It's Birth Mother's Day!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Birth Mother's Day is celebrated on the same weekend as Mother's Day! I look forward to it every year, because it gives me the special opportunity to express my love and gratitude to our Jessika! It seems appropriate to me that this day is the day before Mother's Day, because Jessika became a mother first, and then she made me the happiest mom on the planet! I wouldn't have been able to become a mother on that special day in August 2007 if it weren't for her! 

Kaiya and I had the FUNNEST time making a little gift for Jess this year. We made her a book and I'm so annoyed with myself for not taking a few pictures of it -- it was so cute! Kaiya worked so hard. She really did the whole thing, other than a few minor details. She colored all the pictures and did a lot of the writing. She told Jessika all about what she has been doing over the last 4 years -- riding bikes, going to school, painting, making friends, learning to read and write, loving her family, and most importantly loving ADOPTION and her birth mom! It was adorable and Kai was so proud!

Today, and EVERY single day in the last 5 years, we are grateful beyond expression. I can honestly say that there has not been one single day since the day we met Jessika that she has not been in our prayers and in our thoughts. We could never express enough gratitude to Heavenly Father for the tender mercies that He provided in bringing our lives together with Jessika's. I have always been fascinated and amazed at how He was able to make a very difficult situation into the most beautiful thing that had ever happened in our lives. It is something that only God could do with His perfect love and power. The miracles of timing and experiences and guidance and assurance that took place in this adoption are almost too sacred to share. Though it has been 5 years ago, I still remember each piece of this precious experience like it was yesterday. Some memories simply do not and can not fade over time. They mean too much. And this all happened because one beautiful, wise, caring young woman made a choice that most of us could never even begin to comprehend or understand the difficulty of. She selflessly gave up her own desires for a life with her child so that her child could have what she hoped would be a better life with someone else.

I want Jessika to know that we recognize that we have been given the most priceless and precious gift and that we will try every day to give Kaiya the life that you hoped she would have. We honor your sacrifice in our efforts to be good parents. Though we could never truly be worthy of the gift we have been given, it certainly gives us motivation to try our best and do our best by Kaiya and our other children. There have been so many moments over the last several years when I have thought of you and hoped that you would be proud and happy of the job I was doing as Kaiya's mom.  Your gift deserves our very BEST efforts, just as Kaiya's special spirit deserves the same!

 I think about how adoption has impacted not just me, but each member of my family. Of course, it made Chris and I first-time parents. We have never felt such joy and happiness after such a long, intense, painful struggle to start our family. Adoption gave Avery and Taylor a sister that they otherwise would not have had. I look at how the three of them are bonded together and love each other so naturally and I just can't imagine if Kaiya hadn't been their big sister. I know, without a doubt, that those girls have had a bond that started long before they all got here. I imagine them together in the pre-existence, talking about all the fun they would have together, promising that their love as sisters would be eternal. Through the miracle of adoption and the sacrifice that Jessika made, all these relationships were made possible and have been realized in the most precious and profound way. Our family, each one of us, will keep a special place in our hearts for Jessika, ALWAYS! 

So, today, we give special thanks to our favorite birth-mother on the planet!! Jess, we love you. We cherish our relationship with you and that Kaiya gets to have you in her life. It has been such a blessing to know you. You are the sweetest, kindest, most gentle, thoughtful, SELFLESS person! We are so, so, so proud of you and the amazing person you are! Thank you, from places in our hearts that are so deep and personal, for what you have done for our family!You are the BEST!!!

HAPPY BIRTH-MOTHER'S DAY!! WE LOVE YOU!!