#passEDtheABLEAct became my new hashtag yesterday. Tuesday night the United States Senate passed the ABLE Act as part of the tax extenders package.

Shortly thereafter, they went home and many bills died. Next stop for the ABLE Act is The White House. Seems perfectly appropriate to me that Rachel’s Pink House Dream has to stop at the White House first. We hope we get invited to the White House for this historical signing. Rachel might decide that The White House is more desirable than a pink house?

Tuesday night, I just wanted to sit and stare at the television screen. I wanted to take a few minutes just to think about all the people who had made this happen and all the people, yes including Rachel, whose lives would be changed in positive ways because of this legislation.  I really can’t describe what I felt in those moments. Eight years of advocacy. My Facebook and Twitter feeds went crazy. Fellow advocates reached out to each other. A few tears fell.  @rachelspinkhous feed was also in a frenzy. She had tweets from Senator Roberts,

and Congressman Yoder,

Rachel has been home sick with the flu this week. She gave me smiles when I told her the ABLE Act had passed and she read her tweets.  This was not quite how I had envisioned celebrating the passage of the ABLE Act!

While I was caring for her, I missed a call from Senator Moran. Senator Moran wanted to be sure we knew the ABLE Act had passed the Senate. He thanked us for our friendship and for bringing this issue to his attention. Part of his message said, “Thank you for introducing me to Rachel. I really have enjoyed getting to know her and your family and appreciate the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of your family and a lot of other families across the country and in particular in Kansas.” He closed his message by saying, “When you do work trying to change things, it may take a long time but you were successful and I am appreciative of your efforts.”

I played it for her and got that million dollar smile and she whispered “I get my pink house now, momma.”