Rachael Lampa Opens up about Being Mom of Down Syndrome Child: I'm 'Blessed'
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Jun 12, 2023
Award-winning Christian artist Rachael Lampa is opening up about the lessons she has learned by being a mother of a child with Down syndrome and is urging others to “advocate for” and “celebrate” individuals in that community.
Lampa’s second child, born on Oct. 28, 2022, has Down syndrome. His name is Leo. Both of her children are boys.
“I was at a writing retreat recently,” Lampa told Christian Headlines. “And I was writing about Leo, and He was staring up at the trees. He always looks up. And so in my head, I was just thinking, ‘There's nothing down about you.’ He's always making us look up. That’s the thing with Down syndrome. It's joy. It's ‘right here-ness’ all the time.”
Christians, too, should walk with joy in life, always “looking up,” she said. She also believes Leo sees the world – and God – differently than she does.
“I see pictures [of him],” she said. “I'm like, ‘You know something I do not know.’”
Lampa won a K-Love Fan Award this year for Breakout Single of the Year (Perfectly Loved). The show was televised on TBN.
In March, she celebrated World Down Syndrome Day in a social media post.
“My little Leo has a whole wide world inside of him, and it is my prayer that the whole wide world will take the chance to see HIM for all he is!” she wrote. “I have spent the past few months becoming part of a beautiful community of people who love, advocate for, and celebrate individuals with Down syndrome. And I will spend a lifetime learning how to better advocate for, love and celebrate them. Leo, I can’t believe I get a front row seat to YOU… happy day, little love, and to all of the families and communities blessed with an amazing extra chromosome-carrier! #theluckyfew #worlddownsyndromeday #321 #trisomy21.”
Related:
Rachael Lampa on Get Your Brave On
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Terry Wyatt/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
