this morning

let it snow!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

an evening

it's a bird...

it's a plane... it's... Larsman!! or is that Snuggleman? the buttons form a capital "L" in braille

You may recall Larsy got a buzz cut back in the beginning of May. His hair has not been even trimmed since then (soon!) I just love the curls he still has right after a bath

proud to be amazing

Emily: enjoy!

h2o

Be Like Water:
run deep
run clear
fill any space to its own dimensions 

respond to the moon,
to gravity

change colors with the light 

hold your temperature longer than the surrounding air
take the coast by storm
go under ground 

bend light 

be the one thing people need, even when they're

fasting

eat boulders,
quietly

be a universal solvent
-Kendra Ford

to remember

Found this poem & instantly liked it. Among other reasons, the end reminds of one of the many gifts Lars brings us: the guy knows how to lay back gently & float, letting the world support him. Such a beautiful thing.

A Kol Nidrei by Mark Belletini

Let’s set it all down, you and me.

The disappointments.

Little and large.

The frustrations.

Let’s open our fists and drop them.

The useless waiting.

The obsession with what we cannot have.

The focus on foolish things.

The pin-wheeling worry which wears us out.

The fretting.

Let’s throw them down.


The comparisons of ourselves with others.

The competition, as if Domination

was the best name we could give to God.

The cynical assumptions.

The unspoken, shelved anger.

Let’s toss them.

The inarticulate suspicions.

The self-doubt.

The pre-emptive self-dumping.

The numbing bouts of self-pity.

Let’s sink them all like stones.


Like stones in the pool of this gift of silence.

Let’s drop them like hot rocks

into the cool silence.

And when they’re gone,

let’s lay back gently, and float,

float on the calm surface of the silence.

Let’s be supported in this still cradle

of the world, new-born, ready for anything.

standin'

How Lars was standing before the recent mishap with his leg...which, by the way, is getting better slowly. He's moving it on his own now, but is still guarding it closely.

It's been a while since we've had pics like these on the blog, eh? Larsy landed himself in the hospital today with--get this, are you ready?--a common little boy-type injury sustained on a playground. Yippee! I love it.

Well, we don't even really know if that was the cause, but it seems he took a little tumble off a swing on the church playground & pulled a muscle or tendon or ligament or something in his left leg. It did take a 7-hour children's hospital ER visit to rule out any fracture or break, or infection, dislocation, or water retention. But, we have the green light to assume that it's a pulled sumthin' from his little playground tumble. Perfect. Give him motrin & let him rest the leg. Sweet.

camping trip to Ricker pond (7th annual)

new chair

Okay, it's been a way long time since I've updated & a way too busy summer. I'll try to catch y'all up a bit. For starters, here is Lars in his new wheelchair that he got yesterday. It's great. He'll ride to school on the bus starting Tuesday in his chair.

so much going on

Sorry for the lack of news--it's not for a lack of news, that's for sure. Managed to get the ash street house on the market--no small feat--and sold, twice. First buyers backed out after I signed an apartment lease & paid deposit & rent, but the very next day after I put the house back on the market, I had two more offers. Ended up selling to friends, so that's wonderful. It was a tense 24 hours realizing I was legally responsible for 2 houses & an apartment.

Will try to post more soon. Here's a sweet pic from this weekend at Michele's. Larsy decided that in her arms was the best place to go to sleep, and off he went....zzzzzzzz.....

star of stage and screen

Some of you may recall last year's fantastic Perkins preschool play in which Lars played one of the 3 little pigs. Well, this year, he got to be the 4th billy goat in the Three Billy Goats Gruff: the musical. Fantastic, the kids & staff were just great, and the music was perfect. Michele & I had a wonderful time attending the performance. And to think Lars almost missed it because he's had the stomach flu recently. In spite of missing dress rehearsal, they let him perform in the show anyway. Whew.

Larsy even had a "speaking" part, which he performed brilliantly by hitting his step-by-step switch, a voice output device with a recorded message that plays back when you push it.

memorial day weekend & the kayaks came out

I was in Nebraska most of the weekend at the funeral of a dear friend and mentor, but we managed to find kayaking time at Michele's pond after all. What a beautiful weekend it was, though bittersweet.