Fe-Fe's World Of Craft, Creations and Kids.: Foxy Loxy

Friday, 23 October 2009

Foxy Loxy

I made this card for my friend Melissa whose birthday was on Tuesday. I used the gorgeous My Minds Eye papers and rubs on and my adorable little fox stamp by Imaginisce. He's so cute! The circles are Nestabilities used in the Cuttlebug of course.

We had Josh's parents evening on Thursday. We didn't get very much out of his teacher but she feels he has settled in well and is doing ok.

We did go and see a presentation on a residential stay they want all the year 7 kids to go on to a centre in Wales. It looks fabulous but we were a bit worried about how Josh would cope with it all. We managed to speak with the guy who is the Director of Student Services at the school and he was great. He was talking about meeting up with all the 20 parents that have kids with special needs and finding out what things they need to be made aware of for each individual child so that their needs will be met while they are away at the centre. (I'd better start making notes now!)

It was all very reassuring and such a nice change to have someone wanting Josh to go and not miss out and genuinely interested in finding out what Josh's needs are so that he can go on the trip rather than being grateful that he's not going so they don't have to deal with a "problem child."

I think if, after we had spoken to him, we'd still said that we were unsure the guy would have kept us there and kept talking until he had managed to convince us to say yes. lol. It really is a whole different attitude to what we've been used to...

...and I love it!

3 comments:

Glittertastic said...: This card is so pretty and unusual - love the colours; 23 October 2009 at 18:03
cheryl said...: such a pretty card and love that little fox love the colurs too love cheryl xxx; 23 October 2009 at 22:04
friday feeling said...: Love the card - great colours & the stamp is so cute!

I'm really pleased that things are going well for Josh & that there is a really positive mind set at his school. I hope my David will be able to go on a trip like this when he's older - I can't imagine it at the moment!

Take care,
Caroline x; 25 October 2009 at 17:22

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Ode to Special Mums

Ode to Special Moms(by Erma Bombeck)

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint, Matthew.
Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, patron saint, Cecilia.
"Rudledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint, give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," says God. "Could I give a handicapped child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it.
"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world. She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations."I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice...and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, pen poised midair.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

"Welcome to Holland"

"Welcome to Holland" By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.