Happy Birthdays

Dear Tyler

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday for today and many many more! I am sure it will be spent at the cable, so have lots of fun and make the most of the day

Dear Chinique and Dylan

Wishing you both a very Happy 30th Birthday for today, hope its an awesome year ahead ! Dylan, your first birthday as a Dad, what a lovely gift, give Ethan a big hug from us! Chinique, hope you going to have an awesome party even if its in the snow!

God Bless, lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

Officially a penguin!

a very proud Nanna fetching Deqlan

Ash, me and Deqlan - ready to go home, shame he was tired!

Yay! Mama came back for me!
saying bye bye, see you now to my big boy

Our last peep before leaving, Deqlan jumping on the trampoline

Meggie wishing Deqie good luck

Dada they have cars here to!

Dada saying goodbye

Deqlan walking into school for the very first time

Arriving for the big day

Hooray! Well Done ! As Deqlan says! We made it through his first day at school!

He is in the penguin class, which suits him to a T, as he loves Happy Feet SO MUCH!

Ash said she doesnt know why i was so worried cause he did so well - she said he was the best behaved out of the class and he ate the best!

He did not moan and cry when he had to sit down. He didnt cry for me, he asked and moaned a little , but soon settled.

He played with the 'neuro typical ' kids at Little Christian village, which is next door to Little Leaps - Ash does this so the kids can integrate with each other which is such a great idea! He did try and snatch something from a child, but Ash gave it back and Deqlan wasnt to fussed about it

They are also trying to assist us in toilet training , so lets so how that goes with their help and oodles of experience

Nanna and I arrived at 1225 to get Deqlan and by 1227 i couldnt sit in the car and wait anymore and went in. Deqlan was very happy to see us, but you could see he was tired and it was time to go home!

We came home to Nanna he had a jacuzzi, some lunch, watched a bit of Thomas and now we await him to wake up for his nap!

Tommorow we will get his little diary which Ash will write in every day telling us about the day etc

Looking so forward to seeing what tommorow will bring and praying Deqlan will continue to thrive and as Nanna says take GIANT LEAPS

Thanks again for all your messages on facebook and calls and emails and texts, we feel so loved, Deqlan thanks you all and says 'ANK YOU' FOR THANK YOU!

God Bless, all our love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

REJOICE INM THE LORD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE

My first morning at Little Leaps

Me, Meggie and her little girl and Nanna
Dada and Mama

Deqlan checking the playground out

The indoor play area

Cool, cars!

Deqlan already playing with the blocks and puzzles

Deqlans hook for his bag!

Ash showing Deqlan where his space is for his toybag etc

Dada and Deqlan, a happy start to the day!

My gorgeous boy ! I am now able to take a picture of the two of us, but just saying '1,2,3, cheese; and Deqlan smiles!

Mr Happy for sure!

Im H-A-P-P-Y - Dada has taught Deqlan the song, so Deqlan spells H-A-P-P-Y then says Z, cause thats the letter that follows Y! He is so cute!

Hi Deqlan Fans

We did it - we watched Deqlan walk into his new school, ready to start this brand new chapter in his amazing journey.

No tears from Deqlan, no tears from Mama or Dada or Nanna or Meggie . I had my day yesterday and focused on the miracle this morning and that put my heart at ease.

Watching Ash take Deqlan in and showing him where to put his bag and watching Deqlan run around discovering everything was a joy. He was very excited and inquisitive and watched the tv , then played with some cars, then went to the trampoline - it was a very 'at ease' experience, and we said "bye bye, see you now" as Deqlan said, then walked to our cars.

We stood outside a bit chatting and didnt hear a cry or a moan ,so this morning sure got off to a great start.

I go fetch Deqlan at 1230 and to say i cant wait, is an understatement. I cant wait to hear about the day and what he did and see the photos Ash is going to take throughout his first day.

For the very first time, i sit in my little home office and its SO QUIET! I am looking for a radio just to create more noise!

Enjoy the first of the photos , promise to update more later with all the details about Deqlans very first school day.

I cant remember if i ever shared this with you all , but when Deqlan was sick i had visions/pictures in my mind ,and one of them was realised today,as i bent down to say goodbye to Deqlan and i looked up and saw Nanna and Meggie behind a green gate watching us - Meggie had a little girl on her hip with blonde curly hair. You know what - i had that exact moment come true - as i looked up at them, i told them it was the exact vision i had 2 1/2 years ago, even down to the colour of the gate - Meggie not holding her little girl yet, but she sure was with us - thats another reason i had such a strong feeling it was a girl !

