Deqlan Ross Higgins

Happy Valentines Day :)

2012-02-14T00:39:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

For God so love the world, that He gave his only son!

To Our little Valentine, Deqlan

We love you with our all and everything and adore you sweetheart

xxxxx

Durban, by the sea

2012-02-07T01:51:00.000-08:00

hello everyone!

wanted to share some new and exciting news with you!

we are moving to durban! yes, by the sea!

mark will be taking over his works durban branch, and we will move us a family by the end of march

we have found a school in pinetown that caters for kids with special needs, including autism. deqlan will go for a 2 week assesment in april to see if its the right school for him!

i cant imagine not being at little leaps and not having ayline as deqies teacher

never mind not seeing my mom and dee, gpa, megs con keatie+khloe, as often as i like for as long as i like! we have already planned our first three visits to each other , so i know i can already look forward to those dates! i have the most amazing supportive family and we will get through the tought days together even if we not physically together we always are in our hearts! thank heavens for skype, blackberry and facebook! and thank you lord its not another country, just 6 hours away

we trust that god is leading us as he aways does, on this new adventure to the sea, a great new challenge and oppurtunity for mark and perhaps the launch of deqlans surfing career and my dream job working with the dolphins at ushaka marine world?

will keep you posted on all the plans!

god bless love always

mark samm deqlan logan

"for i know the plans i have for you" declares the lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

jeremiah 29;11

Deqlan loves to.......

2012-02-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

i love to;

- watch and dance ,sing a long to and script scenes from disney junior,especially special agent oso and his three special steps

- riding in cars

- swim in the sea+run on the beach

- playing rough and tumble with conrad

- playing "skittles" ten pen bowling

- going to get and eating chips in the car

- learn to ride my bike! i practise very hard every day to pedal and im getting so much better !

- go to little leaps and learn about letter land, currently "annie apple" - and i am loving to draw "a"'s all over the show , especially the floor tiles

- thomas and his friends are once again firm favourites and best friends

- run in fountains

- browse through dvd stores and watch movies to see which production company made and produced the film

-talk about restaurant logo's

- talk about car logo's

- my logo file ayline created especially for me at little leaps!

- watching you tube clips of little friends who also like talking about car logos and their thomas the train collections

-doing addition sums for mama and nanna and watching their faces in delight with each correct sum i do!

- talking to logan and asking her what she is doing?

- surprising dada in the garage each night when he gets home from work saying " hello dada, how are you?" then jumping in his car to ride with him into the garage

-waking my grandpa up when he is snoozing!

- giving my pointing finger to you , insyead of my thumb, when we say " sharp sharp"

- giving high fives to everyone :)

-asking for and listening and dancing to stings " englishmen in new york" and coldplay's "paradise"

- listening to the fresh drive on 5fm

- playing in the jacuzzi with grandpa

- talking about my favourite brands- survivor, kauia

- going to play at spur

- surfing the internet

- laying all our family photos out and naming each family member

- cuddling and playing with khloe

- im starting to enjoy sharing with keaton,even though it doesnt always look like it :)

- running up to big grandpa and getting blessed on my forehead by him

- saying " in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen" before mama and i pray each night

- jelly baffs!

- splashing a huge amount of water out of nanna and grandpas jacuzzi :)

- splashing a huge amount of water out my bath! it even reaches the ceiling!

- jumping into swimming pools!!!!!!

- playing with my action figure guys or animals or cars in the mud then rinsing them off in the dogs water ;)

- jumping on my trampoline and kicking my ball at the same time! ive gotten so good with my ball skills

- playing with my ipad

- skyping with kevin louise and rhyan in new zealand

-skypping with uncle ken and aunty jen in germany

- pulling our cats tale to hear her meoww!

- reading magazines and looking for logos

- pretending to talk on the phone

- visit meggie and conrads house

-sing happy birthday, blow out candles and eat cupcakes:)

- cuddle when falling asleep and make sure everyone is tucked in under the blanket

- listen to nanna reading my favourite stories when falling asleep, and tell her who the authors are and who the book was illustrated by- i even know if she left something out the story and quickly remind her!

and mama and dada and nannas absolute favourite at the moment

- the stories and remarks i make about things and the descriptive appropriate words i am using and sentences i am making :)

thank You Lord

2012-01-26T12:28:00.001-08:00

Thank You Lord Deqlans blood and urine results remain perfectly normal and clear!!! NED forever and always we Trust Dear Lord!
Dr De Jager thrilled with his results and thrilled to see how happy and healthy and well Deqie is!
He has put on 3kg and grown 6cm in length in the last year!
As always he is so soft and gentle and kind to Deqie with lots of love and hugs and laughter
Deqie enjoyed playing with the stethoscope and playing with the fancy measuring tape and just being his cute self :)

thank you living and merciful lord for healing our beautiful boy! thank you prayer army for your prayers and trusting with us we are so so blessed

sleep tight everyone

god bless all our love and all our thanks for all your continued love and prayers

thank you lord for the gift of deqlan and the honour of being his dada and mama

extra special hugs from deqlan

mark samm deqlan logan

rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice!

prayers for Deqlans results plse friends

2012-01-25T21:09:00.000-08:00

morning friends

plse join us this morning in praying and trusting for deqlans blood and urine results to continue being perfectly normal and clear forever and always .ned forever in your name lord. may dr de jager continue to be thrilled with deqlan in everyway

thank you all so much loyal prayer army

in jesus holy name we say thank you

amen

my first week as on octopus

2012-01-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

Deqlan's delighted to be back at school and this year as on Octopus!

We are blessed to still have Ayline as his teacher as she is now taking the grade R group!

The first day of school started off with a happy dance and laugh at the gate when seeing Ayline and Ash and then he was off not to worried if mama stayed or left :)

things are stepped up a notch in the octopus class and you need many more hands, i mean tentacles for all the new and exciting tasks! the most exciting being, letterland, right about deqies street :) he loved playing with the porgamme last year, which is based on the alphabet. this year its learning with letterland and focusing on each letter in different ways. learning the sound, how to write the letter in sand and eith pencils and looking for the letter in each others names for example.

deqlans frustration levels started peaking towards the end of last week and got so frustrated at one point he head but ayline and bit another learner :(

we did look at the thought of candida flaring again but it just didnt seem consistent enough for me to say candida was the culprit. nanna also pointed it it could be a sensory issue, as he is also trying to chew on everything he can get in his mouth again

ayline had a breakthrough today, realising what was urking our beautiful boy. he didnt want to focus and finish the task for the morning, so she did it with him when all the kids were finished and guess what- he did it perfectly. the hustle and the bustle of having so many kids around him, making a noise is just to overwhelming and he cant say " stop this is to much" or " to "loud" so it comes out in other ways. she is going to try and do group work with a quieter group tomorow to see if it helps our deqie. he would thrive doing lessons on his own, but thats not always what its going to be like in the real world- so we got to try and help him and modify his environment when we can, to help him continue to learn, which he loves doing!

deqlans sentences are more beautiful and lengthy then ever before- even complicated long requests or stories are so beautifully told- some times words not exactly in the right order but we know exactly what he is talking about - such a blessing

some older friends have left little leaps to start grade 1 at other schools and some new beautiful faces and personalities! including 2 girls :) they are so lovely ;)

heres hoping each day improves for our beautiful boy

sleep tight god bless sweet dreams thanks for your continued prayers for thursdays resultsn thank you lord

love the higgins fam

be still and know that i am god

lord jesus, i trust in you

An Englishmen in New York

2012-01-17T02:13:00.001-08:00

Imagine my delight when i thought of this title - and it happens to be Deqlans favourite song at the moment

I would love you to read this link and perhaps get a little glimpse of what its like for kids on the spectrum and their different ways of communicating

www.autismsupportnetwork.com/news/high-functioning-person-autism-spectrum-disorder-tourist-his-native-country-3899943

4 years NED

2012-01-16T01:55:00.000-08:00

thank you lord jesus for the celebration of our beautiful precious gift from you,deqlan being ned for four years. we continue to praise and thank and worship and adore you for healing deqlan totally and permanently. thank you for the gift and honour and privilidge in being deqlans parents and the gift if watching him grow up and reaching his full potential! for the amazing leaps he takes everydayn his amazing sense of humour , the surprises he gives us everyday, for every single laugh, word,cuddle, dance, song, for every hug and kis, every breath, every kissn thank you lord.

plse continue to keep our beautiful boy happy and healthy and well. thank you for the clear ultrasound lord, plse let deqlans blood and urine results continue to be perfectly normal forever and always. thank you lord,there are not enough times i could say thank you.thank you to for deqlans loving family and friends that continue to pray for and love and support him.

deqie, we love you with our all and everything our precious boy and we are so very proud of you! stay the light you are, the laughter and joy and pure delight you are in our lives! never change you, god created you so perfectly and he loves you so very much!

we rejoice in this beautiful dayn thank you lord, amen

RROOOOOAARRRR KEATONSAURS IS FOUR

2012-01-16T01:11:00.000-08:00

To Our Precious Keatie

RRRRROOOOOOAAAARRRR KEATONSAURUS IS 4!!!

Happy Happy 4th Birthday! May you have the most awesome magical birthday Keatie and may Our Lord Jesus give you many many many many more!

May He continue to bless you with love and laughter, health and yes, even that little mischievous spirit of yours!!

Always know how much we love and treasure and adore you!

Never change your loving, caring, giving heart - you are such a beautiful little soul who knows ssooo much about Jesus already, and i can tell you how proud He is of you! As are we!

We have loved watching you grow up into the bouncy ,clever, joyful little monkey you are!

It feels like yesterday we were at the hospital eagerly awaiting your arrival, and when we saw you for the first time, wow, it was immediate love for you!

What made the day extra special was the same day Deqlan got his NED status - what a blessing God chose for you two cousins to be connected to forever and always!

You are a wonderful big brother, protecting Khloe from all harm! You are a loving cousin to Logan and Deqlan , even calling them your brother and sister to, bless you Keatie, they love you so much to!

Hope you are having an awesome day at school , cant wait to celebrate with you just now now now!

We love you gazilions and trillions billions

God Bless

Mark Ice Deqie Logs

Thank You Lord

2012-01-13T01:15:00.000-08:00

thank you lord deqlans ultrasound remains cealr!!! he was an absolute superstar and chatted up a storm during the ultrasound and didnt cry while blood was being drawn, only at the sight of it afterwards he got a little upset. he got up and said " thank you have a nice day"

please continue the prayers for perfectly normal blood and urine results 26 jan which i already thank you for lord jesus

thank you for all your prayers and love and support we are incredibly blessed

thank you lord jeus thank you

i am so incredibly proud of you deqlan ross you are my everything

enjoy the weekend god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

Deqlans prayer army

2012-01-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

dear friends

plse join us in prayer this morning for deqlans yearly check up tests

plse pray that his ultrasound continues to be perfectly normal and clear forever and always

plse pray that the urine and blood collections are as stress free as possible for deqlan and that the results we receive 26 jan are perfect and normal in everyway and that deqlan continues to be ned today tomorow and always

we thank you merciful god and savior for healing our beautiful boy

in your holy name

amen

thank you all all our love+thanks

god bless mark samm deqlan logan

sacred heart of jesus we place our trust in thee all for thee oh lord oh my jesus all for there

jesus, we trust in you

Logo guru

2012-01-11T04:32:00.000-08:00

Our big guy continues to love all things logo and all things slogan! To add a twsit to this flavour of the moment, perhaps flavour of the months to come, he loves to talk about the shops at specific centres. He will ask me to " talking about the shops at centrion mall please Mama" or " talking about the restaurants at ecoboulevard" he is loving looking at their websites and seeing the logos and specials to :)
Another fun webiste to surf is the ster kinekor movie website - deqlan loves watching the trailors and we've had some awesome ones at the moment to enjoy- puss in boots, happy feet 2, alvin and the chipmunks, dolphin tale!
We were delighted to be able to take Deqlan with his Dada on Sunday to watch Puss in boots! Deqlan loved it and we only needed to have 1 break - quick walk around the devd shop and back to the movie :) he was a real chatter box and even stood up infront of the screen saying " hello everybody" "dada eating popcorn, delicious" we had to ask him to talk softer a few times , it was wonderful!
We have really had lovely school holidays and had many adventures to spur, the garden of lights, the smurfs, the movies, the shops,ten pin bowling and hopefully we can fit a gautrain and another spur trip in to :) deqlan goes back to little leaps on monday, I know that he is going to be so happy to be back with his amazing ayline and his buddies and the school routine:)
We have had a few moments of frustration which we could definitely link
To candida or tiredness or food- we have stopped the peanut butter again we think it could be a factor in his frustration levels so becoming more careful with his diet again
We will be going for Deqlans yearly tests this Friday- blood and urine collection and ultrasound. We will see Dr De Jager for the NED results on 26Jan we trust Lord! Please continue the prayers for Deqlans ultrasound to be perfectly normal and clear, for his blood and urine markers to be totally normal and for him to remain NED forever and always Thank You Lord!
Have a great week thank you for all your love and support and prayers for our beautiful Deqlan we appreciate them so much!
God bless all our love
Mark Samm Deqlan Logan
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD
"For I know the plan I have for you" declares The Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"
Jeremiah 29:11

Little Leaps

2012-01-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! May it be beautiful and bright, happy and healthy , walking with Our Lord every step of the way!

