Is It Just Me?...

I've been reading some articles lately about blogs and women who read them and pinterest and all the other things that can occupy our precious time. What I've
learned is that so many of us end up feeling guilty or inadequate because of what we see others accomplishing or doing. We fail to realize that the pictures they show
or the "things" they "pin" are when their houses are clean, I mean c'mon-who is really going to blog or post a picture of themselves when they are having a migraine or the dishes are piled up in the sink or the kids have just puked all over the carpet?

The reality of it is that we are all just trying to do our best, and we shouldn't try to compare ourselves to anyone or try to keep up with anyone. I am always TAKING pictures thinking, "Oh, this will be so cute to put on my blog", but hey, it just doesn't happen. I'm not knocking anyone that does frequently blog or Facebook or whatever, I'm just saying that I have more days where I am just trying to GET BY-
taking care of kids and my husband and just surviving. Some days I'm really
motivated, and other days I don't get near the computer. Yeah, now you know, I have
the "old-fashioned" phone that doesn't have access to email,facebook, and such.

So, my question to anyone reading this POST from THIS POST-is it just me? :)

Choose The Right

I haven't had a calling in quite a long time so I was so happy to be called to be a Primary teacher about a month ago. I am over the CTR 6 to 7 year old class and I have eight kids in my class. Now I wasn't quite prepared for these kids. They are much brighter than I thought they'd be and I certainly love them more than I thought I would. I bring them treats every week, because seriously, what fun is Primary without a treat at the end of class? When I asked them about whether I should bring them a treat on Fast Sunday, they said, "come on, we're only 7, we haven't been baptized, we don't fast!" Okaaay! Then, another week when I was asking them what some of their favorite treats were that I could bring or make, they said pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I told them they were in luck because I just happen to have THE BEST recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. One of the boys in the class then proceeded to tell me,"That's boasting Sister Post". Bam! Shut down by a 7 yr.old. He didn't say bragging, he said BOASTING as in scriptural terms. I was immediately put in my place-these kids are smart. Now don't get me wrong, we have a great time though. I like to kid and raz with them. The first week they had to guess things about me and my family and they figured out that I was 26 years old-who am I to tell them different, we have been best friends ever since. One week our lesson was on being a peacemaker. I was trying to get my point across and so I used a personal experience (we all know that this is the best way to teach). I told them how my husband Joe had a couple of people at work who had been giving him a hard time and it had really been bothering him. It bothered him so much that he was not sleeping and he was getting upset at home. So I recommended that we PRAY for these people and that we put their names in the temple. We did this and within a few weeks things began to change for the better. They began to be nicer but the most important thing that I told the children was that JOE felt better. No matter what the outcome would have been, he was at peace with himself, us and them and now it was their decision to choose how to play it out. The cute part of this was that when I told them about putting the names in the temple, they thought we had literally gone down to the temple and CARVED their names in the temple! They had told me about a boy at school named Paris who had been very mean to them throughout the year before, so I decided to take this opportunity to talk to them about him. "What if we prayed for Paris?" I said. I told them that perhaps Paris doesn't realize he's being mean or his parents haven't raised him in a way where this is a bad thing. One of the girls said,"What would we say,'Heavenly Father, please bless Paris'?" and I said "Exactly". So at the end of class I had them kneel down at their chairs and I knelt down and offered a prayer for us all to be better peacemakers and to help Paris. Here is my cute class (minus one) *If any of you need extra help with lessons or such go to sugardoodle.org which is a website that has resources for Primary, Young Women's, Relief Society including visiting teaching and even things like ward choir director. This is where I have found lots of cute ideas to add to my lessons and all I have to do is hit copy and cut them out.

That's Our Nathan!

So in 2 weeks our Nathan will become a TEENAGER! Watch out!

This kid is so FULL of it lately. Yesterday when he was brushing his teeth before school, I went in to see what was taking so long. To my surprise I found him with a neatly drawn mustache and highlighted eyebrows! Apparently, he can't WAIT for the hair to come in and so he has taken it upon himself to enhance his appearance to look older and more sophisticated. The funny thing is, I TRY to get Ashley to wear makeup to no avail, and yet it is MY SON that chooses to use my makeup, go figure.

Last night as I was reading him a book (which by the way, I think must be a glimpse of heaven being able to read to your kids nightly), the book mentioned some dogs in Alaska. I asked him if he knew who lived in Alaska. I said, "Aunt_____" and he said, "Aunt-Moroni!" Now, it was suppose to be Aunt Cindy (Joe's sister), I am really not sure where he got Moroni from. Also, before he went to bed he was brushing his teeth (no makeup this time) and the water wouldn't shut off all the way. He kept saying we needed something but I couldn't understand him at first. Finally I figured out what he said. He said we needed an ENGINEER to fix the faucet. I told him we needed a plumber. He looked at me and said," A bummer?"

I'm sure I've shared this bit with some of you but for those that I haven't here goes. Last summer we went to the park and we were sitting there having our lunch on the grass. I noticed how he was getting dark hair on his legs and so I said to him, "Nathan,you know what that means, you're turning into a man" and without missing a beat he said, "well, what's HIS name?"

