Pennsylvania

We just spent some time in Pennsylvania visiting Diana and Peter. There's just something about having the whole family under one roof. We hung out, played games, went out to eat, it was good to be together. 

Our Airbnb was an old manor on about 10 acres. We did lots of exploring!

We had a good flight and got in a little after midnight. The inside of the manor was gorgeous and the beds were comfortable! We even all got our own rooms! Well, except for Chuck and I, we were willing to share. 😊 This was our room:

Ally took that picture. She's got such a good eye for photography.

In fact, Ally took all the pictures of the inside of the house! The upstairs reminded me a little of the Waltons house, the large landing at the top then all the rooms were off of that. 

Sometimes Diana, Peter and the kids came to the manor (as we called it) and other days we went to their house. We went sightseeing around Princeton University, went to Washington Crossing, played games, it was good to be together.

It was extremely hot the day we went to Princeton so we stopped and got some drinks on our way there. I love the architecture of that school. It's a photographer's dream!

Sharaya took this one

At Washington Crossing we got to see them shoot off a small canon. It was louder than I expected! This is where I took the header photo. Beth looking out at the Delaware River, where George Washington crossed the night of December 25, 1776.

Adelaide painted rocks

She explored the manor with Ally 

The 'bamboo forest' was on the side yard 

And played outside

Taking a break during one of the game nights

We played UNO No Mercy, and Mexican Train. I lost at both. We are competitive when we play games but there's also a lot of laughter. I usually laugh my hardest on game night.

We took this one at Washington Crossing. The first one of all of us, including little Oliver. He's such a sweet baby. I'm looking forward to watching him and Adelaide grow up together.

Started Celebrating on Sunday

The older I get the more I like the Fourth of July. I think it's because we get to sit in our 'parade chairs' for a few hours and just people watch. No responsibilities, no checking the clock... just sitting and relaxing. And there's always people walking by that you know so you're giving hugs and catching up. I think we should do that every weekend. 😄

The girls all had things to do on Monday afternoon so we started our celebrating on Sunday. Sharaya gave Diana a box of things she had been collecting for the last couple of years. She had filled it with baby clothes and books and shoes and toys. She bought a small stuffed dog for their baby, exactly like one Ally had (still has) when she was a baby! It was fun to see everything and "Oooh" and "Awwe" over baby stuff!

 

We played some Mexican Train and stopped in the middle to have our traditional jello and whipped cream. This is something we started doing when the girls were little and it's still a favorite!

 We had to cut the game short so we could go get our spot down on the parade route. Do you do that too? We can't put our chairs out before 6PM so people begin arriving around 5:30 and we hang out until just after 6:00, then we all head home. It was raining most of the day Sunday but thankfully the sun came out on Monday.

 We were all together this year, the first time in a while. The parade lasted about an hour and had more small town groups this year. A girl scout troupe, a baseball league... but there were a lot of regulars too! I teared up when the motorcycle group came by, thinking of my sister. Beth held up her Star Wars travel mug when the characters walked passed. And the Mariner Moose was there! He's our Seattle MLB mascot - Go Mariners!!

This group is from our church. We have a Discipleship Home for men - and now women! - who are coming out of addiction. They walk in the parade every year! These two ladies work in the office though.

The civic field is being worked on so we didn't have a firework show this year. After the parade Sharaya and Ally went to watch fireworks with some friends and the rest of us went to Dairy Queen before heading home. Poppy had been freaking out with the random fireworks earlier in the week so they knew they needed to be home with her on the Fourth. At about 9:30 Diana sent us this picture ~

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

We went to Diana and Peter's for Easter. The food was so good! Peter's sister was visiting from New Jersey and she recorded them telling us Diana's pregnant!!! They hadn't told everyone in Peter's family so we couldn't tell anyone. But they went to New Jersey for Father's Day and I'm free to tell you the news!!

 

They really had it all planned out: After dinner we settled in for a game of Chronology, have you played it? I think I posted about it once before.

 

If these were my cards, the player on my right would read a card to me and I'd have to guess if it happened between 1949 or 1983, or before 1793... there were 6 of us and we had gone around the table a few times when Diana picks up a card and 'reads' "CWA originally from California becomes a grandfather again." Chuck picked up on it right away but I'm so focused on the initials CWA, that's not how the cards are written. I even asked, "They only give the initials?" I obviously didn't hear the rest of the clue! When Diana finally says, "We're due in December" that's when I lost it!!!

We all went out for lunch recently and they showed us a bunch of ultrasound pictures. As I'm looking through them I see printed in small red letters, IT'S A GIRL

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! We are so excited!!

Why We Chose To Keep Her

We found out Beth had Down Syndrome the night she was born. It was 1984 and the life expectancy for someone with Down Syndrome was 25 years.

When Chuck came into my hospital room the next day, he came over to the side of my bed, took my hand and said, "We can still love her, can't we?" To be honest, I had never considered giving her up. It never even crossed my mind, but when he said that I knew that he felt the same way and we'd definitely be taking Beth home.

Then the doctor came in and told us our options. We could take her home, we could put her up for adoption, or we could put her in an institution. I was surprised that putting your baby in an institution was still an option in the 80's, I thought that wasn't done anymore. I remember being shocked that he even suggested it. I don't know what options they give parents today but I hope that's not one of them. 

We told him that our decision was made, we'd bring her home. From that point on, everything was geared for that. The nurses taught me how to nurse her, and watched me dress her for the first time. Everyone's plan was for us to take Beth home and it really helped me feel 'normal'. There were so many other things that put me in a different category from all the other new moms and I was so thankful that the hospital staff didn't question us or treat us any differently. Once our decision was made, that was that.

Chuck and I were worried about how our family would respond to her diagnosis and we even talked about how we should tell them. We decided it would be better if they all found out at the same time and we started calling everyone and asked them to come to the hospital. Of course while we had them on the phone, everyone asked if I was alright and then they'd ask if Beth was okay but we just told them that there were some things we needed to talk to them about. 

I was holding Beth when they all trickled in. We definitely wanted Beth there when we told them. We said she was showing signs of Down Syndrome, then we kind of held our breath for a minute. But we didn't need to worry because they were so supportive! One by one they started asking us questions about Down Syndrome, about what her development would be like, and they all wanted to hold her.

Even with family support we knew it wouldn't be easy. Actually we didn't know what it would be like, but we knew we would take her home, love her and just take life one day at a time. She was our daughter and it didn't matter if she had a disability or not, we were taking her home.

Beth at 5 months 

We chose to keep her because she was our daughter and for us, there was no other option.