the princess

i was loaned a scanner recently, and last night i was able to actually make it work. i'll be able to save and share photos that have been languishing in boxes, finally!

for those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember the story of my baby girl in "the princess and the pantheist". this is a picture of jaquan shortly after she came to live with us, at 5 months old. this picture is special to me for many reasons. first, it's the youngest photos that exist of her, except in hospital records. second, J. was blind, and rarely had her eyes open. and thirdly, what is really, REALLY special is what you don't see in this picture....on either side of the bed, crouched down out of sight, were my 2 young sons, ready to grab her if she toppled over or started to choke. that this sweet little girl had a huge army of supporters waiting in the wings to do whatever it took to make her life the best it could be is a miracle. what really took my breath away was the sacrifice my children made, without complaint, to make it possible for us to care for these special kids. there were countless little league games missed, plans changed, nights of sleep lost, and so many days where the focus was on the foster brothers and sisters....richard, josh and rachel were the real heroes in our household....they gave up so much for these little ones. i love all of you very much....your hearts are almost too big for this world!