Who made the sun stop and the rain drop
and the trees and plants and birds that fly
our lord did our lord did.
So let him shine through us shine through us
his mercy and glory fly through us fly through us.

—–

Our god is awesome our god is holy
our god will shine through us with grace.
Our god has stopped the sun
our god has caused a flood with just his hand.
Let him be your king so holy.
Let him be the cause of your life.

Our pastor Steven Furtick‘s new book Sun Stand Still releases this week, and although we haven’t talked about the book around our house a lot, Cameron has already been influenced by it enough to write these songs). I’m now going to try to read the book through the wide-open eyes of a ten year old instead of my own cataract-clouded perspective.

I love getting to experience faith through Cameron’s eyes, because the faith of a ten year old is a whole new experience for me (I didn’t discover Jesus & the Bible until I was in high school). He’s teaching me to have audacious faith.

Thanks, Cam. I’m honored to be your dad.

During the meeting we kept a running list of action items on the whiteboard, and at the end of the meeting we took just a few minutes to quickly assign an owner to each task on our list. The task owner isn’t necessarily the person who will do the task but is the person who takes responsibility for ensuring that the task is completed on time.

Ensuring that every task has an owner is a simple step but gives great clarity, enables accountability, and spreads ownership across multiple stakeholders.

I was familiar with the popular couch to 5k programs, but they were a little too complicated for me to follow. I stuck with the 3 runs per week as recommended by those programs, though.

My first night I just hit the track and ran until I couldn’t go any more. That was about half a mile, and that gave me my baseline distance. I then ran an extra 1/10th of a mile each night, which worked out really well for me. It went something like this:

Week #: Monday / Wednesday / Friday
Week 1: .5 miles / .6 miles / .7 miles
Week 2: .8 miles / .9 miles / 1 mile
Week 3: 1.1 miles / 1.2 miles / 1.3 miles
Week 4: 1.4 miles / 1.5 miles / 1.6 miles
Week 5: 1.7 miles / 1.8 miles / 1.9 miles
Week 6: 2 miles / 2.1 miles / 2.2 miles
Week 7: 2.3 miles / 2.4 miles / 2.5 miles
Week 8: 2.6 miles / 2.7 miles / 2.8 miles
Week 9: 2.9 miles / 3 miles / 3.1 miles

My target was to run last October’s UNCC 4.9erK race without stopping, and I accomplished that goal. At this time last year I’d never run more than a mile at a time, even in high school, but by slowly & consistently adding a small increase to my distance I was able to do it and enjoy it.

The 2010 4.9erK will take place on October 23, and this year I’m running with a timed goal in mind. I’d love to have others join me by running the 4.9erK or another 5k or 10k (find a race in your area).

Who’s with me?

The best way to implement this is to take a few minutes at the end of your work day to identify the five (or three, or two…there’s nothing magical about five) things you most need to accomplish tomorrow. Ask yourself, “If I accomplish only these things tomorrow, will that be a productive day?” If you can answer yes, you’ve got a good list.

Then, do those things FIRST thing in the morning before getting sucked into checking email, answering voicemail, or working on other projects. The items on your list might be difficult, unpleasant, or ill-defined – which is why it’s so important to complete them first before getting side-tracked by easier or more enjoyable work.

I haven’t put into practice very consistently yet, but when I do it I’m almost always more productive and more at ease throughout the day, having removed some of these albatrosses from around my neck and freeing myself to work on more strategic or creative projects throughout the rest of the day.

What makes you most productive in the morning?

Creating & following an agenda helps both before and during a meeting:

Before the Meeting

Creating the agenda helps me plan & clarify.

• What do I want the meeting to accomplish?
• Who needs (and doesn’t need) to attend?
• Are there similar parts of the meeting that can be clustered together?
• What technology (projector or LCD display, network access, etc.) needs to be prepared for the meeting?
• What information should be sent to meeting participants a day or two before the meeting?

During the Meeting

Using an agenda helps keep the meeting focused and moving efficiently.

• Without an agenda, meetings tend to drift and take way too long to accomplish way too little.
• An agenda gives visibility to what topics will be discussed so participants don’t need to bring up important issues that they’re afraid may not be addressed later.
• An agenda helps hold the meeting to its allotted time, even when the agenda doesn’t specify time blocks for each meeting topic.

