Bronwyn turns five

So our wee girl Bronwyn is five today. I will post some pictures when I get the chance. She was very excited and had in her words, "the best birthday ever."

I can't help but take a trip down memory lane on my kid's birthdays. I am always stunned at how much they have changed and grown.

I guess the visit to the past is a bit more emotional for me when it is Bronwyn's birthday. So much of what has become 'our journey' as a family dates back to her arrival. It is hard not to be quite sentimental about it. In fact, there was a time when I didn't dare think about whether she would even make it to her fifth birthday; let alone be starting kindergarten in a normal school as a normal kid.

I can't take this kind of a trip down the roads of our past without being very aware of the hand of God in our lives. Have we struggled? Yes. Has it been hard? Yes (frankly, harder than it has looked) Has God provided? YES. Every time we have needed him, maybe not in the way we expected, maybe not when we expected, but Yes he has, and our cup has run over too.

It is hard to explain, just as it would be hard to put words to your own journey. We could swap details about our individual stories, but the real value in life and living it is in all the bits that fall between the cracks. The way your soul and heart change through trials. I guess what I can say is that I am today a richer person than I was five years ago.

God has blessed us. We are thankful. I wish in a way I could go back into the past and tell my former self that everything will be OK and that she will be a beautiful five year old one day. But then the journey wouldn't have been quite the same. So I look to the future with wonder and hope.

God bless and keep our lovely sweet girls and our best boy.