Memorial Box Monday--Ella and the stairs

I have to do a Memorial Box Monday post today...know why? BECAUSE I HAVE A MEMORIAL BOX!!!! I just received it, providentially enough, on Monday!!!! Thank you Linny!!! It is beautiful and the kids were absolutely delighted with it. I read Joshua 4 to them as soon as I saw it mentioned in your sweet inscription. What a wonderful surprise that was! While we were discussing my new box and all its meaning, Anna asked if I had yet blogged about this story from a few years ago:

Ella, now aged 6.5 years, was then at the age of walking and exploring and was capable of going up and down our staircases with ease. For reasons known only to Ella and God, one day she decided to climb up the outside of the stair railing rather than on the stairs themselves.

This is in our entry hall and no one knew she was there until she had already made it to the top, where the railing changes from straight to curved at the "Juliet" balcony. I was back in my room getting ready for the day when I heard "Mom" yelled with that urgency that signals you to drop whatever you're doing and RUN. Anna, 7-8 years old, had seen Ella, resisted the urge to scream, calmly walked over and put her arms through the railing to grab Ella in a hug.

Now Ella is a noodle. Parents of children with Down syndrome know what I mean. If they don't want to do something or be held, they make like a slippery, cooked noodle and they are HARD to hold. Ella, the most skilled of our noodlers, must have been scared stiff because she let Anna hold her. Thank you Jesus!

Anna wasn't tall enough or strong enough to lift Ella over the railing so that's when she screamed for me. I am so thankful she didn't try to pull Ella over. I am so thankful she didn't scream when she first saw Ella or I'm afraid that Ella would've let go and plummeted 10 feet down to the hard tiled floor. I am so thankful I heard Anna scream the first time. There are so many points at which this little incident could have ended tragically, yet God had His hand on Ella and Anna. Of course, had it ended tragically, we would still know that God has His hand on Ella and Anna. We are simply thankful that His plans for that day were for life for our sweet baby girl.

I bolted up the stairs (somewhat thoughtlessly; I should've had Luke stand below Ella while I was climbing the stairs). I pulled Ella over the railing without incident. We quickly 'decorated' the bottom of the stairs with a plant and chairs to discourage further climbing incidents.

I am thankful that Anna reminded me of this story. I really do want to chronicle the ways we have seen God work in our family but moreso, I am thankful that Anna had already internalized the story and knew Who to thank and Who really saved her sister.

Well, if I were smart I would have come up with a MBM post that had an obvious object to place in my new box. Maybe a model of a hand (the hand of God holding Ella in place)? A picture of Anna holding Ella? Perhaps a picture of a gray hair or two on my head?

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens in late fall

Last December, I took the kids to the Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden within the Botanical Gardens. (The pictures were all on my iPhone and I just downloaded them.)

The parks were incredibly beautiful, particularly with the fall color of the Japanese maples adding a red glow everywhere you looked. The kids enjoyed it and we got lots of pretty pictures.

Isn't that amazingly beautiful?

I have always loved the view from the top of the Rose Garden down to the lake. It's hard to believe we're so near the downtown hustle and bustle because the gardens are so purely peaceful...even with the Spicers in attendance.

Song got some great pictures of Anna and Luke, in particular.

Any time is a great time for a pose, right Emma?

God is showing OFF!

God was showing off when He made these eight beauties, too!

I promised the kids we would go back in the spring. I'm sure spring will be spectacular, but a sunny, cool day in late fall is awfully nice, too. As you can tell from the pictures, we practically had the park to ourselves.

I love the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens!

Memorial Box Monday--The iPod

In Christmas of 2009, I'll admit I was fresh out of ideas for gifts for Vera, Emma and Ella. My girls aren't the best at playing with typical little girl toys. I know that's no surprise as far as Vera is concerned, but even Ella and Emma don't really care for Barbies and baby dolls.

What I had noticed, however, is that they loved my iPhone and were surprisingly adept at using it. With that in mind, I decided to bring the grandparents in on my idea to purchase each girl an iPod Touch for Christmas. Part of my rationale, besides plain old Christmas fun, was that I had heard of a communication app that I thought might be a help to the girls: ProLoQuo2Go. See? Fun AND educational AND mostly paid for by someone other than me! Apple even had a special running: free engraving and free shipping. I had the girls' names and our phone number engraved on the back.

The girls were ecstatic over those iPods. So ecstatic, in fact, that Emma carried hers almost everywhere. I say almost to indicate the time, about a month after Christmas, that she left it outside overnight. It snowed. It never snows in Texas, right? Only if you've left your new iPod outside and no one knows until a few days later when it's wet and ruined. Emma, surprisingly, was not terribly disappointed. She still carries it around and pretends to talk on it and dance to the tunes.

Ella's iPod was never really put into her possession. I bring it out occasionally, particularly for doctor appointments and car trips. It's relatively safe in my jewelry drawer.

Vera. Oh, sweet Vera. Try as we might to keep it in a central location she always managed to steal off with it. Strangely enough, however, she generally managed to keep up with it. Well, until a few months ago when it went missing. We just knew it would show up any day, but in-depth searches of her room produced no results. Unlike Emma, Vera was NOT HAPPY to have lost her beloved and well-used iPod.

Last year when Christmas came around Vera asked for another iPod, a green iPod. She never asked for anything else. Just a green iPod. I just couldn't do it, though. I couldn't ask the grandparents to shell out again for a new one. I didn't think John and I should buy her a new one. She kept asking, though, right on through Christmas and on into the new year as her birthday is February 9th.

