The Days Are Long But The Years Are Short

“The days are long but the years are short.”  Those words took on a new meaning when I moved to Haiti.  The days here can be so very long.  Tasks that would be so simple to accomplish in the States turn into major projects here.  Days here can seem so incredibly long, the needs before us seem unending, the work is never done.  Yes the days are long, yet somehow more than two and half years have gone by in an instant.  How did that happen?  Have I really lived in Haiti for that long?  Yes, those words took on a new meaning when I moved to Haiti, but then they reached a new level when two little ones moved into my home.  The days and nights stretched on even longer.  Countless hours were spent just making sure these two medically fragile babies just kept breathing and eating.  Yet somehow those long days have turned into years and today S, the baby who first entered my home as a five week old infant, turns two years old.  My goodness were some of those days SO incredibly long and challenging, yet those two years seem to have passed by in the blink of an eye.  How is that little baby now a two-year-old?

S, today as you turn two we celebrate you.  We celebrate all the hardships you’ve overcome and the amazing little girl that you are today.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  The other day we were standing in the back of church and I was flipping you upside down, a game that you love and that cracks you up.  I’d flip you, you’d laugh like crazy, and when I picked you up, you’d look at me with a mix of joy and anticipation, awaiting the next time I’d turn you upside down.  Today, I can’t help but look at you with that same mix of joy and anticipation.  I’m so joyful to be witness to all that you’ve accomplished in your two years and I’m filled with so much anticipation to see what God is going to do next in your little life.

You are doing so many fun things right now.  You are constantly babbling up a storm.  Though I don’t know exactly what you’e saying, you are always carrying on conversations.  You absolutely love the water.  You love bath time each night and have a blast whenever you can splash around in a pool.  You still love to be read to and always listen so intently to your bedtime story.  You know who your people are and are very skeptical of those you don’t know.  It always cracks us up when you glance over the top of your glasses to give someone the stink eye.  For a kid who didn’t sleep at all for the first year and half of your life, you’ve now become my champion sleeper.  Most mornings I have to wake you up for physical therapy or church.  You’re definitely not a morning person but it’s ok, neither am I.  Your giggle makes all of us smile.  You find Katie particularly hilarious and she can almost always get you to crack up.

You bring so much joy to those around you!  Happy Birthday S!  You are loved!

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