A precious child named Teddy

   About two weeks ago, on Sunday afternoon, we had the privilege of taking care a sweet precious 13 month old baby. Teddy's mother brought him to our house asleep and laid him on our guest bedroom bed with pillows all around him. She said he could sleep anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours, he is really unpredictable. Well, he slept a total of 45 minutes! I left the door open so I would hear him talking when he woke up. His mother said he does not cry... which is really strange in our house. All my children cry the moment they realize they are in their crib alone.
    I heard Teddy grunting...I raced in there hoping he would not roll over and fall off the bed. The moment he saw me, he just stared at me..then my springer spaniel, Milo, came racing in the room and licked him on the face! Immediately he started screaming...he was probably wondering who I was and what is this strange creature making my face wet! I picked him up and brought him into the living room to play on the floor. He sat for the longest time looking around the house, taking it all in. Teddy has the most precious little face and smile that lights up the room.
   After about a minute or so, he decided to look at an Elmo book. Then he started to grunt as he flipped the pages. His mother says that is his "working" voice...it was hard to tell if something was bothering him, but he kept right along grunting and acting really interested in his task. Dee and I just laughed!!
   After Teddy was finished he decided he wanted to crawl or "walk like a bear"...I have never seen a child crawl like that...maybe the floor hurts his knees...but they were both in the air. Very inventive. Then all a sudden, he stood up! I had no idea he could stand on his own, but he has really strong legs. He tried to take a step but fell.
    By now he was getting a little fussy, so we decided to try and feed him. Man...did this child eat! I feed him an entire small container of apple sauce, half a banana, and a whole glass of milk...for a snack. This would be two meals for Mary Taylor...if I could even get her to eat apple sauce and bananas! It was such a joy feeding him...he did not refuse a single bit. I have never had that experience with my children...maybe our adopted child will enjoy eating...Oh, the things I wish for! Only a mom can appreciate this!! 
    He finished eating and I realized his pants were wet, so I decided to change him. Oh, did the "strong willed nature" come out of him now! The whole time I changed his diaper and his clothes he cried and fought me the entire time! Oh...now this is something I am used to...Mary Taylor battles me on everything, especially getting her diaper changed and clothes on...this just made me laugh! His mother mentioned that he was starting to have an opinion.
    By the time we changed his clothes Mary Taylor and Henry were joining in the fun. Teddy was just amazed by them. Two crazy kids running around the room as loud as hyenas. Teddy is a first child, so I am sure he is not used to all the load noises...but he seemed to be O.K. with it...I think? After a while Teddy found another interesting toy, a scrub bush for dishes...don't worry, it was new...the kids use it for their kitchen. He would NOT put it down...he crawled around the room holding it...it was too cute!
    This sweet precious child that the Lord created, has a medical condition, called Trisomy 21, in other words, Down Syndrome. Teddy's parents first realized Teddy had Down Syndrome after he was born. I think they had suspected this might be the case, but the chances were slim to none. Despite the shock of this news, God gave them the grace to embrace this child as a child of God and know that he has amazing plans for him. In the eyes of the world, the news of Teddy would bring heartbreak and despair, but seeing this child through God's eyes is a different story. Knowing his parents both went to Harvard, you would think, Teddy is so blessed to have such great parents, but God has shown them that TEDDY is the BLESSING. God ordained Jeff and Hannah to be parents to Teddy from the beginning of time. What an amazing testimony to his grace. The gospel turns things upside down in an amazing way.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are. I Corinthians 1:27-28

Teddy is a precious little child and is loved by all who are around him. God has a plan for Teddy Heck and I am so blessed to be apart of it.

It's a Thanksgiving Miracle

As of today, The Hollis family has raised 28,500 and the money is still coming in! Wow, I cannot believe it! They raised this amount of money in a week! God completely provided the money for Darya to have a home! Truely Amazing! This famliy was on the news in their home town.

Hoping for a Thanksgiving Miracle

I just saw this post on another persons blog. This is the Hollis family. They have five kids. Three are biological and two are adopted. Two of these kids have down syndrome. Lydia, their 11 year old daughter fell in love with a Down Syndrome little girl name Darya from Russia in the Reese's Rainbow website, a site dedicated to Down Syndrome advocacy. Lydia's mother told her that if she could raise $20,000.00 then they could adopt Darya.

  "... children with Down Syndrome in other countries, such as the Ukraine and Russia, are removed from the orphanages and placed into mental institutions where they are sentenced to life in a crib. Even though they may have the ability to walk and run, these children are never allowed out of the crib for exercise. Even though they may speak, they are never spoken to again. And even though they may desire hugs and kisses, these children are never embraced again. Most die the first year. It is tragic... fed just enough food to satisfy but never enough to fill....just because they have Down Syndrome.

Darya is left in her crib most of the time with no one to love on her, hold her, or interact with her ~ So... Lydia and her giant faith has started praying that God will bring $20,000 to the family by Thanksgiving! She has figured out that if she could just get 200 people to give $100 then they would have the money and they could let Darya know by Thanksgiving that she has a family. (Lydia raised $800 ~ one day after her campaign began! ) The love of others continues to pour in...

(I copied this from the Poppy Dip Blog)