For small, informal meetings I just write a bulleted list of topics (in Evernote, in a notebook, on a napkin, etc.). Even for larger, formal meetings I still use a very simple agenda template:

1. Meeting Name (example: “Dining Hall Surveillance Camera Discussion”)
2. Meeting Date
3. List of Participants
4. Bulleted list of discussion topics
5. Blank numbered list to track follow-up action items during the meeting

What helps you lead better meetings?

A couple weeks ago I wrote a letter to the local paper responding to an article they published about the recent recommendation to increase prenatal Down Syndrome testing. I wanted people to have a more complete picture of Down Syndrome, and I hoped that maybe the paper would want to run my piece as a guest editorial rather than simply a letter to the editor, so that the issue would get more exposure. A few days later I posted that letter on this site, because the Times-News had decided to not publish my letter, but instead to incorporate some of the content of my letter into a feature story about our family. That surprised me.

But my surprise then doesn’t compare to my surprise this morning when I saw our picture above the fold on the front page of the paper. I knew the article was running today, but I expected it to be in the “life” or “accent” section. I’m thrilled with the coverage, not because of us but because it’ll hopefully increase awareness about the amazing progress in the lives of people with Down Syndrome, and hopefully that awareness will play a role in saving Down Syndrome babies from abortion.

The article is available at the Times-News, but it looks like a non-persistent link so I’m copying the article below. Enjoy.

A Blessing in Disguise
Family embraces life with Down Syndrome
by Kadi Hodges

The Bautes are one of those families you’re more likely to see on television than in real life. Their four kids, ages 1 to 7, are silly. They stage indoor parades. They decorate each other. They laugh contagiously.

The parents, Brian and Gretchen, laugh with them. They know their kids are fun, and they enjoy it.

Having one child with Down syndrome hasn’t changed their plans or their family’s energy. They never made a decision about whether to have a baby with an extra chromosome. But if the Bautes could rewind this story, they would want the same outcome: an affectionate 15-month-old who smiles brightly and fits in well with his family.

The Bautes worry that new guidelines offering Down syndrome screening to all pregnant women will encourage parents to terminate without understanding the potential for a child born with Down syndrome.

At the beginning of January, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists began recommending that every pregnant woman, regardless of age, be offered a choice of tests for Down syndrome.

About one in 700 babies has Down syndrome, a condition where an extra chromosome causes mental retardation, a broad, flat face and small head and, often, serious heart defects.

Previously, only mothers over age 35 were automatically offered the test.

Older women have a higher chance of delivering a baby with Down syndrome. But there is a gradual increase in risk – from one in 1,200 at age 25 to about one in 300 at age 35. Because more babies are born to younger women than older ones, women under 35 give birth to most of the nation’s children with Down syndrome.

Early diagnosis can give parents time to plan, research, and choose the right hospital for delivery. Or they can decide to terminate the pregnancy.

Making a decision about what to do with a Down syndrome diagnosis has been described as agonizing and as the most difficult decision a parent can be asked to make.

Between 80 and 90 percent of parents who receive a definitive prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis elect to end the pregnancy. More early diagnoses would likely decrease the number of babies born with Down syndrome.

Brian Skotko, a physician and the author of a book about the accomplishments of people with Down syndrome, said the proposed change has profound implications.

In a study published in 2005, Skotko surveyed 3,000 mothers of children with Down syndrome regarding their experience hearing the diagnosis. The mothers frequently reported they received incomplete, inaccurate and outdated information.

When parents have to make such an important decision, what their doctors say makes a difference.

When doctors lack experience with Down syndrome and fail to present the diagnosis with neutral language or adequate additional information, it affects parents’ choices.

“The doctors set the tone right from the beginning,” said Skotko.

Skotko worries that the new recommendations will put more doctors in the position of delivering the news of a Down syndrome diagnosis without offering them training about how to talk to patients about the implications.

Mothers in Skotko’s survey suggested that their experience hearing the diagnosis would have improved with up-to-date information about Down syndrome, accurate vocabulary, and access to parents of children with Down syndrome.

Skotko, who has a sister with Down syndrome, said, “People with Down syndrome are telling us to start writing expectations rather than limitations & (They are) showing us and challenging the rest of us to think outside the box.”

