Birthday and Anniversary!

Today my baby girl turns 5. Hard to believe it has been nearly 4 years since we brought her home after receiving her just two days after her first birthday. In fact, on her first birthday, March 12, 2005, we were perched atop the Great Wall of China anticipating that in 2 days, we would hold our long-awaited daughter and sister in our arms for the first time. The very child we prayed for for 4 years.

At the time, I was sad that we could not be with her from birth like we were with Peter, but we are now so grateful to God that we were able to bring her home and still witness several firsts: first crawl, first walk, first sign-language ("more"). It was a bit like having an infant, but accelerated. She was physically delayed when we received her. Most 1 year olds can sit up and crawl. She could not. In fact, she did not crawl until 14 months and walked just 2 weeks later. Now I can't keep up with her!

In the fall she will start kindergarten. I know she will enjoy it. She is smart and inquisitive and will often talk my ear off with questions that she already knows the answer to. Singing in the car to her own tune and lyrics ("And they sky is blue and a red car went by, and No Trucks Allowed...") She is also learning concepts of adding and subtracting.

Yesterday, my older baby, Peter, lost another tooth. This time, he lost it at school during lunch. He bit into his sandwich and out it came (no the bread was not stale!). They sent him to the office where they gave him a little tooth-shaped container to hold his tooth and put it on a string to hang around his neck. Cute, huh? You can just see the dark space on the lower left. I would show you the other picture we took up close, but it's not for the squeamish.

We will be at Disneyland all day today. Not only are we celebrating Caroline's birthday, but we are also celebrating 15 years of marriage! Yes, that's right. Caroline was born on our 10th anniversary. Rick gave me a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet for that anniversary and that will be given to Caroline when she turns 18. I can't imagine going through the last 15 years without my wonderful husband. God has used him to show me unconditional love, acceptance, and has certainly shown me what a real man is. He has held my hand and my heart during the long and twisty road to parenthood. He has never once made me feel like less than a woman because we could not conceive children, he has staunchly defended me and our children, and has supported me through the illness and subsequent death of my mom.

Mr. and Mrs. Horvet, March 12, 1994

You know you've been married a long time when you give each other the VERY SAME anniversary card like we did this year. He bought his at Target, I bought mine at Ralphs.

I love you, Honey. Happy Anniversary. Here's to us.