Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl!

July 17, 2007One year has passed, and I thank God for the stage we are at, remember with joy the day you were born, and soak up every moment with you, hoping that I will never take for granted your life--a total gift to Daddy and me. We love you so, so much. You will have our constant prayers, love, support, and ears to listen. You are our treasure, our little princess, our snuggle bum.. Thank you for loving us back, for giving us the best, big squeezes, and "crunchy" kisses. You are our sweet pea. Maddy, we remember, like yesterday, the day you were born. Dad was retelling the story last night of your birth. I immediately thought of Dad's experience of going to grab lunch after your 1:25pm (Beijing time) birth. He grabbed some Chinese food, and there were a couple of girls at a salon trying to promote their shop and invite Dad to get a haircut. He wanted to yell from the top of his lungs that he didn't have time for that; he is a DAD; we just gave birth to a BABY! I remember hearing the doctor say, "You will have a baby on this next push. With that dose of encouragement, I felt like I could win an Olympic race, because I was determined to see you; you came right after that. I was so thrilled that you were in this world that I had forgotten that we had kept your boyishness or girlishness a secret, and then it clicked, and I said, "What did we have??" Dad said, "A girl!" You are that girlie, and we love you. Happy first birthday, little world traveler. You have done so much in your one year, and for some reason, I think there is a lot more to come. We are excited to take this journey with you.