I am humbled every time I hear that phrase. I hear it from
everyone, those who know me and strangers I speak to. I'm just wondering, why
do people say that? Is it to make me feel better? To give me hope? Give me
pride?
I'm not sure why I hear this when I share our story, but I
do. Even back when I was pregnant I heard it all..."God only sends these
special children to the strongest and most loving parents," "I
couldn't imagine a better family for an angel like the one you will have."
I'm not sure that's true. I do however know that us
"lucky few" are families who plan for normalcy, we plan for a simple
life, we plan for an amazing future for our children.
When we were given a diagnosis of a heart defect and Down
syndrome, we fell to our knees with despair, we could not imagine that future
we longed for for our precious one. Our
dreams turned to darkness and uncertainty.
At my darkest hour, crying and weeping, asking God for a
miracle, loved ones still called me strong. I kept thinking is there something
I'm not seeing in myself?
Our gift from above will be three years old next month. It's
hard to believe how fast she's growing. As soon as she was born she brought us
so much joy, we learned that she truly was incredible and that her diagnosis
was just that, a diagnosis.
She is so much more than we could have imagined, and she has
made me a pretty incredibly strong mom/woman.
I would do anything and everything to protect her, to make
sure she's included, loved and accepted. I have become her number one advocate.
This is not what we imagined our second child would be like,
in fact it is much better than we could have ever dreamed. She is her one
little person, she has feelings, she has the best personality, she's funny and
loving, she's caring and daring. She is unique just like every other child in
this world. I couldn't be more proud of her.