I wanted to start out first post of the year with the most beautiful video of Deqlans school , Little Leaps, its exquisite to say the least, i am so proud to be a part of this family

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF554NIs77U

Happy New Year God bless all our love

Happy Birthday Dee

2011-12-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

to our amazing dee and grandpa

Wishing you the most wonderful birthday today and fantastic year ahead!!!
May it be full with all the desires of your heart, the realisation of your dreams and achieving all your goals!
Stay the amazing, giving, loving, supportive person you are
Our family is beyond blessed to have you heading it!
Thank you for showering us with your love and support and guidance and smiles!
Thank you for being the best role model us a dad, grandpa and husband!
May God bless you protect you, and give you an amazing year ahead with continued amazing health
Always know how much you are loved and treasured!
God bless, cheers to you Dee
All our love and so much more
Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

" Happy Birthday Jesus"

2011-12-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to you our gifts of family and friends,near and far, old and new!

Let us always know and rejoice in the real reason for the season, the celebration of the arrival of Our Savior into the world

May you enjoy every moment of your loved ones and treasure the gifts you have in each other!

May you each be Blessed, prosperous , Happy and Healthy , and loved as 2012 dawns and beyond

Thank you for the treasures and gifts you are to our family

We have a lovely Christmas Eve with Mom and Grandpa and Meggie at Christmas Eve Mass - always beautiful, but this year, extra hard without our Nan with us. We all had our turns to cry and weep and miss Nan. We know that she is right at the Birthday table of Jesus today , we miss and love you Nan, so very much

Christmas morning was much excitement with Deqlan waking up saying ' HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS' What a gift that was! Father Christmas brought Deqie a lovely green and silver bicycle which we hope he will grow to learn and enjoy riding :)

We had a magnificent day at Mom and Dee, with all the family ! Mom created a feast for royalty, using purple and Faith as the them, in honor of Nan . It was stunning. The food delicious. A treat to watch the kids unwrap and run around laughing and enjoying the festivities of the day.

Our big boy has been very frustrated last week, candida being the culprit - back on diflucan, doubled the dose and he is much , much better !

Hope you all had beautiful celebrations with your loved ones, enjoy the photos and would love to leave you with some words Mom put in our cards, adapted from Dayspring Devotions

To prepare for Christmas is to prepare our hearts. Christmas isnt a product to wrap , but a person to unwrap . Christmas can not be bought , it cannot be created , cannot be made by hand. It can only be found in the lowly manger, in the cradling straw, in the bare necessities and only in the person of Christ , who is PERFECT LOVE. The only way to recieve love isnt to wrap anything up but to unwrap your heart . In His infinite wisdom, God found a way to wrap that perfect love as the perfect Christmas gift for you and me ! He gave us the miracle that is the birth of our Savior Jesus! With this gift , comes a lifetime and eternal guarantee of His Promises.

Beautiful hey?

Thank you Lord for the gift of Jesus, thank You Lord for the gift our family and friends. Thank You Lord for the most amazing parents and grandparent in the world, that shower love and help on us every single day, Thank You Lord that my Grandpa is with us for another Christmas and for the love and prayer and dedication he gives to our family. Thank You Lord for an amazing brother and sister in Megs and Conrad and Keaton and Khloe who bring light and love to our family. Thank You for our family in New Zealand, for keeping them safe and happy and that we are able to stay in touch with them through the wonders of technology and for the 2 new family members you blessed are family with this year, Rhyan and Jayden. Thank You Lord for my amazing, loving , supportive, caring Husband who is an amazing Dad to Deqlan and Logan, thank You Lord for the beautiful gift Logan is and they lovely lady she is growing into. Thank You Lord for our precious Deqlan and the love and miracles and meaning he brings into our lives every single day. For every word, touch, cuddle, song, dance, kiss, hug, every breath, thank You Lord for healing our beautiful boy, thank You that he is happy and thriving and healthy, there are not enought thank You's. We love you and worship and thank You for our gifts!

God Bless all our love Merry Christmas
Mark Samm Deqlan Logan
REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE

bye bye sea see you again next time

2011-12-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

we had a lovely holiday and cant believe we already home again- my how the time flied

unfortunately only had 3 out of ten days sun, so we made the most of those days at the beach and pool

deqlan has become even more confident in water and now runs and jumps into the pool, goes under the water and keeps himself there for a few seconds blowing bubbles - we are so surprised this happened so quickly and now know we have to watch him even closer around water! he dived into nannas jacuzzi yesterday while nanna and i were taking the cover off!

of course deqlan loved the sea and getting bumped off his feet and going under the water :)

logan and deqlan sure are water babies and its not hard to imagine them both as surfing kids!

unfortunately dadda is back to work today :( but we look forward to the long christmas and new years weekends together!

got some nice activities planned for the kids this week and have to fit my christmas shopping in to!

enjoy the photos of our holiday enjoy the week and remember the real reason for the season !!!

god bless and love

mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

welcome to the world Jayden Micah Van Zyl

2011-12-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

welcome to the world precious jayden micah van zyl, arrived 13 dec weighing 3.53kg!

congratulations michael and sandi on the birth of your beautiful baby boy! he is absolutely gorgeous and perfect in every way

enjoy every moment together they grow up so quickly!

big cousins deqlan+logan send many many loves and cuddles and hope we get to meet your little guy some day soon!

may god bless you all at this very special time and always

god bless all our love+congrats

uncle mark aunty samm deqlan logan

"you wanna beach"

2011-12-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

How awesome to be able to say yes to Deqlans request!
We are on our holiday at the sea and have woken up to the most beautiful sunny day, after having two rainy, cloudy days!Deqlans had a bit of a tummy bug praying we have got over the worst of it now. We are delighted ! Looking forward to having a good rest, some family time and fun in the sun! Check back in for news and photos, we are off to the beach!
Have a blessed weekend
God bless all our love
Mark samm deqlan logan
Rejoic in The Lord always and again I say rejoice

Happy 10th Birthday Logan!!

2011-12-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

to our precious logan

wishing you a very happy 10th birthday today!

wishing you a beautiful year ahead with blessings of love, joy, happiness and excellent health!

thank you for being such a joy and light in our lives, we are extremely proud of you- what a gift to watch you grow up into the beautiful young lady you are. you are such a gentle, caring loving sister and cousin! deqlan, keaton+khloe sure do love you and love being with you!

may the year ahead be amazing in every way and may all your dreams come ture!

always know how much we love and treasure you logs!

god bless and keep you safe and guide you always!!

all our love and so much more

dad, samm+deqlan

xxxx

GAUTRAIN PICS

2011-12-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN HOME

LITTLE LUNCH

GOING THROUGH THE TURNSTILE ALL BY MYSELF

CHILLED AND HAPPY ON THE TRAIN

ENJOYING THE SCENERY AT THE STATION

ON THE GAUTRAIN BUS WITH MY BUDDIES AND AYLINE

HAPPY AND EXCITED TO BE ON THE BUS!

IN THE CAR :) A REAL TRANSPORT DAY!!

WAITING WITH AYLINE AND ONE OF MY BUDDIES

I THINK AYLINE WAS EVEN MORE EXCITED THEN THE KIDS!!

just us

2011-11-26T02:58:00.001-08:00

Deqlan "what a beautiful rainbow"

2011-11-26T02:12:00.001-08:00

dont you think africa has the most beautiful skies? deqlan loved the rainbow " what a beautiful rainbow "

"thank you for the Gautrain"

2011-11-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

deqlan went on his very first school outing today, on the gautrain

the theme at school for the last 2 weeks has been transport and ayline did a great job of preparing the penguin class for the big day

they knew which step came where they knew they were going in a car to the bus station, then in the bus to the gautrain station , to take to the train to hatfield. they would then turn around and come back home to centurion

i was a bit anxious about the big event , but dada immediately said yes to deqlan going!!

i mustve drive ayline, ash and candice crazy with all my questions and checking on specific things !!!

i was promised a text to let me know they were safe a the station and smiled from ear to ear when i got it! and again when they had arrived back at school! nanna and i couldnt wait to go amd get him !!

ayline beamed as she told us how great the outing was for everyone! all the boys loved it and didnt feel overwhelmed or upset , not even once!

she told us that deqlan sat back and relaxed in the train as if he goes to work every morning on the train :) he loved reading the logos and labels in the train as well as the businesses on the sides of the road :)

when he got back to school he even said " thank you for the gautrain" how precious is he?

deqlans reading is just amazing he can read everything! and has even figured out where to put emphasis on which words! what a gift our great god has given him

his vocab continues to flourish and his response to conversations and questions is to beautiful for words. there are still moments of echolalia , repeating what we say instead of answering a yes or no or choice between to items. when i went to sit with him in his room the other night he looked at me and said " what do you want?" ha ha ha . he also asked dada the other day " where is samm?" ;) i prefer mama my sweetheart ;)

we looking so forward to all the christmas excitment and cheer and putting the tree up and getting the christmas carols going. i love going to mass this time of year especially, we light adbent candles every sunday, towards christmas eve and sing the most beautiful songs!

we will be going away for a few days in december to the coast, so looking very forward to that to!!

logans birthday is less then 2 weeks away- 10 years old! cant believe how grown up she is, we are incredibly proud of the beautiful person she is :)

please pray for my grandpa tomorow as he goes for his 3 monthly check up, that his counts are down plse lord

my laptop is giving me hassles at the moment so havent been able to work and facebook and email properly trusting it will all be sorted ny next week

have a lovely weekend everyone

god bless

lots of love

mark samm deqlan logan

sacred heart of jesus we place our trust in thee all for me oh lord oh my jesus all for thee

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAN

2011-11-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

My Darling Nan

Wishing you a Happy Birthday, your first in heaven

I know you are having the most beautiful party with Our Lord and all the angels in heaven today.

Thank you for all the little signs you continue to send to us, letting us know are around us all the time. Thank you for the beautiful bird that came to visit our breakfast table this morning :)

My hurt physically ached and missed you the moment i opened my eyes this morning

The day that we normally call each other on and wish each other Happy Birthday , the candles we blew out together , the Happy Birthday song sung to both of us, the joy in watching you open your gifts and have Grandpa read your cards to you.

I got us some chocolate eclairs, and we ate them first thing this morning, they were your absolute favourite

Mom made a beautiful candle in your favourite colour of violet, and we lit it by your picture.

Megs chose beautiful flowers and put them next to your photo with a candle

We hope you enjoyed the little things we did to celebrate you and remember you and feel you close to us today!

Thank you and Grandpa for the beautiful angel charm, holding out her hand , giving me a blessing, each time i look at her, i will treasure it always

Happy Birthday My Darling Nan, my birthday girl, we love you , we miss you more each day, and i thank you for all the beautiful birthdays God let me share with you - i will always share my day proudly with you , love you with all my heart

Your Birthday Girl with a rainbow round my face

what happened to October?

