Yesterday, 3/21, was World Down Syndrome Day!! It's on that day because children with Down Syndrome have 3 of Chromosome 21 instead of just 2! So, we celebrate all those children and adults who are rocking that extra Chromosome :-)
This was our first year celebrating it, because of our dear baby boy, Braeden, and it was such a great day!
The adoption network we registered with last year that ultimately found Braeden for us, the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network, featured some stories of DS children yesterday and our story was in there! Click here to read it:
NDSAN
We also went to Peter Piper Pizza to join a party that was celebrating 3:21 :-) Interesting story about how this all happened:
So, I went to the dentist on Wednesday (3/20) for my semi-annual cleaning and all the wonderful people there know our whole adoption story and just adore Braeden! (I got lectured because I didn't have Brae with me that day - he was spending time with daddy. But they wanted to see him!!) Anyway, my dental hygienist, Reina, was talking about a lady from her church, Lili, who's daughter has Down Syndrome and it having this party the next day to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day (3/21). She told me I should go and then got out her phone to look up her friend's facebook page and wrote down the time and place of the party :-) I thought about it and was gonna tell the hubby, but forgot when I got home. Told him about how they lectured my for not bringing Braeden though :-P
Thursday (3/21), I had another doctor appt, so the hubby dropped me off there and then we to the dentist to show off Brae :-) Of course, Reina told him about it the party too, thankfully, and we talked about it after my appt! We decided that it would be fun and good to met others in this circle. So, we killed a couple hours in town and then went to the party. I met Lili and she immediately gave me a hug! It was so great to have a new friend. We got to meet her husband, her lovely daughter with DS and her other daughters too :-)
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| Lili's family :-) |
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| Abry, Araseli, Aliah, and Amireah (in front- Lili's daughter with DS) |
We met a lot more friends too and stories all came together. Turns out, God had really led all of us there yesterday!! Lili's sister-in-law, Alma, knew our story and told Lili awhile back that they needed to meet us. Lili agreed, but didn't know how to get ahold of us. Alma also knows my mom because mom taught Alma's 2 boys for 6th grade! So we got to talking and she discovered that the story she had heard - a Christian couple that adopted a baby with DS in November - was us! It's truly amazing how God works everything out. If I hadn't gone to the dentist the day before, I wouldn't have even known about this party and never met these awesome people!! So here's some of the fun that went on last night:
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| Having fun celebrating! |
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| Amireah and Lili & her husband |
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| New friends! |
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| Our special Down Syndrome kids! (had to fight the hubby into the picture, haha) |
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| New friends, Sharon (who taught my sister in 6th grade too!) and her family! |
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| More new friends! |
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| Me, hubby and our wonderful DS miracle! |
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| New friends! Alma, Irma &son, Carmen, me and Brae :-) |
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| Everyone fell in love with Braeden immediately, especially his new friend, Kellie! |
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| Braeden was sooo tired by the end of all the excitement, but he had fun :-) |
We had such a wonderful day and it was great to meet some new friends! All this kids and adults loved him (I mean, who doesn't?!) ;-) But it is just amazing how God works to bring everything together! Especially when we can't see it and have no idea how it's all working! :-)
Happy Down Syndrome Day!
In closing, my heart is heavy as I am reminded of a young baby we prayed for who was taken home to Jesus' arms at only 67 days old. He had Down Syndrome and many medical issues.
We never got to meet you, sweet baby Jude, but we prayed for you from the minute you were born! I know your parents were praying for you long before that too. We love you, Jude Matthew and we will see you again, happy and healthy in heaven! Friends, please pray for our dear friends, Mandy and Brandon Pelton as they continue to mourn the loss of their sweet baby. Help them feel the comfort of Jesus surrounding them always, but especially on days like Down Syndrome Day! God bless you, Peltons! We love you :-)
If you want to read more about Jude and his family, visit Mandy's blog:
mandypelton.blogspot.com and click here for Jude's story:
http://mandypelton.blogspot.mx/p/story-of-jude.html
God bless, friends!
