"Welcome to Holland" 6 years later

Six years ago today, I was very very pregnant with my first child. He was going to be a boy and we had had his name picked out Michael William. Michael after both of our father and William after Matt's grandfather and one of my uncles.

We had no idea that when he was born three days later that he would be a special angel sent from God, to change our lives forever.

I found this poem and thought it as very appropriate for the journey we have been on for the last 6 years

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Thankfulness

So I know its already the 8th of November. But I am going to try for the rest of the month and hopefully into December post something that I am thankful for and maybe even a bible verse that I have been thinking about.

So God has been really laying it on my heart that I need to rejoice in everything I do.
I follow a blog The Bolte's, and this weekend she posted about rejoice in everything you put your hand to. She quoted Deuteronomy 12:18 "You are to rejoice before the LORD your GOD in everything you put your hand to."

It really challenged me to make the choice to rejoice in everything I do. I live a very blessed life, with wonderful people in it. I need to CHOOSE to rejoice in everything I do.

I hope that whoever reads this is blessed by this verse as much as I was.

Memorial Box Monday

Here is a story that just happened today. When I was at Women of Faith a couple of weeks ago the verse that they quoted all weekend is "God can do anything you know- far more than you could imagine, or guess or request in your wildest dreams" ~ Ephesians 3:20 (The Message)

Well today I had to go to the store to pick some Mother's Day cards. This will be the first mothers day since my mom passed away. And even though I would totally and completely like to boycott sunday, I know that the first one will be the hardest. So I got mother's day cards for my step-mom from me and my kids. Well while I was there I thought why not pick up a graduation card for my step-brother who is graduating with his bachelors degree. I didn't really like any of the ones I saw so I bought one that was suitable.

I came home and had a good cry because it was a hard day. Well I had to run to a different store for a couple of things and I stopped to look at the graduation cards and lo and behold there was a graduation card with Ephesians 3:20 on it.

I don't have a memorial box yet, but when I do I will put a post it card with Ephesians 3:20 on it to always remember that God is in control and He wants to give us far more than you could ever imagine or request in your wildest dreams.

Memorial Box Monday

I have a story that just happened this weekend. I went to the Women of Faith this weekend, and I met a very incredible woman. I don't know her name or her situation but I know her heart and spirit.

She was a little older and confined to a wheelchair. Not only was she confined to a wheel chair she had no ability to use her arms or legs. But she didn't let that stop her. She pushed herself around in a electric wheelchair with just her chin. We visited a couple of times and not once did she ever not have a huge smile on her face.

God really spoke to me through this wonderful woman that I wish I would of gotten her name so I could chat with her more. But what God was speaking to my heart was that no matter what my circumstance I am blessed beyond measure.

This has been a really tough couple of months for me but God really spoke to me that if this wonderful woman can do all she does than I have no room to complain.

So I highly doubt that this woman reads my blog, but if you out there and are reading this "Thank you". And even that phrase can not even describe how blessed I am by seeing you just living your life with a smile on your face.

Memorial Box Monday on a Wednesday

This comes from A Place called Simplicity and it helps us remember what God has done for us in our lives.

This is my first ever memorial box entry and I hope I can add more and more as I remember what God has done in my life.

This story is very recent. So Natalie just turned three and all of her friends are potty training. I just haven't had the energy to help learn how to potty train so I silently asked God to make this easy. So one day when I was dropping her off at the babysitter's I said that I was trying to potty train her and she was doing ok, but not being very consistent with it. The babysitter said that was fine, and I went off to work.

When I picked her up I was just chatting with the babysitter and asked how her day went. She said that it went okay and that Natalie would go on the potty if you gave her a sticker. Natalie has only had 2 accidents since then.

Thank you God for making this such an easy transition and that I now have only one child in diapers,

If you want to participate in Memorial Box, A Place Called Simplicity

Updates

Well here we are again three months (actually longer than that) with no update.

Since I last blogged Natalie turned three. We celebrated her birthday at a party place and it was really nice as I didn't have to do anything but show up and enjoy my time. Natalie enjoyed herself.

Michael has started to cruise more and more. During therapy he will walk with his walker as many as 75 steps without stopping. I'll have to take a picture of him and the huge smile he gets. He also has (we think) graduated from his foot braces and into just regular shoes. Its a pair of hightops and he really likes them.

Matt and I went away for the first time time just the two of us but our timing was off as Natalie caught the stomach flu the day we left so we had to cut our trip short to come home and take care of sick kids and then both Matt and I caught it. Oh well, we will try again soon.

Michael is about 4 weeks away from being done with preschool and will be in full day kindergarten in the fall. We are very blessed to be able to keep his teacher for at least another year. Michael and her just have a bond that you can't explain. Its fun to see how well he is doing in school.

Well thats about it from the Slusher family. Hope you all are doing good.

Welcome to Holland

Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands.

The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for awhile and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. And Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts!

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But, if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, very lovely things... about Holland.


(I didn't write this, I found it on another blog and it definitely describes my life sometimes)