You've Got A Friend In Me

It has been my prayer for quite some time now that Emma would be blessed with good friends in her life, starting as early as possible. Friends are an intricate part of our well being. We all need them. Friends aren’t usually hard to find, but when you have special needs, finding friends can prove to be challenging for many reasons (unfortunately as we have already experienced). Drew never had an issue finding friends and that was something I definitely took for granted looking back. I probably never realized the true value of a friend until having Emma. I knew that I wanted her to experience all the same things Drew did. Why shouldn’t she? She is capable of being a good friend just like anyone else.

So I am thrilled to report that recently, Emma has enjoyed many play dates with her new friend Meredith! Meredith is from our playgroup that we started a year ago. The two girls play very well together and have a lot of similarities. Yes they both have Down syndrome, but they do not see that in one another. They are just two little girls learning how to love one another and play together. They both really look forward to their play dates. And a double score is that I found a new friend too- Meredith’s mommy! :) Below are some pictures of their recent adventures to the pumpkin farm and NC State fair.

The fair-


Having fun at the fair!


They loved the carousel!


And the swings. I love their faces- priceless!


Too cute not to share...


One last goodbye hug!

And the pumpkin farm-


Enjoying the hayride


Nothing like swinging on a beautiful day


Say cheese!


Good friends

I don’t think I can illustrate with words what seeing them together does to my heart. I’ll just say it’s extremely rewarding and joyous. I have waited a long time for Emma to have a good friend and she has finally found one. We love you Meredith!!!

A challenge for all of us today...We have always been taught “A friend loves at all times”, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you” and the importance of being a good friend. So often these things are forgotten. Take time today to let your closest friends know how much they mean to you. We all need to hear how much we matter to people from time to time.