More than I ever dreamed...

This gift is now eighteen!

I often look at her and wonder just where the time went.  Not all that long ago a sweet newborn, then a charming little girl and now a beautiful young lady.

So many ways I am blessed...

She is a wonderful friend and companion.  She listen's, hears and sometimes reads the hearts of others with an uncanny,  intuitive ear.

She is grateful in the little things as well as the big things.  Where gratitude lives, joy flows and it flows deep and wide here.

She has a beautiful spirit - filled with love and charity.  She has always been the first to respond to another's needs whether it be a kind word, a hug or a prayer.

Her love is unconditional and freely given.  Whether it be a friend,  the cashier at the grocery store or a the homeless man on the curb, she sees, she hears, she responds in love.

She is the first to say I am sorry when she has done wrong and the first to try to make a situation better - just because it is the right thing to do.   Mending wrongs and weaving forgiveness into every situation that calls for it.

This image-bearer gets it right.  Love is all that matters.

She lives in love, loves, and reflects love.

Do I grieve for who she is not in the eyes of this world?

I cannot.

Because who she is, is more than I ever dreamed.