My Christmas Angel

Ellie's First Christmas Pageant!

Can you pick her out? :-)

As you know, I had reservations about Ellie's first Christmas program at church, because I didn't want her to be the only kid noticeably not walking or standing. It was stupid of me to worry because a) it doesn't MATTER and b) she blended in beautifully. It was all a big raucous up there anyway, with 20 2-4 years olds. Ellie was one of the less conspicuous ones, since she was happily singing and ringing her jingle bells, not running around the stage or crying or lifting her dress up. So, the sweet girl did amazingly and I am so proud!

Christmas With Mama, Papa, Ceese and Dodo

Opening Stockings on Christmas Eve

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

So, I was quickly gonna pop something in the mail, BUT:





Props to the neighbors for being much braver than me!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Last year, all the "great grand kids" got together for a group photo. I remember going home and crying, because Ellie was the only one who had to sit in a special seat. The kids who were a year younger than her were sitting independently and SHE wasn't. Ugh.



But not this year! My big girl sat perfectly on the hearth!!

Let the Gatherings Begin!

Despite the fact that we only have one side of the family to schedule around over Christmas (we miss you, Southern Mom and Dad!), THAT family is a hee-ooj one. I grew up here in this small Canadian town, and all of my family decided, for some strange reason, to stay put in the land of tundra and crazy-cold. Up until last year, I was definitely the "black sheep", living so far away!

My big family, mostly situated within 5 miles of one another, was one of the reasons we moved back here with Ellie. I grew up going to Grandma's for lunch every Sunday after church. I grew up building secret forts with my cousins, and dog racing with my uncles. I grew up having memorized all of my aunt and uncle's phone numbers, never hesitant to call them if I was in trouble (ie: missed the bus). We wanted that for Ellie too. ESPECIALLY for Ellie. I suspect it will be difficult for Ellie to enter into new social situations, where kids notice her disability before HER. I want to give her the safety net that a big family can provide. I want family to be a safe place for Ellie.

And, I sooo want Ellie to love Christmas the way I did when I was little. I know that our traditions may be different, but I want her to anticipate her Sunday School program on Christmas Eve, laugh in excitement over the thought of going over to Grandma's, and smile with glee at the thought of opening gifts, surrounded by people who love her.

So, let the lovin' and Christmasing begin!

Playing with Cassandra


Practicing their big song for the Christmas program (my Aunt is one of Ellie's Sunday School teachers, so she was leading them in their "dress rehearsal")



The first of many...


"Boy, Papa, I'm sure gonna see a lot of you this week!"

Same Silly Song

You've heard this one before, but not much has changed on the free-time front, so my obligatory post of the day will be a Top Ten List...AGAIN!

Top Ten Things That Made Me Smile Today:

1. Ellie saying the word "cheese" this morning (while eating it, which is important to note, because it's not like she was just saying it randomly).

2. Chocolate macademia nuts brought from Hawaii from one of our big donors, left in the break room for me, er, all staff and faculty to enjoy.

3. (Relative) WARM weather! It was only -4!

4. Singing with violins, flutes and a clarinet during practice for the Christmas service on Tuesday. I was irritated with myself for saying yes to yet another event, but after tonight's practice, I'm really glad I did. It's been a long time since I've done any classical singing.

5. Picking up Ellie from daycare and hearing that big, "Mommy!!!"

6. Coming home to SUPPER ON THE TABLE.

7. Seeing the crazy blue tree. There is a tree in our neighborhood that is literally 50 feet tall; a beautiful, old pine tree. The owners thought it would look GREAT if they would fling a strand of blue rope lights as far as they could up the tree, and plug it in. So, the tree stands, with ONE vertical strand of lights shining bright. Hilarious.

8. The thought of having a whole week off after tomorrow!

9. Mail! I love going to the mailbox in December. One cannot ever receive too many cards!

10. This one ALWAYS makes me smile: my first cup of fresh coffee with REAL CREAM (hey, it's Christmas, I can splurge!).

Stop the Music!

Nora, 12

Nora is a student at the Princess Basma Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children. This is a school where children can receive both an academic education and special treatment for their disabilities. It sits on top of the Mount of Olives, a high hill overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. The halls and classrooms of the large white cement building are designed to make it easy for the children to move around on crutches and wheelchairs. The children use their various abilities to help each other down hallways or out to the playground—pushing wheelchairs or providing a stronger shoulder to lean on.

Nora’s classroom is down a long ramp to the basement.

I am from Beit Safafa, to the south of Jerusalem, in Palestinian territory. I am a Palestinian.