Brian and Gretchen Baute always planned on having three or four children. They started their careers working as teachers and they like having kids around.

There wasn’t any indication that they were at high risk for having a child with a birth defect. Gretchen was pregnant with Caedon at age 29 and had already delivered three healthy kids.

During their first pregnancy, the Bautes decided against prenatal testing for birth defects. They figured that serious problems would be caught during an ultrasound, and even if there were a problem, they didn’t want to terminate a pregnancy. After the first time around, they didn’t reconsider their decision not to test.

Gretchen’s fourth pregnancy wasn’t any different from the previous three. Everything was normal up until delivery. Caedon’s cord was wrapped around his neck, and there was a rushed delivery at Women’s Hospital.

Immediately after Caedon was born, doctors suspected he could have Down syndrome. He had a few physical characteristics most of us wouldn’t notice, like having only one crease on his palm and low-set ears.

A pediatrician told the Bautes within hours of Caedon’s birth that there was a 75 percent chance their son had Down syndrome.

“We sat there in a shock for a few minutes,” Brian remembered. “Then both of us looked at each other and said, “OK, let’s go.”

The only thing to do was get ready to go home with him.

“He was our baby,” said Gretchen. “It didn’t matter.”

In the hospital they began researching Down syndrome and had a visit from a member of the Down Syndrome Network of Greater Greensboro. Gretchen has training in special education, and her parents have worked in pediatric nursing. The family’s experience with special needs children helped them absorb the shock.

Many children with Down syndrome have heart problems. Caedon was born with a small hole in his heart, but it didn’t prevent him from going home within a few days.

With Cameron, Kierstin, and Raegan at home already, the Bautes were used to a “zone defense” parenting style. There are never enough hands to tend to everybody’s needs. But fitting in a fourth child wasn’t as tough as you might expect.

Caedon has been the easiest baby for the family. He slept through the night at four weeks. He doesn’t cry much. He’s relaxed and doesn’t mind his sisters putting bows in his hair or pushing him around in a doll stroller.

“He’s our absolute love,” said Gretchen. “We brought him home and the other kids just doted on him.”

Caedon has reached most physical milestones at near normal times, like sitting and feeding himself. At 15 months, he can stand but not quite walk.

The most frenzied aspect of bringing home a child with Down syndrome, said the Bautes, has been all the appointments. By the time their son was a month old, the family had a case worker, a physical therapist, a genetic counselor and a cardiologist. Caedon has a team of professionals preparing him for school and beyond.

Caedon has had some health problems, including seizures, but they haven’t been overwhelming.

People with Down syndrome have greatly varying abilities. It’s not clear yet where Caedon will be on the spectrum.

“It’s a thing that will continue to unfold,” said Gretchen.

The Bautes worry that parents who learn they are expecting a child with Down syndrome could make decisions based on outdated perceptions of how people with the syndrome lived decades ago. There was a time when they could expect short lives, to be institutionalized, and to receive little education.

That’s not the case any longer. Because of medical advances, early intervention, and a push for more education, babies born with Down syndrome now have a life expectancy of 55 years. They attend school and are raised with their siblings. Adults with Down syndrome often live independently and have jobs. Some marry others with Down syndrome.

Caedon will go to preschool at 3, and he will go to school with his siblings afterward. He’ll play T-ball and enroll in gymnastics. He goes where his brother and sisters go.

The Bautes can’t jump too far ahead in their planning where Caedon will be in 20, 30, or 50 years, but Brian and Gretchen say their plans remain the same. They had children young so they could have time together as a couple later. That’s still their expectation.

“I wouldn’t give him back for the world,” said Gretchen. “I can’t imagine life without Caedon.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now recommends that “all pregnant women, regardless of their age, should be offered screening for Down syndrome” and that “screening for Down syndrome should occur before the 20th week of pregnancy.” The AP picked up the story, and it got wide distribution.

While additional knowledge about an unborn baby can be very beneficial, especially so parents can choose an appropriate hospital for the birth and make other preparations for specialized care, in this case the primary impact of the additional testing will be more parents aborting babies prenatally diagnosed with Down Syndrome. In the United States, parents decide to abort more than 80% of such babies, and the rate is even higher in Canada and Great Britain. (UPDATE: the abortion rate in the US has climbed to an estimated 92%)

These decisions to abort are often influenced by pressure from doctors and based on outdated and false assumptions about people with Down Syndrome.

