Normal Rockstar

9 Month Photos of Liam

My wife is putting me to shame as far as blog posting goes. She has generously allowed me the privilege of putting up this link to Liam's most recent photoshoot with Sara Harper - again, some absolutely priceless pictures! Hope you enjoy...

Liam's Dedication Ceremony

Thanks to Harry and the crack media team at Rolling Hills Community Church, we already have video of Liam's baby dedication ceremony today. Enjoy!

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!

Liam's Easter Pictures

I'm constantly learning how to be a dad and all that comes along with that. One of the things that is important in my wife's family is pictures - we take pictures at every opportunity and even more so now with Liam. (I'm am a horrible picture taker - I just never think about it. So I'm glad at least one of us remembers to capture the moments!)

I have learned that a very important picture opportunity for young children especially is Easter. Little girls get Easter dresses, little boys get Easter outfits, and pictures must be taken (of course). Well, over the years we have become good friends with the couple that took our wedding pictures, and they send us a note saying that they were offering portrait sessions with LIVE bunnies at for Easter... Need I say more?!?

So I give you a few pictures of Liam with a real bunny (thanks to Kevin and Suzette for giving us permission to use these pictures online!). Is he cute or what!!

My Seattle Revelation

(Author's note: I'm typing this on my phone on the plane home from Seattle. The lady beside me is crowding my "space" so I can't get my computer out.)

Yesterday was a full day. My band downhere played 3 church services and then a concert - all of which went really great but we were definitely worn out by the end.

As we started playing the 3rd service I noticed a mother with 2 Down syndrome boys sitting in the front row (last night I mistakenly Twittered that it was a girl - I'm still healing up from my eye surgery, okay??). Well, one of them was sitting - the other was standing, rocking back and forth, singing along at the top of his lungs.

Correction: he was singing - just not along, and definitely not on key. When everyone else would pause to take a break in the middle of a phrase, he would keep on singing - you couldn't miss it. It was rather distracting, really - or at least, I could see how it would be distracting to those around him.

And that's when I began to weep - right at the end of one song and into the next (which I had to start - it was "Jesus Paid It All", so I kind of hoped if anyone noticed me crying they would think I was just super thankful that night for Jesus' having paid it all!). I was struck with this sudden realization:

One day that could/will be my son.

One day my son will be the one that annoys and distracts people as he worships the One who created him perfectly. One day my son will be the one who will stand in the front row and dance and sing unabashedly before an audience of One. One day my son will teach me what genuine worship is all about.

Last night I cried tears of sadness, joy, and envy all at the same time. Sad that there will be people who will not be able to appreciate the beauty of a scene like I saw last night (and sad that I caught myself being one of those people); joyful at the thought of seeing Liam worship with his whole being without giving a second thought to what anyone else thinks; envious of the special connection he will have with his Maker.

I had a revelation in Seattle, and I don't think I'm going to get over it.

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."

Liam's First Photo-shoot

Saturday afternoon Liam endured his first official photoshoot. Well, his father endured the photoshoot - Liam didn't seem to mind at all! (I make it sound painful - it really wasn't, I'm just not a photo taking kind of guy. My wife, on the other hand, is extremely photogenic and would look fantastic with a paperbag over her head!) Our friend Sara came up from Atlanta and spent a little over an hour with us, shooting over 1600 pictures. Click here (or on the image above) to watch a slideshow of our pictures. Thanks, Sara!

Thanks for the love, Bod!

It's almost 2am and Liam is due for his next feeding in an hour. I just finished changing another dirty diaper and was lying in bed reflecting on the events of my life in the past week and was struck by this thought: how do people outside of "the Body" (i.e. those who wouldn't consider themselves practicing Christians) survive having children?? I mean, I'll be completely honest: if it weren't for the overwhelming encouragement and support of our Christian friends and family, Erin and I would be in a VERY different place right now.

Thanks to the generosity of our community group and friends here in Nashville, we haven't had to cook a meal since we arrived home from the hospital last Saturday - and I believe there are meals lined up through next week as well. Thanks to an unnamed friend Erin's mom was able to change her flight so that she could be here 2 weeks early to help around the house, allowing Erin and I to focus our time and energy on getting to know Liam (it's amazing what a grandmother will do for a little snuggle time with her new grandchild!). And thanks to modern technology we have received countless emails, blog and Facebook comments, gifts, flowers, and words of affirmation and encouragement as we have shared Liam's diagnosis of Down syndrome and our struggle to face the reality of that. I know that literally around the world there are people praying for Erin, Liam, and I as we learn what it means to be a family together.

The body of Christ can be a beautiful thing when it works as it should.

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...

Baby Rockstar, Momma, and Registeries

It's been a little while since I've updated you on Baby Rockstar, so I thought it was about time. Momma Rockstar (Erin) is looking as cute as always, and DEFINITELY pregnant. Most people think she's due imminently - when she tells them she still has 11 weeks they can't believe it! I'm really proud of her - she has done a fantastic job of eating well, exercising, and just being healthy all the way through this pregnancy. She was beautiful BEFORE being pregnant, but it's no wonder she continues to glow!

Our baby boy is doing well too. We are due on December 26th, but he's measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule, so we're hoping he comes early so that we can be home on Christmas Day (the last show of our Christmas tour will be the week of December 14th, so if he's anything like his father he'll pay attention to the schedule and come somewhere in that window).

We haven't been home long enough to start nesting yet, but that will all change this month. Next weekend we are having a painting party, inviting a number of friends over to help paint the nursery (which means I've got to get my desk cleaned up and papers all filed before then - good times!), and in the next month or so Erin will be the guest of honor at a baby shower or two.

Speaking of showering Erin with gifts, I thought I would post a link to our gift registeries to make them more accessible for our friends and family. We are registered at Babies 'R Us, Target, and NurturedFamily.com (we're doing the cloth diapers thing). If you get the urge, feel free to stop by and check things out!