Mission complete.

I was up in Elkhart over the weekend and had the opportunity to speak at a Christian Women's Conference about our journey with Alexis: learning of her Down syndrome, the pregnancy and birth, her surgery and hospital stay for duodenal atreasia, and then her heart surgery. And finally, how Down syndrome is such a small part of who Alexis is. She is perfectly Alexis.

It was about a year and a half ago that I was approached to speak by my former high school English lit teacher. I adore this woman. She terrified me as a teacher for the first month. And then I loved her. Still do. She has this faith in me that I thought only a mother had in her own child. How blessed am I to have not only a mother with this kind of faith in me (and a dad and a grandma...) but also a woman like her.

My speech went well I think. I'd practiced until I was blue in the face and could recite the thing backwards. I felt comfortable, much more comfortable than I have at other times in front of an audience. And the feedback was great. And when I was done, I brought out Alexis and she was, without question, the star of the show.

My mom was there with me and sang in a trio. This woman has musical talent oozing out of her pores. My grandmother is an incredible pianist. My mom is an incredible pianist and can sing like nobodys business. Oh, to have an ear like they do. I can carry a tune, and plunk out a rousing rendition of Chopsticks, but unfortunately, my musical talent ends there.

And I was so excited to learn that my high school BFF was coming to the conference! We were great friends in high school, attended church together, roomed together in college, and our parents are great friends. She was there with her mom and daughter and I loved seeing her and catching up.

Did I mention that I love having a little girl to dress up? Girlfriend was rockin' the boots.

And nothing melts me like having any of my kids planting a big sloppy wet one on my cheek.

Don't know what it was we were talking about here, but it must have been serious.

There were two other speakers at the conference with me. Reverend Vickie Van Nevel (center) and Magistrate Deborah Domine are incredible women and I was blessed to meet them and spend some time in their company.

It was an incredible weekend. After last week's Buddy Walk (which I will blog about soon) and this weekend's conference, I feel I can finally sit back and take a breath.

I love this face.