Ella's 12th birthday

Happy Birthday Ella

Happy Friday, I hope all is well. We are currently on vacation, but I wanted to send you a quick note.

Tomorrow is Ella's 12th birthday. I don't talk much about Ella and her story through these email. I try to use this space to assist others more than tell our story. But Ella's experience is a deep part of who we are. Her Down syndrome doesn't define her or us, but it is an important element of who we are. If you've never taken the time to read about her experience, I wish you would.

Here are 6 articles from the past about Ella. Pick one and read it. By learning about her story, you might be understand your own. (To better educate others, share one of the articles on Facebook or another social media medium.)

From the beginning, I knew Ella was here to teach me more than I was supposed to teach her. The lessons continue. Yesterday we took a short family hike. It was a couple of miles to a lake with very little elevation change. She made it. She wasn't happy about it, but she completed the hike. The walk demanded much from her physically and much from us emotionally. It's hard to know when to push and when not to...it's hard to tell what are reasonable expectations and what ideas are unfair to her.

Two ideas struck me. First, I have no idea how difficult some things are for Ella. I only know my experience so I unfairly assume her experience matches mine. I forget about her lower muscle tone and overlook the physical demand daily life can be. Judging the experiences of others through our own experience is a mistake we all make regarding others. Second, Ella doesn't understand her limits. She is capable of far more than she realizes. I'm guessing that is true of us all.

Happy Friday and Happy Birthday Eve Ella,

Kevin

Note: my editor is on vacation so I apologize for any errors. As we are traveling, we are helping bookstores out by making sure

is properly displayed (top shelf right in front of 5 Love Languages, ha.)