Helpers

As I had mentioned before our city has been in a State of Emergency due to flooding.  There were areas in particular that were hit really hard as in water up to the main floor.  Our downtown core was under water.  It has been a surreal time with all the images being posted.  

Luckily we were completely unaffected and in fact you can see in these pictures which was two days after we are dry.

Help was needed by so many.  There has been great destruction but luckily for the major event that it was the loss of life was very low in number.  This fact however is not a comfort to those that did lose lost ones and we will remember them whenever thinking of these times.

I am a firm believer in the 'village' whether it is in raising children or in taking care of each other as a whole.  When our neighbours are in trouble was are all in trouble and if we can help we should.  Not only is this a lesson I want to instill in my children that I will eventually turn out into the world but it is also an opportunity for those of my children who many consider to be a burden to contribute to the best of their abilities.  It allows them the dignity of being considered worthy of a responsibility and the positive reinforcement that comes with that.  It also is an illustration to the general community that everyone has worth and want to be included as part of a solution.  It matters little to me that some of my kids have what we think is zero knowledge of the history making time they just lived through or that they might not know why they are moving things from one place to another etc.  Everyone can be a helper.  There is reward in that whether it be the gratitude of those on the receiving end or the accolades of your mother.

I make a lousy labourer for clean up with eleven happy or notso happy followers as the case may be but we can collect and distribute resources.  While the kids were off school and day programs due to road closures etc this is what we did.  Now that everyone is back to their regular routines it is four of my kids that are home with me each day until their summer programs begin.

notice dog is helping too...

loaded and ready to go

This giving young lady the first week was going out to one of our surrounding First Nation communities and was working 12 hour days in the evacuation centre helping to feed the masses.

Perspective

You might call this one of her many steps towards independence.

I might call it a step towards someone in this house willing to help in the kitchen.

It's all about perspective.

Happy Canada Day!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!  We won't light 146 candles but we will be thinking about them.

So very grateful for the country in which we live that offers us an immeasurable quality of life where the government in many ways takes care of its people.  We have our complaints.  We have our shortcomings but there is no where else in the world I would rather live and raise a family.

With all that has gone on in our city with the unprecedented flooding and the destruction that resulted I have never been more proud of who we are as a people.  Uncountable people, young, old it didn't matter in an undaunting spirit of we are in this together. Whether we were directly affected by the waters or not we were there to help clean up the mess, feed those needing feeding and clothing those that needed clothing.  An amazing time for us as Canadians.

I knew we were great I just don't think I knew how great.

Not as outdoorsey as his ancestry would indicate he should be

After all the messages heard from our mayor about we could not do....go to the last days of school, go out for a planned celebration dinner as we needed to keep roadways free for emergency vehicles, have water outside...the child was very happy that outdoor water restrictions were lifted midnight Sunday morning.  Don't worry Mayor we are still being water wise.  The child yells at me for washing my hands "don't forget water restrictions!"  Trust me....all of you want me washing my hands...

You would talk about it too....

Should anyone ever want to question why I have a collection of these dogs these pictures might illustrate a little better than any inept explanation I could come up with.  Pink dogs have now made their  way to our newly opened Target stores.  Unfortunately though quick to complain about the lack of products I was hoping would come to our Canadian Targets I was less on the ball to print a retraction when I they brought them in weeks later....

During this last year the child always has two of these dogs in her hands at all times.  Currently it is one pink and one brown.

Now before you say to me "Listen Lady, don't you think you talk about this Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Dog far to much?" ( if you are new here you won't know how technologically pathetic I am so I am unable to link to the number of times this gal darn toy has been mentioned).  In response I say "If your child's emotional well being therefore yours is dependant on something you would talk about it too"  BAM!

Stuck

Still stuck

Brown dog imitating a basketball

Brown dog Pink dog aka audience to the girl's magnificence 

Brown dog learning to fly

Pink dog failing to fly

And so it begins

"I wish I could just stop being blind"

Oy and so it begins.

The child has kids divided into two groups at her school.  Braille readers and print readers.  When I talk to her about how school works i.e. advancing to different grades she will say "Room 7 only has print readers.  There are no braillers in grade 4" etc.

Breaks my heart.  Because she has enough vision to read print and her ability to read was sort of bestowed upon her if you will meaning she just knew how to read with little to no teaching learning braille has been very tough.  Though she can read print the eye strain will eventually be too great to consume the volume of material that needs to be read as she advances in grades.

Unfortunately on top of things the child...how can I put this delicately?  The child is not the most compliant of children or even that amenable to the strategies that are effective in dealing with the obstinate.  Right now she has such a wall up about braille that even mentioning it can set her off.

I'm thinking that the teaching staff are spending their summer vacations at one of those "resorts".  You know the kind.  Where the movie stars all go due to "exhaustion and dehydration".  This I'm sure will assist them in their detox from the drug and alcohol addictions they likely developed after this year of Grade One.

State of Emergency

Our city is in a State of Emergency and has been since last Thursday due to unprecedented flooding.  We are fine and incurred no damage but many areas of the city and outlying communities have not faired so well.

School has been cancelled leaving kids confused and missing out on the closure that comes with year end activities.  Malia has been the most confused.  Although we suffered no ill effects our routine has been changed and activities curtailed.  It has also caused some anxiety for her as illustrated by her questioning how water gets into a house and could it go all the way up to the roof etc.

All I can do is reassure her that we live no where near the river and we are fine.  I have also told her and all of the kids that it is our responsibility in having been so lucky to be spared to be the helpers.

Everybody needs to be a helper.

We have focused our energies on assisting the two First Nation communities that have been terribly affected.  Many have lost their homes and the evacuation centre was in great need of the most basic of necessities.  As I have eleven people following me around everyday I do not make a good labourer but I make a great delivery person.  One of the teens has been spending upwards of twelve hours a day helping prepare meals at one of the centres.  She has been a welcome presence and a great help and I believe that to definitely be true.

Everyone needs to be a helper....

BAM!

Teen to the six year old "move your head I can't see!" 
"Ya well I'm blind so WHATEVER!" retorts said six year old