Shane is playing in his first season as a Beaver for Bemidji State and Owen and Lisa are bringing home ribbons from their own traveling team tournaments. Gabe is an attentive spectator who's preparing for his own day "on court".
Monday, January 27, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Happy 21st Troy
"9 lbs, 6 ounces, 22 inches long, 5:03 am on January 24, 1993" were very important statistics 21 years ago. Our 6th child, our 4th son, was born.
There was a time that we weren't sure our hope for this child would be realized. During the 30th week of my pregnancy, while driving home from a family trip to Louisiana, we hit a patch of black ice and slammed into a tree at about 45 mph. My seat-belt's shoulder harness failed to lock, my head hit my knee (my feet were up on the dash), the bolts on all of the van seats were stripped and I was thrown to the floor, and was briefly knocked unconscious. I came to with a practical understanding of what it means to "see stars", only it was more like a band of old time television static that wiped out a horizontal strip of about 1/3 of my vision. My water broke and the baby wasn't moving. Throughout the ambulance ride the EMT kept asking, "Do you feeling anything now?" And I kept replying, "No, but this baby doesn't move much." You'd think they'd carry a stethoscope in an ambulance. But they didn't. She stayed with me in the emergency room and cried when the fetal monitor picked up a strong heartbeat from a sleeping baby.
We chose his middle name that week--Jonathan, gift of God. His life itself was a gift, his preservation through the accident was a gift, and the closing of the bag of waters and full term delivery was a gift. The name Troy wasn't as meaningful. A week before his birth we still hadn't picked out a first name, and while watching a playoff football game the name "Troy Aikman" came up on the screen. Keith said, "Hey, we've never thought of using 'Troy'." It met our three criteria--fewer than three syllables, relatively uncommon, not so uncommon that people have never heard of it. A week later we still weren't opposed to it and hadn't found anything else we preferred, so Troy it was.
Not only is Troy our 4th son, but his father and grandfather are each the 4th son in their families making Troy "the 4th son of the 4th son of the 4th son".
Happy Birthday Troy-boy! May your life and spirit reflect the One who preserved you even before you were born.
Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
I love you!!
There was a time that we weren't sure our hope for this child would be realized. During the 30th week of my pregnancy, while driving home from a family trip to Louisiana, we hit a patch of black ice and slammed into a tree at about 45 mph. My seat-belt's shoulder harness failed to lock, my head hit my knee (my feet were up on the dash), the bolts on all of the van seats were stripped and I was thrown to the floor, and was briefly knocked unconscious. I came to with a practical understanding of what it means to "see stars", only it was more like a band of old time television static that wiped out a horizontal strip of about 1/3 of my vision. My water broke and the baby wasn't moving. Throughout the ambulance ride the EMT kept asking, "Do you feeling anything now?" And I kept replying, "No, but this baby doesn't move much." You'd think they'd carry a stethoscope in an ambulance. But they didn't. She stayed with me in the emergency room and cried when the fetal monitor picked up a strong heartbeat from a sleeping baby.
We chose his middle name that week--Jonathan, gift of God. His life itself was a gift, his preservation through the accident was a gift, and the closing of the bag of waters and full term delivery was a gift. The name Troy wasn't as meaningful. A week before his birth we still hadn't picked out a first name, and while watching a playoff football game the name "Troy Aikman" came up on the screen. Keith said, "Hey, we've never thought of using 'Troy'." It met our three criteria--fewer than three syllables, relatively uncommon, not so uncommon that people have never heard of it. A week later we still weren't opposed to it and hadn't found anything else we preferred, so Troy it was.
Not only is Troy our 4th son, but his father and grandfather are each the 4th son in their families making Troy "the 4th son of the 4th son of the 4th son".
Happy Birthday Troy-boy! May your life and spirit reflect the One who preserved you even before you were born.
Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
I love you!!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
A Different Kind of Grocery Store Kid
Yesterday, I took Gabe to a small, local grocery store that he had never been in. He loves to be a helper and called out, "Come on Mom!" and "Let's get started!" as we entered the store. He was excitedly moving me through the aisles, putting my items in the cart, and pointing out things we had to get. It was all pretty cute.
We went through the produce section and picked the things we needed and I headed up another aisle while he lingered. He hollered after me,
"Mom, can we get some broccoli?!"I replied,
"No Gabe, we already have broccoli at home."He gave an unhappy grunt, "Uhhh", and then ran to join me, delighted to find something else to put in the cart.
