Spotlight: Tall, strong farm worker

April 6- Happy birthday to Ryan James. He is the real-life inspiration for the character "the tall, strong, farm worker" featured in the story Escape to the Orchard. Ryan has a great way of relating to animals, especially when they need to be rounded up. He even chose the Confirmation name "Francis" after Saint Francis of Assisi, the saint for animals. As a small child, Ryan James was not a very adventuresome eater, and preferred cereal as often as possible especially Kix. This trait served as an inspiration for the story, Try a New Food, with the picky piglet using many of Ryan James' same comments about trying something new. Thank you for your inspiration, Ryan! Enjoy your favorite chocolate-chocolate birthday cake today. Love, Mom