Dear Juliet,

I can’t believe that I am writing you this letter on your first birthday. I can’t believe it’s been that long. I’ve seen your little cousins learn to sit on their own, crawl, and start to walk. I’ve seen them turn 1 and can’t help but be a little jealous. I can’t help but think I should be preparing for your first birthday party right now.

But I”m not.

Instead I’m writing you a letter because it’s therapeutic to me. Because I can’t hug you or sing to you or give you a kiss This is all I have, so I’ll take it. I want you to know that although it’s been 1 year, we haven’t even begun to forget you. Your brother and sister talk about you all the time. Tate thinks it’s pretty special that we have someone in our family that’s already gotten to meet Jesus.

 and it is. You are the lucky one. You win. Throughout your short little life baby girl you have taught us so much. You have taught us to live each day to the fullest…

to celebrate each moment..

you taught us take each moment captive.

and revel in the little things.

You taught us what true beauty is.

and we learned it has nothing to do with what the world teaches us.

It is SO.MUCH.MORE.

But most importantly little lady, you taught us how to trust in God. And allowed us to see that this is not our home. You allowed us to look at the eternal.

For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come. With Jesus’ help, let us continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by proclaiming the glory of his name

Hebrews 13:14-15

and that brought us hope. Such hope.

Hope that we will see you again.

Hope that our troubles are temporary.

Hope that you are just waiting for us in the midst of our Savior.

Hope that you are no longer in pain or suffering.

 And we are SO GRATEFUL because we experienced God in ways we never have before. We experienced Him through the body of Christ that carried us when we couldn’t go on. We experienced Him through the indescribable peace He gave us through our journey. We experienced Him when he met us at our darkest moments and showed us He cared.

So baby girl, although your life was short, it taught us so much. I hope you can see that now. I can’t wait to get up there with you and see how God turned something that this world called broken and useless, and turned it into something eternal and miraculous. You are so special Jules. And although I would give anything to hold you again, I feel honored that I got to be your mom. That I got to be a part of a bigger plan. Thank you for that.

We love you, happy first birthday, Ju Ju!