2011-11-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

deqlan is doing fantastic! thank you lord! he continues to love his ipad , i cant download new apps fast enough for hime to enjoy :) his favourite ones at the moment are puzzles and learning how to write by following letters with his finger and also writing free hand - i love u is a common favourite at the moment :) he also loves typing out my phone number and the names of our family members. deqlan still dislikes to use pencils and crayons to write, but loves using his ipad or the computer to type out the letters.

deqie continies to love little leaps and his beloved teacher ayline :) discussions for grade r and grade 1 options have already started and we await finalisation of the grade r arrangements, at little leaps. the hunt is on for a suitable primary school for our big boy- what a tough decision. not easy to find a "little leaps" equivalent in primary school terms, but the search and research continue and we trust god to lead us to the perfect option for deqlan

october seems like a blur for me - days melted into weeks and before you knew it we were in november already. i had many tummy issues and many trips to the doctor and hospital at the most wonderful times of early hours of the morning or weekend . many visits and many tests later it seems like irritable bowl syndrome, perhaps some seafood poisoning on one occasion and what looked like gallbladder symptoms, were the root of the trouble. i had a gastroscopy last week which thankfully lordn turned out to be all clear. im watching everything i eat as many foods seems to make matters worse. tomatoes. dairy. citrus are no good at the moment and keep me up like this morning , so i grabbed the oppotunity to update our blog to pass the time and the cramps !

next week we celebrate my and nans birthday - our first birthday without my nan physically here with us. ive been trying to put the thought at the back of my mind as it hurts so much to think about not having my birthday girl with me to sing to, to blow our candles out together, to watch open her gifts we so lovingly chose. i promised grandpa im going to try my best to enjoy the day celebrating the wonderful memories i have of nan and the 32 years i was blessed to share my birthday with nan.

have a lovely weekend everybody, thanks for popping in and your continued prayers and love for deqlan and our family

all our love god bless

mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

ps-wish i could get my phone to type capitals on our blog!

Some Extremely Reasonable Suggestions for 'Typical' Parents, Family, and Teachers by Daantjie Badenhorst

2011-11-09T01:08:00.000-08:00

1. PLEASE don't try to make us "normal." We'd much rather be functional.
It's hard to be functional when you have to spend all your time and energy focusing on making eye contact and not tapping your feet.

2. PLEASE don't overprotect, indulge, or cosset us. We already have enough social problems without additionally learning to be spoiled and self-indulgent.

3. DON'T teach us social skills according to how you wish the world was, or even how you think it is. Look carefully at what is really going on and teach us real world rules.

4. DON'T talk, and/or act as if your life would be perfect or soooo much easier if you had a "normal" child. We don't thrive on knowing that we are the children you didn't want.

5. DON'T make the mistake of thinking that teaching us typical behaviors and successful masking means we are "cured." Please remember that the more typical our behavior seems, the harder we are working. What is natural, simple behavior to you is a constant intense effort for us.

6. PLEASE don't punish us with rewards or reward us with punishments.
For those of us who find recess to be the most stressful part of school, any action that will keep us in from recess is one we will learn to repeat ad infinitum. Getting rewarded for good behavior with fashionable but really itchy clothing will train us to NOT behave too well!

7. If you assiduously train us to imitate and conform to other children's behavior, don't be shocked if we learn to curse, whine for popular toys, dress in ways you don't like, and eventually drink, smoke and attempt to seek out sex as teenagers. Those "nice kids" you think so highly of do a lot of things you don't know about - or don't you remember high school?

8. Please DO give us information about autism/Asperger Syndrome early on at a level we can digest. We need to know what's going on - and we will figure out that something is "wrong" with us whether you tell us or not.

9. DON'T avoid a diagnosis or help for us because you are scared of us being labeled. Without that diagnosis and appropriate support, our teachers, family, and fellow students will give us plenty of labels - and we might just believe them if we hear them often enough.

10. DON'T force us to do things we can't do. A forced social situation won't teach us social skills any more than dumping us in the middle of the Pacific Ocean will teach us to swim.

11. DON'T punish us for what other kids do. The fact that other kids tease and torture us for benign "autistic" behaviors doesn't mean we need to change, it means they do. Needing to bounce or swing for the whole recess is not morally wrong; tormenting someone for having a neurological disability is.

12. DON'T attempt to use humiliation or public embarrassment to "teach us a lesson." We get way too much of that from other people, and the only lesson learned is that we can't trust you either.

13. DO punish us (or give us "consequences," heaven help us) when it is necessary to do so - but make the connection between cause and effect very, very clear. We often need visual aids to understand how our behavior can cause an unwanted result for us!!!

14. DON'T cut us too much slack when our behavior is potentially dangerous to us. For example, adolescent pre-stalking behavior should result in serious consequences - because not treating such behavior seriously when we are young can lead to problems involving law enforcement when we're older!

15. DON'T trust untrained camp counselors, "typical peers," or youth pastors to be able to deal with Asperger Syndrome. Often their answers to our problems involve highly destructive phrases like "try harder," "you could do it if you really wanted to," and "snap out of it."

16. DON'T model one thing and teach another. If you yell or hit when you're mad, we will too. If you rage at us, don't be shocked at our "autistic rages." And DON'T lecture us about our stims while you smoke, tap your foot, pick at your manicure and down your third double-latte today.

17. DON'T require us to be wildly successful at something because your ego has been wounded by having a "flawed" child. We can't all be Temple Grandin.
Remember, all honest work is noble, even if you can't brag about us to your friends.

18. DO spend time with our siblings, even if you need to arrange for respite care to do so. Schedule something special for them without us along, even if it's just lunch at a fast food joint once a week or so.

19. DO ask for help for yourself as needed. Take advantage of respite care when you can. Get cognitive-behavioral counseling and/or medication when you are depressed. Don't try to do it all alone. Remember, it is much more important that you get a nap and a nourishing meal than that we have a tidy house.

20. Most important, please, please, please DON'T wait until we're "cured"
or "recovered" to love and accept us. You could miss our whole lives that way.

Written by Jennifer McIlwee Myers, Aspie-at-LargeContributor to the book "Asperger's and Girls" published by Future Horizons; Asperger's women offer candid reflections and the field's leading experts offer advice

Happy Birthday Granny

2011-10-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Granny Rene

We hope that you are having a wonderful party with all the angels , enjoying all your favourite things

We miss you , but continue to treasure the happy memories and times we shared together

We will try and enjoy some of your favorite things today in your honor

Always loved, always remembered

xxxx

NEVER AGAIN MED

2011-10-12T02:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we back to school and things are in full swing again at Little Leaps

Deqlan has had a couple of real frustrating days. We had to leave Ciara's party early goes Deqlan was just so upset and frustrated without an obvious reason to us? He was so upset the ipad nearly lef the car through the car window...

Deqlan did not sleep well on Sunday evening - waking up asking us for the light to be put on, to see my phone, to watch mnet series, then crying - and eventually fell asleep

When i fetched Deqlan from school on Monday, he started crying , which he has done before , but escalated into a full blown meltdown. The entire afternoon was spent crying and screaming in frustration - Deqlans entire body was so tense, his hands and feet pulled tight as strings - Nanna, Grandpa and I tried various things to get him to calm down, find out what was wrong - he kept wanting what his eyes saw ' You wanna crocodile" give him the crocodile, then crying again " You wanna Ipad" give him the ipad, then crying again " You wanna Mama's phone" and crying again and so it went on and on

I decided to try and get him into the car to get him home - still crying and resisting, but eventually the straps of the car chair , that deep pressure, seemed to calm him down. Deqie played on his ipad for about an hour , while Nanna and i sat with him, parked in the driveway. And something popped into my thoughts.......

Could the Vibrocil nose spray, Deqlan was on to clear his sinuses, cause this behaviour change?

Bingo! Lightbulb went on in Nanna's eyes and she went to fetch her MIMS book - a medical book with detailed information on medication and dosage and side effects, and this is what it says :

- TROUBLE SLEEPING
- ANXIETY
- FEAR
- HEADACHE
- DIZZINESS
- POUNDING HEART
- HEADACHE
- RESTLESSNESS
- CONFUSION
- IRRITABILITY
- WEAKNESS
- PYSCOTIC STATES

The ingredients include a from of ephydrine - a substance found in cold and flu medicine , that makes you shake and gives you that buzz? students also rely on it to keep them studying through the night

Just to check if my theory was right, we didnt give Deqlan the last dose

When i collected him from school yesterday, he was calm and happy - we waitied for him to be ready to leave , and when he said ' Now its time for Mama's car" we happily got him in the car back to Nanna's house

He had his afternoon nap, he slept last night, he was clearer in what he wanted yesterday

So im almost sure it was the nose spray - it sorted the sinus issues out but caused havoc on Deqies behaviour

My poor boy probably didnt understand why he was feeling so buzzy and out of control.....

Deqlan reacts to alot of meds - even herbal ones - so we got to try and test and put them on the list of NEVER AGAIN MEDS.

HELP GET BABY REEF TO L.A

2011-10-11T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends, please help Reef get to Los Angeles for life altering treatment .Please text REEF to 38777 to help him get his treatment in LA. Cost is R10 per text! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!! For more on his story please visit www.savebabyreef.com

a great third term

2011-10-07T08:59:00.002-07:00

hard to believe that deqlan starts his fourth and final term for the year on monday!!

he got a beautiful report and we are so incredibly proud of all his improvements and continued giant leaps!

deqlan still doesnt enjoy the things he doesnt enjoy, but he will do them now !! ayline introduced a reward system , where deqlan gets time to play on the compueter or ipad or see his logo file, as rewards! his favourite is the logo file, so lovingly created by ayline- a book of all his favourites brand logos and tv channels- he loves loves loves this file!!!

deqlan continues to do activities away from the class and avoids the hussle and bustle of the group activities. he definitely enjoys adults comnany better then kids- but he is playing so beautifully with keaton and especially khloe, all wonderful practise in making his own buddies!!

got a busy weekend ahead!!!!! hannahs party tomorow morning, coldplay tomorow night, and ciaras party on sunday!!

i have waited many many years for coldplay to come to south africa and they are finally here! cant wait

have a great weekend everyone, we delighted to have mark home from new zealand!!!! he had a great time and was blessed to have been shown so many things by kevin amd louise and rhyan and michael and sandi! hoping one day soon, we can all go together!!

god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

dadas trip to new zealand

2011-10-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

mark and kevin at the south africa vs samoa game
what a beautiful family, louise , kevin and the gorgeous rhyan
how beautiful is he?
mark enjoying some ski ing at snow planet
our future little thomas fan!
mark and kevin at australia vs ireland game

5,4,3,2,1 BLAST OFF!!!!

2011-09-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

happy birthday Darling Mom and Nanna

2011-09-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

To Our Darling Mom and Nanna ,

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and many many more!

We hope you have had a lovely day and we hope that you have felt the immense love we, and so many others have for you

There are not enough words to express the love we have for you - the pride we have when we look at our Mom and Nanna, they joy we experience in your laugh, the safety we feel when you wrap your arms around us, the love you shower open us every moment, of every day!

We hope you enjoyed the special trip to the circus tent and seeing Uncle Ken before he jetted back to Germany tonight! We hope you enjoyed the hand made works of art from the kids, the kisses and hugs and 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANNA' the blowing out of candles with you, the cake , decoratet with so much love! We didnt get the trapeze right today for you Mom, but we sure will one day soon!!!!

Thank you Mom for always putting us first - we know that everyday is a juggling act for you in all you do to help us ! We know thats its a very fine balance on the tight rope to! But wow, do you look dazzling in your best outfit, your smile that just radiates love and warmth and light and peace

You know, i often tell you Mom, i know of no one else , who laughs as much and who is as positive as you, so slow to anger, never to judge - just love, love , love every moment of every day for everyone!

I am so incredibly proud to be your daughter, an honor and a gift that God gave you to me and to Deqlan as Nanna.

I am so touched at the unique bond you and Mark share, and so grateful for all you do for Logan, who adores you!

Stay the beautiful person you are, inside and out! May God continue to shower you with all His blessings and mercies and gifts - you deserve the world and so much more!

May He continue to give you fantastic health, may He strengthen you in the days were you feel down and lonely, may He guide you in all you do each day, may He continue to do His work through you , his loyal and beautiful servant

Thank you Mom , for all you continue to do for us, every single day - thank You for taking such incredible care of us and for loving us they way you do - always there for us , always ready to help, always ready to listen and hug and smile!

Mom, we know that this year, there is going to be a big something missing in your day , we know that your heart aches to see our precious Nan and to hold her and kiss her. I know that Nan is looking down on you blowing you kisses, and saying " dont cry Bevy, be happy and enjoy the chocolate eclair" I know Nan is so incredibly proud of you and so very , very grateful for all you have done for her- what an amazing daughter you are, a perfect example of unconditional love and respect for your Mom, what a privilige to have seen that and learnt from you and Nan ! May i be half the daughter you were to Nan, wow, i would have achieved something!

