Office Time

We're up early this morning - as always...  My husband's alarm goes off at 3:45 - I usually fall out of bed around 3:53 (I know, how is that around...).  Put on the exercise shoes, make the bed, and go down the stairs for a yummy cup of coffee.  He leaves around 4:15ish.  Then my daughter comes down the stairs for her coffee....and we share office time.  I'm usually on the computer - catching up on Facebook and mail.  She gets her bible out and starts reading.  I wonder - who raised this girl???

Well, the fact of the matter is - I did, with a lot divine intervention and help from family and friends....

A little background here.  My daughter has Down Syndrome.  She is amazing!  I have yet to truly know all she understands - she has some communication challenges - but what she shows me through her words and actions, makes me think she understands the world around her more deeply than I can imagine.  She is extremely empathetic.  She gives me hugs and backrubs - even when I'm trying to keep something bottled up - she knows... She is brave.  I watched her in a first meeting with a new youth group - full of tightly-knit high schoolers.  She was nervous; she was a little unsure.  But she smiled and persevered, nodded and smiled some more until they were smiling right along with her.  She is honest and lives her life with integrity.  I see it as purity of spirit.  She is every contestent and judge on American Idol; she is the winning team on Survivor; she is the librarian in our office; she is trainer-girl for our dog; she is Dr. SC; she is police girl from Rookie Blue.  Quite honestly, I can't always keep up with her.

That's why our office time is so special.  Today we were looking over her Facebook page.  I just opened one for her - with trepidation and prayer....  I set the security as tightly as I could.  (Isn't it sad that such an amazing technology for social interaction can be so potentially abused...)  So I check up on the page daily.  Today we posted pictures from her previous youth group, and added the organization to her page.  She was telling me all about the pictures as I went through my photo files to post.  Naming names and activities...  Telling me how she missed them.  Telling me what they were feeling at the time the pictures were taken - things I'd forgotten or not noticed at the time...  I love this time together, when I get to better know and understand my girl.

I asked what she was reading about in her bible.  She told me Jonathan.  I asked her what about Jonathan?  She said he was a good friend.  Need I say more???