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First Day of Preschool For My Special One

DaveInTN

By DaveInTN,
in Camping with DisAbilities

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DaveInTN

DaveInTN 3,247

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Y'all are so kind sharing in our joy. We've been so lucky to have met several of you, but I wish we could meet ALL the fiends...the biggest GG ever.

Anna had an even better day two at school today. Christy tells me that when she pulled into the school parking lot, Anna started going nuts using the sign language for "school" and "play". She loves it there! What a blessing.

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mouseketab.....Carol

mouseketab.....Carol 1,261

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I am just now seeing this!! As everyone else said, that little angel is a HUGE ray of sunshine!! She is so lucky to be in your family and I'm sure you feel so lucky in blessed to have her in your lives!!

I know I will always treasure when she first toddled across the campground road at Stone Mountain to give me the biggest hug ever!

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Otter Spotter aka Debbie

Otter Spotter aka Debbie 58

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It is truly miraculous how much Anna has blossomed from the love and care your family has given her!! She finally looks like a healthy child without a care in the world - which is far cry from the child you brought home.

I had a young, Down's man in my church choir in Sarasota. He couldn't sing a note, couldn't read the music or lyrics, but he had to sing in the choir because God loves singing. This man was terrified of heights and as luck would have it, our church had a choir loft. That didn't deter Stephen. He would climb the stairs on his hands and knees, very carefully work his way to his chair, and watched for my every command to the choir. He often "stood out" from the rest of the choir but hey, his music came straight from his heart to God's ear. I never stopped him and actually came up with a special phrase between the two of us when I needed him to quiet down a little. The phrase was "milkshake".

You see, Stephen's dad told me that Stephen was the official milkshake maker of the family so, one day I asked Stephen how he made milkshakes. Here is his recipe in his own words: "1 scoop vanilla ice cream, just enough milk, and a BIG squirt of hershey's syrup, hit the switch until it's mixed up good. Good recipe, huh?"

So, I used that recipe to my advantage. I asked him if he could see the ice cream, milk and syrup as separate pieces of the milkshake before he hit the switch. Answer, yes. Then I asked him if he could see them as separate pieces after he hit the switch. Answer: "No, silly! The switch made the stuff a milkshake!" "Okay, Stephen. The switch "blended" the three things you put in the blender and you ended up with one milkshake, right?" "That's how you do it!", says he!

I then went on to tell him that all the people in the choir were like the ice cream, milk, and syrup, and I, as the choir director, was the switch that blended everything together, and when the choir sang we did not want any one part of the milkshake to stand out. So if I heard he was standing out I would mouth the word "milkshake" to him and that meant he needed to sing softer. I told him it was our secret choir language and he was delighted that I had special instructions just for him!

As in every volunteer choir, you have a couple of prima donna's who are looking for perfection out of the group and they would comment to me that I should find a way to discourage Stephen from singing in the choir. There was no way I would ever do anything like that and would take 50 Stephen's, who had a true delight and overwhelming joy singing praises to God, than 1 perfect voice who thought he/she was God's gift to the choir.

I have since moved away from the Sarasota area, Stephen's family moved to a small town outside of Nashville, and Stephen still sings in the choir. He taught his new director the "milkshake" trick!

Stephen also has an older brother, Peter, who is also Down's. Stephen is now 37 years old and his brother is 46. They hold full time jobs and are contributing citizens of not only their church, but their community and country.

Moral of the story? Never think because someone has a disability they can't do things!

God bless Dave, Christy, and their other 4 daughters for rescuing this precious Anna; nurturing and guiding her to reach her full potential in life. You are a remarkable family in my eyes, and certainly in God's eyes!

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Tri-Circle-D

Tri-Circle-D 2,059

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Wow, Deb, I love the milkshake story! Thank you for sharing it.

At my church, we have a group called the Shining Lights. It is open to anyone with special needs. They have special Sunday school classes, and they attend worship together. They usually sit near the front row. It is an absolute joy to see them. The woman who leads this ministry is a real saint. A few of the guys in this group work at our local Publix as baggers. It is great to see them there, and they clearly enjoy working there. So, you're right, people with special needs can fit in, and it's nice to see when they do.