So he can get into all sorts of trouble, like going outside the other day and eating snow like a dog (we're talking gross, old dirty snow!) and drinking water out of the toilet, I could go on and on. But then there are times like the picture below where he falls asleep "reading" his scriptures.





I've always said it's a good thing he's so cute!

Sweet Sixteen

On January 18th sixteen years ago, our life changed dramatically.


Ashley Lynn Post was born after 16 hours of labor and then finally a c-section. The whole labor and deliver room went silent once she came out, when the doctor announced that she had hydrocephalus. She also had a pneumothorax(collapsed lung) and was possibly septic.

Fast forward 16 years and we have our miracle! Ashley is doing great, is in her sophomore year at Highland High School and amazes us and others daily!

The day after she was born

The first time I really got to see her before they took her up to Primary's
(day after she was born with the Life Flight crew, notice her head size)

Ashley opening presents (Nathan took the picture!)

We went to Golden Corral for her birthday dinner

Nathan eating his plate of Cheetos!

Blowing out the candles on her Eclair Cake-A Post Birthday tradition!

"Sister Post"

Ashley came home the other day from Seminary all excited and said "guess what?  I've been called on a
mission, to the Salvador Brazil mission!"  It's Missionary Week at Highland and you have to understand-
Ashley has ALWAYS wanted to go on a mission.
I told her that her Uncle Kevin had gone to the Rio de Janero  mission and then we showed her where it
was at.  She has had 3 girl cousins go on missions (Michelle, Kristie, and Kellie) and of course her sister,
Alisa.

Some of the requirements for this mission are to:
-Arise by 6:30 a.m. (no problem for her , except for this Sat. and Sunday, we'll see how she does)
-Go to bed by 10:30 p.m.  (she did have a concern about this since she normally goes to bed at 8:30, so
                                         she wanted to know if she had to STAY UP until 10:30)
-Personal prayer in the morning and night
-Personal scripture study for at least 30 minutes  (this isn't too hard since she CAN'T watch T.V., this is
                                                                         quite a challenge, she is going thru withdrawls!)
-No radio except 89.1  (she said ("I don't want to listen to the music Joe listens to!" )
-Only listen to church produced or classical music (this has actually been great and very calming around
                                                                             the house)
-Do your own laundry (once per week) she has never done this so this should be interesting!
-Write a letter to a missionary (one per day)
-Prepare and cook dinner for your family (twice per week) she has helped before but this will be a good
                                                                experience for her

She has really been trying to be compliant although today has been hard because we are all home sick so
she has watched a little T.V.  Ashley really hopes someday that she can go on a mission and last week
in her drama class she demonstrated what she was really made of.  After several of the kids in the class
had continued to use the Lord's name in vain, she finally spoke up and asked them not to do that in front
of her.  One of the girls asked her " What, do you Mormons not swear either?" and Ashley said "I try not
to."  We are really proud of her for standing up for herself and her beliefs, especially when she already feels like she doesn't fit in because of her disability.




_

Kids and Carnivals

Nathan at the top of the slide  at his school carnival

  

 Nate pretending like he's on "WIPE-OUT"

Ashley getting her face painted

My rebel-since everyone there will probably go to Oly!

This was another one of Nathans incentives for going to school.  Every 

day he'd go he received a dollar.  He had exactly $15 and that's how much

it cost to get an activity pass for all the rides, games and food!

Ashley did NOT want to go with us but ended up having  fun 

and had her hair sprayed red and blue also.

It was cute to see all the 6th grade girls (and some boys) say "Hi Nathan" and  

then these younger girls would come up to him and ask him for

his autograph.  Then they would hold out their hands, palms

side up and he would trace his name on their palm, while they proceeded to

giggle.

Next up on our incentive list, ZOO DAY is Tuesday at school and then

pajama party on Friday, we'll keep 

you POSTED!

 (By the way, I finally figured out how to upload my pics, thank you Annie!)

TEACHER for a DAY

Last week I was asked by Ashley's Child Development teacher at Highland High
if I would come in and
talk to a couple of her classes about my two children. In her class they have been
learning a little about birth defects and so she wanted me to talk more about
Hydrocephalus and Down Syndrome and then answer any questions the kids might have.

The first class I "taught" was very quiet. This was the class that Ashley was in so I don't know if this affected them not asking any questions or not. I started out by showing a tape measure and saying that most newborns are born with a head circumference of about 38 centimeters and Ashley's was 46 at birth. They had to
use forceps to get her out even with a c-section. I then passed around pictures
of her the day after she was born before they life-flighted her up to Primary
Childrens Hospital.

I asked them if they knew what HYDROCEPHALUS was and someone said "water on the
brain". I said "it's really cerebral spinal fluid that is blocked for some
reason and so it fills up the ventricles in the brain". There is no cure yet
but how they treat it is they insert a SHUNT that will drain the fluid.

In Ashley's case, when she was 24 hours old, I told them they drained off 11
ounces of fluid from her head,so I held up a can of Coke. She weighed 9 lbs.
8 oz.
at birth but they figured a pound of that was her head. I then showed them a picture of a shunt appliance and a shunt system and passed that around.

