Stacey Laho

The Santa Clause: Caleb announced a few weeks ago he's over it. Santa. In whistle blower style, Caleb blabbed the truth so others would recognize his superior perception for the truth, "Santa isn't real. It's you and dad. Hm mph" I responded how I always respond when I one of my kids tries to take this leap into the humbug land, "Fine. But if you don't believe in Santa why would he bother to bring you a present? Hm mph." Because Caleb belongs to a different breed, my words meant nothing, even though Hannah piped in that she believes. Santa and his sleigh flew out of the imagination of my nine year old. The end. Seeing is believing: James, the boy down the street, possesses some overwhelming evidence in favor of Santa. He owns a photo of Santa in front of his fireplace near the Christmas tree from last year's Christmas Eve. Caleb returned from playing at his house last week slightly perplexed but eager to give this Santa guy a second chance. He ...

Snowing. Thanks to God I'm snuggled on my brown, worn couch with my resale-deal down pillows, tucked under Grandma Ramberg's hand-made afghan we've had for 23 years. The hole in the middle no determent to being the favorite blanket. The feeling of warmth more than physical. Gratefulness bigger than circumstances. Worn couches. Used pillows. Holey blankets. It's the best way to experience gratitude. Life without rough stuff doesn't lead me to need God, know God and long for God. I really didn't know what our holidays (holy days) would look like this year back in September. I trembled at the thought of walking through them with one less family member, again. Thanking Him to be where we are at. Thanking Him, Alisha wakes up every morning with squeals of joy and is physically so much stronger that she slides half-way down her bed through the night by all the kicking and wiggling she does. Thanking Him, I am present to make meals for my family, hea...

Today is The D's birthday! He's 9! All week he's been asking  SI if he can open an early birthday gift, persistence being a strong trait of The D .  SI told him he already did. She gave him the rubber band kit last week and two weeks before that he got the Ronaldo shirt to wear for Halloween. His responses, "The kit wasn't really a gift. It was a project." D's think in purposeful ways. And "The Ronaldo shirt wasn't a gift it was my Halloween outfit." SI  really stayed strong but last night decided maybe she could give him something teeny to open. A pack of gum. Guess what? D liked it. He said this meant he didn't have to keep taking C' s (his dad) gum out of his car. Other notes from the week... IS (Hanah) fell on the ramp off the front door of our house, racing C to the mailbox. SI announced anyone who ran to get the mail for her would be her favorite. She didn't mean literally run to get the mail. Apparently the competi...

Have you heard of DISC? It's a personality style test. I'm reading a book called, "Different Children, Different Needs" by Charles Boyd. The crux of the book is God made us with specific personality bents. I've been observing my clan and came up with this observation:   Jeff is mostly a  C orrective/ C onscientious type- The C I am mostly a S upportive/ S oft-hearted with a lot of I nteractive/ I nfluencing type- SI Alisha is an I nteractive/ I nfluencing type- The I Hannah is mostly an I nteractive/ I nfluencing with a lot of S upportive/ S oft-hearted type- IS and Caleb is D irective/ D etermined type- The D   Let me illustrate how these "labels" work out in the family dynamic. I will refer to aforementioned labels for the remainder of my blog.   Below rest the hundreds of  colorful rubber bands The D  bossed the  SI  into buying him. I don't want to spoil the book if you decide to read it, but let's just say The D...

   Looking at the calendar last night made me not want to step into this week. Five doctor appointments and one day with no school... But today Alisha saw Dr. Thorne. We love Dr. Thorne. He performed Alisha's cochlear implant surgery several years ago allowing her to take in sounds she had never heard. He gave Alisha something no doctor had ever done. He knocked down the wall separating her world and ours. He opened up a world of possibilities for communication, interaction, and enjoyment. Her world and ours meshing. Dr. Thorne championed the surgery for the most disabled in our society. He said "Yes, this matters" when many of his colleagues said, "No". To Dr. Thorne, Alisha hearing, listening, mattered because she mattered. If her life could improve then the surgery mattered. Today was also our last day of seeing Dr. Thorne. He said he would like to keep seeing her but it's because he likes seeing her. His work for her has come to an end...

