Happiness...

I feel like I'm almost always grateful for our life, family, and friends. But do you ever notice that certain days, you feel even more grateful for the simple things?? Today, I feel so grateful for a number of things... Grateful that I survived a trip to Wal-Mart today with Kelsey (who did not scream at all, thanks in HUGE part to some early Halloween candy!), grateful for a nice visit and talk with a friend today, grateful for my husband Mike - who is the best Dad ever!!! And this evening, watching our kids carve pumpkins and totally enjoy this simple tradition - I thought to myself, "It does not get any better than this!".

DD Pumkin Patch Trip

Today James and I went on his first official School Field Trip to the DD Pumpkin Patch in Terrebonne. The weather today is absolutely beautiful! Kelsey spent her morning with Grandma and Grandpa, so James and I were able to have some special time with just the two of us.

A Moment in Time...

This entry is dedicated to my cousins Kathy, Chad, and Chris who are dealing the with loss of their Dad, Jerry. Jerry past away last night at 8:45PM with his children by his side. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Kathy, Chad, and Chris today. We are truly sorry for your loss.

I was running errands yesterday - alone - and had the luxury of listening to the radio instead of the kids DVD player. With thoughts of Jerry on my mind and the recent loss of Colette's Mom, Chris, I heard the song 100 years by Five for Fighting. As I listened to the lyrics of the song, I was so moved at the truth of the words in that song. We are here for just a moment in time, even if you are blessed enough to live 100 years - It still goes so quickly! Here are some the lyrics of that song...

""I'm 15 for a moment, Caught in between 10 and 20, And I'm just dreaming, Counting the ways to where you are.

I'm 33 for a moment, Still the man, but you see I'm a they, A kid on the way, A family on my mind.

I'm 45 for a moment, Chasing the years of my life,

Half time goes by Suddenly you’re wise, Another blink of an eye 67 is gone. The sun is getting high, We're moving on... I'm 99 for a moment, Dying for just another moment, And I'm just dreaming, Counting the ways to where you. There's never a wish better than this, When you only got 100 years to live.""

We never know when our "moment" will be over. God bless Jerry Ferguson today, and welcome him into your kingdom!

"Hippo" Therapy

We have some exciting news for Kelsey! For some time now, we have heard about "Healing Reins" from a number of people that are involved in Kelsey's life/therapy. Healing Reins is a therapeutic riding center where they do "Hippo" therapy for young children (Hippo is Greek for Horse). We did some investigating into it and had Kelsey evaluated this past week to see if she would be a possible candidate for the program. Because she has Nystagmus, balance issues, low tone trunk muscles, and being diagnosed with mild Ataxic Cerebral Palsy (which we still question), she was accepted into the program!! The program is very full, so we feel grateful that they have made a spot for her. Unfortunately at a large financial cost, but we are trying to iron out that detail with Mike's insurance and we are also going to apply to see if Kelsey may be eligible to join the Sparrow Club of Bend. That is a wonderful program where a local school and business sponsors a child that has a medical need and helps to fund raise and do community work to assist the family with medical expenses and/or therapy. It is basically "Kids helping kids". We have faith that the financial end of it will work itself out.
We are so excited for her to begin this new venture! Like her Mommy and Daddy, she adores all animals. In therapy, she will ride bareback (yes, can you believe that at 2 1/2?!?!) She will have 2 therapists on either side of her, and she will ride and work on those trunk muscles, do lots of balancing exercises with the horse, lots of reaching, and learning to use her core muscles to keep her balance on the horse. It will be a few weeks until she is actually working with a horse, but I will be sure to post pictures! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we work out the many details of this new venture!

Memories...

