A First Time For Everything

This week I had the opportunity to minister to a sweet group of ladies in Camden, AL. Their annual event called "A Day In Spring" took place on Thursday and I was asked to come as the guest singer/speaker for the event. I shared my testimony of being a mother of a child with special needs and how faithful God has been to our family. To conclude my speaking session with the ladies, I sang my video song about Victoria ("She Is God's Child"). For a while now I've really wanted Elyssa (Victoria's older sister) to sing the first verse and chorus of the song with me. When I wrote the song, it was always my intention for Victoria's sisters to eventually sing the song with me in that way. Well, Thursday was the very first time that Elyssa sang the song with me in a public setting and it was absolutely precious. As a matter of fact, most of the women were already crying by the time Elyssa finished the first chorus of the song. It was so special for me to share this experience with Elyssa. I look forward to her doing this more with me in the future! And, Natalie (my middle daughter) is already asking when she'll be able to sing with us! So, she'll probably be up there with Elyssa soon singing right along!

I feel so privileged to share the gift of music with ALL of my daughters! And, not only am I able to share the gift of music with them ... I'm sharing the truth of God's love and faithfulness with them at the same time!

PS - I'm including a video of Elyssa singing her portion of "She Is God's Child" from the sound check we had on Thursday morning so you can hear how great she did!

It's A Small World

On our recent visit to Disney's Magic Kingdom we, of course, had to visit the It's A Small World ride! We had two of our three little girls with us, so we actually had to ride it twice! The first time we rode the ride, the girls were enamored with it. It was one of their favorite rides and it was one of the first rides they actually rode upon us entering the Magic Kingdom for the day.

Mark and I will never forget the couple of comments our oldest little girl (5 1/2 years) made while on that ride. Here are her comments:

Elyssa's First Comment:

"The people are singing and so happy because they are celebrating Jesus' birth!"

Elyssa's Second Comment:

(The girls saw all of the coins people had tossed into the water on the ride and wanted to toss in a penny each and make a wish.)

"My wish was that Jesus would be my Lord and Savior forever and ever!"

Elyssa's Third Comment:

"Natalie's wish was that she would be a mermaid."

Elyssa's Fourth Comment:

"Natalie's wish won't come true, but my wish WILL come true!"

We had a good laugh over the mermaid comment! But, you know ... we are amazed sometimes at the spiritual things our children say. It is in those moments that we realize ... they really do glean things from church and hopefully, from Mark and me.

Ministering With Family

This past weekend Mark and I had the priviledge of ministering at my brother's church (First Baptist Church of Mount Dora) in Florida. Mark was the guest speaker at their Disciple Now and I helped my brother, Alan, with the worship music for the event. We had a great time being with their church family.

Alan also asked me to share my testimony and several songs with the church family in the worship service on Sunday morning. The people there were such a blessing to us.

We left a few days before the weekend events we had planned at the church so we could enjoy some time with Elyssa and Natalie at a few of the Disney parks. It was their first time to visit the parks and we all had a wonderful time! My parents were gracious enough to keep Victoria for us while we were out of town. We knew it would be such a busy week and weekend. It would've really tired Victoria out.

God moved in a powerful way this weekend and we felt so blessed to be able to minister with my brother and his family!

What A Wonderful Life!

As I sit at my computer tonight, I still cannot believe I am now 39! Thirty-nine years have flown by. If I were to be honest, I've actually reflected over those years today in an act of counting my blessings. Here is a little bit of the recount I've had of my years.

I was born on March 13th, 1972. I weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long. My parents gave me the name Heather Christine.

I grew up in a wonderful family. My mom and dad were both very musical. My mom sang and played the piano for our church for 30 years. My dad sang and played guitar and harmonica. My mom MADE me, my sister and brother sing three-part harmony when we were very young kids. We hated all of that practice, but now we look back and are so thankful that our mom invested that time in us. I remember that our family would get together with several other families in our church and we would have "singings" for several hours on a weekend night. Those were fun memories.

I attended the same Missionary Baptist church for all of my young life (up until graduating college). I was very active in all of the choirs and ensembles there. I also taught youth and college classes when I WAS a youth and college aged person! And, I made some of the best friends growing up in that church.

It was in high school that I started singing in show choirs. That was a wonderfully, fun experience! I wanted nothing more than to be just like my high school chorus teacher. I loved high school and was voted class favorite every year (which amazed me because I was so quiet back then).

I look back now and laugh at a high school photo of me and my brother from my senior Sweetheart Dance (I was voted queen). I guess whoever took the photo didn't realize that I took my brother to the dance with me. The quote under our photo was, "For Heather and her date, it was a night filled with romance!"

It was in my high school years that I invited Jesus Christ into my life. I knew that I wanted a personal relationship with the God who had created my life and all of the blessings that went along with it. I wanted Him to walk with me through the rest of my life and all that it held for me. That was the best decision I've ever made.

