My Baby is Turning FIVE!

It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant with Ariana and cuddling this sweet boy.

Then, on Easter morning, my little baby bunny was born. 

She was teeny-tiny, but oh-so-precious. I hadn't settled on her name yet, but as I held her in the special care nursery and sang her to sleep, I kept thinking of the story of Hannah from the Bible. She dedicated her son, Samuel, to God's service, actually leaving him to grow up living in the temple after he was weaned. I looked down at my precious daughter, the one I had prayed for, and I couldn't fathom giving up my child. She was MINE, right? But I did want her to be set apart for God's use, so I named her "Ariana," which is Greek for "holy." Her middle name is "Lindsie," which technically means "island of the linden trees," but I like to mash up her two names to mean "A holy island." 

This morning she will turn 5 years old, and she wants to be dedicated to God on her birthday. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. "I don't know for sure," she shrugged, "But probably an astronaut, doctor, or school bus driver." 

One thing I know for sure, whatever she ends up doing as an adult, I pray that her life will be set apart for God's use, special, and different from the chaos in the rest of this world. 

I love holding her, but I am learning that God is really the One in control of her life, and His love is so much greater than mine that she couldn't be in better hands.

She will always be my little girl, but I love that she's also a PRINCESS, by right of being a daughter of the King. Her identity should primarily be as His daughter, not mine. 

This is Ari on her first birthday. She was so chubby and sweet!

She turned TWO, and the fun continued...

She turned THREE...

And last year she turned FOUR, and our love for her grows more and more.

Tomorrow my baby turns FIVE, and I am learning to hold my little ones with open hands, trusting their lives and experiences to the Father who loves them more than I do. 

Happy birthday to my sweet, sassy, silly little princess!