Here are a few pictures from the Buddy Walk. I will post more pictures tomorrow of our team and the walk--along with some commentary :). Bridget had a great day...we all had a great day!
For those of you already following us, Bridget's Light and Loving Alina have merged :). For anyone who is new to our story, Welcome!
Bridget and Alina are the youngest of our six children. Bridget (born July, 2006) is our biological daughter. Alina (born March, 2007, and adopted into our family April, 2010) is the daughter of our hearts. Both girls have Down syndrome.
Feel free to browse this blog at your leisure, to comment or to email us. We're are happy to answer questions or provide more detail to others who are interested in learning more about life with Down syndrome, or about our International Adoption experience.
I've replayed the day Bridget was born a million times...and I hate saying (and remembering) that the day was filled with sadness and uncertainty. It makes me mad--though I'm not sure at exactly who or what--that we wasted that day being somber when we should have been celebrating. I feel sad for the kids, for Chris and for me, and for our extended family and friends who were worried--heart heavy--for us. If we knew then what we know now, we would have been celebrating. The little girl that arrived in our lives that Sunday in July was the best thing that ever happened to us.
She is everything that is good about Life.
I've re-written the moments in my mind to go something like this:
We were just beginning. A beautiful life awaited us-- and it was far more beautiful than we'd imagined. It is the day we got her; the day that everything came together. It is the day we began living in the light...
For more on Bridget and our family, please visit our website (click on above photo), which provides an overview of Bridget's first year, and includes more specific information on Bridget's development as well as product recommendations and a special section for parents with a new diagnosis.
If you visit our house, you are welcome to kick your shoes off by the front door, or leave them on--whichever is most comfortable for you. The same applies when you visit here.
You should feel free to stop by often or sporadically. Leave comments whenever you'd like, but don't feel obligated (I'll always answer questions or entertain topics for new posts. Just email me or leave a comment if there's something you'd like me to address or know. And I'll keep writing even if everyone out there is silent...but if everyone out there leaves feedback, I'll have much more to write about!)
If you knock on my door and I'm in my pj's, I may or may not answer (I always assume it's the Fed Ex guy, anyway). But that is part of the beauty of blogland...you can pop in here, without warning, at any time day or night. You can slip quietly away, or take up residence. Since there's no chance of waking a sleeping baby--or encountering unflushed toilets--you can also go anywhere you please on this blog at your leisure.
This is all to say that however you got here, and whatever shape you came in, I'm glad you stopped by. Feel free to stay awhile and look around...
...to worry about everything, second-guess every decision you make, compare your life to the lives of others or to the life you thought you'd have.
Or, you can choose to embrace your life, whatever choices you've made and whatever has come to you by chance.
You can make the choice to be grateful, and hopeful, and to live a life filled with love.
While some people will make assumptions and predictions about what children with Down syndrome are capable of accomplishing or how they might be limited in life, it is impossible to predict the future for any child in terms of health, achievement or ability.
All children deserve and need love, attention, guidance and nurturing. All children benefit from a loving, accepting, encouraging, stimulating and positive home environment.
There's no telling what our children will accomplish, and what they will be happy doing.
With our guidance, attention and love, the world is full of possibility--for them, and for us.
This page is not just about Down syndrome; it's about acceptance--of circumstances, of self and of others. It's about embracing Life and understanding that while we can't control everything that happens, we can choose to see the goodness nonetheless...
A Beautiful Life
(A Poem for Bridget by Mom)
Look at me Loving Life Laughing Watching Becoming
See what I can do and All I am
Look closely… Through the soft focus of my life frame by frame You’ll see the essence of things
I see the world in its most perfect state I see the good in things and in people
I see a world of Joy, Hope and Infinite Possibility
See me for who I am
Deliberate, sweet and true
I am beautiful I am strong I am happy I am loved
I live a Beautiful Life
I am
A Beautiful Life
In the right light,
things glisten, glow, sparkle—
appear extraordinary.
Light is simple, basic, necessary.Light is comfort; it is a guide;
Lovely pictures Lisa!!!, can't wait to see more. :)
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