Singing

As you may know Katherine doesn't use words yet. She tried out 'pizza' for a while, but it has come to mean, 'I'm hungry or Feed me,' which is sweet but still not the handle on speech that I'm looking for. Her speech is a bit delayed compared to typical kids. Lots of times kids with Down Syndrome take a while to start talking and have a lot of speech therapy to help them learn to verbalize what they want to say. Katherine uses sign language and baby signs to communicate, and her use of sign really boomed while we were in the hospital. But we are still waiting for her to start using her voice. That beautiful sweet voice that I know is in there.
Now we've been home for two weeks and her next round of Chemo is on the horizon. She's been feeling better and her mobilization has improved some; she's not ready for walking again, but she's getting stronger.
What she did last night really surprised us. I took the big kids to a birthday party last night. A birthday party for a little girl who returned to Heaven way too soon, but maybe not in God's time. Her family's loss of an 11 year old girl has been devastating, but their grief has led to an amazing awakening in so many people's hearts. A new found faith for some. Better parenting and appreciating that life is fragile for others. And an overall spread of the message that Jesus is real and that He loves us, even in times of adversity and that there is always the opportunity to see joy in every situation.
This last topic was one of the lyrics in a song last night at the birthday party concert: that joy is a choice. After the concert, I came home and played this song for my husband and Katherine, who couldn't come to the birthday party concert in memory of that sweet God-loving girl. And do you know what happened? Do you know what happened after I pulled up YouTube and played that song?
Katherine sang.
She just opened her sweet little mouth and made an Aaaahhh sound. Like a little angel.
Joy is a choice. We are going to keep seeking it, as God taught us, even in times of adversity, as that precious little girl, now in Heaven, taught us. And, we are going to sing about it too.



































Thank you for your prayers.