, WATER!

So this entry is dedicated to one of Dawson's first loves- H2O.

How do you encompass, and properly explain how much water means to kids? Of course Dawson is no exception. He has always loved water- splashing, swimming, wading, drinking, soaking- and tommorow, he'll do it all over again.

If the weather's cold, he'll stand at the sink- shirt off of course, and take his Nemo characters through the regiment of reinacting different scenes from the movie. When the weather gets better, it's time to pull on the rubber boots and check out the latest mini lakes that have been created (that's him and Sylvia, exploring together).

Of course, the biggest joy for him has always been to pull the trunks on, and actually go into the pool. There is no secret to how therapudic water is. The pressure on a person's body does many things, including a secure feeling around them, allowing them to regulate their movements better, and have better impulse control. We are blessed to have family and respite workers that are willing to get wet with Dawson in the pool, the puddle or the sink, and make him truly happy. They are the heros that give him an opportunity to be in his element. Thanks everyone!

Of course, most of us love water too, but for kids that have disabilities, it's a whole new level of appreciation for what it can do, and the way it leaves you feeling. Now, where did we leave the towel? -t

A Great Easter!

First of all a big shout out to all the friends and family members that read this blog from time to time. Hope your Easter went well.

We had a great weekend. I think that Dawson enjoyed the nice balance of family and friends- but not too much! He really does enjoy his cousins, and finds pleasure in the people around him- just like anyone would. He has a limit though, and I think that we were able to read him well this weekend. This resulted in a good memory- it's not always that way.

I would like to say a special thanks to the aunts, uncles and cousins that were so encouraging and gracious to us on Sunday night, in spite of not having brought Dawson with. You showed a lot of understanding, and it resulted in a nice and relaxing evening for Sylvia and I. Many times, people are suspicious of us when we don't bring him with, not trying to understand the reasons. Thanks for being there for us in so many ways.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week, and God bless. -t