Last Day - More Alike Than Different

Wow, it's the last day of October and National Down Syndrome Awareness month! I missed several days of blogging, but that is ok. I'll try not to drop off the face of the earth now! But did you know that November is Adoption Awareness month??? For us, those two months go hand in hand. I'm sure I'll be posting a few things about adoption during the next month. :-) I still have A LOT of catch up posts to do and several posts rumbling around in my head. Hopefully, I can get some of those out this next month.

I think a lot of the things I posted about Ds have been more "medical" things and not really "big picture" things. So, I've borrowed the following facts to help you see the "big picture". Keep reading below, as I have a neat thing to share with you.


Down Syndrome Facts  - Taken from the DSAW-Fox Cities brochure

Down syndrome is the most commonly occurring chromosomal condition.

One in every 691 babies is born with Ds.

There are more than 400,000 people living with Ds in the United States.

Ds occures in people of all races and economic levels.

80% of children with Ds are born to women under 35 years of age.

People with Ds have an increased risk for certain medical conditions but many of these conditions are now treatable, so most people with Ds lead healthy lives.

A few of the common physical traits of Ds are low muscle tone, small stature, an upward slant to the eyes, a single deep crease across the center of the palm.

Every person with Ds is a unique individual and may possess these characteristics to different degrees or not at all.

Life expectancy for people with Ds has dramatically increased recently from 25 to 60.

People with Ds attend school, work, participate in decisions that affect them, and contribute to society in many wonderful ways.

All people with Ds experience cognitive delays, but the effect is usually mild to moderate and is not indicative of the many strengths and talents that each individual possesses.


And may I add - ALL people with Ds are loved unconditionally and cherished by their Heavenly Father, just those without Ds are. I believe God has a unique plan and purpose for each of their lives.

Ds Blog:  http://dsdaytoday.blogspot.com/  I recently came across this blog from a link on one of the Ds yahoo boards I'm on (not adoption related).  I was fascinated by what I started reading there. She talks about treating Ds as a "biomedical" condition. VERY, VERY interesting stuff!  She posts LOTS of nutritional information as well that I find very interesting. All of her info is a bit overwhelming at first, but the "New? Start Here" tab is a great way to start. I also realize that much of what she posts about may be somewhat controversial in the Ds world, but I've never been one to just go with what is "normal". LOL I hope to start implementing some of these strategies with the boys very soon.

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I've been asked many times if Elijah and Jonathan are brothers. Nope! :-) Are they from the same orphanage? Nope to that one too.  I've also been asked if most kids with Ds (from Ukraine?) have blue eyes. A definite NO to that one too. I explain that they get the color of their eyes from their parents, just like you did. I will never know what Jonathan's parents look like, but as I've said before, we had the extreme honor of meeting Elijah's birth parents on 3 different occasions. (Twice at the orphanage and once while we were in Ukraine adopting Jonathan. Yes, they took an overnight bus, not even the "luxurious" train, to visit us for a couple hours.) Anyway, I can definitely say that Elijah very strongly resembles his parents and other family members that I have seen photos of.

This got me thinking about a post Michelle did a couple years ago about how much Ruby looks like her brother did when he was little. Here is the link http://zoromski.blogspot.com/2009/04/photographs.html  I love what she says: "But really, even though Ruby has some features that are shared with other people who have Down syndrome, she's still genetically more like us, her family." Please click over and check it out. The resemblance is amazing!


I've been meaning to post this video all month, and this is a perfect way to end the "31 for 21". It well worth the 5 minutes to watch it. Enjoy!

MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT!



Ok, now that October is over, maybe I can get to sleep before midnight...maybe...