Today is my daughter-in-law’s birthday! Daughter-in-law. What a cool word! (Though I prefer to drop the “in-law” part – she is a daughter-we-love.) I’m glad we get to share her with her birth family, and that she said “yes” and married our son. (Hard to believe it’s been almost ten months since their wedding day.) I can’t go back and recall her childhood, as we didn’t know her then, but I do remember the first time our son brought her to our home to officially introduce us to her. I knew in that moment (though I did not say so to Ryan at the time) that we were meeting the girl that might one day join our family as his wife. Mother’s intuition? Or perhaps God was just beginning a bond He intended to forge and keep, and was giving me a hint ahead of time.
Either way, today is a celebration of her life – and her first birthday as wife to our son. First birthday as our daughter-in-law/love. First birthday as a college graduate. First birthday in their new apartment. And probably a lot more first than I can name.
Carissa is such a perfect complement to Ryan, and we couldn’t have hand-picked a sweeter, more creative, fun, amazing, loving, godly, and beautiful girl for him if we’d tried. God chose a woman that fits right in with our family of mostly guys, and I love having a girl to talk to, who “gets it” when the guys just can’t. We also happen to share a love of chocolate…
So happy birthday, Carissa! You are such a delight and a joy to have as part of our lives. May this birthday be extra blessed!
