Our pink-pajama baby turns 18!

This was our first look at her beautiful eyes. Hang on, and you will see them shine…

We learned she was a girl that day, following on the heels of her “big” brother, who was not yet 2.

A few months later, she arrived, and we were smitten from the start with the baby in the pink pajamas.

She came in with a song; “The Canticle of the Sun,” started by our priest, who’d come to bless her. “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and all creation is shouting for joy. Come dance in the forest, come play in the fields. And sing, sing to the glory of the Lord!” One of the nurses cried at the sight of it all.

Our world felt so much more complete with her in it, and expanded from there because of our growing love, for her, for her brother, into four more little loves, including the one who left early on a fast track to Heaven.

We named her Olivia, because it was a beautiful name, we thought, and already, we knew God had given us a special, wondrous gift.

It is so hard to believe that she is a senior, with butterfly wings starting to spread, to claim the life that God had in mind for her all along. The black and white ultrasound picture from May 1997 has become this sweet lady.

We’ve been alongside her from the beginning and plan to fly along with her for as long as needed, and, when it’s time, to let her flutter alone, but with us staying always within sight. For that is what family is, and does. It is irreplaceable and eternal; the embodiment of love.

We have not gone through this world perfectly, but nudged on by the breath of God, we have reached this day together — the beginning of many more precious moments with our Olivia girl.

Thank you, God, for her. Thank you so very much for the light she has brought to us! We can never repay you enough for your generosity in the gift we have received in the person of this precious girl.

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY sweet daughter!