I am so blessed to have a husband who is rarely gone in the evenings, but tonight Mike had a rare dinner meeting for the Landscape Contractors board - so it was just the kids and I. The kids are always squirmy at night before bed, so as a special treat we watched a family movie of "James's first year". What a wonderful trip down memory lane! One of the first "scenes" was Mike holding a 1 day old James in the hospital. Not only did Mike look a lot younger, he looked like a deer in the headlights holding this tiny little boy - and not sure what to do with him. It was so sweet! Then, there were many takes of my voice talking to James as I filmed him doing what babies do (rolling over, eating sweet potatoes, sleeping) and as I listened to my voice on the tape oooing and ahhhing over my perfect new son, it brought back those amazing feelings of love and pride that you can only get from your brand new baby! Then, it hit me...I felt a bit sad in a way as I watched and listened to the innocence of my voice on the tape. We missed out on so much of those innocent, love-struck times when Kelsey was an infant, because so many of our moments with her were filled with worry of the unknown . What is wrong with her - if anything? Will she be okay? Will she lead a normal life? Get married? And also times were filled with many moments of relief each time she "passed" another test to rule out some dreadful problem that was given to us as a "possibility". Thankfully, we now know with much more certainty that she is okay and she hopefully will lead a pretty normal life. Though the past 2 1/2 years of her life have been challenging to say the least, Mike and I have grown tremendously - and we are so grateful we have her! We both believe with all our hearts and soles that Kelsey was a gift from God, given to us for a very special reason. We are grateful that he entrusted her to US! What an honor!

Pumpkin Fun...

We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Terrebonne this weekend...Here a some pictures. It was very fun, but very windy and cold! Fall is in the air in Central Oregon! James and Kelsey both chose to get "Casper" white pumpkins again this year.

School Pictures...

You have to love school pictures! This is James's Jr. K class pictures that we just got back today! Though he looks a bit concerned, he really loves school!! Partly because he gets to go to school with his best buddy, Colby (to the left of James in the top row). They are inseparable from what we hear from the teachers. We also heard from the boys that the teachers have opted to separate them during circle time!

Kelsey update...Kelsey had an evaluation on Thursday by one of her new physical therapists. We went over her goals that we had set just 6 months ago, and she has met almost all of them! She is just about up to speed in all of her developmental milestones and we feel so very encouraged for her! She will be re-evaluated again around her 3rd birthday.

A Special Gift...

Tonight, as Mike and I were getting dinner prepared, James was unusually quiet. He sat in a corner, busily working on some sort of project that looked to involve scotch tape, pens, and scissors. When we all finally sat down to dinner, James proudly presented me with a gift - neatly wrapped with paper towels. And even a card attached to the front. I told him I would open it after dinner so we could take a picture of his beautiful wrapping job. With dinner over, James and I sat on the front couch together as I opened his gift that he so lovingly put together for me. See pictures for the rest...

The gift and card...

Wow! My boring grocery list notebook - made much more meaningful by my sweet son. These are the moments that make it all worth it!!

Kindermusik...

I signed Kelsey up a few weeks ago for Kindermusik - a music class for children 18-36 months. Kelsey is such a musical child, she loves to sing and dance - so I thought this would be so fun for her and I. Today was our second time at her class and I think it may be our last! You know how there is always that poor parent at children's classes with the kid who is misbehaving: laying on the floor playing the "limp noodle", taking off her shoes and socks and tossing them at innocent bystanders, trying to escape out the rear door, attempting to raid the teachers personal items? I was that parent at her last 2 classes. But, this is actually a blessing to me! Kelsey still struggles with some motor delays, but has come so incredibly far this past year! So, her acting like your typical naughty 2.5 year old at a silly music class warms my heart. God Bless that little girl that we were so lucky to have been given!

New for me...

I have been so very inspired over the past year by the "blog" of my wonderful lifelong friend Colette. It has been such a wonderful way for me to have a peek into her day to day life since we live such a distance apart - and would not have the opportunity to keep up with details of the Hudson life without Colette's blog. After keeping up with her blog for some time, I started to kick around the idea of starting one of my own for the same reasons that her blog has served. Express thoughts of day to day life, joys, sorrows, etc. and provide a way for family and friends that are unable to see very often a way to "peek" into the Bjorvik's little life here in Bend! So here goes...
Save this to your favorites and check back every so often to see what we are up to!