Happy 21st Birthday Ayline!

To a very special person, Ayline

Happy Happy 21st Birthday to you for today and may there be many many more!

We hope the year ahead is blessed for you in everyway!

Thank you so much for being the most amazing teacher to Deqlan - for all the love, time, dedication, effort, care you put into every day with Deqlan and all the kids at Little Leaps. For paying so much attention to what makes Deqlans day so enjoyable , from your special penguin and car stickers , to reading his favorite stories, just the way he likes it, to changing activities that Deqlan can partake, even with his special dietary needs. The most enjoyable part of my day is coming to fetch Deqlan and watch the gleam in your eyes and excitement on you face as you tell me all the new things Deqlan accomplished that day. You get just as excited as we do on every acheivement!

Deqlan loves coming to school and learning from you every day!

You and Deqlan have such a special connection, and he admires you so much! You have made such a difference in Deqlans progress, and we cant thank you enough Ayline, you are an amazing teacher and very loved by all your pupils!

Deqlan sends a vey special message to you today 'COME ON EVERYBODY LETS DO THE HOTDOG DANCE' he also sends you lots of kisses in the hand and "ten fingers, wrigling, waving goodbye"

Thank you Teacher

for loving me unconditionally...

for encouraging me to grow into the gifts God has given me...

for helping me run the race of life without giving up...

for making me feel like a winner when i do my best and dont give in...

for teaching me truth with wisdom and understanding...

for preparing me to walk with confidence and courage into a world of endless oppurtunities.

God Bless, lots of love, have a stunning day

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

Happy Birthday Granny Rene

Dear Granny Rene

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday for today and many many more!

We hope you have had a wonderful day and been showered with good wishes from all those that love you!

We pray the year ahead is blessed in EVERY way for you - may the sun shine brighter, more rainbows frame your day, and let health, love and happiness flow in abudance!

God Bless, have a wonderful day

Lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

TOP 10 TERRIFIC TRAITS OF AUTISTIC PEOPLE

Wanted to share this article from Autism Support Network with you:

Top 10 terrific traits of autistic people
Lisa Jo Rudy

If you're sick of hearing about all the "deficits" challenging people on the autism spectrum, join the club. But for every down side to autism, there seems to be a positive -- an unusual trait that rarely appears among the "typical" community, but shines out among autistic folk. These plusses are well worth celebrating.


1. Autistic People Rarely LieWe all claim to value the truth, but almost all of us tell little white lies. All, that is, except people on the autism spectrum. To them, truth is truth -- and a good word from a person on the spectrum is the real deal.



2. People on the Autism Spectrum Live in the MomentHow often do typical people fail to notice what's in front of their eyes because they're distracted by social cues or random chitchat? People on the autism spectrum truely attend to the sensory input that surrounds them. Many have achieved the ideal of mindfulness.



3. People with Autism Rarely Judge OthersWho's fatter? Richer? Smarter? For people on the autism spectrum, these distinctions hold much less importance than for typical folks. In fact, people on the spectrum often see through such surface appearances to discover the real person.



4. Autistic People are PassionateOf course, not all autistic people are alike. But many are truly passionate about the things, ideas and people in their lives. How many "typical" people can say the same?



5. People with Autism Are Not Tied to Social ExpectationsIf you've ever bought a car, played a game or joined a club to fit in, you know how hard it is to be true to yourself. But for people with autism, social expectations can be honestly irrelevant. What matters is true liking, interest and passion -- not keeping up with the Joneses.



6. People with Autism Have Terrific MemoriesHow often do typical people forget directions, or fail to take note of colors, names, and other details? People on the autism spectrum are often much more tuned in to details. They may have a much better memory than their typical peers for all kind of critical details.



7. Autistic People Are Less MaterialisticOf course, this is not universally true -- but in general, people with autism are far less concerned with outward appearance than their typical peers. As a result, they worry less about brand names, hairstyles and other expensive but unimportant externals than most people do.



8. Autistic People Play Fewer Head GamesWho was that woman, and why were you looking at her? I know I TOLD you I didn't mind if you went out, but why did you believe me? Most autistic people don't play games like these -- and they assume that you won't either. It's a refreshing and wonderful change from the Peyton Place emotional roller coaster that mars too many typical relationships!



9. Autistic People Have Fewer Hidden AgendasMost of the time, if a person on the autism spectrum tells you what he wants -- he is telling you what he wants. No need to beat around the bush, second guess, and hope you're reading between the lines!



10. People with Autism Open New Doors for NeurotypicalsFor some of us neurotypicals, having an autistic person in our lives has had a profound positive impact on our perceptions, beliefs and expectations. For me, at least, being the mom of a son on the autism spectrum has released me from a lifetime of "should" -- and offered me a new world of "is."

