The Academy Awards

Tommy is sick.  Poor little guy.  And it's a mean tummy bug.

But of course I find a bit of parenting humor in the past 24 hours.  

Tommy doesn't "understand" how to "get sick".  And by "get sick"... well, I would say "vomit" here, but that would be gross, right?

So about 1am when he climbed into our bed, I heard him cough. 

And thought to myself, that's weird.... he hasn't had a cold/cough for a week.  

So when he coughed next, I quickly recognized he was coughing to try to "get sick".  

But it wasn't working.

Now I'm going to share with you that I have a slight gag reflex.

  The operative word there is slight.

  Friends have said "hair trigger" like.  Just because you've always wanted to know that about me, right?

Tommy just couldn't complete the task of "getting sick".

  And as much as he coughed, his tummy rumbled more and as I stared at him and thought..... I needed to "show him" how to get sick.  

We model behavior and tasks for him all the time at home. 

 Surely, WE needed to model "how to get sick". 

 And I was confident he would mimick the behavior and be able to vomit.  

So, I chose the WE in the equation..... to be Colin.  So I  woke him up.  

Shy grin.  Bad, bad wife.

Refer back to my slight gag reflex.

So Colin started "modeling" the task of vomiting at 1am to Tommy.

You really cannot plan for events like this and prerecord on the ipad.  lol. 

And I'm sitting next to Tommy on the bed, because that's what a mom is suppose to do, right? 

 Rub the child's back, speak words of encouragement...... and I hear Colin doing his "live movie like reanactment of vomitting"..... and of course, I do too.

Yep. 

Absolutely worthless am I.

Colin was the best actor and surely the Academy Awards missed his nomination.  He is such a peach!

And when I finally got a grip.  It took awhile, trust me.

I helped

.

So Colin and I are the parents modeling the behavior of vomiting to our child with special needs and whether it was our performance....

or time....

or gravity....

or because we were all tired....

Tommy got sick.

And didn't stop.

Until 4 am.

Like all good supporting actors, I let the lead "take the night off" and go to sleep while I carried the show.

Poor Tommy.

His upside down clown smile thru the darkness of the bedroom spoke volumes. 

And I'll let the Academy know of our fine performance.

 Your supporting actors.  Dad and mom.  Getting our green ready for St Paddy's day while we got to play with our nephews and niece at my sister's house this weekend.  Like any dynamic duo, Colin and I couldn't get far in life without each other.  I'm sure if we were giving an Academy Award speech for our modeling how to get sick, well, the speech would be short and sweet.  It takes two!

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Other supporting cast for the Academy Awards would be strange pictures from my phone. 

  We celebrated Nate's 18th birthday at our local mexican restaurant and I accidentally took this picture before Hannah and Nate were "ready". 

 We all couldn't stop laughing, it looks like some kinda mexican mafia pic.

 

 And this would be a contender for an award too.  Nate was actually looking at the people singing, and I meant to get a picture of him and Liam, but got the waitress oddly behind him who was waiting.... just an odd picture.  Because I'm odd.  And I love to laugh.

Redemption

"Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, 'Love your enemies'.

It is this: that love has within it has a redemptive power. 

And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals.

Just keep being friendly to that person. 

 Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. ..... 

the power of your love ...they will break down under the load.

That’s love, you see. 

It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says LOVE.

There’s something about love that builds up and is creative.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr (A knock at midnight: great sermons)

So I've had this 'draft' post written in my blogger cloud (I sound like I know what I'm talking about there, but I really don't have any tech skills) for three months.  Sometimes I've added my thoughts.  Mostly, I've deleted tons of words.  And almost hit the delete button tonight and erased it.

But then I wanted to share some thoughts on the confusing word of "redemption".  Since it's lent and all.  And since the Easter story is such an amazing, powerful and beautiful story of redemption.  For you.  And for me.  And because tonight we had a family dinner, even picked Hannah up from the dorm, and then watched our first recording of the History Channel "The Bible". 

Redemption is loving someone.  Even someone who you cannot stand any of their behaviors or actions.  The hardest ones to love are the ones that need the redeeming power of love.  I always thought that going to church and doing good things would bring me redemption.  But it was like a "end of life" kinda redemption. The past six years have really opened my eyes to exactly what I believe and more importantly feel daily as redemption.  I've lived thru pain and suffering and enjoyed sheer joy and long periods of happiness.  I've lived a life, I guess, these past six years. One filled with every aspect of humanity.  And the love within those days has been redemptive.

