Washington Voices

Role call: Shauna Cozza, 7, gives a humorous monologue about the existence of fairies Monday as she auditions for a part in the upcoming Theater Arts for Children production of “The Three Musketeers,” at the TAC headquarters in Spokane Valley. TAC will host a silent auction and buffet Saturday. The Star Tacs, the theater’s improv group, will perform. Tickets for the fundraiser are $30 per person or $50 per couple and are available by calling (509) 995-6718 or by sending an email to email@theaterartsforchildren.org. The theater is at 2114 N. Pines Road, Suite 3S.

When Hobbs Smith arrived into the arms of his parents, Eric and Mery Smith, a year ago, doctors realized right away that he wasn’t exactly like his two older siblings. A few tests later Hobbs was diagnosed with Down syndrome, but that didn’t rattle the family. “We weren’t sad or anything,” said Eric Smith. “My wife and I kind of locked eyes and said to each other, ‘Well, here we go.’ ”

When the Rev. Roger Lynn of the Veradale United Church of Christ got sick the week before Christmas, there was no statement from the pulpit announcing his illness and asking for prayers. Instead Lynn went digital, sending out a steady stream of mass emails and Facebook posts from his ICU hospital bed. Diagnosed with a blood clot in each lung, Lynn, 56, thought nothing of talking about his health issues in detail. He talked about the fear he felt in an email sent on Dec. 20. “This was followed almost immediately by a huge sense of sadness as I thought about all the people I needed to call to tell them how much I love them,” he wrote. “Please know that I am grateful beyond words for the gift of having you in my life and the love that flows from me to you is more than I can say.”