I then proceeded to tell them that about two years later I decided I wanted to
have one more child. I had felt that since Ashley's birth was so traumatic
and it was such a shock having a child with a birth defect that this would
be a good time to have one more "normal baby". I told them that God apparently
has a great sense of humor because we found out that this baby
would have Down Syndrome, so much for "normal". We then found other things
wrong through ultrasound and then at 20 weeks we were told to abort him.
He had a growth on his neck that was bigger than his head and the doctor only
gave him a 10% chance of making it to birth. We were told that in the state of
Utah we had until 22 weeks to abort. I asked if there were any risks involved
with carrying him for me and he said no---it was awful having to go home and
us feeling so alone.

I told the class that I would never tell any woman what to do with her body, but the sad thing is that over 90% of babies that are "found out" to have Down
Syndrome nationally are terminated. In other words, an early test that is not
conclusive and can be a false positive, is causing women for whatever reasons
to abort babies for fear that they MIGHT have Down Syndrome. Now, I know how
felt when we found out about Nathan. I was pretty overwhelmed, all I could
picture was a grown man with it and not a cute baby and I honestly thought,
"no one will ever think MY BABY is cute". What I told the class though is that there are a lot of couples that are waiting to adopt special need babies and
that someday we may not see kids with Down Syndrome anymore not because there
is a cure(there isn't) but because they have all been aborted.

So then I held up a picture of Nathan when he was just a few months old on
oxygen and said "So this is what they told us to abort" and they all went "Ohhh,
How cute!" I then showed a picture of him now, a compilation of some of the
photos from when he was the captain of the football team and passed them
around. Like I said, Ashley's class didn't ask any questions but the other
one did, and some very profound ones at that.
For example:
How long does someone live with Hydrocephalus or Down Syndrome?
H-It depends on if they have other disabilities, if none, then can live a normal
lifespan.
DS-Some until 50's or their 60's depending on health problems, they tend to
develop diabetes, heart disease,and Alzheimer's early in their 30's to 40's so
this can affect their health and lifespan. I have often "joked" (what else can you do) that the 3 of us, me,Joe and Nathan will all end up in a rest home
together with Alzheimer's but it won't be very fun because we won't remember
that the other 2 are there!

How do you afford the surgeries or treatments for your kids? (Ashley has had 13
surgeries so far)
When Ashley was 3 months old, I lost my job as a nurse and I carried the insurance.
This was very hard for us but then we got her on medicaid when we had Nathan we put him on too. I told them that a lot of parents go into debt or even lose their
homes due to the high cost of paying for their disabled children and the costs
that come with it.
We make too much money now for medicaid and are still trying to pay off a surgery
she had almost 2 years ago.
I also told them that not only is it hard financially on couples but on their
marriages. 80% of couples of disabled children will divorce because of the stress,
either because of finances or emotions.

What are the chances that someone with Down Syndrome will have a child with
Down Syndrome?
This was a great question! I really didn't know the incidence of DS females having
children with DS, I do know that a few moms I know have 2 children with DS
but the mom doesn't have it herself. I told them that some parents opt to
have their daughters sterilized because they don't want them to get pregnant
because they feel that they would not be able to take care of a baby if they
should. I explained to them that there is a high incidence of abuse of
special needs people and so this is a concern also.
In males, they have low testosterone, and so there has never been a documented
case of a male ever fathering a child. I told them that Nathan loves children
and talks a lot about being a father someday. I said I truly believe that
he will someday be a father(without getting into the spiritual aspect of things).

What will you do with your son if he outlives you?
I said that our kids have offered to take care of him and even Ashley if
necessary but that we will try to get him in a group home if we can, especially
if that's what he wants. Depending on what happens with her, they may end up
living together also.

What can we do to help these kids?
Another great question! I talked to them about becoming a paraeducator in
Special Ed like my
daughter Alisa was at Hillside Middle school where a lot of them had gone.
Or going into Elementary Education/Special Ed. like my daughter-in-law Annie
did. I said the biggest thing they could do was BE THEIR FRIEND.
Ignorance is the worst thing. Don't be afraid of the unknown. High school
is tough for everyone. WE all need a friend. When we had Ashley, people we
thought were our friends disappeared. People sent me flowers like my baby
had died and hardly anyone said congratulations. The nurse that was assigned
to me wouldn't take care of me because she was pregnant and she couldn't look
at pictures of Ashley. But there were a few that rose above it all. That
called or came by. They said congrats and they called her by her name.
I told these kids that when things happen in life to them or their friends
that sometimes they may not always know what to say or do, but the important
thing to do is SOMETHING. Remember their friends, because everyone NEEDS A FRIEND.

I ended it telling them that 2 weeks after we had Ashley, Joe's nephew, who was
only 18 at the time and his girlfriend who was 17, had a baby. A healthy baby boy.
I remember thinking, I am really glad that out of the 2 couples, I'm glad that
it was Joe and me that had the baby with some problems. As hard as it was at
first, we were at a better place in our marriage and in our life to handle
it, and I am grateful for what that has taught me about appreciating the
little things in life and what matters most.