We have a "prayer jar" with about 25 names in it of family members (including the 6 of us), extended family, friends, priests, etc. Even the Pope made the jar! Each night a child (we take turns) selects a name and we all go around and pray for what that person might be going through and if we don't know what to pray we just say "that they may receive the blessings they need".
Tonight, Julia picked Ellie. We all prayed she was "safe, felt loved, learned a lot at therapy, ate well and had a fun Easter". As we finished I remembered what today was. Down syndrome is when there are 3 of the 21st chromosomes. So, one day a year we celebrate individuals with Down syndrome (a tiny bit more than we celebrate them every single day). 3/21. When I got out the book (the book you get when you have a baby with Down syndrome) and showed the kids they were all astonished Julia had picked her name. We were supposed to "wear funny socks" today according to the movement so someone would ask us in public today about our socks and we could tell them about Ellie.
To have God divinely work Julia picking out Ellie's name was a way to celebrate Ellie at the end of the day without 3/21 going unnoticed. He is in the big and the small things and I didn't want to forget that.
Oh, and today on the way to therapy with just the three of us girls, Julia said, "Mommy, when you go to heaven will I be Ellie's Mommy?" I told her, "No, I will always be her mommy, but...", and before I could finish she said, "I'll just take care of her?" I said, "Yes, that's right you'll take care of her and you'll have your own children that will call you Mommy and they can call Ellie 'Aunt Ellie'". The smile that came over Julia's face in the rear view mirror while stopped at a red light was something I was so glad I caught. It was as if she looked forward to it.
