Child Highlight: Davis

Davis - short for David's son - is the best son a parent could ask for. He was born the year after the Berlin Wall fell and the cold war was over. However, he has grown up with the conflict in Iraq as a constant, his father and mother constantly in school, and never knowing what it is like not to have a computer in his home - a very different world than I grew up with.

Davis' middle name is Lynn, just like his grandfather on his mother's side. Interestingly, Lynda, Davis' mother, is also named after grampa Mickelsen.

The picture to above was taken in Yokohama, Japan just before Davis was baptized. This started a period of time which saw Davis grow a great deal that has come to be defined by the time Davis became lost coming home from school. He wandered for hours throughout Yokohama until one of the teachers at his school found him covered with dirt and tears.

Davis also developed his great love for reading. His teacher only spoke Japanese, but Davis could only understand English - need I say more? He read veraciously - every book we had in our possession - many several years beyond his ability to really understand. As a result, his ability in the language arts did not suffer from our two years in Japan.

Davis and his third grade teacher, Ishiguro Sensei (1999)

Davis also loves to perform in plays. He has been in several productions: Annie; To Kill A Mockingbird; Music Man; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat; Fiddler On the Roof; and, most recently, as the lead in Godspell. This last performance, in the roll of Jesus, really messed up his ability to memorize his scripture mastery scriptures in the New Testament in seminary because the wording is only slightly different.

Davis as Jesus in Godspell (2009)

Davis is now applying to colleges. His first choices are BYU-I and BYU. His grades have gone way up since we moved to Maine and he did well on the SAT. We are optimistic. He wants to major in something having to do with computers/IT.