I want to take a minute to publicly thank God for 2009. I hope you don't mind (and, if you're not of the same mindset...I hope it won't send you running to the hills. :)

I praise you, Lord, for increasing my faith.....for showing me that even when all is stripped away, You are here.......and you are enough.

I thank you for my sweet Simeon. Thank you for allowing instant/intense love for a little boy who continues to change our hearts and lives in so many ways. Thank you for introducing us to the amazing and wonderful club of Down syndrome and for giving us a blogging family of parents on the same road.

When Shawn decided to quit his job and become self-employed, we never dreamed we would be walking the Ds road at the same time. It could've been such a disaster, but You made him successful......always supplying job after job and using his flexible schedule for the benefit of our family. You knew that with heart surgery, extra appointments, and therapies, there was no way we would've survived (let alone thrived) with his former schedule and You put this on his heart for this reason. Your timing, as always, was perfect.

Although I'm not through it and have no complete resolution, I'm grateful that You love me enough to challenge my theology. You have given me the desire to question everything I thought I knew, knowing that I would eventually land at truth.....that You are real and that You care......and that all the extraneous, meaningless crap would be filtered out.

Thank you, God, for my family, for allowing me to be a sahm for the first time, and for teaching me to enjoy the chaos.

I know I complain about this often, but I really do thank you for making me the kind of person who wears her heart on her sleeve with a complete inability to live, or even vacation, behind any kind of mask.

You are good. While the circumstances were hard, I know that I'll remember this as one of the best years, yet.