To my daughter

Dear Grace,
    It has been six months since we learned about you. It seems like you have been part of our lives forever, but in truth, it has only been half a year since we knew of your existence. But in that time, you have become far more than just a name and a picture to us, you have become part of our family.

    We were so excited to finally tell our agency yes, that we wanted a child who was waiting for a family. We were so nervous as we waited the anxious month before we were told that yes, you would become ours. We were so ready to begin the journey towards getting you home.

     You have brought so much joy to our family, even though your dad and I are the only ones who have had the pleasure to meet you. You were loved from the moment that they saw your picture, and heard that you would one day be coming home to us as our daughter.

      October was a month of joy, as we learned that far away in Ghana, you legally became ours. You were officially no longer without parents, and we rejoiced so greatly on that day. November and December were a whirlwind. We loved getting to spend those four short days with you, though you likely have forgotten by now, we haven't. As you grow older, you may not ever remember that time, but we look forward to showing you pictures, and sharing with you how much it meant to us.

     I don't know how much they told you in the orphanage during this time, and I don't think you will ever be able to tell us. But in December, we thought you would get to come home really quick, and we were so ready for that. Nothing would have made us happier than to welcome you home in January, show you your room, your clothes and your toys.

    Grace, there is so much in your life that I will never be able to explain. I don't know why your biological mother felt that she couldn't care for you. I don't know why you were in this orphanage for eight months before your name even came up on a list to be able to be adopted. I don't know why it appears, that for now, God's plan for you is to stay there a little longer.

    But, there are many things that I do know. I know that God has a plan for your life, and he has had a plan for it since the day you were born. I know his plans are good, and that in the midst of all those things that I don't know, it was all part of the path for you to become part of our family. I know that though we may have missed your first steps, and your first words, we will be there for you on your first day of school. I know that while we couldn't read to you the first year of your life, we will be there with you as you learn to read. For every moment, every second that we are missing now, in the first few years of your life, we will make up for it by being there for you for more than ten times that long as you grow up.

     While I wish desperately that you were here, now, or that we had news that meant that it was just a week or two away, I know that most of us don't remember anything under the age of three. So we will remember this wait, and these months, but I hope that as you grow up, it will seem to you like you have always been with us. 

      I pray for you daily. I pray that you are loved while you are there. That you are cared for, and well fed, and healthy. I pray that all of the paperwork which keeps you from us gets finished quickly, and that God's will and timing will ultimately determine when you come home.

  Know that long before you felt like I was your mom, I was. And as your mom, I love you and miss you, and can't wait to see you again.

                                                                                                     - Mom