four years ago today...

Happy Birthday, Adeline!

Four years ago today (actually, I guess that was yesterday now)...

We were in the hospital with our new little bundle of joy.

I never knew how much love I could feel towards a tiny little baby.

Words can't even describe the feeling inside my heart, and my desire to protect this beautiful little baby from all the nastiness in the outside world.

How innocent and precious this little baby was in my arms.

It was at this moment that it dawned on me how enormous (that's not even a big enough word) a sacrifice it was for God to give his perfect son up to die a terrible death on the cross for the sins of the very people he had created.

I couldn't imagine ever giving up my baby.

Not even if it would save a nation of people.

But God's love for us is so huge that He did the unthinkable for us.

That's some love.

Think about it.

And now, here we are four years later and I can't believe how much my baby has grown. She got her first "big girl" bike tonight and I couldn't believe that she was big enough to actually ride it. It looked so huge in the store.

Way too big for my baby, right?

*sigh*

Time goes by way too fast.

I just want to cherish every single moment I have with my children.

I want to study their faces, take as many pictures and videos as possible and never tell them that I'm too busy to do something with them...

although that happens a lot more than it should.

I'm working on saying "yes" more to their requests to read a book to them or do a craft with them or whatever it may be. I want them to remember the fun times they had with mom and not a mom who was too busy to play.

Anyways... Happy birthday, Adeline.

You have turned into such a sweet little girl with a sincere heart that loves God and others.

I love hearing you sing your favorite Sunday school songs and especially love it when you make up your own!

You are such a good big sister to Millie and now to Tate too. You tolerate a lot from that little sister of yours, but you always forgive her right away and are so kind to her.

Thanks for teaching me how to be a good mom

and for reminding me how amazing God's love is.

I'll leave you with some pictures of our little family celebration tonight...

Yes, that is a baby bag on the right, but it was the only one that I had that was the right size!

A pony fit for a princess.

She was thrilled with her new bike! She said several times, "That is a really cool bike!" and "I love the color!"

Nana Brooks treated us to a yummy ice cream cake!

(I'd been baking cakes all day for Saturday's party, so I wasn't really up to making another one for tonight!)

By the way... notice how centered the writing is. I was told when we called that DQ had their own "cake decorator" on hand. Do you think he/she took a class on how to off-center the writing as much as possible?

How "artsy" of them.