Happy birthday Gianna Lilyfaith. 8 years ago, your birth family made an incredible sacrifice and chose Hope for you and your broken heart. They selflessly chose life for you.
And, My mama heart breaks with your birth mama’s heart in a way I never understood before. The magnitude of shared pain is tremendous and heavy and without translation. We both lost the same precious baby on earth 😢.
My hope and prayer is to meet your birth family one day and see your eyes on these precious people and look into those beautiful eyes and tell them how amazing their daughter is, and tell them all about the lives you’ve changed on earth and continue to change forever straight into eternity.
Today we celebrate you. You are 8 but you’re forever 6 in our hearts💔. It devastates me to not get to talk to you and be able to shop for you and help you plan your special birthday date and decorations. I can only imagine your heavenly celebration 🦋🌈. I miss you.
The hole you left is continually screaming of your void. I miss our conversations about traveling, China, chickens, babies, candy, gardens, and bunnies and socks, unicorns, lemons and rainbows, hearts, God, medicines and lovies. I miss our naps together and making eggs for you in the morning. I miss teaching you to read. I miss our baby chick play-date picnics and the way you sang to your baby goat. I miss our nature walks and finding wildflowers and turtles together with your siblings in the woods. I miss the songs you sang to me on your Nicaragua Ukulele. I miss your wrestling matches with daddy. I miss your fingers squeezing my neck. I miss your giggles with your siblings. I miss all the future we won’t get together. Every day is a new slaying loss. But, these collateral losses don’t compare to the multiplied gifts that continue to grow and pour out from your miraculous light and life and memories. Sorrow and Joy.
Your last birthday on earth was spent in one of our most beloved places, our beautiful Nicaragua. I will treasure these photos forever. Our time there together as a family was beyond anointed, and felt like a supernatural slice of heaven.
We had no idea we’d only get a couple more months with you on earth💔😢. I’m so thankful we have that sacred time imprinted on our hearts and souls forever, as a deposit and glimpse of the beauty that is awaiting us when we’re all reunited in heaven. We cling to those memories, like we cling to our Hope.
We cling to hope while we are being separated from all your goodness. Celebrating your 8th birthday without you here to sing and squeeze is incredibly hard. And, Living without you on earth is a new facet of pain with every new sunrise. Watching your siblings ache for you re-breaks my mama heart every single day. But, being your forever family is the greatest gift We’ve ever known and fills my mama heart every day. I wouldn’t trade an ounce of the pain We feel now on earth, if We had to give back even one ounce of the glorious joy We’ve known and will know forever by being yours. Loving you and being loved by you and Being your mama is my greatest miracle and greatest honor.
I don’t care what anyone thinks is Normal or not normal, because this mama will absolutely deeply grieve her baby girl as long as I walk this earth, until the day I am squishing and kissing you on the shores of eternity. Jesus understands this. He knows and He carries us and sustains us.
And, Until that glorious moment of our reuinion, I will live like you’ve taught us, bravely and with great HOPE and with an eternal lens always fighting for life and light out in the deep where life truly matters, for the things that matter for eternity. You showed us how God can use the most broken of hearts to be poured out into more hope and life. He brings great beauty from the most broken.
Today we will get to experience a tangible bloom from the seed of your beautiful and powerful legacy when we notify the 5 adopting families who will get a grant in honor of your sparkling life through the Live Gia Grow Forever Foundation. Your light helping to bring more babies home and more hope to those who need hope. Your legacy growing more hope and love. Your miracles continue on forever, sweet girl. You are bigger than life!!! oh how you must be cheering and squealing!
Happy birthday my beautiful GiaBia. Please Pick lots of heavenly wildflowers for mama and send us lots of love notes. We are sending up so many kisses to the heavens for you and kissing all your animals for you.
Dear Jesus, thank you for conquering death and making a way for Us to live with a sure Hope. Thank you that Gia is not dead. She lives. She is alive more than ever, and we are promised eternity with her.
For now, we will wait in great faith, deep sorrow and deeper joy and with great purpose and even greater anticipation for what’s ahead because we know the story is not done! Please keep showing your glory and giving us strength and peace in our weakness and ache!
“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all.
Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
