Friday, October 15, 2010

Friday Surprise!

I was going to post today about how we parents of children with Different Abilities have to deal with so many misguided, arrogant, uneducated opinionated people.  I was ready to try to set those with misconceptions "straight" about parenting a child with Special Needs.  But, thanks to following Father Hesburgh's lead, I pray daily for the Holy Spirit to Come to me.  And so, just in time, the Holy Spirit intervened.  My husband says that one can never change the hearts and minds of those who are the misguided, arrogant, uneducated opinionated people anyway.  Surely he is right!  I know that although I had been studying Down syndrome independently for 4 years before becoming Olivia's mommy, I still had no idea what it was going to be like to be her parent. It is very different than I thought it would be, but at the same time that it can be more difficult in a variety of ways, I never could have imagined how joyous so many moments are.   So how did the Holy Spirit intervene?  I have been trying to get Olivia to do more than just sit in the bathtub, and today she decided to get onto her tummy and play!  And kick! And "swim"! And crawl forward!  I got plenty wet! But it was the perfect end to a day when I had been feeling rather "down" rather than "up" about how some people were talking and acting.  Come Holy Spirit! Give us Life!  Give us Love!  Strengthen us to serve the Lord!  I still have a long way to go to be the person God wants me to be, but I think that Olivia will help me learn the ways of the Lord better than I could have ever learned them without her in my life!

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