July...The Heart of Summer

July was an incredible month and one of our busier months of summer. Darein started back with her Champion Athletes of the Ozarks group by starting back to bowling. She enjoys this program very much and is able to participate in it with one of her cousins. This organization is great to help Darein get the physical activity that she needs in a fun way that she looks forward to. It helps with her motor skills as well as social skills and teaches her a lot. She bowled once a week on Friday nights for about 6 weeks. This was just a fun event to get her back in the mode of bowling. During the next bowling event she will get to participate in tournaments to help teach her about competition and help her strive to do her best. Towards the middle of the month we had our Wilson Family Reunion which is held every 2 years. This year it was held in Branson. We had such a great time getting to know everyone, reconnecting with family we don't get to see regularly and connecting our kids to their cousins and family members that they might otherwise not get to meet. It was great to be able to not only visit but also be able to look at old pictures and see everyone's family...past and present. We will definitely be trying to go to more of these in the future. We also used this time in Branson to take a mini vacation with our family and my sister's family down at the lake. We stayed right on the lake and just hung out in the water every day and visited in the evening on the back deck. It was nice having all of us together. My son misses out now on a lot of family things with him being in college and with wanting to do things with his friends so it was nice to have him with us enjoying some real family time. This month, I joined a group that a friend of mine just started called We Are One. We meet on Monday nights and it is a group for women who want to learn more about being balanced in mind, body and spirit. It helps us to realize that even though we are only one person, we are one person that can make the difference in others lives. This has been great for me as I have been searching for something bigger than myself and a way to help others outside of my family. I do a lot for my family as well as my extended family and that is great but I think it is very important to reach out to others outside of our families and make a difference and this is a great outlet for that. I made a resolution at the beginning of the year and finally realized the importance of taking care of myself. I used to believe that as a mom I needed to take care of everyone else other than me and maybe if I had time to take care of myself then I would try to fit it in. I think that a lot of moms feel the same way. However, if we don't take care of ourselves then we can't possibly take care of our loved ones. This group helps keep me accountable for making sure that I am taking time out for myself throughout the week. It took me a long time to learn this concept so it is nice to have that reinforcement. Darein worked a lot at the zoo this month in order to try and get her volunteer hours in so that she could go to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska at the end of the month. She has been so busy with church activities, Champion Athletes, doctor appointments, etc that it has been tough for her to work as much as she needed to at the zoo. She accomplished getting her hours in and was then rewarded at the end of the month by getting to go to the zoo in Nebraska. She had a great time and got to see some behind the scenes areas as well as went on the Skyfari which flies over parts of the zoo to give an aerial view of the animals. I have been very proud of Darein for staying so busy this summer and keeping all of her commitments. I worry a lot that she is doing too much but she steps up to the plate each and every time. Sometimes, she does get worn out but we just readjust, take a little time off and then get her back on track. I think doing so much also helps build up her stamina so that she is stronger for the school year and keeps up with life a little better. We got to go meet Dr. Temple Grandin this month also and she talked about "stretching" your special needs child. I hope that I am doing this with Darein. Its tough to know how much to "stretch" them but I believe its just trial and error. I like to "stretch" her as much as possible and yet watch closely for when I need to give her some down time. Down time for her is as much a struggle as "stretching" can be as she really enjoys going as much and as often as possible. She doesn't like having to miss out on anything but as she is more and more active she is starting to understand that sometimes she needs to look at the bigger picture and pick a day to take off. We had to do that tonight, explaining to her what was coming up tomorrow night as well as Saturday and explained to her that tonight's activity was a last minute thing and not something that she had been looking forward to so it was probably best to miss this one. She agreed and went to bed very early so it was a good decision and she made the decision on her own which means progress to me. I also ran across an Antley-Bixler Syndrome support group on Facebook. I have had an incredible time getting to know some of the moms and learning so incredibly much. I am on information overload and I've only personally talked to one mother in length on the phone. I have had an opportunity to talk to another mother shortly and another mother via messaging as well as am in the process of talking to someone who actually has ABS. I am so incredibly excited to be a part of this group and know that it is going to be a huge blessing to me and my family and I hope that we can in turn be a huge blessing to many on the site as well. I just can't explain the feeling of knowing that there are other kids out there that have suffered through some of the same things that you and your child and family have suffered through by yourselves. There are only about 90-100 cases of ABS so it isn't something like autism where there are a large number of cases and awareness and resources to connect with. Most of us have had to go through this blindly by ourselves with no real answers of what to expect or how to even make decisions on health issues. Now, we all have someone that we can talk to, ask advice from and get personal experiences to draw from so that then we can actually make an educated decision about the care of our children and what pitfalls to look out for as well as things to look forward to and to give us hope. Darein will eventually get to meet some of these children and their families as we try to work on get togethers. This group will become a big part of our life now and we look forward to this new chapter!! I hope everyone has had an eventful summer and enjoyed their children this summer. I am working on getting me and my family healthy and helping others get healthy as well. So I am now part of a company called Genesis PURE. I won't get into that on here but that was my little plug ;) If you are interested just message me! Have a great school year and I'll write again next month!!