Sleep well My Mom, sweet dreams of our wonderful day and all the beautiful memories created! lets start planning for " Its show time"

God Bless you , we love you with our all and everything and more

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

big walk 2011

2011-09-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Evie

2011-09-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

nans requiem mass was beautiful in every way

from the beautiful blooming white baberton daises and lilies to the touches of lilac ( nans favourite colour) flowers in between

to the music my mom, grandpa and uncle ken so lovingly and carefully chose, for the choir and us to sing and sing we did

the beautiful collage of some of our favourite photos of nan

the readings so perfectly chosen

the homily given by father mahau, with such beautiful touching words about nan " saint on earth" " angelic"

the beautiful words of love and thanks and the memories shared by mom and uncle ken. megs and i

the roses, tied with lilac ribbons we placed on nans coffin

the outfits we wore with splashes of flowers and lilcac in nans honour

the many people , family and friends, some we havent seen in years, that came to celebrate nans life with us

the hugs and embraces and prayers and support, the smiles, the tears

all perfectly done with so much love for our evie, mom,nan, big nan, daughter, sister,aunt, cousin, most loyal servant of the lord

we miss you our darling nan, but know you enjoyed this perfect celebration of the amazing lady you were, always in our hearts and minds, we love you with our all, rest well now our beautiful nan

Happy 5th Birthday To Our Beautiful Deqlan Ross!

2011-09-11T10:25:00.001-07:00

To Our Beautiful, Gorgeous , Deqlan Ross

HAPPY HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TO OUR BEAUTIFUL BOY, AND MANY MANY MANY MORE!!!

We know you are going to have a wonderful day today and we wish you a beautiful, happy, healthy, blessed year ahead!

we are so very proud of you my sweet heart, our hearts swell with pride at all the giant leaps you continue to take each day!

Always know how much we love you - TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!! YOU ARE OUR moon, stars, galaxy and sun, our everything and we love you more each and every single day!

Stay the beautiful, loving, caring, spunky, clever boy you are - NEVER CHANGE FOR ANYONE, we love you just the way you are!!!!!!!

May Our Gracious Lord, continue to take such wonderful care of you, and give you a year full of laughter and smiles and all the things you love to do! May He continue to bless you with wonderful health and keep you NED forever and always. May He continue to guide you off the spectrum and reach every star you set your eyes on!

Big Nan took a very special message straight to Jesus and Mother Mary , to say thank you to Them for looking after you, and to ask Them to continue taking such precious care of you. You know, you now have your very own guardian angel my boy, thats going to take such good care of you!

What a privilige and gift to watch you grow up - we love hearing your beautiful words, and songs and stories, and we have learnt so much about brand logos and slogans from you Deqie, you would be an advertisers dream! We love watching you do things you didnt want to before, and getting confidence in them, riding bikes, sliding down firemans poles, climbing laders! We love watching you figure gadgets out, man, we shake our head in disbelief sometimes with the things you figure out! We love watching you interact with our children, especially Logan, Keaton and Khloe, it makes my heart sing to know that your bond is growing so close and strong! I love hearing all about your school day and what you did to make you smile! I love hearing you say "dada" " mama" with such delight in your voice when you see us, we are so very blessed!

Always know how much we love and treasure, you are our world! Have a beautiful birthday and reach for the stars!

God Bless you always our precious boy, we love you to infinity and beyond and back again

Dada, Mama and Logan

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE

rest well beautiful Nan

2011-09-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

our merciful lord called our beautiful nan home at 1130am this morning.

god planned it so beautifully, nan even waited for uncle ken to land from germany and get to the hospital and spend an hour with nan, we all believe nan was waiting for uncle ken so we could all be together.

i also had time to tell nan that last night, deqlan looked at some photos of his big nana and spontanesouly said " i love you big nana" that was amazing to hear

we are doing ok and holding each other up and letting god hold us to.

plse continue to pray for my grandpa and mom and uncle ken as they are all heartsore at the loss of our beloved wife ,mom, nan, big nan

nan, we know you waltzed into heaven this morning, we know you are happy to be with you lord that you loved so much and mother mary who was so important to you to. we know you are free from illness and suffering and pain and worry, and you are now perfect in everyway

there are not enough words to explain the immense love we have for you and always will

the beautiful memories we made together, the laughs we shared, the challenges you got through which only made you stronger. nan our iron lady right up to when jesus called your name today.

we are going to miss you everyday. we are going to have tears for a long while to come as our hearts try to mend, but we are also going to celebrate that amazing lady you were, such a loyal servant to our lord, such a loving , giving, caring saint on earth.

im already missing you so very much nan

knowing im not going to hear your voice or see you laugh or song , or watch grandpa kissing you again, is very hard to try and process and we just ask god to help us take one day at a time as we try and settle into our new family dynamic, without you precious nan

i hope you knew you were loved and adored and treasure, i wish i told you more, i wish we took you for tea and cake more often, and come to sing songs with you

i have learnt so much from you nan and id like to think i have lots of you in me, my birthday girl. i see you in my mom, and in khloe to. i will always remember your incredible fighting spirit in so many different challenges that you were faced with

ill always be grateful to god for giving us so much time together, for so many laughs and good times and precious moments, i will treasure them always . the trip to the movies, esp watching never ending story which we both loved. the sleepovers that never ended , you always let us stay longer cause we didnt want to leave. the songs and music that followed you wherever u were . that implanted such a love of music in us all. its lovely to see that all of us know the songs you loved so much and have always and will always remind us of you " close to you" " five pennies" all the greats, sinatra, dean martin, shirley bassey. your love of sweet things, man you enjoyed your chocies and halls sweets and chocolate eclairs. nan , it was a delight to watch you interacting with your great grand children and how you laughed and smiled around them. we thought we had the coolest gran in the world when we saw you get into your drums or go riding on your bicycle . it was so touching to see the love you and grandpa shared for so many , many years and how you two would often look like teenagers, still so in love, your teddy bear .

i promise nan we will look after grandpa and help him through missing you. i promise we will be there for your bevy and your kensy boy to. we promise to tell our children about their feisty, loving, clever big nana.i promise we are going to celebrate your life and the sunshine you brought into our lives

our song has different meaning today nan " everytime you go away, you take a piece of me with you"

always in my heart and mind and soul

rest well nan, you have deserved it, go and enjoy that poker game with your mom and dad and brothers and aunty gloria and aunty shirl

heaven gained a saint and an angel today, we know you will always be watching over us nan, thank you for taking our prayers and that "special envelope" straight to jesus for us

thank you for giving me the gift of my amazing mom

god bless you and give you rest my darling nan, i am so proud to be your grand daughter and have your name in mine

all our love, trying to smile for you " even though are hearts are aching"

mark samm deqlan logan

xxxx

Prayers

2011-09-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone

Sorry been so quiet , have not had a chance to update our blog, but only on facebook

We have had a rough week

We have all had our turns being sick with strep tonsilitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, pink eye , throat infection, laryngitis and been battling to get rid of it completely

My Nan was admitted to hospital on Friday afternoon and diagnosed with pneomonia, UTI and eye infection- she was beginning to show signs of great improvement on Monday , even sitting up and praying and smiling and laughing

As my mom got to the hospital on Tuesday night they called her to say Nan had taken a turn for the worse and they had to put her on a ventilator- her body not able to get rid of the carbon dioxide or able to keep her blood pressure up .

They moved Nan to a more intense ICU unit last night with every second of the day nursing care - my mom just got a call from the doctor saying despite all the meds her kidneys are failing and carbon dioxide level climbing again, he doest expect Nan to make the night.

I am devastated -i believed and trusted so hard in her healing - and i am not going to let go of that i am still asking Our Merciful Lord to work His miracles on Nan and strengthen and heal her, please joing me in praying for my Nan, my " birthday girl" , great Nan, mother, wife, sister, aunt and what a loyal servant for the Lord

Please pray for my Mom and Grandpa , please pray for our family

Please Lord, nothing is impossible to YOU! Nothing!

happy birthday meggie

2011-08-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

to my amazing sister, best friend, aunt , godmother, our meggie

wishing you a very happy and blessed birthday for today, may there be many, many,many more!

stay the incredible, kind, loving, giving, supportive person you are

you are so loved and treasured and adored

may our gracious lord continue to bless you in every way- you heart is huge and you are so giving to all those that you can help

its been an honor watching you arrive into the world and our bond start as big and little sister- then have you go to school with me and then have to wait 2 years for you to join me in high school again- watching you leave for london, and missing you more then i thought imagineable- taking on all the boyfriends that dared to hurt me- watching you fall in love and then cry as i watched my baby sister walk down the aisle- to travelling the world and becoming so wise - becoming an aunt to logan and deqlan and the love and care and protection you show for them both-to standing by our side as deqie recieved his miracle of healing - to watching you become a mommy yourself to the most beautiful kids you could have been blessed with!

i look forward to all the memories to come, all the laughter and adventures to

know how much you are loved and how proud we are of you!

god bless you happy birthday all our love and more

mark tom deqie logs

xxxx

that's more like it

2011-08-26T03:04:00.001-07:00

we were delighted to see our happy, cute, laughing boy again last night- deqlan seemed much more settled and happier then he has been this week

no tears at school this morning either

he still wants to be in control of alot of things like opening and closing doors again and putting his clothes on and off and is still asking to drive in our cars but its getting better thank you lord

we both off to the doc this afternoon as we have a nice dose of sinusitis which i think may call for more antibiotics , lets see.....

got a busy weekend up ahead preparing for deqlans blast off birthday party next weekend, megs birthday celebrations, ethans birthday and lisa's birthday celebrations - so we got to feel better soon!

before i go, asking for extra special prayer requests for my grandpa who is battling so much with his hip and experiencing increased pain

enjoy the weekend everyone

god bless and love us

be still and know that i am god

" you wanna dada's car"

2011-08-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Deqlan has been a little unsettled and frustarted the last few days, especially when it comes to us or his teacher saying no to something or wanting him to do something at a specific time

the rest of the day at little leaps he is happy though until we get there to fetch him and he gets upset again - you can imagine how great that makes me feel - ayline says she doesnt understand it cause he misses us in the day so is happy to see nanna and me, but just cries when we arrive ?? doesnt make sense hey?

this also spills over into sleep time - he cried so much yesterday afternoon when nanna tried to get him to nap- deqlan was continuosly crying for mamas car or dadas car- nanna got deqlan to sleep after an hour of trying

as soon as we got home he started crying for dada or mamas car again " you wanna drive"

last night it took me over an hour to get him to sleep which is just so unlike him??

we didnt let him sleep this afternoon and he had a wonderful afternoon full of fun and laughter with nanna - but the moment we got home was crying for a ride in mama or dadas car?

he was tired earlier then usually tonight cause he missed the afternoon nap, but once in bed and ready to sleep, deqie started getting upset again and asking us to take him driving

now of course we would take him driving at any time but i think its a phase again - he used to do this quite a while ago and it got better over time, so we just got to be patient and wait it out or figure it out. we cant take hm driving every time he asks or thats all we will be doing :)

please pray for our big boy to feel more settled tomorow

sleep tight god bless all our love

be still and know that i am god

beautiful moments

2011-08-20T08:49:00.001-07:00

-

we had such a lovely morning at the association for autism suppport group get together at besters bird park and zoo

deqlan wanted to leave the minute we got there , he seemd tired and its a new place and there waas a vot of noise from the birds and other animals " you wanna dadas car !" deqlan often says you instead of i, as thats how we ask him questions " do you want ......" so he often says " you want" instead of " i want" but for alot of things he has started saying i, we will get there for sure !

anyway, we tried to push him just a little just to give the place a chance and first got him to feed the tortoises. for the first time ever he was actually interested in interacting with an animal properly and even stroked his head and felt his legs :) was amazing to see

then we took him past the monekys, kangaroo's, guinea pigs and bunnies and went into the little arfea with the baby chickens with him still asking for dads car. clever nanna picked up a baby chick and immediately got a smile and interest from deqlan! i was so grateful to get these photos as i think they show his absolute delight with them! he loved holding them and touching them, a little to rough at times, but we kept telling him and showing him how - it was so wonderful to see and i will treasure these moments always!

