The word R

I dislike the word retarded. Typing it even bothers me. I dont care for this word.. People use it instead of swearing, but to me I take offense. My 4 year old son is autistic, I had a lady once say to me " oh hes autistic, so that means he retarded" Umm no.. Hes quite smart he can speak 4 languages and he knows sign also. So when some one says, oh he is being retarded, really what do you mean?? Do you mean someone with special needs?? Someone who acts differently than you do.. Please chose your words.. I know it sounds silly, but you can even say Wow he is acting a fool, or acting wierd.. or something. You think you sound silly but at least you are not hurting someones feelings.

To Judge or not to Judge..

Before I was a mother, I would look at the kids screaming in the store , and say to myself "wow what bad parents"

When I became a mother to my 2 oldest, I thought to myself " Wow those parents just cant control their kids, look at how good mine are"

When I hate Mateo I thought to myself, Wow I feel for that mother, Im sure she needs a break, and she is trying as hard as she can.

Who am I to judge, maybe the parents arent up to par, but maybe its something else. Maybe their child is autistic, maybe ADHD, maybe there is alot of stress in the family. It is not my place to judge.

I have learned to try and live like this each and everyday of mylife, and to see things from others point of view. When a lady cuts me off when driving, I think, well maybe she has to get to the hospital.. When a person is rude, I think, Well maybe they found out some bad news today, and arent taking it to well.

It is not my place to judge. My husband once told me that let God be the judge, by consuming myself with the problem solver, I am only hurting myself.

So I have let God be the judge, and let me tell you. Life is just so much easier. I dont worry about much anymore, I know God will take care of it. When a person is rude, or cuts me off, I say a prayer that their day gets better.

On a funny note though, Brian and I decided that we were going to make a bumper sticker that says "Hey stupid people, STOP HOGGING GOD"
You know when you ask for the unrealistic things, the material things, and he doesnt answer.. Well besides the fact that I dont need it, I have chalked it up to stupid people.. The people taking on their cell phones and almost drive off a cliff, yep those people, there are so many ( I am one of them sometimes) that God spends most of his time saving them. :)

First things First

I can only imagine the pain this mother is feeling. Also what about the CHILD. How cruel can one be, when an adult takes a shot at an adults feelings. This is a form of child abuse, no matter what anyone says. I know enough to let Mateo play with the big kids, even though it pains me. But when they pick on him it takes everything for me not to go and yell to their parents and SCREAM " Teach your child manners, teach them that everyone doesnt look alike, or sound alike". Mateo is harmless and he is a very well behavied child. I have never had any complaints about him EVER.


Anywho enough of my blah blah's here is the story


PORT ST. LUCIE — Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex — who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism — out of the class.
Melissa Barton filed a complaint with Morningside's school resource officer, who investigated the matter, Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said.

Port St. Lucie Police no longer are investigating, but police officials are documenting the complaint, she said.

Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident took place.

Portillo could not be reached for comment Friday.

Steele said the boy had been sent to the principal's office because of disciplinary issues. When he returned, Portillo made him go to the front of the room as a form of punishment, she said.

Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February at the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marcia Cully.

Children diagnosed with Asperger's often exhibit social isolation and eccentric behavior..
Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disability, Barton said. After the family moved into the area and Alex and his sibling arrived at the school in January, Alex spent much of the time in the principal's office, she said.

He also had problems at his last school, but he did not have issues during his two years of preschool, Barton said.

School and district officials have met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan to address his difficulties, she said. Portillo attended these meetings, Barton said.

Barton said after the vote, Portillo asked Alex how he felt.

"He said, 'I feel sad,' " Barton said.

Alex left the classroom and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office, she said.

Barton said when she came to pick up her son at the school Wednesday, he was leaving the nurse's office.

"He was shaken up," she said.

Barton said the nurse told her to talk with Portillo, who told her what happened.

Alex hasn't been back to school since then, and Barton said he won't be returning. He starts screaming when se brings him with her to drop off his sibling at school.

Thursday night, his mother heard him saying "I'm not special" over and over.

Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.

The other students said he was "disgusting" and "annoying," Barton said.

"He was incredibly upset," Barton said. "The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this.

St. Lucie School's spokeswoman Janice Karst said the district is investigating the incident, but could not make any further comment.

Vern Melvin, Department of Children and Families circuit administrator, confirmed the agency is investigating an allegation of abuse at Morningside but said he could not elaborate.

SOURCE: http://www. tcpalm. com/news/2008/may/24/30gtteacher-lets-students-vote-out-classmate-5/

I cannot stress it enough.... GET AN ADVOCATE FOR YOUR CHILD!!!!!! No matter how "wonderful" things seem to be going in your IEP. Please, get an advocate!! I will help you with this information, who to contact and most advocates are funded by the state so they cost you nothing! No school should allow this kind of behavior! No child is "left behind!!".

Im going to jackson and thats a fact

Well now, we got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper Sprout,
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went.
I'm goin' to Jackson, and that's a fact.
Yeah, we're goin' to Jackson, ain't never comin' back.


Yes we are going to Fort Jackson. Im not sure how I feel about this. I mean yay Brian may not deploy since he will be TRADOC... however. its scary there. Very dirty on post. So we will move off post, but once again, you never know the good or bad areas.. I hate PCSing.. it bothers me. While this post is so very small, we have a family here. A good christian family. There are not very many people around our age, and while Jackson will have that, Im just afraid I wont make that many new friends. I like my christian family.. While i have tons of friends who are not Christians, i want to keep some in my life.
The army wants us to report in 20 days. HAHA we dont even have orders yet, so I am really not sure on how that is going to work. Ill keep ya updated

Give Bone Marrow

From now until May 19th, you can sign up to give Bone Marrow for free!!!! Please go to http://www.marrow.org/index.html and click register ( left box).

I dont want to hear any excuses, none at ALL!!! You may be thinking, oh well Im scared, I dont like to be put under.. Blah blah. Let me tell you something.. If all you have to fear is being put to sleep for a bit, you have no complaint. There are mothers , fathers and others out there who fear for their childs life, who are dieing from Cancer, and your donation could save their life. So Stop reading this and GO GO GO..

If you need another reason try this. In the past year I have read of a little boy dieing in less than 8 months from a brain tumor, i have seen a little girl go into remisson because someone wasnt scared and donated bone marrow. You want to work a miracle, sign up to donate!!

makes me smile

A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.'

When I say...'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin" I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say...'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say...'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say…'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say…'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say...'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain...I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say...'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow

Autism is hard

It is so hard to let mateo do his own thing sometimes. I worry he will get hurt mentally or physically.

Saturday we went to two easter egg hunts.. The first was at the chapel.. about 30 kids , i let him go on his own to get his eggs, he did a wonderful job, i was proud of him and myself for letting him go.
Than we went to the big hunt. Id say over 200 kids.. They had it sectioned off by age groups 0-3 years 4- 6 years and 7-10 years. While my heart said to let him go to the 0-3 years i said no he is 4.. i will let him go to the 4 year olds.. Well the way they ( MWR) worked the 4-6 was they roped off the base ball field, put some eggs out there ( not very many) and the kids were to go out there alone. my 4 year old out with 6 year olds.. i didnt like it, but i sucked it up and let him go.. By the time he got into the field most of the eggs were gone..but he did get one, he put it in his basket, ran and it fell out ( along with a huge chunk of my heart ) Than about 3 minutes later the big kids were taking the eggs out from right in front of him .. Too little eggs too much chaos.. Than he had a break down he started to cry in the middle of the field, i yelled at brian to go get him, when something happened that made me want to cry.. To little kids his age, stopped and started emptying their buckets of eggs into his. HE stopped crying.. Its so heartbreaking to see my kids get hurt... but nathan is smart enough to handle his own, and jared is big enough.. but mateo, he just doesnt have the mental capacity, and it hurts to watch it...it hurts to see that he is so smart in somethings, yet so far behind in others..

I was talking to nathan on the phone the other day, and when i hung up Mateo was upset that he didnt get to talk to nathan, so i called nathan right back up and asked him to speak with his brother.. Normally in this situation older kids will go "noooo i dont wanna " which in turn hurts mateo, and hurts me.. But nope not my kid.. He says ok.. Mateo talked to him, made NO sense at all, and Nathan just talked to him and made him happy. I thanked Nathan.. Who said yep ( kinda like umm thats my brother why wouldnt i talk to him lol) I have to say that Myself and Sandee are pretty damn good moms..and the kids has 2 pretty good dads.

I dunno it just really sucks...