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SurfGuitar101 Forums » The Shallow End »

Permalink Just sharing a milestone in our lives.

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That's a beautiful thing Noel.....all the best from The TO's!!

The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587

Thanks everyone for you kind comments.

We adopted out children through the Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth) Foundation's adoption agency, who did a great job helping us understand and prepare for, as much as possible, the effects on our children of their personal histories. My wife and I have been greatly changed for the better by raising our children. It has been an amazing journey together.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

This has already been one of the most amazing years of my life. But yesterday my daughter, Corradina, earned another Special Olympics Gold Medal for basketball at the Pennsylvania State Championship Games. More important, she is now reading at a Fourth Grade level, which we had long hoped she'd accomplish before she graduated High-School. She's actually entering HS this fall. We now have hope she'll be an independent reader by adulthood, which is an awesome accomplishment for someone who was never expected to read at all.

My son, Henry, has had the best year in school he's ever had. He transferred into the Criminal Justice program over half-way through it's three year curriculum, and he's nailing the program. He quickly caught up and is doing A-level work. The change fired him up and all his other grades are much higher than ever.

Then, we took his wonderful girlfriend under our family wings a little before Christmas. She'd been struggling very badly in school. With all our help and support, mostly from Henry (Who knew he was a natural-born math teacher? We didn't.) but also my wife and me, she's had the best year of school and highest grades in her whole life and is a very happy young woman. And my daughter finally has the older "sister" she's always wanted.

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but this has all been wonderful to achieve and experience.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Jun 08, 2013 16:04:52

A great story Noel,thanks for sharing it with us.

Martin

Last edited: Jun 08, 2013 16:09:27

Just a quick update. My son Henry just landed in Montana, where he'll work for the next month to help the ranch build some new facilities. They need a few new buildings, extra showers, some horse stalls and fences. He will be very busy.

I did something yesterday I'd never done before. Henry's girlfriend has rainbow stripes under blond bangs. They'd faded but a redo is prohibitively expensive. So I did it. Came out better than the original (ridiculously expensive) professional job if I say so myself, and she's delighted with the results. Now I'm trying to convince my wife to let me color my daughter's hair, too.

Bet you didn't see this coming. I didn't. Big Grin

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Jul 13, 2013 21:34:01

Our children started High School together yesterday. Henry's a Senior and Corradina is a Freshman. They haven't ever gone to the same school, so this is a huge deal for my daughter. She gets to ride to school on the bus with her big brother. It's her first time on a bus that isn't for special-needs children and she's deliriously happy. Henry is graduating this year, so this is actually the only time this will ever happen.

image

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Thumbs Up

http://www.reverbnation.com/thegreasemonkeyz

Awesome!

Matt "tha Kat" Lentz
Skippy and the Skipjacks: 2018-
Skippyandtheskipjacks.net
https://www.facebook.com/skippyandtheskipjacks
Otto and the Ottomans: 2014-2015
The Coconauts surf band: 2009-2014
www.theamazingcoconauts.com
Group Captain and the Mandrakes 2013
http://www.gcmband.com/
The Surfside IV: 2002-2005, 2008-2009
the Del-Vamps: 1992-1999, 2006-2007
http://www.dblcrown.com/delvamps.html

Thanks, Greg & Matt! Everything changes next year. Henry will join the Navy following graduation, after he comes back from one last summer working in Montana on the horse ranch. Corradina will be without her brother for the first time since we reunited them in 2000, so we're trying to make this year as special as possible for her.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Well done Noel! Just an amazing story all the way.

All I wish I knew what they were talking about

Congrats Noel!

This is a great thread.

My newest grandaughter was a big 1 yesterday. They are in Portland Maine. She celebrated with a "whoopie pie" (as opposed to a birthday cake, when in Portland, do as the Portlands do) I cannot wait to see the video of that!

My oldest grandaughter (11)is getting a Fender Strat for Christmas. Hummmmm, there is a Santa Claus....... his name is Ed.

Katcher Klaus

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

Noel, this will be such a memorable time for them, and you I'm sure. Thanks for sharing this.

Katcher Klaus! LOL
Passing down the "sickness" to the grandkids, eh Ed?

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

Thanks, Neil, Ed & Jeff. It has been an amazing journey for us all. Here they were just after coming to America.

image

We were told Corradina might never learn to talk or perform complex mechanical tasks. This is her in 2010.

image

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Sep 04, 2013 14:40:21

Henry, ranching this summer in Montana. Fixing fences.

image

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

My, how time flies! Well done, Noel! Congrats!

Otto & The Ottomans
Kennedy Custom Guitars

Noel, after reading this entire thread from the beginning, here's what I came away with:

You are a great human being. Your family is so fortunate to have you in their lives.

That goes for us SG101'ers as well. It was a pleasure meeting you at the 2012 Instro Summit! Yes

Jack
aka WoodyJ

The Mariners (1964-68, 1996-2005)
The Hula Hounds (1996-current)
The X-Rays (1997-2004)
The Surge! (2004, 2011-2012)
Various non-surf bands that actually made money
(1978-1990)

Last edited: Sep 04, 2013 15:08:10

Amelia already shows signs of having this wonderful afliction. She lugs my full size guitars around and likes to put on "shows" down in the Boatwerx.

Her last "presentation" consisted of ed on guitar, Amelia on vocals and her dad, my son Dave, on drums. We were performing one of Amelia's originals with grandson, Carson "turning the knobs." I'll bet we rehearsed that thing twentyfive times.

I did inform seven year old Carson that he'd better leave those mitts off the Mackie 32 that stays covered up with it's favorite beach towel.

Everything else was fair game.

Fun really.

ed

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

So Ed, when can we hear the debut of the Katcher Three? These sessions are the stuff of great home movies.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Yeah! I want to hear or see a performance of "turning the knobs".

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

If you've read this post from the beginning, you know my daughter, Corradina, has a severe pre-natal brain injury. But she also has an indomitable spirit and will to learn and accomplish skills. Here's my wife's post on Facebook this morning.

Went to bed a little late, so was hoping to get as much sleep as possible before waking the kids for school at 5:30AM.....however Cory decided that 3:30AM was the time to get up. Told her to go back to sleep. She left and I went back to sleep. Did she listen? No! When I awoke and dressed to wake the kids, her room was empty, bed made [highly unusual]. Downstairs, she was fully dressed for school [wrong sox but easily fixed], and asleep on the couch. However, what she'd accomplished before going there was truly amazing! She'd started a load of laundry she was supposed to do the day before [wrong settings on washer so have to do again but she DID it!], fed the dog and herself breakfast, gave dog her morning allergy pill, set the breakfast table for the rest of us, pouring juice, milk, etc. Packed her own lunch [she's not done that before either!]. All I could say was WOW! Lots packed into that time. Just had them head off to school - and am still wowed by what she did although it was WAY too early! Oh, and with the noise she made getting up at 3:30, she'd convinced her brother that it was time to get ready for school and he was 1/2 dressed before he realized how early it was and went back to sleep, so when I woke him he was almost dressed for school. Too funny!

Corradina gets very upset when she can't learn how to do something, but she never stops learning. Even when we're not watching, she is. Corradina teaches me something about resilience and perseverance every day. She never quits. She's one of my heroes.

image

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

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