10 Years of Gratitude Journaling Part 10

This may look like a pretty bland journal entry, but it's actually one of the more special ones to me.

This isn't the best picture, but well life.  I'm still scanning the old fashioned way with a scanner that's hooked up to the computer, which is a pain to use. I haven't figured out a way to do fancy scanning on my phone yet. Sigh. I'm so behind the times.

I don't have a great memory like my brother, Scott who can remember all kinds of stories from our childhood. That's one of the reasons I started journaling. It's nice to keep the good memories alive.

I do remember Thanksgiving in 2017 just like it was yesterday. My dad, who travelled most of his life, hasn't been too big on leaving his current town for the last 30 years. I was totally shocked when he said that they were coming up for Thanksgiving. I got to show him all the things I love, including my home and favorite libraries. Looking back at this post I'm not sure what I meant by 'impressed.' I think just like anyone else I want my dad to be proud of me. I think he always wanted one of his kids to become a musician, and being a children's librarian isn't quite the same thing (although I did sort of write that storytime song). I think he's thrilled I love my job though.

Izzy

A big, exciting change has happened in our home. My niece, Izzy, is living in Kansas City with us. Izzy is a delightful kiddo who has been bravely working through trauma she endured while living with her mom several years ago. She was doing a great job working through this trauma while living in Tucson with her dad, who is my brother Rusty A.K.A. James, but her progress stalled. We are hoping that a fresh start, different approach, and additional resources will help Izzy continue to flourish.

Izzy is currently a sophomore in high school and has been working really hard on her school work, therapy, taking care of herself, and getting acclimated to all things Kansas City, including an aunt and uncle she hasn't had a whole lot of contact with. She's been doing really well. Robert and I love her and we are trying. There have been challenges, but more than enough positive, beautiful moments to outweigh the challenges.

When Rachel moved up here a few years ago we spent some time building what we call The Rachel Team, which grew and grew as she progressed through high school. Robert and I have been working on building an Izzy team that includes family, a therapist, an educational advocate to help us with her IEP, an entire army of phenomenal high school staff that are moving mountains for her, and our small but mighty circle of friends. Izzy is doing great so far. I feel like we're all working well together and Izzy feels loved and is flourishing. I don't think this will be an easy battle. Some people have gigantic monsters to battle, monsters they couldn't escape and struggle to defeat, and Izzy is one of those people. Thankfully she is positive, loving, imaginative, tenacious, a self-advocate, and has energy for days (energy we may need to borrow). 

Currently we have been working on making sure her planner is up-to-date each day. Izzy struggles to retain information, but once she gets in the habit of doing something or she has a list to help her, she does an excellent job getting her school work done. Her teachers have been signing off on her planner each day so we know what her homework is and we can help her with it. Robert has been tackling math with her, and Izzy and I read aloud her assigned books together. Science and theater have been trickier and both Robert and I continue to make efforts, but those are not our stronger areas. Thankfully Izzy's team at school has been helping her (and us) learn her science homework.

There has been a lot of learning and growth not just for Izzy, but for Robert and I as well. Blogging has definitely taken a backseat currently, in addition to a handful of other things.  As I find a new balance with work, my own personal goals/obligations, Izzy, Rachel, Robert, and family in general, I'll start blogging more.

Here are a few pictures of her Kansas City journey thus far:



As soon as we knew Izzy wanted to stay and give Kansas City a try we began telling our close friends. They've been bringing Izzy clothes (a big help since Izzy didn't have winter clothes), helping us find resources, offering advice during sticky situations, and even inviting us to church, which is something Izzy enjoys. The above picture is of Ann, who brought Izzy a welcome to Kansas City pie.

We are fortunate that Rachel has been coming home most weekends. We know that's typical during the first semester but beginning with the second semester, not as much. This is what a good weekend evening looks like for us. We've been trying to create time to unwind together and will usually hang out together working on separate projects. I started a couple different journals with Izzy and we've had a good time working on them together.

Izzy's also a whiz in the kitchen and quick to help make and prepare things with us. She also has shared a few of her go-to recipes with us. I finally found someone who will eat tuna mac with me and squeal excitedly about it too.

This is Izzy's first-day-of-school picture.

And her birthday picture. We took her out for sushi. Like Rachel, she really likes all things fishy. 

We've been to visit dad a few times and Izzy has been enjoying the heck out of hanging out with him and his cats.

I will keep you updated!

Favorite September Reads Part 2

The Beauty of the Beast by Jack Prelutsky and Meilo So (Juvenile Nonfiction)

My heart! Prelutsky's combination of obscure and familiar poems written by a wide variety of poets married with So's illustrations are the perfect match. I enjoyed this book of poetry as much as their other collaboration, The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury, and am sad there isn't another. It's tough to choose a favorite poem so I'll pick my favorite short poem, written by Moritake: 

"Fallen petals rise back to the branch - I watch: oh...butterflies!" 

