Happy Valentines Day from the Snow family. We are doing well. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!! Here are the latest updates from our house:

• Grandma had shoulder surgery on January 7th and has been coming along nicely.
• Uncle Jay is doing well. Our biggest struggles include keeping his weight up and keeping him healthy.
• Elly got a hearing aid for her left ear. She has a mild loss and we are hoping amplification will augment her blossoming speech and language. We call it her “button” and it is a lovely mixture of pink and purple, her favorite colors.
• Dean is back!! He got a permanent job at the theater and is staying with us until he gets his feet on the ground.
• Clara turned 9, boy time flies.  She’s a wondeful young lady.

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Most weddings are tough enough to plan. But they likely pale in comparison to the preps for Jim Lundquist and Sarah Stanchfield’s ceremony.

“I’m excited for her that she’ll have someone that she can share her life with,” says Pam Wright, Sarah’s mother.

Jim and Sarah both have Down’s Syndrome. They were friends at first, then dated for more than two years. Finally, last Valentine’s Day, Jim proposed to the girl who touched his spirit.

“Right now I’m very happy. Very happy! Way up in the sky,” Jim says while reaching high above his head.

Jim’s two brothers are already married. He knew he wanted to follow in their footsteps.

The couple knew they had to get married on Valentine’s Day, the day that’s about one thing.

“It’s about love,” Sarah says.

“That is the key,” Jim adds.

Love is the key but getting here wasn’t easy for two people with Down’s Syndrome. It takes lots of planning and meetings with counselors and other professionals. Their parents had to fill out a lot of paperwork.

And the organizations that provide assistance to the couple (Sarah lives at Hammer’s Sumac House; Fraser and REM help Jim) had to work together to prepare them for marriage and make the couple’s dream come true.

More than anything, it takes a support system of friends and family.

“It’s special to me because I really never expected her to be in this position and find someone and have it work,” Wright says.

To kick off the wedding week festivities, Sarah’s friends threw a shower for her Monday night. And down the road at Old Chicago in Minnetonka, the guys gave Jim a bachelor party.

“It was obvious they were meant to be together,” says David Lundquist, Jim’s brother.

Clearly love is the key making this union possible.

The couple will move in together following the wedding and live in a residence for people with developmental disabilities. They do not want to have children but will raise a cat together.

They plan to honeymoon this spring at Walt Disney World in Florida.

By Joe Fryer, KARE 11 News (Copyright 2008 by KARE11. All Rights Reserved.)

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE !!

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