After high school, I took a year off to earn some money working at a Chiropractor's office. I started college in 1991. I LOVED college! I was in several college pageants, always winning second runner up and most of the time winning the talent portion of the competition. I sang in a scholarship group that traveled on the weekends for several years of my college career. I began having opportunities to do vocal studio work. I made wonderful friends in college that I keep up with even now. I even met my future husband, Mark, there (although we wouldn't marry for many years down the road). College was a wonderful experience for me. I obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance and a minor in English. I had the 5-year college plan and graduated in 1996.

After college, I took the summer off. Then, I auditioned for a full-time singing group called Wings of Morning. I traveled with that full-time group as a soprano singer and also as the groups musical director for about 5 or 6 months. I went back home after my short "road" experience to begin teaching voice lessons. I also acquired a job at Integrity Music. I taught voice and worked at Integrity for 9 1/2 years.

God began working in my heart regarding a solo ministry in music. On top of my two "jobs," God began opening doors for me to provide music for lots of women's events, youth events and church services. I recorded my first solo album called Wonder. All of the songs were original.

Mark and I reunited after 7 years of being apart. We married in May of 2002. We had our first little girl in July of 2005 ... our second little girl in January of 2007 and our third little girl in March of 2008. I had three little baby girls in a period of less than 3 years! Were we crazy or what? We have been blessed to have our wonderful little girls. Each of them is unique in their own way and we wouldn't trade any of them for the world. When we had our third little girl, our lives totally changed. We started walking a journey we didn't expect. We were now parents of a special needs child. But, God has walked with us every step of the way and we feel so blessed.

God has opened many doors for me to sing and speak at women's events again. I have found such peace and comfort in this renewed ministry in my life. I feel so blessed to be invited to speak into the lives of other women and encourage them on their own journeys. I recorded my second album recently called, Meet Us Here. About half of the songs on the album are original songs.

God has also given me lots of opportunities the past several years to do vocal studio work again, which I love!

And on top of that, I get to teach as an adjunct professor at a local college as a Commercial Voice Instructor. There is nothing better than being able to pour what you have learned over the years through experience and education into the next generation. It is very rewarding.
My husband and I have served at a wonderful church together for almost 9 years now. We have been so blessed by our church family through the years. We couldn't have asked for a better group of people to labor with for God's Kingdom.

Mark and I are getting ready to celebrate 9 years of marriage in May. We always say that we have gone through a lot in 9 years, but I wouldn't have wanted to experience those things with any other man on the planet! Mark is a wonderful husband, father and provider! He has always taken care of our family and I'm so thankful for him!

To conclude this brief little life history lesson, I can look back over the last 39 years and say ... "I have loved my life!" God has truly blessed me abundantly with wonderful friends and family and opportunities to use my gifts for Him. I see God's hand over and over again as a recount all of the blessings of the life He has given me. He has always been so faithful not only to me, but to my entire family.

I pray that whatever years God chooses to bless me with in the future ... that I serve Him with those years as best as I can!

Happy 39th Birthday to me! Thank you Lord, for a wonderful life!

Victoria Turns 3!

Happy Birthday to our little blessing, Victoria Jayne! She is officially 3-years-old on March 10th.

Victoria is doing so many things now. She definitely is not limited physically when it comes to her gross motor skills. She is everywhere, doing everything! The only thing that limits her with her fine motor skills is her impatience with sitting still to do a task for more than 5 minutes at a time. But, we believe that will improve as she gets older.

Victoria's heart repair is still doing wonderfully, as reported by her cardiologist at her recent checkup at his office. We feel so thankful that he believes that she will never have to undergo any other open-heart surgeries EVER!

Victoria is really beginning to "communicate" so much now. Though she speaks "gibberish" most of the time, I can understand a few words she speaks from time to time. She takes after her mother in that she likes to "talk" with her hands! Sometimes, she speaks "gibberish" and moves her hands all over the place. I know she is trying to tell me something really important and I sure wish I knew what it was! I'm just glad that she is "trying" to communicate now.

Victoria will discontinue receiving therapy services from Early Intervention on March 10th and the public school system will take that over. Her new therapists will begin seeing her at the Mom's Day Out program that she is enrolled in. We decided to wait to start her in 3K until the fall, although she could go immediately when she turns 3. Victoria is so small yet and we want her to have a little more time to mature before starting school.

There are so many other things our little girl is accomplishing and we just feel thankful to witness little miracles every day! There is no doubt in our minds that we have, as a family, been given a gift. Living life with a special needs child is, indeed, very special. As a friend recently told me, "Anyone can have a 'normal' baby any day. But, we won the lottery! We were given a special child!"

For some reason God chose our family to receive this special gift and we live in wonder of His faithfulness to us!

Wonderful Article Online!

Make sure you read The Alabama Baptist article about our family online at www.thealabamabaptist.org. It is the Top News Story on the front page!

Growing Up

Victoria is now 34 1/2 months old! It is hard to believe that in March she will turn 3! At times, it feels that the almost three years we've had Victoria have flown by. Right after her birth, however, the time probably felt like it went slowly because of the transition we went through as a family.

We have seen Victoria progress in so many ways. Lately, she is really trying to communicate verbally more and more. I'm seeing her shape her mouth and tongue differently than I've ever seen her do before as she "speaks." She is exploring new sounds that her mouth can make. I've been praying more lately that God would help her in her speech and I definitely believe that my prayers are being answered.

