Me: I'm a Christian, wife, homeschooling mom, and community-college instructor. Instructional design is my passion (I actually enjoy the lesson planning part of homeschooling more than the teaching part of it) -- as an educator at heart, I love to learn, to share the joy of learning, and to find ways to present information to people so they can understand it. In some ways, this blog is an extension of that. In my spare time, I enjoy creative outlets like crafy sewing, card making, scrapbooking, and beaded jewelry design -- but as there is very little spare time these days, you won't likely see or hear much about these creative pursuits.
Hubby: We dated long-distance for 4 years through college, then semi-long-distance (2 hour drive) through graduate school and finally got married on a beautiful July day in 2002. He works full-time as a supervisor at Costco -- not at all his dream job, but it pays the bills and he's got a great work ethic. He enjoys computer games, frisbee golf, and riding his motorcycle on gorgeous Pacific Northwest days.
Our Boys: Josiah Noble was born in November 2004. We first discovered his SPD at about 14 months and have been learning more about it and him ever since. He is dairy/soy allergic and gluten intolerant, and a picky sensory eater -- mealtimes are tricky business! His passion is cars and legos, he's super social (never met a stranger in his life!) even though he doesn't always have the best social skills, and he has a very vivid imagination and loves to play-act everything he sees or thinks about, especially anything involving spaceships made from his Legos and rescue missions with good fight scenes. He does everything with his whole body, is an expert cuddler, loves to wrestle with daddy and enjoys exploring in the woods. Malachi Adin (aka Baby Brother) joined the family in June 2010. His personality is just beginning to emerge -- so far he loves to laugh at brother, cuddle with mommy and bounce with daddy. He's also gluten (and possibly dairy) intolerant -- so mommy gets to be on Josiah's GFCF diet while Malachi is nursing!
About the Blog: My goal is that this blog will help people understand SPD and how we handle it as a family. See this post for some details about our backstory and what Josiah's SPD looks like. As a natural journaler, writing the blog also helps me process my own thoughts and emotions about things -- as I articulate our experiences for the reader, I understand them more myself, and I am in turn able to live more consciously and think more clearly and deeply about my experiences as they happen. I'd also love for this blog to become a space for dialogue, where readers can contribute their own thoughts, questions, responses, and ideas. No matter how involved you get, I appreciate your company on this journey and hope you find something of value in it as well.
