Birthday flowers & Christmas photo from Natasha

This is a test--for me to see how to upload pics to my blog.

My youngest daughter, Natasha, 34, sent me these flowers on my birthday; she took the photograph and gave it to me last Christmas. I hope she sees it on my blog. Her husband, Charles, was at work yesterday and he and his co-workers were talking about it being D-Day. Charles remembered that I was born on D-Day and called Natasha. Whew! Just in the nick of time, she said!

Oh, I received a terrific Birthday card from my almost 16 year old step-son! He lives with his father and me and has for the past 2.5 years. He came to us depressed, miserable, and unhappy with himself and his life. He has a "social" learning disability, Asberger's Syndrome, which makes it difficult for him to read social cues from people's faces. He had great difficulty making friends, was overly sensitive to bullying and teasing. He was small for his age and immature by about 2 years. He had been premature at birth, weighing only 1.5 lbs.

The card he gave me, all on his own, his father said, was signed, "Love: your step-son." That touched me because he had never acknowledged our relationship and certainly never said anything like "love".

I am proud to say that he now has a sense of humor, can laugh at himself and at us, he is on the Honor Roll in 9th grade at Patrick Henry High, is considering going to college, and is a delightful person to have around, willing to help others, was given the Snake Award for Highest Internal Strength of Character in Karate.