February 2017

Working.

Nick loves to work.  He is always asking if he can help get pans out when we are cooking, or get the dishes out of the dishwasher or putting wood in our fireplace. He also has a formal job, with a job coach.  He shreds papers in an office for a few hours each week.  His

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Nick sings in public.

Nick wanted to sing in our church talent night this weekend, and he said that Arden and I needed to sing with him.  He said that he wanted to sing his favorite song, which is Phil Coulter’s song, “The Town I love so well.”  We told him that it was too long for a talent

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Nick’s best friend.

Nick’s best friend is his dad Arden.  They love each other and love being together.  They do have their particular routines and ways of doing things.  Whether it is singing songs back to back every morning while Arden is getting Nick cleaned up and ready for the day or when they sneak off to McDonald’s

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Friendship.

While living our hectic lives, we can miss the subtle clues of true friendship. Nick attends a day program called Bridge Academy two days a week.  He calls it going to school.  They go on field trips and have outings all over the Seattle area.  It is incredible.  Nick missed a couple of days of

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“Scorn Not His Simplicity.”

Nick loves to sing.  At an Irish sing song, if you are willing, people will ask you to sing your party piece.  Nick has two favorite songs that he loves to sing at the parties.  Both are written by Phil Coulter.  “The town I love so well,” was written about “The Troubles” in Phil’s home town

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Patience.

It is said that patience is a virtue.  I suppose that is true.  My problem is that I have had many situations throughout my life that could be teaching me patience and yet I still experience things that take me to the edge of my patience.  I do hope that my capacity for patience is increasing,

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Failure to thrive.

In the first few weeks after he was born, Nick just didn’t seem to completely wake up.  He was never fully alert.  He wasn’t comforted by anything; food, warmth, human touch, nothing seemed to stop him from crying.  It wasn’t a loud cry.  Just a constant one.  In frustration, after what seemed like hours of

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Continually Learning.

Nick, like the rest of us, learns best from watching others.  When all of our kids were little, we noticed that often as his younger siblings were growing up and working on a specific developmental skill, Nick would make great progress in that area.  Then that sibling would pass him up, and Nick would be on

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Choosing the better part.

Nick doesn’t feel obligated to do things just because it is expected.  He carves out his own path in most social settings. Our oldest son Ryan was getting married to Tiffany in May of 2001.  Karen and I organized a bridal shower for her in early April.   Her mom and sisters were coming up from Portland

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Choose Courage.

It takes courage to live a full life.  You might not be fighting a roaring lion in order to save your life and the life of your loved ones, but we all get the chance to exhibit courage. Courage is deciding to move forward even when you are trembling in your boots.  It takes courage to march

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