The Top 5 Truths About Down Syndrome

Another post from mom, but I wanted to share a great post I just read that shares a mother's thoughts on the most important things to know/remember about anyone with Dow Syndrome. Sometimes you can tell by the look on people's faces when they meet Ben that they want to understand what's up with him, but don't know what or how to ask. Then there's those that talk to me about him with him standing there - as if he doesn't understand what they are saying. Ben may not have the verbal skills to express how he feels when people do that, but think about how you would feel. Same emotions, needs and feelings at work. This post is wonderful in it's simplicity and depth of understanding. There are also five ways listed how you can value those with DS in your life.

http://www.simplymodernmom.com/2010/03/simply-said-stephanie-about-down-syndrome

Pass it on!

We Had a Flood!

This is the football field..

I am glad the flood didn't get to our house, but so many houses in Nashville are in big trouble. I remember very well when our house flooded in 2003. Every time there is a storm, I still ask my mom if there is going to be a tornado or flood. In the last 2 days, there have been many floods and tornadoes, but God has protected us.

We did drive around our little town of Hartsville last night after the rain stopped and took some pictures.





Hartsville Storage-which has gone done since I saw it the first time a few hours ago.


This is hwy 25 on the way out to my sister's house.


Hwy 25 by Sam Beasley Road



This is the other side of town on Old 25, we take this road to go to Gallatin. The road to Gallatin has been closed since Sat. so we can't go to Kroger's or Walmart. Nathanael took mom to the Pig in the jeep.


More on the bridge on Old 25


Old 25 and Oldham. It's gone down alot.



Road closed!

Playing Basketball With Josh and Lindsey

I took so many pictures of Dad and his visit I completely filled up my camera card! The sad part is something happened to the card and it quit working. We lost all the pictures! Over 300! Bummer.

My mom thought the 4 GB card was trash, too, but she found a program online that restored it, but still hasn't gotten the pictures back. At least I can still take pictures, but all the stuff I was going to show you about Dad's visit is GONE. Sorry.

So, looking through pictures I do have I thought I'd show you some videos of Josh, Lindsey and myself playing B-ball. It was such a nice day (in the middle of February!) . The first one shows me making a basket, the second one is funny because Josh is teasing Lindsey and she laughs ALOT. I like that about her! Lindsey is really good at basketball, too! It was one of the most fun days EVER.

One warning, you might want to turn down the volume because the wind made alot of noise in the camera while taping. But don't turn it off if you want to hear Lindsey laugh!



Making a basket!




Josh teasing Lindsey to make her laugh even more!

Nathanael's Birthday Cakes

I don't know how many cakes Nathanael ended up with, but I know that Kendra made him one, my mom made him one (our famous chocolate with chocolate fudge icing) and then Kristin, (Kendra's sister) made him this one:

Nathanael likes to play SuperMario, which is why Kristin chose this design. Cool!

Now, if you would like to hear the worst singing ever and Nathanael burning Josh's fingers, watch this video:

Nathanael's Birthday

Last week it was Nathanael's (my brother) birthday and Josh and Lindsey were here and we had so much fun! (Actually, his birthday was Feb 19th). When Josh and the girls were doing dishes after dinner, Nathanael started shooting them with my Nerf gun. I have 2 Nerf guns and lots of bullets, so I helped him.

Well, the girls decided to fight back, and they were planning their attack from outside. It was war. And really fun! I also need to tell you it was really nice out that night, around 70 degrees (in Feb!).


Here I am delivering weapons of not-so-mass destruction to the girls.


Caught Kendra filling a water bottle...to do what? mmmmmmmmmm.

This is Kendra and Lindsey - ready for anything!

Kendra, ready for battle!

The Miracle of Life?

Here's a video I want to show you on a trip out last week. I really liked the view. Then mom wants to show you more pictures of good views that I've taken, like a cool rainbow. Bye!












Mom laughed when I told her I wanted to include this in my good views. I love McDonald's!


















