To My Dear Daughter

Dear Karina,
You have been home for seven months now but it truly does feel like you have always been here. You have such a beautiful spirit and a tender heart. There are so many wonderful things about you, too many to list, but here are just a few I want to remember.
You have the sweetest giggle and the brightest smile that lights up your whole face.
You are certainly a girly girl, with overwhelming fondness for princesses, nail polish, and frankly anything that is pink or sparkles.
You have learned English so quickly and have developed such a large vocabulary, yet you still say all the cute things a toddler does when they are learning to talk, like boo-dee (birdy), have Jesus give bad guys spankings, and so many others.
You dance, skip, hop, and leap you way through each day, I think walking is just too slow paced for you!
You have such a zest for life, that I pray is contagious wherever you go.
You are so strong and determined and I am sure that these qualities are going to take you far in your life.
Your life... it sounds so strange to say.
In some ways it seems almost surreal that you are here with us. That I can hold you in my arms and hear your cute little songs that you sing all day long. Your daddy and I often talk about this journey ,and it amazes us that we are here in this moment, after all the mountains we had to climb and the deserts that we crossed just to bring you home. Even though the road was tough, we would do it all over again if we had to.
I am so grateful to play a small part in the woman that you will become some day. I know that God has so many remarkable things planned for you.
I would like to end this post with a poem for you.

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
My own.
Never forget
For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart
But in it.