Soap Box

Something I am very passionate about is advocating for people with disabilities. In fact if you know me well enough you're probably rolling your eyes right now because you know where this is going. PERSON FIRST LANGUAGE, PEOPLE. 

This is so important to me. Ignorance. Yeah yeah... "they" don't hear you call somebody a retard and "they" don't hear you call them that autistic guy--but it's not about that. It's about having common courtesy and respect for individuals with disabilities. PERSON FIRST. 

[let me explain...autistic kid switches to kid with autism. downs kid switches to kid with down syndrome. and I am begging you, just remove retard and any form of it from your vocabulary.]

Putting the individual FIRST acknowledges you are respecting that person as an individual, not the disability they have. Look past the label and see the person! 

Ok I'm off my soap box now...but if you're interested for more information or need to be convinced more on this subject check out this guy, he speaks better than me.  

An Open Letter to Ann Coulter

Truth Behind Retard

Weekend at Home!

I just love being home, especially this time of year.  Our wood stove is cranked and the view from every window in our house is beautifully displaying FALL! 

Every weekend when I come home, I vow I am going to be so productive and get lots done...well today I got a ton done--but none of it had to do with school. Oh well. Win some and lose some. :) 

Mess #1 Puzzle pins

SCEC is holding an Autism Awareness fundraiser on October 17 (From 10am to 5pm in Sangren Hall) and everyone took some puzzle pieces home to decorate. I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with! 

(Here comes a shameless plug--Come on by Sangren to get your own Autism puzzle piece pin!) 

 Some completed pieces--and then I found glitter and the mess grew...

Mess #2 Wedding Crafts!

My mom has been doing so much for our wedding. I am so grateful for her and everything she does. I stepped in today while she was at the Cross Country meet and made some wedding crafts!

A couple of the finished project-I am so in love with how our wedding is turning out so far! 

Dot was getting a little bored, she's more of a hands on girl but lacks the ability to use the hot glue gun (although so do I...my poor burned fingers...) She fell asleep several times with her head on the bar of the stool. Goofy girl. 

CHEESE!

I [seriously] had so much fun taking pictures with this kid. I was laughing so hard the whole time. It was really hard for us to be serious.

And it's really nice my sister is such a fantastic photographer (thanks Cass!). 

Here's a couple favorites! 

[Summertime Cooking].

One of the many things Andy and I share in common is the love of cooking and being in the kitchen. I have been working a ton this past week and I wasn't always around for dinner (and if I was, Andy was not). Wednesday night we both (finally!) got in the kitchen and cooked a wonderful meal together. We made stuffed zucchini, spaghetti along with some doctored spaghetti sauce, and garlic bread. Served with salad on the side. It turned out amazing!! 

Chopping up the inside of the zucchinis after they were hollowed out. 

This is the "stuffed" part of the zucchini. It has sausage, zucchini, tomatoes, green pepper, and a little tomato sauce. We let it all simmer together to get all the flavors going. We also used the leftover stuffing to put in a tomato sauce for the spaghetti.  

After the stuffing was hot and had simmered for a while, we put it in the hollowed out zucchinis. Andy found some really pretty golden zucchini at the Farmers market this past weekend and they looked awesome and tasted delicious! We put these in the oven for about 40 minutes at 375 degrees and then put some mozzarella cheese on top and broiled it for a little bit to make it melt.  

We didn't get a final picture before it got eaten...it went fast! Delicious group effort! 

Juuulllyyyy Catch-up

This summer is flying! I cannot believe we are already well into July! This weekend has been amazing. Last week I worked a ton and I finally had a few days to chill and Andy was home! We went to a 4th of July party-it was so hot but so fun! The rest of the week was miserably hot as well, but I pretty much lived in the pool (while Andy studied-such a good student). 

Also this weekend my parents, Brooke, and Jake drove out to Virginia to pick up my brother, Fred, from OCS. It's so nice to have him home for a while, we finally have a house full again! Everyone is very proud of him and he actually did really well. He scored top of his class for his physical tests with a 99.97%...over achiever right?? So proud, but Cassie and I sure do know how to humble him quickly-it's our job as sisters :). 

This was just a quick catch up with what's going on this summer/this past weekend. I'm done with classes for the summer (woot woot!) so I hope to write more often than I have been!

Letters!

Between my online classes and work I have been super busy and slacking on blogging...I'll pick up after June 25, I promise! This is just a quick one today (just long enough to distract me from my paper to get a fresh string of ideas when I get back to it. ugh.)

My brother (& twin) is in the NROTC which in a nutshell, means he's training during school to be in the Navy (technically now he's a Marine) while taking regular college classes. Because of this he is never home and always doing something adventurous.

This summer Fred is at OCS (Officer Candidate School) in Quantico, VA. I am secretly really jealous of him because he gets to travel all over the US. Today we finally got letters from him and he's doing really good! Yay Fred! Please continue to pray for him and write letters to him! 

Ps. Isn't his girlfriend super pretty?? She's pretty much a part of our family...I do love me some Brookie!!

A Canadian & An American

June 2 marks the day that my parents have been married for 28 years. Their anniversary, to be honest, hasn't ever really been a big deal to me (other than the fact--being the oldest--it's my responsibility to track down everyone to get money to buy their gift). This year it has been different; I can't stop thinking wow, that's a long time. 


I have learned so much from my mom and dad and their relationship. They are so in love. Every day. I know they have their rough days, but they've really showed me (& my siblings) what it means to truly be in love and how to work at keeping a relationship alive & healthy--even after 28 years!! 


In the summer it's like clockwork: they take a walk around "the grounds" every night and sit by the pond for a little bit and then eventually they head up to the back deck with a bottle of wine (it's been the same brand since I can remember) for "tiki time" which consists of game of bananagrams, scrabble, or just the iPad and newspaper--I imagine when they're not playing their word games they're discussing their next plan of action--4 kids with 4 different schedules all over the states takes some major communication on their part and they play an amazing zone defense. They rarely miss anything. 


My parents are also really into pinterest. We laugh because since pinterest has come into the Holwerda home my dad and mom are constantly working on projects together off one of mom's boards. I've even seen dad scrolling through the website coming up with his own inspirations. 


Anyways, I could go on and on about these people lovely people in my life. I've learned so much from them and their marriage and if mine turns out half as good as theirs has I will be one happy lady! 


Here's to you, Mom and Dad! Happy Anniversary!!