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 […]
The Mayes Family
I’ve known Jim for years and I consider him a great friend. He and I go on regular adventures to India to visit the orphanage we support over their through our nonprofit. It had been a long time since he had gotten a portrait sitting with his girls, Sailor and Legace. I was happy to […]
The Biebuyck Family
I’ve not met many families more on a mission than the Biebuycks. Mark and Karen are great parents and each kid has their own amazing personality and are doing great things. I took them around Rochester a few days ago and even took time to get headshots for their performer. Anna! (click on an image […]
An Open Letter to Julia on Her First Day of Preschool
Editor’s note: As strange as this might seem, Julia’s formal educational career starts today at the three year old preschool class at our local elementary school. I’ve been anticipating and dreading this day for the entire summer, especially in the light of the wrangling we have been in with the special education department of our […]
Julia’s Walker
After months of trying (unsuccessfully) to get our daughter Julia to use her walker, she finally decided. And her world opened up and has never been the same. There is so much she is discovering now that she is mobile on her own. We decided to take her out to the family farm over Labor […]
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 […]
Talking to a Teenager About Heaven
One of the cool things I get to do in my position at the church is fielding a lot of the tough questions that come in. Our weekend services have a great way of drawing people in and opening all kinds of questions in people’s minds, and that’s where I come in. The subjects are […]
World Down Syndrome Day Plus One Week – Now What?
Let me just get this out there right now. I had a really rough time adjusting my attitude last night as I put Julia to bed. I’m not sure if it was the last of the stomach bug she’s been dealing with or the contrarianism that her whimsical toddler brain has developed, but let’s just […]