“to acknowledge our community of people with Down Syndrome who have made such wonderful progress over the past decades” –from the World Down Syndrome Website
So…how did we celebrate Down Syndrome Day in Ukraine today?
We took our two new sons who have Down Syndrome to the MALL!
Okay. So we stick out anyway. We speak English. We smile. We had two kids in strollers (the only strollers in the mall…it seems that people use strollers OUTSIDE…not inside). We went to the big MegaMarket grocery store first and we decided we wanted to see every aisle so off we went (MegaMarket is very much like WalMart). Wow…a lot of people just stared at the boys. Not in a bad way, but in a curious and surprised way. Kind of like…”Oh, you can take THEM out to the store?” 🙂 And Micah is a hugger and kisser so anytime I would get close enough he would reach out and grab me and pull me down to him to give me a hug and get me to kiss him. I mean, this happened a LOT. So people saw that and when I would stand back up I caught LOTS of people eyeing us. It was great! Talk about AWARENESS training. :0)
We had to go the meat counter and get some ground beef (yes, Ken, it’s really beef ONLY). It’s a big glass case. It started that one girl was helping us and peering down through the glass looking back and forth at the kids. They wanted to see the meat so I pushed them right up to the glass so the girl had a good view of them. By the time we stepped away from the counter, there were 4 girls all peering the glass, trying not to be obvious. LOL! And then there was more hugging and kissing. :0)
We were in the bakery near the end of our grocery store trip and all the ladies there were just looking at the boys with such surprise! Really surprised I think to see “this kind” of person out and about. 🙂 Customers and workers alike couldn’t keep their eyes off the boys. I loved watching them watch our boys. Maybe they have become more aware.
We then went upstairs where there is a big McDonald’s type play area only its HUGE. You have to pay so there is a gate and attendants. Very nice. So I went in with Micah. The parents just looked and looked. Don’t misunderstand. It wasn’t staring in a bad way. Just curious and surprised. It was very sweet really to see everyone noticing them and I would love to know what they were thinking.
We went into a big toy store…more looks and staring. More “awareness.” We had 2 taxi rides too. More awareness. The driver seemed real interested in them. On the way home he watched them in the mirror and smiled. He asked me their age and I told him. He really seemed amazed by the boys.
So God, all the people who saw our boys today… please make them aware that you created this little guys just the way you wanted to and that they are very valuable to you and that they will become valuable to this society in Ukraine.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord!