In an earlier article, I introduced you to the mother-son team of Jannirose and Charlie Fenimore. Although we have not yet met in person, I felt a kindred spirit link from the time I was introduced to them through our mutual friend Cindy Greb. As an adoptive parent myself, I told her that my stretch marks were on my heart and not my hips. Jannirose and her husband George had adopted Charlie in infancy and it was as if it was pre-ordained. Even as all children are special, Charlie (who was born with Down syndrome) has a unique gift of expressing his soul via prayer-poems. These come through, sometimes spontaneously and somtimes invited. They share their ideas via  Lessons From An Earth Angel and their Facebook page. Reading his words, I feel a sense of hope welling up inside, a reassurance that sometimes, despite appearances, all is well.

I had sent Jannirose questions for her to address and for Charlie to answer with her assistance. His are first and hers follow.

Do you think you and I were meant to be together as mother and son?

Yes. I did know when I was a baby.

 What are you here for?

I’m here for Love. I came from the Light to help people remember their brightness.

Can you tell me a little more?

I’m a master from God and I came for healing hearts.

How are you doing this?

From my relationship with lightful holy living, I show people they are loved and help them feel the brightness of light inside themselves.

My life shows people about faith and helps them remember the goodness from their own lives.

Tell me a little more:

I love myself and everybody from the hope of joyful happiness with God.

What are your most important lessons for the world?

For people to feel the blessing of light for freedom in their souls.

And to keep their joy for living and stay in their hearts.

What is the meaning of life?

It’s about living the love that makes us shine our hearts like the sun.

Do you feel different from other people?

I am the same as everybody.

What makes you happy or smiling?

The heart of joyness from the kingdom of light in me.

What is love?

Oh, yes! Yes. It’s light from God for the life of our beautiful human heartness.

Do hugs make people feel better?

Hugs can bring shining love to our human hearts.

Sometimes people don’t like hugs because they need light inside for healing.

What do you want to tell everybody who reads this article?

To make some understandings of themselves about living in the light of love.

How was it being on stage with James Twyman at Celebrate Your Life :

It was fun because I felt the light of joyness in myself and all the people.

Do you ever have difficult times?

No.

Why?

Because my world is bright with happiness from my angels. I live in my heart and feel from sadness to joy for the freedom spirit.

How does Spirit speak though you?

Oooh, yes! My spirit is the nation of Godness from the kingdom of heaven inside me.

I hear them in my inner self and feel them in my heart and mind.

What are your favorite things to do in life?

I love to feel the light everyday. It is freedom for my spiritness. My real life is from heaven with my angels around me.

How do your angels look to you?

They are lightful and shining bright from all the colors of love.

How do you see with your heart?

I feel with my brightest self of light for seeing.

Jannirose, do you think you were meant to be together in this life?

I had a glimpse when I was a young teenager that I would have a baby born with Down syndrome. This seemed like a bright blessing to me, but when I tried to share this news with those closest to me, I was met with many strong opinions that such a child would be a burden—so, I chose to bury this precious knowing so deep inside me that it was far from my awareness for more than 20 years.

When we adopted him as an infant, I was shown that he and I would share a special calling in the world. As my spiritual path deepened, it became clear how this would unfold. As the years went by, I watched the way he lived so completely from his heart—he had an emotional intelligence that was breathtaking for a person of any age and a deep concern for the welfare of others.

 How did you prepare to be his mom?

 I guess what I would say is simply that I began to open my heart to a purity of love that I’d never known. And to this day, 23 years later, I’m still doing it.

How do you balance the practical aspects of being the mother of a young man who is viewed as “differently abled” by much of the world and the awareness of his extraordinary gifts?

First off, I’ll say that because my way of seeing seems so different from the mainstream, there’s really not much to it for me. Since we’ve always accepted our son as a whole person who’s not missing anything, we just see him as perfectly Charlie.

It’s not so easy for me to separate these different parts of life. I tend to see the whole works of it in one view…no compartments. More like a broad sweeping picture. I have a feeling that my unusual perspective is just what I’ve needed as Charlie’s mother. I’ve always thought, in many ways, my way of seeing life is more like his than the average population. This helps us work very well together with a shared, deep understanding.

 From the first days after adopting Charlie, I started to notice a sort of curious attention from people whenever we’d take him out. In my experience, I hadn’t ever seen many babies born with Down syndrome in public. I think folks were kind of intrigued when they saw us out together, especially since I was so over-the-moon happy. It’s still this way all these years later. So that’s really the only time I remember there’s something different about him, at least in other people’s eyes. At home, he’s just plain Charlie.

 I have an important role in his life to create a full and satisfying world for him. And since he has such a huge, loving heart, I feel a responsibility to allow him to interact with as many people as possible throughout his days. He really lives for any opportunity to love and he does it with abandon.

His “day job” is as a volunteer in the athletic department at a community college in northern California. He’s been given the honorary title of “Motivational Manager” and he takes his duties seriously. This means he spends his weekday afternoons sitting and watching his teams practice for hours at a time. While it might appear to the casual onlooker that he’s not adding anything of value to his beloved athletes, what he’s really doing is “shining”. I know this because I asked him once. He said he’s ”shining light from heaven’s heart for love and joyness.”

It’s humbling and heartening to hear Charlie’s coaches tell me what a blessing he is to the entire team. And this is pretty much how it is throughout our days. In our small town, he’s loved by people everywhere we go and they aren’t shy about letting us know. Long ago, I realized that life with my special guy is mostly about sharing love. And I think to myself, “What a beautiful way to live.

 What gets you through challenging times?

I’d say my connection to Spirit is what carries me through life’s challenges. It’s a tremendous comfort to know I’m not alone and never have been. It also helps that I’ve learned to see the gifts for transformation and healing that often hide beneath what appears on the surface in any given situation. I’ve come to see Life as a school for the soul in which everything that happens brings an opportunity to learn and grow on many levels. And it helps that I have a built-in ability to keep hope alive even in the darkest of days. I’m also naturally equipped with an inordinate amount of joy that’s always waiting in the wings no matter what’s happening in my life.

I believe these qualities are directly related to my willingness to invite a child such as Charlie into my life. They help me to recognize him as the unique and beautiful person he is instead of seeing him as handicapped in any way. 

What James Twyman had to share about his friend Charlie:  “Messengers come in many forms, but what they share is always the same–Hope and Love. Charlie Fenimore’s voice is quieter than many, but the wisdom that moves so effortlessly through him reminds us of what is most important in this world. He guides us to return to our childhood innocence and inspires us with his loving kindness. Most of all, Charlie reminds us of who we are, or who we could be if we but choose to return to the innocence that is so natural to him.”
James Twyman, NY Times Bestselling Author of The Moses Code