what a wonderful way to spend our anniversary!

rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice!

happy 6 years my love

2011-08-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

happy happy 6 year wedding anniversary my love!!

thank you for all my favourite chocolates hand delivered by deqlan this morning

thank you for another incredible year of growth, love, support and all things wonderful

thank you for being an amazing husband and father i am so very proud of you

asking our lord to give us a lifetime of anniversaries to come endless happiness and for us to continue growing us one

love you so very much, mrs higgins

"a ha moment"

2011-08-15T09:51:00.001-07:00

I've really been enjoying getting into as many autism themed books as i possibly can

now of course i dont have many leisurely hours each day to read them, so i grab every spare moment to read even if its 5 pages a night before going to slip

i loved house rules by jodi piccoult - wow it was amazing and i highly recommend it - i couldnt put it down! nanna also loved reading it. she did her research thoroughly on what a person with autism goes through. she also played out many humerous situations which had me smiling and laughing out loud numerous times!

the next one i climbed into was, not my boy by rodney peete. such a hopeful story such an excellent guidebook for families. what i loved most was that it was written by a dad, so other dads can relate and so moms can understand where dads are coming from ! he gives the amazing story of rj's recovery and many references and ideas to help other families, cant wait for mark to read it, i hope he does, he isnt much of a reader but i know he will relate and enjoy it

my favourite at the moment is, healing our autistic children, a medical plan for restoring your childs health, by dr julie buckley. you may recall me mentioning her name as my favourite speaker at the autism is treatable conference i attended in cape town. ive only just started and already had a huge lightbulb "a ha opprah moment"

our amazing family and friends and even strangers have complimented mark and me and nanna on the great job and hard work we have put into deqlans progress and recovery , and we thank you all for your love and support and best wishes!

but,

its truly deqlan who is putting in the hardest work of all - being on a strict diet and not being allowed the things his peers enjoy, sitting through hours of therapy and lessons, being told not to do something this way, but rather that way, making himself understood when he cant yet put all the words together the way he would want to. you see friends, how hard our boy has to work?

so all the acolations and praises are directly for you my sweetheart! we are so proud of you and know how hard you work each day to understand he world around you and we promise to continue doing all we can to help you in every way we can!!!! we love you and adore you and we are so incredibly proud of you!!!may our amazing lord continue to bless you and guide you and help you every single step of thid wonderful journey, he to loves you beyond words !

mamas+papas

2011-08-14T11:32:00.001-07:00

check out the august edition of mamas and papas for an article loren did on autism, with an insert on deqlans story as well as our friend anna from association for autism :)

deqlan's flavour of the moment

2011-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

the weather channel!!!!

deqlan even got logie lying next to him nice and cosy last night to watch the weather channel with him!

Khloes graduation

2011-08-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Deqlans doing great!

2011-08-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

deqlan has been doing fantastic! no pain meds needed today! nanna had another look into his throat and she says most of the scabs are off and his throat looking great! he is eating and singing and laughing and running! thank you lord for helping deqlan heal so beautifully! thanks for all the prayers - we go for check up with dr venter 18 august :)

Getting there

2011-08-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to say thanks for all the prayers and emails and messages :)
Deqlan is doing great - we have had our rough moments, Sunday Morning and early hours of this morning he was having some pain and was crying and frustrated, but thank Our Lord, he seems much better today - he has great spells of eating, and then today, not really wanting to eat as much but we will continue encouraging as that is whats going to help the healing!
Nanna and i had a quick look in his throat today and Nanna says its looking good, the scabs have started to fall off , and that could be causing increased pain to, watching him closely , thanks for all the prayers
God Bless
love us
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

happy, home and blessed

2011-07-29T05:47:00.000-07:00

we are happy, we are home and we are so blessed

deqlan was an absolute star today - from the moment we woke him up right up to going into theatre he was in such a lovely mood

he only asked for "milky hot" or " milky spring" ( juice) once and was happy when we said we would get him some after theatre.

wehn we had our initial consult with dr venter in the week he told us that they use sevoflurane and not nitrous oxide- if you read or speak to other families with kids on the spectrum, there are some that will tell you nitrous oxide caused regression in their kids- even typing autism and anesthetic in google will lead you to many studies on this fact- some of their systems cant detox these gases and it add another injury to their bodies

when we met tghe anethetist today she says she uses nitrous oxide- this put us into a complete spin and wondering if we should go ahead with the procedure. she definitely had not heard about the concerns we had and was quite adiment that this was how she does things.

we had a few minutes to discuss this between nanna, mark and me - and i just asked god to guide us on the right decision- i was very close to saying lets go home,but i was filled with peace and calmness as was mark and nanna. we decided to chat to dr venter while waiting to go into theatre. deqlan was jumping on the hospital bed , we were hitting the balloon ( a hand glove blown up by one of the nurses) he was in wonderful spirits laughing and smiling. dr venter said that the nitrous oxide is the carrier for the anesthetic but sevoflurane would be what kept deqlan asleep. so we all decided to go for it

once dr venter came out to tell us all went well he told us they did not use any nitrous oxide in the end, which we are so happy about- we dont understand why it couldnt be done in the first place!!

he says deqlans tonsils were very bad and no more fibre in them -just filled with yucky stuff so it was the best decision to take them out now

deqlan woke up in recovery and immediately wanted out the bed. i ran to the nurse as i saw her carrying him out and he started getting upset. by the time we go to the room he was crying and couldnt get comfortable- eventually he settled on the bed with dad for ten minutes then woke up again. crying. more crying - but it was mostly from the anesthetic and not pain related. some cries were different - pain cries. dr anne his paed popped in to check on him to and megs also caeme to see our big boy. we were allowed to go round 1130€ after deqlan had some juice - by this time he was ready to get out of that room and immediately calmed down when we walked outside

he was very happy to be home amongst his own things and his own space and we were dleighted to see him finish a bowl of animal dhaped pasta and two glasses of spirte ( yes we allowing sprite as the fizzy coldrink helps heals the tonsils)

deqlans nose started bleeding and i saw some blood in his mouth- but nanna reassured me its from his nose ( from the pipe) not from his tonsils

nanna has spent the afternoon with me and we got deqlan to sleep comfortably after some pain meds

thank you so much nanna for all your never ending help and love and prayers and support and fun and hugs and smiles - we love you beyond any measure, you are truly our guardian angel on earth

thank you all for your prayers and messages and love, will keep you posted and ask you to please continue the prayers for no bleeding or infection and for minimal and manageable pain and a speedy recovery

thank you lord for guiding us and always taking the very best care of deqlan - there are not enough times and ways i could thank you for what you do for us you are a mighty loving merciful god

enjoy the weekend everyone god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice

bye bye tonsils

2011-07-28T07:24:00.002-07:00

tomorow, our gorgeous deqlan will be having his tonsils and adenoids removed

we saw the ent doc on tuesday and he says the tonsils look bad- deqlan has chronic tonsilitis which is not something that is going to go away . so instead of giving antibiotics every few weeks and then fighting candida after weve decided to go with the drs recommendation to remove them.

deqlan is first on the theatre list , we need to be there by 630am and deqie will probably go in at 8am. hoping he will want to eat and drink something so that we can go home before lunch time

nanna is making a beautiful flip file with logos and pictures of all deqlans current favorite things including dstv and the channels and programmes, cars and airlines - thank you nanna for all your love and time and efoort you put into deqlans beautiful book to distract him and keep him happpy tomorow, thank you for all your continued love and help and never ending support

meggie and the kids made a delicious everything free cake and surprised deqlan with two pieces to enjoy this afternoon, you are our very own master chef megs thanks for being so thoughtful and kind

ive gone to stoke up on sugar free jelly, sprite , biscuits, biltong and hope something will seem apealing to deqlan

please pray with us that the anesthetic does no harm - sevoflorane will be used, same one we requested when deqlan had his dental procedures done . please pray for god to work staright through dr venter and the anethetists hands and for all to go beautifully. pplse pray that deqlan isnt scared and upset and that he has minimal pain. plse pray that there is no bleeding or infections. plse pray we can keep deqlan happy and feeling as great as we can. plse pray for him to make a speedy and excellent recovery

thank you all prayer army will let you all know how great it went!

god bless and all our love and tx for the prayers

mark samm deqlan logan

sacred heart of jesus we plave our trut in thee all for thee oh lord oh my jesus all for thee

"stop biting your nails"

2011-07-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

our gorgeous boy started biting his nails quite a while ago but its really gone to another level lately!!! telling him not to do it doesnt help and the state of his nails is really bad at the moment, he bites them that they bleed and really is past the nail bed already! when we shout not to bite his finger nails he tries with his toe nails!!! arrrgggghhhh!!!!

we got some stuff to paint on his nails called bitterex which really is very bitter! it is putting him off a little bit, but he is still trying to eat them every chance he gets !!!

any advise on how we can break this habit??? deqlan comes for a long line of nail biters including meggie and uncle ken - maybe its in the genes?

p.s- deqlan delighted to be back at school :)

have a great week everyone

god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

i can do all things through christ who strengthens me

Autism IS treatable

2011-07-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

ggorgeous view of table mountain
look top left corner for deqlans name :) at the start of the conference they asked usto write down the names of our loved ones affected by autism and at the very end there was a phsychologist giving us survival tips and she ended off with this photo saying this is are biggest reasons ! of course, i was moved to tears and just wanted to get home to love and hold me gorgeous boy!
some of the grounds at the hotel i stayed at, lord charles - was really stunning! the weather was amazing it definitley doesnt seem to be winter in the cape!
view of strand beach! bron and her gorgeous kids tool me for supper on the sat evening and were so kind to take me past the beach just as the sun was setting, it was truly magnificent!

was so proud to wear my badge!
early morning view from the hotel - cape town is such a beautiful city!
just before take off, dada and deqlan watching the planes- of course mama cried when it was time to say goodbye -dada and deqlan watched me go through the security check and a blew deqie kisses, and by himself without anyone prompting him, he blew me kisses back :) what a stunning gift!

table mountain on my way back to the airport

what a stunning conference! i learnt so very much and wish i could tell you all every single detail but it would take me two days to type!

some highlites;

we had speakers from south africa and two from the usa - all fantatsic in the subject they spoke on.

dr louise lindberg, deqlans dan (defeat autism now) doctor, started with the overview and what the dan protocol would be to treat those with autism spectrum disorders

we had a fanastic , very experienced speech therapist give us insight onto how she treats and helps the kids she see's with asd. she tries to consider every possible thing that could distract their sessions , and adjusts the environment accordingly - using items that specific child relates to. she gave us stories of kids that have sensory issues - for egsample something she had cooked the night before had left a fishy smell around her practise based at home, and her patienr was so overwhelmed by it because of his sensory issues. she loves using the ipad for specific autism related applications and has seen a fantastic response in the kids - mark and i are currently looking into this for deqlan, we have heard amazing things about it!

we then had dr julie buckley from the usa tell us the story of her vaccine injured daughter with pictures of her before her vaccines and after and how her 4 yeard old vaccines triggered her autism. she showed us pictures of what her daughters gut looked like and what normal guts look like - you can not believe what some of these kids stomachs look like, its shocking - some cant express the pain they in , but we lnow all about the gut issues in the form of candida, watching our kids lay on the floor, so that they have pressure on their tummies, what their bowl movements look like and what they should look like - it took them 5 years to get their daughters candida under control and one day she told her mom , my tummy doesnt hurt anymore - she thought it was normal for your tummy to be sore all the time, she didnt know what it should feel like until her gut was healed! she also gave us so many ideas and hints, my favoirte being " cashew creme" - we need to feed our kids brains by giving him the healthy fats like avo and cashews and using coconut oil to cook with - cashew creme is amazing brain food and if you give your child 2 table spoons before their meal you will be giving them such a great gift! i made some today and was very pleased at the outcome - deqlan even had the two tablesppons which i was so pleased about! he was weary of the very smooth texture but did eat it! it tastes a little like reeces pieces to me!

