Sunday, March 26, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day (March 17th)


Dedicated readers of this blog will remember that Jena decided to be a leprechaun for Halloween so I convinced her to pull out her shirt and wear it for St. Patrick's Day.  Apparently it was a big hit at school!




and then it was ----Happy World Down Syndrome Day (March 21)!

I put a picture of Jena in her green shirt and this logo on Facebook.....


..with the following post: "Well the day is almost over, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to acknowledge all of the great friends and people we know with Down syndrome. March 21...3-21...was chosen to be World Down Syndrome Day as the number represents the three copies of the 21st chromosome which leads to Down syndrome occurring in people.
One question that I am often asked was did we search for a child with Down syndrome to adopt. And the answer is no. We were searching only for the right child for our family. That was Jena and she happened to have Down syndrome. And it was and continues to be a remarkable journey to travel my life journey with her. She dreams big, lives in the present, and cares about everyone. Life is a different pace than it would have been otherwise....I don't understand the details of the master plan of the universe, but Jena and others like her bless us as individuals, families and as humans. For that gift, I will be forever grateful."

And since this is about Jena, the day after World Down Syndrome Day, she went to the Bountiful Temple with the Davis County North Young Church Service Missionaries.  She did baptisms for the dead with many of the other missionaries.  Gary headed upstairs and was able to do sealings with some of the other missionaries who were endowed.

This is her last activity with the whole group as she will be released on April 15th.  What a sweet experience this has been for her and for us!  We are very sad to see it end.

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