Happy Birthday!

There are many things in our lives which the Lord gives us specifically to bring us joy.  I can think of so many blessings which He has heaped upon my life.  In fact, my life has been a series of things "abundantly above all that we ask or think."

But today, on the 26th of July, I am thinking of one particular thing. 

Today is our youngest daughter's birthday and I am reminded yet again of the incredible blessing she has been to us through these years.  Never could I have imagined when I first held that gorgeous little eight pound bundle that she would enrich all of our lives so greatly, but she has.

The Lord has used her in my life to teach me so much of Himself and to continue to reveal to me the wonders of His love as a parent through my love as a parent.  As I watch my daughter relate to her siblings, the three of them now all adults, the Lord continues to teach me of how His children the Church interact and relate to each other.

So as I think back over twenty-one wonderful years, I thank the Lord especially for gracing our garden with this incredible rose.  I thank Him for the source of love and joy and laughter and pride she has been to us and I thank Him for the friend she has grown to be to her siblings and her parents.