Marissa will tell you that she is the boss because she is the owner of Straw Hat Farms.

And I just work for her.

We grow some flowers from seeds.

And we grow vegetables summer into fall.

We watch the plant grow.

So when Marissa was in high school was the time we were thinking about what she would be doing as she graduates and being in a rural area, there's not a lot of opportunities for individuals with special needs to do a variety of different jobs.

We decided to pursue the opportunity of Marissa owning a greenhouse business.

It's hard to believe that Straw Hat Farms has been in existence for ten years now.

Oh, so her oldest daughter, Andrea, is married now.

So we have two grandchildren and Marissa as an aunt.

And so Grace and Sam.

Grace is five.

Sam is three.

We usually play a lot.

We play in the backyard a little bit.

Play the, uh.

football and other stuff.

Yeah, I do that.

Uh, we do the chalk.

Marissa is 29, and she loves her birthdays.

She's always saying how old she's going to be.

And she also reminds me how old I am going to be.

For my birthday.

We are going to Des Moines for my cousin.

Have a celebration for my birthday.

Uh, Ill be 29.

I have fun I guess.

When she was born, she didn't cry.

And the doctor and the nurse that was there in the delivery room, they were examining Marissa.

They were looking at her hands and her feet.

And before long they said, We think she has Down syndrome.

That sent us off on a journey.

We didn't know where we were going, but through the help of many people, we gradually learned what we needed to do to help Marissa.

Having an older sister and brother were a great plus for Marissa because those early days she followed them and she continue to follow them all through her years.

We took the approach with school that we want her included with the rest of the kids in her class.

For the most part, that worked out really well.

We always told people, especially early on, they would ask, How do you approach her?

Just approach her like you would any other kid.

Special Olympics is just really been a great avenue for Marissa to build her self-esteem and confidence.

One event was over the edge, and over the Edge was a fundraiser in downtown Des Moines, where you repelled off of the financial building.

I think she ended up doing it four times.

She loved.

That.

Well, Im not really afraid and then I went to the top and Im not scared at all.

And then I went down and thought oh its different.

2018, she and a boy from Oklahom were selected to go be the Big 12 Special Olympics athletes of the year and got to go to the Big 12 championship game in Dallas.

When you see 80,000 people standing up, giving your daughter a standing ovation at, you just soak it in.

We have done dance for probably about six years.

Five, six, seven, eight.

We learn and dance the skills and we moved the steps a bit slower for me because the easier for me to do it.

For families that are wondering what they're dealing with.

My approach has always been Marissa's probably going to be about a permanent 12 year old.

She's never going to drive, but she drives the lawn tractor.

Out in the.

Garden.

That's her way of contributing.

Some planting seeds are way too difficult for her, but she can mix dirt and prepare the pots for the seeds with the best of them.

We don't often think we're learning from her, but we are.

I like cucumber is my favorite.

And the watermelon.

And squash.

I guess I'm just proud of Marissa.

She enjoys her life and that's what we want everybody to do.

And she just reminds you about that, how simple life should be and th