Primary

I got a new calling in church at the beginning of the summer and it has humbled me so much.  I get to help all the children with special needs in our stake.  Not your typical calling, but our stake has a lot of children with special needs, mostly autism, downs syndrome, and ADD.  I felt completely unqualified for this calling and kept telling them, "you know this is not what I specifically studied in school right???"  But it is amazing how the calling came about.  The Stake Primary President didn't even know me but heard the tail end of my talk at church and my name kept popping up in her head for this calling.  Then one day I needed my membership number off my temple recommend and then after I used it my recommend seriously vanished.  I looked for weeks because I had just renewed it and didn't want to have to go through the 2 interviews again.  Well the temple dedication in Atlanta was coming up so I made the appointments.  Somehow during the interview with the stake it came up that I had twin brothers you have Autism.  That night Erin Barnes, the Stake Primary President, called the stake presidency and said how much they needed to call someone.  He said, "I just interviewed a women whose brothers have Autism and I think she would be great."  When he said my name Erin knew that I should be called. It is also a fulfillment of my patriarchal blessing which is pretty neat.

I'm not sure I've ever felt that I was specifically needed somewhere in the church, but I definitely feel that way about this calling.  No, I don't know a lot about special needs, yes, I am completely unprepared for all of this, and somehow Heavenly Father is helping me learn everything so I can fulfill my calling.  It is truly amazing to me. 

We are starting to see some amazing things and children who couldn't even sit in primary are now sitting and participating.  Yesterday was the most spiritual Sunday I have had in awhile.  One of the boys who has Autism and amazing parents was asked to give the talk.  He was nervous to go up there and one of his classmates stood up with him, guided him to the front of the room and helped him start his talk.  Once he started he spoke the words perfectly and talked about how thankful he is for his body.  Here this boy who has an "imperfect" body was talking about how grateful he was for his.  There was not a dry eye in the room and I felt the spirit so strongly. 

One of our main goals is to help the other primary children understand how important it is to treat EVERYONE kindly no matter what his or her condition is in life.  Well that little boy yesterday gets it and was so kind to his classmate. 

I am feeling so grateful to have witnessed that special moment.

Home Improvement

Yes, it is rewarding to own your home and know that we are no longer wasting money on rent.  But now there is always something that I want to do to make our home look nicer.  Sometimes my list really overwhelms me and I have to step back and take things one at a time.  Now that I am bringing in some extra money, we have been able to start to tackle my list!  

These may seem like simple little tasks, but nothing is ever simple with Paul and I!  Everything requires multiple trips to Home Depot and lots of patience from both of us. 

Finally got curtain rods to hang up curtains we had in Cheyenne in the kitchen and office!  Don't worry, the rods were missing a part and we had to go back to the store to get new ones. 

Got these new curtains and rod.  Don't worry, I bought two different sizes of curtains, drilled for the short one, only to realize I liked and wanted the longer ones. 

Oddly enough our house was missing all the door stoppers and the ones we did have Hayden found a way to rip them out of the wall.  After trying out some cheaper ones, Hayden again found a way to pull them out.  So we went with the heavy duty ones and she no longer has so much fun.  I know it's a small thing, but they look so nice!

Hayden's bathroom also had issues.  We replaced the toilet seat, so you can actually sit on this toilet now and also the hand towel hanger was broken, so we replaced all that stuff in her bathroom. Still waiting to put up the other towel rod because it is longer than the existing one and will require painting which we can't match at the moment :(

This is actually a degree cooler than our upstairs normally is in the summer.  Hayden was taking a nap so we turn it down a bit.  Anyway, we had a very old thermostat and upgrading to a digital has been wonderful! 

 Our friend Chris Curby came to help Paul with this project

Ta-da, a garbage disposal.  I am most excited about this!!!  Our house was on a septic system and the owner had to change it to sewer before we moved in because sewer was available.  What a process it has been.  We had to have an electrician come do a bunch of wiring and now Paul and Chris are currently working on hooking up the plumbing (technically they are at Home Depot buying another required part).  Hopefully in an hour I'll be letting all the food I want go down the drain (within reason of course!)

I wish home improvement projects weren't so costly.  I really do not know how people flip entire houses, it seems so overwhelming to me.  I just want to change everything at once, but need to gain the patience to do what we can little-by-little. 

ooops one more thing!

