Mother’s Day Brunch

Saturday was a special day for me. My sister, Shana, had invited me to sing and speak at an event she was planning for the ladies of her church in Louisana. The event was a Mothers & Others Brunch. Shana had rented out a hall for the ladies to have their brunch in and the men of the church graciously served the ladies brunch. The tables were decorated beautifully and the fellowship was sweet.

Mark and Victoria were able to go with me and that made the trip such a great one!

The especially sweet part of it all is that I was able to share my testimony about my little Down syndrome girl, Victoria. This was my first “official” time to share my testimony in front of a group and it went incredibly well. In fact, during some parts of my session there were almost no dry eyes in the place. Everything was so moving and I could see how receptive all the ladies (and men) were to the message I was sharing.

To end the morning, I sang a song with my niece that I wrote called, “She Is God’s Child.” A video played while we sang the song. The tears flowed in the room. It was a great time!

I pray that I will have more opportunities to share about my sweet gift from God. It really hit me Saturday that God may just use my “special” little girl to bring many to saving grace! How cool would that be?!

I feel blessed to have been a part of such a special day! And, it was an extra-special blessing to have my husband, Mark, and Victoria there with me!

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 11, 2009
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Happy Easter!

We took a picture of the girls today in their matching Easter dresses and wanted to share it with you! Hope you enjoy!

April 12, 2009
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Deep Questions From Elyssa

Yesterday after I finished singing in our family worship service (KidGrid), I went downstairs to get Elyssa. She was in her 3-year-old Sunday School Class. Once she realized I was at the door, she quickly ran toward me and we headed down the hallway to get Natalie from her 2-year-old class.

On the way to get Natalie, from out of nowhere Elyssa asked me, “Mamma, are you going to die?” I was blown away to get such a deep question thrown my way without any warning! There were people around listening as we passed by them in the hallway. They all looked at me with huge smiles on their faces and made comments like, “Good luck answering that!” and “Whoah, what a deep question!” It took me a minute to answer her. I said, “Well, Elyssa, I guess I will one day.” To that she answered, “I don’t want you to die Mamma!” By that time in the conversation we had neared Natalie’s room and the subject changed. I almost felt myself sweating at how to try to explain such a thing to a young child. I couldn’t wait to tell Mark what Elyssa and I had talked about. I thought he’d probably be as surprised as I was by her question.

When we finally met up with Mark and Victoria to head to the car, I began explaining to Mark what Elyssa and I had been talking about. He was, in fact, as surprised as I was. We have always thought Elyssa acted much older than her age and this was just another instance that proved our feelings about her maturity. We all walked together to the van and herded the kids in so we could go get something for lunch.

On our way to pick up some grub, Mark asked Elyssa what she learned about in Sunday School. This began the discussion of death all over again. Mark tried to explain to Elyssa that one day everyone would die. Like a good pastor, he started to quote Hebrews 9:27. It says, “And as it is appointed unto all men once to die, but after this the judgement,….” I quickly told him that she would not understand that wording. So, in my south Alabama dialect I told her that everyone would die at one point or another in their lives. Mark went on to tell her that those of us that have asked Jesus to forgive us of our sins (mistakes and disobedience) and come into our lives would be able to go live with Him in Heaven. Elyssa said, “I don’t want to go to Heaven to live with Jesus! I want to stay with Mamma!”

That was the funniest thing to hear Elyssa say. I even smiled when I heard her say she wanted to stay with me. But, I must admit that somewhere in my heart, I long to hear her eventually say that she does want to live with Jesus in Heaven. I pray that one day little Elyssa will give her heart and life to the Lord to follow Him all her days. What a wonderful thing to know that even a 3-year-old has these built-in questions about eternity and what comes after life. We will all face death one day and I’d rather know in advance that I will be meeting my Savior in Heaven than hoping it will all turn out okay in the end.
Thank You, Lord, that You made a way for all of us to live with You one day in Heaven and that You can give peace for our deepest of questions!
April 6, 2009
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Checkups Galore

Today I took Victoria and Natalie for their yearly checkups with their pediatrician. Here are the results!

Victoria now weighs 15 lbs 2 oz, which is a milestone for her! I was so excited to see that she had gained more weight! She continues to gain, although it is slowly. But, I’ll take it any day! She has definitely gotten longer in size and while we were in the doctor’s office, she actually held her bottle for the first time! It was the cutest thing! I took a photo of it when we got home so you could see her doing it!
Dr. Faye was very pleased with all the progress Victoria has been making with Early Intervention. Victoria is now sitting up on her own! She is still wobbly, but she is beginning to catch herself when she starts to fall. We are excited to see her gaining strength and doing more and more. What a blessing!

Natalie totally acted like a big girl today at her doctor visit! She is usually my screamer and rebels against doing anything closely resembling a doctor visit. However, today on the way to Dr. Faye’s I talked to her about all that Dr. Faye would be doing. I tried to prepare her and I also bribed her with gummies if she acted like a big girl! And, apparently … it worked! She did so well! She didn’t scream the first time (well, not until she got a few shots!!)!! I was so proud of her! She is really growing up! And, the girl weighs close to 31 lbs! She almost weighs as much as Elyssa! Yikes! But, Dr. Faye said proportionally … she is right on track!

So, all went well at the doctor’s and we couldn’t feel more blessed!

PS – Since I don’t have a good recent photo of Natalie, I’ve uploaded a video so you can see all three girls playing together!

April 1, 2009
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