A Picture’s Worth

“Where is Gus?” Jack asked when he got in the car after school this week. “He’s home with your dad. Ellie and I just finished at her doctor’s appointment, and I didn’t have time to go get him before it was time to pick you up from school,” I said. He looked over the edge…

World Down Syndrome Day 3.21.22

The way you are different might be the difference that makes the world a better place. #worlddownsyndromeday #inclusionmatters #rockyoursocks #homieswithextrachromies#downsyndrome #ardownsyndrome

Cool like Elwie

I took Ellie to the eye doctor last week. Well, Ellie and Gus. They both got to go because the ice in Arkansas closed their schools. My husband was in court, so I loaded up my two emotionally unstable Tasmanian devils who only want to “do it myself, Mama” and off we went to terrorize…

Heart Hero: The Extraordinary Abby

I can’t stop thinking of Abby Ellis this week.

Pulling it all together

I pulled my life together enough to mail Christmas cards this year. A Black Friday deal in my email inbox caught me at just the right moment, and I was able to make it happen for the first time in my whole life. I forced the kids to get dressed for a picture – what…

The Lemon

We bought a lemon.

Minimizing Risk

This week, the cardiologist recommended that we all hunker in again, including keeping the kids home from school. With our daughter Ellie’s track record – three hospitalizations for pneumonia this summer alone – he thinks that the odds are not in her favor if she catches any respiratory virus and that she would likely need…

Nathan McClain, the Water-Powered Man

by Heather Honaker for Little Rock Soiree magazine Photo credit: Jason Masters After they welcomed their second son into the world, he was carried away to the hospital nursery where doctors found he had a genetic defect that would try to dictate so much of his potential throughout his life. Johnna and Alan listened to the specialists…

Extraordinary: An Ordinary Day in the Special Life of Anna Caroline Strickland

By Heather Honaker “I always knew that I was different from other kids,” says Anna Caroline Strickland. “[My mom] likes to tell this story when one day in kindergarten I got in the car from school, and I was like ‘Mom am I handicapped or something?’ because a little girl had said that to me…

Extraordinary: An Ordinary Day in the Special Life of Jacqueline Bettis

By Heather Honaker Jacqueline Bettis, born with cerebral palsy, says, “I’ve always known I stand out. But my parents taught me that regardless of my disability, I’m still a person and I’m still beautiful and I have nothing to be ashamed of.” Originally from Little Rock, she graduated from Hall High School, has an undergraduate…