Those that know me well know that I have high expectations; for myself, my kids, how clean my home is, my cooking, the holidays, just about everything. Well having a son with ADHD, ODD, and his therapist thinks some kind of mental processing problem (along the lines of Aspberger's syndrome) has a tendency to dash and sometimes destroy these expectations leaving me feeling frustrated (read: angry) and sometimes not as kind to him as I should be (read: yells A LOT). ADHD impacts every interaction you have with your child from the moment they get up or won't get up, to getting dressed for school or won't get dressed for school, eating breakfast, brushing teeth or not brushing teeth to finding their backpack and homework or ... well you get the idea. It impacts every interaction your child has with other children at school, sometimes these are not as good as they could be. Because of this I have often had a mental pity party (read: more than I should have) for myself when I see the way I "expected" things to be for me with other mothers and children. I also feel bad for Dallin when I see other kids having friendships that are how I "expected" things to be for my kids as they got older and had friends. Well my perspective on how things are "expected" to go has changed this month because of a friend of Dallin's at church and school that was diagnosed with a brain tumor and began chemotherapy yesterday at the tender age of 7. This family in our ward is going through something I am sure they never "expected" to happen to their son Spencer and yet they are handling it in the most amazing way. Holly, Spencer's mom even has the time and energy to blog about their journey through this experience. How she finds the time and emotional energy (she has two other kids) to be a mom, be up at Primary Children's with Spencer, be a wife and find time to do all the other things that life requires of us is beyond me. When Jared went through his heart surgery I felt like I was walking through a thick fog most of the time so how she can think clearly enough to write about and take pictures to document this is beyond me. I am posting a link on my blog to hers if you would like to follow along. Caution you will need tissues. LOTS!