As July 8th approached I had this feeling that this day held some significance but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

And then I remembered.

July 8th. That was the approximate due date we had figured for the child we thought would be our second baby.

In December of 2010 I didn’t know how I was going to make it to July 2011 --- it seemed an eternity away.

And now here we are at the year anniversary with a baby girl that wasn’t that baby but was born almost in the month of July.

This time a year ago we anxiously awaited the arrival of little Sweet Pea.

I’ve been thinking about her birth mother a lot lately.

I don’t write much about her here on this blog because I just don’t know much about her seeing as we have never met.

I do hope that one day the circumstances are right and we are able to meet her. I would love nothing more than to sit down and have a conversation with her.

I would love for her to be able to see the sweet baby girl she carried for nine months since, according to our lawyer, she was only able to see Sweet Pea briefly after her birth because she (Sweet Pea) was so sick and needed immediate medical attention.

And I would love to tell her the story of how we were matched. She has no clue that we were waiting to be shown to her with the first lawyer she worked with and then were eventually matched with her through the second lawyer she worked with.

There are so many emotions surrounding this time last year. I look back on those days with fondness because I was in those last weeks of waiting for baby to be born and to really know if this baby was ours or not, and I lived those days and that time in such peace --- unlike the days and weeks before Little Bug’s birth.

God was in control as He had clearly shown from the very beginning of our journey to #2.

Tonight, I am just so thankful for my daughters and the two women who loved them enough to choose more for them.

- Elaine