Eight years ago today, a woman who had four older children that were all being raised by other mothers, showed up at a hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, in labor.  I do not know her pregnancy story or her delivery story or what led to her being transferred to a psychiatric hospital for two weeks following delivery, or why she never came back to see the baby she delivered.  What I do know, is that in a nation where the abortion rate is nearly triple the birthrate, she chose life for a baby girl who would eventually find her way into my heart.  She gave my daughter life.

My own eighth birthday was one of my favorite.  My Mom bought me the 2-piece bathing suit I’d been eying at the local department store (Godchaux) and my grandmother bought me the biggest frilliest blue dress I’d ever seen and put my hair up in Princess Leia buns.  Lots of cousins and friends and aunts and uncles were there to celebrate me.  I clearly remember feeling special and loved.

Today, my goal is to give Sofija that same assurance.  I want the little girl who does not have a clear story of the beginning of her life to have a clear knowledge that she is a gift from God.  I want her to know that she is incredibly, unconditionally, loved.  I’m making her the chocolate cupcakes and macaroni and cheese she requested and I’ll gladly buy her a big bag of funny-ons (Funyons).

I wish I could thank the lady who gave her life.  I wish I could tell her that no matter how hard it was to carry Sofija in her womb and deliver her into this world, she did the right thing.  She did a good thing.

In honor of Sofija’s eight years of life, I ask that you take a few moments and read THIS POST by fellow special needs adoptive blog Mommy Adeye.  James 1:27 NLT Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means CARING FOR ORPHANS and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (emphasis mine)

Sofija still wears the scars of being left in her own waste.   Her voice closely resembles someone who smokes a carton of cigarettes a day presumably because of the countless hours she cried as a baby with nobody to respond to her cries.  She carries the emotional wounds and subsequent behaviors of a child who lacked nurturing in the crucial early years of her life.  And yet…. she is a gift.  She has blessed our family and everyone who has the privilege of knowing her.  I believe that she has an amazing life ahead of her.

Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him. 

Thank you, Sofija’s birth Mom, for giving our daughter the gift of life.  Happy 8th Birthday, Baby Girl!  It’s an honor to have you call me, “Mama”.  I pray that today you feel special.  That you feel celebrated.  That you know without a doubt, that you are incredibly LOVED.