The Caterpillar

I like this little poem that reminds us life was made to turn us into something beautiful.

THE CATERPILLAR

It has taken me twenty-four hours of steady,Determined crawling to even reach this greenery,YET HE TELLS ME I CAN SOAR ABOVE ALL THAT.

Today, I feel so clumsy, and disjointed,So weak as I pushed along the ground,YET HE TELLS ME I CAN SOAR ABOVE ALL THAT.

Furthermore, it is taking the coordinated effort of All my many legs to climb these branches without falling,YET HE TELLS ME I HAVE PERFECT BALANCE.

Occasionally, I have fallen into a tangle of thorns Where I couldn't see the sun for days and the long climb out was painful,YET HE TELLS ME SOMEDAY I WILL BE UP WHERE THE SUN IS FOREVER AND THE PAIN WILL ALL BE GONE.

Often I see my own reflection in the dew drops on the leaves.And I look so wrinkled and fuzzy, and plain,YET HE TELLS ME I AM BEAUTIFUL.

It is true that I have, a time or two when I have glanced upward from the ground,caught a glimpse of someone so delicate, so exquisitely beautiful, lighting,with perfect balance on a blade of grass above me. And then with quiet strength, Rising upward and expanding to absorb the sun's rays and radiate it's light. It is in those fleeting moments,As I inch my way along,That my heart tells me what my mind does not know,And it is then that I truly believe him when HE TELLS ME I HAVE WINGS. By: Sue Swinton

Signs of Hope

Nicky spent the last few days at the Deaf Studies Today conference in Orem. It was very interesting. Just watching all the fluent people signing, hopefully helped my comprehension level. I also learned about a fairly new charity that's based in Alpine, UT. I absolutely love them! They are called Signs of Hope International. Volunteers teach sign language to children in Ghana, Africa, among other things. In my ASL class, I did a presentation that touched on the subject of the deaf situation internationally, including Africa, and that's how I learned about a man named Andrew Forrester who graduated from Gallaudet and took what he learned to teach others in Africa, who went on to teach many more. He's called the Father of Deaf Education in Africa and his efforts, along with those going on today help dispel the myth or stigma that deaf are ineducable. From what I studied, these children would have no hope for education, or even the ability to communicate through language. Usually even their families either never consider, or they don't have the opportunity to learn sign language to communicate with their children. So, they now can go to school where they live for 3 months during each semester- it becomes their family, their home, and a place where for possibly the first time in their life, they are told that they can do anything that they want to. Through their hands, they are given a voice and made to feel a person of value. Wow. I would love to participate in something like that one day!




Check out the web site & watch the video:
http://www.signsofhopeinternational.org/successes.php

Infertility Resource Articles

Some good articles for friends and family who just don't know what to say to their infertile acquaintances. =)

"How Can I Help? The Do's And The Dont's Of Support":
http://www.resolve.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_ffaf_hcih
"Infertility Etiquette"
http://www.resolve.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_ffaf_ie
"Infertility Etiquette for Friends and Family"
http://www.storknet.com/cubbies/infertility/etiquette.htm
"A Guide for Family and Friends"
http://www.myinfertilityguide.com/guide_for_family_and_friends.htm

Red Rocks and Vistas

I (Nicky) went to Moab this weekend on a sister trip and met up with her best friend's family and attended a beautiful wedding. It was fun to see some old friends/people I haven't seen in years! We played games, hiked, shopped, hot tubbed, and did some serious four wheeling in jeeps! It was awesome! I know Brett would have loved it- he would get out of the car with all the other boys and looked at the angles and conjour up the best way to get down this insane prediciment that was so fun to put ourselves in, with the least amount of damage to the jeep. I'll post the pictures when I get them. I couldn't find my camera before we left =( but my sister had hers. The only thing that was missing, was our husbands, and I wrote this about Brett:

With every red rock and beautiful vista I see,

I think of you and smile inside because I know,

I have something just as beautiful at home.

Our relationship is much like this landscape-

sturdy as stone,

fragile as flowers,

alive as the breathe that God gives,

as radiant as the desert sky full of stars...

It's a slow evolution of change

that remains strong during times of transformation,

and continues to be breathtaking.

