It's Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

Move over pink, October is also Down Syndrome Awareness Month! Just kidding, don't move over pink, but please share the aisle... there's enough love in our hearts to celebrate both! Now as a mother of a precious baby with Down syndrome, I want so badly to spread the word about Down syndrome mainly because I realize how much I didn't know about it until I became Elliot's mom.

You've got to be kidding me with these cheeks?!?! 

Before Elliot, I knew nothing about Down syndrome. All I could think of was this little girl at my elementary school that would run out of her classroom when the teachers weren't looking. As mentioned in Elliot's birth story, I was terrified. Some days I still am, but not of him. I'm more scared of Elliot growing up in a world that doesn't understand how amazing he is because trust me I can already tell he is one awesome little dude! I read stories of kids being kicked out of gymnastics because they can't keep up or adults losing their jobs because they had to have a job coach help them (I'm looking at you Papa John's). It's all so hard to hear while looking down at this little boy that I see as absolute perfection.

I want the world to see that God doesn't measure success the way we do and he does not make mistakes. Elliot is here for a purpose and I believe that purpose is to open hearts around him to help spread the word that children and adults with Down syndrome are not scary... they can do many (if not all) of the things typical people can do as long as we allow them the time and support they need to get there.

As I've already said, I'm guilty too. There are two recent encounters of children with Down syndrome that stick out boldly in my mind and neither of them put me in a good light. Last summer I was perusing the aisles in Target (shocker) and there was a mom with her two daughters in front of me. One of the girls had Down syndrome. She was just hanging out in the aisle with her mom and sister looking at earrings. I remember thinking to myself, "that poor woman." I also felt a fear creep into me. Justin and I had just started trying for another baby, and it hit me at that moment that no one is immune from having a child with Down syndrome. I bet if that woman could have read my mind she would have said, "You're the poor woman!" And she would have been right.

The next memory is we were touring day cares when we moved to Atascocita and when we visited one, there was this little boy in the two-year-old class running around throwing toys at all the other kids. He also had Down syndrome and my shameful thought this time was, "How is he allowed to be in here? Doesn't he need a more special environment?" If I could go back in time and slap myself in the face, I totally would. For one, now that Adele is a full-fledged two-year-old, I realize every kid runs around and throws toys. Also, that little boy was exactly where he needed to be... with peers his own age being challenged in his development!

Can you believe I thought these things? I'm so embarrassed to admit them, but it makes me think that as a Christian, an educator, a college degree holder, a loving wife and mother that if I can think these things, that most likely A LOT of people would have these same thoughts and we have to change that. There's no room in this world for this kind of fear. There's much bigger issues to be afraid of.

I have no idea why these instances are so vivid in my memory. Maybe God made them bright spots so that when Elliot was born I could remember how "normal" these little kids lives were hanging out with mom at Target and participating at day care, which meant their moms' lives were also "normal" shopping with her daughters and keeping a day job.

So, this month, I urge you that when you see someone with Down syndrome out and about don't be fearful. Don't feel sorry for their parents. Just smile and recognize them for who they are... a person first who God so dearly loves.