Thank you so much for all your calls, text messages, emails, facebook comments and above all your prayers, thank you so much for all you do for Deqlan and our family - WE ARE BLESSED TO HAVE YOU IN DEQLANS PRAYER ARMY!

Logan starts grade 3 today, wow how time flies ! Will call her again later to hear how her first day was and how she likes her new teacher!

Hope it went well with all the kids first days at school today and all those that were back to school, may it be a great year for you all!

Happy Birthday to Chris for today! Hope its a great day and fantastic year ahead full of blessings and joy!

God Bless, all our love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

'FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU', DECLARES THE LORD.'PLANS TO PROSPER YOU, NOT TO HARM YOU. PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE'

JEREMIAH 29;11

Happy Birthday Claire

To a very special friend, Claire

Heres wishing you a Very Happy Birthday for today and many many more!

I pray its a lovely day for you, and that the year ahead opens many doors and windows for you and your family, you deserve to be showered in only great things, as you do so much for others, never putting yourself first

Thank you for being a massive part of Deqlans prayer army, for all your love and support and friendship over the years, which i treasure, and i just know we are going to be friends for many years to come!

God Bless you, lots of love and prayers and hugs

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

Our little chatter box

Deqlan telling Lyal the numbers as he plays hop scotch!
Camie and Lyal enjoying the jungle gym
Sea saw

Shaz and Meggie

Shaz and me

Little Leaps, here we come!

Terrible light in this photo, but we eventually got Deqlan to sit and have a photo with Aunty Shea

Meggie with the gorgeous little fairy outfit Mom and Dee got her for her little girl on the way

The stunning tree skirt Aunty Shea made for our tree, thank you so much, we love it , its so special and we will treasure it always

We are now using the board Meggie and Conrad got Deqlan for his birthday and we change the date, temperature, and weather conditions each day!

Here we are , two nights before Deqlan starts his very first day of preschool

The feelings are mixed, but definitely leaning more towards those of excitment, and thankfulness then worred or anxious

I have been running around trying to get everything ready for the big day. We are creating a file, thanks to Liezl, our home programme therapist - its all about Deqlan which will hopefully be lots of help to Ash and all the other staff at Little Leaps - as well as something Deqlan will enjoy looking through - when i am finished with it i look very forward to sharing some photos with you.

Its difficult to try and put everything onto paper or tell amazing Ash everything there is to know about our precious boy. Its going to be frustrating as Deqlan cant always verbalise what he wants or what is worrying him. The teachers are not going to know the things that they should try and protect him from, like other children touching HIS things, or turning the pages of HIS books and magazines.But these are things that we can tell them, but have to be experienced to come up with a solution at school. These situations are the ones i worry about it and pray about and hope will not send Deqlan into a meltdown - but i know Little Leaps is fantasic , Ash is fantastic and above all, Our Lord lead us there , so I trust everything is going to be ok.

We have to allow Deqlan some time to settle in and get used to his new routine, and i have to allow myself to get used to it to. We have been together for the last 3 years and 4 months, nearly every moment of every day, so i know i am going to miss hearing Deqlan laughing in the morning watching Mickey Mouse and asking me for more milk. But , its only half day, so i plan to try and do as much of my work as i possibly can in the mornings while Deqlan is at school, so i can dedicate my afternoons completely to my precious school going boy.

I am on my knees in thanks , as this is another answered prayer from God - he prayed and prayed that i get to see Deqlan go to school, and here you go, WE ARE GOING TO WITNESS DEQLAN WALKING INTO SCHOOL AND ATTENDING HIS VERY FIRST DAY OF THE NEXT 4 YEARS AS LITTLE LEAPS. We couldnt be prouder of Deqlan and how far he has come. Thank YOU Lord for answering our prayers, for leading us in the right direction and for continuing to heal our beautiful boy in every way.

I also want to say thank you to my Mom and Deqlans Nanna, for being the most important aid in this massive leap to school. Mom, if it wasnt for you, Deqlan would not be as prepared as he is, he wouldnt understand how to build different puzzles, decipher diffferent colurs, blow out candles, colour in, tolerate different textures, build the most beautiful towers. We cant thank you enough for all the love and time and effort you have put into helping Deqlan reach his full potential , you are amazing and we love you so very very much. I know the tears you are going to shed on Wednesday or tears of joy and pride.

