Why not?

“What are your dreams for your child(ren)?” 

I was blessed to nanny for a mom who had four kids kids, all 4 and under, with the youngest having Down Syndrome.  She is an amazing woman and I learned so much from her (I’m confident, Cory got a bigger head start because of all she taught me).  She would counsel families just learning they would be raising a child with Downs.  She would start with the question, “What are your dreams for your child(ren)?” 

The most frequent answer is probably, “I want them to be happy.”  Others could be, “I would love to see them get married, have a happy marriage, a fulfilling career and children.” She then would ask, “Aside from having children, why would the dream have to change?” She would give them time to sit and think about it and then they would talk about all of the possibilities and seeds of hope would be planted.

 So what is it for you?  When you first find out you are pregnant or if you’re thinking about having children someday, where does your mind go?  What if it’s a boy?  What if it’s a girl? Why can’t a child with special needs have those same dreams?  To be perfectly honest, I know people with special needs doing a better job than some who are neurotypical.

What is it for me?  I had the advantage of pondering this question from the time I was 16 until conceiving my first child at 30 and my answers became, I want them to know Jesus and to make him known and I want them to put more into the world than they take out of it. I believe that if they do these things, happiness will follow. I am not an advocate for the pursuit of happiness because the world can be so false in telling you how to obtain it. I believe happiness is something we receive, not something we acquire.