It really is ok!

Three years ago Jason knew absolutely nothing about down syndrome.  What little information I had about it was outdated from my bachelors degree in special education.

All that changed on October 9, 2008 when Alayna entered our lives.  We were forever changed at her delivery.  Not in a negative way as most people would think.   Don't get me wrong it took Jason several days to get over the shock of her diagnosis and to stop worrying about her future.

Our lives are blessed. 

Our lives are so much fuller, so much brighter and so much more connected to God and each other than they ever would have been if Alayna had been born without an extra chromosome. 

That little extra bit of genetic material is only one part of who Alayna is, it in no way defines her.  She is beautiful, loving, silly, smart, playful, bubbly, stubborn, feisty, cuddly, empathetic and the list could go on and on.

But, you see if God hadn't blessed us with this sweet girl....
 
Our eyes would NEVER have been open to searching Reece's Rainbow and God leading us to adopt this sweet, beautiful angel.

You see blessings sometimes come in small, unexpected packages.  Alayna only weighed 4 pounds 13 ½ oz.  But, the impact she has had and continues to have on our lives is enormous. 

October is Down Syndrome Awareness month.   It is also Alayna's birthday month.  We will celebrate next week with cake and ice cream and family just like almost every other family does for their child's birthday.  See here at our house, our girls aren't any different than Aidan who only has 46 chromosomes.

I am not a great blogger, or even a very frequent blogger these days (can't imagine why).  Some of our bloggy friends (on our blog roll) will be blogging daily about ds.  Hope you pop in and learn great stuff this month as I will.

Hopefully through our daily lives we have shown and continue to show the world that life with an extra chromosome is really ok.