Dearest Julia Grace,
You're two years old! Two!!
Lately, people, including your daddy and me, keep saying how big you're
getting, but I know in no time at all, we're going to look back on this
time and reminisce about how little you were.
Whenever
you reach a milestone like a birthday, or you gain a new skill, or you
outgrow a babyish trait, or sometimes for no reason other than your
smile or laugh or hug or words, I pause and ponder. And I feel I kinship
with our Blessed Mother. "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on
them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).
Your daddy and I
love being your parents so much. Nothing brings us more joy than being
with you, Julia. We love your sweet nature, how you care about the
people around you, and how, already, you want everyone to be included,
happy, loved. How quick you are to show affection and share words of
love and encouragement. We delight in your creativity and imagination,
already the ways you concoct magical worlds and can make any inanimate
object come to life with speech and feelings. We marvel at the mind God
has blessed you with, how much you love to learn and how quickly you
gain new words, skills, concepts. How easily you remember and
effortlessly you memorize. We laugh along with you and your silliness
and your brilliant sense of humor, already crafting riddles and cracking
jokes. We are so proud to see how much you already love God, how
thirsty you are to learn more about Him, how His goodness already shines
forth so brightly from your beautiful soul. We love your sparkle, your
zest for life, your enthusiasm. When you wake up in the morning, you're
so excited to read books, go outside, play toys, dance that you
literally bounce up and down, glowing with joy. What a gift! You are so
beautiful, Julia, inside and out.
It's hard for me
to believe, sometimes, how big you've gotten. How your chubby little
hands and feet aren't chubby anymore. How tall you are. How long your
wispy hair has gotten. How strong and capable you are. How we can hold a
conversation. How you understand so much of the world around you. It
seems like just yesterday that you were learning to walk, delighting us
with your one-word phrases, chewing on the corners of board books. And,
that, just the day before, you were curled up in a little ball in my
arms, eyes closed, a little smile at your lips, smelling sweet like
milk, feeling as soft as satin.
The past year has held
so many milestones for you. You learned to walk well, run, jump, climb
up and down stairs, throw a ball, color and paint more skillfully, feed
yourself well. You gained so many vocabulary words, grammar skills,
negotiating techniques, dance skills. You learned so many new stories,
songs, prayers, and how to play pretend. You started potty training. You
became a cousin. You started and ended the year as a toddler, but
somehow transformed from baby to girl.
Julia, you are a
gift from God to Daddy and me, and to all who know you and love you. We
are in awe of the great blessing and responsibility we have been
entrusted with by being your parents. We pray daily that you will grow
in grace and virtue, and that you will always know, love, and serve God,
and that you will always know, with deep, serene confidence, that you
are so very loved by us and by God. And we know God has marvelous plans
for you, Julia Grace!
"For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD,
plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of
hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)
Always
know that God holds you in the palm of His hand, and we hold you
forever in our hearts, dearest Julia. We love you so much! Happy second birthday, Julia!
Love always,
Mommy
How sweet!
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