(It IS my right arm that is tweaked, I can’t fully twist it.)
It’s official I have the a-okay to use my arm. I saw the orthopedist and he said there are 3 things they consider when you break your arm and 2.5 of them, in my case are good. So, no cast and no surgery. That’s the bottom line. I start physical therapy on Monday, but am stretching and able to do new things every day. Well, not NEW new things, old new things like turning on the kitchen faucet and buttering eggos, things like that. I can’t yet pull my hair back in a pony tail, without help, which is very frustrating. I think I have discovered a new dieting secret though, I eat less when I am using my left hand. Mostly because it is such a pain and it’s pretty tiring, you eat slower and then, eventually you just give up on eating altogether. Maybe I should write a book! “Losing Weight by Feeding Yourself with your Non-Dominant Hand” ohh, not a good title… wait… “The OTHER Hand Diet” okay, that’s better.

Aaron and I are going out of town this weekend to see the band Arcade Fire. I am hoping it’s not general admission, because I do not want to have to protect my arm all of the time. (Signing Time Trivia - Win and Will Butler of Arcade Fire are my 2nd cousins.) It’s pretty crazy to read interviews with your family members in Rolling Stone Magazine. If you are looking for some cool new music, here are the Coleman Family recommendations for Arcade Fire Songs-
Rachel - Keep The Car Running
Aaron - Intervention
Leah - No Cars Go
Lucy - Black Mirror (Seriously I just asked her!)

The Good News:
Yesterday was Lucy’s 7th birthday. In our family you get to pick where we go for dinner on your birthday. No surprise, Lucy chose California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, her favorite! She ordered macaroni and cheese and drank chocolate milk, again, no surprise. The big surprise and milestone achievement came with her dessert. The server brought out an ice cream sundae, complete with a lit candle. At age 7, Lucy was finally able to blow out her candle!!! Aaron, Leah and I cheered out loud when it happened. In past years one of us had to help her out with a puff of air from the side. This is a perfect example of the line I sing in the song “Shine,” “Lucy will do what Lucy will do when Lucy is ready to do it!” Tonight was her family party. I was leaning toward giving her a single candle again, so Lucy could be successful. But I wasn’t there when Lucy got her cake. (See “The Bad News”) Aaron lit up 7 candles and Lucy blew them out in three breaths! She said that she was so excited to blow them out that she forgot to make a wish.

The Bad News:
Okay, I’ll just come out and say it. I broke my elbow today playing family soccer. A handful of families in our neighborhood get together each Sunday to play soccer. We call it a Learning League. We have players ages 5 to 55. It is so much fun. Last week for Mother’s Day I got my very first pair of cleats! Yes, we even played on Mother’s Day. Today I fell, hard and heard two “pops.” I went down on my elbow. I rolled over on my back and looked at the sky. A million things went through my mind as my arm throbbed. Mostly I just imagined my sister Emilie hearing the news. I finished the game with everyone agreeing it could be a bad bruise or sprain. Thankfully we had prepped most everything for Lucy’s party before we went to play soccer. I soon found that I couldn’t open a bottle of relish or use a garlic press. The party started and my arm ached more. So I slipped out with my neighbor Sue and she drove me to the doctor. I chipped my radial head. Lucy thought I chipped my Radiohead. ☺ Good thing I just wrapped 2 weeks of filming. I now have a two week break from production, but I have the feeling that two weeks will not be quite enough. Yes it is my right arm. I am right handed. It took me about an hour to type this!

12 years ago, when I was not married, had no children and had a band of my own, I sent fan mail to my favorite musical artist. The band was Grant Lee Buffalo. It is the only time I have ever sent fan mail to someone. But I just had to, I had to tell them how much I loved their music and the impact it had on me. A week or so after I sent the letter I got a call from someone who claimed to be Joey, the drummer from Grant Lee Buffalo. I was suspicious to say the least. He asked, “You don’t think it’s me?” My response, “All I am saying is a lot of people know I sent that letter.” (I figured it was one of my a band mates, Ben or Rory playing a joke on me.) Joey then proceeded to describe the stationary I had sent and the CD I had enclosed. My jaw dropped…. no one else could have described that… no one other than a member of Grant Lee Buffalo!! I really almost cried. I asked him everything I wanted to know about the band. I was able to meet up with him a few months later when I was in California. It was Easter and as we sat in a café, the lead singer, Grant walked in and sat down with us! After they left, I was so overwhelmed. I sat in my car and cried. Later when they were on tour with Smashing Pumpkins, Joey called and gave me and my band mates tickets and backstage passes to the show. And a year later when “Grant Lee Buffalo” came through Salt Lake City on tour, my band “We The Living” opened for them.

This week I got a letter from a 12 year-old girl named Ashley. (Hi Ashley!!!) She shared her story and the impact I have had on her life. Ashley has cerebral palsy, like Lucy. She said she has told many people about Leah and Lucy and me. I had tears as I read her letter. I went home and read it to Aaron and the girls. Aaron was teary too and he smiled and said three words, Grant Lee Buffalo. I told him I was thinking the same thing!

A few weeks ago, my friend Kei sent me a link to a Mother’s Day essay writing contest. She jokingly said, take a look at this, in your SPARE time. I few days before the deadline I sat down at my computer and answered the question. “Are you the mother you thought you would be?”

This morning I got a call saying that I won the contest!!! My essay will appear on Mothering Height’s web-site as well as in the Laguna Beach Independent.

