18 Months Old!

I cannot believe that my daughter is one and a half years old today! Wow. Time has really flown. Two years ago, I was traumatized by the removal of what I thought was going to be my daughter, Olivia. I didn't know how God could make something good come from the worst experience in my life. 6 months later, we stood in a hospital room in Waco and said hello to our baby girl. This child has brought so much joy and spunk to our life. Some nights I actually miss her when she is in her crib asleep! She has accomplished so many little things in her short life and I have been blessed to be by her side through all of them. Vivianna, you and your brother are my heart and soul. I love you sweet baby. Please don't grow up too fast!

I dedicate this passage that I found online to Vivianna's 18 month milestone!

What is an Adoptive Mother?

"Being an adoptive mother is not for every woman. She must possess not only the natural mother instinct but an understanding and appreciation of the situation that brought a child into her arms making her a mother. The adoptive family came to be by choices made, choices made by the first parents and by the adoptive parents. This bond the adoptive mother has with her child grows over time, like the child did within his first mother’s womb. Day by day, touch by touch, with each tear, kiss, and memory made they became a family. Adoptive mothers have that special knack to let love grow.Adoptive mothers know that she’s a mender of wounds, not just of the physical skinned knees with a band-aid and a kiss, but of the heart. She gives love, acceptance, and permission to ask and talk about the day he was born and of his first parents.Adoptive mothers are embracers, not only of the child with many hugs and kisses, but of the child’s heritage and history. She embraces the facts of her child’s past with strength for herself and the child.This role is not for the weak of spirit, or the easily wounded. Loving a child not born to her but calling him her own, this is what she does, it is her calling. She is a mother."