Six

Six years ago today I was in Charlottesville in a hospital room wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. I had a baby in my arms, and I was clueless on what to do with her. I knew it was too late to send her back, but I was definitely scared to move forward with her. Yet, I knew I loved her. How do you love someone you've only known for a few hours? It's truly one of the Lord's great mysteries. Fast forward (really fast) six years, and we have Madelyn:





She's bright, funny, talkative, inquisitive, strong-willed, determined, particular, and happy. She can read, write, operate the iPad with ease, navigate on the computer, and tie her shoes(!!!) just to name a few skills. She's currently in AWANA (Sparks), playing soccer, and in the children's choir at church. Her ability to memorize and recall scripture is amazing to me. We had to buy her an extra book for Sparks because she completed her book and completely reviewed that book before January was over. I thought she could use a bit more of a challenge, so the new book has new verses and passages, and some of them can be pretty long. Hopefully, this can keep her busy until May.

Today, we celebrated in a low-key way. It was a federal holiday, so JD decided to actually take it off and spent the day with us. Madelyn opened presents, and she got to choose dinner. Any guesses as to what she chose???


chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.

JD and I enjoyed our Ruth's Chris leftovers from Friday night:-)

Here she is opening gifts from us:




I've been making the kids scrapbooks every year and giving them as birthday presents. I hope I can continue with this because they really enjoy them.


Time for cake: