Laundry Thoughts

Today I had a serious epiphany while folding laundry. Granted, I spend countless hours hovered over that dryer with a family of five, but today the world stopped for just a second. Last night the boys had a soccer game and tonight they will have a make-up game. Back-to-back games are great except for the pressure of getting that uniform clean!

I really do not like washing and drying soccer gear. Those blasted socks with those blasted knee pads in them really annoy me. But, because I love my boys and my boys love soccer I therefore match socks and knee pads together.

Today it hit me like a ton of bricks...I actually had two sets of the same uniform for my boys in the wash. The boys are on the same team this year due to their age. It has been wonderful to watch Kyle mentor and encourage his younger brother/teammate and it has been a hoot to watch David in the field. Magical times truly.

But today as I was folding the mass of laundry in the dryer it overwhelmed me that the uniforms matched! On one hand I would say "of course they match silly-they are on the same team and Mike is one of the coaches" but then on the other hand it overwhelms me that David is right there with his brother.

I just remember that floppy, tiny, red-headed bundle we brought home from the hospital with the diagnosis of Down Syndrome. Mike and I five years ago had NO CLUE what the future would hold for us, but I never imagined that David would be on a typical rec league soccer game with his peers having fun. To just imagine that this little red-headed wonder only learned to walk three years ago (right around his second birthday) is now running down the field with his friends astounds me.

David's diagnosis is one that is certainly always there but we rarely "ponder it." Certainly he has an IEP and services and such, but his diagnosis has never defined this family I hope. Yes, David needs special education support and therapist along the way and our retirement will certainly look different than our peers down the road but that is all fine with us.

I just googled the chances of us conceiving David when we did and it was 1 in 12,500 due to my age. Amazing odds huh? I guess not so amazing if you believe in an amazing God.

I guess my epiphany today had more to do with God's grace than David's soccer uniform. I love the scriptures that remind us that God's grace is sufficient and the little laundry room episode today was certainly a reminder of that. His grace has been beyond sufficient with David and I am so thankful for the reminder today that David and his extra little chromosome were from the Lord and his grace is and always will be truly sufficient.