He makes all things new!

There is still quite a bit of snow around and flakes continued to flit and skitter to the ground all day. Its felt like a very long winter. We're all looking forward to being warm, outside, and having to dress some beautiful people in fewer layers of clothing. Maybe this is a sign that changes are coming, hopefully in the Spirit as well as in the natural world.

 

What are you looking forward to breaking anew in, in the next season of your life?

The best thing about having toddlers is that part of your job is to do fun stuff

. . . like go to the pool on a cold, windy, snowy February afternoon. This was particularly fun because:
1. Judah got a floaty device so I didn't worry quite so much about him drowning. It also made him much more bold in the water.
2. Daddy went with us!!! And that meant I could take some pictures.

We had a lot of fun!

 Judah did not always use his walking-feet.

 So he slipped on the deck into the splits.

After a while Anayah did not want to use her ring. So the good parents that we are, we let her learn the natural consequence of swimming without your ring when you don't yet know how to swim. She insisted on trying that experiment many times.

 And here is your bonus (and rather poor) picture of wheat-free, milk-free, egg-free pancakes. They were actually pretty good, once I added the salt the recipe called for.

Anayah wasn't feeling well yesterday, so Judah and I went to feed carrots to the horses at Tech. We also saw sheep. I had no idea they were born with long tails.

 There was one particularly pushy horse who ate Judah's glove. Pulled it off his hand and got it completely inside his mouth. Since it was not a carrott, he spit it out into a wet wad in the snow.

And later, once Anayah recovered from her tummy troubles, at their request we went outside again. It was a beautiful afternoon. The snow affords some very different photo opportunities than no-snow does. Its one of the reasons I'm grateful for the mega-winter we've had.

 

And here is your bonus picture of Jiffy corn muffins.

It took me a lot of work to get you in these clothes, so we are going to play in the snow whether you like it or not. That is, until Daddy comes to the rescue.

 

 

The R-Word

I don't like it. Let me explain.

There are real people who have a real problem due to no fault of their own. They are mentally retarded. I think the up-and-coming word is intellectual disability, but while one phases out and the other in, let me make my case. I do believe the Babies with Down Syndrome book I read used the term mentally retarded as one of the symptoms you would expect in someone with Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome happens to be the most common cause of mental retardation/intellectual disability, but of course there are many others. I can think of a few situations in which the parents behavior may have led to the problem (like drug or alcohol abuse while pregnant) but can't think of any congenital conditions in which the baby's behavior brought it on. They are slower to reach their milestones and slower to process information.

But that's not how the word is used. It's used as an insult: "He's retarded," "I'm so retarded." It connotes a hopeless case, inferiority, inadequacy, worthlessness. That's why its effective as an insult. But to use it that way insults the person who is legitimately mentally retarded. It reinforces in the hearer's heart and mind the rejection and dismissal of a people who are flesh and blood like you and me, people who already have a number of challenges in life. Did the user of the word do anything to attain the intelligence and ability they were born with? Then how are they better than the one who didn't ask for their disability?

 

I couldn't say it better than John Stephens, a person with Down Syndrome and a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics.

The hardest thing about having an intellectual disability is the loneliness. We process information slower than everyone else. So even normal conversation is a constant battle for us not to lose touch with what the rest of you are saying. Most of the time the words and thoughts just go too fast for us to keep up, and when we finally say something it seems out of place.

We are aware when all the rest of you stop and just look at us. We are aware when you look at us and just say, "unh huh," and then move on, talking to each other. You mean no harm, but you have no idea how alone we feel even when we are with you. That is why I love being a Global Messenger. I work for days telling my dad what I want to talk about and he tries to write it down for me. Then we do it over and over until we have something that says what I mean. We wrote this letter the same way.

So, what's wrong with "retard"? I can only tell you what it means to me and people like me when we hear it. It means that the rest of you are excluding us from your group. We are something that is not like you and something that none of you would ever want to be. We are something outside the "in" group. We are someone that is not your kind. I want you to know that it hurts to be left out here -- alone. Nothing scares me as much as feeling all alone in a world that moves so much faster than I do.

You don't mean to make me feel that way. In fact, like I say in some of my speeches, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," and it works out OK most of the time. Still, it hurts and scares me when I am the only person with intellectual disabilities on the bus and young people start making "retard" jokes or references. Please put yourself on that bus and fill the bus with people who are different from you. Imagine that they start making jokes using a term that describes you. It hurts and it is scary.

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/173614

I do believe most people use the word ignorantly. Its so embedded in our culture that it has become normal and acceptable to use the word without thinking about the effect it might have to reinforce that alienation and denigration of a people who deserve compassion and understanding. But I hope that to those who are not ignorant, they would consider using a different word or ceasing to insult that person (including yourself) altogether! If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, you have a particular responsibility because the Word calls us to: "not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Eph 4:29) and "we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another." (Romans 14:19).

My flesh doesn't like an intellectual disability. I do not glorify or romanticize Down Syndrome like I have heard others do. I get frustrated when my son is slow to learn, throws his food, can't express himself, gets stuck on a topic and can't move on, and blathers and cries out of frustration. I have concerns about how things will be for him socially once he and his peers are a little bit older. But I have hope because I know God will be glorified through him no matter what. Judah's name means Praise, and I believe God gave us that name for him to remind us He will be praised through Judah's life.

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. (1 Cor 1:27-29)

 

snow

This has been a winter of two great snows so far. The greater snow, in late December and the lesser snow in the end of January. We've had more snow this winter than any other we've lived in Virginia. The good news is groundhog day is tomorrow, so we should know how much more of this to expect. The bad news is a groundhog is hogwash. The kids don't love the snow; its cold and hard to move around in. And they keep falling off the sled. But they did enjoy it for a few minutes on Saturday.