A Heavy Heart

I am so happy. A new year. New memories. New experiences. New resolutions. Another year with our Lizzy.

photo courtesy of Necessary Photography

We had a wonderful Christmas. Lizzy enjoys all the excitement and laughing around her. We never wrap her toys due to her frustration of wanting that toy immediately. So we just put them in a big bag and she dumps them! Her favorite toy was a classic in our house. Her 'beep beep beep, let's go" toy! I found it at a consignment shop in town. 

This toy is the best. It lights up, vibrates, and plays music. I am so thankful for consignment shops. She goes through toys because of her little drooling issues.

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I know that our time with Lizzy is short. She lost one of her classmates last week and it just broke my heart. He was 12 and had many of the same issues as Liz. My heart aches for his parents. He had seizures back to back and he just couldn't recover from them. His name was James and he loved to sing. I'm comforted in knowing that James is healed and sitting with Jesus tonight.......singing.

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We had some fun over Christmas break. NASCAR Speedpark with Lizzy! Wow, that was fun.

It's difficult taking a child with special needs......OUT OF THE HOUSE. My husband always says "Let's bring Lizzy!" with the enthusiasm of a 5 year old. I'm always like "eh, nah!" with the enthusiasm of a woman in her late 30's:-) Not this time. I was like "we're in!!!!" She had the best time. We have to get our kids out there and experience the fun "hard" stuff. It was difficult getting her in and out of the cars. Lifting dead weight isn't good for anyone's back! She is just no help at all. We are always saying to Lizzy, "thanks for the help big girl!" I am so glad we took her with us. 

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Emily, Lizzy's younger sister, had a resolutions project to complete. This was her essay.

2013 Resolutions

  In 2013, I have a few terms or promises for this year. The most important resolution is to nurture my big sister, Lizzy. She is 13 years old and goes to Forest Brook Middle.

  One thing that my mom does in order to take care of her is to feed her. She likes to eat roman noodles, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, and rice. I do it sometimes, but now it is my resolution so, I have to do it all the time.

   Sometimes when she gets up early, she gets kind of bored. So she gets all of the toys out and plays with them. When everyone is up, we come in and it looks like a tornado went across this room! So another resolution would be to clean her room.

   Lizzy wears about 3 outfits a day. She also wets her bed. There is a lot of laundry. I will gather her laundry and take it to be washed. After my mom washes her clothes, I will put it away in her dresser.

   Lizzy likes to be snuggled, wrestled, and played with, that makes her happy. This year I would like to spend more time to playing with her. I like to hug and kiss her because she is my first and my only sister and I love her.

   These are my 2013 resolutions. I want to do these everyday to help my mom and spend time with my sister, Lizzy.

I am so proud of my Em! Her heart is so pure. She wants to make a difference. She sees her sister and doesn't care what her disability is. She still calls Lizzy her big sister even though she is our baby. I love you Em! She wants to read this in class without hesitation and my heart just explodes with pride.

I pray that your 2013 is full of joy.
God Bless.