Redemption was found on a summer day visiting my daughter inpatient recovery in eastern washington.  I never lost my love for my daughter, not for a moment, but what I never could say before that summer day is that I loved an alcoholic or an addict.  In fact, I really avoided those people all my life.  "Those people".  Mentally ill.  Substance abusers.  But on a hot summer day that turned into a cool evening, I was sitting in a room talking to a group of girls. Hearing their testimony.  I loved a 14 year old girl detoxing from a heroin and meth addiction.  I loved another girl, my own daughter, as she shared her testimony of social drinking turned to alcoholism quickly.  And I loved still another girl, my daughters age, who would struggle the most with recovery and end her childhood in a half way house.  While all were sick and struggling toward recovery, love was redemption for them and for me. 

Redemption is adoption.  Saving an orphan.  My friend Ruth is one of the most self-less people I have ever met. Adoption is the gospel alive and in your home!  She is adopting a child with Down syndrome from eastern europe.  That is one sweet face of redemption! 

Redemption is the staff in my son's life skills classroom.  Para educators, OT, SLP, and a teacher in life skills and one in general education... all gifted beyond where most of our minds and hearts daily exist. People that love on my son and provide an educational setting that is safe, nurturing and meets him where he is academically.  And in the process, they struggle with being exhausted mentally, physically and spiritually.  Dostoevsky said, "Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.  Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all..... but active love is labor and fortitude".  


"On earth as it is in heaven", that part of the Lord's Prayer makes me smile with the hope and the promise that it implies.  The desire to be "christ like" to be the "arms and legs of Jesus" doing God's will on earth.  Witnessing to the power of redemption in whatever simple ways it shows itself.  Testifying to the power of giving grace to others and allowing them to live a lifetime thru hope and faith.  Love gives and gives and gives.  "On earth as it is in heaven" means not merely the gratification of being loved—but the blessing of loving others.  Redemption is to give the best of one's life for others.

Loving my husband and my family, tries my patience lol, and redeems me daily.  During nightly devotions with son Liam, my mind races around silently and wishes for the morning because I remember all my short comings of the day, when I was rude, when I wasn't patient.... and I cannot wait until getting another 'blank slate' that comes with the morning.  Another fresh start.  God redeems our heart thru forgiveness and a new start each day.

Redemption is not being a bystander but an active participant of life.  Hundreds of hours of volunteer time each year goes to a few of my favorite organizations, I can honestly say that I'm selfish about giving myself thru volunteering my skills and heart.  The love just goes on and on and on.  The people I have met these past six years have been so inspirational.  I get far more out of volunteering than I feel like I every give to an organization.  Love thru volunteering is redeeming.  But it's not the "act of volunteering" that is redeeming, it's the relationships and community it builds.  It's the love that is.

The world may not have changed dramatically with the action of love.  But those people that you touched by your love will have THEIR world changed.  Break the loaves of bread, pass the cups, put your love into action.  Redemption will be found here on earth.  Make heaven on earth, He wants YOU to.  And remember what Dostoevsky said, it's going to be harsh and dreadful at times.  It will take actions pushing past your comfy zone.  But do it anyway. 

Siblings

Grab your tissues.  

I know I did.  

At the last Down syndrome outreach meeting we heard that the Sprout Film Festival was once again coming to Bellingham courtesy of the Arc and great sponsors locally.  Prepare the popcorn!  The Sprout film festival is an amazing collection of beautiful and inspiring short movies made by and about people with developmental disabilities.  Their families.  Their teachers and communities.  It is just an amazing glimpse at movies made about humanity.  So I was thrilled it was coming back this year!  Information for this year's event is at the very bottom of this post.
I remember last year, Colin and I had plans for 'date night' at the 1st annual Sprout Film Festival.  But plans changed and he needed to stay home with our boy wonder (Tommy), so I took Nate for the gala event that evening and enjoyed yummy foods, lots of familiar faces and amazing movies. 

Movies that inspired my mind.  Like this one that I just saw on their website:

http://www.sproutflix.org/content/jacobs-turn

Stories that ripped my heart out of my chest and made tears stream from my eyes.  Like ugly cry kinda movies that were so emotionally touching. 

