Birthdays

The birthday season has begun here at the Hamstra household.  Jack’s was Tuesday, mine is today and soon it will be RJ, Laila and Jackson’s.  We have SO much to be thankful for.  God is leading our family in ways I never thought possible.  We are SO blessed by these three amazing kids that grow us and teach us every day.  Our whole family is thriving and I’m very, very thankful.

But, dang it.  I miss one little girl so badly today that I just can’t help but sit here and cry.  I want the squealing giggle telling me happy birthday.  And the funny thing is that our birthdays have been, by human standards, kinda yucky the past several years.  We were usually sitting in the hospital with Laila.  This was always a rough time of year for her.  I found myself being so resentful over that these past few years as Jack and I would tell each other happy birthday while eating take-out Qdoba sitting around a hospital bed.

What I wouldn’t give to be sitting in a hospital today.

Even if your circumstances seem so hard for you today can I just challenge you to look at them differently.  The adoption retreat I went to had a theme of perspective.  “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”  I wish I could’ve got something like that through my head back then.  Being thankful that even though we were sitting in a hospital with our daughter on our birthdays, at least we still had that daughter.

I could use your prayers today.  And I hope you hug your babies tight and find joy today.

This picture was two years ago today.  #1 my hubby is so handsome!  #2 He is my rock, smiling even through sitting in isolation in the ICU to surprise me for my birthday that day.