Welcome to Holland

This article was given to us shortly after we brought Karson home from his last hospital visist. It really touched us then and since that time we come to understand and love this article even more. It truly describes the way that we feel and our situation.

--------

A little backround --Emily Perl Kingsley is a writer who joined the Sesame Street team in 1970 and has been writing for the show ever since. Her son Jason Kingsley was born with Down Syndrome in 1974. At the time of his birth, it was commonly believed that children with Down Syndrome could never learn to walk or talk. Kinglsley's work as a writer and activist for children with special needs helped change this perception. Her experiences with Jason inspired her to include people with disabilities into the Sesame Street cast.

--------

Welcome to Holland
By
Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

HE MADE IT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARSON!!!

Karson's 2 week old pictures

Our good friend Jess took this pic in the ICU .Karson was only able to come off his bi-pap for 30 mins.

Karson's first B-day cake it was so cute!

This is my brother Scott.

This is Matt & Kristen (Darren's sister) and their kids.

Horray for Karson! He made it to his first birthday and we couldn't be more happy. Thinking back to last september I doubted this day would come but he proved many people wrong. He has been home for almost 7 months now and I know I always say this but HE IS A MIRACLE! Everyday, he is such a joy. Some of the precious moments that I will always have of him are the many hours I have spent rocking him. He will just lay there and stare deep into my eye's like he is saying " Mommy, everything is ok". That was comforting to me as I sat many,many days in the hospital. This last year has been one of the best years, but also the hardest of our lives. He has taught us so much about love, patience and strength. He is such an amazing little boy and I'm so proud of him for not giving up. I'm so thankful for so many of you who have prayed for him and us .We know without a doubt he's still here because Heavenly Father and our Savior. Everyday I have prayed that he would hold him in his arms and keep him safe and that's exactly what he's done. I know he has beat the odds that were against him already but were not ready to give him back . Please continue to pray for him! If only you could see the love in his eyes not only for me and Darren but especially for his best friend, Hadley. They truly have a special bond and love that is so amazing.

p.s. his b-day was really on the 12th

Hadley's 5th Birthday

Happy Birthday to our beautiful little girl. This last year she has had to go through more than the average 4 year old. She has been so strong and happy through all of this and she has given us constant strength . There have been many times when I was crying and she has comforted me, like when she said "mom, it's time to be strong" or "mom, your baby is going to be ok". She is an amazing little girl and were so proud of her.

"Normal"

The fact that we have not had anything to post about for the past month may seem boring and trivial to some, but to us it is euphoric. It means that we are experinceing blissful, uneventful, mundane, peaceful, priceless "normality".