Two Years Ago

Yesterday we celebrated the second year of Madeline's life. She and I began the day with "special breakfast" as she calls it and then went to get portraits taken of her beautiful face. I bribed her to smile for the pictures by offering her a fabulously large cookie at Nordstrom. I just stared at her as she chomped on her cookie and drank her milk, remembering how tiny she was and how much she has grown. And even more than that, how quickly the time keeps passing us by. We celebrated her life with a pasta dinner and a peanut butter and chocolate birthday cake - she loved it! Poor Nathan had to go to work last night, but Maddie and I made the best of it. We just played outside together, taking bark off the tree and throwing a ball back and forth. Her blonde hair almost looked like a shining white as the sun surrounded her little silhouette. I remember thinking as we played that these are the moments to invest my time in - not washing dishes, folding clothes, making calls, dusting, etc. etc. Those things will eventually get done, but my daughter longs for special time - carefree time - with me, without the chores and cares of life interrupting our bonding time. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me of such a simple concept, simple but easy to forget in all that MUST be done! Well, I am now off to the library for story time - Maddie loves her books!