When Joey and Rory Feek had their beautiful daughter, Indiana, their doctor’s suspected she had Down Syndrome.
As Rory began calling family and friends to tell them the good news of their daughter’s birth, the responses they received weren’t congratulatory once news of Indiana’s possible diagnosis were announced as well. Rory was told, “I’m sorry,” more times than he could count.
He was confused, though. A baby was just born! How could anyone be sorry about that? But he understood their response.
“I probably would’ve said the same thing in their shoes,” he writes on his blog. ” It’s what society has told told them – told all of us… …awe, you didn’t get a regular baby… you got something less… a burden that will last a lifetime.“
After being Indiana’s papa for two years, he knows that this mentality is very wrong. And his late wife, Joey, knew too. They knew God put Indiana, or Indy for short, in their lives for a reason.
“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,” he writes.
Indy is what kept the Feek family smiling during a time where Joey was thin, frail, and weak from cancer treatment. She gave Joey a love she never knew existed by just smiling at her and calling her “Mama”.
“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,” Rory says. “God knew that. He made it so. It was His gift to her. Like Indy is my gift now. She is the smile on the face of father who should be crying. She is the joy in the life of a family that should be filled with sadness.”
The love of his life passed away, yet because of Indy, he is still living his life to the fullest. Her energy is contagious and her big smile will light up a room. He calls her his “little bundle of Joey”.
Rory included a video of Indy and you, too, will catch yourself smiling and understanding that Joey and Rory were right. God doesn’t make mistakes. She is the child God wanted them to have, and she’s perfect.