Welcome to Holland

I posted this about 3 1/2 years ago and was thinking about it the other day. One of the young women from church approached me last week about doing a fund raiser for our family. I was very touched that she thought of us. Some days I wonder what life would be like if Emily was just like her sister or if Mike could walk. I know my life would be very different and I would not be the same person I am today. I have learned much about faith, patience and the love our Heavenly Father has for us. This poem sums up that feeling. I do have my tough days, but I can't dwell on what might have been because I will miss the wonderful things that are happening now. Enjoy!!

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.

Gratitude

Feeling very lucky for all the wonderful people that have been in my life and are in my life now. I look back over my life and see that Heavenly Father has placed people just where I needed them when I needed them. Honestly I don't know where I would be without such supportive and loving friends and family. I really feel that Heavenly Father works through us, we are his instruments here on the earth. "He has no hands but ours."

I look around just in our ward family and our community and see so many trials and suffering. Some days I wonder what I can do, I'm only one person. Then I think about the many people that have helped me even by just smiling or saying hi. So many have been there when I lost hope, or when I just thought it would be easier to give up. We may be only one person, but if we live close to the spirit and listen we can make that difference in someones life. We can be the angels that bear others up and help them on their way back to our Heavenly home.

Thank you to the many wonderful friends and family that make me laugh, take time to listen and just brighten my day. I am grateful for you and I am grateful for our greatest friend, the one who loves us most, our Savior.