This is the left and right side of the same rainbow, a little bit different times. I took this standing on our front porch.
You can see every color in the rainbow in the one on the right!

Josiah's Journey: +28 Great News!!

I'm so happy that Josiah's test came back with the best news ever. I really don't understand what it all means, but I know that if he keeps doing this well my nieces and nephews will be home sooner than if he was doing bad. Now THAT is good news!

Read the post at:

Josiah's Journey: +28 Great News!!

Worshipping The Lord With Song!

This is a post by Ben's mom (with his permission, of course). I just really wanted to share a very special moment in the car last week with any other parent that wonders if their 'special' child can truly worship or grasp the essence of Christianity.

We were traveling the almost 2 hour drive to the dentist and since one of Ben's favorite things to do is listen to music and sing I grabbed some music we could both enjoy-if you get my drift.... One of the CD's we were listening to was Michael W Smith's Worship and we were on our second time through it, both of us in our own little world, singing our hearts out. (isn't the car wonderful for that?)

However, I noticed that periodically during his heart felt singing, he would remove his glasses and wipe his eyes and then put them back on and continue singing. Since this is something I rarely see him do, after noticing this unusual (for Ben) act for the third time I asked him if his eyes were bothering him. Ben will rarely confess to pain, annoyance or anything whatsoever bothering him and answered with his typical "I'm fine, mom".

The CD was on it's third time around now, and Ben was not losing energy in his singing from the heart. He did continue to take his glasses off periodically and wipe tears from his eyes. Now you need to know one thing about Ben - he rarely cries, but one of the few times tears flooded his eyes was when he accepted Jesus as his personal savior several years ago. So when I asked him for the last time why he kept wiping his eyes, he answered, "I dunno, I just love singing to Jesus!"

When I realized that it was the Spirit of God in him worshiping, tears came to my eyes.


When I asked him for his camera and snapped it the next time he wiped his eyes, he really didn't understand why it meant something to me. Guess it was just another one of those 'mom moments' that I wanted to share with you.

John 4:23-24
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Cats For Dad

This post is for my dad, because he missses our cats. They really miss him, I know.


Can you see Fatsy's arm (paw) hugging Snuffy? Cute.




And...a video of Ben and Snuffy...





and...a video of Fatsy (mom woke him up for this...)





...and last, but NOT least, Ben saying Hi to Dad....(and James)

Signing For Si

I've been learning sign language and Josiah knows alot of sign language too. That's why we made a video of us signing to Josiah. This is our practice video, but mom told my sister that we would post it yesterday (oops). We'll replace the old ones with the new one when it's done. So here goes:

Pray For Josiah

This is Josiah today, he is swollen from the medicine and he doesn't feel good. Below are pictures of Josiah a couple years ago and one of him feeling pretty good in the hospital last week. See the difference?


Today is a day to pray for Josiah. He has done really good so far, but today he needs much more prayer. I know God is hearing everyone's prayer, so please, pray more! Thanks.

Snow!

These are my pictures from Feb 1st, one of the first real snows we have had this year in TN. Nothing like my sister and nieces and nephews have seen in Minnesota, but it was pretty cool since we don't see it much.

Of course, it was my job to clean the snow off the back steps so it didn't freeze and someone slip and fall. It wasn't really shoveling, it was more like sweeping.



This is a picture of my feet. I don't know why mom thinks it was weird that I was playing basketball in the snow in my sandals. Moms. Oh well.

Missing Our Family Times Together!

Today was a big day for my nephews, James and Josiah. James gave his bone marrow and Josiah got it and it all went well. We prayed that all went well. I really miss them all!

We used to get together every other Sunday and they have been gone since Dec 26th! Here's a video (very short) of the last time we were together:

Saying "HI!" To Josiah!

