31 for 21 challenge - day 7...hello my name is lorena - and i am raising a frustrated learner....

ever have one of those moments.....(or weeks, or months or years).....when you are soo frustrated with your so called "good" school district that you think all they want is to churn out high scores instead of educated kids who want to learn????  who are allowed to learn at their own pace?

yes well welcome to my current frustration.

and no - i am not being the mom who is mad b/c i actually have to sit down with my son at night and make him do his homework.  so no - its not sour grapes over here...because i have another son who is the direct opposite learner...i never had to help him with anything...and in fact i could write a post titled "hello, my name is lorena and i am raising an unmotivated learner"

31 for 21 challenge - day 6.........welcome back

sunshine!

31 for 21 challenge - day 5...picking out the positive

some days just plain suck. 

now - it could be because of things YOU did

....like have 3 cups of coffee before bed

....which caused you to wake up at 3am fully alert

....and made the idea of watching an episode of boardwalk empire sound like a good one

....until 4am came 

....at which point you settle into a deep, restless sleep

....filled with totally bizarre dreams  

....and wake at 6:30 groggy and grumpy and with some strange painful pulled muscle in your upper shoulder

OR

it could be because of things SOMEONE else did

...which quite frankly isn't really a legitimate reason to have a sucky day

because if you didn't do the above things

you really wouldn't be crabby

and therefore you would be more understanding of others

and of things they've done

and things they haven't done

and things they've said

and things they haven't said.........

SO

 i was just about to send an email to my friends - giving them a rundown of some more ways my day totally sucked and i decided

NO

i wouldn't do that.

i mean really - who wants to hear me whine?

  i know i don't want to hear it. 

and quite frankly what's it gonna accomplish?

THEN

i decided i was going to force myself to find a positive in my dreary, cold, rain-filled day.

and here it is.......

coming home to the smell of burning wood

in our fireplace
 in the kitchen

the first fire of the season...........

and no - we didn't roast marshmallows

(its an old picture - well what did you expect with the day i had?)

in fact - there wasn't anyone around to roast marshmallows
everyone had kinda scattered and went their separate ways

and left me alone

with the fire

and my computer

and time to ponder

and to pick out the positive

insert contented SIGH.......

now THAT is an email i look forward to writing........

31 for 21 blog challenge - day 4 (rain, rain go away.....)

its gloomy outside.  

its gloomy inside.

the coffee house is streaming through my computer.

it doesn't feel so gloomy anymore.

things could be worse

31 for 21 blog challenge - day 3.......berries

one of my favorite things about autumn is the appearance of berries on the different shrubs around our home.  right around late august/early september they start to appear...little green balls just kinda hiding between the branches and leaves of the plants.  you really don't even notice them.  then one day something red will catch your eye.

looking alittle closer i notice the other berries starting to ripen.  little by little the clusters begin to change - green to yellow and finally to red.

soon the entire shrub will be covered with red - and the birds will come.   the only thing prettier than red berries on a green shrub - is red berries on a green shrub - under a blanket of pure white snow.  but as far as i am concerned that little pleasure can wait because the last thing i want to see right now is snow.  we just had a crazy couple days of rain and some hot weather.  autumn seems to be flying by as leaves are being blown off the trees before they get a chance to change!  thankfully today is a beautiful, sunny, cool day - perfect autumn day - and looking up i notice there are plenty of leaves still hanging around to change color...but once they do change - and once they are gone - i'll still have the berries to enjoy.

31 for 21 blog challenge - day 2........how i met your father

 i mentioned yesterday that i do not have a child with down syndrome...and pretty much after this post i probably won't have any personal stories to share about children with down syndrome...but i do have one.  its how i met my husband.

after college i decided i wanted to become a teacher and that i wanted to work with children with special needs.  after college i was looking for something to do during the summer where i could work with these children before i started taking classes for my teaching certification.  variety club camp was close by and they had a summer camp for children with mild to moderate developmental and physical disabilities.  i decided to sign up as a camp counselor.  it was there that i met my husband. 

he was working as a weekend pharmacist at the time and was looking for somewhere to volunteer his time during the week.  since we were one of the oldest people there we hung out together.  then we started dating...and well the rest is history.  but this post isn't about us - its about the kids at the camp. 

there were a variety of children there with a whole spectrum of disorders...but it was the children with down syndrome that got us.  those round faces with smiles so big they took up half their faces.  when they were happy their entire bodies lit up!  they wore their emotions on their sleeves - happy...smile!  sad...frown!  angry...scowl!  they were a joy to be around.

summer camp ended but we wanted more.  we volunteered with the special olympics and attended some of their events.  if you've never attended a special olympics i would suggest you do.  i remember being stunned at their abilities and their drive.  i was blown away but what these athletes were capable of achieving and their level of competition. 

i honestly cannot remember what happened next - i can only guess that life happened and suddenly we weren't volunteering anymore....and that was that.  we had children and my priorities shifted to raising and caring for them.  it wasn't until my friend cindy had her third child - and that child was diagnosed with ds that i even thought about them again....and that my friends - is a whole 'nother post........

31 for 21 blog challenge - day 1

october is down syndrome awareness month.  in order to raise awarenes for down syndrome the blog unringing the bell has set up its 4th annual challenge for bloggers to post each day of the month of october - hence the 31.    the 21 comes from trisomy 21, which is another name for down syndrome.  i do not have a child with down syndrome...but a very dear friend of mine does.  her blog is called life with five leggs and if you have the time i suggest you head over and check it out.  besides writing her infamous long winded witty posts - she shares some very heartwarming stories about her son johnny...who has ds.

if you want to support a great cause then head over to unringing the bell and grab a button.  spread the word about down syndrome and help raise awareness for a very special group of people and their families!