A story similar to ours but beautifully unique is "Distinctively".  Another one I found on their website:

http://www.sproutflix.org/content/distinctively

And if you ever get a chance to watch "The Eighth Day", well, invite me over.  I'll bring my own box of tissues.  Gee whiz I love that movie.

But the most touching movie for Nate and I was one based on conversations with siblings.  About what it was like growing up with a brother or sister that is disabled.  The good, the great, the bad and well.... the really really ugly.

I wasn't expecting to see a movie with such raw emotions about the sibling experience.  I like to pretend in my own little world that family life is peachy.  Just peachy.  And that Tommy's sister and brothers are just "fine" with who he is.  Just fine.  Well, life is a bit more complicated than that.  More involved than simple and clear emotions of just fine.

So on the drive home, once the fabulous movie night was over (there were LOTS of great shorts to watch), I asked Nate about his sibling experience.  And he quietly shared.  And although there were a lot of specifics and feelings and thoughts... in the end he felt he was better, more whole, more in tune with himself for having Tommy as a brother.  Yes he remembers tight financial times as we watched all of our savings depleted with hospital stays the first year.  But as a family, we all remember the reason, we lost just about everything so our son, their brother, would have a lifetime. Nate doesn't really recognize disabilities in people, even today, he will correct me when I get anxious and excited about seeing someone employed at the grocery store with a disability.  Mom, they are no different and don't want your smiles.  And Nate volunteers time at the Buddy Walk and for various events by the Arc.  Humanity is just that, an all human event.

So I asked Hannah recently what her experience was like with Tommy as a brother.  If I was more artistic I would do more than cut and paste from my email into here.  But I'm not artistic.  So here it is :)

"There are many ups and downs of being a sibling to a child with Down syndrome. I am an older sister to a brother who has down syndrome, he is six years now, but I was 12 when he was born. As you can tell, being a pre-teen (at12) and having a new member of the family being born is not an easy thing in the first place! None the less having this family member be born a little bit different than what you were expecting. Having a sibling with Down syndrome requires more care, more protection, more help, more staying at home, more explaining to friends, etc than you would do with a normal child. To most, this sounds like such a burden, especially with all the surgeries and special care that Tommy received at first. It was a shock to hold my normal healthy baby brother Liam (who was the twin to Tommy), and then hold my brother with Ds who had tubes coming out all ends of his small little body!   I was scared, not only for this little boy's life that I barely knew and I had already grown so in love with, but for his future in my life as well. How was I going to explain this to my friends, and what if people made fun of him?   The truth is, people understand, siblings with disabilities are more common than you think, and people are very accepting. And those who aren't, aren't people that you should want to surround yourself with anyways. And the people that make fun of people with disabilities are people that I have found to be very sick and lacking a great deal of understanding. Having a developmental disability does not make you lifeless, needy, or time consuming, instead......  look at it as a person with a developmental disability often gives life lessons to those who are not disabled.  They are the most loving and giving people, and they are helpful unique individuals!   Having a sibling with Ds has taught me to be patient and accepting of others, sometimes they are the ones who have the most to teach you."

Last but not least in the sibling line up is Tommy's younger twin by 12 minutes Liam.  Oh my goodness is he sweet and kind.  And a recent event reminded me how close Liam's heart is to Tommy.  At school they celebrated the "100th" day of school.  All the typical fun activities.  Count to 100, name 100 things you like, describe 100 things you don't like.  Well, the teacher sent home a sheet where she had asked the students "If you could have 100 more of anything in the world, what would it be?"  And Liam wrote in big letters "Tommy's".  Yep.  He would choose to have 100 more Tommy's.  Truth is, I would too.  Pass the box of tissues, it makes me tear up even now.

Pretty cool people they all are.  Four of the best kids in the world.  In a family that is so human and on a path so evident to everyone. 

There was a study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics in October 2011 on "Having a son or daughter with Down syndrome: Perspectives from mothers and fathers".  I had read it with great interest because so often new families ask for perspective, advice, thoughts, wisdom as I'm only a few years farther along a similar path than them.  All I can seem to muster is "I wouldn't change a single thing".  Not him, not us, not any of the events that now make up our life.  It's perfect.  Perfectly us.

But in the article they support many of the same feeling that Tommy's siblings have.  Each milestone is a thrilling occurrence.  You will learn a new kind of patience, it's more like perseverance.  The researchers even noted a "Ds advantage" in that their families are described by others as warmer, closer and more harmonious.  Shy grin.  You just need to catch ours on a good day!  Because that is NOT us on plenty of days.

