Just RK

Today at the Y they hosted a weight lifting event.  Most of the participants were staff, and when I stopped by “the concrete room” to peek  in while Kinlee was at swim class, I saw some of my buds lifting. Adam is one of my fave coworkers, one of our personal trainers, and is our Physical Director at the Y. (For only the next 3 days. Boo.)  Kinlee calls him The Silly Mr. Adam. He organized the event with Kyle, behind him in the black/white jacket.   And this is Kyle, who finished 4th in nationals of Olympic Weightlifting, competing for Lindenwood University. He’s also a personal trainer at the Y.  (That’s almost 600 lbs, folks.) But more importantly, Kyle is also MY personal trainer.  And he kicks. my. rear. when it comes to workouts.  Just had to give props to my pal and fitness guru.  We’ve got a long way to go, but I’ve got a pretty good pro on my team.  The event was a hit, and it really ended up feeling a lo...

Last night I took Braska with me to WalMart. She loves to go shopping, and she’s always happy to sit in the cart and say hi to people or point out various items or letters that she sees.  She’s a fun little shopping companion, and I realized while we were walking in that I don’t get to take her much anymore because I usually go when she’s at school in the mornings. At one point, a lady from behind who had 4 little kids with her said, “Oh, she is SO cute!”  I wasn’t sure she was aiming her compliment at Braska, but then she cam around us a few seconds later and said, “She’s adorable! How do you keep her glasses on??”  [This is probably the most common question of ANY kind that we get when we’re in public.  Followed closely by “How can they tell what prescription she needs with her glasses??”]  I gave the general rundown of the fact that she’s had them since she was 13 months and just accepted them from day one because she could finally SEE things. As that mo...

*I love iced tea. But I like it really weak. Light, I call it. I don’t like a strong or bitter tea. Maybe it’s more like a lightly tea-flavored water, with a splash of lemon and Splenda. When I get tea in a restaurant, that initial glass will make me several glasses because I’m constantly just adding water (which I also order for my little habit) to make it right. *Most of the time if I'm in a restaurant, I get water. But if I get lemon wedge or two with it, I can squeeze it into the water, add a little sprinkle of sweetener and I'm good to go with a nice (again...light) lemonade. Yum! *Speaking of drinks/tea, my favorite summer drink is a lightly sweetened decaf mint tea. In 6 cups of water, I toss 2 regular decaf tea bags and 2 decaf mint tea bags (sometimes mint green tea, sometimes just peppermint tea). I microwave it 8 minutes (thank you Betty and Jessica…from years ago!) add Splenda while it’s hot, then pour it in the pitcher over lots of ice and fill with cold water...

How are you supposed to care about someone close to you and not want to give what-for to those who make them miserable? How am I supposed to feel the need to care for lonely and mistreated orphans without becoming depressed and sick and overwhelmed at the conditions they are in? How are you supposed to befriend a person who is not meeting their potential without becoming frustrated at their lack of concern about that fact? How are we supposed to stand up for what’s right when it brings to light so many evidences of what’s wrong? How am I supposed to invest my life in others only to be made vulnerable enough to be hurt deeply? Balance is hard.  I’m a fixer. I need to correct wrongs and make things better. Right. But it’s not always (or even usually) up to me. It has really been heavy on me lately that in working on myself in a variety of ways, learning to feel more and DO more for people who are in need, that I seem to have a consistent upset about it.  The urgency ...

M called a bit ago to tell me he had a little celebrity sighting/chat at work. He now works for a city government that has lots of influential and well-to-do St. Louisans living in or near there. It’s a financial center in St. Louis County and is not short on money at all. It’s like a little mini-downtown, luxury condo high rises and office towers in the middle of nothing else higher than a 2-story houses for miles. But celebrities? I didn’t much think about the possibility. He was at a place doing whatever computer guys do and was approached by a guy and his family who needed assistance. Unfortunately, all M could do was send them off to someone who worked there (this is one of many city buildings he services), but he was pretty bummed he couldn’t have helped him. Because it was Joe Buck! (If you need me to tell you which one is Joe, I sure hope you don’t fool yourself into believing you’re a football fan! That’s Troy Aikman, SuperBowl Champ Quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys...

