Gess' 8th Birthday!

Gess is now 8 years old! I am so excited because this means she can finally get in a car without a booster seat! I am also glad because each year reminds me just how far we have come and just how blessed we truly are. I knew nothing about Down Syndrome when Gess was born. We have been through open heart surgery, feeding issues and Gtube placement surgery, ear tubes, vision problems and constant patching, reflux issues, various therapies like OT, PT and Speech. With all of that I can only say that our lives are the better for it all. Regardless of the trials and hardships we have faced, the blessing that Gess has brought to our lives and the lessons we have learned about prejudices, fear and the sanctity of all human life are more than worth any cost we could have paid. We actually do not see these things as hardships, merely challenges to overcome. And overcome them we do! Each new milestone, each new lesson learned, each new discovery made, brings an abundant joy that we would have never known otherwise. We count them all as joy. The Lord has used the life of my little girl to teach many others the joy of His love. May he continue to bless and use her life in that way for many, many years to come!

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy , my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
NIV

Gess and I on her Birthday!

She put the decorations on all by herself!! She also helped bake the cake.

8 Candles...get ready and blow! (No it took several tries, she did not blow them all out at once!)

Opening her presents. The CD Player was funny, she read that it was a Boombox. I asked "Do you know what that is?" She said, "A box!" as though that was cool enough! She now has a CD Player in her room and loves it!


We cheated and got her a costume for her birthday. We don't really do Halloween but they are wearing costumes to gymnastics this week. She picked this one out and we got her a kit to go with it. She loves playing Doctor, maybe it's because she spent the last 8 years visiting them so often. She still loves going to them though, so that at least is good!