When Jane was born =

Jane was the 9th child in a family 10, both grandma's lived with us and it was definitely a blessing. Jane was born very tiny and fragile, the grandma's carried her on a pillow and she slept in a shoe box. She did not know how to nurse, so the grandma's took turns sitting up with her and feeding her with an eye dropper. Can you imagine the tender loving care she received from those two wonderful women of God! Dorene said that she can remember Mom's mother sitting in the rocker with Jane on her arm and her prayer book in her other hand praying in German. It was only through the grace of God and the Grandma's that she survived. Mom had no idea why she did not develop like the other children, so when Jane was about three years old, she took her on a train to Iowa City to have the doctors look at her. After several tests, they came back and told Mom that Jane had "Down Syndrome" and that she would never live to adult hood and she would never fit into our large family. They suggested that Mom take her to Woodward (which was an institution for the handicapped) and leave her there to live out her life.
Mom looked at the doctor, stood up and said "You are the one who should be at Woodward! If you think that I am going to take my child there, you are sadly mistaken." She took Jane by the hand, walked out and never went back to Iowa City again.
Jane was the main person in our family, she was the reason we all stayed together - she had a way of letting everyone know that she loved them with the the special names she had for them. And she lived a long full life, with many friends and lots of family around her all the time.
She was pure in her thoughts, she was not capable of hurting anyone intentially or sinning against God. If someone did something to her, she forgot and forgave it quickly and continued on. We should all take a lesson from this special angel.