Tag Archives: Maddi

MadsWhen asked to put into words “my experiences” with Maddi I could not find them. When I think about Maddi and all of the times we have all I can think is love and joy. From the very beginning she captured my heart. There is such a pureness that shines through her eyes. She looks at you with love and happiness no matter what she is going through. I have been

witness to the many struggles she and her amazingly strong parents have gone through. I have watched them struggle but never give up. Madilynne is a fighter and a survivor. She has this love for people and life. A true inner joy inside of her busts out through her radiant smile and her infectious laugh. The way she just giggles and giggles, it cleanses the soul. Every time I see her we have our dance time, just she and I. We dance and laugh and dance and laugh some more. We play games, make funny faces, and make silly noises. The time I get to spend with this precious angel I cherish. Maddi has blessed so many lives. I know for certain she has enriched my life and brought so much happiness to our family.
There was preconceived idea that she would be “lacking” certain things in her life. I am not sure I see where she is lacking. Sure she may have more educational and physical struggles than others but, Maddi is the definition of love. The way she interacts with everyone, the smile on her face, and the heartwarming hugs she gives. She is such a happy little girl with so much curiosity always trying to figure something out. We should all take a lesson from this little angel and live our lives with more love and joy. Maddi is what is right in this world, pure love, joy and happiness. Let’s share her with the world through this blog and bring forth all that Madilynne exemplifies.

 

By: Auntie Moe

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How I felt when we found out!

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No Shawn and I aren’t really going to Holland…physically, but we are going to embark on a life long adventure….this poem really explains it better then I EVER could. We found out that Madilynne has Downs Syndrome.

Welcome To Holland
by
Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

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.

Meet Our Team

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First of all thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read our blog. We hope that we are able to enlighten people as to the beauty and diversity that people with Down Syndrome posses.
Our team is an extension ofTeam Pic our family, and it is starting to grow. The star of the team is our daughter Madilynne Small, commonly known as Maddi. I am Maddi’s dad, my name is Shawn, Maddi’s mom is Liz, and Maddi has a younger sister named Bailey. Since I haven’t asked people if it is ok to use their names I will just describe some of the other members. There are an assortment of “aunties”, there are a couple of actual Aunts, her Godmother, and some of her wonderful therapists and teachers, and countless others.
I am new to this blogging thing but I swear I will get better. I plan on having different “guest” bloggers on a regular basis. I want people to get a sense of how others have been affected by their experiences with Maddi or people with down Syndrome in general.