One more thing that I wanted to add to my post yesterday is Hayden's word for milk.  It has transformed from gulk to bock.  Now the reason this is so cool and crazy at the same time, is because Paul's younger brother Kyle use to call milk bock too!  What are the chances, really?!?!?!?!

Hayden, Hayden, Bo-Bayden

Hayden's little personality is pretty hilarious these days.  She is talking so much more and can help read lots of the pages in her book by filling in the words that she knows. 

She is also OBSESSED with mint.  A few weeks back I saw her chewing on something and I told her to spit it out and out came and entire roll of mint floss!!!  She was devastated when I took it away and I have found her trying to find it and open it up again several times.  So I finally decided to give her a tiny piece of mint gum and see how she handled it.  Paul was very against this and was waiting for a huge mess that I would be upset about.  But to our surprise she chewed it for hours!  When she was done she handed it to us.  I thought she would just swallow it, but she really can't get enough of the mint. 

I know this picture is horrible, but it's the only pictures I got as she put the gum in her mouth and started to chew!

I did get a short video also:

Also, before we left to see the Oldham's I bought Hayden some underpants because she has been wanting to sit on the potty every time I go to the bathroom.  I know she's probably not ready yet, but I thought this might get her more excited about it all.  Every time I put her on the potty she makes the "ppsssss" sound like she is going, but has only actually gone #1 about 2 or 3 times.  I need to get a little reward for her so when she does go she knows she gets a prize (maybe something mint!)  The underwear didn't last very long, but oh how she LOVED wearing them!  I got the smallest size 2T/3T and they were pretty big. 

We have also started a new ritual at night time.  After her milk, brushing her teeth, and prayers, dad sings the following song to her:

"Rockabye, don't you cry, we will go see Grandma, up the hill and down the dell to see the little________" and then he inserts different animals to which Hayden responds by making the animal noise.  She likes to sleep with her lion, "fishy" which is really a dolphin, and lots of blankets.  In the morning, she gathers them all up and brings them all out with her. 

Hayden continues to love nursery and is so proud of herself for recognizing Jesus in pictures.  Her teachers say that during singing time she stands up and dances for the whole class.  I bet she puts on a pretty good show!  

The Oldham Family

Hayden and I had such a good visit in Colorado Springs with Michelle, Jared and baby Owen.  It was hard to come home.  It was just so nice being able to spend the day with my sister not doing anything spectacular, just making meals and hanging out.  Hayden struggled the first couple of days with the time change and was just irritable and whiny.  But she got much better and really enjoyed being around a baby.  Each morning and after her nap she would ask, "baby???" and wanted to know where he was.  Anytime Michelle was nursing, she wanted to be right next to her and was "so helpful" in handing her the nursing timer and other nursing essentials. She would even wake up at the exact same time when Michelle nursed at night (this was very weird, it's like she could sense she was being left out!)

Hayden loved sitting/laying next to Owen and touching him "soft."  She would touch him and say, "soft" over and over again.

I am not one of those people who loves to hold newborns.  But when it is my own, or my sisters, it is just different and I couldn't get enough of it.  

My beautiful sister and Owen.

Hayden having fun in her room

Hayden warmed up to Michelle so quickly, I think she is finally leaving the stranger danger phase!

1st bath and he LOVED every minute of it.  He even fell asleep in there!

Hayden loved playing in the backyard and especially loved the hose!  It kept her entertained for a long time.  We took her to a spray park, but she got sprayed right in the face and then she was done!

Hayden loved watching "Glee" at their house as well!

And loved wearing Owen's socks on her feet and hands!

Right before we left for the airport.  Hayden loved playing with the boppy as well.  I might have to go dig mine out of the basement for her!

Owen is such a good baby and it was so much fun to be around him in his first month of life.  Michelle is a natural mother and is doing such a great job with the huge transition that has occurred in her life. It was so special for me to be able to go and spend time with them.  This is what stinks about living so far from family.  I am sad I'm not going to be around Owen as he changes so much this first year.   Hopefully we get to see them again really soon!  We were also fortunate enough to have lunch at the park with Susannah and Payton Sanders!  They just moved to Colorado Springs so it was good to see them again.  We have been so grateful to continually see them since we moved from Cheyenne.