TCD

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Otter Spotter aka Debbie

Otter Spotter aka Debbie 58

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Deb, your story brings tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing it! I look forward to you and Anna meeting...will you be around the Fort at Thanksgiving time?

Not staying at the Fort over Thanksgiving but, we will definitely arrange time to get together while you're here! I can't wait to see your family again and to meet that precious Anna!!

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mgsmom

mgsmom 9

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That little girl is a shining light! Thank you so much for updating us on her progress!

And I love love love your story Deb - too sweet!

I wanted to tell you, Dave, that I'm teaching a wonderful young lady who was adopted from Russia! I won't go into details in public, but she also is a "life force". I think those kids really know that they've got something special. God has a special hand on them.

"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

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momof3kids-Yvonne

momof3kids-Yvonne 596

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It is truly miraculous how much Anna has blossomed from the love and care your family has given her!! She finally looks like a healthy child without a care in the world - which is far cry from the child you brought home.

I had a young, Down's man in my church choir in Sarasota. He couldn't sing a note, couldn't read the music or lyrics, but he had to sing in the choir because God loves singing. This man was terrified of heights and as luck would have it, our church had a choir loft. That didn't deter Stephen. He would climb the stairs on his hands and knees, very carefully work his way to his chair, and watched for my every command to the choir. He often "stood out" from the rest of the choir but hey, his music came straight from his heart to God's ear. I never stopped him and actually came up with a special phrase between the two of us when I needed him to quiet down a little. The phrase was "milkshake".

You see, Stephen's dad told me that Stephen was the official milkshake maker of the family so, one day I asked Stephen how he made milkshakes. Here is his recipe in his own words: "1 scoop vanilla ice cream, just enough milk, and a BIG squirt of hershey's syrup, hit the switch until it's mixed up good. Good recipe, huh?"

So, I used that recipe to my advantage. I asked him if he could see the ice cream, milk and syrup as separate pieces of the milkshake before he hit the switch. Answer, yes. Then I asked him if he could see them as separate pieces after he hit the switch. Answer: "No, silly! The switch made the stuff a milkshake!" "Okay, Stephen. The switch "blended" the three things you put in the blender and you ended up with one milkshake, right?" "That's how you do it!", says he!

I then went on to tell him that all the people in the choir were like the ice cream, milk, and syrup, and I, as the choir director, was the switch that blended everything together, and when the choir sang we did not want any one part of the milkshake to stand out. So if I heard he was standing out I would mouth the word "milkshake" to him and that meant he needed to sing softer. I told him it was our secret choir language and he was delighted that I had special instructions just for him!

As in every volunteer choir, you have a couple of prima donna's who are looking for perfection out of the group and they would comment to me that I should find a way to discourage Stephen from singing in the choir. There was no way I would ever do anything like that and would take 50 Stephen's, who had a true delight and overwhelming joy singing praises to God, than 1 perfect voice who thought he/she was God's gift to the choir.

I have since moved away from the Sarasota area, Stephen's family moved to a small town outside of Nashville, and Stephen still sings in the choir. He taught his new director the "milkshake" trick!

Stephen also has an older brother, Peter, who is also Down's. Stephen is now 37 years old and his brother is 46. They hold full time jobs and are contributing citizens of not only their church, but their community and country.

Moral of the story? Never think because someone has a disability they can't do things!

God bless Dave, Christy, and their other 4 daughters for rescuing this precious Anna; nurturing and guiding her to reach her full potential in life. You are a remarkable family in my eyes, and certainly in God's eyes!

Reading this brought a huge smile to my face. One thing I thought of when you mentioned about the milkshake recipe and how you used it to explain the choir having different parts is that I could use this same concept when talking about the Trinity with my girls. They would clearly be able to see the three separate entities (milk, ice cream, chocolate syrup) (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) then when it was mixed together as one everything is still there (1 God). Gonna need to go buy some milk, ice cream and chocolate syrup. I love homeschooling! :dance:

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Judy in Texas

Judy in Texas 150

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Debbie: I shared your beautiful story with a co-worker who has a young Downs Syndrome daughter. She stopped by my desk today and said the story made her cry. I shared it also with my friend Joyce and it reminded her of a saying recently posted on the Life is Good website:

"The woods would be a very silent if no birds sang except those who sang the best."

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