Fiji Thank You!

Sa Bula Vinaka! We just finished our first day in Fiji and it was wonderful, humbling, and amazing! We visited the Ba School for Special Education, and spent the entire day there with the children. We have so much to write, but we realize that not everyone might want to read through a giant journal entry type post (we'll put another post below for those that are interested in all the day's activities). But please know how grateful and thankful we are to each of you that provided such wonderful assistance for this school. We were able to bring over 200 pounds of materials, equipment, technology, etc. We were able to provide them with cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and numerous educational DVDs, books, and sporting equipment! Some of you stayed up late into the night or helped answer questions and transport items, just to make this all possible. We were also able to provide them with a generous cash donation that will be used to buy shoes for the children, uniforms, food, and other critical materials (there were actually some children with no shoes at school). Just writing this is making us cry all over again and turning this into a longer post then we intended, we'll leave it with our final thank you below for now.

Simply saying Thank You doesn’t seem sufficient, but it’s all we have. I suppose that’s why God sometimes uses unique and special ways in allowing His children’s gratitude toward each other to be felt and understood.

Let me try to summarize it best like this. Fiji time is one day ahead minus 6 hours. So if it’s 7:00 p.m. on a Thursday in the US, it is 1:00 p.m. on a Friday in Fiji (it’s always been easiest for me to think of it this way). With this understanding, there will come some day in the future when maybe you’re working alone in the garden on a sunny afternoon, reading a fun book with the kids just before naptime, or in process of preparing a bountiful dinner for your family and suddenly, without any apparent cause, you just feel good, real good. Suddenly you’re just all smiles, and it makes you stop and think for a brief moment, but you can’t put your finger on why. At times like this, perhaps you might think of a small generally forgotten farming town, with a small generally forgotten school, an ocean away. Perhaps you’ll remember that at these times a new day is just starting for an entire school of very special children. Perhaps you’ll be able to see a sweet young boy who can’t hear very well and hasn’t been able to communicate, is now laughing along with his teachers and friends as he is able to sign “ball”, “play”, and “thank you”, and his teachers and friends understand him because of the signing videos you provided and they all watch everyday. Perhaps there is a young girl that can’t walk well and has great difficulty in controlling her arms and hands, and it is now game time at school, and the interactive parachute game you provided has become her favorite game that always elicits squeals of laughter. And finally, perhaps there is a young teacher that just loves these special children, and until your kind gift arrived was feeling overwhelmed and underprepared, but now with the books, technology, and resources you’ve provided they are able to put their whole heart into a new school day, knowing all along that they are not a small generally forgotten school an ocean away. You didn’t forget them, you remembered them.

We don’t know what time it is when you are reading this note, but if you have a smile on your face that you just can’t wipe off, perhaps it’s because there is a special school of children, now a very short ocean away, that just started school and are smiling right along with you.

Thank you!

So. Cal Trip

We went on a fun family vacation two weeks ago. It was a family reunion with my(Summer's) brothers and parents. I didn't think I was old enough to have a family reunion with my siblings, but we are kind of spread out now and don't get the chance to be all together unless it's planned and everyone can fly to one spot. We haven't taken a long trip since the January plane disaster, so we opted to drive, which I was not looking forward to either. (The drive went better than I thought) We went to my grandparent's house, my cousin's and saw Dor Dor, Disneyland and Newport Beach. The weather was great, it was so nice to go outside and feel warm. While we were packing shorts and bathing suits, it was still cold and rainy in Utah. The highlight was watching Brynn run around with her other 2 year old girl cousins. They would squeal and scream and fall off chairs together. She had so much fun.



At Disneyland they went and saw the princesses, which Brynn wasn't too familiar with, but it didn't take long for her to say "rella" and spin around. Her first ride was the Carousel. She was excited to sit on the horse. When it started going, she got a little nervous but still waved at Dad.


She mostly had fun just seeing all the water fountains. I was excited to take her on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride because she loves fish and it was one of my favorites when I was little. The week before I rented Finding Nemo to watch with Brynn so she would recognize the characters. Well it got scary real fast. What kind of movie starts with almost all the children and the mother getting killed? It's so sad when she folds her arms, shrugs her shoulders and with a huge bottom lip sticking out says "cary mom". We didn't see the rest of the movie. I was hoping the ride would leave out the scary parts. Well, it was all fun until the lights went out and all the under the sea villains started showing up.




