My thoughts and prayers are with the George family 31 for 21 day 9

I had a different post ready to go for today, but it is not meant to be for today.  Today it is overcast  here.  No clouds peeking through the gray that surrounds us.  Light rain coming down from time to time.  My heart feels heavy, overcast and gray with tears today, just like the sky outside my window. 

Fear crackles like fire in every life, fed by the uncertainties that are a constant part of people and events.  Small wonder that we dream universally of desert island, of quiet safe places where we might catch our breath for a moment.  But there are no such islands, not for any of us.  There is only life, unfolding quite mysteriously and with ever-present challenge even in the most commonplace existences.

Eugene Kennedy-The Pain of being Human

This morning I was made aware of some devastating news – a tragedy that had already befallen this same family 18 months ago.  My friend Joany George has suffered the pain no parent wants to endure.  Last night her son Brad perished in a home fire that destroyed her home.  I cannot begin to imagine how she is feeling, but my heart hurts so badly for her.  It was only a mere 18 months ago that she lost her daughter Carly to a sudden cardiac event.  Her daughter was only 8 years old and in her short life she was challenged several times over.  She was born with Down syndrome, had heart surgery and battled leukemia.  I met Joany over the internet via carepages.com.  She was one of the very first people I talked with who also had a child with Down syndrome.  She gave me encouragement and she followed Katie’s story as I caught up with hers and began following her story.  For Joany and her family to lose Carly after all that Carly had been through left me to question God as to why such heartbreaking things have to happen in the world we live in.  To say the last 18 months have been difficult for Joany is an understatement.  Joany has shared with us her struggles in living in a world that doesn’t have Carly physically present and her joys in the life Carly shared with her and all the memories she has carried with her of her daughter. 

I cannot understand why another tragedy had to befall this family.  Their other daughter, Ashleigh, just left for the Navy after completing college, so Joany was dealing with her daughter being gone too.  Now this.  I ask God why.  I have never been afraid to ask him this.  It is a simple question with a thousand possible answers and sometimes no answers.  I learn something everyday that he has taught me.  In times such as these I am left to wonder….wonder what good comes out of something so profoundly life changing and traumatic. 

Which lead me to this-----My family of Ds moms and dads, our community of incredible people---- I feel so blessed to be a part of this group of parents.  I have never met Joany personally.  All of our words have been via the written or typed word.  You hear it all the time---be cautious of what you do on the internet and who you talk to.  Our community is built on the trust of the good in mankind.  We need each other.  Without these parents, relatives, friends and fellow advocates---I don’t know where I would be today.  Our bond is stronger than the link of the extra cell that brought us together.  I have gotten to know these people and their families and they all bring a different and welcomed perspective of Ds to our friendships.  I  have made hundreds of new friends, and have even met some of them in person.

It is the link of a network of people finding the beauty in a life most people choose to discard and ignore.  It is the words of support, the laughter, the tears, the triumphs and the disappointments of what we share that brings our community of Ds parents together.  My support network is amazing!  The caring acts of a few moms such as Joany when I was first starting out has led me to be involved with a support network of priceless proportions.  God gave me the gift of my child and through her, the gift of friendships I hold dearly to my heart.  Through these ladies I am able to share with new families.  I am able to bring support to these new moms and dads as Joany once did to me.  So thank you to those special friends who have graced my life these last 3 1/2 years.  I love you all!

It is not easy to find hope when you are facing pain and difficulties, but the one great hope for man is where he has always been---waiting patiently for us to give it all to HIM.  So Lord,  I give you all my pain of this tragedy.  I give you all my hope that this family will continue to push forward in the face of despair and that they will find peace somewhere in this grief.  I give you all my thoughts that I may never be able to comprehend or understand this tragedy or others like it.  I give you all my sins of being human and being angry at you.  I know that being human is to know pain, but I am fatigued in that department, so I give you my fatigue to put to rest.  I give you my tears to use in nourishing the Georges to allow them to blossom again under your love and grace.  I am not worthy but I am thankful.  I am  so thankful to have a love from you that compares to no other. 

Please join me in sending prayers, thoughts and love to Joany, Paul and Ashleigh George in their time of need now and in the days and months to come.  Lift them up and carry them forward through this difficult time. You can go visit Joany over at her blog--http://abandcsmom.blogspot.com/. 

John 16:33 - "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Lamentations 3:31-33 - For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.