Yes, that's right. February 9th...two days from today. Once again, I struggled to come up with ideas for gifts because make no mistake, she wants to open "lots and lots of gifts!" I took my two oldest sons and their 14 year old cousin, James, to the store last week to help me. It seemed only fitting to take boys on a gift buying excursion for Vera. They were super-helpful and we had a fun time choosing some items for her.

This afternoon I made a little trip to the store to buy a few odds and ends like candles and powdered sugar and colorful icing and candles. When I left the store, I thought I might like to listen to my own iPhone on the way home and went searching through the console in the van for my headphones. I had just been rifling through that same console last week when I took Luke for his learner's permit because I thought we might need proof of insurance for our car.

Still rifling and finding no earphones, I stopped short. At the very back of the drawer, I see an iPod touch.

You know whose it is, of course. I did, too, but I turned it over to see Vera Spicer engraved on it, plain as day.

You know what my very first thought was? "God, You love Vera sooooooo much!" He just does. I guarantee you He'll be every bit as delighted as I am when she opens her old iPod with a new green cover on Wednesday morning.

I had thought I would write a different MBM today, one about the way God provided for Vera's adoption. I was close; I just got the sweetest reminder that what God always provides for is Vera.

When I get my memorial box, I believe I will put in a picture of an iPod. Like so many things that go into the box, the item itself isn't a bit spiritual on its own, but bears the mark of the divine when used in God's generous hands.

Job 31:16-23

¹⁶ “If I have denied the desires of the poor
   or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,

¹⁷ if I have kept my bread to myself,
   not sharing it with the fatherless—

¹⁸ but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
   and from my birth I guided the widow—

¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
   or the needy without garments,

²⁰ and their hearts did not bless me
   for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,

²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
   knowing that I had influence in court,

²² then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
   let it be broken off at the joint.

²³ For I dreaded destruction from God,
   and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

A Decade of Delights

All pictures by Alyssa Maisano Photography

Wow! Ten years ago we welcomed our tiny little bundle of joy into the world around 1 a.m. on a cold Canadian night. Miss Emma Lane is our sweet sunshine, our sassy, spunky sister, our sugar-coated Spicer. No one in our family can quite believe that she is ten years old. It seems only yesterday we started our journey with Emma and with Down syndrome. How the years have flown!!

I couldn't possibly list all the wonderfulness of Emma Lane. She is such a sheer joy to have around. One thing we all like is the way she says her name: Emma Wayne. So do we, now. While she is quite capable of saying it correctly, I think she keeps saying Emma Wayne because she knows we (especially her beloved cousin Andrea) love it.

I love the way Emma has been carrying around a bedraggled, lined notebook for her homework. She pretends to write lines and lines of cursive in it, or perhaps practices some letters, or writes her name over and over again. I love it when she comes up and asks for her homework. "Mommy, homework please."

I love her confidence. She thinks nothing of walking into a room and announcing herself. She thinks nothing of sticking up for herself in a large family: No way, Luke! Stop it, Vera!

I love her confidence in herself as a valuable person. She is quite sure that everyone wants to listen to her sing (at top volume) or watch her dance (she has some MOVES). If you were to ask her why we should listen or watch she would clearly answer: I'm Emma! (And she'd probably roll her eyes...just a bit)

I love her hope for the future. She is going to marry Nick Jonas. She is 100% sure of that. One time, her daddy actually met the Jonas brothers and called home to tell her about it. She decided that meant her daddy was bringing Nick home as a present to her. She put down the phone and immediately started setting the dining room table for four: Mommy, Daddy, Emma and Nick, of course. While I loved that she wanted to double date with us, I was devastated to have to tell her Nick wasn't coming. It's a terrible thing to disappoint that loving, trusting, smiling girl.

I love the way Emma poses for pictures, just like the pictures here. She LOVES to have her picture made. Of course, if I were such a beauty I would like it, too.

I love, love, love the way she tells me: Mommy, I miss you. She invariably says it when we've been together all day, not when I've been away. I think it means she loves me and doesn't want me to leave, that she likes it much better when we're together. Me, too, Emmy.

I also love another of her frequent utterances: Mommy, come snug me. She wants me to drop whatever I'm doing and sit with her on the couch, or hold her in my arms, or anything else that involves close contact with Emma and her mommy.

I love to listen to her pray. She's been known to have some long prayers. She always asks God to bring Daddy home safely. Most famously, she was mid-prayer one night at dinner and prayed for Daddy to come home now and at just that moment the door opened and it was Daddy! I think God was showing off for His sweet girl.

I love the way she plays with blocks. Not only does she like to build but she likes to organize by type. She can be very thoughtful in her play.

I love the way we can always bring her back to a smile. She gets mad, she cries, she pouts, she is stubborn, but her default setting is happy and smiling and it usually doesn't take much effort at all to get her reset. After she cried about Nick, for instance, she didn't dwell on it or fall into despair. She went on with her day, happy as a lark. It's a great attribute.

I can't believe ten years have come and gone so quickly with my baby girl. She was the one I thought would stay young forever but she didn't. And that's good. I have loved all her stages and look forward to those we have yet to see. She's an amazing blessing and I love her more than I could ever express.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA LANE!!!

All pictures by Alyssa Maisano Photography