And now...I have a SIXTEEN year old! That feels beyond impossible. I have a vague recollection, based on email history, of what I was doing this day in 2005. If you would have told me then that my daughter had just been born 5,000 miles away, I probably would have laughed in your face: "Yeah, right!". I was a new Nurse Practitioner working hard to keep myself and everyone around me alive, preparing for a missions trip to Papua New Guinea later in the Spring, probably planning where to get my Yellow fever vaccine and who was going to take care of my dog while I was gone. But in the midst of what I felt was a full & busy life, a baby girl with big round eyes and an extra chromosome was born in a public hospital in a tiny Balkin country still feeling the affects of Communism. I had the amazing privilege of meeting the nurse who helped deliver my daughter: "She cried right away! One of the MOST beautiful babies I had ever seen". Then she described the woman who labored to give my girl life; that beautiful baby came from a strong and beautiful woman.
Age sixteen is different when you have an extra chromosome and you've spent 87.5% of your life in an institutional setting. Instead of transitioning to drivers licenses and group dates and discussions of colleges, we are getting caught up on the thirteen birthdays that got missed...and in no particular order. Make-up AND coloring books. Balloons, streamers AND a cake themed after her favorite reality show. Clothes for her new baby doll AND a super fancy "going out" dress. Today we don't just celebrate the completion of her sixteenth year, we celebrate all the ages that she is growing through right now.
This girly of mine had a VERY specific cake request this year...a cake from The Voice. ?!?! Clearly beyond my Elmo & Elsa decorating skills, I was thrilled to find a local bakery that helped make my girl's dream come true.
