It's the little things

It really is the little things that mean the most, don't you think?  I remember being in China last June and just studying Sunshine ... all of the little bits and pieces of her that I didn't have memorized.  I didn't realize that I had taken this for granted with the 2 older kids ... the fact that I knew every feature of their tiny little bodies almost immediately.  I remember getting both Angel and Lovebug home from the hospital and studying them, trying to find out about the new little beings that I had given life to.

It was different with Sunshine.  Although the studying and discovery process was the same, it came later.  376 days later.  A small amount of time in comparison to some of my friends' adoption stories.  But the time without her meant I had a lot of catching up to do.  There were a host of scars and marks that I didn't know anything about.  I didn't know any of her mannerisms.  All the curves of her face, the way her toes curled up, the shapes of her fingers, her eyes, her ears, her belly button, her birth mark, and her sweet un-repaired cleft lips ... all of these things needed to be studied and memorized.

10 months later, I can say I've had plenty of time to make these discoveries and memorize every teeny little part of her precious body.  I know all of her mannerisms.  I can close my eyes and imagine her waddle around the house with her fingers in her mouth.  I know how her little fingers wrap themselves around her cup.  I know the teeny curves of her belly button and sometimes think about how that part of her body was once attached to her birth mama.  I know how her tiny hands clasp together as we pray before meals.  I know how she pokes herself when I ask her where her eye is.  I watched the scar form on her lip and helped her recover from surgeries.  And I smile just thinking about her joyful little smile and how she can light up a room with it.

Today I am thankful that I get to be Sunshine's mama ... there are still lots of discoveries to be made as this precious beauty blooms into the little person God intended.  And I plan to soak in every single one.