RE: Re: the Cross and background

January 11, 2007

Rosie,

I loved this post and the part about " where do I plug her in? " regarding your

daughter made me laugh out loud. Thanks!

And...I concur--you are NOT hogging the group. We all love hearing the WHOLE

story!

pam

Re: the Cross and background

,

I love the story of your finding that cross...I so much believe in

signs like that. I've gotten so many throughout the course of my

life, especially during times in my youth when I tried desperately to

go astray. My mother used to tell me that if she had received signs

like I was receiving, she would've become a nun! (LOL)

As for the background life experiences, I took a sign language class

at a summer camp when I was ten years old and fell in love with it!

At my fifth grade graduation, our music teacher prepared us all to

sign " Sunshine on my Shoulder " but nobody could get it right except

for me. So, she had the others sing it, and I got to be in the front

and sign it by myself. It was my fifteen (or less) minutes of fame!!

Other than that small experience, I had nothing to do with children

with special needs and so was completely UNprepared when my son came

to me. I remember that night in the hospital before he came home for

the first time...they were teaching me how to put in the feeding

tube, change his colostomy bag, administer meds, etc, preparing me to

care for him by myself at home. I was/am a single mom. I was shocked

that they expected this of me, and I asked the nurse, " Can't you just

keep him until he doesn't need all that stuff? " (LOL) (Five years

later, when I gave birth to my daughter, they handed me this

perfectly healthy baby and told me I could take her home. My first

thought was, " where do I plug her in? " ) It wasn't until Neal was 3

years old that I decided to go to work in the field. I got a master's

in special education, went into training healthcare providers on

family-centered practices, and am now pursuing a phd to become a

professor in special ed. It is SO WONDERFUL to hear how many of you

are also working in the field. We really need more parents out there!

Rosie (mom to Neal, 11 CHARGE, -Marie, 6)

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