Stella Grace...Our Growing Girl!

It is hard to describe just how much love we have for this little girl!  And today our baby girl turned 1!!!

All day long, I kept thinking at different times what I was doing this time last year.  Since Stella's birth was a planned homebirth, it was a really special day.  It was an incredible day for our our family as a whole and it was filled with moments that I will always treasure. 

On July 12 last year, I found out that God made me really strong.  He made my body able to perform some really amazing things.  Things that I honestly never thought I could get through.  I also gained a new level of admiration for my husband as he literally had to be daddy, husband, nurse, everything!  I could not have made it through Stella's labor without him.  He is always my encourager.  I wasn't in a hospital with nurses and we were at home with all of our children and he was told sternly that I was not to get up unassisted for at least 24 hours.  He was wonderful!  He did everything he could have and more to make it an incredible experience. 

God gave us the sweetest gift in Stella Grace that day 1 year ago!  She is just an absolute pure joy.  My cuddly sweet Stella.  Her laugh is the cutest thing ever and she laughs all the time.  She is so smart and amazes us everyday with how she tries to talk and communicate.  She loves Emily and Timothy so much and boy is she ever a Daddy's Girl!  Just today she cried her eyes out when Derek left for work and handed her to me...the cutest thing!  I can't say enough how about what she has brought to our family.  I love thinking about who she will become and what her personality will be like later.  We are seeing little glimpses now and I feel like I just can't get enough of her.  She is a doll!

We have so many hopes for our baby girl!  We pray that her heart would turn to her Heavenly

Father at a very early age!  And that all of the ways that God has gifted her, Stella would turn back to Him for His purposes and glory.  I pray that she would be confident in who God has made her, yet extremely humble!  I pray that she would serve others joyfully and be absolutely reckless in her obedience to the Lord's plans for her.

Happy 1st Birthday to our precious little girl! Stella Grace you are such a sweet sister and daughter!  We love you immensely!

This is what we get to cherish with this munchkin on a daily basis! 

I can't even begin to imagine what the years to come with this little one will bring!:)