Instruments of His Love

John continues to do well and interacts with us more each day. Two of Joy's sisters came along with her Mom and niece to see him yesterday and really enjoyed him. He is really enjoying all of the holding time that he is getting but he also enjoys his wiggle time. He really stretches out and gets to moving...must be the music.

With the house being relatively quiet as our other kids are still away, Joy and I have a lot of time to talk and discuss the issues that we face and some of the issues that John will face.

When we had the idea of creating this blog, it wasn't our purpose to label John as a DS child but to tear down preconceived ideas that we oftentimes have when someone speaks of Down's Syndrome. We realize that people are unfairly labeled, as it is a part of the world in which we live. It is our prayer and was our discussion this morning that the Lord would give us as parents strength to see beyond the label. One of the things that I have learned in my experiences of working with people is that labels cannot be trusted. The human spirit is awesome and drives individuals to outperform the label if allowed the opportunities and given the proper motivation.

As John continues to thrive, we are thankful. We realize that there may be difficulties that lie ahead, but we are asking the Lord to make us grateful for what we have today and to let Him worry about tomorrow. One song that has ministered to us is a song by the Newsboys entitiled Lord (I Don't Know). Here are some of the lyrics:

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation

Joy and I are also very grateful for the support that we have received from family and friends. Our church has been a good source of strength for us through this time of uncertainty. The ladies of our church have brought meals and family has visited with words of encouragement, gifts and labors of love. We welcome any of you to come visit. This experience has shown us how much we need each other.

We know that the Lord has great things planned for this family and for John if we will just let Him guide and lead us.