Tommy has three wonderful siblings to help him during his lifetime.

  But all three believe that HE will help them more. 

If you are a parent and want your family to enjoy fun events, especially some "sibling" special activities, you can find events here:  Parent 2 Parent Whatcom County
Sprout Film Festival is Tuesday April 23rd.  Screenings will be at 10:00am, 1:00pm and 6:30pm. The morning screenings will be free to the public. The evening program will include a fun reception with delicious appetizers, desserts and opportunities to win prizes. Tickets will be $20 for members of the Arc or the Pickford and $25 for non-members. Tickets will be available the first week of April: www.pickfordfilmcenter.com. For more information, contact Amy at The Arc: (360) 715-0170 ext.309, amym@arcwhatcom​.org.

The posts that never happened

I often quickly update my facebook with funny family events.  Joys of motherhood.  Trials of being human.  Feeling so human lately.  Very humbling life events seem to come all at once. 

And I forget that my friends all over the world (waving to those in Russia and Africa reading this) might like to read some of those quick updates.  So.  Here are the posts from facebook that never made it onto our blog.  Enjoy!  

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Got caught up on my mountain of laundry this weekend, only because I was sick and couldn't do anything else. So when the school bus pulled in the driveway this morning I grabbed Tommy's clean jacket from the pile and ran the kids onto the bus. So many of our jackets are hand me downs from cousins so some of the hood attachments are different and come with no instructions. So standing in the bus... I got Tommy's jacket on him, but there was a little black shiny fabric thing dangling from his Velcro and i thought it was a hood, so I squeezed my hands into it and kinda did a cat's cradle game with my hands to pry it open and squeeze his head into the "hood" (cursing my sisters who passed this contraption down to me), thinking there were eye holes in the hood but they were huge and by his ears, when all of a sudden the black "hood" shot out my hands and landed in the school bus aisle. Only then did I recognize that was my underwear.  My panties were laying there.  The morale of my story is ... catching up on your laundry is way over rated.


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Yesterday, Hannah texted me "my dorm hallway smells like poop, makes me think of my little brothers.... makes me miss them." Ha ha. I'm still not sure how to take that comment.  Hmmm.

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Thankful for my son Nate, he made dinner last night (yummy grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup) and completed all the farm chores (including feeding our turkeys which are the size of velasa raptors, in a rainy wind storm)....all with his little brother Liam glued to him, asking questions and hugging his legs. He is such a big help when Colin got called out to work and my sore throat got the better of me. Thank you Nate!

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New years post:
An Evening Family Prayer
Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
... for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded to us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow;
for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies
that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth. Amen.
- Robert Louis Stevenson


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I've mastered a slow run for a mile, finally! Twenty pounds lighter over the past four months. Working out four times a week is the best "me" time so I can be a better wife and mom and ME!! Ideas for afternoon snacks while at work?    Oh, you should see all the comments with ideas on "at work snacks".  My favorite was roasted chickpeas with olive oil and cumin. 

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My daughter Hannah was asked to be the guest speaker tonight at an aa meeting. Since it was an open meeting we got to come and hear her speak. Blown. Away. She is such a poised and centered public speaker. She spoke for twenty minutes on the topic of "change" that occurs throughout sobriety. I learn so much from my kids everyday!

Being intentional

A four day weekend wrap up.

With four days I knew I needed to be intentional about my time.  My efforts. 

Being intentional, for me, is all about being present in the moment.

Not anxious for tomorrow.  Or the next day.

Not sorry or regretful about something that happened yesterday or last week.... or last year.

Just being "in" the moment.

  Full of heart.

Able to give all that makes me special and unique to others.

Thinking about "now"... being present. 

Being intentional.

Friday was the first of the four days at home with my family and it started early.  Ugh.  O'dark thirty early.  My three sons and I (oh how I loved that tv show) drove to Olympia to tour Evergreen State College.  Nate was admitted for the fall, so we wanted to check it out and see just how "liberal" a liberal arts school can be.  And I'm here to tell you it was an experience!  It might be too 'student led' for Nate's learning style and needs.  However, any school that has 1,000 acres (largest campus in Wa state) and an organic farm on it and gives descriptive narratives of the students' semester accomplishments rather than grade has my vote!

