About Me

I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc. We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them. They are exceptional children.

Monday, January 08, 2007

LIFE CHANGING EVENTS.....

After almost 2 months of not blogging, for reasons I will explain, I am back.
First and foremost, I am sending thanks out to all who have sent good thoughts and wishes to my family. As you know, family is the most important thing in my life. When we were chosen for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, our lives took an important turn.
The trip to Colorado was amazing. The instructors that worked with our children were the most loving and caring people. They were an inspiration to us all, and will soon be to the world when our show airs.
It was with trepidation that I agreed to leave Texas for Colorado. My best friend was getting worse with her cancer on the week we were chosen. The producer who went with our family to Colorado let me keep contact with her family. That was very good for both Jane and myself.
The whole EMHE experience was positive. Every person attached with the show is a true professional and a true caring human being. They know their jobs and do it well. I wish everyone could experience the Extreme event.
Coming home to our new house was even better than anything we could have expected. I will blog about that after the show airs.

As with all things in life, with the good sometimes come the bad.

I was lucky enough to share the return to our new home with Jane by my side. She was here on reveal day, and the producers allowed her to come inside. Jane was confined to a wheelchair...her legs stopped working while I was gone. She was tired, but insisted she must see me.
I gave her a huge hug...she told me, " I held on for you, I wanted to see your face when you saw your new home"....I thanked her and hugged her again.
I turned around and the EMHE producer was in tears. I asked him why he was crying. He told me he had never seen anything that sad in his life.
Jane only stayed briefly.

The next week was a whirlwind. Christmas was approaching quickly and the kids only had 3 days of school that week. I called to check on Jane often. She was sleeping alot.
On Christmas Eve, I called to see if I could visit Jane. Her husband told me she had a bad night and that it would be better to come by on Christmas morning. I reluctantly agreed.

On Christmas morning, my little lovlies awoke. We opened our presents, which were few. My husband and myself felt they had been given so much that week, we would only give them a gift they really wanted and 2 more each. As I was cleaning up the gift wrap and the kids went off to play with their items, I saw Steve, Jane's husband, walking up to our door.
I told my husband I was not going to answer the door...I knew why he was here.
Patrick opened the door and Steve said two words...."She's gone".....
I hugged this man so hard and told him how very sorry I was....he sobbed so hard. He said,"this was harder than I thought it would be"....Yes It Is.

I miss Jane every day. This is a woman I would talk to 2 to 3 times a day. She was my best friend. She was better to me than some of my family. She cared about me and my whole family. She was the most caring and selfless person I have ever met. She treated me like a daughter when I needed. She adored all of my children. She connected with Caitlin and Kiernan like no other person I know.

Her memorial is this Friday. I have been given the honor to speak. I hope I do her justice. She deserves to be remembered as the sweet, caring person she was. For her family to give me this honor is beyond words.

I know there are people out there who would rather my family not have received the home makeover....frankly, I do not care. These are people who I will never meet. These are people who will never have the honor of meeting my children. These are people who I give no thought to.
It is when these people started calling and writing to the local newspaper to discredit me, that it got personal. This person wrote that I cursed out parent's who treat their autistic people biomedically...that is a blatant LIE. This Anonycoward wrote that I make fun of disabled people in my community...that is a blatant LIE. That is just shameful. I hope you find the happiness in your life so you can quit trying to make mine seem so bad.

A special request to the ANONYMOUS Fool who keeps writing about me on various websites, who claims to know my family.....you, my friend, are RIDICULOUS.
I am so sorry that your life is so uneventful that you must try to make mine as shallow as your own. You are in my prayers.

I am going to start blogging again, because I miss it. I did not sign any contracts not to blog. I only signed not to speak of the show until after it airs....I am honoring that contract.