Courtesy Lisa Jo Rudy's About.com blog. About.com is a part of the New York Times

DEQLANS FLAVORS OF THE MOMENT

Meet "Everythings Rosey" on the left and "hammer" on the right. " everythings Rosey" originally belonged to Kaiden, but Deqlan fell in love with this little doggy on the weekend and hasnt let go of it since

Spiral Art!

''I AM A COMPUTER"

Deqlan missed you Khloe while you were on holiday -as you know he was delighted to see you again!

Logan and Keaton decided painting each others faces with Nanna's make up would be a great idea - boy did we laugh, there is only 1 of Keaton!!

Deqlan has become a real little joker. "THEY" say that kids on the autism spectrum dont get jokes, let alone initiate them! Deqlan has figured out how to make us laugh with something funny he says. ' L IS FOR INSECT' Then he wants us to say ' NNNNOOOO' bursts out laughing and says the correct version ' I IS FOR INSECT' . Other favorites include

' I AM A COMPUTER' 'NNNOOOO' ' I AM A BOY'

'I AM A MONKEY' 'NNNNOOO' I AM MAMA'S MONKEY'

Deqlan also discovered that having ice and soda water in his juice bottle is a much welcome change to pear juice ' AWW, LOVELY'

Another hit at the moment is ' DANCING FOR THE STARS' much to Nanna's delight. He is particularly taken with the Pase Doble and starts singing the notes of that most famous tune

' DOON DOODOO DOON' and starts shaking his head like a little bull and laughter straight from his tummy 'OLE'

For those of you in South Africa, you will know what a mean about the Wimpy add with the tune to the Jonny Cleg song Impy. Deqlan sings 'WIMPY' and Dada and i have to fill in the words, the gentlemen dressed in pj's proclaim on the ad!

Toilet training is still been worked at every day, and Deqie is now even taking about it ' ITS TOILET TIME' so the idea is becoming slightly more appealing to our clever little chap, who is still a little frustrated though by mess, but definitely better

We have noticed a little more frustrating behavior, more crying for things that wouldnt normally worry, and it seems that the throwing of things has appeared again = CANDIDA - yip from the antibiotics we have just finished for his tonsilitis. So we back on diflucan ;( praying its only 1 round we need. Have been looking into natual candida destroyers , but dont think Deqlan is likey to chew a clove of garlic each day..the search will continue !

We met such a lovely family on the weekend, whose son has been touched by autism. They are just starting out on this journey, but with such a passionate, loving, caring, devoted mommy, i know this little guy is going to be just fine! Look forward to many more visits and chats and exchanging of ideas and recipes C! Watch this space for great things for A!!

I couldnt be happier its the weekend, its been a tough week , especially work wise, and i am praying for some guidance and clarity and direction, soon. In His time.

I also ask you to join me in praying for warriors needing extra special prayers at this time

NICK, YLARIA, ELIZABETH, TRISTAN, MICHAEL J, MICHAEL, RYAN, DANIELLIE, CONNOR K, JED, CONNOR G

Let us know how you all are, Deqlans prayer army has been very quiet lately!!

God Bless, all our love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

All better!

Hi Deqlans Prayer Army



Hope you all well - just wanted to let you know quickly that Deqlan is doing great, he is much better and was delighted to go back to school today. Thank you for all your prayers as always!!!Theme at Little Leaps for the next two weeks is animals under the sea, i just know he is going to love that!

Be in touch soon, God Bless and love
Mark Samm Deqie Logs
REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE

Dr Nicky & Dr Anne

Yip, we saw both Dr Nicky and Dr Anne yesterday

Dr Nicky was planned, to go and get Deqlan 6 monthly check up done - she was delighted and very happy with Deqlans teeth. We were so proud of him - he marched into her office and got up onto the chair himself and was happy to let her have a quick look around . He was very happy to wave , yes wave ( he never does wave goodbye!) to Nicky and Dada, whose turn it was next, and go off to school.

Fetched him from school as normal round 1300, came home and had a jacuzzi, and then he started moaning and couldnt tell me what the matter was. He asked to have a snooze and while i was lying with him, i felt he was a bit hot, and he was swallowing differently and his breath smelt like tonsilitis! So Nanna also came in and thought the same thing- he was so pale and no energy and we decided to head off to the fabulous Dr Anne.

She also got a fright when she saw Deqlan, not looking well or like himsef at all. She definitely confirmed a "rip roaring' tonsilitis, but was still concerned at how Deqlan looked and was acting - so out came the needle and she drew blood - Deqlan was very upset, but so brave, braver then Mama and Nanna. She told us that there is a bacterial tonsilitis going around that makes the kids very sick, very quickly and she just wanted to make sure it wasnt that - if it was, she would have had to admit our precious Deqlan. NO NO NO NO , I said and the prayers flooded heavens gates.

