An 'Angel' Among Us - Newspaper Article by Crystal Schelle

A wonderful writer and photographer, Crystal Schelle and Ron Agnir did a piece on Chance and our family in our local newspaper, The Journal. I was absolutely blown away by the scale and detail of the article and very grateful for the awareness that has been raised about Angelman Syndrome, disabilities in general, and Chance. We really want our community to embrace our son and his unique gifts, and so far Martinsburg has not disappointed! But even more so, we hope that seeing the bright smile and glimmering blue eyes of Chance helps to put a face on disability so that when you see someone in public with special needs you recognize that they are someone's son or daughter, brother or sister, aunt, uncle or cousin. Someone brought that baby into the world and loves them, but even more so, God loves them. We hope you enjoy the article as much as we did! Thank you so much Crystal and Ron, it was beautifully done!

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/507847.html?nav=5004

Summer of Fun!

Well, the much anticipated, and in some cases, much dreaded beginning of summer has arrived! School is out and that means three kids home all day unless we make some plans. School has been out ONE WEEK and they've already gone to the park, the pool, gymnastics, movies, and a playdate! ha ha ha... just have to laugh at how we can't stand to be doing nothing in this family. But when we just relax and settle down to some good ol' fashioned family time at home, we really do have lots of fun. The little inflatable alligator pool (which we have affectionately named Alexander the Alligator) is no match for the froggy slide, giant mushrooms and tons of screaming kids at War Memorial Pool, but Alexander does keep us cool and allows for Cannonball to do some, well... cannonballs! It's really nice to see Grandma and Grandpa Evans, who live with us, spending time with the kids too. Also, in this neighborhood, the kids are never alone as there are tons of friends to play with. I think Rob is the biggest kid of them all! He certainly comes up with some funny things to do with the neighborhood kids that I would never think to do. I guess it takes a child at heart to think like a child! The soda bottle volano had to be at the top of the list of silly things to do (check out the video below - too funny)! And the best part about fun in the sun, is that the kids get good and wiped out and sleep so well, including Daddy!