Elijah Vladislav Carmichael

Tomorrow is Elijah's 9th birthday and I can't believe it! As most of you know we adopted Elijah 6 years ago from Cherkassy, Ukraine. Six years ago! He was only 2 years and 10 months old then and oh so tiny. Every year at this time I always think about our adoption experience and how God led Elijah into our lives and all of your lives too. Adoption is such a wonderful thing to experience with your family and Elijah has been such a joy in all of our lives. Around this time of year though I can't keep my mind from thinking about his biological parents, specifically his biological mother. I often wonder what she is feeling on this day. Does she think of him and wonder what he looks like, where he lives, and if he is well? Surely she does! I don't know her circumstances or her reasons why she felt she couldn't take care of Elijah when he was born, but deep inside my heart, I am thankful to her for choosing to give Elijah life rather then death and for having the courage to place him in the arms of strangers in hopes of him having a better life then what she thought she could provide for him. I am thankful to God for bringing Elijah into our lives. I don't know what the future holds regarding ever finding Elijah's biological parents or even if Elijah will ever have that desire, but tomorrow, on Elijah's birthday, I will look into his beautiful brown eyes and wonder.

Just a side note:

This year for Elijah's birthday we are taking him up to Flagstaff, Arizona to try out snow skiing. He is super excited about it. We leave next week, so I will definitely be writing about that and I will post some pictures too. Also, because his birthday fell on Super Bowl Sunday, we chose to celebrate his birthday tonight, Saturday, at Olive Garden. This is one of Elijah's favorite restaurants. After we ate he opened presents and the Olive Garden staff sang to him and we all ate birthday cake. Afterwards, we all went to Elijah's great-grandparents house to visit and play games. The pictures I posted are from tonight's festivities! It was a great night and Elijah seemed to enjoy himself.

Elijah Mama loves you so much, have a very happy birthday!