In the six months since Joey Feek’s passing, her widowed husband Rory and their little girl Indiana did everything in their power to stay strong.
They did not give in to the great sadness that could easily paralyze the survivors of a heartbreaking loss.
They’ve gotten many messages of support throughout the difficulty of Joey’s battle with cancer, and loved ones have been there with them at all times.
Now, Rory is determined to bring up their girl in the way Joey would, alone. He realizes that, while he has huge shoes to fill, Joey is directing him through single parenthood in spirit.
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But, this father has more than single parenthood to face: He also has to live and deal with the people he meets throughout his life that believe his daughter, who has down syndrome, was a “mistake.point 208 |
” Even in 2016, many people still believe that youngsters like Indy would have no possibility to lead an “ordinary” life… which is totally untrue! point 138 | 1
In any case, Rory realizes that they are incorrect. He trusts Indy is a blessing from God, much the same as any child! On his blog This Life I Live, he recently wrote a touching tribute to his daughter and “all that he’s facing.”
Read a snippet of the post below!
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“God doesn’t make mistakes.
Indiana is not less than any other child. Different is not less. Having down-syndrome doesn’t make her life any less meaningful than someone else’s or her dreams or feelings any less important. Not as a child and I suspect, not in the years to come when she grows to be an adult.
Joey and I have since met many many kids and babies with down-syndrome and other special needs.point 233 |
I’ve had the blessing of seeing lots of them at Indiana’s school High Hopes in the past few months alone, and they aren’t less.point 124 | None of them are.point 140 | Like typical kids, they come in all shapes and sizes.point 186 | Some learn faster, some slower.point 215 |
Some are silent and some vocal.point 28 | Some crawl and walk earlier than others and some, like Indy…take their time.point 100 | But they are all beautiful.point 125 | All gifts from heaven above.point 151 | point 151 | 1
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Over the past couple of years Joey and I have heard the statistics, and they broke our hearts.point 228 |
They still break mine.point 21 | That somewhere between 70 – 90% of pregnant mother’s that get tested and learn that their unborn child has down-syndrome abort the baby.point 149 | I get it though.point 166 | The world has told us that they are less.point 201 |
A mistake.point 11 | But I don’t believe they are.point 43 | At least I know Indiana’s not.point 76 | When she was born, Joey and I said, ‘this is the child God wants us to have’, and we believed it.point 167 | And we were right.point 184 | I can not imagine Joey not having those two years to be a mama to Indiana and get to experience the love and happiness that Indy brought to her.point 302 |
God knew that.point 14 | He made it so.point 27 | It was His gift to her.point 47 | Like Indy is my gift now.point 69 | She is the smile on the face of father who should be crying.point 119 | She is the joy in the life of a family that should be filled with sadness.point 180 | point 180 | 1
And you also see a baby born near the beginning that is not the child we expected. But by the end, you – like us – realize that she’s not less. She’s more. More wonderful and more precious and even more important to our lives and story than we expected.
Our little mistake is awake and downstairs with me now, ready to have her breakfast. She’s excited because today is “water day” at High Hopes and she gets to wear her swimsuit to school and go swimming with all her little friends at school.
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I’m excited too. Excited to be her papa. And to see who she becomes…and who I become because she’s in my life. I still have so much to learn and I have no doubt that while I’m teaching her… she will be teaching me.
No, God doesn’t make mistakes.”