A dancer emerges
This past week, Jordan’s dance studio held an open house. I try to bring a fancy camera every time so I can catch a shot or two of Jordan participating in class. But this year, something different happened… She started to “get” it. I watched her use her core strength (an important focus for anyone…
Read More +Flashback Friday: A broken heart
It came so suddenly even though we all knew Bubba the Pug was getting old. The old dog suddenly couldn’t move his legs well. He was just laying there. It was so hard to watch. The kids knew it must be something bad, but they figured the vet could fix it. Heck, five months ago,…
Read More +Meeting Hayden Filson
A while back I went on a rant about the way the media covers limb differences… Some Illinois media outlets reported on a “one armed” high school softball player. If you watch the video, you quickly see how Hayden Filson has TWO ARMS and one hand. It put me on a media rant that has…
Read More +Flashback Friday: Taking risks
Being the parent of a limb different baby forces you to take risks… And back in the winter of 2006, I had a lot of learning to do with Jordan as a newborn. There’s so much going on when you’re a parent of a newborn with or without a physical or developmental challenge. You’re exhausted,…
Read More +Looking ahead for my girl and all girls
This pictures shows one of my most favorite places in the world, Mackerel Cove, Maine. What Jordan doesn’t know is her dad and I have a dream that she’ll have a simple ceremony some day at this spot when she’s ready to get married. We have a vision of a happy day by the ocean…
Read More +Soccer season in full force
Jordan decided to make a grand return to soccer this fall. The strange thing is Jordan is totally on the fence between liking it and disliking it. It started out with a chance to practice soccer with the bigger kids each week. She always has fun but feels timid right before they start. Fast forward…
Read More +Flashback Friday: Years and years of storytelling
I started posting family stories to the web in 2002. I started blogging in 2004. I have years and years of storytelling. I go back into the long history of this site – all seven years of it (YIKES) and I realize I have such a depth of experiences, I should dig in deeper and reshare…
Read More +Active, healthy and tired
First I want to thank everyone for the incredible outpouring of support after my post a couple of days ago. Parenting a child with a limb difference is a little different, but I think every kid has wondered if they are the kid their parent wanted. I know I wouldn’t want either of my kids…
Read More +You are exactly the kid I wanted
Last night, we took the kids to a dinner party. It was much more of a grown up event than a kid event but our kids are kind of used to being put into grown up environments. It may be all those years of attending college classes while their parents teach or hours of hanging…
Read More +Wear a bit of Born Just Right
I’ve been asked and asked and asked… so it’s time. I need your help in deciding what design or designs we should use for a Born Just Right t-shirt. My friend and former student (she actually graduated right before I started teaching at the Missouri School of Journalism), Sarah Clark, has created a wonderful array…
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