Sarah

My mom and my 8-year old niece, Sarah, are here. Tomorrow night I'm taking her into the Won by One class with me. I can't wait to see her there. We're probably not going to stay, that'll be up to her highness.

I am so proud of her for wanting to meet her Unky Roggie's kids. [BY THE WAY, SHE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN CALL ME THAT!!!!]

My sister, and brother in law are very fond of the word "retard". Example, you dropped ketchup on your shirt...RETARD!!! I hate it when they do that.

A few months ago, Sarah and her daddy were watching a movie. In that movie there was a character who was a racist. I don't know the movie, but the "N" word was used. My brother in law, was very good. He took that moment to teach Sarah that this word was bad, and very hurtful to people, and that she should not use it.

What's the difference? The "N" word is bad. Horrible, and stupid. However, is "Retard" better? I don't think so. Not at all.

I know "retard" has it's place, as in "Hoover Dam retards the flow of water" but when used as a casual insult....I cringe.

Oh, don't get me wrong, my sister and brother in law would never walk around calling my class "retards" they know better. They understand that it's inappropriate. I just hope that, in a few years, Sarah will take whatever she learns tomorow and has compassion on kids like that.

She's such a good girl.

Is God a noun

I know that's a really childish question, but it came from a then 7 year old, so what were you expecting?

But seriously though. It raises a good point. Grammatically speaking God is:

A noun: A noun is a person; place; thing or idea. I'd I call God, God. He was, He is, He's going to stay that way. He calls Himself "I am". This makes God a noun.

An adjectives God is the ONLY way to describe Him.

A verb: Once you accept His love and His grace through His Son Jesus...then He becomes God in your life.

Just a thought

The very few---if any--of you that read this, know that I work with Special Needs kids at my church at the Saturday evening service every other week.

I wasn't on this week, but I had to go into the room for a second.Two TRUE stories:One volunteer, Maggie, had her daughter, Grace, with her. Grace is about 5 years old I guess and has Down Syndrome. She is one of the sweetest, most open and loving children in the world. When I stuck my head in she invited me to play catch...so of course I had to do it. I also was blessed with a hug from her earlier.

She asked me about Nathan. Nathan is our oldest child and our youngest child. He'd 13 years old, but mentally/functionally he's about 1 - 2 years old. Grace wanted to know where he was, because it is so important to her to make sure that Nathan is included.

What a wonderful thing that is. Grace truly epitomizes the meaning of her name.

On my way out the door and back to main church service, I saw Nathan and his dad--Don--coming down the hall. He is a beautiful child. His eyes are always bright and alive. He loves to jump and rock back and forth and clap. He loves music, if there's not any then I am thoroughly and totally convinced that God has put the very music of Heaven in Nathan's heart.

When I passed Nathan in the hallway, I stopped and gave him a hug and told him hello. I felt a sharp pain in my just below my cheek. He bit me.Now remember, he is severely mentally retarded so he had no idea what he had done. Much like a teething 2 year old wouldn't understand.When I looked in the mirror, there was no blood but there was a mark.

My first thought: I am 38 years old and I finally get my first hickey came from a 13 year old child that didn't know what he was even doing.

First Blog

Hello and welcome to the first ever posting of The Purple Plastic Piano People.

My name is Roger. I go to Seacoast Church in Charleston SC. After attending this church for about 10 years, I've finally found my special place. I had never thought about working with kids, but one day I saw an opportunity to work with special needs kids. I started to pray and ask God if He wanted me to do it. I didn't have to ask that question. Instead I asked Him for the opportunity to make the proper contact.

Long story short, I've been working with that ministry for a few weeks now. We call it Won by One. Because our souls, our very lives have been Won by the One that loved us enough to give His life.

I called this blog Purple Plastic Piano People because I am in Toastmasters International. That is a club that promotes the art of public speaking. Every year we hold a series of speech competitions.

For the 2007 contests, I had NO idea what I was going to speak in. Then I recalled seeing one of our autistic kids, Blake P, play a purple plastic piano. I turned our CD player down and I gestured to Blake. He was playing "Joy to the World"

My speech was on the fact that we all have something that we can use to return our love to our wonderful Lord.

I'm going to try and post an audio copy of that speech sometime.

For now, this blog will be open for anyone to read and comment on. I'd like to open it up to members to post as well.

If you work at Seacoast with the Won by One ministry, if you work with the other children, if you have a special needs child or if you just want to add something POSITIVE, then please do.

Keep in mind a few rules:

1. I will NOT tolerate insults, or jokes about special needs kids or adults. If you've a funny story about something with a kid or an adult, please add it. But nothing mean. It will be deleted.

2. I am a Christian, but this doesn't mean that this has to be a Christian only site. However, I will NOT allow arguments, debates etc. about theology.

3. I am NOT a theologian. Please do not ask me questions like: "Where is Heaven?" or "Did Adam have a belly button?"

4. Have fun. This is NOT meant to insult those with special needs. But, we can all laugh at life itself.

I'll add more later

Rog.