Busy October

A small sampling:

Enjoying Halloween season

At Reese's third birthday party

At a family Cub Scouting event

Also at the Scouting event

At the Dolphins game in which Cooper scored a goal and was named MVP

Before church on Children's Sabbath; Cooper helped read the Call to Worship.

At a Saturday night Central Market dinner

Training

Allison and I have been training together to run a half marathon in honor of Steve. Last night we reached a big milestone -- 7 miles, more than half the distance of the total race!

Last spin through the alphabet

The weekly Religion content of the Morning News has dwindled to almost nothing this year. I still write the A to Z feature, which appears in the Metro section on Saturdays. This will be my last journey through the alphabet -- six rounds in all.

The complete list, dating to January 2006, is here.

Before church this morning

Willie Davis

K. Lee's son, Willie, has been moved out of ICU after his fall. They are expecting a slow road to recovery.

You can read about Willie on his Caring Bridge site. I know that K. Lee and his family appreciate all the good thoughts and prayers they've received. They have a long journey ahead.

Q & A

Helping with dinner tonight

Our church will celebrate Children's Sabbath later this month. Jana, our children's ministry director, asked first- and second-graders to answer questions to help write the Call to Worship.

I asked Cooper to answer the questions. His answers are below.

1. Why are you important? God made me.
2. What are ways that you can serve God? Praying
3. How does God help you do things that are hard? Believe in me
4. How do you share Jesus with other people? Passing the Good News on
5. How does our church (Holy Covenant) make you feel special? Because I have friends
6. Why do you think God loves you? Because I am very special
7. How does it make you feel to know that you're special to God and He wants you to share His love with other people? Happy
8. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus wants to be your best friend? Excited

Katie was with us during the interview. She wanted to answer the questions also. Her responses:

1. Why are you important? Because I love people
2. What are ways that you can serve God? Reading and when I am safe of knives and when I can't have tea
3. How does God help you do things that are hard? He helps me do puzzles and helps me to hang up pictures in windows and doors and helps me fix the refrigerator
4. How do you share Jesus with other people? So I can love
5. How does our church (Holy Covenant) make you feel special? How it makes me happy
6. Why do you think God loves you? Because that's sweet
7. How does it make you feel to know that you're special to God and He wants you to share His love with other people? When I love and take care of people
8. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus wants to be your best friend? When I ride ponies

Save Lio!

Cooper has been a fan of the Dallas Morning News comics section since he was 4. His morning ritual is to wake up, sit at the kitchen table, find the comics and read the section over breakfast. He saves his favorite comic strip, Lio, for last.

Lio is a mischevious science-loving kid who takes care of animals, aliens and monsters. He constantly outwits his single dad and gives fits to teachers and fellow students.

Today is a sad day at our house, as the Morning News cut out 14 strips as part of a cost-cutting, paper-saving measure. Lio has been kicked out. But all hope is not lost. Readers are invited to vote back one of the 14 strips.

We've already voted here. Each IP address can vote just once between now and Oct. 15. If you have just a minute and don't have another preference, please go here and choose Lio!

Prayer request

A friend and former colleague from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, K. Lee Davis, is in need of prayer for his 5-year-old son:

To my friends. As many of you may know, William, my 5-year-old son with autism, fell from a third-floor window Sunday afternoon and suffered severe brain trauma.

He is in Pediaric ICU at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

The good news? He has fought through his most dangerous phase, and for now should survive.

The unknown? Willie could exist for the rest of his days on a spectrum between a vegetative state to only slightly diminished over his previous beautiful self. He will have lost some eyesight, from left of center to his left peripheral vision due to a stroke in the right rear occiput of his brain. The good news is there is little danger of further stroke or damage to the surrounding area. We would love to have our old Willie back with a little vision problem.

We will not know for some time what Willie's longterm quality of life will be, and there is still the possibilty he will be unable to survive without mechanical means. We will cross that bridge if we come to it. The next hurdle for him is control over his esophagus -- invountary things like swallowing, clearing of fluid, etc. If he can't do that, he will need a respirator to stay alive.

Thank you for all the prayers, kind thoughts and positive energy.

We don't need more than that right now, but that could change. We will let you know.

-- K. Lee