It's hard to believe...

that this little angel...

our perfect little grand daughter Reagan...

who loves Grammy...

and loves Mama...

and loves playing....

and who looks so happy...

has a hole in her heart and needs open heart surgery.  in the very near future.  but it's true.  Please keep her and her family and her doctors in your prayers.  And you can follow her story here and on Shauna's blog.

"Papa"

Help Kareen get home

Click on this link here to learn more.

Full Circle...

Someone I know (a missionary to China) once said that when you are traveling down God's path it sometimes looks like it is going all over the place, but when you stop and look back it is a straight line...

Who would have guessed...  10 1/2 years ago while working on an airplane, I slipped and broke my leg...badly!  My first reaction while lying on the hanger floor (after looking down and seeing my foot pointing in the wrong direction) was to look up through the wing of the airplane and say to God "Well I guess this day's not going the way I thought it was going to, so whatever the adventure is, I'm ready for it."

 So the ambulance came and they took me to Loma Linda Hospital where I spent very many hours waiting until I met this wonderful Christian surgeon who took very good care of me.

The same hospital I had two surgeries and three stays at...

This lead to an endless stream of appointments, which, of course, meant hours and hours in waiting rooms.  So Candy brought her puppet to entertain the children in the waiting room.  She was quite a hit.  My doctor told her she should volunteer over at Child Life at Loma Linda Children's Hospital.  She said "Huh?"  So he explained it, and she went and signed up.   (Same hospital building, different wing.)

Who would have guessed...  that she worked there helping children cope with the whole hospital experience.  Spending countless hours on the Peds unit.  The very place that 10 1/2 years later our granddaughter is at this very moment.  All because of my broken leg.  A full circle...  (And, yes Race, a full circle can be a straight line!)

Did God know this ten years ago?  You betcha!!

Grammy singing little Reagan to sleep.  (Yes, I did steal this picture off Shauna's blog, but since I took it, I'm entitled!!)

"Papa"

Win an iPad!

CLICK HERE for a blogger giving away ANOTHER iPad!

By donating to help save an Orphan, you are entered to win. There are other ways to enter...

- 16GB iPad w/ Wi-Fi

(All accessories are Apple products, made specifically for the iPad)
- iPad Case ($39)
(Not only protects your iPad, it also holds iPad in the perfect positions for typing, viewing slideshows, and watching movies)
- iPad Keyboard Dock ($69)
(Combines a fully functional iPad dock with a slim, compact aluminum Apple keyboard featuring special iPad function keys)
- iPad Camera Connection Kit ($29)
(Gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera: using your camera's USB cable or directly from an SD card)
- AppleCare Protection Plan ($99)
(Service and support from the people who know your iPad best. For up to two years from your iPad original purchase date, the AppleCare Protection Plan gives you:
 • One stop for technical support: Direct access to Apple experts
 • Apple hardware coverage: iPad, battery, and included accessories
 • Software support: iTunes, iWork for iPad, the operating system, and connection to wireless networks
   When you purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan and your iPad at the same time, you'll be automatically registered in the plan.

Outnumbered 10 to 1…

A note of apology to my readers...  for those of you who came here to read the post from yesterday morning and found nothing...  I wrote the post offline in Word and then posted it and discovered the pictures did not post.  Tried to fix the problem but did not have time.  Shauna says she could have told me it wouldn't work, personal experience...  :-)  So, without further ado, here's my post from 24 hours ago...

We have developed a Christmas tradition of my wife, my daughter, my granddaughters, and some friends, of getting together to bake Christmas cookies.  So, you ask, why am I posting about that in the middle of January??  Glad you asked.  When one of the participants is a medically fragile infant who is DS, and the friends have been a little sick, you don’t get together… until January 8^th.  THEN you bake cookies. J

Lots of little helping hands.

Did you know cookie cutters work best upside up?  They work upside down too, just not quite as well…

Cadence preferred Grammy’s help outside of the big crowd.

Clarisse really liked putting sugar on the cookies.  There are four cookies under there somewhere…

Everybody got in on it.  Except me, I took pictures…

...and the other Mom, who held Reagan, who seemed to be just fine with that.

The end result…  can you tell which ones Clarisse decorated?

Of course, any cookie decorating party has to end with eating them, but don’t worry, there were a couple left for “Papa” to “dust”.

And I even survived being outnumbered 10 to 1…  J

"Papa"

Holding Papa's hand... The Sequel

This morning when I picked up my granddaughter, she was way too busy holding the picture she had drawn with both hands while she was looking at it to be bothered with holding my hand.  As expected, halfway across campus she lost track of me and was suddenly standing there looking around trying to find me...  Yes, she quickly decided that holding Papa's hand was really a good idea...

This is the place where I leave the application up to you...

"Papa"

Holding Papa's hand...

Sunday morning I picked up our oldest granddaughter from her Sunday School class.  As we were walking across campus through crowds of people it suddenly occurred to me that here she is, 3 years old, not three feet tall, being lead through a "land of giants" where all she can see is a bunch of knees, yet she has total faith that as long as she is holding the hand of her Papa she will be safe and be lead to Grammy and Mama.

How like this do our lives need to be.  Life brings things into our paths, sometimes very scary things.  Whether it's serious injury, illness, ending hours of labor with the discovery that you're brand new little baby is Down Syndrome, the thought of how many little ones in the world need our love and help, or that your heart has been touched with the desire to be the safe place for a child who has been abandoned with Down Syndrome... if you just hold the hand of your Heavenly Papa with the same childlike trust that my granddaughter holds mine, he will lead you safely on the journey.  He knows where the path leads.  He is trustworthy...

"Papa"