Have you ever been on a four hour college information and campus tour? 

With twin six year old active boys? 

 After a four hour car ride where they couldn't "move"....

... And suddenly they CAN move...

It was pretty fun! 

Nearly eight hours in the car gave me lots of opportunities to have intentional conversations with the boys.  Talking to Nate about his upcoming first year "away" from hme.  Praising Liam about how great he did on the college tour.

Raising boys is very fun and rewarding mom work.

After seeing the college we did what others do in Olympia... no, we didn't tour the capital because it was nearly 5pm... we headed to Menchies! The four of us really enjoyed that tasty stop. And I greatly enjoyed all the conversations with Nate and Liam. Tommy is a boy of few words so we mostly giggled at each other.  I heart menchies!

 

Saturday started with Liam's last basketball game.  He had some nice assists again and then surprised us with taking a shot!  What a great ending to his first bball experience.   It wasn't until I was at the gym later that afternoon and his coach was working out near me that she shared he was her "most improved player".  Increasing his self esteem, appropriate social interactions with other kids (he started the season mistaking bball for wrestling), increased skills with bball itself and a longer length of focus on an activity.

 I like being intentional with the kids sports and really trying to find opportunities for them to become even better little human beings.

Saturday evening we had farmer Tiffany to dinner (there she is with one of her hens) and her family.  It was an impromptu dinner party.  We really enjoy talking to her family and we have three six year olds born within two weeks so lots of boy energy!

Sunday evening we hosted our second dinner party of the weekend, nearly twenty people and lots of mexican food to celebrate Hannah's 19th birthday.  I'm officially old.  And very proud of who my daughter is becoming (to the left in the pink).  My parents drove up to help celebrate and we enjoyed a very relaxed afternoon talking to them.  Brandon and Megan came from Western to help celebrate and so did my sweet sista Debbie and her family!  Lots of fun.  I want to be more intentional with seeing all my extended family regularly.  Life is fragile and short.  And I love my family more than anything in the world and need to see them more often.  My sister Debbie was first to say that we should do this regularly!

Lots of fun moments in the evening.  Yes Michael and Robert above are just that much fun.  You should have seen them in halloween costume wigs later in the evening.... oh my did all the kids laugh hard when the wigs came out.  Except Tommy.  It was too much for him to see people "change" and he got really worried and mad.  No wigs for Tommy! 

Monday was the last day of the four days and I trained our new babysitter in all things for the twins.  Our sitters stay with us for about a year on average and we have hired most from the Western Wa Univ job board and they turn out to be education majors or speech language paths and just plain wonderful sitters for the boys.  Her and I spent hours together going over what to do and defining expectations.  She is going to be great!  Being intentional in raising the boys involves alot of planning especially in being selective about highly skilled people to help fill in the gaps.  It is well worth it when I see happy kids.

I wrapped up the day talking a meal to a family on the lake next to our home that is so incredibly special.  They have a beautiful family that includes a few foster adopted sweet kiddos.  And a newly hosted baby who has many medical needs.  So I just knew that being intentional with my time on Monday so I could run them a meal would be a blessing to them.  And let me tell you right now that baby gave me major baby pains oh my he is a gorgeous baby boy. 

Being intentional

James 1:22

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"

Family fun by the numbers

From my facebook (with the picture inside our stuffed family mobile): 

 7 people, 6 of us wanting northfork pizza on the way back, 5 open mineral waters, 4 sleds crammed in, including a 3 seater, 2 pairs of child bibs plus countless jackets shoes and snow pants, headed for 1 mountain. Love my family (including Brandon)

Yes it was loud and slightly stinky and VERY fun.  Interesting conversations about life and death and a few things in between.  

 My sweet Hannah and me sat around in the snow and caught up on life issues together.  Love that she is attending Western and I get to have her close for another year (or two, shy grin).

 Liam had a great few days, he and I went to his elementary school PTO sponsored family movie on Friday night "Hotel Transylvania" which was cute and very 'boy' oriented with quick funny jokes.  He finished a Saturday morning basketball game with some nice assists and then we headed up to Mt Baker, so he was ON TOP OF THE WORLD!  He is a very outdoorsy kid and loves fresh powder to plan in.  He asked me again today if he could "ski" when we were at the upper lodge for a potty break (and the kids all snuck and got french fries).  I'm sure skiing is in his future!

