Who Raised an Eagle?

From Cameron's Ealge Court of Honor, Jan. 29, 2012

Yesterday I was making bread. I ground the wheat, added the ingredients, let it rise, baked it and ate it. My granddaughter Haylee was with me. She said in amazement, “You can MAKE bread??!!” I explained that, indeed, we can make bread, Little Red Hen. Well, in the case of making an eagle scout, all along the process it would have ended if I, the little red hen, had to plant, harvest, thrash, grind, mix, rise, shape, and bake the scout all by myself! So many people helped along the way! Walt was principal at Orchard when Cameron was about to start school. I went to him and asked if he thought maybe inclusion was right for Cam. With tears in his eyes, Walt said, “This school needs the experience of mainstreaming Cameron.” And we did. And Cameron grew and learned, a little differently than everyone else, and a little more slowly, but he began to set goals.
When he was a beginning cub scout, I had no idea that one day he would be getting his Eagle. One busy day he walked around the corner to the Stocks' for his den meeting. I thought I could quickly run to the mall while he was gone. The traffic was slow, and I was starting to panic when I finally got home. Cam was in the front yard. Something was inside his shirt. What is inside your shirt? “It’s the cops.” The phone rang from inside his shirt, and Cameron took it out and handed it to me. It was the 911 operator saying that someone was calling from our number. I assured her that all was well. Cameron learned how to get help at an early age, but I was not going to let anyone know that I had left my 8-yr-old, special-needs son alone!
Cameron has had wonderful experiences as you have included him in scouting. I think he would say the best thing about scouts is the BIG pizza at Bear Lake—and other stories of good food, falling out of a boat with Brother Crabtree, and all the adventures that made him into a true scout. Now the rest of you might remember trying to wake Cam up in the mornings, dragging him up and down mountains, trying to get him to “go” without benefit of a toilet, or calming his homesickness when he had been gone from home for a few hours.
For five years Cameron served in this ward as an assistant scout master. Thank you, Bishop Carlson and Bishop Elmer, Jason Beck, Von Proctor, Brad Burton, Gary Wadsworth, and so many others who never gave up in serving Cameron and helping him achieve his goal to be an Eagle Scout. Your patience and love and service has taught Cameron that he can do hard things. You have taught him to persevere. You have reached out and helped him when you did not need to because it was no longer your calling or stewardship. That is pure charity—to love as Christ loves. You have generously given gifts of love. Your sharing of spiritual gifts have lifted us all.
Those who have helped Cameron achieve are too numerous to mention, but all his friends, neighbors, family members, my friends, teachers, scout leaders, bishops, mission leaders, seminary and institute teachers, the Stock family, those who serve at the temple, members of this ward and his YSA ward—thank you all for your love and service. This morning a young man reported his mission in our ward. He said that standing in holy places makes all the difference. You have done that. You have helped Cameron stand where he is tonight.
When he was little, Cameron saw the Christus in Nauvoo and ran to it with open arms. “Jesus wants to hold me!” A couple of months ago Cameron woke up happy—yes, that is unusual. He said he had a really GOOD dream. In the dream Cam was walking down the street and he saw Jesus walking toward him. Cameron ran to Him and said,, “I know you!” And he does. Thank you all for loving, mentoring, and generously and patiently guiding Cameron.

Matters of My Heart

janjimks: Matters of Heart: Matters of My Heart
I attended my second granddaughter's high-school graduatiion yesterday in Broomfield, Colorado. It was such a reminder that "time flies on wings of lightening; you cannot call it back!" It slips past without conscience.

Twenty-three years ago we welcomed our seventh child into this world. Cameron was a beautiful, eight-and-a-half-pound baby with a round face and fuzzy strawberry-blonde hair. When the midwife handed him to me, something in his face caused me to have a passing feeling that there was something...

A few hours later the pediatrician stood by my bed and kindly went over the signs that my sweet baby may have Down Syndrome. The eyes...the simian crease...the short fingers and small ears. He said we would not know for sure until we had a genetic screening, but I knew. The Asian doctor smiled. He himself surely had slanted eyes. He showed me his own simian crease. Like anyone, my first thoughts were, "Why me?" "Why me, who had never tasted alcohol, tobacco, or drugs?" "Why me who had never even known anyone with special needs?" "Why me, who has six brilliant, creative children?" Then, "Why NOT me?" "Why not our loving and faithful family?" "Why not?" I called my husband, who had just left the hospital and returned to our children. In his shock, he also searched for an answer. Our children worried and wondered how our lives would change...

We broke the news to family and friends over the next few days, and went on with our busy lives as if nothing had changed. Indeed, it had not. We were determined to have this baby be as "normal" as possible. I had no idea what the next few years would bring for our Cameron. What would it be like when he entered nursery at church, kindergarten? What would his elementary years be like? Junior high? High school? Life after that for this little boy who won the hearts of everyone who held him and looked into his blue eyes?

Here we are twenty three years later with a wagonload of memories that we would not trade for all the "normal" boys born those years ago. We always say Cam makes our lives "interesting," but it's really much more than that. Loving a child with special needs makes me a better person. I am more compassionate, patient, humble, self-aware, courageous, faithful, generous, and happy because twenty-three years ago God sent an angel. He wasn't the baby we ordered--he was so much more.