I don’t know what I was doing four year ago today… the day you were born.

I don’t know if there’s a woman… a family… on the other side of the world mourning you today.

There’s a lot I don’t know.

 

As I looked through pictures to share, I cried.  I’ve missed a lot of your life up until now.  I have a few pictures, but not a baby picture.

I’ve often imagined what it must have been like on this day four years ago.  Was it a happy day at first?  Was there excitement over a newborn baby?  There are a lot of blanks that I try not to fill with my own imagination.

I do know that your needs were a surprise– discovered after your birth.  Oh the gut wrenching pain and fear.  I’m more than a decade older than your birth momma was when you were born, and I can’t imagine how I would react even now.  It is a lot to handle, and on day one, there were a lot of unknowns.

Multiple hospitals, multiple surgeries, and finally at two months old you went to a new home… an institution.  It seems so bad to hear, but the truth is, those hospitals kept you alive.  And the institution kept you alive and safe until I found you.

You had a momma there.  She was there when you arrived, and cried the day you left.  She had three years with you and saw you through so many of your firsts.  You loved her and she loved you.  She taught you what love was, and that has made a profound impact on your life– one that I am so very thankful for.

I don’t know what else to say, so I’ll let the pictures talk.  Here’s the first time we each held you– 10 months ago.
And here’s the day we left the orphanage forever.A week of getting to know each other in your home country… it was so hard and so wonderful all at the same time.You and your sister were absolutely created to be siblings.  It was instant.The photo above and the next three were taken during our family lifestyle session with Meghan Ippoliti Photography.

We did manage to snap a family photo each month since you’ve been home.  I can’t wait for your birthday party tomorrow to add another!