A study (PDF link) previously published in the same journal as the new testing recommendation showed about half of mothers who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome “felt rushed or pressured (by her obstetrician) into making a decision about continuing the pregnancy” and that “obstetricians did not supply enough up-to-date printed materials or phone numbers of other parents who have children with DS” (Skotko, Brian. “Prenatally diagnosed Down syndrome: Mothers who continued their pregnancies evaluate their health care providers.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. March 2005: 670-677.).

In the past, children with Down Syndrome were almost always institutionalized and given little education and substandard medical care. Today’s medical advancements, better early intervention and education, help from local support groups, and life at home with parents and siblings have made a tremendous difference in the achievements, life expectancy, and quality of life of people with Down Syndrome.

Life expectancy more than doubled from 1983 to 1997, from 25 years in 1983 to 49 years in 1997. Current research indicates the life expectancy of a baby born with Down Syndrome today is 55 or higher, and rising.

With proper early intervention, educational placement, and high expectations, fewer than 10 percent of children with Down Syndrome will have severe mental retardation; most will have mild to moderate learning disabilities. Many graduate high school, and some go on to college (PDF link). Many adults live independently, hold jobs, marry, and participate as full and valuable members of society.

And while all this positive information about Down Syndrome is true and important, it pales incomparison to my experience earlier this week when Caedon, our 15-month-old son with Down Syndrome, greeted me at the door by standing up and raising his arms in expectation of me picking him up and holding him. The light in his eyes and the joy in his smile are far beyond detection by any test.

These platforms are open to whoever has got the chops to get in the game. That’s you, right? – Gary Vaynerchuk

Last night #3 Boise State beat #10 Virginia Tech, keeping Boise’s hopes alive of playing in this year’s national championship game.

The victory also re-ignited the critics’ cries that Boise State isn’t worthy of playing in the national championship game, primarily because Boise plays a significantly weaker schedule of opponents than most other national title contenders due to their conference affiliation (Boise is a member of the WAC rather than a power conference like the SEC, ACC, or Big Ten).

But look at what Boise has done against elite competition. They’ve played in the BCS Fiesta Bowl twice in the past four years and won both times, beating Oklahoma in 2007 and TCU last season. Their record is 5-1 vs. their last 6 major-conference opponents.  They’re 4-1 vs. teams in the AP top 10 since 2000.

The establishment teams don’t like losing major bowl game revenue to lean but hustling outsiders (last year Virginia Tech spent $18.2 million on its football program while Boise State only spent $5.4 million), just like traditional media doesn’t like losing millions in ad revenue to the Web, mobile devices, and social networks.

Thousands of businesses are bypassing traditional models and hustling their way to massive success with the Web & social media, and Boise State has proven they’ve got the chops to dominate on the biggest stage. They deserve to get in the game.

A goal accomplished - hiking Mount Mitchell

Donald Miller‘s great book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years was a catalyst for me in this area, as has been the writing of Michael Hyatt. One of Hyatt’s “Six Keys to Achieving Big Goals” is this:

4. Go public with your commitment. This is a huge key. When I decided to run my first half marathon, I decided to announce it on my blog. For me, this was like Cortez burning his ships off the Veracruz coast. Once I did it, there was no turning back. I was committed, and I was going to follow-through. It’s probably just pride, but “going public” has proven to be a great lever in moving me toward my goals.

But Derek Sivers suggests the exact opposite approach in his recent TED Talk called “Keep Your Goals to Yourself.” Sivers says,

Repeated psychology tests have proven that telling someone your goals makes them less likely to happen.

I think Hyatt and Sivers are both right. And, both wrong.

For some people, broadcasting your goals is exactly the accountability you need. For others, telling no one (or only a very small group) is what’s needed to keep the competitive fires burning.

The key is to discover which is most effective for you.

I’ve found that if I broadcast my own goals I often fall into the trap Sivers warns about, so I generally keep my goals quiet.

Which method do you prefer?

UPDATE: My respect for Michael Hyatt is such that I didn’t like disagreeing with him publicly even the little amount I did in this post. So, I forwarded a draft copy to him and asked for his feedback on my conclusions. He graciously responded: “Brian, That makes a lot of sense. I am very pragmatic: whatever works!”

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