Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Katelyn Grace - Pictures and a Letter

A couple of summers ago, while my sisters and I were students at the Amati Music Festival in Hunter, NY, we met an elderly gentleman who faithfully attended all of the concerts. Upon our return home, Mr. Sophocles wrote our parents a very nice letter commending them on our upbringing. This was the first of a great many letters written back and forth between one member of our family or another and this very kind gentleman. Before long, we discovered that he is a sincere Christian.

He was excited to hear the news of Katelyn Grace. I just had to share a few paragraphs from his last letter regarding our precious little baby. One of the things that has been hard for us at times is the way many people act like Katelyn Grace is a burden, and that we are to be pitied. To us, Katelyn Grace is our youngest sister or daughter, a little personality, and the greatest blessing in the world! Mr. Sophocles captured these thoughts very well in the following paragraphs from his letter:

I am very happy to learn that you are enjoying Katelyn Grace so much. She may be less than perfect to human eyes, but in God's eyes she is more than perfect. From the photograph that I received, she appears to me like a little radiant angel. And she will most likely turn out to be much more than you expect when she grows up. I once knew a nice young lady who had been born with Down's Syndrome. She always would express concern that my father was working too hard, advising him to sit down and rest. Consider Katelyn Grace, therefore, to be a blessing from the Lord and not, in any way, a handicap or burden. There is a passage in the Scriptures from John 9, of which I am reminded:

"As Jesus walked along He saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked Him, 'Teacher, whose sin was it that caused him to be born blind? His own or his parents' sin?' Jesus answered, 'His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power may be seen at work in him.'"

So it is that God's power is at work in Katelyn Grace.

Our prayer is that the Lord would use Katelyn Grace to reach others. We can already see so many ways that her life has touched the lives of those around her. What a little blessing!


With Nicole, Mom's midwife

Mommy and Baby

Daddy and Baby

Brother and Baby

Sister and Baby

Trying to drink out of Mom's coffee cup

A habitual thumb-sucker






And my three favorites....




Oh, ya'll, she's just the most precious baby in the world, and we love 'er to death!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Fitz family,
I realized the other day when I left a comment that I have changed the way I leave comments (I finally created an identity)and that I haven't signed my name so you may not have realized that I am the same person. Heartathome is michelle w. Originally, I only looked at your blog and a couple of others but with the freedom of summer, I found I was commenting on others as well and didn't want to leave comments without letting people know a little about me too.
Now...that being said, I wanted to tell you how much I love the new pictures of Katelyn Grace.
Our next door neighbors have a 6 year old little boy with Downs. I don't know if I have said that before or not, but the reason I'm mentioning it now is because I can tell you that just from the pictures I have seen of Katelyn Grace that she either has Downs very mildly or the treatments you are using are working. There are things that she is doing-like grasping the rings on her floor gym and studing her stuffed animals-that is stuff that our neighbor's son couldn't do at the same age. He is a joy to be with, very loving, and pretty quick to figure things out, but his physical development has been very delayed.
My children and I all love when you post new pictures of Katelyn and you can see what a joy she is from her cheerful countenance. I know that your family is blessed by her life - your friend, Mr. Sophocles, really did state it very eloquently.
That's my 2 cents for today. :-) I hope you all have a lovely week.
Michelle W.

FitzClan said...

Hello Mrs. Michelle!

You know, I had a sneaking suspicion that was you, especially since reading your profile, but wasn't completely sure. Your comments are always so encouraging and uplifting. Thank you!

We are very thankful for the way that Katelyn Grace is developing. The hard thing is that we'll probably never know exactly how much these treatments help. We can only see the way she is developing now, and will never be able to know quite how she would have developed without them.

We don't know exactly how severe her Down syndrome is; I suppose we'll find that out as things progress. But for now, we can just keep up with her therapies and thank the Lord for our little baby!

Have a lovely day, Mrs. Michelle, and thank you for commenting!

~Lauren for the whole family