Forever Family Day!

My nearly 7 year old darling!

Six years ago today, Julia became my daughter. How can that be? How did the time go so fast? Most parents, I'm sure, struggle with this time thing - there are stages and times that we want to pass quickly, but now in hindsight, even those moments are very precious.

There have been lots of moments, stages and events in these past six years, but those first few moments with Julia are forever etched in my mind, and thankfully, watching the video of the event over the years has created a "memory" for Julia of the day we became a family.

On that adoption day, I remember feeling some panic because the baby Chun Ping that the nanny was bringing me didn't look like the baby in the referral picture that I now knew as my Julia. This baby before me had lots of black hair and was so long and lanky -- nope, not my baby. Then she took a look at me and let out this cat-like cry and followed it up with a little biting of her lip - and then I knew she was my baby. My favourite referral picture is the head shot adoptive parents get, and it showed a 6 month Julia with a furrowed brow biting her lip. That's the image I had carried in my heart and head for nearly 8 weeks since referral day. But then, in the moment of meeting Julia for the first time a new picture made its way into my heart, only to be followed by so many more over the years.

Julia has been interested in her baby stories as she calls them, and for the last couple of weeks we have been watching her baby movies. I often steal a glance of my big girl watching this little baby on the tv -- she watches with such intensity and wonder. I love hearing her laugh at her babyself and comment on her achieving the milestone moments of babyhood. I can't wait to watch the first family day video tonight and the ones of us celebrating the anniversary since then.

Last year for our family day, we were fortunate enough to be in Disney World with the Thompson family with whom we travelled. Julia and Cassidy - pretty in pink - celebrated our family day in the Animal Kingdom. I interviewed the girls about the significance of the day - Cassidy told me that the day was special because "that's they day our moms adopted us", and when asked and prompted a wee bit, Julia told me that they were from China, from "Ding Dong" - her version of Dingyuan!

These past six years have been a whirlwind of adventures, milestones, tender moments, trying times and many blessings. I'm forever grateful to my friend Helen who offhandedly planted the seed in my mind of going to China to adopt a baby. I think of the mustard seed parable as an allegory for the journey Julia and I have been on to become a family. The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant, greater than all other plants and becomes shelter for the birds of the sky. I think that story says it all.

It all comes together - most days - as it should. I thank God for bringing Julia and me together as a family and for the great blessing of being a mother to this dynamic and inspiring child.