Birthday Boy!

Daniel's birthday is tomorrow. I took cupcakes to Daniel's school on Thursday to celebrate. He was pretty excited!! His teacher said when moms come in for a birthday, she usually has them tell the class about the day the child was born so did I want to tell them about when Daniel joined our family? Well sure! I was happy to tell them that Daniel was born in Ukraine and I didn't get to be there that day, but 4 years later we came to Ukraine and met Daniel and were thrilled when he said he would like to come to America and join our family. I told them what it meant to be adopted - that we got to pick Daniel and he picked us. And by the time it was done, I was crying. 20 years from now, that story will probably still bring me tears of happiness. Oh the bliss of the miracle that is adoption!

This also happens to be Derby time here in Louisville, KY. That's a little horse race we have here - ya'll may have heard of it. Well - this is the most exciting time of year to be in Louisville. The whole town goes Derby crazy with 2 weeks of fun events! Following our big cupcake affair, we headed downtown for the Pegasus Parade. The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed the parade as you can see.........

And now look at this big boy..... I can't believe he's going to be 6 tomorrow. He has grown 10 years in one. He's had so many life experiences, packed so much change and learning and growing into one year and through it all - that big smile and big personality is the one constant. That and our love for him, our absolute, whole hearted confidence that God picked out the perfect little boy for our family. What if we had never taken that step of faith? What if we had never gone to Ukraine? I can't imagine missing out on knowing and loving him.......