Taking the Scenic Route

Savoring the Journey

1st February 2011

Zora, stir crazy.

Zora has requested that Opa come up here to move the snow so we can go to the store. LMAO. (he runs the grader/snowplow for their township, an hour away)

posted in Giggle, Winter, Zora | Comments Off

31st January 2011

I is easily confuzled.

Got a call from somebody telling me about ROCKO, was really confused as to why they were calling (did I forget something at the last event? Why are you calling?) and then realized they were fundraising. LMAO. Um, we are clients. Then they started the spiel about YMCA’s fundraising campaign…yeah, clients there too. I did wish them luck because the services are both incredibly valuable to us.

posted in Giggle | Comments Off

30th January 2011

BOO! Chic-Fil-A

Sad that I can’t eat at Chic-Fil-A again. I loved their nuggets and waffle fries, but will not support such ugly political stances, especially when they are cloaked in “Christian” ethics. Hate should never be a Christian ethic.

http://news.change.org/stories/yes-chick-fil-a-says-we-explicitly-do-not-like-same-sex-couples

Yes, Chick-fil-A Says, We Explicitly Do Not Like Same-Sex Couples

Bet Chick-fil-A wishes this month would end. Over the past few weeks, the restaurant chain’s deep ties to the anti-gay movement have been exposed and uncovered by a number of activists, most notably Jeremy Hooper at Good As You. Whether it’s Focus on the Family, the National Organization for Marriage, the Pennsylvania Family Institute, or Exodus International, Chick-fil-A ties run deep.

Of course, the President of Chick-fil-A wants gay people to share no hard feelings. The restaurant will gladly feed homosexuals gobs of chicken sandwiches, after all. But when it comes to marriage, Chick-fil-A believes strongly that same-sex couples just don’t deserve equal rights.

As we wrote about a few weeks ago, Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, has been particularly active in the fight against marriage equality. They’ve hosted conferences with some of the leading opponents of gay marriage in this country. A higher up at WinShape has even praised the efforts of anti-gay activist David Blankenhorn for working against marriage equality, and for articulating a solid reason why American culture should reject same-sex couples.

Now comes some email correspondence that Good As You has shared on their blog, where the WinShape Foundation’s Retreat Center — a center run by the charitable arm of Chick-fil-A — admits that they have a severe distaste for LGBT people.

The email correspondence goes a little something like this. Someone writes WinShape an easy question about whether their retreat center is open to LGBT people. WinShape’s response:

“WinShape Retreat defines marriage from the Biblical standard as being between one man and one woman. Groups/Individuals are welcome who offer wholesome, educational conferences and programs that are compatible with Biblical values and WinShape’s purpose,” WinShape wrote back.

Kind of some corporate speak, right? So the activist wrote back: can you just give a clear-cut answer? And WinShape confirmed:

“We do not accept homosexual couples because of the statement in our contract.”

And so it goes like this: Chick-fil-A is a restaurant where franchises frequently donate to anti-gay organizations like the Pennsylvania Family Institute, Focus on the Family and others. The restaurant’s charitable arm, WinShape, holds conferences for opponents of gay marriage and praises their work. And this charitable arm’s Retreat program puts a blanket ban on gay couples using their facilities, because they “do not accept homosexual couples.”

Yet the President of Chick-fil-A still says that all people, including LGBT people, are treated with respect by the restaurant? Huh, what a funny definition of respect.

Meanwhile, check this story out. So the Human Rights Campaign’s NOMExposed project tried to submit an equality-minded video to the Ruth Institute’s “Reel Love Video Challenge.” The Ruth Institute is an affiliate of the National Organization for Marriage, and they’re running a contest where folks can submit videos talking about what love means. The video below was originally accepted, but then promptly booted out of the project once the Ruth Institute became aware that it actually championed equality for same-sex couples.

Here’s the kicker: the Ruth Institute’s “Reel Love Video Challenge” has a tie-in to Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear why the Ruth Institute and the WinShape Foundation find the below video so offensive? After all, what is love if it isn’t equal?

posted in In the News | Comments Off

29th January 2011

It’s a “Smart car”

Zora misheard us and called it a Smurf car. I like her version better.

posted in Giggle, Language Development, Zora | Comments Off

29th January 2011

Fashion Goal: As many colors as possible.

I hope she holds on to her fashion sense.  I love it.

posted in Clothes/Fashion, Giggle, Zora | Comments Off

27th January 2011

Hanging at the Y

Zora didn’t have school today so she had to hang out with me while Zane had his gymnastics class.

He really loves being upside down, and there is an element of entertainment to watch him do so with long hair.  His head is actually a good 6 inches from the floor.

Zane is reminding me he is Autistic today. The lights in the bright sunny gym went off and it took a lot of effort for the teacher and I to get him back on task.  He was really upset by the change.

Trying the “dance” game.  She actually wasn’t too bad at it.

posted in Autistic Life, Dance/Gymnastics, Play, Video Games, YMCA | Comments Off

27th January 2011

Playing together

They purposely log onto the same game server on Club Penguin so they can challenge each other in games.   :love2:

posted in Autistic Life, Play, The Kids, Uber Nerd, Video Games | Comments Off

26th January 2011

Touring Magnet Schools on “Oma Day”

This semester, on Wednesday, my mom comes up to Speech Therapy to pick Zora up during Zane’s Friendship group and spends the day with her.  This time we are switching things up.  She is going to have a day with Zane instead.  He wants to go the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson and to “Subway, Eat Fresh”.  Zach got off work to go with Zora and I to tour different magnet schools.

By the end of the day, we think Earhart will make the top of the list, with Hyde a close second, and Buckner (the closest one) as our third choice.  We liked all the schools we went to, but those seemed to be the best fit for Zora’s personality.

posted in Autistic Life, ST, School, The 2 Opas (J's Parents), Zane, Zora | Comments Off

26th January 2011

Oma Day with Zane

Posted by my Mom, on Facebook: Out of the mouths of babes… I had ZANE day today and we went to the Cosmosphere & Space center. We saw the IMAX show on the Hubble telescope with some of the spectacular pictures it took. At the end they showed deep deep space and showed irregular ‘blobs’ of solar systems, etc. After the last note of the music played Zane said “Just like in the beginning’ (Gen. 1). He gets it!

posted in Autistic Life, The 2 Opas (J's Parents), Zane | Comments Off

24th January 2011

STRESS. A very Autistic moment.

This morning at the YMCA, while I was trying to wedge Zora’s feet into her tap shoes Zane disappeared. He hasn’t done that in years. I went to see if he went to the bathroom, ended up getting a staff member to check for me because he would answer (not unusual), but he wasn’t there.  Then the staff joined in the search, and his ST happened to walk in the door for her workout and said she hadn’t seen him outside, so I ran back to where I started and saw him through the windows in Kid Zone. He apparently wandered in there when they were slammed and hadn’t had time to notify anybody yet. I thanked them for keeping him there, because me panicking and him safe was SO much better than him wandering around the facility. I decided to forgo the cardio workout and go home after her lesson. lol.

posted in Autistic Life, Zane | Comments Off

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