walking a moment in daddy's shoes

time seems to fly by at a snail-pace as we creep through the home stretch of deployment number six. how is it that on one hand, with the girls, time seems to vanishes at the speed of light, while the same time passing in view of a deployment seems to be at a stand still? time is funny like that.

when i was thinking the other day of all the things that have changed since stan's been gone... one of the things that's hit me has been the girls' understanding of the gravity of daddy's work. not just what he does, but some of the dangers that go hand in hand with his job. we've talked about the dads that don't make it home... and pray for the safety of all the fine men and women overseas. it's all a part of the growing up process. with age you understand more, feel more, experience more and see the world with a new set of eyes every day. new eyes that are ever more grateful for the daily sacrifices that make daily life possible, and eyes that have the grace to see them as blessings... daily.

this was a little snapshot from stan's last homecoming in 2008. pioneer women issued a challenge to post homecoming moments. i shared this one, which she shared here. the moments are touching, beautiful, painful, sad and gracious all at the same time. a special thank you to all who have given so much, to those who have given all and to those who have loved them.

{a little sneak peek}

i've just started working on a design team for a new kit club called my paper treehouse. and with stan getting closer to being home i'm shockingly ahead of schedule on my projects! so i figured i'd post a little sneak peek at the layouts for the club. take a peek at the fun going on & get a piece of the action here.

while my sister was on a little trip visiting my brother in colorado last weekend, i kept watch over my sweet nephew on sunday. aaron is on the autism spectrum. he is precious. he is amazing. he is sometimes a handful. he was perfect on sunday, and the girls had a fun time with him. he recently spent some time at a feeding clinic in california which was a huge success! he's gone from eating three foods in the entire world, to adding and actually eating new foods every couple of days. we stopped at a farmers market on sunday and picked up a few apples. it was so cool to watch aaron eat a whole apple (i.e. not sliced). for a typical kid, this really wouldn't be a milestone moment, but for aaron's journey... it was amazing to watch. way to go little buddy! there's a little more on aaron's recent journey here.

thanks for letting me share my little slice of life. it helps to keep my eyes focused on all that is truly important in the grand scheme of things!

don't forget to post your comments on the stella & dot post HERE for a chance to win that beautiful necklace!

my buddy & me

my buddy & me

so i've got that "my buddy" commercial running through my mind right now. if you were a product of the 80's you're pretty likely to know the one i'm talking about. not that it has much to do with anything, i just wanted to pass on one of those songs that can get stuck in your head all day. (you're welcome!) lol.

anyway, yesterday we had a bunch of kiddos over for some more slip & sliding fun. (my sis & her kids and our fabulous friends, the fuentes family). anyway, my nephew aaron is autistic. so he needs a lot of extra tlc. he doesn't talk much (and then usually only when prompted). and that white thing on his ankle is a tracking bracelet for search & rescue to find him if he escapes. aaron is one of those super sweet kids who just cracks you up without saying a word. emma decided she was going to help keep aaron in sight & show him how to use the slip & slide. they were buddied up the entire time the kids were outside. it was so sweet to watch. i wish i'd caught the moment just a second or two before this picture. they were both just standing there with their arms around each other. so so sweet. :)

this afternoon we tried out a new hairdo on emma just for kicks. a few months ago we watched a youtube video on the bumpit. being the handy girls we are, we did a little research on how to do it ourselves. which pretty much just involved a lot of teasing. well, we figured we'd give a little bump a try today just for kicks. and darn if it didn't make her look way too grown up! i, in turn, got my hair done by emma. too bad i didn't get a picture of it... she said, "oooo! it looks like fireworks on your head!" i'll leave it to the imagination! lol.

autism sings

autism sings
- it matters to this one -

jason & aaron

we were blessed on friday to go to a benefit put on a local high school student we know called, autism sings. she was able to raise over $4000 for the charity autism speaks on behalf of her brother noah. over 300 people from our community turned out for the concert. it was beautiful, heart wrenching and hopeful all at the same time.

our family has been blessed to have a precious piece of the autism puzzle in our lives. aaron is my sister's youngest (i guess he's my brother-in-law's youngest too... lol). he comes with all of the joys and trials and unanswered questions of knowing and loving someone with autism.

aaron stimming before the show

the concert included a bunch of people from our community singing, but one of the highlights of the evening was a comedy routine done by one of our great high school friends, andy. andy, another blessing with autism we and lucky enough to love, did a stand up comedy routine of chuck norris jokes. he makes me laugh until i'm in tears. i love it! the look on his face in this pic just makes my heart happy.

