October 1st- Margaret and Baby J

New Beginnings

“7,508 miles away is the most precious little girl. She is extraordinary and she will, prayerfully, be our daughter very soon. She lives in China and we cannot wait to have her in our arms! It has been quite a journey to have finally arrived at this point.

Our family has been built through biology and adoption. We have four kiddos ages 15, 15, 14 & 10. We completed our first adoption in 2006, our second in 2009 and our third in 2011. I have known since I was young I wanted to adopt children, and specifically, a child with Down syndrome. The hubby, well, he was on board for adopting but was not sure about a child with Down syndrome.

Life has a funny way of stretching and growing us when we least expect it. After the adoption of our 4th child, we entered an extremely crazy world of unknowns: medical appointments, MRI’s, CT Scans, neurologists, specialists, cranial/facial & brain surgery, date of birth changes, emergencies and even to this day, a whole slew of mysteries. Each year for the last 8 years has revealed emerging medical surprises! Our son is a medical marvel that continues to stump doctors at times. It was because of him we were finally able to say YES to this little one with Down syndrome.

Since I was little, the most common question I would get when I would tell people I wanted to adopt a child with Down syndrome is: why would you do that? They would list off a bunch of reasons as to why it was not a “smart idea” or how it would “ruin our lives.” My response: Why would we not?!! Our soon-to-be daughter is a miracle….beyond loved….and extremely wanted. Her life is valuable; she has great worth. She is important and she was knit together in her mother’s womb to be exactly the beautiful and wonderfully created child she is. There are about to be a whole lot of new beginnings: growing from a family of 6 to a family of 7 and a whole new world for our sweet girl. We are just beginning to understand how remarkably special the community at GiGi’s Playhouse is. We are grateful that we get to be part of a wonderful fabric of individuals, families, and organizations speaking truth about the Down syndrome.”

– Margaret, mom to baby J

Margaret attended the 1st Annual GiGi’s Fox Valley Fashion Walk in September!