Off Enjoying life

I just got back from a solo trip to Arches National Park and Moab Utah. It was a spur of the moment thing. One night I mentioned to my husband that I really wanted to go there someday and he told me to go now. So less than 48 hours later, I took off driving. I was gone for 8 selfish days.

I missed the kids and I missed my husband but I have absolutely no regrets about taking the time for myself. I did what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted. I ate hot meals in beautiful silence at restaurants. I took a sunset Hummer Safari on a pretty intense trail. I also rented a Jeep for a day and did some offroading myself. I was able to get up early and stay out late to take pictures in the park.

Now I am home and trying to adjust back to the non-vacation mentality. I have plenty of photos from my trip to post over the coming days.

Water assignment

One of our recent assignments was to take pictures of water. I could moving, things in it, reflections on it… you get the picture.

Luckily we have a pond behind our home so I was able to use that for a few pictures. These early fall leaves were one of things I found when I did the assignment.

Happy Birthday Rai!

It is my oldest’s magic birthday. She turns 9 today on 09/09/09!

Every birthday she celebrates is special to us. When we signed up for this parenthood gig, we had no idea what that would entail. The extreme highs, the extreme lows and the mostly unusual in between are pretty much par for our course.

Rai was born with a large left cortical dysplasia. Short explanation, the left side of her brain didn’t organize properly. It is a fairly rare birth defect which caused intractable epilepsy. Ultimately, to stop the seizures she needed a left anatomical hemispherectomy which is when they remove an entire hemisphere of the brain. She has also had several other surgeries along the way.

There were times we didn’t know if she was going to survive. She not only survived but she is thriving. Sure, she has a lot of issues still. She walks with a limp and cannot use her right hand because of the hemispherectomy. She doesn’t have many words though she can sing many songs. She is also cognitively delayed. She is also happy, loving, and really a lot of fun. She has the most amazing spirit and never ever has given up no matter what challenge she has faced.

Happy Magic Birthday Rai!