Saturday, 10 March 2012

Count my blessings

Hello dear blog,

After my last post which contained a lot of moaning, and some smatterings of good times, I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a blog just counting my blessings - I have lots of them:

1. Alex

She's not perfect, she has her moments as any teenager has, but she's still a star!  Here's two poems - the first she wrote for Matthew, and the second, I wrote for her.......

Sonnet about Matthew
Should I compare you to a butterfly?
You dazzle better than any creature
Constant flapping will take you to the sky
You are an odyssey of all nature
Think of butterflies, their life is shorter
That’s why your life is so precious to me
Butterflies intricate patterns aren’t better
‘Cos your smile can lift up the whole sea
I love you so much, nothing can compare
Nothing can ever break my love for you
People who love you give you lots of care
You are amazing this poem is so true
We will help you, your friends and family
You are so so very special to me!

LOVE YOU!!



By Alex Hall, 13, brother to Matthew

Special Needs Daughter


I have a daughter with special needs.
She needs to be loved.
She needs to be not overlooked.
She needs to be made to feel special as a person in her own right.
She needs to be a child – to play and laugh and be silly
Even when those around her are stressed to their limits.
She needs to be able to grow and to thrive
Without worrying about her brother’s illness,
Or her mother’s sanity.
She needs to titter at words like pooh and booby!
Not lose her innocent vocabulary to words like
Seizure, autism, drugs, operation.
She needs time, quality time.
Not time stolen away from her by her sibling’s
Appointments and therapies and procedures.
She needs to be selfish – not always
To be thinking of others’ needs as more important.
I have a special needs son.
But I have a special needs daughter too.
I NEED to see to her needs as well.
And to remind her
Just how very very SPECIAL she is.

By Gail Hall, mum to Matthew LGS epilepsy, ASD, Alex – my gorgeous little star!


2. Matthew

OK, so my dear boy is often the cause of many of our problems, but I just want to celebrate him as a blessing!  He has two settings, "manic" and "off" - when "manic" he is happy - like ALWAYS happy - he hugs, he kisses, he clambers on you all knees and elbows, but he's happy.  I may be worn out at silly-o-clock and he'll start singing "Happy Birthday Caution Wet Floor" and I can't help but smile.

3. Family

I've got an amazing family - again, they sometimes do my head in, but I love them HUGELY and I KNOW they do me too!  They are there for me in all sorts of big and little ways.  Really felt it at Christmas which was the first time in AGES we had my mum, dad, bro and sisses all together round the table - special (and amazingly no arguments!)

4. Friends

Looking back thru my last blog, my crazy week was punctuated with good times with friends - church friends, ikea mums, thursday night friends, Warrpac friends, Matthew's Friends friends.  I truly am surrounded by some remarkable people :)

5. "Work"

I only really work in a voluntary capacity for Warrington Parents and Carers and Matthew's Friends - these two "jobs" though are a real blessing as I get a chance to do something of value to myself and others.  True, there are pressures, but there can be no greater reward than feeling that you're actually HELPING someone, or working WITH the system to help improve it, rather than just banging your head against the system in frustration.

Yup, it's worthwhile, once in a while, to count your blessings, cos I have MANY :)

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