Meet me in St Louis!

So we are 2 weeks out from conference and I'm getting excited! Ah, so much to do and plan and pack! Justin is going to my parents house and Lindsey is going to the in-laws. She'll stay some with grandma and some with her aunt, uncle and cousin. They are both much easier to handle separately where they can't fight with each other, so we will split them up. Pray for my parents especially as they live on a lake and J's favorite thing is to go throw acorns and rocks into the water. He doesn't swim so they can't let go of his hand near the water and that's where he wants to be all the time. So that makes me a bit nervous.

I'm thrilled to meet up again with folks we met 2 yrs ago and looking forward to learning more about the latest research news. Should be a great time!

FX in Time Magazine

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818268,00.html
Woo! It's a 3 page article in the print edition of the magazine - there's actually a bit more in the print version than online. It's a really nice profile of a family affected in 3 generations. The boy who has cognitive impairment, the mom who is a carrier and is in the early stages of FX associated premature menopause, and the grandfather who has fragile X associated tremor ataxia syndrome(FXTAS). I'm excited to see it features so prominently in a major news magazine - I'm tired of hearing 'fragile what?' when I mention it.

Clearly I am terrible at blogging

Could it be because every time I sit down at my computer, J is in my lap screaming "I wanna be the HEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" ? Yes, well, he loves Veggietales, and I sat here with him one day looking at Veggie silly songs on YouTube, and he fell in LOVE with the SUV song. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing this song 8 million times, as I have - go Google 'YouTube SUV Song'. Just be warned - don't do it with a little person around who might become addicted to it, or you will lose your computer forever. Gotta go...he elbowing me out of the way now, he's gotta be a hero. :)

New perspective

This past Friday night a fellow church member and local radio personality, Rick Burgess, lost his son in a tragic drowning accident. William Bronner Burgess, affectionately known as Cornbread, was 2 1/2 years old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heHQkmCOYaU

Rick spoke at the memorial celebration. More accurately, God spoke through Rick. I am so thankful for his words, because I've been given a new perspective. An eternal perspective. I would encourage anybody reading this to take a few minutes and go hear this. His message is available in 3 parts on Youtube -if the links here don't work, search for Rick Burgess, a Father's Heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PUHUZWyFeg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7aNDixS2J0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUT8Bk6Ou90

I am heartbroken for this family in the loss of this beautiful baby boy, but I praise God for the lives changed through this. I know I am changed. Our son's issues will continue to be a challenge, but now I have the eternal perspective that these issues are only for this life. I am reminded of the things that matter in eternity, and most of the things I fret about in my daily life mean nothing beyond this life, just a blip on the timeline, and I am grateful for that reminder.

John 14
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

J's class made graham cracker 'gingerbread' houses Wednesday. We had fun and ate lots of m&m's. :)

We are on the final countdown to Christmas now, and praying we can get them both healthy at the same time. A week or 2 ago it was Justin and his ear infection, for which he refused to take his antibiotics, but miraculously it cleared up on his own. Tuesday we were at the pediatrician with Lindsey having bronchitis, but J checked out perfectly. Tuesday night he started coughing. Thursday night I kept checking to see if his lung was on the carpet. Thankfully he didn't actually cough it up, but it certainly sounded like it. Friday back at the pediatrician - Lindsey sounds good, Justin's full of green goo. Thankfully the ped didn't bother to write a prescription since J won't take it. He just gave him a shot of antibiotics and a shot of cortisone. That should clear him up, we hope. He seems a bit better today.

Oh, and my best Christmas present this year - good news for all of us in the FX world. They are beginning testing on 2 promising new drugs! If you haven't read about this - go to Time magazine and search fragile X - or just Google a bit and you'll find it - or let me know, and I can post the articles here. Anyway, I've already made my wish list for next year - good test results and approval for the drugs, so we can try them. :)

Anyway...I'm off to finalize my grocery list for Christmas Eve dinner and finish wrapping stuff. If I don't post again prior to Christmas - or even if I do - I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The Elf on our Shelf

My mom sent this for the kids today. He comes with a book that tells all about him. We named our elf Ollie and sat him on the shelf. He watches over the children and every night he flies home to Santa and updates him on what's going on. The next morning he reappears in a new spot in the house and the kids have to look for him. :) I think they are really going to enjoy Ollie. We went online and registered our elf and got a note back from Santa and an Official Certificate of Elf Adoption. I had fun tonight looking around and thinking of all of the places where Ollie might appear...

www.ElfonTheShelf.com

"What's shakin' mommy?"

So Justin walks in the kitchen yesterday and says, "What's shakin', mommy, what's shakin'?"
LOL Where on earth did he learn that one? What a funny boy he is.

Unfortunately the biggest thing 'shakin' is my booty. I desperately need treadmill time, I'm feeling so unhealthy. I've been fighting bronchitis for about 2 weeks now and every time I get up and try to do anything I start coughing again and it's just miserable. I've got to get over this so I can start exercising.

Rambling here...but do you ever feel like whatever you say, it's wrong? Yeah, that's me lately. I'm frustrated with myself for not being able to get my point out without stepping on toes. I'm cranky and it seems a lot of people around me are as well.

Oh forgot to update- Thanksgiving went really well. Everyone said my turkey was moist and yummy. I followed Alton Brown's instructions from the 'Good Eats' Thanksgiving special:Romancing the Bird. I brined him the night before in vegetable stock and some spices, and cooked him on 500 for 30 minutes, then covered him with foil and cooked at 350 until my thermometer hit 165.
The bonus for having it here - I got to eat leftovers for days and they were yummmmmy. :)