Allie's First Report Card

We didn't know that when Allie would be getting one of these when she started at Bright Horizons.

While riding with Allie

Here are some photos I snapped of Allie over the weekend.

She's the happiest kid in the world.

Aaron's latest work of art

New School

Allie started kindergarten this week. KINDERGARTEN! She loves it.

Last week, the Charming and Beautiful Susan and I went for a visit at Allie's new school, Bright Horizons, to meet Allie's new teacher and check things out. The first thing Allie's teacher told us was that a new chair and a new walker arrived for Allie. We were floored. We have been trying to get Allie a walker for TWO YEARS! We show up one day at school and not only is there a walker, but also a new specially made chair for Allie to sit in while she learns new things.

Allie will be able to go to this school until she's an adult. It's weird to think about a thing like that with your five year old. Especially one with Allie's unique challenges. But knowing that kind of stability exists in our situation is good.

A whole new world has opened up to us. The kids at this school melt my heart.

Overdue post and pictures

Indeed. It has been awhile since I've written or posted pictures here on the World Famous Allie's Blog. All I can say about Allie is that she is doing amazingly well. She loves school and being with her friends and laughing out loud and giving kisses. Everybody raves about how beautiful she is. Her health has been good.



This birthday cake had a life expectancy of about five minutes once it arrived to Allie's birthday party. Diets were ignored and forgotten. Chocolate cake is one of humanity's greatest inventions. I personally ate 75% of it.



It was cool having Grandma Yolanda at the birthday party. Allie shrieked with excitement when she walked in.



The Charming and Beautiful Susan and young Charity look more like sisters than mother and daughter.



Twin centers of my universe.



These are Allie's buddies at church. This is one of Allie's favorite places on the planet. The workers in King's Kids love on and minister the love of Jesus to these kids. They also give parents of special needs kids the opportunity to enjoy worship together. They're life savers.



This is Allie's new ride. She just got this new wheel chair this week. It's a beautiful apparatus. Allie is quite comfortable in it.

I hope this brought you all up to speed. I'd love to hear from you in a comment. Even though things have gotten so much easier for us, we still covet your prayers for our family.

Allie Video Montage

Some of Charity's friends (our new friends) made this video of Allie. If you know our story at all, you'll find this video moving.

Allie and me at the pool

Summer's here. At least here in Florida where summer lasts 300 days, spring 60 days, and winter 5. So the pool is where we go to play on afternoons after Allie's weekend naps. She wakes up kind of cranky after a nap and the pool is the perfect pick-me-up. It does for her what a chocolate brownie frappuccino does for me.

We're in our first year in the community where we live now. So we're making new friends at the pool. Allie's physical challenges invoke inquiries from fellow pool users. The age of the person with questions is inversely related to the volume with which questions are asked. Five year olds ask questions with the volume cranked at "10", and 35 year olds ask their questions with a polite nod and a smile, volume turned down to zero.

We're very much in tune with the discomfort of parents as their kids interact with us. At least I think we are. And we do everything we can to keep parents from being embarrassed by their kids' curiosity. We try to engage both child and parent; I'll talk to the kid while the Charming and Beautiful Susan befriends with the mom.

One time a mom asked me, "What should I say to my kids when they ask questions? Should I say God just makes some people handicapped?"

Wow. That's a heavy question; a theological minefield even. And we didn't even talk long enough for her know about my pastoral background. So, in my most pastoral tone, I stammered, and then, I began to pontificate about giving children information appropriate for their age and level of cognizance of the world in which they live and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah.

I was so unnerved by the question and bringing the idea of God into what you tell a child that I was totally thrown off. The conversation got a little awkward and, to the relief of both of us, we switched subjects.

What I wish I said was that God allows plenty of problems into our lives so that we, as we live in community, have plenty of ways to bless each other and represent Him to each other. I wish I said that opportunities for redemption constantly present themselves from the time we're small children until we draw our last breath. What I wish I knew how to say to small child is that some are born strong and some are born weak and the strong please God when they protect the weak. That's how Jesus cares for us and wants us to care for each other.

When things go wrong, God gives us a chance to partner with Him to make them right.

Bouncing Allie

This is how we bounce Allie every single day on an extra large exercise ball. She loves it.

Just ignore the man with male-pattern balding.

While waiting for some eggs…

If your searched the phrase “it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything here…” you’d probably get back a thousand pages of family type blogs like this one.

My mom and Nancy are the main ones that threaten me with bodily harm when I don’t post something about Allie for awhile. My mother-in-law has given up on the threats and various other promises of pain and torture when I get blog-lazy. So things just kind of show up when they show up. Sorry.