This is HopeAnne

On June 1, 2006, a little butterfly was born, all 4 lbs. 5 oz. of her.  We received the phone call on June 6, asking if we'd be willing to take a 5 day old who was being released from the NICU that day.  We had no idea how to handle a 4 lb. peanut.  We thought she was so tiny and we were scared to death!  Little did we know.

She's strong.  She's flexible.  She's fast and she's active.  She loves to dance and flip and twirl.  She works on her own time schedule and somehow she determines, by her own set of rules, if it's going to be a good day or a bad one.  She's learning about life and grace and trust.  She's learning that she's loved dearly by her family.  She has always been able to bring a smile to a stranger's face.

She loves dolls and Polly Pockets and nurturing.  She loves drawing and coloring and painting.

And she loves pink!

Today she will celebrate her 7th birthday with a breakfast donut stuffed with 7 candles.  Her family will sing happy birthday to her and speak words of blessing to her.  I will not be there.  She will receive a mini trampoline because even though we fear what she might do with it (we have not forgotten the mini tramp at the bottom of the stairs incident at Aunt Shirley's house last Christmas) we know that she will love it.  And then everyone will pile into the van and drive to Baltimore to pick me up at the airport.  And then we will celebrate her birthday, all together, and I will speak words of blessing to her.

Happy Birthday, HopeAnne!  We love you so much!

And Victor can't wait to meet you and someday you'll be able to hold him and tell him that he is loved.

Victor is doing so well.  We enjoyed holding each other 3 times yesterday.  Saying good-bye is hard.

Pray for safe travels for me today.  Pray that Victor remembers to breathe each and every moment of every day.