Deqlan has been chatting up a storm, especially the last few days. As Nanna describes it, he is connecting the dots, he is generalising, he in understanding so much more . One of the things i am preparing, is a list of all the words Deqlan can say - we are at 194!!!!!!!!!!! Without the addition of the new words over the weekend, without the alphabet and counting to 20!!! How exciting ! We are so thrilled!!!

Some examples of Deqlan connecting the dots:

- Mark mentioned he was going to eat something, Deqlan then said "KFC"! We had to laugh!

- When Goofy is trying to draw Mickeys face , on mickey mouse clubhouse, he cant hold the pencil steady and Deqlan says ' CAREFUL'

- When Mickey is drawing his face, 1 big circle, 2 small for the ears, he says 'CIRCLE'

- When he see's Kung Fu Panda - in the shops or in a book he will say ' MNET' cause thats what they currently advertising

- Instead of pulling us around by the hand, he will bring his bottle to us and say 'MILK' He will take us and tell us what DVD he wants to watch ' BIRDY' for 3rd and bird "MICKEY' for his beloved Mickey, ' THOMA' for Thomas and "EMY" for the Thomas DVD with Emily in it

- He can describe what he is doing , like when playing in the sand, "SAND" ' SWIMMING' 'SLEEPING'

- He continues to amaze us with his love and understanding for logos - Mark had a CAT shirt on, but to Deqlan the letters were similar to CNA the stationery shop, 'CNA'

- Looking at toilet paper, Deqlan will say 'BUM!'

- today when visiting with Shaz and the boys at cornish Kettle, a playground and tea garden, there was hop scotch blocks numbered 1 - 10 - he moved from one block to the next proudly announcing the number he was on. Backwards, sideways, anyways, he could tell us. Nanna has worked on this excercise for many months and finally he has got it!

The most wonderful thing is that Deqlan doesnt just echo our words - he initiates them, he describes things, he tells us what he wants, but he waits for us to acknowledge what he is saying and will carry on saying the same word till we look at him and repeat it.

Deqlan is pointing so beautifully! With his little finger, he will count out blocks in a magazine and wait patiently for us to clap hands and then say 'HOORAY' or WELL DONE.

Our beautiful little chatter box we are so blessed - from 2 words 1 year ago, to nearly 200 and a host of things he has accomplished in such a short period of time. WE ARE BEYOND BLESSED!

Please say prayers for our little guy to love school, to enjoy it, to make friends, to learn, to be happy and safe there. Please pray for Mark and I and Nanna and Grandpa and Meggie and Keaton as we watch Deqlan go into his classroom, and kiss him goodbye and put him in the very capable hands of Ash and her team.

We pray for all our little friends that will also be going to school for the very first time and all those returning to school , but it be a great year in every way!

Have a great evening everyone, hope you are well, and Aunty Shea, hope you back safely and had a great holiday! Kristen, congratulations on your Christening on Saturday, you looked gorgeous!

God Bless, all our love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE

SNOW CAKE

FOR SOUTH AFRICAN VIEWERS ONLY I AM AFRAID ( THANKS LISA)

PLEASE NOTE THAT ON SABC 3 THIS SUNDAY AT 2200, THEY ARE FLIGHTING THE MOVIE 'SNOW CAKE' WITH SIGOURNEY WEAVER AS A YOUNG LADY WITH AUTISM AND ALAN RICKMAN AS A MAN WHO SPENT TIME WITH HER

WELL WORTH THE WATCH AND RECORDING!

New Years photos

The boys and i swimming on New Years day at Uncle Ken and Aunty Jenni, was a lovely day!


Everyone enjoying the delicous lunch!

Uncle Ken watching Deqlan enjoying the sprinkler

where there is water, there is Deqlan

Keaton and Tucker saying cheers to the New Year, on New Years eve

Enjoying the divine food my amazing husband prepared

Cheers Aunty Shea, Dee and Mom

Sophie, Aunty Shea and Mom

This must be the funniest photo i have ever seen of Keaton - He took Dee's glasses of the table and was making the funniest faces with them on, i am still laughing at loud as i type this!!

Gorgeous Keaton and Meggie

Keatie and Ice

Baby girl Papa and Mama to be

Mom, Meggie and Me

Megs and me saying cheers!

Deqie me and Keaton playing tickling games

A lovely photo of Mark - very rare for him to stand and pose for a photo!

We had fantastic New Years celebrations. New Years eve we had a little get together at our place with the fam and Tucker joined us to! New Years Day we went to Uncle Ken and Aunty Jenni and as always had a delicous spread ! More news to follow soon!