A Very Important Day!

Today is February 28th, my Dad's 59th birthday AND the day of Josiah's surgery. We are praying for him as he is in surgery right now. We might go to the hospital he is in today, which is Vanderbilt in Nashville. Here is a picture of Josiah reading the newspaper to James. (James can't read, yet lol)

Homeschooling Down Syndrome

We've been asked many times how we homeschool Benjamin. However, it's usually in a setting that a one or two sentence answer is completely inadequate. So I'd like to include many of the activities we do as part of our 'school' and offer up some resources and ideas we've found helpful.

One website that is worth visiting is http://homeschoolingdownsyndrome.com . I found it looking for a good domain name to start a homeschool resource site for kids like Ben. There's quite a bit I've found for younger children just learning to read and write, but not too much for older teens that are looking to graduate and learn a trade. So that will be our goal for now. That is, if I can figure out how to add pages to this blogspot. I like Wordpress so much more (sorry, Google). But there are advantages to Blogspot.

More later. Just wanted to get started back up and share that website with you. Hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

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!