a place for you

dear one:

i celebrated my birthday with your daddy yesterday, and we did the things we would do if you were with us:

we went to the discovery science museum

we went to the zoo

and we spent extra time outside playing with gnarls barkley

except, you weren't with us, and it just seemed somber.

my sweet girl, what have your birthdays been like?

were you served breakfast in bed? 

were there balloons? a cake? did you get to choose what was served for dinner?

did anyone take your face into their hands, look you in the eyes, tell you they were so blessed God created you?

did they speak truth over you, whispering your identity into your ears as you laid your head down:

you are created perfectly in His image (gensis 1:27)

He holds all your tears in a bottle and lists your sorrows (psalm 56:8) 

nothing can remove your name from His book of life (revelation 3:5)

even in the depths, He is there with you (psalm 139:8)

you are the apple of His eye (zechariah 2:8) 

and this: 

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be. --psalm 139:13-16

you now know we are coming for you, you know what we look like, and you’ve read our words to you, how we love you, and are preparing a place for you. 

i pray you don’t lose hope, i pray you know it’s not us taking so long to come-we would swim the ocean right now to get to you; i pray you understand i love your foster family deeply and am forever indebted to them for caring for you these years.

we'll set a place for you at thanksgiving, at christmas, and we'll gather with those that love you on your birthday, and i pray as your next birthday approaches on january 18th, that it will be a joyful one, because you know we are not far away.