Last night my brother Nathanael and his wife, Kendra and Josh and Lindsey were here with mom and I for dinner. They brought pizzas from Little Caesar's - mmmmmmmmmmmm. We all watched the video of Josiah saying "Hi!" (for the first time!). You can watch it here:

http://thejourneyofjosiah.blogspot.com/2010/01/5-and-si-says-hi.html

Here are my brothers and (sisters) saying "hi!" to Josiah:




Here's me (Ben) saying hi to Josiah:

Stopping at the Cresup's House

We are now in Monticello, IL to visit the Cresups. I'm glad they just happen to be almost exactly half way between Minneapolis, MN and Hartsville, TN.

Here's pictures from our visit to the Cresups.


This is Lindsey, who will be my sister when she gets married to my brother Josh in July. We arrived at her parent's house just in time to get in another car to drive to Abigail's birthday party. Abigail is Lindsey's little sister.

This is their barn where they keep all the animals, like horses!

This is Abigail, it's her birthday today!

This is Abigail's older brother, Mason, in the van on the way to her party.


Here's Abigail and I in their driveway. Look at all the snow! Not as much as there was in Minnesota, tho.


Here is Lindsey and Josh and that's Lindsey's dad between them. He's really cool, too.


Here's Josh with his future Father-In-Law!


Here's Lindsey's mom. She was really nice. I think that's Abigail next to her.

Josh, and more people at the party.


Now we are back at Lindsey's house. That's Mr. Cresup eating chili with me. Mmmmm, chili!


This is Lindsey and Abigail's room.


Here I am being cool. I'm playing the drums in Mason's room.


This is Mason's room, he has drums and a keyboard and lots of music stuff. I love his room, it's so cool!

This is really, really cool, too. Their basement is so full of really fun things to do.


In their basement they have fixed up a way to make this a big screen to watch movies and play Wii on. I love it!! That's me next to it so you can see how big it is.


These are blue ribbons that Abigail has won with her horses.


This is part of their home school room.

Here is the other end of their homeschool room. We left on Monday morning, and this is them doing their school with their dad. I was glad I didn't have school today, but it would be fun at their house!

It's been a fun, but fast trip from Hartsville to Minnesota and back. We left at 3 am Sat morning, and were at the Ronald McDonald House in Minnesota by late night time on Saturday. We left MN again really early Sunday morning, and arrived in Monticello, IL just in time to go to Abigail's birthday party. Cool, huh? We were home for dinner on Monday. It was so much fun! The best part was spending time with my big brother, Josh.

The Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis

This is the hallway we went down to get to the room that my sister, Rachael and my nieces and nephews and Jim are staying in while Josiah is in the hospital.


Now we are inside! That's my brother Josh.


This is Jim and Rachael in the kitchen part of the room.

Rachael, Josh and Jim in one of the bedrooms.

There's Josiah! He's in the main living area.


This is a kitchen that anyone that is living here can use. It's by the cafeteria, it's NOT in their room.


Here is the main eating area, or the cafeteria. They serve dinner to everyone every night here. I guess there's alot of spaghetti dishes served! Mmmmmm....spaghetti!


There's even a workout room for the adults. Kids aren't allowed in here to keep them safe, but you can watch them play in the next room thru the window.


That's my back looking at the pool room (not the kind you can swim in :((oh, well. )
Here they have machines you can buy pop and juice for a quarter. That's my dad stocking up (ha ha)

Here's Sara, and Hannah on the right, in the eating room. Everyone says she's grown a few inches already. She must like spaghetti!


More pictures of the cafeteria area. That's Hannah and Sara.


There's Josh with his feet on the sofa, mom's not happy about that! That's me sitting next to my Dad on the couch in their room.


They even have a big gym to play games and basketball. The hoops even adjust for little people!


There's Leah playing one of the video games that are free in the play area.


There's my Dad and Josh in their kitchen. It's all really one big room, but they call it the kitchen.

That's all, folks! That's me in the car, we are off! Next stop, Monticello, IL to spend the night at the Cresup's, then back home to Mom. The Cresaps are Josh's fiancee's family. See ya there!

Oops, one more thing-if you want to see a video tour of this house (not by me) that my mom found on YouTube, you can learn lots more about the Ronald McDonald house in Minneapolis, it's pretty good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGQz2tDq1Gg