Emma's Having Surgery

Click on the box to your right, Emma's Hope. The surgeon is going to operate! That's right, she is going to have her heart repaired. How awesome is that!

Family Vacation

Oh boy...just got back from vacation and are we tired! We had a great time. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

We went to Helen, Ga and saw the Alpine Model Train exhibit.
We went to a 'carnival' in Pigeon Forge (with Cousin Abbey) and rode lots of rides!
We went to the Aquarium in Gatlinburg.Hiked to Grotto Falls with Cousin Mark. (ok, only Judson and Randy did this)
Best of all, spent time with family!!!!!We had a great time and hope to do it again.

Parent's Worst Nightmare

Many know Stephen Curtis Chapman from the songs they hear on the radio. Others know him for the financial help he gives families adopting internationally through his Shaohannah's Hope foundation. Yesterday, he experienced the worst thing a parent could ever go through. His 5 year old daughter was killed in a tragic accident. If you would like to find out more, you may go to this site. http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

Try, Try Again (May take awhile to load videos)

Funny the abilities each of our children has. Take Athletic ability. Ansley has a natural flow and rhythm about her. Things just come easily for her when it comes to athletics (unless it requires hand-eye coordination). You show her something and she can do it. Judson has tenacity on his side. His body doesn't necessarily move like a well oiled machine but given enough time, he'll get it. He won't stop trying. Sawyer has the true 'love' of the sport. He'll watch and cheer and not get bored. Whereas the other two, get bored if they are not playing and don't even know when to cheer. He has a lot of ability too.

Here's Judson turning back flips on the bungy jumping machine. He has been working on it for months. He never gave up and never got discouraged. Now, he wants to learn the front flip. I'm sure he will. (Excuse the quality of the videos. I took them with the small camera instead of the Rebel)


Here's Ansley trying out the Krazy Kar that the neighbor gave us. She immediately took to it, making it turn and go which ever way she wanted. Judson is still struggling with it (but will get it).


Sawyer loves it but just isn't strong enough to turn the wheels.

From Another Blog

Well Look At That

Everybody noticed.

Everybody stared.

Eventually even me.

We stopped at Petro-Can to fill up the car and had to wait until a lane cleared by the pump so we could pull in. We'd passed several other stations without line ups, but here we sat. Joe collects Petro-Points and refuses to gas anywhere else. It's one of his, um, quirks. I didn't notice anything at first, then I saw a young guy about twenty staring intently at something. I put my eyes on his gaze and slid along to see the object of his attention. "Oh, stop," I thought to myself. He was staring at a man, about the same age as he was, with Down Syndrome who was pumping gas into a car.

"Surely," I thought, "people are used to seeing the disabled amongst us being out and in the community doing every day things."

Then I noticed that everyone else was staring too. Really looking at this guy. This was more than "Wow look at the disabled guy pump gas." This was something else.

So I took in the whole scene. He was pumping gas into a car. The car was empty. Forgive me for what I thought, but I thought that his mom or dad was probably in the service center going to the washroom. He finished pumping gas, went in to the little kiosk and paid.

Now, I understood what people were looking at. staring at, seeing. He got into the car, on the driver's side.

Started the engine.

Drove off.

Even I reeled at that. I had heard of people with Down Syndrome driving, but I'd never seen it before. My automatic assumption was that he was a passenger. That because he had Down Syndrome he'd never ever be in the driver's seat.

They weren't staring at him. Those people at the gas station. I think that something different was going on. They were re-evaluating everything they ever thought about someone with Down Syndrome. They were ripping apart pre-conceived notions. They were having prejudice challenged.

Admittedly, so was I.

Just when I thought that I had it all together, some guy with Down Syndrome drives me off the road. Makes me realize how deep my own prejudices run.

I wonder, though, about the effect he will have. On me, it was immediate. I reached inside myself and raised the bar - set expectations higher - not for them - for me.

But I wonder if that twenty something guy who's stare I'd noticed. Should he ever get the news that his wife is carrying a baby with Down Syndrome, will he remember the guy with the car, pumping gas. The guy who drove off. The guy who is living a life, unpredicted. The guy doing things, unexpected. The guy who dreams, unencumbered.

I truly hope so.

Yumm-O

We went to my new favorite restaurant last night, Meskerem. Who'd of thunk my family would be loving Ethiopian food? I mean, if you know my kids, you know what a picky crew they are. If we go to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Ansley eats steamed rice and that is it. The boys eat nothing. If we go eat at or favorite Mexican restaurant, they will eat chips and Ansley eats the tortillas. If the restaurant doesn't have french fries, my crew won't usually eat. So what's up with this restaurant? I don't know but if anyone has a recipe of injera (that doesn't take 5 pounds of teff flour and 3 days to make), send it my way please. I think it has to do with the novelty of the injera AND the pleasure of not having to use utensils!Sawyer ate his weight in yellow split peas. Ansley concentrated on the injera. (which is best described as a sour dough crepe) AND Judson (the pickiest eater this side of the Mississippi) tried Lettuce, Tomatoes, Green Beans and Carrots. Oh yes he did! I was almost giddy when Judson started trying the food. He didn't consume a lot but he tried it all and said he liked it.Now Momma, she likes the veggie platter, with collard greens, split peas, cabbage, green beans. While Daddy, he likes the zil zil tibs. Oh yeah, we loved it! Who knows, I may get brave enough to take them to the vegetarian Indian restaurant just down the street. Gotta love living in a metropolitan area with such diversity!

Enjoying the Weather

We are LOVING this weather. (all but the sneezing)We have Friends come over to play.We love riding bikes (adorned in the latest fashions of course)

We love mountain climbing!












We get summer hairdos!
We go swimming! (Judson passed his class. He can't take the next class until he turns 6)




This is Sawyer. He fears NOTHING, which makes me very scared.

All Craftsy

Just in case you think I sit around and eat bon-bons all day every day, think again. There are some days when I actually do something else.

Take the day (or two) it took to make these:



How bout the times we go here: