Friday, November 29, 2013

"Real" Thanksgiving

This year Ammon had his first "real" Thanksgiving. What I mean by that is this year he had no supplemental food. He has always sat at the dinner table but has never tasted any of the food on his plate this year. His tastes really surprise me but I'm so happy he is willing to try just about anything that is soft enough to easily chew.

Kaitlin made the spinach dip. Never in a million years did I think Ammon would enjoy it but he kept rubbing his tummy saying "Ummm. Ummm..." Like Bob in "What's Up Bob?" He declared that the spinach dip was like heaven. Huh?  Surprise # 1.

 Ammon ate two deviled eggs. Surprise # 2.  I like them but not enough to go make them except once a year for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll have to re-think that because protein is what Ammon needs in his diet and he loved the eggs.
 Below is Ammon's plate. He ate it all - mashed potatoes, cheese, olives (he is a true Clark here), raspberry jello, eggs, cranberry sauce and a little bit of the roll. The rolls were a little too chewy for him to eat easily.
It was very, very nice to have him eat with us. He was part of the group in every sense of the way.
A shout out to Kaitlin who did a great job helping get the meal ready. Her food rocked!

We had invited Cliff and Elva Ammons to have dinner with us as well. He has been our home teacher for several years and brings us pies and breads and carrots out of his garden and squash and crenshaw melons. He has been a spectacular home teacher. But now it's our turn to return the favor. Jim and Ammon now home teach him. He is in his 80s and his health is quite poor now. He is scheduled for back surgery in two weeks. Once he has recovered, they will move to Washington to live near their daughter. We will be very sad to see them leave but we're so happy we can have the opportunity to serve them now. Thanksgiving morning around 11:00 they called and said neither of them felt well enough to come so Jim loaded up plates and containers of food and he and Chad delivered it to them.

Ammon now belongs to the HOPE Squad at school. Copy and paste the address below to see what it is all about. You have to be invited to be part of this special group of students and leaders. Because Ammon has such a positive attitude about life, he was an obvious candidate to be part of this group.

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/south/salem/shhs-squad-full-of-hope-helps-save-lives/article_7e9dffee-748b-55d6-b83f-62374ee34add.html