A Letter to my Adult Daughter on her Birthday

Paris, France. I never in a million years could have guessed, you would be across the ocean, touring for three months, Europe, on the day we celebrate your entry into this world.

And how giving birth to that infant that wouldn’t cry…the one doctor’s literally spanked because you were so wide-eyed and filled with quiet wonder…

To now, here, today, in a blink of an eye, twenty-four-years later, married and on an adventure of a lifetime.

I’ll never forget when we brought you home to that tiny house, the one the size of our living room now. Your dad left the hospital while I was sleeping and covered the front of the house with a large banner, wide enough for the whole neighborhood to see…

“It’s a Girl!”

He was so very proud of you. We all were.

You sat chill, listening, trying to see all you could see. I should have known you might keep on looking for new adventures, opportunities and people that might fulfill that curiousity and wonder God gave you from the start.

“She looks like Snow White”, your dad and I used to tell eachother. Dark, black hair, porclain white skin, and bright red lips that look like someone painted them with Ulta’s best make-up.

And those eyes…

Those big, brown, beautiful eyes. Countries and nations, wonder and excitement simply dance in them.

It was like all of heaven was captured in a star and that star was places like a twinkle in those big, brown eyes you see from now today.

You never let the world stop you….Not that little boy who tried to cut you off at the water fountain….the one you pushed aside. Not the child who tried to take your best friend’s toy and you punched him in the face.

You were fierce, a force to be reckoned with, at even the tiniest sight of injustice. And yet, you love…love deeper and wider than any human I have ever seen.

• You love your friend’s, and even strangers, when they are struggling with very real problems.
• You love the puppies who sit behind bars in the shelter, the ones calling you to take them home. 🙂
• You love your siblings, all two dozen of them, who have stayed in your home either one night or as long as forever.

It didn’t matter someone’s track record or story. You were determined to love, every foster child, young or old who woke you at night, ragged with tantrums, or sat and looked helplessly into your eyes….

Only to to have them leave, tearing us all in two.

And yet, it isn’t just your loving that I admire. But the way you don’t let pain, hurt or the offensive evil scars taint the way you KEEP giving your love, your time and your attention to those around you.

You just have this gift of somehow picking up the pieces of hurt from others….even from me at times…and then move forward in faith and the belief that the world is better when we forgive.

Somehow you just instinctively know, we are only ever able to be whole when we are able to fully love.

Love is needed everywhere, not just in those who seem like they need it, but even in the so-called “perfect”.

Perfectionism is just a hollow hole of worldly dressing that aches so desperately for love, it decorates itself up with outward appearances, in hopes to cover up emptiness, on the inside.

But you look past that. Honey, how do you always know how to love, even those most broken?

And to think today, you are in the city of love, Paris. I don’t think it is a coincidence.

I don’t think you traveling all over England, London, Italy, Germany, Belgium….and then, landing in France…not just France, but Paris…is any kind of coincidence.

You were made to love. Born to be a funnel from heaven of what hope and healing, trust and beauty looks like.

You knew the power of love, even after the doctor spanked you in the hospital your first day. You cried, for a half a second, and then looked up at all of us with forgiveness, anticipation and wonder.

Heaven was and still is in your eyes.

So today, baby girl, as you walk through “The City of Lights”, don’t forget, “The Light of the World” is in you. He shines bright through you. Let nothing or no one ever take that from you.

Today, you are there in a world of wonder and Love, Light and awe, because I believe He is speaking to you today. Now, on your twenty-fourth Birthday…

He is saying He is pleased by how you love. 

You already “get”, love covers a multitude of sins. Love is the answer to every pain, the way through every trial, the hope that calls us forward in a world that needs His message of healing power, now more than ever.

But please know…

You came into this world beaming with His presence, Jesus’. And I just know in years to come, He is going to take you to many places, to spread that love to many.

Far and wide, big-brown-eyed wonder, it has been such an honor to be your Mother. I will forever be eternally grateful.

Enjoy your day and please remember, I am thankful, proud of who are you and in awe of this gift I’ve been given to partner with God to be just a snapshot of your life, as you dream for seasons to come.

May today and always, you show the world what light and wonder and love really looks like.

You are Light in this world! Happy Birthday, Sweetie! HUGE HUG to you there, in Paris!

xoxo

Your Mamacita!

P.S. Love you more than the sun, the moon, the stars…and the WHOOOOLE wide world.