One-Handed Catch by  Mary Jane Auch (Juvenile Fiction)

I admired Norm's determination and attitude following an accident at this family's store that takes his left hand. He doesn't give up on his baseball dreams and re-learns how to play his favorite sport again. His mother makes sure nobody gives Norm preferential treatment and puts Norm to work doing chores and helping out at his family's store the day after he returns home from the hospital. Norm's classmates and friends have mixed reactions, but Norm takes any positivity and encouragement they give and tosses the negativity away. Norm also discovers a passion for art in the year following his accident, which I thought was a nice touch. At the end of this book Auch writes a little note about how this story is based loosely on a childhood accident that left her husband with one hand.

Tuck Me In! by Dean Hacohen & Sherry Scharschmidt (Picture Book)

This book has blankie flaps! The reader gets to tuck in all the animals with their beautiful blankies. There is one animal that doesn't have a bellybutton. Who is it?

Hippos Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton (Board Book)

With a title like this, it's hard not to fall in love with this board book before the cover is even flipped open. The expressions on the hippos' faces are dynamite and sure to make anyone smile. It begins with one lonely hippo, who decides to have a party. Hippos began arriving in unusual ways - some dressed as wait staff, one wearing fur. Seven even arrive in a sack, which is definitely a sack I would want to be around when it was opened. The party goes on all night, and when it's over the countdown begins. So there's counting forwards and backwards, which is always a heart-melting moment for me if it's done right. This is definitely done the right way. The hippos leave in groups again, but in different kinds of groups, so it's apparent that friendships were formed (with the exception of the pioneer hippos, who leave behind six distressed hippos), and you can have exciting discussions with whoever you're reading this with about adding these new groups of numbers. For example, if the seven pioneer hippos had found room in their wagon for the six hippos they left behind, how many hippos would be moving west? At the end, there's that sad, lonely hippo missing all his friends (sounds like an extrovert problem), but more importantly, clever Boynton not only executes a brilliant rhyme, but also demonstrates her mad math skills and knows exactly how many friends the lonely hippo is missing. It's pretty much everything a person could ever hope for in a book.

Favorite September Reads Part 1

I am here and all is well. Life has been bananas. I'll give a better update soon.

I did find some time for reading last month. September will be a double post.

Enjoy!

Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha (picture book)

This is such a warm, inviting story. I think I was a little bit more enamored with everything that went into working a day at a hot dog stand than I was with the moonjellies bit of the story. The illustrations are magnificent, kind of like getting a hug from a book.

Why My Cat is More Impressive than Your Baby by Matthew Inman (Adult nonfiction/comics)

I don't have a baby or a cat but still think this is one of the funniest books ever. I can't imagine it getting any funnier, but if you have a cat and/or baby, it's possible you may never stop laughing. It's definitely crude and full of offensive images, language, and ideas, but if none of that bothers you, I highly recommend it. I'm trying to think of a favorite moment and it's just so tough, because nearly every page was a favorite moment. I think I relate the most to the "how to hold a cat when you are not used to holding cats" page. Basically the advice is don't do it. Do not pick up the cat. I am definitely the person in the comic who has picked up the cat and is trying to escape a suddenly unhappy and possibly murderous monster who did not want to be picked up.

The Secret of Everything by Barbara O'Neal (Adult Fiction)

Tessa is a hiking guide/photographer who survives a tragic hiking accident. After healing at home - her father's house in California - she decides to travel to a place in New Mexico, Las Ladronas, that she thinks will be the next great hiking tour spot. It also happens to be the town where she spent the first few years of her childhood. She falls in love with both Las Ladronas ( the people, food, beauty, hiking opportunities) and Vince, a search-and-rescue worker. She also discovers giant, life-altering secrets about her past. There is no question that there is A LOT going on in this novel. Even though there are lots of stories within stories, I never felt overwhelmed. I think O'Neal does a masterful job bringing everything together (except for one ghostly character) in the end. I adored, I mean absolutely adored the attention to detail. O'Neal writes like an artist. Because of Tessa's passion for photography, she notices everything. O'Neal takes this a step further and describes in beautiful detail everything that catches Tessa's eye. My only small gripe with this novel are the love scenes, which are a little over-the-top, rather forced, and unnecessary. It feels a bit like O'Neal realized there wasn't enough romance so she threw a bunch of scenes in at the last minute without checking to make sure the words weren't on the romance no-no list of words. But the multi-layered story, rich details of food and New Mexico, and the relationships developed between the characters make this an excellent read that I highly recommend.