From Africa to Oklahoma -- Rachel Coleman's visit

Rachel and Vickie a quiet moment

Welcome sign and snacks. We brought in snacks for Rachel and Lindsey. Fruit, crackers, peanut butter, carrots, chocolate covered pretzils, nuts and pralines. I called LeeAnn and she said she knew Rachel loved coconut and Lindsey loved peanut butter and that they like to eat healthy. They ended up being so busy they didn't get a chance to eat any of the snacks. My kids took care of that for them after they left.

Sign for the conference

One of the tables decorated for Mardi Gras


The gang after dinner at Primo's


Rachel and Vickie welcome hug. I can't believe this is the first time we have met in person.

OK my camera is slow. This was supposed to be Rachel giving Kay a hug but by the time my camera clicked it was over. Darn!

Rachel is coming for a visit! We are so happy we will get to see her again. The last time I saw her Kaylynne was only six weeks old. So it's been almost two years. We didn't tell Cam until the night before because we learned our lesson from our first group trip to Utah. We told Cam about that trip two weeks ahead of time and showed him on the calendar so he would be prepared. He was so excited to see his friend Rachel he wanted to go wait in the car (for two weeks) until it was time to leave. That was a long two weeks. So now we spring Rachel visits on him at the last minute.

We checked Cam out of school early on Monday the 4th so we could go on an adventure. We finished some errands, picked up a few more gifts for the Coleman and Brown families, had lunch, and went to check in at the hotel at the Sheraton/Reed Center. After we got settled we went off to meet Rachel and Lindsey at the airport. Their flight had been delayed because of some sort of malfunction on the plane. They tried to take off twice then finally moved them to another plane.

We were delayed by an evil train that would not move. It sat on the tracks for 20 minutes without budging. We tried to go around the back way but couldn't find any clear intersections. It was the train that would not end. So we thought maybe we could find the front of the train and shoot through a clear intersection that way. We finally found a clear spot but had to wait for a red light. When the light turned green the train started to move and the arms blocked us from going again. So we waited for the longest train in history to pass and once it did we had to wait for another one going the other way. ARRGH! We are gonna be so late.

Evil train of doom


With plane delays and train delays we ended up actually arriving at baggage claim at the same time. We made a Welcome to Oklahoma sign and Cam had fun holding it up for them to see. Yeah they are here!

The group with Cam's welcome sign. It is done in purple, green and gold for Mardi Gras since we would be spending Fat Tuesday together.

It was later than expected so they had to go right over to the TV station for Rachel's first interview. KOCO's (ABC) Tyler Suiters. It will air on the 17th, slightly delayed because of the presidential primaries. They rented a car so they planned to just meet us back at the hotel. By time they got finished with the interview and found their way back to the hotel Rachel crashed for the night. She just got back from Africa for heavens sake. I am sure she is so jet-lagged she has no idea if it's night or day. We were glad she got some sleep because Tuesday was crazy busy.

Bathed and P.J.ed and ready for bed at the hotel.

Cam in the hotel bed.

Kay in the hotel bed.


When they arrived it was sunny and 74 degrees outside. During the night the temp dropped to 40 and a thunderstorm started. Tuesday was freezing. OK not Utah freezing, but yucky Oklahoma, wind sweeping down the plains, raining, dreary, freezing. Rachel asked and yes this is normal for Oklahoma. You know the saying don't like our weather wait a minute it will change. That's Oklahoma. We could be out in shorts one day then the next it snows then its 75 and all melts then an ice storm hits and knocks out power then a tornado hits. You just never know. We had a great time despite the nasty weather.

We were very busy. I ran the product and information booth. Rachel did 3 presentations and two interviews. My Mom ran around trying to keep everything running smoothly. And Lindsey went back and forth between helping me at the booth, helping Rachel with her presentations, and talking to media.

Jen, Rachel and Lindsey at the booth

Kaylynne my little Signing Time helper/demo baby.

Here is the booth all tidied up for the next rush.

Jen and Lindsey. We survived.


I think we sold a lot of product at the booth and had a ton of people interested in getting their schools to purchase. We heard some great stories.
My faves: The boy who was there to play music during lunch. He walked past our booth and said,
"Wait, is this that show from PBS?"
I replied, "Yes and Rachel is here right now."
He said, "The Rachel from the shows? She is here right now! Can I borrow your phone?"
So he calls his mother and says, "Hey you gotta get up here. Rachel Coleman is here." Apparently his little sister is a huge fan. So I gave him some tattoos and a card and a bracelet and he was thrilled. His Mom wasn't able to get there in time for his sister to see Rachel but he said he would be his sister's hero for bringing her ST goodies.

Another Fave:
The new Grandmother from Yukon who stopped by the booth to tell us her daughter had just had a baby. She took ASL in college and wanted to teach the baby. She said, "I want to buy it all."
I just looked at her in shock. "You want to buy a gift set, or all the books? Which one?"
She said, "All of it. Everything they make."
She handed over her credit card and paid over 400 bucks for all the DVDs, CDs, flash cards and books. Wow! She said she wanted to bring it to them in the hospital so they could start learning right away. Never too early right!

Also, I loved being at the back of the room during part of Rachel's presentation and seeing the reactions of the people hearing her story for the first time. Not a dry eye in the house! I could see how touched people were.


Rachel Keynote Speaker

I never get tired of hearing Rachel's story. She seems uncomfortable when people tell her, as they often do, "I just admire you so much. I don't think I could do what you do". She says you find the strength to do what you need to do. She doesn't seem to think she does something admirable. She is simply doing what helps her daughters.

