2 Years Ago Yesterday...

Two amazing souls came into this world, 1/2 a world away from us. They had a hard start in life, losing their birth family, but happily, they got to keep each other. Last year, they were referred to my amazing friend A, and her husband A, at the end of September. They brought them back to the US on the 1 year anniversary of our LID in December. This is their first birthday at home.

These two girls are amazing. They are strong souls, they have grown and adapted so much in the last year or so that they have been home. One has a huge crush on P and can work him over like I never could. They are so smart, so inquisitive, so beautiful...this is XB analyzing (yes, it is) a ladybug.

I only wish that they understood what they have meant to all of us (and I'm just the faux-auntie!). The happiness I see in my friends' eyes when they watch them playing, and learning. I can see the joy, I can hear it when A calls me on her way home, to tell me about how they learned to do something... Seeing them grow and expand, I can do nothing but get excited about what it is going to be like to see H go thru the same transformation - to see her learn how to trust, to fill out as she catches up from institutional delays, learn what it is like to have a family. I can't wait to watch all three of them continue to grow into amazing young people.

How can you not love this?

It also makes me sad, to think what they have been thru in their short lives. To think about what H is going thru right now. It makes me wonder if any of us would have had the fortitude to survive and flourish like all these amazing kids have...See, when I have no time, and I'm slammed against the wall, I start daydreaming and getting all philisophical!

P is "the next state over" on business, and I emailed him that I had gone thru the pics from the girls and their mommy and daddy visiting last weekend, and I said, "it's obvious that you will be totally whipped by H." He asked why, and asked me to email him a few of the pics that A took with the camera...so I sent them over and asked "Why, do you need a baby fix?"

Do you know how emotional I am right now, waiting for the next batch? He emails back "Yeah, I've needed one for 2 years." Just started me crying...

Photos included with permission of Mommy A.