One Year

{Everyone says they can't believe how fast time passes. I realize, I can believe it}

You woke up so incredibly happy and smiley on your birthday. Daddy and I walked in to your room together to wake you, something we've never (or rarely at most) done. Aunt Andrea came in right behind us and your face lit up even more.

I think you knew it was your special day.

It's not that I can't believe your first birthday has come (and gone) it's that this whole thing seems like a dream.

I remember our moments from your first year like they are dreams from last night.

You are a bright eye'd bushy tailed girl. You love to climb and crawl and stand and fuss. You play with toys, but your sense of adventure in climbing and following outweighs your interest in them. You dance. You make noise.

Was that little baby from a year ago real? That's the hard thing to imagine. You, now, are so incredibly different than You, a year ago.

When I look at you, I can't picture You in a year, or two, or ten. Looking back at your pictures though, I see You. That's strange to me. You look just like you did as an infant...and even though you'll always look like her, I just can't imagine what you'll look like in the future. That's the beauty in life, I suppose. It means we must enjoy you NOW, because you are only the YOU you are today, right now.

It means we must enjoy you NOW, not because we might not have you in the future, because you are only the YOU you are today, right now. That's a critical point I should make, I don't feel this way because as a child in foster care your future with us is still undetermined, I feel this way because you are our beautiful little girl. You are ours, in heart and mind and many people follow this blog BECAUSE we are fostering, but what I say, I don't say because of the unknown. I say it, because we love you and loving You will always feel like a dream, come true.