Normal Rockstar

Big Sunday: Child Dedication, Wine & Chocolate...

(Click the picture for a slideshow of Liam at 5 mo)

This upcoming Sunday is going to be a busy one for us. First, we will be celebrating Liam's baby dedication with our home church - Rolling Hills Community Church. This is a neat ceremony in the life of a child and the church. Basically, Erin and I will stand before the church and commit to raising Liam in a godly home. Then our church will commit to helping us raise him in a godly fashion as he grows up in the church. Because our families live so far away (Canada and Montana) we won't have any family present for the dedication. But we would love for you to come and be our "Nashville family" if you are in the area. It will take place in the 10:30am service - please come and say hi if you choose to come!

Sunday EVENING we are honored to be the beneficiaries of a wine and chocolate tasting hosted by the good men of my mentoring group. It's open to anyone - it starts at 7pm and will take place at Sol on Main in downtown Franklin. We would love for you to join us there - Liam will be around to meet his public for the first 45 minutes, so you will get a chance to meet him. You can click here for more details.

So... by Sunday night Erin and I will be bone tired but I'm sure overwhelmed by the love and support from our church family and friends. We hope to see you at some point on Sunday!

Obama, Leno, and the Special Olympics

Four months ago I don't know that I would have given this story a second thought. Today, as the proud new father of a son with Down syndrome, I am unable to overlook last night's "offhand comment" spoken by the most powerful man in the world on late-night TV.

President Obama made history last night by being the first ever sitting President to appear on a late-night television show as a guest of Jay Leno. I understand his attempt at self-depreciating humor (in case you didn't watch the video clip, go here for the transcript [HT: Huffington Post]) - generally that's always a safe bet for a good laugh. I'm sure it wasn't mean-spirited or meant in an offensive way. I know he called the president of the Special Olympics and apologized even before the show aired; I know he has now extended an invitation to Special Olympics athletes to the White House to bowl and play basketball (I'll keep my opinion on that to myself... you do the math). The fact of the matter is that "off-hand" or not, I expect more of the American President.

Being is a position of such visibility and responsibility is a tough task - people hold such people to a higher standard and rightly so. By accepting such a position one agrees to live by that higher standard. I am personally learning the power of words all over again - whereas just a few short months ago it would not have been uncommon to hear me call myself "retarded" when I make a silly mistake, now as the father of a son who's mental and physical development is technically "retarded" (i.e. slower than normal) I start to see red whenever I overhear someone make such an "offhand" comment even though I know the intent is most probably not harmful or derogatory.

I really don't have much more to say. There's plenty more that could be said and IS being said around the blogosphere - many are turning this into a political "look what we've gotten ourselves into!" thing - my intention is not that. If anything, may this simply serve as a reminder that it really doesn't matter who you are - the President of the United States, Joe the Plumber, a rockstar, a housewife, a blogger - think twice about the words you speak. They have the power to wound or to heal. And once they're spoken, there's no taking them back.

Gene Stallings Discusses His Down Syndrome Son

If you have 20 minutes and are in need of a good cry, click here to listen to this recent Focus on the Family broadcast (I listened to this while trying to eat lunch and choked on my food multiple times!). The featured guest is former coach Gene Stallings, and he shares his deep love for his son Johnny who recently passed away at the age of 46. Gene served as the head coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, the Texas A&M Aggies and the St. Louis Cardinals. Stallings was also an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys for 14 seasons. But his biggest and proudest accomplishment was his son Johnny who was born with Down syndrome. His love for Johnny is so obvious in his voice when he talks about him - it is a wonderful encouragement to parents like my wife and I who are just starting on this journey of raising a child with Down syndrome.

If you don't have time to listen to the broadcast, here's one of my favorite quotes from it (paraphrased): "If the Lord took me back and gave me the option of having either Johnny or a normal healthy child, I would choose Johnny every single time."

Baby Rockstar Makes His Grand Entrance, Throws a Curveball

Baby Rockstar arrived somewhat unexpectedly on Thursday, Dec. 4th at 12:18pm - his name is Liam Jeremiah Thiessen and he is such a joy! He weighed 7lb 8oz and was 20.5" long - a really good-sized baby considering he arrived 22 days early! (If he would have gone full term I suspect he would have come out with teeth already!) We chose these names for the following reasons:

Liam - it is a derivative of "William" which is Erin's dad's name. It means "unwavering/determined protector", "strong-willed warrior". Liam is also an Irish name as is "Erin".

Jeremiah - this is the origin of my name - "Jeremy" - and it means "God will uplift".

The whole delivery process was quite smooth - Erin did fantastic! The Lord answered our prayers and provided us with a fantastic nursing team, and we were able to enjoy the experience from beginning to end (minus the final hours of labor prior to the epidural - but even then I didn't get cursed out when I fell asleep during one contraction!).

Liam threw us a curveball on Saturday. We received confirmation that he has Down Syndrome. This was obviously hard news to hear, but in hindsight we feel like all the way through this pregnancy the Lord has been preparing us to hear this news. I have yet to come across a better description than the following written by Emily Perl Kingsley of how it feels to be told you will be raising a child with a disability. it's like this...