Dear Rebecca,
This is all I really know about you. Just your name. Well that, and a few odds and ends from the stack of paperwork we received at the end of our adoption process. I don’t know what you look like, and I would not recognize the sound of your voice, but you and I are connected in a unique and special way. I don’t know these things about you, but I do know that your daughter has the most beautiful smile. And I suspect that she inherited that, and many of the other traits we are blessed with each day, from you!
You are my hero!! I can’t begin to imagine what life was like for you when Christabel was born. I can imagine the fear you had for her future. But, it is so apparent in the way she smiles & the way she loves, in her determination & her fighting spirit, that you loved her & taught her to love, that you were a fighter & that shaped her into the spirited little girl that she is!
As I watch all the miracles that are happening in her life...and come closer to the day that she will stand and walk...I think of you. It breaks my heart that to become my daughter she had to lose you.
If I could sit down with you and talk about our amazing daughter, I would tell you that her favorite color is orange. I think her favorite food will always be rice. [the spicier the better]. If there is music playing, she is dancing [and if there is not music playing she is singing the song that is in her heart]. She is so determined. She will do ANYTHING she puts her mind too!! She absolutely adores her big sisters! She has an impressive amount of sass & witt for someone so small. She LOVES to help...no matter what I am doing she wants to do it too. She is so inquisitive & so intelligent, the things that she knows increases exponentially every day! She talks about going to school EVERY day...and in September she will enter 1st grade! She LOVES to snuggle in the mornings. She is loved by so many & it is clear that she was loved by you!
If I could sit down with you and talk about our amazing daughter, I would tell you that her favorite color is orange. I think her favorite food will always be rice. [the spicier the better]. If there is music playing, she is dancing [and if there is not music playing she is singing the song that is in her heart]. She is so determined. She will do ANYTHING she puts her mind too!! She absolutely adores her big sisters! She has an impressive amount of sass & witt for someone so small. She LOVES to help...no matter what I am doing she wants to do it too. She is so inquisitive & so intelligent, the things that she knows increases exponentially every day! She talks about going to school EVERY day...and in September she will enter 1st grade! She LOVES to snuggle in the mornings. She is loved by so many & it is clear that she was loved by you!
I want you to know that she is safe, healthy and happy. She is getting the treatment that she needs for her back & her feet and soon she will be walking and running just like other children. I know that when you were carrying her before she was born you did not ever imagine what was to come and that death would take you from her when she was only 4. I hope I am able to honor your memory & someday, when she asks about you, even though I don’t have a lot of information to give, I can tell her how much you loved her.
You and I will always be connected. There is not one milestone that will come and go without me thinking of you. As she grows I will imagine you in her smile, and her sass, in her beauty and her grace.
You and I will always be connected. There is not one milestone that will come and go without me thinking of you. As she grows I will imagine you in her smile, and her sass, in her beauty and her grace.
Until we meet in heaven I will love her for the both of us!!
Beautifully put Shannon. Like I've told you repeatedly, Christabel has been blessed by you becoming her mother!! I love you and I already love Christabel, although we've yet to meet.
ReplyDeleteKeep smiling Christabel, keep that song in your heart and that smile on your face. xoxo
Susan Nienhuis