dr buckley also gave another lecture on " care for the caregiver" which i absolutely loved!how important it is for the caregiver of the child with autism to take care of themselves. like the airline safety demonstrations display but the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others- if you dont look after you, you cant take proper care of your child. she stressed how important it is to sleep enough, eat properly and specific techniques to calm down and go to our happy pplace, before reacting to situations - stress damages our cells and harms our bodies! there are so many caregivers and doctors that are getting sick with serioues ilnesses because they didnt tale better care of themselves. she also made us understand the importance of date nights and conversations not revolving around autism with your loved one, all the time! date night could even be a trip to the shop , just husband and wife, not mentioning autism , at all!

dr peta cohen, from new jersey, actually lived on south africa 20 years ago ans was so touched to be back!

her first lecture was on what you can do if you planning to fall pregnant and are pregnant to prevent autism- of course there are many factors that people believe trigger autism- our enviroment, toxins, genetics - but she had some ideas ( along with studies) on what we can do to make sure we stay away from the things we can. from eating only organic food , not using tinfoil, staying away from soya,not buying products with added vitamins to staying very far away for corn syrup and not letting your cell phone sit in your lap and in your pocket!

hannah kaye, a nutritional therapist gave us the breakdown of all the types of diets parents can try for their asd kids - the most effective and popular one being the gluten and casein free diet which means removing all proteins from wheat and dairy. dairy takes around a week to leave your system and gluten around 8 months!!! the other popular one is specific carbohydrate diet - which basically means a diet of just meat, fruit and vege, nuts and honey. this definitley wouldnt work for deqlan as he doesnt eat vegies , yet, isnt allowed fruit because of his candida issues and reacts to honey! there is also a no phenol diet- phenols are the colours in foods and lots of kids with autism react to them! each and every child is different so there is no one fix for all - you have to see what works for your child and your fanily! i was touched to see how many mommies were on the same diet as their kids !

of course hannah stresses sugar is a no no and wants us to get our kids eating liver once a week!!! eekk! ive gotten mark to agree to make it for deqlan, i cant do strange foods like that and i have a feeling our fussy eater wont be willing to try eat either!she also whole heartedly agrees that food affects our childrens behaviour!! she also said neuro tical kids would need to be given a new food up to 12 times before trying it where kids with autism may take 25, so hang in there and persevere! hannah is based in cape town but consults in jnb to so hopping we get to see her soon!

we had the founder of the snap programme give us a talk on autism in the teenage years and what their school and support groups focus on- so awesome to hear that they have social groups that get together weekly and have real friends they make at them :)

prof hanlie smookman give me excellent advise on preparing deqlan to get his tonsils out, as we know thats going to have sooner then later - and its keys to boost his immune system prior and help him to detox - so we increasing vitamin c and starting milk thistle which helps liver detox

there is already talk of another conference next year which i cant wait for, may just have to turn it into a holiday to, cape town is just so beautiful!

i left feeling very engergised, grateful and blessed and full of ideas for deqie and to share with others

thanks so much to anna and lauren and all at the afa for a great experience!

be still and know that i am god

3 and a half years NED

2011-07-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

we humbly thank you lord that todays marks deqlan being ned for 3 and a half years!

thank you for answering our prayers as we pray for them, for all your love, care, miracles and healing!

plse continue to heal our beautiful boy totally and permanently and keep him ned forever and always-we pray that this is your will lord jesus

thank you for deqlans prayer army and all their continued love prayers and support

we love you lord and thank you with our all and everything

love you to infinity and beyond beautiful boy we are so proud of you, our gift from god, our little boy " full of prayer"

angel Jed

2011-07-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

today was a day that people around the world celebrated the life of jed

jed passed away on monday evening after fighting cancer of the brain for over 3 years so bravely with a smile and with a mom and dad that did all they could and more to help their little mr noonie pants

we released green ballons for you today jed and we all wore green. deqlans nanna also lit a very special candle for you

we promise to continue praying for your mommy, daddy, gwanies, thami and all those that love you

jed matters and always will, you touched so many around the world, you will never be forgotten

rest well sweet jed

a priceless gift

2011-07-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

next weekend, i will be attending the autism is treatable conference in cape town!

im so very, very blessed that the amazing folk at association for autism are sending me !

i am going to miss deqlan more then i can put into words, but as my very wise mom reminds me, its for deqlan that i am going!!

i leave friday afternoon and get back late sunday night. the conference is at a hotel in somerset west in cape town- i havent been to the cape in ten years!

its going to be a jam packed two days starting at 8 and ending at 5 with speakers from south africa and abroad. im particularly interested in the nutrional therapists talks and hoping to get some time to ask some of the hundreds of questions i have

will keep you posted with all the news and details!!

i just wanted to say a huge thank you to anna and lauren at association for autism pretoria for giving me this mazing privilige and priceless gift to go and learn and ultimately help our precious deqlan and many others! thnk you from the bottom of my heart afa!

parental guidance is advised

2011-06-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

our clever boy has taken a great fascination to age restrictions on tv programmes!

" this programme has an age restriction of 16 and parental guidance is advised " or " v is violence" " l is for stong language"

mr deqlan has been doing alot of scripting from his favorite kids shows or mnet sitcoms - this coincided with frustration being specific on where things are placed on the floor and attempting to hit us out of frustration - all this spells candida is in the house again - so we on another round of diflucan and can already see the difference after 2 doses

we not really surprised as deqlan had two rounds of antibiotics straight after each other , candidas favorite treat is antibiotics !

deqlan is on 3 weeks of school holidays and im trying to do at least one special activity our oouting each day - weve been for a quick trip to the dairy and a play date with keaton and khloe and to the shops so far. hoping to fit the movies, the circus and lots of playpark time in to. nanna has been a super star keeping deqlan busy while i work during the day, thank you wonderful nanna

ive started planning deqies 5th birthday party and im just sssooo excited and grateful and feel blessed beyond belief.

deqlan got a sterling 2nd term iep - individual education progamme report and hope to bring you more details soon!

thanks for checking in on our gorgeous boy all your love and continued prayers

sleep tight god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

Happy Birthday Grandpa

2011-06-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

To our Wonderful Grandpa and Big Grandpa

Wishing you a wonderul 81st Birthday for today and many many many more!

We hope you enjoy your special day and that the year ahead is blessed in every way! We wish you all the love and laughter and joy in the world, and ask Our Gracious Lord to bless you with His perfect health for you!

Thank you for all the love and joy you bring to our lives and for being such a wonderful role model to us, we are truly blessed to have you in our lives and we love and appreciate you dearly!

Have an unforgetable day Grandpa surrounded by those who love you so very much!

We are so proud of you!

God bless, all our love and so much more

Mark, Samm, Deqlan ,Logan

xxxx

Happy Birthday Dada

2011-06-22T01:13:00.000-07:00

To my amazing husband and best Dada in the world,

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

We hope you have a great day and know how much you are loved and adored and treasured and appreciated!

We pray that Our Lord gives you an incredible year ahead! Adventures , love, joy, happiness, peace, prosperous and wonderful and blessed in every way!

Stay the amazing person you are, you are a wonderful husband and the best Father in the world to Deqlan and Logan, who love and adore you!

Thank you for all the hard work you put into all you do each day to make sure you take such wonderful care of us all, we love you so very much!

Enjoy your day my love, we love you to infinity and beyond

Me, Deqlan and Logan

xxxx

happy fathers day

2011-06-19T07:20:00.001-07:00

h

happy fathers day to all the dads around the world

happy fathers day heavenly father thank you for the love you continue to shower upon us, for your guidance and for never letting us down, thank you for all that is good , we know it is from you! thank you for answering our prayers! we love and praise you always

to our amazing dada, thank you for doing your everything to ensure we have eveyrthing our hearts desire and so much more! thank you for your love and guidance , for being our best friend, our super hero, our everything!!! we love you to infinity and beyond

to an amzing dad and grandfather, happy fathers day dee! thank you for all you continue to do for us , for all your love support and guidance! for your smiles , hugs and laughter each day! we love and treasure you so very much

happy fathers day oupa chris hope you enjoying the day and although we cant be with you we hope you can feel all the love and kisses we sent specially your way, and all our love to

thank you grandpa and big grandpa for all you do for us, our gentle giant! may god continue to look after you and give you fantastic health and happiness, stay the very special person you are, we love you very much

thank you conrad for being such a cool and awesome godfather to me and for all the love and care and effort you put into understanding me and making me smile, i love you!

happy fathers day uncle ken, thank you for being a wonderful godfather to me, for all your continued love and encouragement and support , we miss you, sending you all lots of love

welcome to the world rhyan higgins

2011-06-11T00:16:00.000-07:00

huge congratulations to kevin and louise on the birth of their first precious son , rhyan higgins. born 10 june 2011, weighing 3.32kg

may god bless you all as you take in this amazing and best chapter of your lives!

enjoy every moment , we wish we were with you to congratulate you and kiss and hug the new higgins family member, but until we can, please give your precious boy a big cuddle from us

so proud of you both! recover well louise and rest as much as you can kev!

sending you all our congrats, love and best wishes, god bless

mark samm deqlan logan

rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice

a quick hello

2011-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

hi there all

just a quick hello ! weve had quite a week !

deqlan has recovered nicely after his tonsilitis , he only went back to school yesterday and was sooo delighted to be back !

i have got a nasty sinusitis bug and after being on antibiotics since tuesday still battling to shake it :( mark also coming down with something

so we plan on spending the weekend in doors and staying warm and hopefully get over these damn bugs

enjoy the weekend

god bless and love from us four

be still and know that i am god

my first girlfriend

2011-06-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

yes, at only 4 and a half years old, deqlan has fallen in love with a girl called dora. dora, the explorer !

whether its her snazzy outfit, brown bob hair do or singing skills we not sure, but he is smitten! on sunday evening he laughed and smiled and giggled at a picture of her and is delighted to catch a glimpse of her on nickelodeon on the weekend. even more exciting is playing the " dora saves map" game on my laptop.

deqlan has tonsilitis again, it came on so suddenly but you could see he wasnt feeling great and a temperature brewing after school on thursday. his on a strong antibiotic and seems to be on the mend. coughing lots from his tonsils being so swollen poor sausage

deqlan have us such a beautiful gift yesterday he said " in the name of the father the son and spirit amen" before we pray with deqlan we bless him and say " in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit" so proud of him!

snooze time so will have to catch up more on deqlan news next time

enjoy the weekend god bless and love

mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

thank You Lord

2011-05-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

today marks 4 years since deqlan was diagnosed with nb

i had every intention of celebrating today and the miracles god has performed through our beautiful boy

i had a tough few moments today thinking back to that day and it took nanna to help me cut the handcuffs off the fear and those memories and throw away the key, for me to snap out of it

nanna always makes things better and she told me to look at the rainbow we have in deqlan, after the storm has passed.

thank you lord for healing our precious deqlan and for answering our prayers as we pray for them- there are never going to be enough words and ways i could thank you

you are so mighty so gracious so merciful

your love shines through deqlan every moment of everyday and in everyway

we are so humbled and blessed

thank you lord that he is thriving and happy and healthy and ned

plse lord continue to have mercy on us and mercy on deqlan and keep him ned forever and ever

let your holy spirit flow through every part of his body protecting it from all harm

thank you prayer army for all your loyal love and support and above all prayers

plse continue to trust and believe and stand firm with us on deqlans total and permanent healing that he remains ned forever and always

all our love and thanks and praise

mark samm deqlan logan

by jesus stripes deqlan has been healed

"for i know the plans i have for you " declares the lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future"

rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice!!!!!

'YUM YUM, DELCIOUS'

2011-05-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

Some more pictures from family day, taken by the very talented Karl Rogers

Our Gorgeous boy, also know as Mr Independant is doing very very well

He has a bit of a cold at the moment, and we watching him closely - as Keaton and Khloe and Megs all sick and on antibiotics - Nanna also feeling fluey and me to ! He is holding his own and only battles with a cough and sneezing when he wakes up after sleeping.

His indenpendance seems to strengthen every day. He has to open the car door, he has to close it, he has to get into his car chair, he has to open the door for him to buckle him in, he has to open the car door when we get home, he has to unbuckle his car chair, he has to close the car door, he has to putthe light on, he has to open the door into the house from the garage - and if by accident, we do it for him him or try and help, we start allll over again so he can do it - you get the picture now im sure?

Deqlan has become a master of putting his pants on and off, something that was a real battle for a while, cause we just wanted to help him , a natural instinct, but after only a few days, by George his got it!

The diflucan seems to have decreased levels of frustration !

