Baby Panda

Kimmie loves panda bears. She has for years. In fact, she has quite a collection of stuffed pandas, panda movies, panda books, panda t-shirts and panda pajamas.

She has an amazing capacity for sitting and watching documentary type movies about panda bears. Of course, what are most of these movies about? --Having babies to keep the panda from becoming extinct. We know all about the birthing and baby stages.

Kimmie has decided that she has a baby panda in her tummy. She points at her belly button and tells us there's a baby panda there. Then she tells us we need to go to the hospital to get out the baby panda.

I think that could probably be interpreted to mean that Kimmie wants a pet panda!

--Mom

Bathtime

I was giving Kimmie a bath the other night. While I was shampooing, and soaping and rinsing her, she was singing. She was probably singing to herself, not to me.

First she sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Next she sang Away in a Manger.

Then I believe, from the signs I saw, that she was signing a song we used to sing many years ago. It was a Sesame Street song. I think Ernie sang it. Some of the words were, "Oh I'd like to visit the moon . . ." The second verse was about visiting the sea, "I'd go for a day, if I had my wish, but there's not much to do when your friends are all fish."

The last song she sang was from a music video, from many years ago. The music video featured deaf children. In the last song they were signing about giving God's love away. Kimmie was signing that part and doing the motions they did that represented giving God's love away. I wonder who she was giving the love to.

Sweet child, impressive memory.

--Mom

Our Blessing

I was asked a few weeks ago, "How has God blessed you?" One of those Sunday school questions.

My answer was Kimberly. To elaborate I said that all my kids are a blessing, but I always think of Kimmie first because some people would not look at Kimmie as a blessing, and I want people to know that we do think of her as a special blessing God has given us.

I was then asked to give a specific example of how having Kimmie has blessed me. I struggled a bit answering this one because it's hard to put into words. So much of it is a feeling rather than something concrete that you can describe.

I thought about that question for several days and then posed it to the family to see what they would say. We all pretty much came up with the same answers.

It's the happy feeling you get when you hear her laugh.

It's the smile that comes to your face when she smiles.

It's the warm feeling inside when she wraps her arms around you and hugs real tight.

It's the bond our family shares as we all pitch in to take care of her.

It's the shift in perspective, in priorities. Our priorities are different. Our perspective on a lot of things is different than it would have been otherwise. For example: We'll never be empty nesters. That's ok. We have different priorities.

She's a reminder to put others first. It's hard to focus on "ME" when you have Kimmie. You know how it is when you have children, life becomes all about the kids. And if you've ever been around Kimmie, you know that "it's all about Kimmie!" So, just get over it, life's not about you or me, it's all about Kimmie. (That's suppose to be funny, so laugh.) But, more seriously, she is a reminder to look beyond ourselves.

It's the way she innocently points us to God. At 19-years-old, she's an adult, but she has the innocence of a child. And Jesus said we all need to "become like little children" to enter the kindgom of heaven. (Matt. 18:3) There are also those times when she does something or signs something, and I think, "she gets it, she understands all about Jesus." And I'm in awe that she can see what so many people can't.

This is the BIG blessing for us. It's the opportunity we have to be there when she touches the lives of others. It may be a stranger in an elevator. It may be someone we know is hurting. One day it was a car salesman. She reached out and hugged him. He almost cried. When he pulled himself together, he confided to Dad that many years earlier he and his wife had a Downs baby who only lived a few days . . .

Yes. She is a blessing.

--Mom

Disney World - Heading Home

Kimmie was really glad to be heading home. She was tired of the hotel and wanted to be home.

However, we did not make it clear to her that we would not get home that day. It took a day and a half both ways, but she wanted to be home that night. When we stopped at a hotel about 9:00 pm, she was NOT happy. "Home tell none." was what she signed repeatedly. Translated that means "No hotel." She always signs "home tell" for "hotel."

Dad rushed in to get us registered while Bethany and I gathered a few things and Kimmie. When we entered the lobby, someone else was registering ahead of Dad, and he was still waiting. We all stood there and waited--some of us more patiently than others! Kimmie stood there and yelled, screamed, whatever you want to call it.

