The other night I was reviewing my sweet 9 yr old Anna's monthly writing journal and came across this entry from January 7, 2009. I always keep her journals, but don't always make the time to read each one. Wow, am I glad I found this one. It brought tears to my eyes since for the first months of his life, she wished John Michael wasn't part of our family. She's gone through her own metamorphasis and I'm so proud of her! Here 'tis...
"I have a big family; but one of those members gave me a little something I did not expect. That member is my little brother, John Michael. John Michael made me look at life in a whole new way. John Michael has Down syndrome. I don't like Down syndrome so I call it happy syndrome! DS is something that lots of kids have. When my mom was in the hospital and gave birth to him, the first thing they (the hospital) gave her was a huge binder full of information on what could happen not what will happen. I was not so happy about this Down syndrome thing. I had a meter for how much I loved this baby.
Time went, time passed and my meter went from 2 - 100! I love John Michael. Right now he waves, claps and when you say how big is John Michael he puts his hands in the air. He is 27 pounds and 13 months old! I (heart) John Michael. He changed my life a lot.
PS: John Michael is a good piano player. :-) (smiley face)"
Oh,how sweet!It brought tears to my eyes to read that.What a wonderful big sister for John Michael!
ReplyDeleteSo sweet! What a lovely daughter you have!
ReplyDeleteThat is so wonderful! What honesty and growth!
ReplyDeleteDown's, then, has been an opportunity for her to grow, and because you raised her right, she did. Monica, your seed has been planted, and if you keep her engaged, she will be a wonderful woman when she's older (she's already growing up!). God bless you.
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