Pictures of My John

OK, I should know better than to make a post after a month away without it saying anything about John, but the previous story just hit me hard and I had some thoughts to get off my chest. Thanks for indulging me.

John is doing very well. He is now mobile and we are learning that we desperately need to keep everything off the floor. He is not crawling on all fours yet but he manages to commando crawl to where ever he wants to be pretty fast. He has started to put his knees up under him and get his belly off the floor some of the time but he moves a lot quicker commando style. I am also working with him on standing and sit to stand. This is mostly to teach him the proper mechanics of this movement while also allowing him to bear weight through his hips and legs.



My other children are out of school now, so John has lots of entertainment and opportunities to learn more things. He does not have teeth yet, but we are praying they break through soon which would make our life a lot easier at the table. His appetite is good but he is limited in what he can eat without chompers which is difficult for him and us because he wants desperately to eat what we are eating.

He now weighs 15 lbs. 11 oz. as of today which puts him at the 25th percentile for his weight. He is also at the 25th percentile for his height and head circumference also. I know this does not sound like a lot (it doesn't to me), but he is where a lot of our children were at his age. So thank you Mr. Genetics.

I hope that everyone is doing well. I have enjoyed my break from blogging as it has helped me to refocus on other things. But I have missed reading about your wonderful children and writing about my John.

So, here are some updated pictures of John that were taken by a friend of ours whose child is in the same school classroom as our daughter. She had a field trip one day and John and my wife went and had a fun time with her (and evidently with the camera). Thanks Wendy for the pictures - we love them.

Abortion

As I reflect back on the killing of one of the few abortionist who provided abortions in the third-trimester, I am reminded of just how far off-course mankind has come. To take something so blatant as mutilation of a 22 - 40 week old baby, and it is a baby at that point, and treat it as if it were just another day at the office is beyond anything that I can comprehend.

When I let my mind think about these things, which I have a lot this week, many questions come to mind. One is the question of why the contradiction of our laws regarding the taking of life. We put to death a man or woman who is found guilty of killing someone with the intent to kill and we have ruled that putting to death another for the sake of giving them relief from a terminal illness is unlawful. But yet we allow Doctors, of whom I might add have taken an oath of "never do harm to anyone" and "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion", to lawfully and legally take the life of a baby who has a beating pulse, recognizable face, lips, 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 ears, 2 eyes, 1 pair of eyelids, 1 pair of eyebrows, 2 arms, 2 legs, the formation of vital organs, and a beating heart just for the mere reasoning that the Mother doesn't want it.

How can this be justified? Why do we apply the law for one group of people and not another? Have we given great value to those that can speak or think for themselves?

Another question that has plagued me this week is where are we as Christians and people who frequent church, where the Bible is supposed to be taught, when it comes to this subject. We are obviously absent seeing as how this man was a religious man who frequented church and where his wife sang in the choir. Have we gotten used to abortion so much that we no longer see it as taking the life of another? How could this man have been allowed to continue practicing his murderous deeds and still maintain his religious life? I know that we as Christians are called to forgive, but I also believe the Bible teaches that a person can reach the point of unforgiveness if that sin is unrepentant and becomes a part of their life.

So I believe the implications of this are negative for the Christian church and should be a wake-up call for us and for our Christian leaders.

When I look into the faces of each of my 5 beautiful children, I can't imagine ever intentionally robbing them of the life that I chose to give them when I implanted my wife with my seed. So I ask: are we confused? We choose to kill what we have chosen to give life.

Below is an ultrasound of a 20-week old baby. The age of gestation in which Dr. Tiller is said to have aborted babies is 21-weeks and beyond. I know that I should feel compassion and sympathy toward the Tiller family. But frankly, I find it difficult to have that attitude toward a family or a church who would condone such atrocities.

Matthew 26:52

All Things Come To An End

When we first became aware of John's diagnosis, it was very difficult to make the transition from the world of no Ds to a world with Ds. The isolation that one feels, not to mention thinking about how this will effect your life as a parent was on our minds constantly. Isolation became a reality for us as we began to feel that no one understood what we were going through as parents of a child with special needs. The activities we once enjoyed with other adults had to be put on hold for what seemed to be indefinitely or until we figured out this new world of ours.

Blogging filled a void for me that I enjoyed very much. It has taught me so much by giving me the opportunity to meet other parents of children with Down syndrome and to learn from their experiences and to listen to their stories. Blogging also gave me an avenue in which to write my thoughts and vent my frustrations. I can honestly say that I have matured a great deal in this new journey in the last 8 1/2 months and blogging played a role in that.

But now that we are 8 1/2 months into our journey and we have grown so much, we are feeling more of a peace that things will be okay and a confidence that we will be able to handle the bumps along the way. That is why I have chosen to take a hiatus from blogging.

As John gets older and more mobile, he is asking for more and more of my time. There are so many things that I want to teach and show him as it seems like the more time, I spend with him, the more he learns. John is now at the beginning stages of crawling which he wants to do so bad and I am determined to help him get there.

I am thankful for this opportunity to write down my thoughts and have them read by so many people across the globe. I hope my thoughts and words have encouraged you in your journey. Though the streams of life seem to flow against children with special needs and their parents, don't give up on them. I have seen with John as I know you have with your children, these children are a blessing and have more potential than they are often times given credit; they just move at a slower pace and require more patience.