31 for 21 challenge

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. There is a challenge called 31 for 21. The rules are simple, there are no rules. The goal is to post every day for the month of October preferably about down syndrome, aka Trisonimy 21 or T-21. thus the name 31 (days in October) for 21 (T-21 or down syndrome).

The real goal is to raise awareness and remove stigma and/or dogma about down sysndrome.

I am the father of three wonderful kids. 2 boys 8 and 4.5 and a 15 month old girl. My daughter, Sydney, has down syndrome. My wife and I, mostly my wife, post about how the day in and day out details of raising a special needs child in a life of faith and how we rely on God. (http://downrightfaith.com/weblog).

We started that site, when Sydney was born becasue she was in the NICU for the first 2 weeks of her life, and we needed a way to communicate to the masses that everything was okay. At first we just posted pictures and an occasional update. As time moved on we turned it into a real blog. The idea was we, both my wife and I, would post. My wife was a bit more diligent about it than I was, and now almost a year and half later I feel like I am invading her space when I post, though I don't think she sees it that way. So I thougth I would strike out on my own...

1 chose the verse 1st Samuel 16:7 as the title for the blog because I think it speaks to how God sees all of us, and it reminds us how we should see people. The world sees the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. Later Jesus tells us (Matthew 22:37-39) that the greatest commandments is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our mind, and the second is like it, to love our neighbors like ourselves. I believe this is what we are called to do with all people, regardless of outward apperance, we are called to love them will all our heart.

so that is my goal for October and beyond amist my ramblings and posts to bring to light the beauty that can be seen when we look at each other with the love of God.