Went to an awesome health shop in Johannesburg today and got the most amazing chocolate mousse cake made from avocado!!!!!!!!!!! i couldnt believe my eyes and Deqlans taste buds were delighted , it looks like and tastes like the real deal! We also got his beloved rice ice cream which he loves and even helps him self to :) we got some biscuits and even a slice of gluten casein yeast sugar soya free carrot cake :)

Speaking of delicious, Deqlan still has a taste for all things that feed gluten and candida - like, the newly framed glass door at school - the panels are held in with putty , which Deqlan finds irrisistable ! I was horrified to see that he had taken around 30 bites out of it when i collected him from school last week- how on earth did no one see him do this?? Along with the delicious taste of putty , comes green paint - heavens knows how much of this stuff is in his tummy and affecting his behaviours ???

I also caught him eating chalk behind the book cabinet, when i dropped him off yesterday - he gave himself away when he smiled, and a blue tongue shone through!!!!!

Another favourite is glue - every arts activity at school , or even glue that holds pages of magazines together, is another delicious treat - oh my goodness, we have to watch him so closely - he just knows what has gluten in and will try really hard to get to it !

We also catch him in our freezer , trying to get a lick of the normal ice cream or left over mc flurries ! Then when we come to see what he is doing, he will look at us with his big green eyes and say ' YUM YUM, DELICIOUS'

Hopefully the new treats i got today will keep him interested in allowed foods he can enjoy and forget the glue, putty and chalk for a while!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

God Bless

Love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

'FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU', declares The Lord, ' PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE'

JEREMIAH 29:11

Mothers day celebrations

2011-05-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

my precious gift from God

Poor Megs had such a rough day, she opened the boot of her chrysler and wasnt paying attention how close she was to the boot and it hit her on the nose and knocked her out! Keaton was so sad and not feeling well either, cause he had a very bad toothache!

Khloe and Ice with big Nan

Nan and Mom

Keaton, playing the big brother!

Megs and Me

Mark and me with Khloe Boey

Me with my precious Khloe

Megs and Mom

Deqlan LOVED the bubbles Nanna was entertaining the kids with!

Khloe to!

Me and my amazing Mom and angel on earth, love you Mom hope you had a lovely Mothers Day, we love you, and are blessed to call you Mom and Nanna

Khloes 1st birthday

2011-05-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

Khleo sporting the Minnie sunglasses we got for her
Nanna was a huge hit with the kids, she told them stories, blew them bubbles , she was the real life Nanna Poppins!
Cole and Peyton

Nanna with Abby and Keaton

Deqlan pruning the neighbours flowers

Gorgeous Josh, we got to meet the precious Kyla to, what a gorgeous little girl!!!

Khloe LOVES bubbles!

Minnie Khloe and Mickey Deqlan

Khloe digging into her cake

Keatie helping Khloe blow her candle out

How gorgeous did Khloe look???

The big moment

Deqlan checking out his spot next to the birthday girl

Brooklyn, Phoebe, Peyton and Reece

Big nan and Grandpa and Nanna

The gorgeous , precious most adorable Khloe

What a proud Mommy

With Uncle Mark

our scrap page and gifts to Khloe Boey

yummy cupcakes - wheat and dairy free to!

the gorgeous party boxes!

Megs did a stunning job- everything looked spectacular , done with so much love and care!

mr independant

2011-05-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

-im so happy to see blogger is working again! ive been battling for the longest time to get into blogs let alone update ours!!

deqlan is doing great! he has become mr independant in every way. we delighted with this but at times it becomes very frustrating for our big boy

some of the things he wants to do himself he still needs us to help with like opening and closing doors that are hard to push open or handle to high, or buckling himself and unbuckling in his booster car chair- when we try and help like we normally would ge gets very upset and frustrated and insists on doing it himself- so leaving for school and coming home from nannas house can turn into a half an hour event :)

deqlan puts on his own clothes now but at times gets distracted by the tv or something else and will not look down at what his doing and may turn into a caterpillar with two legs in one side - he gets so upset by this ! it makes a massive difference to have a picture on the front he is so much more confident on putting them on right first time, my big boy

deqlan has also started doing addition with numbers under twenty- we are amazed at how quickly he understood the concept and so excited to watch his love and interest grow through the books he reads!

the other flavour of the moment is watching how to count in arabic on you tube!!!!!!!!!

his fascination with numbers and letters points to his ability to decode and encode and read - although he may not understand the meaning of the bigger words he certainly does of everyday words cause he can relate it in real life not just when he reads them.

deqlan also gave me a lesson in what a trapazoid is - he kept saying the word and i had to google to find out - he was absolutely right - he was referring to the windows at the back of a 4 x 4 he was playing around!!!!!

deqlan is back on diflucan for candida- the last few days frustration and wanting to be in the car all the time pushed us towards starting it - we have tried to put it off for a few weeks but decided it was needed this week

i also discovered that deqlan has been taking bites out of the plaster around the new window at school _ the putty is still wet and definitely a substance loaded with bad things not meant to be eaten so that could also explain his frustration levels - hoping the ladies at school now catch him before he enjoys a few bites with no one noticing!

hope to now update more that blogger is working and catch up on everyones blogs to :)

thank you lord for all the blessings you shower upon deqlan and our family each day !

enjoy the weekend god bless ( frustrating i cant do capitals on my phone!!!)

love mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

p.s got our tickets for coldplay in oct i cant wait!! thank you my love and meggie for my stunning early bday present! i cant wait!

happy mothers day

2011-05-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

to my amazing mom and nanna

wishing you the most beautiful mothers day today and every day knowing you are truly the best mom and best nanna we could have ever been blessed with!

thank you for always putting us first no matter what! for spending every moment of every day doing everything you can to make sure we are all taken care of and not want for anything, ever!

i continue to look up to you as my role model and perfect example of unconditional love for her children and grand children!

you just shine mom - gods love is just so evident in you

always a smile, always ready to give encouragement , always supportive and loving and always a smile and a laugh during even the darkest times- you are amazing mom and i am honored to say that you are my mom and deqlans nanna and logies bev and e ven marks other mom. we all love, adore, treasure and appreciate you, thank you for being you! we love you imeasurably god bless you and shower all his blessings down on you, you so deserve it!

all our love mark samm deqlan logan

Happy 1st Birthday Khloe

2011-05-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

To Our Precious Khloe Boey,
Happy 1st Birthday beautiful girl!
We wish you the most wonderful, magical, unforgettable, enjoyable day ever!
We have loved every single second of having you in our lives – even before you arrived, you were so loved Khloe! We were beside ourselves with excitement waiting to get our first glimpse of you! Nanna and i burst into tears of joy when your Dada brought you to see us for the first time, you look at us with one eye and we admired your beautiful long fingers ! You were just breathtakingly beautiful and perfect in every way! I remember bringing Keaton , your big brother , with balloons taller then he was, to come and meet you, what an honor to witness that! We have loved watching you grow into the beautiful princess you are today!
You fill our days with absolute joy and delight, your loving , playful spirit is so unique ! Your smiles just melt us every time . God blessed our family with you, and we thank Him for you every single day!
We ask Jesus to continue taking such good care of you, that He continues to keep you safe and happy and healthy and that he protects you as you get more mobile and navigate the world around you, and investigate all the things that are now at a different eye level as you are walking so beautifully!
We pray for a wonderful year ahead , for you to continue growing so beautifully, learning new things every day! We celebrate each milestone with you, and cant wait for you to discover new words, and to watch you finding your favourite character and toy, to ride on your new bike!
We love you just the way you are – your smiles, your giggles, your face when you see us, is a priceless rare gift, i treasure each time i see you – as i always tell your Mommy and Daddy, that face and that smile is just for Ice! I love watching you figure new things out, watching bubbles blow around you, and trying to love and hug and play with Deqlan, who ADORES you! I love it when you stretch your hands out for me to take you, i love watching you stare and smile at Mott with love and wonder, i love watching you bond with Logan! I love how you laugh at everything Keaton does, you look up to him in every way!I love watching you cling to Nanna, as you know she would do anything for you and protect you with her life! I love watching your Mama play with you, her precious little girl she prayed for and i love watching seeing your Dada melt at your every reqest! Its to precious for words to see!
You are just the light of our family and we say thank you Jesus for the gift that is you Khloe!
Now go and enjoy your very first birthday, Mama and Dada and Nanna and Ice have put lots of love into making this day just perfect for you!

God Bless you, always know how much we love you precious beautiful Khloe
All our love
Mott , Ice, Deqie and Loggy Bear

Re writing your story

2011-05-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

Once life drops a challenge like Autism , we realize that the story we were living in, has met with an unexpected twist
In the minutes, that it takes the psychologist to tell us that our child has autism, we can find that our story is going to be completely different from that of our friends.
That, in fact, we are going to be living in a completely different genre of stories
We search for those with stories like ours
And we find them
We tell them our story
And we listen to theirs
We give comfort
And we feel comforted
And that was the way it was with me
But as time passed, I saw that I could rewrite my story
Indeed it was critical to do so
I realized that the most important story that I will ever tell, is the one I tell myself.
About me and my life.
And that I am not just the central character of my life
But also the author
Its most important audience
And the narrator
And so the story I started to write, has become a story of gifts and gratitude and love
And not a story of loss and fear and guilt
And I see my child as different, even gifted
And have stopped seeing him as broken
I have come to see the difficulties of my life
But am still deeply aware of its essential goodness
And I find that I am not living in a sad story
Or even a second best story
And that the story that began so promisingly with “once upon a time” does end on a “happily ever after”
Because this is my story
And that is how I write .

K Floortime Lite Mama writes her story of her life with her 6 year old son and Autism at Floortime Lite Mama

Easter Hols Part 2

2011-05-05T10:24:00.001-07:00

cuddling with Grandpa
walking in the leaves at Lords of the Manor, one of my most favorite places in the world, we spent my surprise 30th here!

Sister and Brother

Its like fairy land, the photos just dont do it justice

Nanna took us for scones and tea, what a treat!!!

the view from our house

just beautiful

how stuning?

Logan having her ride on " little wonder"

love this photo of Nanna enjoying the swings! if only there was a trapeze there, its one of her lifes dreams to swing on a trapeze!!

Thank you Darling Mom for a stunning holiday!

Love this photo!

by the end of the holiday< Deqlan was getting pretty good at putting!

Putt Putt

Deqlans favorite part - the fountains, even in the cold weather, the water was just to apealing not to get into , twice, shoes and all, pants and jacket

Our favorite day at the sea! Yes, thats Mama, in her clothes, in the sea! I was so excited to go , that i forgot to pack my costume and thought, i would just stand with my feet in the water ha ha ha , not with Deqlan , i was sopping!! I loved every moment!!

AUnty Shirley, Uncle Brian, Aunty Chery and Uncle Chris with Mark

A very proud Oupa with Deqlan and Logan

Checking the shops out with Oupa Chris

" again, again, again, again"

me and Loggy bear

Dada enjoying the sea with the kids

a massive jelly fish on the beach- it was massive!!!! picture doesnt actually show!

our surfer boy

" we going to the beach"

Easter Holidays 2011 Part One

2011-05-02T01:40:00.000-07:00

our attempt to get all four kids in 1 photo :)

how precious is she?

spectacular views from every angle, i just adore the Midlands

Megs and Loggie fishing

Deqlan and Dada fioshing - Deqlan loved this to!

we had the honor of watching Keaton catch his very first fish! Pretty good for a beginner - first time any of us went trout fishing! and no bait!

Mark helping Keaton reel the fish in! Luckily he got loose and swam away :)

The fish that got away!

The wellies clan

for someone who has never fished before, Dada did quite well giving every one a lesson!

making holes in one

one of my favorites

my other favorite!

my EVERYTHING!

WHAT BLESSINGS THEY ARE!

Ice and Keatie

Gorgeous! Megs and her precious Keaton and Khloe

Ice and Khloe Boey

BFF's oh did they have fun together!

Deqlan watching some horses

Logan adores the horses, she used every moment of the day to go and see them, feed them, rider them, just to be with them!

photos dont do the scenery justice!

Tractor ride on Easter morning. Deqlan wanted to get off half way through and when he did he waived and said ' GOODBYE BOYS AND GIRLS" AND MY HEART JUST MELTED!

Our Tractor ride :)

Deqlan loved running and jumping on the mole hills

the kids watching some horse games

Grandpa Bunnny and Nanna Bunny also known as Bevs Bunnies!

Logan enjoying all her Easter surprises

Khloes first Easter - and if i forgot to mention , she is walking! for around 3 weeks already! the earliest walker amongst the cousins at 11 months of age!

Deqlan loved this bunny and hoppd around with him most of the day " HAPPY EASTER EASTER BUNNY"

KEATIE DUG RIGHT IN

Megs and Mom

Easter momrning , Mom and I went to mass, it was to beautiful for words to sit in the smallest, qaintest , peaceful chapel ever! The words we witnessed that morning were no coincedince, God spoke straight to us about the miracle Deqlan is

Moms stunning Easter candle for 2011

Some of Moms stunning table decorations

Logan very proudly showing off the candle she made at the candel dipping shop - she chose praying hands

Story time with Megs

everyone say "aawww"

Logs and me

me and my precious boy

beautiful autumn leaves

Gorgeous moment with Meggie and Deqie

Nanna and Khloe

We sure have a golf loving family!

Khloe loved her gloves from Nanna

Loggie with her beloved horses

"Little Red Tractor"

The traffic on the way down, it was bumper to bumper and took as 2 hours longer then normal and Megs and Conrad and the kids nearly 9 hours instead of 4!!!

angel nick

2011-05-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

our deepest sympathies to the franca family as they said their final goodbyes to their 21 year old son nick early this morning

nick fought neuroblastoma for 6 years and really had many tough challenges and trying times especially throughout the last year

he also leaves behind his soul mate kelly

plse pray for them all, rest well courageous nick

happy 21st birthday jeran!!

2011-04-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

to my baby cousin jeran!

wishing you an awesome 21st today and the most fantastic year ahead!

we hope you have had a magical day especially being together with your folks , kej and denise!

we are so proud of how far you have come and all your excellent achievements! we are so proud of how hard you are working in hotel school in switzerland! cant wait to sample your food when you get home!

may our lord give you an incredible year ahead full of adventure, memories and experience!

stay the gentle loving caring thoughtful giant you are!

we love you miss you and wish you the most awesome of birthdays

god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

happy easter sunday!

2011-04-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

happy and blessed easter to you all from a glorious day in the mountains!

rejoicing in our risen lord and all he has conquered for us!

welcome to the world kyla carr

2011-04-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

huge congrats to nix darryl and joshie on the arrival of precious kyla carr 21 april

enjoy every moment of your beautiful easter gift!

cant wait to meet you precious girl

enjoy being a big brother joshie!

god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan logan

"we going to the mountains"

2011-04-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

xx toas i type we are finally on our way to the midlands in kwazulu natal!

deqlan has been so excited saying "we going to the mountains" with a massive smile on his face! weve been counting down the sleeps and he couldnt believe when we got in the car that i told him no more sleeps we actually on our way!

the road is very very busy as mark reminded me this year there will be alot more people travelling due to so many public holidays over the next two weeks-its a solid stream of cars ahead of us but we not in a rush safely and slowly and surely please lord

its a gorgeous sunny day hoping for continued beautiful weather

we got a full house to look forward to, nanna and grandpa,con meggie keaton and khloe-mark deqlan logan and me , what a blessing to all be together

chat to you from the mountains!

safe travels and wishing you all a blessed meaningful easter as we pause and remember what our savior had to endure so that we may be forgiven and born to eternal life

god bless all our love

mark samm deqlan loganxxxx

for god so loved the world he gave his only son

special prayer request for Nick

2011-04-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

morning deqlans prayer army

plse join us in asking for special prayers for nick franca www.carinbridge.org/visit/francafamily

thank you all god bless

Easter Basket

2011-04-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Dada and Deqlan on the first real cold day of Autumn, the first day Deqlan wore shoes this year!

Some of Deqlans art work from term 1

Logan has become quite the little golfer - she absolutely loves hitting golf balls and is really getting good at it!

Deqlan thought it was cool to and gave it a good go!

Khloe on her 11 month birthday :)

Now you know its cold when the dogs want to snuggle!

Hello Keatie!

Celebrating world Autism awareness day with a braai!

Best buddies

Deqlan absolutely loved this slide at a new play park close to us, it is so high, but after we talked him through the first go, he couldnt get enough and went at least another ten times

Hello Henry

2011-04-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

Happy family Yolandie, Armando and Henry

Aunty Samm enjoying Henry

Aunty Meggie 's turn

Beautiful Henry - i see lots of Ruan in you! He is your very own guardian angek you know!

Tanie Bev getting beautiful smiles from Henry

We had the honor today of meeting precious Henry Shields today !

He is asbolutely beautiful and gorgeous and perfect in every way!

Huge congrats to you my dearest friend Yolandie, on this precious gift! I couldnt be happier for you! Huge congrats to you Armando and thank you for taking such good care of my friend!

Ruan, we know we are such a proud big brother and that you are going to watch over your little brother every moment of every day! I see lots of you in him, cute and gorgeous!!! We miss you little gogga but know you are so happy with Jesus!

Congrats to you all, may God continue to bless you all, guide you, love you and keep you safe from all harm

All our Love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

Conrad Megs Keaton Khloe

Tanie Bev and Uncle Derek

and.....

2011-04-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

witand, it went very well! deqlan had a nap, he played with the kids and was happy doing it at his first full day at school

ayline lay with deqlan reading a story- deqlan aske ayline "are you cold?" bless him

5 minutes into nap time he lifted his head and proudly said " now its time to rise and shime" ha ha , not quite yet my boy!

after and hour or so of napping deqlan was woken up (eeekk!) and then he went with ayline to play with the main stream school kids next door

ayline facilitated deqlan saying hello and how are you or whats your name - he wasnt to comfortable " chatting" to so many kids but he did it!

when i arrived i found him in the sand pit surrounded by 6 buddies all playing in the sand!

for his very first full day, we are all very impressed!

tommorow will be his first lesson - solo- so we will see how that goes, really hoping he enjoys it and the kids to!

deqlan got his first "detention" yesterday!

he was sitting on the carpet outside that is ful of toys for the kids to play with. deqlan was very unhappy when any of the kids approached the carpet , tried to sit on it or play with the toys! he was so very upset crying that ash had to put him with her sitting in her office. we now agree that this was actually not what we should do in future as it takes hgim out the situation instead of helping him solve it and get through it and learn that its ok to share and for others to look!

ash actually suggested we do another full day on wednesdays to get him with the mainstream kids more, so we will see what we decide on!

have a great evening thanks for popping past

god bless love ( so irriatated i cant do capitals when doing blog on my blackberry!)

us 4

be still and know that i am god

A sterling report

2011-04-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

Cant believe how quickly these school holidays have gone and that Deqlan and Logan both go back to school tomorow for term 2!!!! Tommorow is another big day for Deqlan cause it will be the first full day that Deqlan will spend at Little Leaps! Every Monday, Deqlan will be full day so that he can spend the entire afternoon playing and socialising and learning from the kids at Little Christian Village, the neuro typical nursery school next door ! He will also get to have an entire lesson on Thursdays with a neuro typical class - Music! With no Ayline or Florie - they will drop him for the lesson and fetch him afterwards! Its a HUGE step to trying to "main stream" Deqlan, but we need to get him around neuro typical kids so he can learn with them and learn how to cope in the situations that arise!! If it doesnt work we will definitely not push or force the issue, and maybe try again next term, but like everything, we got to start somewhere! Please pray with us that Deqlan will be very happy and learn lots and be happy , most important of all! Will keep you posted Deqlan got a beautiful report for term 1, we were delighted with this progress ! Some lovely remarks wanted to share with you GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT * great improvement in hopping/ hopscotch/ running/ jumping * can balance on beams and chairs very well and very fast * scared to do firemans pole on his own BODY AWARENESS * can point and identify all parts of the body FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT * he can now manipulate a pencil/crayon appropriately * still punch grips brush * doesnt enjoy scissor skills * good improvement in colouring in and free drawing , he doesnt enjoy this activity but will colour the whole page and draw within the lines * deqlan enjoys art/messy activities provided that he doesn not have to touch wet and unknown textures VISUAL PERCEPTION *knows all colours and shapes and can verbalise them * can do 48 piece puzzles * memory game - amazing! Deqlan has an extraordinary long and short memory capacity . It is far above the average * understands spactial orientation when used repeatedly and in context * Deqlan recently started drawing the "headfoot man" AUDITORY PERCEPTION * Deqlan struggles to sing simultaneously with other people, however he knows all the songs and will happily sing them on his own. He doesnt like to do the actions but will dot so if prompted COMPUTERS * Deqlan is now a compuater whiz kid! We are using his "gift" with computers as a constructive and educational tool. * can type name and any known word! COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT * Counts to 20 at school but can count to 100 at home SHAPES & COLOURS * matching/sorting and patterns = very good LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION * great! Deqlan is now forming full sentences! he is also speaking more appropriately and has a greater understanding of what is being said to hinm CONCENTRATION AND ATTENTION SPAN * Good concentration during class time and good ability to listen effectively EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT * great improvement , Deqlan has become and independant litle boy! BEHAVIOUR * Deqlan is not socially integrated therefore we will be concentrating on socializing him the rest of this year SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT * very comfortable with adults, enjoys jokes , tickles and reading stories * he is much more aware of his peers and is no longer bothered by them. He has gone towards children on is own on a few occasions. we will concentrate on socializing Deqlan with mainstream children in the second term. * he isnt bothered whether he is first or last. he will now come towards me if another child takes his toys and less often cries in such a situation LIFE SKILLS * great improvement in toilet training. Deqlan is now able to go to the toilet and ask for it. He no longer has accidents at school unless he is having candida issues * skills such us dressing and taking off clothing, buttons , zips and laces are done hand-guided-and . He needs daily practise * saying please, thank you , hello, good bye = very good GENERAL COMMENTS Deqlan has done so well this term! He thoroughly enjoys his school day and always tries his best during class activities. His vocab has grown in leaps and bounds and he forms sentences appropriately. He also executes instructions very well. He is less prone to excessive crying ( except when dealing with candida) when he does not get what he wants and will now communicate with the adults when he is upset. The main concern at the moment remains the fact that he is not socially on par with his neurotypical counterpart ( which is not expected). We will be cocentrating on socializing him with mainstream children. So far he is responding well to it Deqlan is an adorable little boy who has come a long way. He is " one of a kind" and sure entertains the staff at Little Leaps! Well done Deqlan, I am so proud of you! So as you can imagine, we are absolutely thrilled with Deqlans continued progress. We are delighted that he continues to be so happy at school and very blessed that God has blessed Deqlan with the most amazing, caring, kind, loving, patient, nuturing teacher in Ayline! She to is one of a kind, and we are so grateful to have her guiding and teaching our precious Deqlan, thank you Ayline, we are so very blessed for all you do for Deqlan and for us, thank you! Here's to another wonderful, memorable , enjoyable term 2 ! We so proud of you Deqlan, we love you to infinity and beyond and back again, thank You Lord for answering our prayers , for looking after our precious Deqlan.

rio!

2011-04-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

our amazing mom and nanna took us all to the movies today!

we had chatted about it for quite some time but i wasnt sure how deqlan would enjoy being made to sit for such a long time in a dark room that was very noisy!

but of course we willing to give anything a try!

such a grown up boy walking amongst the other kids into the theatre . such a grown up boy sitting in his own seat holding a box of popcorn. my eyes filled with tears of joy and thanks to witness another milestone for deqlan!

his eyes were as big as saucers watching the forthcoming attractions and then filled with delight when the movie started! rio! he has enjoyed watching the little clips on tv about it and the pictures and ads in the magazines so was happy to recognise the movie!

deqlan asked for my car and i took him for a little walk to the cd shop to still try and get him back into the movies which he did ten or so minutes later.

deqlan thoroughly enjoyed running up and down the front row and up and down the stairs with keaton while the music was playing:) it was a joy to watch!

thank you nanna, meggie and keaton for taking deqlan, logs and i to the movies! it was fantastic and i cant wait to go again ;)

deqlan hasnt stopped talking and singing" rio rio rio" he really loved it! we were delighted to see that mcds current happy meal toy is the characters from rio! deqlan is delighted that he now has a blu and nigel to start his new favourite collection!

thank you lord for another beautiful day

rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice