I have always believed

that GOD places people into our paths for a reason.

Not long after the God of Grace kicked me right off my pedestal, we encountered a family that made my heart so full of joy that I could barely bring myself to carry on an intelligent conversation with them.
Somehow my shyness kicked in and left me a bit at a loss for intelligent conversation.

While at The Great Barn, sweet Addie was so very content to pick up the foam balls and put them into the vacuum tubes, into bags, hoard them or share with others.
She was so sweet and shared with whomever would pay her a bit of attention.

Chris was watching Addie, while Julien and I played on the rope ladders and slides and when I came back to check on Addie, she was playing with a family who was sitting nearby.
Addie would pick up the foam balls and take it to them or would throw it to them.
I immediately hit my shy zone and was a little concerned that they would feel bothered by her.

Just a moment later, one gentleman asked me how old Addie was.....(Inhale).....I answered with my standard, "she's three" and couldn't bring myself to even make eye contact with them.
I had a knot in my stomach and was trying to mentally prepare for what could possibly be coming next.

What came next almost brought me to tears.

The gentleman got up and came to stand next to me and he asked me the question.
He asked me the question.
This gentleman asked me what Addie's condition was!!!!

I was surprisingly floored and so very happy!
I gave a brief explanation and had to keep myself from choking up.
I told him "thank you" for asking, that he was probably the only person in three years to ask (thinking back, there have been a couple of people to ask in round about ways, but not like this).

It was such a simple question, but it made our whole trip.

You guys have no idea how happy it makes us for people to take an honest interest in Addie because we all too often encounter people who look at us with disdain.

As I have said time and time again, Addie has a beautiful purpose.

I believe in my heart that her purpose is to bring joy to others.

In this journey, I can only pray that I am able to find ways to educate people on Microcephaly, special needs and how this beautiful journey with my sweet Baby Girl is a gift from GOD.

So, a very special "thank you" to The Fiske Family.
You may never truly understand how one simple question tilted our little world in the right direction that day and made us feel a little more accepted in a moment when our hearts were breaking because of Addie's differences.

(I'll find my way back to Facebook one day, in the interim, there is a link on the right hand side of the blog to my private email address for anyone who wants to contact me directly - for those of you that missed it - Facebook and I are not good friends although I do realize that I am probably missing out on communications with the vast majority of the human species!)

Sweet little Monkey loved watching the other little ones having so much fun...
and patiently waited for her turn.

Celebrating Nine Years!

My sweet girl had a very busy day! We spent the day by having lunch at one of Addie's favorite restaurants, then I took her s...