Nate LOVES the outdoors and especially the snow.  On his very first sledding run though he broke his sled in half.  Yep.  Shredded has a new meaning now.  The poor sled was shredded broken.  But we still had fun.  Not nearly as much fun though as two weeks ago because today was WAY TOO much snow to be able to walk to the different sledding hills.  Literally all of us were exhausted walking just a couple of steps in the deep, deep snow.  

Brandon is Hannah's sweet friend.  They both attend Western Wa University.  He has been alot of places with our family (Montana to Baker) and mentally... and spiritually also.  And he has hung in there.  I've tried to encourage and support him, but in the end I think he is still with us, lol, because he is just a great human being and really, really neat kid.

And of course there is my traveling companion in all activities Tommy.   Usually the way our family divides up for activities is that Liam naturally goes with dad or Nate.  They are more fun then mom, right?  And since Dad still is having heart issues, Liam chose to hang close to Nate for the afternoon.  And Tommy, fairly ALWAYS, hangs with his mommy for all things fun.  We really enjoy each other and are full of smiles and giggles when together.  I try to teach him while we are spending time together, we counted people in the sledding area, counted sleds, talked and sang songs and signed the alphabet a few times (oh my goodness his progress on that blew me away). 

 Tommy hasn't been feeling good though.  A low grade fever of 101.8 for two days has slowed the Tommy tornado down considerably.  A quick check in call to our pediatrician resulted in a consult between them and Children's but we wait to hear what they want to do next for him.  Not sure if it's the flu, or a cold, or a sore throat.... he can't tell us what's wrong, but the fever squealed on him.  So we continue with his daily pulmonary care anyway and pray that his body mends over this current sickness.

 

I've been walking along the creek by my work at lunch.  And sometimes taking a break in the morning or afternoon routines to get out of the office, away from my desk and issues, and clear my head.  It's been foggy lately. And I've been thinking alot lately about people and struggles and me and just plain life stuff.  And wondering where God will take me.  There are many paths on many different issues and as much as I pray about where and what I am to do now I feel that I'm on a bridge.  

Safe.  

But isolated.....

 and needing to LIVE.

  And struggling with what that means. 

Heading to Seattle today for the camping show as our ten year old camping mobile cannot be recovered from it's current leaks and issues.  Heavy sigh.  To have something paid for and then think about a "payment" is just not a very exciting thing.  But.  To think about all of our camping adventures in a new mobile is a very exciting thing. So five of us will head south to see what the camping industry has to offer!  We have been on a "cash" basis for all things for ten years (read that no credit cards).  Which has been a blessing!  But a few things like our "new to us van" (Honda Odessey that we bought two years old) and this camping mobile will have monthly payments.  Necessary evils?  Hmmmm. 

Over and out girl scouts!  Talk to everyone later in the week I'm sure.

 

What's in my purse?

You can tell alot from someone's purse contents.  Kinda like when I arrive at a friend's house and check their fridge.  Hey, I don't get out much.  So here is what my little tiny red purse has in it now:

• Keys... with my gym membership tag and instructions for how to give someone CPR
• Burt's bees 'lip shimmer' in the color raisin (using it right now because I'm just lovin' it)
• Nature Valley protein bar (peanut butter plus dark chocolate with 10g protein) to eat on way to gym at night, ugh, thinking about running tonight on treadmill
• Small tube of lotion from the Great Wolfe Lodge "warm vanilla" scent 
• 3 ballpoint pens, because ideas for writing always hit me in the car, lol
• A photocopy of medical insurance cards with info to Hannah to "use these!"
• Black/gold Starbucks card with I think about $20 on it, mmmm
• Container of tic tacs "Strawberry fields", well, you just never know when you need fresh breath, ha
• Grocery list (Kleenex for classrooms, hand sanitizers, 67 valentines for boys to give to classes, Veggies and a new reusable water bottle for my car)
• About $9 cash
• Chapstick (mostly used while playing in fluffy white stuff on mountain)
• A few of my favorite scripture verses scribbled on a recipe card (kinda bent up right now, been treating that card like a rosary, lol)
• My debit card and insurance cards
• Tommy's domino fidgets (oh how he loves to fondle dominos, great to use at a restaurant for him)
• Woodland park zoo membership
• My phone, ahhhh, my phone

 If you are on facebook you can find me and tell me what's in your purse or pockets these days!