I got a fantastic sms last night at 2100 saying, bloods all normal, just a bad case of tonsilitis she believes. THANK YOU LORD - by this time Deqlans fever down and he even ate some supper and was mostly himself.

This morning he was OK, but as it went on, the fever returned and he started getting tired, and now i type as he lays next to me, feeling him every few moments to make sure its coming down. Food is not on his priorities list today, hoping he will feel like something when he wakes up!

Please pray for Deqie to get and feel better soon and the medicine to do its job and kill this bug causing all the hassles!!!

God Bless and thank you , lots of love
Mark Samm Deqlan Logan
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

CHOC Christmas preparations have begun!

Hello Deqlans Prayer army

Its that time of year again where we ask those who would like to help,in contributing to a magical Christmas for the children of CHOC, some in remission and some currently busy with treatment.

We had a FANTASTIC response last year and we would love to be able to assist CHOC again this festive season in making it beautiful and memorable and fun in every way for these hero's

They are preparing to host 3 seperate parties for over 400 kids in the Pretoria area

Once again I call on your support (as in the past) for contributions towards our Christmas parties.

We are in need for the following for the three different venues:
• Bags (to pack treats for the day)- 400
• Caps - 400
• Sports/water bottles - 400
• Wrapped Sweets (e.g. Fizzers, Chomp, lollipops, etc)
• Chips
• Cool drinks/fruit juice/Water (2000 in total)

We also need to buy Christmas presents for at least 130 children for the Mary Potter and Unitas Christmas party on 21 November 2010. Should you wish to sponsor a present (value approx R150) towards a child, please contact me. I should have a list of names by next week.

This year we decided to buy/get sponsors for vouchers for the age group 12 – 18 years. These vouchers could Musica, TOP CD vouchers as we found that the teenagers prefer vouchers towards music or DVD’s. Should you wish to make a financial contribution, please inform me and I will send you the bank details of CHOC Pretoria and reference numbers.

Please let me know if you are able to support our cause “Keeping more than Hope alive” again this year. You can contact me through this group or you can email me at samt.etravel@Galileosa.co.za should you wish to be involved

If you would like me to send you the official CHOC letter, ill gladly do so, please send me your email addresses, i unfortunately cant copy and paste in into facebook

God Bless you and thank you for your continued support!
Samm

OUR SPELLING 'D'

Summers here and Deqlan couldnt be happier to be spending most of his time in the jacuzzi!

swimming lessons with Grandpa have resumed!

We went to spend the afternoon with Aunty Jenni and Uncle Ken for Aunty Jen's birthday, was lovely to see you all again, hope you enjoy being home for a while!

it was swapping hats day for Keaton and Deqlan - at least they willing to share some things hey?

aawww, precious Khloe, you are just to cute for words! You are growing up way to quickly!!!

Keaton loving on Khloe! He is such a good big brother, so gentle and loving

Megs and Khloe with Kerri and Phoebe at Peytons 1st birthday party

Happy Birthday for today Peyton ! Stay as gorgeous an as adorable as you are!!!

this kid is such a character. i need to have my camera out every second when keaton is around, the outfits he comes up with are priceless. today, he is wearing a batman shirt i had to get him, & Logans pink winter ear muffs ! Have a lovely holiday at the sea Keatie, i know Dada is going to get you the most awesome blue goggles you asked for!

Mark swimming with Deqlan and Keaton

Such bliss , these moments that Deqlan and Keaton play together!

Deqlan had a ball at Peytons party, i loved watching him play amongst all the other kids, laughing at their antics to!

T got these cool rides at the party , Deqlan and Keaton just loovveedd them!

My oh my, these two love each other - Deqlan talks about Khloe constantly - and couldnt be happier when we see her - he kisses her and stroks her head and even speaks baby to her - what a blessing to watch this interaction. I think Khloe knows exactly who Deqlan is, she is all to happy to snuggle with him, kiss his hands, hold his hand and smile from ear to ear at him

They are just to adorable to watch!

We also went to say hi to little Kaiden , the newest member of the family. Of course Deqlan was very taken with him, but he slept throughout our visit , so Deqlan didnt really get the chance to investigate his little cousin, just yet!

Kaiden is such a pretty baby, really a wise little soul!

Deqlan loved checking Caidens Winnie the Pooh room out, not to mention walking around with Gaynors wake boarding helmet!

We are so proud of our little spelling bee! every night in the bath, i give him words to spell and i am spellbound and amazed at every single one that he can spell and put together. Some he even comes up with on his own - i ask him to spell Dad and he added the y on and then told me DADDY!ITS AMAZING TO SEE! Im running out of letters, need to go and get another set , the words are getting longer! last night Deqlan was delighted spelling the name of the characters from Mickey Mouse clubhouse. I asked him to spell PLUTO, which he did, and then he added DOG at the end- how cool is that?

BOOK

BREAKING NEWS!