I have three brothers, but no sister. I wish I did have a sister. I sometimes think about all the things we could do and talk about. If she were close to my age, we could wear each other’s clothes. Then it would be like we had twice as many clothes. My brothers are nice, but they are all younger than me, and can be very noisy. They bother me sometimes.

I love my brothers, but they can sometimes give me problems, like the day when I went to shop by myself. I was born with something wrong with my legs. I’ve always been in a wheelchair. I get around in the chair just fine. The wheels are like my legs.

I’m not supposed to go out by myself because my mother thinks I won’t be able to move fast enough if the soldiers come. There are a lot of soldiers where I live. They watch us all the time. We can’t do anything without being watched by them. They carry guns, and they give me nightmares. We would like them to go away, but they don’t care about what we want.

The soldiers are always around, but sometimes they move into the streets, and then everybody runs to get out of their way. If they feel like shooting, they will just go ahead and shoot. They don’t care if they shoot at a child or an older person.

My mother is afraid they will shoot at me for not getting out of their way fast enough. I think I could throw stones like the other children and still get away quickly, but I can’t throw stones if I’m with my mother.

The streets aren’t always smooth, though. Sometimes, there are a lot of rough places where the army has blown something up. I can’t move my chair on my own over places like that. Someone has to push me. My mother doesn’t allow me to go out by myself, but I went anyway one day when she wasn’t paying attention.

It was fun to be out by myself. I felt scared that she would catch me, but it was an adventure, too. I felt brave and scared at the same time.

I went to the little shop not far from our house. I bought some chewing gum. My mother doesn’t like me to have chewing gum, either, but I like it, so that’s what I bought.

I made it back home without being caught. Everything would have been find, but then I told my oldest brother what I had done. I wanted to brag, I guess. My brother thinks he’s so great. I should have known better. He went and told on me to my mother. She lectured me in front of him, about how I should be smarter than that and set a good example for my younger brothers. I didn’t like that, but I did like the gum.

I’m usually late for school, but that doesn’t have anything to do with me being in a wheelchair. There’s a van that goes to Palestinian towns and camps and picks up the kids like me to come to the school here. We’re supposed to be let through the checkpoints because we have a special permit. Even if there is a curfew on, we are supposed to be able to get through, but the soldiers always hold us up. Even though they know us, even though they see the same faces every morning, they still ask us for our identification papers. They count all the kids and ask us a lot of questions. They don’t care if we’re late for school or not.

Many of the kids in my class come late. School is supposed to start at eight-thirty, but kids come in at all times during the morning. It’s hard to concentrate with kids coming in all the time. The teachers are often late, too.

We can’t go visit my grandparents. They live in a town in the West Bank, and the Israelis won’t let us go through the checkpoints to visit them. They live so close to us, just a few miles, but they might as well live far, far away. That’s what would make me happiest, to see my grandparents again. I haven’t seen them in over two years.

I know there are other children in the world who suffer a lot. They get shot at even more than we do, and they get sick and go hungry. Some day I’d like to do something to help them. If I had three wishes I would become a doctor and I would be famous, maybe as a writer. And I would be able to walk.

(Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak. By Deborah Ellis, Groundswood Books, Toronto: 2006.)

My day started off poopy. Just one of those "why me?" days. Ellie's sick with a cold, and we had to get up early for the drive to Movement Centre physical therapy this morning. As I was brushing my teeth, looking at the still warm and oh-so-inviting empty bed in my room, I felt jipped. Why was I even brushing my teeth so that I could take my child to therapy, an hour away? Why was I even contemplating whether or not she was too sick to spend the morning working the muscles that don't function properly? The big question of my Tuesday morning off from work SHOULD be, "do we go grocery shopping or out for breakfast?"

I am thankful that these poor-me days are getting fewer and more far between. I used to feel this way often. Especially at the beginning, when Ellie was recently diagnosed. Time is a healer, and as my mommy-heart has mended (somewhat), the self pity has also resided. But, I'd be a flippidy-flipped liar to say that I still don't wallow sometimes.

I was still shakin' my booty at my exclusive pity party while at work in the afternoon. As I was going through the new shipment of books, I came across this one by Deborah Ellis. I was intrigued. So I opened up the crisp pages and began to read about a girl named Nora.

Nora's in a wheelchair. Nora probably had to go to physio therapy. Nora most likely saw many doctors in her short life. Nora's mom worries about her as much as I worry about Ellie.

But Nora's mom worries about more than how other kids will treat her daughter on the playground, or if it's in her daughter's best interest to receive botox injections in her hamstrings. Nora's mom worries about her daughter coming home from school ALIVE. Nora's mom worries about going grocery shopping with her daughter because she may be gunned down on the street.

