Women of Faith - Mom's Coffee - baby Chloe!

This past weekend I attended the Women of Faith Conference.

It was amazing, inspiring and fulfilling on many levels.  There were messages ranging from deep to humorous, uplifting music and wonderful stories.  It's safe to say my spiritual bucket is FULL.  Not only was it awesome to be in an arena with thousands of other "faithful" women, I'm not gonna lie, it was also slightly awesome to have adult time away from the littles.  I was able to dig a little deeper into my heart and soul, not having to worry about anything or anyone other than "where's the kleenex".  Yep, there were tears...the GOOD kind!  I love being emotionally moved.  :-)
Another great part of the weekend was meeting up with some girlfriends for dinner on Friday night.  Christina had a fabulous dinner party at her gorgeous downtown loft (which had views of downtown from all angles).  The food was delicious and the conversation meaningful.  THANKS CHRISTINA!!!!

I would recap more from the conference, but that would take waay too long...and it is my goal to reduce the word-count on my lil ole blog.  Some might agree that I am a bit "long-winded".  :-)

I was late arriving on Saturday, as I made the choice to attend my regular monthly DSSM's coffee.  I am SOO glad I did not miss it.  There were many new faces and some brand new babies to squeeze.  Perhaps I'm bias, but there's something about that extra chromosome that shines through a brand new babies face and just MELTS MY HEART! 
It was nice, and as usual, therapeutic, to sit around the circle and converse with these other young ladies.  We all really opened up on Saturday and shared our thoughts, feelings, fears and joys with each other.  My friend Casie has a great recap (with some pics) over her on blog...check it out here.   :) 

I am SOO very thankful for this group of women.  It certainly helps to know I'm not alone on this "Down Syndrome mom" journey  :-)

a pic of me and Jen that I stole from Casie's blog  :-)

*****
Speaking of new babies...I had the great pleasure of meeting sweet 4 week old Chloe on Monday.  They live nearby and were also surprised to learn after Chloe's birth that she too has that extra special chromosome.  Much like us, her mommy & daddy are new to this "Down Syndrome World" and have experienced a whirlwind of emotions.  But they are all doing well and after four weeks in the NICU, they are just SOO glad to have their beautiful angel home with them  :-) 

Macy appears to be "having some words" with little Chloe...oh to be fluent in "baby-babble" to know what tips, thoughts and worldly advice she had to share.

what a sweetie!

McKenzie had fun too.  She keeps asking me when we can go back.  "Mom", she keeps telling me..."Laura is a really good book reader".  hehe