It's A Wonderful Life

Introducing Pierce, preforming Berceuse by Alexander Ilynsky. Preformed May 20, 2014  

We have a very sensitive son that has typically been kind to everyone. At some point he decided not to be so kind within the family unit and chose to take it out on Emma, his down syndrome sister. It was not pretty at times. He wouldn't even allow her to sit by him at the table. We did everything we knew to do to help him understand her and see how much she looked up to him. We had to institute consequences when he would be mean to her. It was quite a challenge and it hurt our hearts as parents. About a year ago we got new glasses for Emma. She has pretty poor eyesight but hated glasses. She would hide her glasses all the time so she wouldn't have to wear them. I gave up and decided that when she was ready for good eyesight then we would take her to the doctor for a new prescription. The day came when her new glasses arrived. All the kids gathered around, because who can resist a package in the mail? This son who was not too kind to Emma was standing a couple feet from her w

This is by Doug.  Deanne's guest blogger..... My dad graduated from the University of California - Berkeley as a Civil Engineer.  In one of his classes, he was the only student to come up with the formula that solved a problem a professor gave the entire class at the beginning of the semester. Needless to say, he was smarter than the average bear.  (No pun intended for those of you who know what the mascot is for Berkeley.) All this was to give you the background as to why my father loved explaining the concepts of physics to me and my other siblings (and whoever else would listen) throughout my life.  One of the most memorable of these instructional sessions was when I backed his pickup truck into a cement post.  That was back in the late 70's when they built real bumpers with 1/4" steel that easily went through the grill of any car failing to stop at the appropriate distance at stop lights.  After I hit the pole, though it gave me a pretty good jolt, I drove away wi

I had a few interesting experiences over the week. First, a friend of mine announced she was having a baby. She is on the older side and was not emotionally prepared for it. She made a statement that she wasn't looking forward to having another baby and all that comes with it. She in no way wanted to be pregnant. Hearing these things have always made me sad but this time my heart hurt. I want her baby! I want to tell her what a blessing it is to be trusted with one of Heavenly Father's children. To help this friend understand that though it may seem hard right now the blessings are more than worth it! I want her to feel the love of her child and rejoice in it. The next experience occurred while talking with another friend. We were talking about my kids growing up and she asked if I missed having someone crawling around. Most people assume I would be happy to be out of that stage and like most people, that is the way she asked the question. Come to find out she didn't kno

Today some of the family had the opportunity to go to the funeral of a good friends Uncle. This Uncle was much like a father and grandfather to our friends. We were so sad to hear that someone they loved dearly was struggling with life. This family has been there for us in ways that have touched us deeply. Through our struggles with Gideon's death they have supported us emotionally, physically and in anyway they can think of. We have grown to love them deeply. Having the opportunity to support these friends was a blessing to us. We checked Casey and Hannah out of school. Hannah has babysat for some of the grand kids and Casey's best friend Garrett is how we met this family. Garrett is the youngest son of our friends. Garrett and Casey met in Kindergarten and have stayed close. Casey and Hannah desperately wanted to go and show their love and support. We heard of the illness of the uncle last week so on Thursday we decided it would be a good day to bring cookies over so our f