People often ask me what I have learned from our experiences with Adam and Matthew.  It could be faith, it could be love, gentleness, mercy, or perseverance with hope, or it could be the sacrifice of laying my life down for another, all of which have been in the matrix of ingredients that would satisfy the reply.  But the biggest, most important lesson is something else, something that defies a singular definition. When a baby is born and the parents realize the weight of the most devastating facts: their baby is blind,… deaf,… lame,… and will most likely die within the next twelve months,… they are moved with an intense compassion and longing to save their helpless child.  Screaming within their hearts are words that pound against reality, crying, “Live, and I will help you!” And they take that baby up and put their eyes on his eyes, their ears on his ears, their mouth on his mouth, and their feet on his feet, their hands on his hands, and feed him the oil of life.  Slowly, ever so slowly at first,  imperceptible responses are felt.  The baby learns to trustingly follow their pattern of movement and perception—he “sees”, he “hears”, and “he speaks” as life is communicated through his parents.  His responses turn into a way of relating, a way of discovery, a way of life dependant upon another. Then this total identification and unity in understanding grows into a dance, a dance of life. As the little child grows a most miraculous thing occurs.  The child begins to lead the dance mimicking his parents, but he can never dance alone.  Over time the child’s image grows stronger, the dance is his own now, but still the parents enable it and in large part continue to shape it with gentle guidance. The child is alive and living, delightfully brought “back to life,” but never alone.  His joy and beauty, yes, his very existence, become a marvel for all to see… …In similitude this is what my Savior, my King, and my God… has done for me, for in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28), that we might live through Him (1 Jn 4:9). Joyce Wulf, Mother of Adam and Matthew