Brynn doing "the claw" She loves the Toy Story pop-up book that we have with the claw.

Coleson was coaxed into going on Space mountain and loved it. It was the longest line of the day- about an hour. His other top two were Splash Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster. He claims to have the highest score. He had been saving his money to buy either a new light saber or a Star wars Lego set. Well, we ended up going to the Lego Store in downtown Disney.



It was hard to tell if Ammon enjoyed it. He had a small seizure that morning and it was enough to wipe him out. He just gets really out of it and he looks like he is going to fall asleep any moment. Just being in warm weather outside for a long period of time also drains him. We went on some rides through the exit, so he would not have to wait in line. Disney is very accommodating to individuals in wheelchairs! For lunch I took him to the Mother's building on Main Street and it was so nice. Just in case anyone is planning to go to Disneyland soon with a baby- they have highchairs and a nursing section and a room just full of changing tables. They also have a sink and microwave to use. It was perfect for me to sit and tube feed him in an air conditioned clean room. I don't know why I hadn't gone there the last time when Ammon was a baby. I mostly enjoyed it because Ammon started "coming alive" and babbling back and forth to me. It's in the quiet moments that he "talks" the most. That truly makes my day.


Here's Ammon with Paki, I think he enjoyed all the things to look at in the Rain Forest Cafe.



Thanks Devin for helping with the continuous smiles and laughs!!


This was so precious, Ammon's cousin talking to him

Of course we all loved the beach. We swam, boogie boarded and looked in tide pools. We even saved the sand castle from the waves -which is a classic family fun event.
Coleson getting buried..



Ammon loved the water!


You can always spot the Utah kids all covered up! Hey, no one got burned this trip!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a fabulous vacation! We really enjoyed being together with everyone!

Fiji...

Sa Bula Vinaka (that's a warm Hello in Fijian)!

Summer and I are finally returning to Fiji, and on our first day there we will be visiting the Ba School for Special Education. When I was there, there were only about 25 children and now there are approximately 55 children (the ages are from 4 to approximately 16). The abilities of the students are diverse, including children with Down's, and many of the higher functioning children regularly assist the other children. We called and asked Sai, the principal of the school, to please let us know of all their needs and he responded with the email below. Along with the general donation we are hoping to bring a specific donation for each student, whether that be a book or interactive toy, etc.

Along with family, people in our neighborhood, and Ammon's network of friends, we wanted to extend an invitation to each of you to participate. In many regards, Fiji does not have access to many of the specialized toys and instructional tools that our children have here in the States. And those specialized items that they do have access to are very expensive. We have been letting everyone know that they don't have to buy anything new (although that would be great), but simply identify any of these items they might have already or that can be acquired at a great discount. We are also hopeful to provide the school with a cash donation as part of this trip. If you're wanting to donate sport related items the only basketball court is at the church, so we would recommend focusing more on other sports such as volleyball, softball, T-ball, and especially soccer.

All cash and other donations need to be received by Saturday July 3 (we are leaving on July 7). Please don't hesitate to call or email us with any questions or additional ideas you might have. You can drop items off at our house, or just give us call and we'll gladly come to your house.

Thank you everyone! We can't wait to share these gifts with these special children an ocean away and have everyone be a part of this!

Here is a portion of Sai's email:

"With reference to the Donation that you will make to the school.... we would appreciate if you bring and give anything that suits the learning capabilities of children and students with special needs.....

Our number stands at 55 with diverse disabilities as of today and 8 teaching staffs with 1 Clerk/ Typist and 1 Driver/ Handyman.

A suggestion for the items that you could bring along would be:
1. Educational Toys
2. Story Books at an Early Stage or Beginners Level
3. Teaching Aides
4. Writing Materials
5. Laptop (1 could do- any second hand: if its available)
6. A digital Camera - for the school activities and proof of child's learning in and out of the class......Photos printed out and be displayed on the School Information Board
7. Video CD's or DVD's (educational Movies: since they have a program for Creative and Expressive Skills sessions every Friday)
8. Any other relevant stuffs for Sports would be lovely......
9. Last but not the least request if you could donate a Cell Phone to be used for the School Calls (Any Second Hand would do).....and could you Please buy Hard Drive from US to store all information about the school......(Our computer is over loaded and its really expensive here in Fiji) - 2 Hard Drive would do.....

