Birthday Girls

Wow! Today was a neat day.

Sarah turned 8 years old. This is such a special day, because Sarah was so very happy and excited about her birthday. She never mentioned her previous life or the negative things that used to happen on birthdays, such as NOTHING, and then being scared at her previous home. Her first birthday with us was interrupted by a phone call from the previous family and she broke down in a pile of tears and wet her pants in a panic.

Last year was much better, but she had lots of memories.

This year, however, was flawless. She was HERSELF! Do you know how important that is??
Do you know how special that is???

It is AMAZING! Birthdays are a time of remembering, a time of reminiscing, a time of remembering the day you were born. Unfortunately the day Sarah came into this world, it was a traumatic day. Her unmarried mother rejected her. She placed her in the care of the Ukrainian Government, where she was systematically neglected for many years.
She was then placed in an orphanage, then finally adopted at 5, only to be rejected again. She didn't have a chance. Or so it seems she didn't.

The Good Lord saw fit to intervene in this little one's life and here she is all bubbly and smiley and full of life like any 8 year old should be.

I'm so proud of her. So proud to be a part of her. So proud to be her momma.

Happy Birthday Sarah, you are more special than you will ever know. :)


I'm going to add to this post about Erika's birthday.

She woke up so very excited about her special day. Our friend Kenny came over to work with Mike and observed her looking for presents. He said, "I've never seen anybody hide gifts before." Erika turned around with a big smile and said, "that is what our family does!" "We hide our presents and look for them!"
She was having such a good time. :)

This is Erika's second birthday with us and she has established that this is OUR tradition! Isn't that the coolest thing?

These 2 days have made me so very happy. The girls are so settled and comfortable.
More so than I ever thought possible. God has been so good to us, simple birthdays, simple joy.