Our war hero

Well, tonight we were so honored to have my old college friend Lil come out for a visit. She lives in New Jersey, but is at Fort Bragg right now getting ready to be deployed to Iraq sometime this weekend...and what a treat it was that she chose to drive out here to spend the evening with us!!! Lil has been in the Navy reserves and was called to duty. It's truly unbelievable to think of how her life has had to change (work, house, family, etc) to prepare for this deployment...Regardless of how a person feels about the war itself, I am so touched by the strength and committment of those serving, particularly of course Lil!!! And for those of you reading this who knew Lil back at A.C....can you believe it? That's what Lil and I kept saying! (well maybe it's not so hard to believe if you can remember her picking errant threads off of her ROTC uniform so she wouldn't get in trouble...)

Sharon took right to Lil and enjoyed having her here. Lil has been a loyal reader of the blog and has kept up with Sharon's progress so it was very special to have a chance to "show off" Sharon in person :) And the horse in the picture was Lil's gift for Sharon in honor of what will soon be a new member of the zoo (more on that later!)

Love and peace to all, and for the praying folk, please keep Lil and her family in your prayers as she embarks...

Peace,

Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I.

First day of school!

Well, we all survived!! It actually wound up sleeting/snowing that first morning and i thought that school would be delayed, but we were able to take her in for a couple of hours. RJ was there for moral support, so that helped! Sharon really did well. She seems to like her teacher a lot and really enjoys the other kids in the class. In two days she already had PT, OT, and speech, along with music. Whew! I am pleased that she did as well as she did (no crying, she got excited the second day there) and we'll see how the next couple of weeks go. Her teacher is very thoughtful and even called me the night before her first day just to check in, so i do feel like she is in good hands.

Keep this progress in your prayers as we continue to determine if this is the best path for Sharon!

Peace

Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I

Here is Sharon feeling like a big girl with her cousins (Rose, Zac, and Anna). We went to the mountains this weekend and she had a ball playing with the cousins. They worked hard at getting her to take steps on her own and to say words...they are a great influence on her, although i do think she is a bit (more?)spoiled now...

RJ and I were able to ski (he snowboards) quite a bit so that was very nice! The weather was gorgeous.

Now we're just going to work on getting Sharon to bed early the next few nights to prepare her for getting up for school! I'll let you know how her first day goes...

Blessings

JAye, RJ, and SHaron I.

Sharon with Cousin Ed (visiting from PA)...see how she is grabbing him with her right hand!!!















Sharon hard at work...she takes it seriously!














Hello all!


We are having a busy new year and Sharon is doing great with the pace. She is coming out with more words and sounds which is exciting. Her speech therapist is convinced that it is a lot of stubborness that keeps us from hearing more from Sharon...time will tell!
As you can see from above, Sharon has her own computer now. Her uncle Jason laughs at it, a very old Mac, but it does the trick and she loves it. She was becoming quite adamant about wanting to help me work whenever i sat at my computer, which was not very productive for me, so now our computers are side by side and we both can concentrate on our own work...
Yesterday I took Sharon on a tour and for an intake at the infant toddler program she will be attending. She is going to start next week. I am still very very hesitant about it, but we're going to give it a couple of weeks and see what happens. Her teacher is very nice and skilled and there are only 4 or 5 other students in the class. It is a full time program, but i am only going to send her half days, 3 days a week. She will recieve PT, OT, and Speech during the days along with other regular school activities. PLease keep this whole decision in your prayers...I am still looking for guidance as to whether this is the right thing for Sharon.
RJ has started back up at school after a very nice Christmas break. It's back to late nights for him!!
God Bless
Jaye, RJ, and Sharon I ("computer wiz")