How they make me a better person

I am the mother f 2 yr old twins. My son, Logan has Down Syndrome. My daughter does not. When I first heard that one of our twins was going to be mentally disabled...possibly severely physically as well, all I could think was "Why me"?. I imagine this is the normal reaction for parents that hear the distressing news during a time when you are suppose to be filled with joy and excitement. The news put a damper on the joy. Both my husband and I had trouble in the early days finding joy in the pregnancy. We almost felt guilt for having one 'good' baby and one 'not healthy' child. After all, I did everything right, no flouride toothpaste, no pumping my gasoline, no alcohol or processed meat...HOW could this be?? WELL, about 5 days after we heard the distressing news, we sat up, quit feeling sorry for ourselves and decided to learn as much as we could. I prayed for my baby..I prayed that he would make it full term, that I would be able to meet him, hold him, kiss him and introduce myself to him...to say, "Hi little lamb, I'm your mom". I suddenly felt exuberant about my new children. I thought, wow, God must really have thought I did something right in my life to send me such a gift. My entire attitude changed from self pitty to pride.

Now, two years and some change later, I could not love anything more then my children. They are the joy of our lives. There are difficult, challenging times but the joy that I have each day, the joy I have been 'gifted' is more abundant then any pitty or sorrow imaginable.