Today is my daughter’s sixth birthday.  Six-years-old!  It is hard to believe.  She is growing up so fast, but she still embodies the innocence of a little girl.  She is sweet, imaginative, affectionate, and emotional.  She also has a sharp tongue at times, and definitely stands up for herself.  

The other day I was watching another little girl while my daughter was engulfed in her swimming class.  This little one, petite in stature with blonde curly hair, was prancing around her mommy and obeying her every word.  She looked just like Tinkerbell.

I thought about the innocence of little girls.  Perhaps my own life experience came into play when dwelling on this, perhaps not.  I just know that girls have always had a difficult road to walk in life, and in many ways, I’m not so sure that it is getting better for them.

And then, I turned to my daughter in the pool, and I was profoundly moved by the thought that she was meant to be my daughter.  The little girl flopping around in the water, half listening to her coach, and giggling with her friends, is just the kind of daughter that I was destined to raise.

She is fierce.  She is unique.  She is tough.   She doesn’t take no for an answer easily, but she knows how to say no (which is exactly what I want in a daughter). She is sweet, temperamental, knows what she wants, and a little bit of an old soul in a little body.

Tonight as I was tucking her into bed, as usual, she asked me to sing her a song.

“Mommy, I don’t want a birthday song.  I want you to sing Amazing Grace, and I want the whole song, not just a little bit of it.”

Before I could sing out the first words of the song, I got choked up a bit.  This song declared itself to me following a call last week from a birth mother of one of my children.  Tonight, it declared itself again by the request of my daughter.  I sang as much as I could remember:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am found;

was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,

and Grace my fear relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear,

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come.

‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far;

and Grace will lead me home.

After I finished singing, I leaned over, kissed her goodnight, and said, “Happy Birthday, Sweetie.  Love You.”

The truth is that Grace led us both home…

to a life filled with ups and downs…

to moments of tears and moments of cheers…

to each other…

to love…

and, to the knowledge that we are incredibly loved by an incredible Savior.

Happy Sixth Birthday, Sweetie.

“Our children are not ours because they share our genes…
they are ours because we have had the audacity to envision them.
That, at the end of the day…or long sleepless night,
is how love really works.”  ~ Unknown