I know that you are aware that some of the things that I have requested for are expensive in Fiji.....

Am really sorry Brian for all I have request on behalf of the school,that all the things that you going to donate to the school will be recorded and all donations will be made in the presence of all staffs and children of Ba School for Special Education.......

With those few things mentioned above I hope that you will consider the needs for children with special needs at Ba School for Special Education.

Thank You so much for offering your great help and assistance to us.....

May the Good Lord shower his blessings to you and your family......

Vinaka Vakalevu and Kind Regards

SAI"

It was only a matter of time

Doesn't every little girl at some point get into her mother's makeup bag and try it out? I knew this would happen one day, but I didn't think it would happen this soon. Brynn gets into everything she shouldn't, but usually I am careful about putting my things away and shutting the bathroom doors. I guess not this day. This is her attempt at mascara.


She is shoving play dough into her pockets.


I can always hear the chairs being pushed around the kitchen, so when I came in to see what she was up to I just smiled. She was just trying to get a bowl.


This is Brynn at Grandma and Grandpa's annual Easter egg hunt. Brynn is the only one who got to go. Everyone else was sick. Brian said she had tons of fun and tried to shove everything in her mouth.

Brynn is at a fun age for learning. She is starting to talk more understandable, almost with a new word everyday. She is just too cute. When you ask her a question that she has to think about she will say Umm Umm and look side to side. She asks where everyone in the family is. "ere's Coly?"(Where's Coleson) scoo (school) ere's daddy? erk ere's Ammy? scoo, bus When she says prayers she says where everyone is and no matter if Ammon is home or not she always says Ammon, school, bus . She loves to sing with actions. We have made up a lot of extra verses to the common preschool/nursery rhyme/primary songs. I love catching her just singing to herself and just saying some of the middle words over and over. She loves to read books by herself and to her dolls or animals. When Brian reads to her, she is back and forth to the book shelf, she can never read just one.


Her favorite thing to do with Coleson is unload the dishwasher to music. She knows where all the dishes go away. I wish all chores were this exciting.


(Sorry for the sideways video, Coleson's new song obsession- Eye of the Tiger)

Today she was trying to learn to be patient with the watering spout on her watering can. I tried to show her the "right way" to do it, but she would rather just dump it all out from the top -its faster that way.

Spring Break and the rest of April

For Spring break we went ... sledding..and not in the mountains, just down the street at a park. We got about 1/2 foot of snow in one day, so we went sledding. It was really fun to have it nice enough to take Ammon and Brynn. Brynn was the one begging to go outside and had a great time before we left the house. Once we got to the park she just wanted to be held and cried.



Ammon had fun being outside and went down the hill a few times.


Coleson was so glad to go sledding again because we had only made it once during the regular snow season.

Our other spring break activities included going on a tour of the Sweet Candy Factory-chocolate covered orange sticks, chocolate covered cinnamon bears(my fav.) lots of taffy-check your candy label next time.

Coleson was so excited to be with his friend Baylor, they have been friends since they were 1.
We also went swimming-inside. All three kids love to swim. Brynn is ready to be on her own, if I would let her go. Ammon loves to splash his hands. I think he prefers to go outside, though, it's pretty noisy inside. Coleson wanted a break from lessons, so we just go for fun.

We got a new addition to our home.. a piano.



I found a used piano at a good price. I am so excited. At church I am the Primary children's chorister. The internet has been my best resource for practicing and listening to music, but it is so much nicer to be able to practice and play at my own pace. I am very rusty, but it will be great to practice with my children. I started giving Coleson lessons and he has surprised me with how much he has already practiced. Ammon can raise his arms up and play. He gets excited when he hears the piano.
Ammon is doing so much better. He has had a great month. I almost don't want to write about it because I'm afraid I'll jinx it. I'll post more about him later this week.

This last Saturday, Coleson and I went skiing and had a great time.


We were a little rusty the first run, but then got the hang of it. I usually go snowboarding and had only been skiing once before in high school. We went to a skiing only resort with his cousins, so I thought I would just be able to pick it up. I think I did pretty good considering it was my second time. However, you are always a little embarrassed when your 7 year old has to wait at the bottom of the ski lift for you, to go again.


Coleson is in the gray jacket. He was trying to beat his cousin and went a little too fast this turn.