Living life one day at a time as a family of six...3 busy and bouncy boys and 1 Ukrainian princess. Our third son Joaquin was our unexpected blessing who came to us with a little something extra called Down syndrome and inspired us to adopt Sofia an orphan we fell in love with through Reece's Rainbow. We hope that our story will help open people's eyes to the beauty and gift that ALL children are. We are all more alike than different!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Mexican Seer
Jen asked me awhile ago to write about an experience we had in Mexico City this summer when we celebrated my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was Joaquin's first visit to Mexico and we introduced him to my whole family. I think Jen would agree with me that every time we go to Mexico there is always the next new "miracle" something...the new miracle cream that will shorten or prevent a cold, the greatest new vitamins, a new meditation technique, etc, etc...
This time around it was this new wonderful therapist/psychic/healer/seer. I don't even know what the official title would be for Alejandra. My sister Adriana told me all about the sister of a friend of hers, Alejandra, who has a special gift and devotes her life to helping people. I am not a skeptic by any means, quite the contrary, I am open to all new things. But I am cautious because I tend to be quite gullible. Since it was difficult to get an appointment to see Alejandra and my sister was happy to give us her own appointment so that we could bring Joaquin, I happily agreed to meet with her. To tell you the truth, I was very curious to see what she would "see" in baby Joaquin.
Jen, Joaquin, Diego and I went to see her and she talked entirely in Spanish. She spoke about so many things and it was hard for me to store all of the information so that I could interpret it for Jen later. It was so difficult to remember every detail. It has been more than 5 months since that day and I've never written down anything she said to us until now. These are a few of the things she said to us.
She said that babies with Down syndrome are new souls, and that they come for a reason. Joaquin has a specific purpose in life, and we should never question any of his actions...if he moves a toy to the right, don't move it back to the left, he has a reason for everything he does. I thought that was very interesting, how specific she was about the idea of what his legacy will be.
As far as his health, she told us that he didn't have any heart defects. This was later confirmed by our cardiologist. She said that she saw some congestion in his ears. This too was confirmed by our audiologist. Joaquin has mild to moderate hearing loss due to what we believe is fluid and he will get tubes implanted in November to help resolve this issue. She didn't see any other physical abnormalities in him. We forgot to ask her about his vision and back then his strabismus was not as prominent.
The most amazing thing she said was that Joaquin's soul was so pure that it was overwhelming to her. She said that usually babies with Down syndrome have huge chakras, bigger than normal, but that they are usually disconnected. She said that Joaquin's were big as expected, but they were connected like in a "typical" baby. His flow of energy was pristine and there was no interruption from his brain all the way down his spine. At the time I thought that sounded cool but now it explains why he is extra special, at least to us. He has such a way of drawing people into him.
My sister Adriana later told me that several days after we met with Alejandra, she (Alejandra) was at a weekend retreat and she couldn't stop thinking about Joaquin. She was very affected by him and felt lucky to have been in the same presence as him, someone with the purest of souls.
I believe that all babies are special and that each child comes to us for a reason. I know that Joaquin is no exception to the rule. He will change lives and he will do great things, at least that is what my heart tells me. I know he has already changed Jen and mine and our families and our friends. His story is also touching people around the world who are reading our blog. Diego and Mateo's childhood is also enriched without limits by having Joaquin in their lives. Sometimes I am still afraid of him growing older, I love him as a baby, but I can't wait to watch him grow and become a toddler and to translate to us all those things he already says in his own language. So much to look forward to and we'll take it one step at a time and savor every moment of it.
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I believe every person has a unique mission and purpose in this world. I also believe that individuals with Ds have the newest and purest souls and therefore they have an awareness of people's feelings and a compassion that streak far greater
ReplyDeletethan other persons at any age. It is tremendous blessing entailed in raising Joaquin ~ , you and your family will continue to get tons of joy, enjoying all his triumphs, big and small, one day at a time. :)
Thanks Hector and Jen. Your blog continues to move me and this post is no exception. What an amazing experience!!!
ReplyDeleteKim
What an absolutely peaceful and pure little soul your little Joaquin embodies. I think that it is much more natural and accurate to view our children with DS as givers of grace and purveyors of goodness, than the alternative view that others in the world give to them. If they only knew!
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