Dear Birth Mother~

Dear Mama Tatiana,

Today the little girl that you loved enough to carry to full term is turning six. Today she is a happy, bubbly little girl. Today she is wondering where you are and what you are doing. Today she asks the more difficult questions.

Questions like why don't I live with my birth mommy? Can I ever go see her? Do you think I look like her or like my birth daddy?

Thankfully, we can answer those questions. Thankfully, we have some pictures of you and her birth daddy hanging on her bedroom wall and she sees you all the time. We can go to several pictures of you from when you were her age or near it, and can show her that, yes, she does look just like you.

Today. Today, because you loved her enough to let her go, she is our daughter. And how blessed we are to be able to call her our daughter.

And today you may be wondering how she is doing with her family in America. Though I know that you will likely never read this, I'm going to show you how she's doing through pictures. A little over three years ago we met our little girl for the first time. She was dressed in a little blue dress with purple tights. We loved her at first sight. We knew that God had allowed her to be in that baby home simply because He knew that someday a family in America would be longing for a little girl just like her. She was adorable. See?

Though she was sad and didn't know what to think of us, we had confidence that someday (hopefully soon) she would come out of her little hard shell and would learn to love us as much as we already loved her.

Four months later, we became her legal parents. Those first few weeks were a little difficult, but over the span of quite a few months she did grow to love us, and gradually she got a little sparkle in her eyes that hasn't left since.

She was three when she joined our little family. We missed her first three birthdays, but she's now been in our family for her next three. When she turned four, she didn't even really know what a birthday even was. She didn't know what it meant to be one year older.

Till she turned five, she understood a little more. She knew that a birthday meant that she would likely be getting gifts, though she didn't really have any preference on what she received.

This year? She's been counting down the days til she turned six. Finally the day has arrived.

The little girl that you gave up so we could be blessed is a joy to have around. She giggles uncontrollably.

She loves to love on babies.

She loves to play with her little brothers.

She loves to run around outside like a little wild woman.

She loves to hug.

She loves her animals.....kitties, puppies, horse, sheep.

She loves to be a little girl.

She loves life.

She can't wait til the flowers are blooming this spring. She can't wait to run around outside with no shoes on, though I will kind of miss her wearing her mis-matched tights every day. You see, she dresses herself on a daily basis and her sense of matching and mine don't quite add up. I'm trying to let her be herself, cause it really doesn't matter anyway, and some days all I can do is laugh....which she delights in. I have to wonder if her care-free personality is a gift from you or from her birth dad, Alexandar.

Care free would kind of be an understatement. She leaves her clothes where-ever they land every night when she readies for a shower, and I have to remind her every night to pick them up. She leaves her shoes lying all over the house. If her coat gets hung up in a timely manner, it's amazing. Her bedroom would look like a hurricane went through if she had her way, but she has to clean it up every evening.

While she is carefree in that area, she is actually a real worry-wart. She worries about all kinds of things that I'm sure I never even considered when I was her age.

Really. She is an absolute joy to have in our lives. I can only imagine how much you must miss her. I can only imagine how sad you are today as you remember giving birth to her six years ago. My heart aches for you.

But please know that we love her. We love having her for our daughter. We love every little thing about her.

I know she'd want me to tell you that she's starting to read now. She's so excited!!! She is beginning to love school.

In loving our daughter, we also can't help but love you. You are a part of our little girl. We think about you often and pray for you frequently. We pray that if you don't already know Jesus you will somehow, someway learn to know Him. We pray that you are blessed over there on the other side of the world. And we pray that you know without a doubt that we love your little Zhanna and will love her for the rest of her life.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to love on your/our little girl.

We love you~