Three years ago today, a
mother gave birth to a little girl 5 weeks early. She was admitted into
the NICU for a host of issues. I imagine that mother and father felt they
had no choice, no way to care for their little girl's failing heart, and
surrendered her into the care of the state. That first year of her life,
the only record kept was that she visited the hospital five times. Two
photographs were taken, one required by the state and one whose source is
unknown. Just days before that little girl's first birthday, her heart was
repaired. The only record of the rest of her life was that she was brought back
to the orphanage a week later.
But on July 10, 2013, that little girl was born again to all the fanfare and love and endless photos that should have been hers from the moment she was born. On Earth as it is in heaven. And she heard her name for the first time.
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| First morning in Kyiv |
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| Seeing Daddy again for the first time in 3 weeks |
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| Cal and Hoss give great hugs, October 2013 |
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| Lumpy and Daisy play dress-up, January 2014 |
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| Oh Mother, really. May 2014 |
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| Pulling up to stand with Hoss. Hoss is 10 months older. |
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| I'm basically the most beautiful girl, ever. June 2014. |
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| Daisy and Emma Dilemma. Just standing with one hand, no big. August 2014 |
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| Daisy is a big sister! Seabee and Daisy, November 2014 |
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| Free standing, my real American Girl Doll, December 2014 |
Our little Princessa turns 3 today, and we are so grateful to be able to be her parents.
This year has been less about surviving and more about learning to thrive. She is up 4 more pounds, can push herself to standing and can eat birthday cake for the first time. She is responding to her name, and pretended she was too sleepy to do therapy yesterday while pushing her PT's hands away.
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| Jedi and Daisy. Quite the pair. January 2015 |
Our little girl is healing and well and forever ours. She has now been
with us longer than she was without us. I wish we could have learned all
we have without it being subsidized by the losses our daughter endured without
us. But that's not quite right. Our redemption stories are not
about our losses, but about how we are redeemed. And our precious Daisy
has a beautiful story of redemption, and now a story of being just a plain old
kid.
Today we are acutely aware that God doesn't make ashes to turn them into beauty, but takes ashes and makes them beautiful. And He's really outdone himself with our Daisy. Happy Birthday, D! We are so lucky to be your mommy and daddy and family!
