Table for 12

I saw my first 2 episodes of TABLE OF 12. I ran across it on Netflix.

This family had a set of twins, another set of twins and then sextuplets!

Yes, I'm aware that the show isn't new, but it's new to me, and I was instantly interested in the show because we have some things in common:

**We both have large families.
**We both had our kids close together.
**The mom and I both stay at home.
**The parents actually like having a huge family.
**They also have a child with cerebral palsy.

YET THEY HAVE 5 MORE KIDS THAN ME!!! WOW!!



I've only seen two episodes so I'm not expert on the show but a few things struck me that I really liked.
I was never a fan of the Jon & Kate plus 8 show because there was so much negativity going on it the episodes I saw. The parents relationship was hard to watch on that show and...we saw how that worked out.

The Table for 12 couple seemed so genuine.

The main thing about the show that fascinated me was to see how the kids interacted with their sister that has cerebral palsy. They include her, carry her around and love on her. That's the way it is with Miles. If one kid is watching a movie then they make sure that Miles is watching the movie with them. They do that on their own. They include him. I think the episodes I watched highlighted that special relationship very well. I will admit that I teared up a couple of times about what the siblings had to say about their sister. It was touching.

I saw these episodes several days ago...I've been planning on watching a few more...However, keeping up with 5 kids doesn't allow for too much TV watching. I guess that means that the Table for 12 couple never gets to watch TV!

Sew What's Up?

I've been sewing a lot lately. It's been great therapy! It's cheap, there's no calories, I get to give away the finished product, I feel creative, and I can do it at home. I like to couple sewing with funky beats from Pandora. Right now I'm jamming to Get Down on It from Kool & The Gang.

Sew...what's up with you?

Are you up to anything creative? If so what is it?

Testimony

More than ever I know that God has a plan for Miles, and that there’s nothing I can do to hinder that plan or to speed that plan up.

In February Miles was so sick that the hospice nurses told us that Miles probably only had a few days left to live. That was the first time anything like that had been said about him. He was on oxygen 24 hours a day. He was on heavy doses of pain medication. He had stuff pouring out of him that looked and smelled like death. He was constantly asleep or crying in pain. It was the worst thing that I’ve ever had to endure. Every day seemed like 3 days. Randy and I were planning a funeral in hushed tones. Every time I bathed him I wondered if I was preparing his body for burial. Every time I kissed him goodnight I wondered if it were for the last time. I cried morning, noon and night. I even woke myself up one time because I was crying in my sleep. I got to the point that I was praying that he would die so he could finally be pain free.

BUT GOD…

But God had other plans. Without any antibiotics or steroids all the junk in Miles’s lungs cleared up. His heartbeat returned to normal. He no longer needed help with the oxygen. He no longer needed pain medication. For about a month he felt great, looked great and sounded great! The hospice nurses have been more than amazed! In their words it is “scientifically impossible” that he could have clear lungs. Miles didn’t just sound better than he did. He sounded completely clear. Miles’s lungs haven’t sounded completely clear in years! (not that I can actually remember him sounding completely clear!) Miles went from looking like he was going to die to looking like he was going to get up and start running around the house!

At this point I have no idea what God is going to do. About 2 weeks ago Miles started getting sick again. A week ago he began to get really congested and has even needed some pain medication here and there. Something has changed though. I’m not fearful. I’m not upset about it. I saw Miles was getting sick and out loud I said to God, “I trust you.” This morning Miles’s face was covered in crusty mucus and his lungs sound like trash, but I’m not scared. I’ve given Miles to God and I’m happy to take care of Miles as long as I have him. However, I don’t feel like it’s my job to keep him alive. I have real and true peace that passes all understanding.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a normal and relatively easy life. Then, I think about the people in the Bible. They didn’t make it into the Bible for having a normal and relatively easy life!

Will Miles live?
Will Miles die?
Will Miles be totally and completely healed?
With God all things are possible!

For to Miles, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ~Philippians 1:21

SWAGGER WAGON

I LOVE THIS COMMERCIAL!

Next time you see Randy ask him to rock it out for you. : )

My Day

This is what I'm doing today:

Get all of Miles's stuff done. (I'll spare you the details.)
Shower and get ready for the day.
I don't have to do Spencer's school today because he decided yesterday that he wanted us to Double Up so we did both days yesterday!
I'm volunteering at the school during lunch time so the teachers can have a lunch without kids today.
I've got to find someone to pick up 3 of my kids from school today because I have an appointment at the same time.
I'm going to go to the church and set up the 3rd & 4th grade classroom for Sunday.
I've got to take Spencer to the ear, nose and throat specialist to get a granuloma removed or a consult to get it removed. I'm not sure what all that entails. (I had taken him to the doctor this week because it looked like a mole that he has on his face had turned black but the doc said it wasn't a mole...it was a granuloma.) Whatever the heck that is.
Then I've got to get back home to pick up kids or drop off kids and go to the grocery store because we're out of Everything!!!

And that's what I'm doing today.

Holland

I read this poem several years ago. I've continue to think about it on and off. It's so true.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.