Happy Birthday Sweet Girl

I cannot believe my sweetie is 4 years old. Her birthday finds me thinking of her first mom, in Russia, Vera. Wondering what she might be thinking...in my mind, it must be so tough. And so I want to say to Vera, we think of you, we pray for you, we talk about you and wonder about your life. I let E. know regularly that someday I hope we can find you. I hope that E. will have the chance to see you again, the chance to ask you so many questions that I am sure she might have....like, why? Did you love me? Do you miss me? why didn't you take care of me? I pray she will have the opportunity...I pray that it will lead to reconciliation and restoration...that she will one day have the opportunity to have two moms who love her in her life. E. is such a beautiful girl - inside and out. We had such a fun day. And to top it off Becky and Kelly came over for dinner and some birthday cupcakes. What a difference a year makes....here is my sweetie just a couple of weeks after arriving home on her thrid birthday...

And here she is this year...

What a day! Presents, cupcakes and a spa pedicure courtesy of Aunt Becky...what more could a girl ask for?

Happy Easter

We had a lovely Easter weekend. It was busy, but really fun. The highlight, of course, being Resurrection Sunday service - celebrating our risen Lord. I feel so grateful that this year I took the time to observe lent and all that it means to deny oneself in preparation for Easter. To identify with Christ's suffering during lent makes celebrating His Resurrection all the more sweet! I hope that as E. gets older and begins to understand this season at a deeper level we will be able to observe together.

On Saturday E. and I spent the day at home in our jammies until much past noon - I love that! We dyed some Easter eggs - oh boy, did she love that!

On Easter, our church had a Sunday service - unusual for us since we worship together on Tuesday nights. It was a beautiful service. Focused on the account of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. She didn't even realize it was Him - until He said her name....Mary....and in that moment she instantly knew who it was. We talked about what it means to be known by Jesus....He knows our names. Of course, E. had on her Easter finest and looked beautiful...here are some pix.

E. is determined to be a drummer...I'm still holding out for something a bit....different :)

Precious!

Favorites

For a long time people would ask E. what was her favorite color or food or some other thing and it was clear she didn't understand the concept - she would just starting listing a whole bunch of the item. Red, blue, pink, brown etc Within the last week she gets it :) It's really cute to hear her talk about how her favorite color is, of course, pink. And her best friend is Abby at Emily's house. And her favorite song is Chris Tomlin's "Unfailing Love". Whenever that song comes on she tells me again that it's her favorite. Sweet.
Tonight we got a box in the mail from my dear friend Linda. We know each other from college days....yes, we go way back :) Linda lives back in my homeland...the valley...Southern California. We don't get to see each other very often and she hasn't gotten to meet E. just yet. Hopefully we can fix that soon. She sent a gift for E. These just might be her new favorite outfit and stuffed animal...
Hugging her new forsey :)
What could be better than a pretty pink tutu? Thank you Aunty Linda!
Here's a link to the Chris Tomlin song, if you're not familiar with it. Click here
It is a truly beautiful song - I love the lyrics. I love that it is E's favorite song.