Holland anyone?

In the world of down syndrome this is a popular poem and comparison about what it is like to have a child with down syndrome (or special needs for that matter)

Welcome to Holland

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.

Emily Perl Kingsley

Last week I had one of "those days" where being in Holland, didn't seem fair. Bree has been having some issues in dance classs , a little hitting phase, invading other girls personal space, and one day she kept trying to run out of the classroom, so the teacher emailed me saying that she might not be able to keep Bree in the class. So of course I cried. I cried because I look at my sweet Bree and I know how amazing she is and I know that she CAN do this, she just need s a little more direction and help, and I want others to see that and give her that chance. I cried because I don't want her to not be liked my the other girls because they don't understand why she acts this way.I cried because I knew this is only the beginning of this heartaches and struggles.I understand where this teacher is coming from because she has a big class of 3 year olds and so I can't blame her and I don't think she meant anything mean by this.So I am going to the class to watch today and I hope we can work something out that will keep Bree being able to attend because she LOVES dance and music. And then as I was struggling with what to do with all this, I had the opportunity to attend another primary (kids group) program at church. As the stake primary president, this is the best part of my calling, to get to see all these sweet children testify of Christ and share their amazing spirits. Well this one program in particular started out with a boy with special needs who is almost 12. He walked up to the pulpit, with the assistance of his teacher, and struggled to get the words out, He said "Jesus Christ lives"! I lost it....I cried hard! this boy had not spoken before until very recently so this was HUGE and his spirit was so pure it was tangible! And at this moment as I felt how close this child was to our Savior, I realized, this Holland journey is TOTALLY worth it and I am grateful to be here!