Happy Birthday Melanie Anne!

Dear Melanie --

It has been nearly a year since we said our first hellos.  You were wearing a little black, white and yellow outfit adorned with sunflowers and bees.  Mommy thought that was a good omen.  Yellow is a favorite color, and Mommy's kitchen is full of sunflowers and bees!  You were hiding in a corner - something you still do on occasion when you're apprehensive about a situation.  Daddy drew you out with a funny helicopter that flew way up to the ceiling in the therapy room at the group home where you were living.  We ate at Burger King and took you back home.  Two days later you were ours. 

 

You have adapted well to a crazy and extremely imperfect Mama and Daddy whose parenting anxiety is painfully obvious.  You have endured more challenges to your health this year with amazing tenacity.  You have a seemingly inexhaustible endurance for pain.  You are so strong.  You are an overcomer.  Yet you are such a tiny thing.  You weighed 17 pounds when we met you and we still struggle to keep you above 20 pounds.  

I love to watch you consider an insect or look at the sky.  It is so new to you.  Creation is so vivid and wondrous through those gigantic, soulful eyes.  You must be "outside!"  You love music and, at least to this proud and probably only slightly biased Mama, it sounds as if you can already follow a melody line with your voice.  You love to talk on your play phones and have imaginary conversations with Grammy, Giggie, Papa Jack, Bop and Blossom (Grammy's senile, deaf & blind sheltie).   You are so fun to dress!  You love shoes so much that, if Mama didn't forbid it here and there, you'd be in a different pair every half hour.   You are almost always, "hungrin".  

It has been a fantastic year.  You have experienced a lot of firsts!  We carved pumpkins and had Trick-or-Treating for Halloween.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas at Grammy & Papa Jack's.  Easter egg hunts were a BIG hit with you.  You went on a long camping trip to see Giggie, Bop, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Stephanie & Cousin Kirbie.  You've been fishing and frog hunting, and you've learned to torture bugs and lizards just like your big brother.  Tomorrow there will be a cake just for you and a big sack full of presents.   

We have all grown up a lot this year.  Growing up can be painful.  Mama & Daddy have made a lot of mistakes.  At times, we've unintentionally compared you to an older brother who has never known your struggles.  At other times, we've not given you or your brother the priority you deserved.  Often, we've expected a whole lot more than you could give.  We're learning too, and by some extraordinary grace, you're loving us through that learning.  Mama is so overwhelmed and frustrated at times only to receive a hug and a heartfelt "I miss you" (We think you mean "I love you.") in return.  What we hope to accomplish, as we learn and grow ourselves, is to end the overwhelming struggles you've experienced.  We hope those normalize into the more common struggles of a child who has a deep knowledge that she is loved unconditionally and that she was chosen.  We also hope that unconditional love will help you face the struggles that remain in life with grace and faith.  The crazy thing about this whole gig... we're learning all this unconditional love from you!  

You were chosen, Melanie.  We didn't quite know what that meant when we first laid eyes on you.  We didn't know what it all meant when we first laid eyes on big brother Jonathan either.  The path is never clearly charted.  There are always unexpected twists and turns - brambles and briars.  But there are waterfalls, flowers, and scenes to take your breath away.  There are summits that make the rigorous climbs completely worth the undertaking!   You are so worth it baby girl.  You are so beautiful.  You are ours.  We love you.  Happy third birthday Melanie Anne!  

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."   

Love, 

Mama