Blessed...

I am blessed.

Blessed to have a wonderful husband.

A beautiful, lovingly quiet daughter.

And a family that even at their worst moments, that I couldn't imagine being any different and any more loving then they are.They have a special love, a love that others may not see, but I know it's there. A love that shines is more challenging moments.

I sat here thinking tonight about how so many take for granted what they can not truly see in others. The parts of those others that they always expect to be there.

I was thinking about all the precious moments that I have with Evalyn that Caleb may never see or may have never had to this point. I have a memory of us sitting in our hand-me-down Lazy Boy- that has many years before us on it, but it is still just as comfortable- and I was reading a book my grandmother got for Evalyn on their trip to Kauai last year for the Kaohi family reunion called Popoki, it's a beautiful story- and just a few pages short of the end of the book, I looked down to see Evalyn fast asleep. A first and a last since then, and it still makes me so proud to be her mother. 

She is such a tame child. So curious is every aspect. She wants to know everything. She is slowly learning to talk, but has just about mastered walking. I talk to family who haven't seen her in a while and they can't believe how much she has grown.

I am so bewildered that this time last year I was, unknowingly, two weeks away from giving birth to this beautiful being. It is amazing how time has flown. I think this time last year I was sitting on the floor wasting time waiting for Caleb to get off work, while I meticulously tried to spend my hours perfecting a chipboard baby book that my mother and I had picked up from a little shop in Little Nashville. Which I covered in pink paper and prepared for this little ones arrival. 

Some days I think that she knows just how special she is. And she looks up to the skies, and thanks God and the angels for sending her here.
While I do just the same.


In the Shutterfly book I made her, the last words say "This is just the beginning."

I do believe it is just the beginning of a beautiful story that she has to tell us.

october sky.

It finally comes down to those last three months. October, November, and December.
It also happens to be another time of the year that I love.

My baby is turning ONE!
I can't wait! We are having a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Party and it's going to be fun! I finished the invitations Tuesday night and now I have to mail them out.
And yesterday, as we bid farewell to September...we took these...

It was heavenly. Yesterday was so beautiful, and I sat today and watched at several multi-colored leave fall to the ground. This is just about my favorite time of year, and now that I have a daughter, it makes it that much better.
There are some days when I think about certain words: daughter, mother, husband, family. And I imagine what they mean to me.
My daughter, wow. She is mine. I love her more and more everyday and I see how much she and I have grown together. I have grown a lot in meeting this part of me that now exists. She is mine, and I won't let that go. I remember when I was pregnant with her and I would write her letters telling her how old she was then, how beautiful she was, that she was going to grow big and strong like her daddy and mommy, and letting her know how much she was loved. I guess all of this kind of ties in with the word "mother", but that word also never ceases to amaze me. I have caught myself looking in the mirror and telling myself that I am a mother, and it still shocking me to this very day. But it's all I've wanted to be and more. It's shown me to love so much.
And then there's "husband". Boy, is he handsome. I love him. And he knows it. That's another word that never ceases to amaze me. Our wedding day was beautiful. I was 7 months along with Evalyn, and it was an amazing time for me.

I love my family! Love is a strong word and we are a strong family.