I wanted to share a quick video showing Victoria "talking" to me tonight. I'm not always sure what she is trying to tell me, but I love that she is "speaking" with confidence and SHE knows what she wants to tell me!

Once again, I'm blown away at God's faithfulness. He has never failed to walk this faith-journey with our family!

A Dream?

I was woken up in the middle of the night by a horrible stream of screams coming from the baby monitor in Elyssa and Natalie's room. I always said that Natalie could star in a horror flick as a star screamer and this middle-of-the-night episode confirmed that once again. Natalie was screaming and crying. I waited for a few seconds to see if she would calm herself down in case she was having a bad dream. She didn't, so I slowly woke myself up enough to crawl out of bed to head toward her room. Once I got to her room, I kneeled down by her bed and gently placed my hand on her shoulder in hopes to calm her. I asked her in a soft voice, "Natalie, are you okay?" Immediately, she responded very passionately ... "I WANT CHINESE!!"

Go figure!

The only thing I can come up with is that maybe Natalie was dreaming that we were at the mall and she was wanting to eat at the Chinese restaurant there. Needless to say, she gave me a good laugh although she woke me up from a very deep sleep!

The Playground

I had just picked up Victoria from Mom's Day Out (at our church) and we walked over to our church's Christian School to wait for Elyssa and Natalie to get out for the day. Since we had some time to kill, Victoria and I went out onto a small playground that is right beside the school building so Victoria could play a little. Kathy, one of the the custodial staff at the school who just happens to have Downs, must have seen me and Victoria on the playground through the double-glass doors. She came out to the chain-length fence and said "hey" to us. Kathy LOVES to see Victoria (see my previous blog titled "She's Like Me" to get the full story on Kathy and Victoria's encounters). I walked Victoria over and told her to wave at Kathy. She blew her a kiss instead! Victoria went on playing and I stayed by the fence to talk to Kathy.

I was amazed at the depth of the conversation between Kathy and me during those few moments we talked. Kathy told me that she understood how I felt. She said that her mom went through the same things with her that I have gone through with Victoria. She said that her mom had therapists come to her house to work with her when she was little, too. She told me that she can do more than a lot of Downs folks can. She said she can hold a job and has for many years now. She said some "DS" people cannot do all that she can do. I told her that I knew that. I asked her if she was as active as Victoria when she was little. She laughed and said she probably was.

Next, she asked me something that I had to ask her to repeat. She speaks very clearly ... so it wasn't that I didn't understand what she said. I was just taken back by her question. She asked me what I thought of Victoria since she has Down syndrome. Can you imagine? A 30-year-old woman with Downs asking me how I felt about my own daughter because of her disability! I almost cried. I knew how, at one point when Victoria was first born, I felt sad to have a special needs child. I knew that I had grieved over having a child that was "different." I thought back to all of those emotional times as I thought through how to answer Kathy's question. I couldn't bring myself to tell Kathy about all of the thoughts I struggled through in those beginning days. But, Kathy's question made things come full circle for me. It made ME wonder ... how did Kathy feel knowing she was different as she was growing up? What types of emotions and thoughts did she or does she have about being a special needs child/adult? It made me realize, again, that I need to always be sure I build ALL of my children up with encouragement, even my special little girl. So ... after a ton of things flooded through my mind, I answered her. I said, "Well, I think Victoria is pretty special." I told her that I love her and know that she is a big blessing to our family.

It was a real ironic moment. I think God has allowed our family to have contact with Kathy to see all that Victoria CAN do. Not what she CAN'T do! I think the thing that I always have to remember on this journey is to push Victoria to be all she can be. I want to treat her as "normal" as possible. I want her to accomplish much in her life. I don't ever want her to make excuses for herself just because she has Down syndrome (and I don't ever think that will actually happen because our little girl is SO determined!).

I think I will be blown away by all that Victoria will accomplish in her lifetime. And, I know that I always want her to feel loved and treasured. I want to help her reach her goals and see great things for her life.

Nice in Nevada!

Mark and I had such a great time at Green Valley Baptist Church in Nevada last weekend. Saturday, November 20th, I had the opportunity to sing and speak to the women at their Holiday Tea. It is always a blessing to hear the responses of women after I share of God's faithfulness in my life, even in the midst of difficult and life-changing circumstances!

On Sunday, I had the privilege to do a mini-concert in the three morning worship services. Dave Simpson, the Worship Pastor, wanted me to share a word of testimony that morning, as well, and requested that I share my song and video, "She Is God's Child." There were many sweet tears and many encouraged hearts that morning.

And, a very special moment that morning was when I was able to sing with Dave and his wife, Annette. We all were on staff at the same church at one time and sang together a lot during those years. So, we pulled out one of our favorite trio songs, "When He Comes Down." It was a powerful time of worship! (The photo you see of us here was taken during our rehearsal time on Saturday afternoon.)

Mark and I toured some of the area and enjoyed our time away. No trip is complete without a visit to Hoover Dam and Graceland Wedding Chapel to see Elvis!

Thanks again, Dave and Annette, for letting us come share with your church and for being such wonderful tour guides! We had a great time!