Where Has the Time Gone?

Hannah and Elizabeth are six years old today.

I wasn't there when they were born, but they are as much a part of me as if I had given birth to them and it is more often than not that I actually forget that I didn't. It is, as the girls' birthmom told me once, that she gave them life so that I could give them a life.

And what fun we've had for the past almost six years (our Family Day is at the end of January.)

Hannah and Lizzie's journey began six years ago, born 8 weeks early and weighing four (Hannah) and 3.75 lbs (Lizzie.) They spent the first month of their life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, coming home just in time for Christmas, 2002. I have pictures of them from those first few weeks of life looking small and vulnerable and somewhat like very old men with wrinkled skin and wizened faces.

And even though I wasn't there to rub their tiny backs or offer them a bottle or a snuggle, I admire the courage they had to live and to fight, despite setbacks and problems. Back then Lizzie was diagnosed with cystic encephalomalacia (don't bother looking it up - it's pretty scary and now she's fine) and they thought her hip might have been dislocated during delivery. Hannah did better, but she was still on oxygen for those first few days.

It was their birthparents -- not me -- who snuggled them and fed them and prayed that they'd come home healthy and whole.

I'm grateful that I know that; that they were so well loved in those early days of their lives when they were undoubtedly scared and hurting and new to this world. It's one of the beautiful things about an open adoption.

So today, when they turn six as the exuberant, curious, spirited duo that they are, I honor their birthparents who loved them into this world and then loved them enough to place them for adoption when they believed they could no longer parent them -- and who continue to love them today.

And Happy Birthday to my sweet (well, most of the time!) daughters who believe deep in their hearts that God sent them snow for their birthday today. May you always have that innocence and confidence. And may you always feel the love that brought you into this world, as well as the love from Daddy and me, which surrounds you and guides you every day.