A stunned shopped looked at him with her jaw open and asked, "How do you get him to do that?"
I wasn't sure if she meant 'ask for broccoli' or 'take no for an answer'. Either way, it is refreshing for people to be able to see Gabe act in a non-typical way that is positive and shows what a joy a child with Down syndrome can be!
Friday, January 10, 2014
High School Musical
I decided to begin the year and the return to the blog with a bang. I doubt anyone will watch the entire production that I'm posting here, but I want to make it available to the few devoted family fans (grandparents, devoted aunts, etc) who enjoy watching the productions of their loved ones but live too far away to make it to these events. Others may click on the video out of curiosity and enjoy a few minutes of it.
So, what is it? The RHS/NCSS Drama production of Pirates of Penzance. Bryce had one of the lead roles and played an innocent, duty-bound young man named Frederic who was mistakenly apprenticed to a band of unconventional pirates. I had heard of this Gilbert and Sullivan musical before but hadn't seen it. I ended up watching the entire production 5 or 6 times and it took 4 for me to fully understand the story and nuances of the characters. Most of that is owed to it being written and produced in England almost 140 years ago.
Bryce was interviewed on a local radio station the week that it played and when asked why he hadn't been in the drama program before this, his junior, year he replied, "Because my mom never made me try out before." He went on to explain that I didn't actually "make him" try out, but I did give him a big dose of encouragement. He loved every minute of it. It's the first time I've seen Bryce not only enjoy what he was doing, but enjoy the practicing of it as well! I don't think we realize how important that is in understanding our children's interests. They may enjoy playing on a baseball team or playing a game, but we know they love the game for the sake of the game when they create their own imaginary teams and series and play the whole thing out by them selves with a ball and a concrete wall. Bryce enjoyed the singing and the drama from beginning to end and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the villian "James" in their upcoming Sherlock Holmes play.
As to the videos: Just a warning, the first few minutes are a bit slow, and Bryce's favorite scenes come in the first 10 minutes of Part 2.
Final note: If you really have an interest in setting aside an hour and so and watching the entire production it helps to have a bit of knowledge of the story. Frederic (Bryce) was mistakenly apprenticed to the Pirates of Penzance when his nursery-maid, Ruth, misunderstood her employers instructions to indenture him to a ship's "Pilot". The Pirates of Penzance, however, are not typical pirates (as noted in the opening song, "Raise the Pirate Sherry"--sherry was a wealthy man's drink, informing the audience that these were gentlemen and not the rum-drinking sort). They prove to be failures as pirates for, although they have a frustration with 'civil life', they can not completely abandon civility.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
So, what is it? The RHS/NCSS Drama production of Pirates of Penzance. Bryce had one of the lead roles and played an innocent, duty-bound young man named Frederic who was mistakenly apprenticed to a band of unconventional pirates. I had heard of this Gilbert and Sullivan musical before but hadn't seen it. I ended up watching the entire production 5 or 6 times and it took 4 for me to fully understand the story and nuances of the characters. Most of that is owed to it being written and produced in England almost 140 years ago.
Bryce was interviewed on a local radio station the week that it played and when asked why he hadn't been in the drama program before this, his junior, year he replied, "Because my mom never made me try out before." He went on to explain that I didn't actually "make him" try out, but I did give him a big dose of encouragement. He loved every minute of it. It's the first time I've seen Bryce not only enjoy what he was doing, but enjoy the practicing of it as well! I don't think we realize how important that is in understanding our children's interests. They may enjoy playing on a baseball team or playing a game, but we know they love the game for the sake of the game when they create their own imaginary teams and series and play the whole thing out by them selves with a ball and a concrete wall. Bryce enjoyed the singing and the drama from beginning to end and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the villian "James" in their upcoming Sherlock Holmes play.
As to the videos: Just a warning, the first few minutes are a bit slow, and Bryce's favorite scenes come in the first 10 minutes of Part 2.
Final note: If you really have an interest in setting aside an hour and so and watching the entire production it helps to have a bit of knowledge of the story. Frederic (Bryce) was mistakenly apprenticed to the Pirates of Penzance when his nursery-maid, Ruth, misunderstood her employers instructions to indenture him to a ship's "Pilot". The Pirates of Penzance, however, are not typical pirates (as noted in the opening song, "Raise the Pirate Sherry"--sherry was a wealthy man's drink, informing the audience that these were gentlemen and not the rum-drinking sort). They prove to be failures as pirates for, although they have a frustration with 'civil life', they can not completely abandon civility.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)