Happy New Years from the Dunes!! 2018
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🎆 love traditions that bring family and friends together!!! It's going to be an incredible year!!! #merrillsworktogetherplaytogetherstaytogether @lorenmerrill @satyamerrill @ssaggiee
Inspiring night with these great group of Unified Cheerleaders!! Thank you to our High School Cheer coaches! Couldn’t do it without them! These young girls just love them! Love that we are unifying kids with disabilities and disorders with “typical” kids!
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🙌🏻 Wait, what’s typical/normal?
Extraordinary people think about the possibilities!
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🙏🏻💙My daughter Charlotte is in love with basketball. 
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😍
Being once stuck in a wheelchair, then using a walker, not having her
hands available and then in crutches, trying to play basketball has been
cumbersome and tough over lots and lots of years. Every birthday and
Christmas she would ask for new basketball and play basketball a couple
hours after school. Physical therapy has worked with her for years
trying to teach her to get the posture
and strength to make baskets. Dribbling still does not happen very well
but to watch your child get to play on the Special Olympics unified team
for the first time, is one of the best things that could ever happen!
the possibilities are endless!! She for sure struggles running up and
down the court has lots of falls, but she did it! And that beaming smile
and the friends around her is incredible. And to see the other kids so
successful! For Zack, it’s the happiest place on earth to play on a
court with a team and he rocked it! All of these kids deserve a shout
out! Unified typical kids and disabilities! And thank you to George
Washington Academy! Amazing team right there 
:-)
The kids all worked and played so hard together. We all have problems
and it is tough. But we need to dwell on our possibilities and overcome
those problems or make them the best they can be! Because sometimes they
don’t go away. #cerebralpalsy #rarediseasesanddisorders #littleyellowpill #playunified #georgewashingtonacademy
Thankful Thursday got away from us this week!! So my girls and I still
wanted to share our gratitude!! I am so thankful for my beautiful
daughters and their desire to do what’s right and to do their best!! 
💕Thankful
for this great day I got to spend with my sister and her girls and my
parents at the Temple. We are so blessed to have a Temple close to home.
⭐️
🌟💙 #thankfulthursday #merrillsworktogetherplaytogetherstaytogether #snowflaketemple @ Snowflake Arizona Temple
💕Thankful
for this great day I got to spend with my sister and her girls and my
parents at the Temple. We are so blessed to have a Temple close to home.⭐️🌟💙 #thankfulthursday #merrillsworktogetherplaytogetherstaytogether #snowflaketemple @ Snowflake Arizona Temple
"Super Moon"
-Known as the blood moon, brighter and more detailed than normal.
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📺
📚What’s your opinion? I know we do like to watch TV :-)
but the kids definitely pick to be outside over tv. I’m really working
to teach them the love of books. Even as a reading specialist, it’s been
really tough to teach our kids to read, with having disabilities. We
have had to get really creative with reading. We found that our kids
love to listen to books! We find a book on audible and then the chapter
book at the library and if I can’t read with them, then
they read with Audible at night before bed and that’s amazing! They are
finding the love to read and finding some really great stories. I’m
finding I love a good story but my husband and I actually have really
enjoyed listening to personal growth books and teaching our children.
And then we occasionally enjoy a good TV show together
This is great, ordinary teens like to stash cash and aren’t happy unless they have it around. Extraordinary teens like to find ways to make a difference! I love what Caroline said, She had reminded us when we were building homes in Mexico that the children that didn’t even have anything and were living in homes with dirt floors, they were still happy. I was so proud of Harrison when he shared his prize gumballs that he got for Christmas with all the kids in the community. We have also learned that we can serve and help neighbors and people just in our own family. Reaching outside of ourselves sometimes is hard. And we have discovered that people all over the world are drinking filthy water and getting sick with diseases. Thank you @chickybumlooka for introducing us to charity Waters. Another way to help others just like us. My kids are excited to donate their birthdays this year to a good cause. So if you’re looking for a good way to give back and make a difference, contact @chickybumlooka https://youtu.be/UE9UvT5ujyg
Scary ride home tonight, stopped in Payson! So much snow!! Never got all the way home. Harrison was so excited!!
It was like “light speed” in Star Wars, driving up the mountain in the
snow. Wasn’t safe to go any further after a long exciting day!! Home is
where the family is, even at a hotel in payson. Memories being made
donuts and nachos, make it all better!! it was scary slipping and sliding on the road, but all that matters is that we stick together and we are safe. Lots
of silly laughs tonight! Thanks for a fun day with good friends and we
didn’t make it home quick enough because the kids got to stop for
fittings over in Scottsdale for the Wish Ball. Helping to raise money
for Make A Wish and to help bring awareness to rare diseases and
disorders. What a great experience! #makeawish #wishball #familiesareforever #merrillsworktogetherplaytogetherstaytogether #littleyellowpill @ Rim Country Inn Payson
We love our Ginger!! We had to say our goodbyes to our sweet Ginger this week. She lived a wonderful life on a ranch, we got her several years ago for Hippo Therapy/Horse Therapy. She helped my children to strengthen their muscles so they could have stronger trunk and muscle control. It’s amazing the things you can learn from a horse. She was so patient with the kids and all kids that came to ride her. Harrison gave her his last hugs! Kalicia learned to ride horses on her own with her. She would ride and deliver fresh eggs to the neighbors. She’s been such a blessing! My kids said now she feels better again and people in Heaven get to ride her. #familiesareforever #horsetherapy
We dropped the ball on reading how to be an “Extraordinary Teenager!” and sharing. Partly because we got hung up on the last quote, so we’ve been discussing it over the last several days. We were feeling kind of bad because we didn’t agree with the last quote as a family. It talked about not focusing on being different but focusing on being valiant! Completely agree, that we need to be Valliant and stand up for what’s right. But, my daughter’s first comment, when he said not to focus on being different, she said if Martin Luther King didn’t stand up and be different from the rest of the world where would we be today? Also, I have had to teach and advocate and love on my children and let them know it’s OK to be different. They get around on extra wheels, crutches and walkers. They speak differently And my little guy got his Speech device this week! Yay!! This device will help him to be able to hold conversations /speak with others. We are so excited! So my family, big boys and all celebrate in being different and fight to be valiant! #differentisgood #merrillsworktogetherplaytogetherstaytogether #speechtherapy
Extraordinary people think about the possibilities! My daughter Charlotte is in love with basketball. Being once stuck in a wheelchair, then using a walker, not having her hands available and then in crutches, trying to play basketball has been cumbersome and tough over lots and lots of years. Every birthday and Christmas she would ask for new basketball and play basketball a couple hours after school. Physical therapy has worked with her for years trying to teach her to get the posture and strength to make baskets. Dribbling still does not happen very well but to watch your child get to play on the Special Olympics unified team for the first time, is one of the best things that could ever happen! the possibilities are endless!! She for sure struggles running up and down the court has lots of falls, but she did it! And that beaming smile and the friends around her is incredible. And to see the other kids so successful! For Zack, it’s the happiest place on earth to play on a court with a team and he rocked it! All of these kids deserve a shout out! Unified typical kids and disabilities! And thank you to George Washington Academy! Amazing team right there :-) The kids all worked and played so hard together. We all have problems and it is tough. But we need to dwell on our possibilities and overcome those problems or make them the best they can be! Because sometimes they don’t go away. #cerebralpalsy #rarediseasesanddisorders #littleyellowpill #playunified #georgewashingtonacademy
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