{Sneak Peek of L's 1-year photos by the lovely Keely}

Happy Birthday to my dear Eliana!!

It's hard to believe that L is 1-year old today!! How fast a year seems to fly by!

It feels like just yesterday I was here, meeting our daughter for the very first time:

And experiencing L meet her daddy for the first time, in person:

I can barely believe how little she was!!! And how much she slept and cuddled with me!

It has been a crazy year filled with lots of lessons, challenges, "firsts", laughter and joy.

Eliana means 'Yahweh (or My God) has answered' and I am so thankful that He entrusted her to us, to teach us that He does answer, that He is faithful and that He has much bigger and better plans than anyone of us could ever dream or imagine or put into place.

I have been blessed beyond measure to learn what it means to love, raise and parent Eliana - I get so overwhelmed with love and joy when I look into her little face (even when she is testing her strong-willed/stubborn temperment on me!!!!).

Everyday with L is filled with smiles, lots of laughter (mostly on my part - she likes to crack me up and will go to great lengths to be funny - wonder where she got that from?!?!), 1-year old slobbery smooches, funny faces and lots of learning what it's like to see life from the perspective of a child.

Happy Birthday dear daughter

- my only hope is that our next years are filled with just as much laughter, love and joy.

Great-Grandma Marilyn put it perfectly when she said that she couldn't imagine her life without Eliana in it. I think that sums it up quite nicely for your daddy and I as well :)