this is my brother-in-law, jason, singing a song he wrote for the benefit called, "it matters to this one" you can listen to it here and read the story and lyrics here. as soon as i can figure out how to do it, i'll get the acutal song set up to play here. jason is so talented and has such a great heart. he constantly amazes me, and so many others.



and this is tara (and her brother noah, in the picture behind her) who organized the entire autism sings benefit. to learn more about autism or to donate to autism speaks click here. thanks tara, and the stanwood/camano community for your heart, i'm so thankful to be a part of this community.

see a few more pics here.

family ties

i went out to the local state park with my sister's family to get some fall family pics for them. the sunshine and leaves were amazing this weekend. my sister is one of the most amazing people i know. she graciously and humorously handles every curve ball that life seems to throw. she inspires me to be a better person.

this is her family.

this is my nephew aaron (check out the link to his blog). he is a precious soul burdened and blessed by autism. while taking their pics he was doing his own thing part of the time. i kept the shutter going and caught this peek into how it must feel for someone locked into the world of autism. i am so lucky to love someone in that world.

this is my beautiful sister who will very likely be asking me to delete this.

fund raiser for aaron's dog

fund raiser for aaron's dog

if you're local to the stanwood/camano island area in washington... there is a car wash & raffle fund raiser for aaron's (my nephew) dog next weekend. it would be great to see you there!

aaron's service dog update

aaron's service dog update

my sister, aaron and i went up to brigadoon to meet aaron's dog. i learned a lot about service dogs today! i thought we'd meet "the one" since this was aaron's second visit... but not so. we went up and met with seven dogs. the trainer, denise, brings some of her up and coming dogs in, one at a time, to watch them with aaron. she watches how he reacts and interacts with the dog, and how it interacts with him. today, gypsy looked like the best match. they'll go back in a couple of weeks and meet with them again, and see if any more connections are formed. finding "the dog" is the first step. once they find the dog that clicks best with aaron and his needs, they will start training it to meet his specific needs. it's quite the process. i'm sure we'll learn so much more as we go.

my sister, danica, will post more pictures of our trip today on aaron's blog... and lots more info about our trip today. thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers!

aaron with denise (the trainer) & beau (the dog)

today is

world autism awareness day

this is aaron. he is my sweet nephew. he has autism.

did you know…

• 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism
• 1 in 94 boys is on the autism spectrum
• 67 children are diagnosed per day
• a new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
• more children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
• autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade
• autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism

please visit www.adogforaaron.com to find out more about austism and recognize the signs. and if you're so inclined please consider donating toward a service dog for aaron, every little bit helps! you can click on the donation button to the right, just make sure you add aaron's name on the designation line.

**a service dog for aaron**
my face of autism

this is a two page spread i made & framed for my sis a few years ago... this is one of my favorite pics of aaron walking into the water, and the quote is one that keeps my sister going from day to day.

1 in every 150 kids born this year will be diagnosed with autism. that's a staggering number. autism effects so many of us. and it has touched our family. my nephew, aaron, my sister's youngest son has autism. he just turned 7 in february. he was diagnosed when he was 2 years old. and he is smart, loving, funny, cute, and so much more. he also rarely makes eye contact, only says a few words when prompted, and has a knack for escaping.

this year, we're hoping aaron is going to be able to get a service dog. you see, aaron is a runner... an escape artist (click here for a few of his escape stories). he's fast & he's stealthy. he wears a search & rescue tracking bracelet, as well as a medical alert bracelet at all times. but often times, even this isn't enough.

the only catch is that it is pretty expensive to get a service dog. there is so much training that goes into each dog, and his dog will be trained to work with his specific needs. if you're interested in helping in any way, i know it would mean the world to my sister, to aaron & our family. you can donate right here on my blog in the side bar **make sure to add "AARON CHOLLAR" to the designation line**

click here for more information on the trainer for the service dog. most of all i ask for your prayers for aaron's continued progress & for hope. if you'd like to add the donation button to your blog, click on share then on the copy button to copy the html code for the button! thank you so much!

here's a little video i took of aaron tonight at my sister's house. he is singing head & shoulders, knees & toes... this in and of itself is a little miracle for him. it was not that long ago that aaron had NO words... and here he is SINGING!!!

{{hugs}} and much love to you & yours!