April 2014 – We had Rachel’s official transition to high school meeting. There were 15 people there including Rachel and a variety of teachers, administrators, counselors and case managers from both her middle school and high school plus Jonathan and […]
Continue reading »Honoring a Teacher Who Get’s It
A few months ago I was invited to write a letter of nomination for one of Rachel’s teachers. Our school district’s education foundation, Olathe Public Schools Foundation, presents Excellence in Educator Awards on a monthly basis. There other awards for […]
Continue reading »What Would I Say 18 Years Later?
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month! I think revisiting the question of what I would say to younger parents is a good post to celebrate our friends and loved ones with Down syndrome! Four years ago I wrote a blog called […]
Continue reading »Powderpuff. Inclusion.Joy
Rachel is a senior. This is her fourth year as volleyball manager and volleyball always has an away game on the night of the bonfire, picnic, dance and traditional Junior-Senior Powderpuff game. They usually make it in time for the […]
Continue reading »What will Rachel do Next Year?
We work in the student ministry at our church. A few years back some of the seniors said one of their sources of pressure was everyone asking what they were going to do. Historically, this is a fairly common question […]
Continue reading »Dear Teacher – In Case You Need It!
I wrote this blog in 2012 when Rachel was going into 7th grade. Wow! I have several teacher friends who share this with other teachers and couple of professor friends who share with their classes. Since it’s the beginning of […]
Continue reading »Rachel Starts Her Senior Year: Inclusion Works!
Today is the first day of Rachel’s senior year. She is so excited to be part of the Class of 2018. We are excited for her and for her 553 class mates. I have decided that I am going to […]
Continue reading »Some People Believe the World is a Better Place Because of Rachel
This week I have tried to be focused on the excitement of Rachel starting her senior year. I have been re-posting first day of school blogs from her freshman and sophomore years. Today, I had planned to post last year’s […]
Continue reading »Rachel’s Counting on You!
Been thinking of how to continue to inspire our advocates. Yep, it took eight years to #passtheABLEAct. The healthcare dilemma is different though. The stakes are higher. As if healthcare is not enough, for our families this impacts more than […]
Continue reading »Run Daddy Run – Again?
My husband runs – a lot. He and his friend Clay just made it to the beautiful Cascade Mountains in Washington where on Saturday and Sunday, Jonathan will run the Big Foot 100K. People want to know why Jonathan runs […]
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