The Travoltaesque dancing at my pity party came to an abrupt end. I closed the book and thanked little Nora, a world away, for her honesty. And smiled back at God, knowing that the timing on this shipment of books was no coincidence.

This and That

I hate going over a week between posts. It stresses me out. The back of my head starts pounding, and every few hours, as I go over my "to do" list, I add: make sure to blog. Because out-of-date blogs are an annoyance of mine. And I don't want to make myself annoyed.

But life is busy. My December calendar, especially the next week, looks a bit insane. I will be singing the ole stand-by, "One Day At A Time" a lot over the next seven days (and I'll totally sound like a female Kris Kristofferson).

So, instead of blogging coherently, I will spout off a quick Top Seven List. That way, I won't be annoyed by a dusty blog, and will also be able to go to bed in ten minutes!

Top Seven Things I'd Like to Blog About, But Don't Have Time to Expand Upon:

1. "The US is not ready for a female President." That is a for-true statement I read on a moms-forum, echoed by quite a few women. Whaaaa??

2. The book I'm reading entitled "The Myth of a Christian Nation" by Gregory Boyd. The back-cover description of the book:
Arguing from Scripture and history, Dr. Boyd makes a compelling case that whenever the church gets too close to any political or national ideology, it is disastrous for the church and harmful to society. Dr. Boyd contends that the American Evangelical Church has allowed itself to be co-opted by the political right (and some by the political left) and exposes how this is harming the church's unique calling to build the kingdom of God. In the course of his argument, Dr. Boyd challenges some of the most deeply held convictions of evangelical Christians in America for example, that America is, or ever was, a Christian nation or that Christians ought to be trying to take America back for God.
A phenomenal read and soooo very comment-producing!

3. Ellie's first Christmas concert on December 24th. My baby's going to be on stage at church, singing "Jingle Jingle Happy Bells"!! Two big emotions: by baby growing up, and the fact that she'll be the only one up there who won't be able to stand and shake her happy bells independently.

4. My sincere thankfulness that the US dollar is now finally worth more than the loonie again. Thank You Jesus.

5. My sweet Grandma is, for the first time EVER (since I've been around...which, of course, is FOREVER for me!), not making Christmas dinner for the fam. We are ordering in and have rented a space for our family gathering. I cry inside every time I think about it. I don't want my Grandma to get too old to cook or have us all over for Christmas.

6. I missed the boat on Celine tickets and now they're selling for $1000! GRRRRR...

7. Wondering if cable is really worth $40/month. (Richard hasn't been privy to this thought yet) Could it be a new year's resolution to scrap the cable/TV, or is that going waaayyy over the edge?

Good night y'all!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

From hot-bed political topics to some SERIOUS football discussion....don't ever accuse me of not being well rounded!

Anyone who follows college football will know that the BCS bowl selection is entirely screwed today. There are SIX, count 'em, SIX top ten teams with a record of 11-2. How do you pick who goes to the National Championship when each of those teams has lost twice, to often quality opponants?

Furthermore, in my ever-so-humble opinion, Ohio State, with a record of 11-1 shouldn't be an automatic shoe-in as number one either. The Buckeyes haven't played since the beginning of NOVEMBER. They play in a fairly week conference (sorry Big Ten-ers, but, c'mon!), without a championship game. I would pick Oklahoma over OSU any day, especially given the Sooner's decisive win over Mizzou yesterday in San Antonio.

Since I know that MANY of the big-wig NCAA officials are regular readers of my esteemed blog, I will submit my "answer to this BCS quandary" to them:

1. A two game, four team playoff. The top four teams in the BCS standings play a play-off game. The two winning teams then play each other in the National Championship.

2. Every BCS-bowl eligible conference MUST have a championship game. I understand that NCAA rules dictate that a conference must have 12 teams in order to play a championship game, so I say, "chop, chop PAC 10, Big 10 and Big East!" Go get yourselves a couple more teams. There are plenty of quality schools in crappy conferences, who should jump at the chance of joining one of the big 'uns (read: ones that make a TON of money). If Notre Dame is going to play on national TV every pickin' week, they can move to a decent conference, for goodness sakes. Then there's South Florida, Boise State and Hawaii. All top 25 teams who could easily hold their own in a "big" conference.

3. Write it into NCAA/BCS law that Alabama is ensured a spot in the National Championship bowl regardless of their record.

See, if the NCAA big shots would take my advice, the college football world would be a much less volatile place. And isn't that what sport is actually about: getting along and being nice to one another?