Birthdays Past

Birthdays are a big thing for me, not sure why - not sure how to explain it but even before I had children I knew that their birthdays were going to be a very special time for them. For each child's birthday we have some sort of a party with their friends. On their actual birthday day we take them out for a special dinner where they get to choose where we go. Then I also try to take a day off from work and spend the entire day with just the birthday child doing whatever it is they want to do. The last one hasn't happened every year, but I would say it has most years.

Rebecca was adopted when she was 3 1/2 which obviously means we missed her first 3 birthdays, which also means I felt it necessary to make a big deal out of the first one we had for her last September. While I try not to dwell on our girls circumstances prior to being adopted, I can't help but have some sadness that both of them were not with us much earlier. In Emma's case, she was in an orphanage for a year. In Rebecca's, we're not sure where she was her first 4 months of life but based upon what we've been given it's safe to assume she must have been with her birth family. She went to live with Amanda at the Starfish Home when she was 18 months old, but there is a gap from 4 months to 18 months where we have no idea where she lived. There's mention of a foster family but we do not know how long she lived with them. So many things we just do not know.

The other night I dug out some cd's that Amanda had sent home with us when we adopted Rebecca and I started opening up picture after picture that was taken from 18 months up until we adopted her. Then I ran across these - BIRTHDAY pictures! Oh my, how cute are these!!!! Knowing that my baby girl had a big fuss made over her for both her 2nd and 3rd birthdays just melts my heart! I know I've said it a million times, but Amanda from the Starfish Home is simply amazing. It's so obvious how much she loves her babies. What a blessing to have these pictures & to see how well she was taken care of!