I agree that’s true for some people. Some people do step up and take care of what needs to be done. Some people take what is handed to them and are grateful for what they are given and they don't complain. But unfortunately a lot of people don't. I work with kids everyday who have parents who could not do what Rachel does. They walk away (if you can imagine) because they are not strong enough to love and appreciate the child, the gift, they have been given. I am grateful that the good moms, the Rachel's, outnumber the ones who are not strong enough.

Anyway, it was so hectic and busy I didn't even get a chance to take many pictures. Between mine and Moms hopefully we didn't do too badly. Jeff recorded Rachel's presentation (with her permission) since I was running the booth and missed 90 % of what she said. I have watched some of it and was thrilled to see Cameron get called up to help. He was the color green during the colors of the rainbow and he was so excited.

Colors of the rainbow

Cam being green

Rachel gives Cam a Hopkins frog


Rachel sang caterpillar dreams which is one of my and Kay's favorite songs. I played it for Kay and she started clapping and smiling. She wasn't real happy at the conference because she is getting several new teeth. She did like getting to see Rachel though even if she didn't always act like it. Taylor, conscientious student extraordinaire, did not come to the conference because he had two tests that day and did not want to miss school. He did get to come to dinner with all of us that afternoon though so I think he was happy.

No shock Rachel was a big hit at the conference. People said hearing her story changed their lives. Right before Rachel's first presentation, several students from a deaf/hard of hearing class in Wewoka, sang, danced and signed to "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical and they were fantastic.

Rachel and her fans from the Deaf school performance of High School Musical

Courtney, Sarah, Rachel and Cam with babies. Kay is showing her aversion to pictures



We were so glad to have Rachel and Lindsey visit Oklahoma. They are both awesome, amazing women of course. It was a crazy, hectic, but fun time. We want Rachel to come back soon so we can have time to show her some of the sights. Lindsey was so sweet and we were glad to get to meet her. She needs to come back too. We enjoyed having dinner together and I made sure to get a group shot before they had to run off to the airport.

So much fun but, as always, not long enough. Hopefully we will get to make it for the trip to Utah in May so we can see everyone again.

link to photo from the newspaper:
http://www.mwcsun.com/local/images_sizedimage_042130028/resources_photoview

link to story from the the newspaper:
http://www.mwcsun.com/local/local_story_042120824.html

Here is the link to the news story:

http://www.koco.com/video/15337005/index.html

Dinner at Primo's

S.O.T.D. Oklahoma

Sign of the day

Oklahoma

Make an O starting on your left side and as it moves across to your right it turns into a K.

Fun to sign while singing OOOOOOOOklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.

A little more about - Jennifer

Random facts about me

I am obsessed with making lists. I have to do lists all over the house. I also have a notebook full of lists. I am afraid I will forget what I am supposed to be doing with out them.

I was once picked to appear in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus.

I have dyslexia. It made it very difficult for me to learn to read but I had the help of a wonderful and very patient teacher (my Mom). Some of my school teachers were.... not so great. I have no trouble with reading now, in fact it's one of my favorite things to do. I still have trouble with words like how and who and I have been known to reverse some letters but I usually catch it.

I am terrible at math and not so good at spelling.

I don't like mushrooms.

I have never been arrested. I did get a speeding ticket one time though.

I have done jury duty at the federal court in Oklahoma City next to the bomb site. I was also called to do jury duty at the local level but the case was settled. I recently was sent paperwork to begin the process again. I can't believe I have gotten jury duty 3 times. What is the deal? Most people never get called to serve.

I testified in court in May 2007 in connection with my Grandmother's death. I would be quite happy to never have to set foot in a court room again.

I have 2 step siblings, Jenny and Eli. I have 2 half siblings, Sarah and Danielle.

I was born in Metairie Louisiana and lived there until I was 13. I moved to Norman Oklahoma in 1986 and have lived here ever since.

Parlor trick -- I can turn my feet around backwards.

I have read every word of all 7 of the Harry Potter books out loud. That's 4,100 pages. Jim Dale gets paid a lot more than I do but it was still fun reading to my kids.

I am currently on temporary disability from work because I broke my clavicle and damaged the nerves, tendons and muscles in my right shoulder.

A little about us

We are a family living in central Oklahoma. We consist of:

Me, the Mom, Jennifer, currently 35, working at a children's hospital for children with special needs. I coordinate care for my patients by helping them to therapy, activities, school and medical care. I also make sure they eat, help them with their personal care needs and keep them company. I love my job.

My husband, Jeff, also 35, also works at the hospital. He works in the dietary department and he is one of the kid's favorite people because he drives around in a golf cart and delivers the food!

Taylor Aaron, our oldest son, 14, is in the 8th grade and is really smart. He is into computers, video games, music, drums, and books. He does volunteer work and is a great help with his brother and sister (most of the time).

Cameron Ash, our 5 year old son, is in kindergarten. He is quite charming and likes to talk. He loves music, art, school, working in the garden and reading books. He loves snoopy movies and watching and learning from the Signing Time series.

Kaylynne Electa, our baby girl, is 20 months old. She is a joy and a wonderfully sweet and pretty baby. She does not go to school or day care yet but she works very hard in physical therapy. She loves to draw and sing. She watches Signing Time and signs about 20 words.

Jeff and I have been married for 15 years and we just moved into a new old house - meaning new to us but built in the early 1950's. At the moment most of our limited free time is spent continuing to unpack and organize the house. The kids love having their very own rooms that they don't have to share with each other. We are about half way through painting the entire inside of the house. The outside is brick so luckily all we have to paint there is the trim. After the painting is done we have lots of other little projects to do to fix the place up. It really is a beautiful house though and we are very happy here.

Jeff enjoys biking, working on computers, building things, reading, art, writing short stories, movies, music, guitar, and video games.

Jennifer enjoys reading, doing crafts, writing, cooking, gardening, learning American Sign Language, and sleeping.