Parents of babies and young children with Down syndrome I want to share a short story with you.  Our son Jacob, now 23, is one amazing guy.  I wondered what he would do when he grew up.  He has 2 jobs and also attends and art program once a week.  But that isn’t the best part.  Jake has grown up with a love of helping others.  Of all of his many accomplishments I love this one the best!

Jake has volunteered for years at our Vacation Bible School in arts and crafts.  Today I got this message on my FB page.

“Wanted to tell you that my kids are having an absolute blast this week with Jacob at VBS. Every night they come home talking about him and how fun he is! Please tell him thank you for being such a great role model for them and teaching them about Jesus!!❤️”

My guy making a difference!

 

 

Today, June 14, is Flag Day and we should fly our flag.  Why does it matter you might ask?  Well, flying a flag shows our patriotism, the support of our troops, the unity of our country, and that the nation is mourning.  And our nation is mourning.  As you drive about you should see the flags at Federal, State and City building flying at half mast to mourn the loss of all who perished in Orlando. This is a perfect teachable moment for your kids.  I told April, Jake and Samuel briefly about what happened in Orlando.  I then showed them how the flags are flying half-way down the flag pole and what that means.  We as a nation can mourn together.

Take a moment today to fly your flag.

Even though my kids are too old to attend VBS (Vacation Bible School) they can still volunteer to help.  April tried volunteering for several years and finally wised up and said no more.  Samuel would never even think about helping but then there is Jacob.  Creative Jacob has helped with the arts and crafts for the last 5 years.  Because I have no desire to spend 5 evenings with 250 kids I volunteered to cut out “things” for the arts and crafts.  But before I go any further let me just tell you that VBS has changed …a lot in the last 10 years.  It is an industry that sells curriculum  There are professional props and videos and music.  I am not kidding when I say this but Justin Bieber could record one of these VBS songs and it would go to #1 on the charts.  They are that good.  VBS gets bigger and better each year.  Just check out those tags that Jacob is standing next to.  There is a column just like it on the other side of that life size bug.  Church members are supposed to take these tags with them and bring back their donations for VBS.  Imagine my surprise when some of the tags read: 20 gallons of vegetable oil!  I am convinced that the developers of the curriculum don’t have kids.  They also love Pinterest.  Someone came up with the great idea that since the theme is Cave Quest we should make lava lamps to see in the cave.  This consists of oil, food coloring, fizzy tablets and various other things put in a used water bottle.  Lava lamps are really code words for a disaster waiting to happen.  Oh well I guess I will just buy a #10 can size of chocolate pudding and gummy words (more donation items) to make edible dirt.  That shouldn’t be too messy.  But I digress.

My job is to cut out 250 crosses.  Oops to the one on the right.  Yep, they are going to make a mosaic backing to be pasted on the back of the open cross.  I convinced a friend to help me.  She may no longer be talking to me because I probably slipped her more than half of my pile of black construction paper.  To my credit I did cut out 250 bats.

What happened to paper and crayons and maybe if you got a little crazy glue and glitter?  What happened to juice and crackers for a snack every night!  Darn you Pinterest.  I could go on and on but I have to search Pinterest for how to get vegtable oil out of carpets.  There has got to be a board for that…right?

 

My new favorite song is Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and we have watched it many times on You Tube. Tonight at dinner Samuel insisted that “funk” was a swear word. We tried to explain what funk meant. April chimed in that funk is only a swear word if you say “you” after it. Another wonderful discussion around our dinner table.

A picture from the last week or so that makes me smile;)

It’s important to us that our children know the importance of Veteran’s Day.  We live in a town where it is celebrated and embraced so on Monday Jim, April and I headed to the Town Square.  Once we got there we met up with Jacob’s class from UC LAUNCH. The cold day didn’t keep the people from attending.  We had everything for a perfect ceremony… dignitaries

a fly over…

middle school students reading original poems about Veteran’s Day….

and Veterans standing in the cold, remembering the friends they had lost and paying tribute to the Armed Forces.  I want my children to see and experience this.

After the speeches a new statue was unveiled to stand with existing statues.  Then it was time for the band to play the different songs for the each branch of the military.

When the Marine Corps Hymn was played Jacob took off his jacket to reveal what shirt he had worn that day.

As the Marine Hymn played he stood in solidarity with his Dad.  He may never be able to join the Marines but he supports them 100%  He earned that shirt by doing 3 pull-ups for the Marine recruiter on the UC campus.

Sam was in school and unable to join us that day but we had taken the family on Sunday to see the Flags of Honor at Spring Grove Cemetery.  Everyone in our family got to celebrate this important day.

Thank you to all the men and women who have served or are serving in the military.

A picture/ pictures from the last week or so that makes me smile.

 

We have squeezed a lot into the last 6 days…a trip to the zoo

Halloween costumes run through…

Pumpkin carving…

and out to lunch at Blue Ash Chili where everyone knows our name and the servers dress in costumes all week…

I have made dinner for tonight using what I have on hand…

We are so ready for Halloween even if there is a SEVERE WEATHER WARNING for tonight.  Never let a little wind and rain slow you down.

Do you know what’s fun and annoying?

A blast from the past… Some things never change and her brothers are still annoying April each one (Derek, Dan, Jake and Sam) in his own unique, annoying way!

april anecdotes

Brothers are both fun and annoying and April has 4 of them!!!!  Lucky girl………………….

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