Celebrating 5 years!

A few weeks ago we celebrated a very special day. On April 25, 5 years ago our sweet Emily was born into this world. I wasn't there for her birth. I didn't hear her first cry nor was I the first one to hold her little body. In fact it would be almost two years before she would know of my love for her. It is a day that we celebrate and rejoice over because I confidently believe that on that day God knew that she would be mine. I grieve the loss of those first two years as I imagine her life before God brought her to me yet I am thankful to a woman on the other side of this earth who gave my daughter life.

God has redeemed those 2 years and magnified and multiplied the sweetness of the time we have been together and so we celebrated in a big way the miracle of my baby girl's birth. I rejoice over her and what a beautiful girl she has become. She has grown in some incredible ways. Her tenderness, compassion and capacity to love leaves me standing in awe of how could so much beauty be wrapped in such a tiny person. She loves so deeply and unconditionally and without expectation. She has no apprehension in spontaneously expressing her love and emotion verbally and physically. Emily brings sweetness to my days. She makes me smile. She warms my heart and one of her hugs can make all my hurts disappear. One of the greatest things I love about her is how much she loves to embrace all that God gives her. She already has a passionate love for God. She loves to sing praises to Him, talk about Him, tell me about what she has learned about Him. She looks forward each week to going to church and learning more about Him. What an inspiration she is to me. How grateful I am today that God chose me to be the mommy of such a beautiful little girl. May I always live up to the call of loving her as much as she loves me.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little China girl!

The Little Girls

The Big Girls