Our youngest. who is almost nine, likes candy, wants candy, feels he needs candy. Dressing up to go door to door asking for some is reasonable to him. It's fine with me as well. My problem? The costume. Most of my friends creatively think of ways to make costumes. My one friend, made her one daughter an artist last year and the other daughter the painting. This year one of them is a fish and the other a fishergirl in a canoe. How hard could this be? Caleb said he wanted to be Hero Brine from Minecraft. Minecraft is an insanely popular video game reminiscent of something constructed for the Atari game system in the 70's. It's a building block game which translates into tricking parents to buying something for kids because it's "educational". Since Alisha's hospital stay became lengthy, I grew less interested in making the costume but to give our little munchkin wonderful child-hood memories, my husband said he would take over this nightmare project. Goo...

The day we came home from the hospital I praised God. I praise Him for healing Alisha in ways I never expected. I praise Him for reuniting us in our home sweet home. I praise His mighty works today as I look out the window seeing the tips of trees in different hues blending together in tandem. I praised Him while I ran in the crisp fall air... On Monday, Alisha attended school for the first time this school year. Again praise to God pounded in my heart. His work in Alisha not even close to complete. She, by His hand, is here and her classmates sang their own songs of joy when they saw her. Someone said they felt they were witnessing a miracle when they watched the video I posted on Facebook of the momentous occasion. Miracle. God at work. To give you a better glimpse to the miracle, picture this scene. Your loved one lies still, bluish skin puffed out well beyond where their bones lie making them almost unrecognizable. There are tubes shooting from every direction, ...

Yesterday I dropped Hannah and her friend off to see a movie. They called when it finished. I said I would be there to pick them up after I got my other kids from school. They waited about fifteen eternal minutes and called to ask if they could go to Walmart while they waited for me. I said yes but reminded them to be careful because they were crossing Ford Road a.k.a. a land-mine. I could see the rolling of the eyes penetrating my iphone and hear the exasperated sigh as she answered, "Yes, I know." About fifteen minutes later I texted her to make sure she got to Walmart safely. No response. I texted again in two eternal minutes, "HELLO?!" Again no response. I began calling. No answer. I called again five times. No answer. I called her friend. No answer. I said to myself, "What was I thinking letting them cross that insane road. I am so stupid." That was my heart talking, then my head piped in, "They are sixteen, I think they know how to cross the s...

This is my beautiful Mother. Three weeks after she died I remember sitting in a bible study while each woman introduced herself. My turn came. My grief spilled out that my mom had just died. An elderly woman, thinking she was offering me comfort spoke, "God knew you didn't need her anymore." Almost fourteen years later I have never stopped feeling like I've needed my mom. The mother-daughter relationship always has seemed like a push-pull one to me. Sometimes I would want the warm, nurturing words and presence of my mom when I was growing up. Sometimes I would repel her intrusion, seeking to come into my own. Be a "big girl". I'll never forget when my parents drove me in the dead of winter to college. It was January in upper Michigan. We took two cars to carry all my things, my dad in the lead and my mom and me following close behind. And I do mean close behind because for hours we drove in treacherous weather. White-out driving. My mom's knuck...

Yesterday I went running. The last time I ran outdoors was in November before I developed a heel spur. I put on the new cold-gear my family bought me for Christmas along with my purple running shoes and I ran. The morning was crisp, the sun shined brighter than I'd seen it in a long time. My blood pumped quickly to warm me up. I ran. It seemed like I had never been away. But I had. I knew the morning sun had not been away either. I hadn't noticed it though. Yesterday morning I felt like the sun was in my world for the first time in a month. Too much weighed me down recently. The light seemed distant. As I ran, I felt renewed. Most of the circumstances were still present but as I ran I meditated on the significance of this Good day. All the things out of my control faded losing their power over me. Over hope. I thought about unexpected trials in my own story. The worst ones. The dark ones. They never gave a hint they were coming. You would think I would come to expect to...

Walking the halls at University of Michigan Hospital yesterday for Alisha's doctor appointment gave cause for some reflection. It was an almost a year ago we were residence there for almost three weeks, in the i.c.u. There is much mystery surrounding the events that took place during those weeks. We never did get resolve as to why Alisha became as sick as she did as fast as she did, causing cardiac arrest. I can still see my husband's tears running down his cheeks as he clearly understood we were loosing our daughter. I did not understand. It all happened so fast. Being whisked away to a waiting room I did understand. I had done that several times before. We sat in that room in the middle of the night praying, pleading it was not her time. And it wasn't. God is so good. By the time we received news of her condition it came with little answers and a lot of wait-and-see prognosis. Going back to see her attached to life support confirmed their slicing words of worry. Our...