I am so proud to announce that Deqlan had has very first number 1 in the toilet today!!!! His teacher Ayline, let him watch 3 other friends go before him so he knew what was supposed to happen and there you go, he understood!!! We have been trying at home for the last week as well , but our methods were just not entertaining enough i suppose! This is a massive step for our precious Deqlan! Toilet training can be very over whelming for kids on the spectrum for a number of reasons ! Well done Deqie we are so proud of you and cant wait to continue on this new learning adventure with you! We love you to infinity and beyond!!!

NATIONAL BANDANA DAY 12 OCT 2010

Diarise National Bandana Day 12th October 2010, you dont want to miss out on the 10th anniversary celebratory bandanas.Remember that your support on Bandana Day allows The Sunflower Fund to recruit and pay for more bone marrow stem cells donors to join the South African Bone Marrow Registry, in order to potentially save a patients life who is suffering from leukaemia.Share a little, and save a life this bandana day.For more information on becoming a bone marrow donor call 0800 12 10 82-The Sunflower Fund-

precious

You can go and see more stunning photos that Loren took of Khloes Christening on the blog http://www.keatonjohnduplessis.blogspot.com/ REALLY BEAUTIUL!!

Had to share some of my favorites with you on our blog to of course!

DEQLAN'S FLAVOUR OF THE MOMENT

I am going to start a new segment on Deqlans blog called Deqlans flavour of the moment.

I just love watching him be totally consumed and getting so much enjoyment from specific things , for a specific amount of time!

This weeks flavour of the moment; MICKEY MOUSE CLUB HOUSE, MICKEYS COLOUR ADVENTURES.

We getting lots of new words , lots of beautiful sentences and most importantly lots of laughter. I love Mickey mouse clubhouse cause its not just a cartoon, you actually learn to! This one, as the name implies is all about colours, shapes and learning that everyone is unique and we dont all have to do things in the same way!

Deqlans words and sentences;

MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE

MICKEYS COLOUR ADVENTURES

PLAY ALL

ENGLISH

OH TOODLES

MYSTERY MOUSE KETOOL

MEESKA MOOSKA MICKEY MOUSE

DONALD, DAISY, PLUTO , MINI, MICKEY, GOOFY

THE RAINBOW SONG: 'RED , ORANGE , YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, DONT FORGET THERE IS PURPLE TO!' DEQLAN LIKES TO ALSO SAY THESE COLOURS IN AFRIKAANS TO!

HOW MANY TRIANGLES DO YOU HAVE?

EVERYBODY SAY ' MYSTERY MOUSE KETOOL'

what up

Deqlan looked like a real gangsta in his outfit, he put the hat on like this himself!

Deqie continues to cuddle by Grandpa every change he gets, Grandpa even got him to sleep yesterday afternoon!

Deqlan just adores baby Khloe!

Logs, Dada and Deqlan

As expected Deqlan continues to be thrilled to be back at school ! The theme for the next two weeks is food - he even sang the "Hello fruit' song to us last night.

We have started toilet training again this term and believe Deqlan is now ready for it !

Ayline has giving Deqlan such a great technique to cope with mess - if his coldrink spells or any other liquid is messed , she will give Deqlan a cloth and he now says ' BYE BYE MESS' . In the past he used to just cry and get VERY upset with any mess. If anything messes at home he will immediately tell us ' BYE BYE MESS' and we will give him a cloth to clean it up and once he has made sure its gone and clean and dry he is happy again!

Today's menu of activities at school, included some computer lessons and a counting game - instead of counting each dot on the ladybug, Deqlan can immediately see the number of dots and will say the number straight away. I have seen him do this with a number of things.

Another massive mile stone was that Deqlan read us a book about colours from the first to the last word!!! We were over joyed . It isnt just words that he has memorised , cause it was a new book with words he hadnt seen before - HE IS READING!!

Deqlan is also a lot more tolerant of kids around him and touching his stuff - instead of immediately crying he will call Ayline and she is trying to teach him to say no to the specific person that may be interupting what he is doing.

Deqlans daily 'job' is to put the kids to sleep at school before we fetch him in the afternoon. This excercise comes complete with ' WE HAVE A SNOOZE. GOOD NIGHT SLEEP TIGHT SWEET DREAMS' and if you lucky, a hug and kiss thrown in to!

We are so very very blessed at the progress he is making each day, Thank You Lord

Got to run Mr Deqlan waking up from his nap, still coughing shame

God Bless, all our love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

SACRED HEART OF JESUS WE PLACE OUR TRUST IN THEE ALL FOR THEE OH LORD OH MY JESUS ALL FOR THEE

P.S - PLEASE KEEP MY FRIEND CLAIRE IN YOUR PRAYERS TOMMOROW AS SHE IS HAVING AN OP= ALL WILL GO WELL DEAR CLAIRE, PRAYING FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY FOR YOU!