1. Does this happen to anyone else?  Every time there’s a nice long holiday weekend to enjoy and relax, I get sick. Or at the very least feel very icky.  Sure enough, after acting completely bizarre and disturbing, at times, for the last couple of weeks (more on that in another post…maybe), Braska has a 101.6 fever tonight. And I’ve been feeling horrible today, worse tonight, knowing that it’s only going to get worse.  I can feel it.  It follows the same pattern.  She’s only been to school 6 days, and here we go again.  I seriously think I’ll lose my mind. 2. Kinlee’s really twitching me out with her talking.  After we got in the van on Wednesday morning, she looked and pointed at the seat next to her and said, “Braska’s seat.”  Possessive, identifier, two words. Clear as day. (Well, to be fair, it was more like “Brakka’s” seat. The SK sound is hard.) I don’t know much about normies, but that seems pretty good to me for less than 17 months....

I’m trying to figure out this chaos of drawing winners for Braska’s giveaway.  What was I thinking with all those options and different points and crazy things??  Ah well, I’m just excited to find out who won! In the meantime, you want to read a little story that makes you shake your head?!? Backstory… A common occurrence at churches are people who come knock on the door and ask for help with an electric bill or with their rent.  Often these needs are met and assistance is given.  But I’ve never heard of anything like this. Read as my mother-in-law tells about her day at work.   Click here .

This picture was taken yesterday. The girls enjoyed their first track meet.  Can you tell what the challenge of the day was?? Look closely… This trip is about half over.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to hash it out in blog form.  Not that it’s all things to be blogged, I will say.  Some things are just to be experienced.  And let me tell you, I’ve experienced some really special things, but even more—the people—and a peek at their hearts. I know I’ve used this before, but I’m not sure how else to say it… I’m honored.  The girls have been really great, and I’m so pleased. Don’t miss a clip of their weekend so far here .  They’re sleeping now, so I should be, too.

Gosh, even for someone as wordy as I am, I feel like I don’t have the words to describe today. (More on how it came about here .) Partially because most of it’s influence on me is internal, and I’ve still got some processing to do with all of it.  But don’t worry…I’ll try to give you a peek . I have to try to get some of it down, because I don’t want to forget. I spent the day with Kim and Jodie from Fresh Art Photography , a pair of super cool ladies I only came to know of yesterday morning in one of those “it’s no accident” kind of ways.  And how great that I could be of at least a little help today, a day celebrating the life of little Seamus, raising money for the NICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. So while the girls shot kids and parents, babies and toddlers, moms, dads, and one seriously cute couple, I fetched the muscle man, Tom, or held jackets, or pointed out folded-up sleeves, or blew bubbles at the right time, or just stood as a barrier when they shot in the...

More drama on the homefront, but this time a bit more painful physically. Everyone in our family is ok. Just clarifying for those of you who yelled at me last time I saved that til the end. Braska's nutritionist was due for a visit at 1pm today. I was getting ready and saw her drive in at 1:10 pm or so. I was putting away lunch things and straightening up the living room. The therapists, I've found, often finish their phone calls in the driveway or for some reason don't come to the door right away. So I continued doing the last little pick-up for a few more minutes. I glanced out at the drive to see the truck was there, but I couldn't tell if she was still inside. At that moment, I heard a loud crash against the front storm door. I headed there to open it, and as I turned the door handle, I heard, "Help! Please help!" I flung the door open to see her face down on the porch with her head against the door. The screen was partially up, so I asked her if...

No frills, just stuff I've considered blogging. Key points are in BOLD in case you want to skim and read only some portions. See? I know how you are. There is a new Wendy's at the exit very near us. I didn't know it was there til today. I'm SO excited! Even though we don't do fast food hardly at all anymore, I do LOVE Wendy's and I'm pleased it's there if I get a couple extra bucks and a craving. I worked at Wendy's in high school, and though some people say when you work fast food you can never eat there again, I still love it. And I still dress my burgers in the same way they do, in the same order from the bun up. White, red, green, white, red, green. Mayo, ketchup, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce. Mustard goes on the meat. Yum! Isn't it funny how I can't remember what I needed to get at the grocery store but I can remember the jingle from the training video that I watched in 1990! Yesterday at the mall, there was a pregnant woman...

Today I dropped Braska off to hang out with her buddy Jack for a bit while I went to my final OB appointment. As I was driving through a residential area between point A and point B, I passed quite a few people walking, jogging, or just standing outside chatting with a neighbor. The weather was nice, and it always makes me smile to see people out just enjoying the simple things in life. But one sight made my smile even wider. On the sidewalk, across from the high school, there was a silver-haired couple, apparently out for a walk. They were both dressed in burgundy shirts and jeans. As I approached around the curve, their position in relationship to each other caught my attention; he was facing the road, and she was facing the house nearby. I did a little double take as I realized there was a strange moving lump in the back of her shirt, just beneath the collar. He had his hand up high and inside her collar, scratching her back as she stood there on the sidewalk. It didn't ...

