Back when I was a kid, I always used to think that tears always meant that you were upset or angry.

Not always so, as I have since learned.

Since I became a mother five years ago to twin daughters, I have seen many blessings come into my life, and in the life of our children.  We have two daughters, twins, who were born with all sorts of health problems, but despite all that they have faced, they continue to amaze and inspire anybody who happens to come into direct contact witth them.

Our daughters both have cerebral palsy, one more affected than the other.  The one daughter (Emma Layne) can walk and talk with relatively little difficulty (she walks with braces on her legs and with crutches, or uses her wheelchair for longer excursions); the other (Ella Lee) cannot walk or talk or do much of anything; her damage was much more severe.  Yet they remain the happiest kids on the block and I am proud to be their mother!

I don't know what I would do without my girls.  I love them both so very much!

I have cried tons of tears since Ella and Emma came into our life, but as I said earlier, not all the tears I've shed meant that I was sad.  I have cried tears of joy whenever I see Emma learn a new skill (such as walking with her crutches; she just learned that back in January!) or when Ella learned how to sit up for about five minutes before she toppled over.  I also cried when Dr. Padias told me that he thinks that one day that Ella may be able to eat on her own and won't always need to be on tube feedings.

Whoever thought that something as minor as eating or sitting up would mean so much, but it does!  People don't understand all the work that goes behind the scenes during the girls' therapy sessions, and all these yaers in therapy are finally starting to pay off for the both of them!

People sometimes think that I am a crybaby, but I have good reason to be.  Our twin girls are beating the odds, each and every day, and every day I see vast improvement in their development!  I just wish that more people were as understanding as my family or most of my friends; it would be a much better world for all of us!!