It’s Not About Me…

Hi all!  I cannot believe how long it has been since I’ve written!  There are so many events that have come and gone since my last post that I could not possibly record them all.  Some of those were quite momentous though and they deserve a mention.  Such as…

• Brittney graduated high school and is now enrolled to start in the local community college in the fall.
• Greg and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary on June 15th
• We met Robby’s fiance (they become engaged during their visit here in early June).
• We celebrated our 4 year anniversary of living in one house yesterday, July 29th.  LONGEST EVER!
• Brittney turns 18 on August 10th and her first day of college is August 17th!

Some momentous stuff, huh?!?!  Now for some of the latest revelations that have come about in this never dull household.  I learned yesterday that Elijah, our 7 year old, has an amazing gift in his adorable little right-brained brain in that he sees differently then I do, or most others for that matter.  He explained to me that when he looks at an object he can see all sides of it at once.  Front, back, sides, top, and bottom!  How cool is that?!?  He thought that everyone saw that way.  After asking him lots of questions about specifics, I have deduced that if it is something he’s never seen before that’s not the case, but it is if he’s seen something at least once or twice before.  It seems to me that it’s as if his brain memorizes all angles and substitutes his memory image next time he sees it.  I then researched it and found that it’s called “Visual Spatial Thinking” and is a classic symptom of dyslexia (yes, we already knew he had dyslexia.)  Check out this description I found, “Generally, these people tend to be bright, creative, “right-brained” thinkers, who think in concepts and pictures. They have the unique ability to see “in dimension,” or mentally “see” objects from all sides without actually moving their eyes or the objects . This talent lends itself to drawing, building, putting things together, and recalling concrete or visual information.” Taken from: http://www.learningdisability.com/articles/dyslexia.htm  WOW!

After explaining this to his Dad, Greg went on to say how amazing that was since as he’s looking around he can see the word of what he’s looking at in his “mind’s eye”.  What?!?  I pushed and he explained that everywhere he looks he sees words.  When he looks at the picnic table (which is where we were when he was telling us this) he sees the word “table” when he looked at Elijah he saw the word “cute”.  He literally sees words and sometimes sentences or phrases all the time!  I was so shocked.  How could we have been married for 25 years and him never tell me this?  He said he never really thought much about it until we were talking about what Elijah saw.  Then he went on to telling me the words he saw as he was seeing them.  :0

There’s more…  J.Jay returned today from a mission trip with the youth group at church exhausted, 4 pounds lighter, and at least 4 years wiser than when he left.  A very contemplative young man I have on my hands.  Well, on the way home I told him of Elijah and Dad’s visions, er uh…. talents and he said, he sees words too!  Not only that, he hears music like background music in his head all the time.  As with the others, he thought everyone did!  That helps explain his amazing musical talent!  J.Jay and Greg have Asperger’s Syndrome so this must be an Asperger’s trait?!?  When I am finished writing this I am going to have to research that one too!

All I can say is Wow…  COOL!!  Personally, I feel very boring compared to my counterparts here in this house! I do not understand why anyone would use the term disability when referring to either dyslexia or asperger’s.  They are both amazing gifts!  I wish I had such gifts…  or any gift for that matter.  Okay, I do have adHd (yes, with a capital H!) but I don’t have anything amazing or special going on in my head.  I tried to see words, pictures or something - but it’s just not working.

Anyway, I am doing lots of research on the right brain (Elijah) trying to figure out the best way to teach him how to read better.  He is really struggling, especially with fluency.  I have settled on Phono-Graphix from the book Reading Reflex and am preparing his curriculum for next year.   I am also researching left brain (J.Jay) ways of teaching so I can be a much better homeschooling Momma to both of these kiddos.  Boy, do I have a lot to learn!  A homeschooling Mom’s job never ends - but it’s never boring, that’s for sure.  Interesting and amazing stuff.

As for me, with the exception of my occasional yet overwhelming bouts of anxiety about all things educational, parental, and monetary (anxiety that must be chemical in nature or due to being post-menopausal as although I know and can rationalize the stupidity of my anxiety during these bouts, I have zero control and my emotions seem to take over my senses.) I am one incredibly happy and contented woman.  I have realized that all I need in life to be happy I already possess.

1. Jesus Christ - who carries me much of the time and is the reason that I can always say with total honesty “It’s all good!”
2. My AMAZING, wonderful, hubby who loves me more than I deserve and always makes me laugh.  (That should earn me some brownie points with him!)
3. My fun (and funny), loving, and talented kiddos (every one of them!) who always tell me what a great mom they think I am.  (It helps that they have no other moms to compare me to!)
4. Our comfy home built “just for us” - 4 YEARS WOW!
5. My friends - I have so many who truly care about me and whom I truly care about!
6. Always having plenty of healthy food in the house (and if I am doing my job well, on the table!)
7. Finally, The Waltons on DVD.   Tee hee.  Greg and I and the boys watch an episode every night before going to bed.  We started at the beginning and are up to season 5 now!  It keeps us in a loving and appreciating family mode.  I absolutely LOVE the fact that we don’t have cable or satellite or watch TV.  This may seem weird, but I get a warm, comfy feeling inside when I am out of the loop and others are talking about some TV show that I am clueless about.  I never feel like I’m missing out on anything.  Quite the opposite!

Even though times are still incredibly tough financially and will be for the foreseeable future, I feel very rich.  I truly have it all..  and it’s all good!