I am so blessed ...

I am so blessed to have the daughter that I do.  For those of you who may not know I have one child, a sixteen year old daughter.  Her name is Nicole.  She was diagnosed with a rare life-threatening disease a year ago at the age of fifteen. At this same time we also found out she was born with a heart defect that we didn't know she had.    To say that our lives have changed is an understatement.

I am so proud of her for having the courage that she does to go through this at such a young age.   She is an amazing young woman.  Nicole is homeschooled and we participate in a homeschool co-op on Mondays and she volunteers in the pre-K class room.  Yesterday, she was asked to draw an octopus on poster board for the class.  For those of you who may not know, Nicole, is an awesome artist and has had this talent since a very young age.  This is her passion.   She also helps with a learning games class for K-1.  For the past couple of weeks the teacher has asked Nicole to write a story for the class which Nicole has gladly done.  She will also draw the illustration.  I am so proud of her for this. The kids just absolutely love her.

Nicole has written an article than will be in the Pathlight magazine in the next issue.  For those of you who don't know the publication, it is a magazine put out by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (this is the disease that she has).  I have read the article which Nicole will give her final approval of and I must say it brought me to tears.

Sometimes, I am too hard on Nicole and focus on the things that she doesn't do... no motivation to do her schoolwork, doesn't pick up after herself, must fight with her to get her out of bed, etc.  when I should really focus on her strengths and the influence she is having on others.

I hope that you will read this Nicole because I just want you to know how very proud I am of you and this goes for Daddy and the rest of the family.  You are a blessing and a joy in our lives and it doesn't matter if you are sick or not.  The happiest day of my life was the day you were born.  I will stand by you and support you in whatever God has in store for you and our family.  God didn't and doesn't make mistakes.

I will try and focus more on your strengths and the awesome gifts that you have instead on the fact that you don't pay attention in class, don't do all your work or don't put the effort into it that you should  etc. etc.  I want you to know that I'm always proud of you every single day and that you are my hero.