When Dad finally had a key card, he quickly handed one to me so I could get the little screamer out of the lobby. Bethany and I took her upstairs to the room, while Dad grabbed our suitcase from the van. Unfortunately, when we reached our room the key card did not work. We stood in the hallway with the little screamer until Dad arrived with his key card . . . . . . it didn't work either.

To get the little screamer out of the hallway, Dad rushed her back to the elevator to go down for new cards, while Bethany and I stood with the suitcase in the hallway.

Kimmie did calm down after we were in the room. The next day when we finally arrived home, before she climbed out of the van, she signed, "Home tell none." We assured her that we were home and finished with hotels.

Since our trip, every few days Kimmie talks about "Magic Kingdom." We ask her, "Do you want to go back to Disney World?" She always says, "Yes." But for many weeks when we would follow-up with the question, "Do you want to go back to the hotel?" She would say, "No!" It has been a couple months since our trip, and she has finally started to say yes to going back to the hotel.

She really does like to be at home.

--Mom

Disney World - Shopping

We were a little disappointed with the shopping at Disney World.

When asked what she wanted to do at Disney World, Kimmie's first answer was always hug Aladdin. Her second answer was shopping. She had very specific things she wanted to shop for: Aladdin playing cards and an Aladdin coloring book.

I was a little skeptical that we would find these items. However, I read in my 850-page Disney guide book that there was a store across from The Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride that specialized in Aladdin merchandise. We went there, only to find that it mostly carried cultural merchandise. There was one rack of Jasmine "princess" souvenirs. Of course Kimmie has no interest at all in anything with a girl on it.

We looked through the shops everywhere we went (the air conditioning was part of the draw), but we were really disappointed in the depth of selection. Mostly there was Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Disney Princesses, Tinkerbell and Toy Story III merchandise. Everywhere we went we looked for something with Aladdin or the Blue Genie. There were no t-shirts, no pins, no magnets, no pencils, nothing.

We began naming all the movies that Disney has made and thinking about how few of them were represented in the Disney merchandise. We really felt like Disney missed the boat by not having a larger variety of characters represented in their merchandise.

But Kimmie did not go home empty handed. Late in our trip we went to the toy store in Downtown Disney and finally found something with Aladdin. We found a playset of plastic Aladdin figurines. (What I believe to be the only Aladdin souvenir in all of Disney World!) Fortunately it was a different set than the one she already had at home.

And then there was the "Make Your Own Star Wars Sword" display. She added a green sword to her collection of Star Wars swords. (She bought the purple one with birthday money, so I think her collection is complete now, at least until they come out with another color.)

She also added a new Pooh plush to her Pooh collection and a new panda plush to her panda collection.

We may have to add on to the house to hold all her collections!

--Mom

Disney World - Pooh, Eeyore & Tigger

I have been busy and have not finished my stories about our trip to Disney World!

The first characters that we saw, that Kimmie wanted to hug, were Pluto and Goofy. We waited in line and she hugged on them with her Pooh Bear in tow.

One of the workers, cast members, commented on her Pooh Bear and asked if we had seen Pooh yet. I said no, so he pulled out a map and marked exactly where we could go to see Pooh.

We made our way to the character greeting place where Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger were and got in line. The area where they were was pretty good size. The line went along the side of the area with a rope to keep those waiting out of the greeting area, but we could see Pooh and Eeyore and Tigger.

One of the cast members was walking along the rope chatting with those waiting. When he stopped to chat with us, he noticed Kimmie's Pooh Bear and watched her hold her arms up towards Pooh wanting to hug him. The characters were getting ready to leave for a couple minute break. As Pooh was walking past, the cast member called to him to come over to Kimmie. Pooh reached down and hugged Kimmie in her wheel chair. She was thrilled. When Pooh left, Kimmie reached for the cast member and gave him a big hug around the neck. He melted.

The next thing I knew he was unhooking the rope and telling me to take her up by the front of the line so she could be first when the characters returned.

Eeyore had not left yet. Kimmie got herself out of the wheel chair and into Eeyore's arms for some good hugs.

They were all very nice to her. I kept watching the characters to see when they would stop hugging on her so I could pull her away, but they would just keep on hugging.

When they returned, she hugged on them some more.

Every morning when I get her up, she stops at the pictures we hung in her room and points at Pooh and Eeyore and Aladdin. And then her beloved Brown Bear gets lots of hugs as she remembers.

--Mom