Last night it was out on the town for me. I was invited to go to a mouse race fundraiser by Adrienne. She's the leader of our local DS group in St. Charles County and I knew of her on DownSyn actually even before we moved here. So last night I met her for the first time, and then met her four friends who also came to the event. And all these fine ladies have kids with DS. Handy, eh? And I was the youngest....that's a new position for me, for sure. This is Carolyn, Becky, Allison, Adrienne, and Jane. (Not sure of spellings...sorry if I got any wrong!) Pardon the grainy pics, Motorola Q--not the best camera, but not a bad PDA phone. The event was to benefit a family, specifically two young boys whose very young dad died suddenly two days after the youngest was born. This is that one...Anthony, named after his dad. He has DS too! He's 8 months old and A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. The fundraiser was to benefit the education fund for these two boys. There were appetizers, drinks, a silent a...

What does one do with a day when there is nothing on the schedule but "regular" things like work-work and dishes and laundry? Well, of course, they go stand in line for hours for a 20-second chance at fame and a million bucks! Monday evening my new friend Jen called. She had a crazy idea and wanted to know if I was game...almost literally. Deal or No Deal was coming to a mall about 45 minutes from here for open auditions on Tuesday. Did I wanna come along?? I just had to giggle...this girl is crazy fun! I thought for a moment, realized I didn't have any truly pressing issues to handle between 1 and 4 pm the next day, so I thought, Sure, I'll come along and see what happens . First there was the application, which we printed from the online link (which is now gone or I'd link ya). The questions were about lucky moments in our lives, what made us interesting, embarrassing stories, outrageous things we've done, etc. I labored over this paper most of the evening,...

We're ending day 6 of a 7-day family/friends tour of Missouri. There are alot of paradoxical elements to family visits. On one hand it's great to visit and kind of relax, but on the other hand, we're ready to be home and in our own space. On one hand it's nice to get away, spend time in the car together, and listen to some good books on CD, but on the other hand, after quite a bit of time, it'll be nice to not have a trip over 15 minutes for the next week or so. To recap...Weds: Our home to my parents'--5 1/2 hours. Thurs and Fri: No driving!! Saturday: My parents' to friends in Columbia-- 2 1/2 hours, then friends to M's parents' place--2 hours. Making a triangle in East Central Missouri...priceless. Tomorrow we'll go 35 minutes to Children's, whole day of visits, same trip back here, then 3 hours home. On one hand it's nice to let the hosts do their thing, but on the other hand, we tend to like things our own way. On one hand it...

Tuesday evening we went to the visitation for BT. We arrived at our church at 5:30p. It is quite a large place, keep in mind. The parking lot was almost full, looking like it does on a Sunday morning when more than 1200 people are in the building. The visitation was slated to go from 4 to 7 pm. When we arrived, there were probably 200 people in line before us. The line was coming from the "big room" or auditorium where the family was at the front near the stage, all along the side, out the door, around the classrooms that line the outer walls of the big room, and down a long hallway. I couldn't believe it. I've never seen anything like it. A huge line of generally quiet people, just standing. Many not talking, some greeting those around them that were familiar. We were fortunate to walk in with another couple, friends of ours, so we had someone to chat with as we waited. Every few minutes the line would shuffle forward some. But there was a fairly constant stream of p...

I don't really know what to say about this, but I keep thinking about it, so I'll just jot down my thoughts. I'll not use names to protect the privacy of the family at this time. This morning about 8:30 am a good friend K called to tell me that another good friend's(BD) twin brother(BT), who was an acquaintance, took his own life earlier this morning. His father (BB), who works with both brothers in their business, entered their shop to find him. I don't know much about the situation in detail, but I do know that BT had been having a very hard time for the past year or so in many ways. I would occasionally get reports via friends about this or that, and it was sad to hear the troubles... We haven't seen BD and his wife D much in the past year except to say hello at church, but we keep up on what's happening with them through mutual friends and such. I actually got an email from D two days ago saying she'd like to do lunch or something. We used to b...

I notice things about people as they cross the street in front of me while I wait at a stoplight. Some people go only when the little walking light tells them to. That's good, obeying the law. Some people will go any old time that they want to. Some people will hustle it across the street, which seems respectful of those of us that are waiting to go as the light turns green as they're mid-street. I don't mind waiting if they are at least attempting to get across the street quickly. I do find myself thinking unpleasant thoughts about those that seem to revel in the idea that their relatively little person is stopping me in my big ole' car from continuing on my way. It's like some kind of weird power trip they enjoy. I have to admit that there is a particular group of people, not related solely to race or part of town, but more related to an obvious attitude and sense of entitlement that they possess...and these make me crazy when they happen to cross in front ...