With each sunrise, sunset, and storm that we encounter,

With every triumph that follows the hills that we climb,

I will be by your side.

You are that which gives color to my life.

You feel like the warmth of the sun in the distance,

You make the high path seem to have less resistance.

You are the rain that quenches and floods this rugged terrain.

Alvin Ailey

We went to the Alvin Ailey dance performance. It's their 50th Anniversary and I was happy they came all the way from New York to Salt Lake! He's been called cultural ambassador to the world. His vision was to provide dance to everybody. He was African American and noticed there wasn't much diversity in dance theatre. He wanted what he had to be accessible to everybody and bring the African American's spirit and talent into his works. He did a good job. There's now a huge studio devoted to Alvin Ailey's dream and Alvin Ailey's dance company is a world renouned and financially viable company.

http://www.alvinailey.org/page.php?p=50anniversary&sec=home

http://www.alvinailey.org/site_images/50th_main_image.jpg

Since a picture is worth a thousand words: Allow me to demonstrate what the past 4 years have felt like as we've tried to start our family.

HOLD ON! UNEXPECTED TURNS! I suspect when we finally get off of this roller coaster, we will admit that it was a great ride. Until then, we'll do our best to not throw up and will enjoy squeezing each other's hand.

HAPPY EASTER!

These were the family Happy Easter/Happy Birthday cakes. Aren't they awesome?!

We enjoyed church and Brett sang great in the church choir. Nicky sang too, but, I try not to sing too loud on purpose. Next, we feasted at Nicky's parents and watched all the kids hunt for Easter eggs, and then at the park with Brett's family playing tennis, rolling eggs (a game), and hanging out at their house afterwards.

The Planetarium

We got passes to the Clark Planetarium where we can go and see any of the IMAX movies or light shows (like U2). It should be fun. So far, we went with my brother and his pregnant wife to see the body movie. It was appropriate because it follows a pregnant mom and shows what's going on in the inside. We couldn't help but laugh through a lot of it, but nobody else was.... I guess it wasn't intended to be funny. You know how the narrator makes everything sound so dramatic, like...,"and this is: THE INNERWORKINGS OF THE yada yada..." It should make for some good date nights.

/// Last night we saw the Sea Mosters 3D- the 3D was really awesome like we were swimming in the water with the ancient sea creatures. It also ended up being a fun place to find some different birthday presents for Nicky's family birthday party the next day. She has a big family so there's always a bunch of birthdays every month. This month there were 5! Brett's family isn't small either. This month there's 2 birthdays.

Teaching Kids about Money

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/WhatGodsaysaboutyourmoney_article.aspx?GT1=33008

This is an interesting article that talks about what different faiths teach about how to handle your money. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- the Christian church that we belong to, teaches that we should give 10% of our earnings to tithing and we also have other offerings such as humanitarian funds. There's a whole LDS web site based on giving tools to help people both manage money, become self sustaining and give back through humanitarian and welfare efforts. http://www.providentliving.org/
I also love what the other faiths teach. For example, what the rabbi said, "He recalls his grandmother always setting an extra plate at the dinner table so that there was room for a guest. "Money for us means bringing people into the family, helping people who don't have," he says. "That's a phenomenal concept that's related to money: Add another chicken to the chicken soup. Set up another plate. Pick up your clothes and take them to the Salvation Army."
This is also something my own grandmother did. They were a large, poor family that lived in a very small house but their house was always open to setting another place at the table, and the children never even knew they were poor because life was so good.

Nightly News on Open Adoption Clip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#23562588
I think this is awesome. Except for the part that makes it sound like only 8 states allow for open adoption because it says only 8 states allow adoptees w/ original birth certificate. In Utah, the law is that it's up to the birth parents and the adoptive parents to decide together how open the relationship is after adoption. I imagine it's like that most places. It's the two (to 4) of you that set up boundaries together- and that's exactly how it should be. As far as adoptees not having access to their original birth certificate- that would only become an issue for those who chose to do a closed adoption, or those who adopted before open adoption was legal but are trying to later find out information about their birth parents. (Like in the movie August Rush.) Being that the story was about open adoption being a more popular option today, throwing in that statistic that is irrelevant to open adoption didn't make sense. It is a relevant issue, but a completely different subject.