Brooklyn Rene + Eliana Grace,
1,095 days have gone since I first met you on that hot summer day in Portland, July 25th, 2015.
3 years since you made me a mama and I can’t stop looking back to that sacred birth day.
July 25th, so many prayers answered, dreams fulfilled, and waiting complete.
6 years of waiting for your birth. 6 years of longing to hold you close and have you in our family.
Today we celebrate your Birthday. We celebrate your miraculous life. Your Birthday is redemption day, God redeeming those years of pain, hurt, and the those tears I cried waiting to be your mom.
We celebrate your Birthday with Minnie Mouse cakes, bubbles, and balloons because your little lives are worthy of celebrating.
We raise a banner to God today and say Thank you.
Brooklyn Rene, you sweet girl bring joy, humor, and sweetness to our home. You love to nurture babies, real ones and play ones. You are compassionate, always heartbroken over anyone’s tears and pain. You love wearing your floppy hats, enjoy reading and play dough, counting and coloring. Anything that is messy, you find a way to make more messy. 🙂 You love being with your mama and snuggling.
My prayer for you Brooklyn is that you walk in confidence and courage. I believe you will be a beacon of hope to others in their life. I believe you will bring life, joy and hope to the people around you.
Eliana Grace, my loving, joy-filled, independent babe. You my girl love order and structure and Minnie Mouse. You are love dresses, being outside, and your pets. You will spend hours whispering to Minnie Mouse and cooking in your kitchen. You love to take care of yourself with great pride and also make sure I am on top of my Mom game by letting me know what I didn’t do right. Ellie, you love big hugs and back rubs and holding hands. Your gentle rubs on my back always fills my heart with love.
My prayer for you Eliana is that you walk in your deep convictions with joy and honor. You are a defender and stand in truth. I believe you will bring deep love and joy to other’s around you and you will use that strength and determination to be a voice to those who’ve lost theirs in this world.
Sweet girls, I pray together your twin sisterhood builds a depth of friendship that only you two will understand. Stand beside one another always, cherishing the gift of being a twin sister. Tell secrets, have dance parties, tea parties, and sleepovers. Enjoy life with the only person that has ever known you from the moment you were together in my womb. Cherish this gift, what you have is unique. I pray you treasure and appreciate the friend and safety you have in your sister.
When people being pointing out your differences as twin sisters, don’t compare. Celebrate. Celebrate your uniqueness. Celebrate the God who knitted you together, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Celebrate with gratitude your twin sisters’ gifts that are different than yours.
Use your strength in numbers to be a voice for the voiceless, to love courageously, to stand up in bravery, to be a light, and a beacon of hope to the people around you.
Brooklyn and Eliana, you’ve taught me what childlike faith looks like. You show me daily how to see the joy in the mundane. You have deepened my sense of gratitude, showing me how to slow down and inhale this beautiful world around us. Not the grand beauty of sunsets and mountains, but the subtle beauty that is often missed in the hustling around in life.
In 3 years you have changed me a woman and a mother. I celebrate you today. I praise Jesus always. He is the reason I get the opportunity to be your mama.
My prayer for you always is to see your life on this earth as a gift. We fought hard to get to your birth day. We emptied our savings, poured our hearts out in tears, and surrounded ourselves with friends and family who fought in prayer beside us to get to your arrival on July 25th, 2015.
The day my life forever changed.
Walk in gratitude and courage,
dare to hope in all situations,
I love you. Always and forever,
Your Mama
Looking Back at Two
3 Year Old Photos
3rd Birthday Party