she'll be how old?!?!?!

well, tomorrow our youngest 'baby' turns 3 years old... i remember when we went to haiti to meet karleigh she was only 5 months old at the time... it was my first trip there & i was a bit overwhelmed, to say the least... we arrived at the PAP airport & had to claim our luggage & then proceed outside to where barbara would be with our daughter... i was trying to help spike find all our containers, but so wanted to hurry to get outside as i was beside myself with anticipation... finally everything we'd brought with us was loaded onto the cart & we were ready to move on, but where, as we were all sandwiched in that room like sardines... we started inching our way through & on the other side of the room held high above the sea of black faces that were all around me was one of the most beautiful baby girls i'd ever seen, all dressed in pink & being held by someone with white hands (which really stood out)... i said, "spike, there she is, HURRY!" (like how was that going to happen!), but just about that time it was as if the red sea parted & everyone just moved out of the way for us & we zoomed her way... when we got over there, this little thing was placed in her daddy's arms as he prayed over her (as we've done all our children up to this point) & after he finished praying, he placed her in my arms & she sniggled down as if to say, "this' where i needed to be"... i was so in love (again) with this little one & wanted so much to protect her from everything bad in the world... our eyes locked & i was in heaven... she wasn't through the social services yet & we were only there to meet with the officials & basically beg to get out, as they'd requested we come & meet with them... i'd gone there knowing i'd have to leave her behind, but hoped it'd not be for to long... i went saying, "i'll be alright in leaving her, although it won't be easy", but at that moment i knew i couldn't leave my daughter there, but how was god going to pull this all together in just 6 days?... we had to get out of IBESR (social services), through courts, get a visa, etc. - so pray we did!... we called everyone we knew from haiti & asked them to pray that things move at lightning speed... we were to leave on saturday & wednesday night at 10pm our hotel phone rang & it was our attourney saying we'd gotten out of IBESR & he'd put us into court... thursday afternoon we were with barbara & our attourney called to say we were out of courts (only in 19 hours!)... barbara called the visa office & got an appointment for friday morning, got the visa in the afternoon & flew out of there WITH KARLEIGH on saturday morning... all i can say's GOD IS GOOD!!!... it's been fun getting to know this little person & her spark & zest for life... she's a quick whitted little girl with tons of spunk & personality... above's a picture of her this evening opening her birthday present from us (a new outfit & necklace) as she's getting pictures taken in the morning & we wanted her to be able to wear it... happy birthday karleigh, we love you!!!