Just Love Him

This post is kind of gonna be a repeat of some I've written before, but I think I'm going to try and write a post that relates to Joshua and Down Syndrome and our lives with him/it...every day during the month of October for DS Awareness/Acceptance Month.

Or, like I said, "The Month of Joshua's People."

I don't know how this will all work on Facebook. It used to be that I could write whatever I wanted about him, and it was fine...but then he got Facebook.

So then, I would write some things on IG...but then he got IG. THANK YOU, HOLLY.

No, really, social media gives Joshua so much joy, for the most part. But, it keeps the rest of us on our toes, because you just never know what he's going to say.

So, I've taken to using hashtags to say what I want to say on Facebook. I know you're not supposed to use hashtags on Facebook. If you are using hashtags on Facebook, then you probably don't have older kids telling you, "MOM. STOP."

And also saying things like, "I don't use Facebook anymore. It's no fun now that the OLD PEOPLE have taken over."

(sigh)

Anyway, I've been using hashtags because I don't think Joshua has figured them out yet. I mean, just last month, he posted something on Facebook and said it was the "hash-tag-high-light of his whole day." And he wrote it out just like that.

Today, I wrote about Joshua's birth. How I had to have an emergency c-section, and so I was put-to-sleep. I not only missed Joshua's birth...I missed when the doctor told us that Joshua had Down Syndrome. Actually, he said something about Joshua being a "mongoloid."

I know.

Everything was hazy as I was waking up...I remember hushed voices and people all around, and my friend, Carolyn, kissing me on the head. I instinctively knew something was wrong, and kept fighting to wake up. When Jim finally told me, I still didn't understand. I've written before about how I knew NOTHING about Down Syndrome. AT ALL. And, honestly, I didn't care. I was just so thrilled to be a mom.

Jim had the task of calling everyone to tell them we'd had the baby...and that he had Down Syndrome. I sat in the bed and cried. Not because I was sad about Joshua...because I didn't have enough sense, or mental function at the time, to figure out what all it meant. Thank you, anesthesia. It was just listening to Jim tell everyone. It was really hard. Not as hard as what Jim had to do...but I knew that whatever we had to face, we'd do it together.

And when they brought Joshua to me, I would just stare at him. There couldn't be anything "wrong" with him. What did they see? I thought he was beautiful.

I heard Jim on the phone with our friends, Billy and Sherri. Jim was saying, "don't come...we're fine." It seemed like just a minute had passed when they came walking through my door. Because OF COURSE they came. That's what friends do...they show up. Even when it's hard.

It was a blessing that Joshua was born first. We had no clue about parenting, and no clue about Down Syndrome...so I think that made for a good combination. We were pretty much smitten with him. I mean, cutest baby ever.

When we got home from the hospital, our friend, Karen Alexander (Doyel), came by to see us. Her first husband, Doug, was a minister at our church. After several days of information and testing and doctor's appointments and no sleep, my head was about to explode. Karen was holding Joshua on her lap...I can see it in my mind like it was yesterday. In the midst of all the noise of what we should/should not be doing, her quiet words were like a balm for my heart: "JUST.LOVE.HIM."

Well, I can do that!

"Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father..." James 1:17