Here’s a sneak peek at my essay:

Praying For Patience
I remember sitting in third grade, filling out a worksheet that asked about our hopes and goals for the future. It asked, “How many children do you want to have?” I answered “nine.” I grew up in a family with nine children and nine seemed reasonable–at least at age eight. However, one thing was for sure: I knew I wanted to be a mom.

By the time I met my husband Aaron, I had whittled the number nine down to about four. Aaron was from a family of four children and he felt good about having two children. I secretly held onto the idea of four, though I just didn’t tell him.

When I imagined myself as a mom one day, honestly, I imagined that I would be a good parent to some well-behaved, perfect children. “Please send me the easy ones!” I prayed. When I was carrying my first child, I fell asleep many nights as I also prayed for patience.

When our oldest daughter Leah was one year old, we found out she was deaf. I couldn’t believe it. I questioned my skills, my patience, and even my genetics . . . I questioned a lot of things. But I never questioned my love for Leah and I had no idea, at that time, how far a mother would go for her child. Now, there were even more nights where I found myself falling asleep while praying for patience.

I learned a new language for Leah: American Sign Language. I also learned about all the choices that lie ahead. Would we focus on her speech? Would she attend a deaf school? How would she communicate with those around her? I learned about our educational rights, and spent many hours meeting with educators and school administrators. Ironically, in many of these meetings, I found myself educating them about our rights.

By the time that Leah was three years old, we felt that it was time to have another child. Lucy came with her own unique set of challenges and opportunities. During our first ultrasound, we were told that Lucy had spina bifida, a spinal cord birth defect causing paralysis. Again, I couldn’t believe it. Again, I questioned my skills, genetics … and yes I questioned a lot of things. Once again, I prayed harder than ever for patience.

I thought back to when we discovered Leah’s deafness and how devastating it had felt at the time, and now I couldn’t help but smile at how “normal” Leah was. It really was not devastating. It was just different. We just had to learn some new things. We had started down a different path. With that memory held close, I took a leap of faith: we chose Lucy, and we chose spina bifida. As we headed down this new path, again we educated ourselves. Through that education process, I came across fetal surgeons who were performing groundbreaking in-utero surgery on fetuses with spina bifida. At 22 weeks gestation, Lucy and I were the 82nd mommy/baby patients to have this surgery. Lucy was born eight weeks premature. When she was nine months old she received another diagnosis as well: cerebral palsy.

When Leah was four years old, I was frustrated with how few people could communicate with her. My sister Emilie and I created a video called “Signing Time!” Our goal was to help families learn sign language in a fast, fun and easy way. The video stars me, my daughter Leah, and my nephew Alex. Over the past six years, that little video of ours has turned into a 13-part DVD series that can now be seen on more than 70% of the public television stations across the country.

I now work full time, producing new shows, writing the songs, and traveling. I travel the country partnering with PBS stations doing live performances, teaching sign language to children at schools and libraries, and sharing my family’s story—a story that gives hope to countless families on similar unexpected paths.

Today, I am 32. I have two children. The picture over our mantel is unlike anything I could ever have imagined. My youngest daughter uses a wheelchair. My oldest daughter speaks with her hands. I have found my voice. And I have stopped praying for patience.

Lucy has been on the sidelines cheering her big sister on for years. Whether it was T-ball, soccer, karate or tumbling, Lucy’s place has been “Cheerleader.” She’ll holler “GO LEAH!!! GO!!!” even when Leah is not on the field.

Our local AYSO soccer program just started a VIP team. This is VERY cool! It means that Lucy can be on a soccer team. We signed her up. She got a green and white striped uniform, black shorts, giant socks and all. We found Leah’s first pair of shin guards and handed them down to Lucy. Let me say Lucy in her soccer uniform is just about the cutest thing I have EVER seen. I guess the novelty of Leah in uniform has worn off.

All of the kids on her team have some challenges. They range in age from 3-11. Some of the kids have VIP Buddies, to hold their hand, guide them toward the goal or in Lucy’s case, pick up the ball and hand it to Lucy in her power wheelchair. Once Lucy has the ball, she hangs on to it with her left hand and drives toward the goal with her right. She rolls it off her lap to a teammate to pass the ball. Or she just rolls it toward the goal.

After her first game she came cruising up to me and said, “This is the BEST day of my LIFE!”

The trip to Los Angeles, CA was short but sweet. I spoke at Baby Celebration. It was great to meet so many fans and hear each family’s story. People always preface their story with, “I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times…” But honestly, it never gets old for me. I haven’t heard their story a thousand times. I haven’t heard your story a thousand times. I haven’t heard the same story a thousand times. I hear new stories each day. New testimonials come in daily, new reviews on Amazon.com. New crayon pictures in the mail. I hug different parents and take pictures with different children at each event. It’s awesome! There is nothing cooler to me than having a 3 year-old kid yell my name and run up to me for a hug. Nothing better than a parent saying, “My kid LOVES you!” Nothing better than 11 year-olds who insist they have to watch it with their younger siblings, but perform the Silly Pizza Song better than I do. Nothing cuter than a star-struck 5 year-old. Nothing sweeter than having a parent tell me how their child has defied the odds… has communicated since 7 months… can out communicate their “typical” peers… has been placed in the least “special-ed” special-ed preschool because they know their ABC’s, can count to 20, know all their colors, family members, animals….. you get the point. I fly home from these events smiling, happy, peaceful, and hopeful – saying. “I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!”