A “Banquet of Misfits”
It was a simple weekend meal of cheese pizza and Thai food; but the guests were the ones God most wanted there. On World Down Syndrome Day, I hope that we all get a chance to experience a banquet like this…
They Gave Her a Chance…
With the excitement and anticipation of seventh grade starting tomorrow, I couldn’t let the weekend go by without stopping and looking back with gratitude on a season of Julia’s life fondly coming to a close. Thank you Miss Loretta!
World Down Syndrome Day ~ One More Voice
Four World Down Syndrome Days have passed in my daughter’s life, and this will be the third one I’ve written about. I missed the first one because it was only a couple of months after her heart surgery when we were still taking in how marvelously normal things were becoming. A lot has happened since […]
Christmas Greetings from the Farm
It’s Christmas Eve at the farm on Willow Road. The temperature barely got above 20 degrees today, but a strong sun melted off the dusting of snow we got last night and its reflection off the white and fallow fields made it hard to look outside today. But now the light has mellowed and the […]
A Pre-Thanksgiving Giving of Thanks
We’re coming into the season where we all take an intentional look back at the year and our lives and practice the life-giving discipline of gratitude. Many of you have been following our little family’s adventure faithfully for over three years now, so let me say right at the outset that we are very, very […]
Working + Waiting = Mobile!
As a parent of a kid with Down syndrome (or any special need, for that matter), you find yourself never taking anything for granted. Sure, it can get frustrating watching your kid’s typical friends seemingly breeze through crawling and standing and walking and learning new words as yours is still figuring out the intricacies of […]
Fulfilled…
The past few weeks have seen the fulfillment of a longtime dream for Jocelyn and I. You may remember over a year ago as I was thinking through the emotion of watching Julia’s Down syndrome becoming a little more evident and younger kids passing her by developmentally. Well… it’s been over a year and a […]
She Picked Me and She Picked Us
I’m taking a moment to celebrate today, and it’s an easy one to remember. It’s the day that two lives were completely and permanently woven into mine. It’s the day that life would (twice!) never be the same. Four years ago tonight, I was a new husband. A year prior, I had basically surrendered to […]
A Year (and a Lifetime) Ago
Tonight I was reminded again that sometimes in the crush of the day to day, I need to remember to sit and be grateful every now and again. It started innocently enough. I was dealing with a typical “first world” problem and rearranging some stuff in our refrigerator so that I could somehow wedge more […]
Heart Day’s Eve
I rocked my little girl to sleep tonight. I know that’s not such a news flash. In fact, it’s pretty routine around our house. Even though all the experts say you shouldn’t let your baby fall asleep in your arms, but lay them down while they’re still awake so they can self soothe and all […]