A Decade of a REALLY great thing!

There's a lot of really GREAT things that have happened since May 2000. Like, it was a leap year that started on a Saturday-- the FIRST leap year of a century since 1600. It was the International Year for the Culture of Peace. If you were there, you remember staying glued to your TV, waiting to see if the world ended and massive blackouts occurred as the Y2K scare had the world in its throes. Vladimir Putin was elected. George W. Bush was elected president of the US. Sony launched the Playstation 2.

In May itself, the BILLIONTH person living in India was born. In fact, there was a HUGE surplus of people giving birth in 2000, all trying to deliver a Millennium baby.

Yes. Many GREAT things happened. Many babies were born.

But, to me, ONE great thing happened above the others. One baby was born that is a bit closer to my heart.

Grace, aptly named, was born on this day, ten years ago.

Grace is the youngest of my imports. She's got a bit of baby mixed with a bit of big sister.. a WONDERFUL combination in any child. Grace is just that-- full of grace. She's smiling ALL. THE. TIME. She's bubbly and happy. Her mother has other children younger than her, but as Will's youngest birth child, she's got her Daddy wrapped around her finger, and doesn't like to be without him by her side.

Grace, adorably, has a little "brooklyn" girl accent. Well, more like a Bwooklyn Gull accent. I remember when I first met her, and we talked for a bit. She said, in her little way, " I like that you can understand me." When I asked her why that seemed like such a big deal, she replied that most people make fun of her accent. It was such a darling little thing to say, since then I have always made sure not to make fun of the way she says things. It's her thing. Her magic.

She doesn't say much about anything. She's more quiet than LL, and even though they're only nearly EXACTLY a year apart, they're VERY different little gulls. ;) She tries too hard to be her big sister's twin, and my heart aches a little every time. Not because Em is a bad kid, but because my little Grace is still only 10 and I don't want her to grow up too fast. And then, in the same breath, she and LL play together sometimes REALLY well, and I remember that she's so much younger than sometimes my expectations tend to make of her.

Grace is tender. She rarely says a mean word. She's careful with her siblings, she's a SUPER big sister. In spite of a million changes in her life in the past few years, both at her father's house and at her mother's house, she seems to come across as a pleasant and optimistic beauty.

Grace is simply the embodiment of Love. It is easy for her to love, and it is easy to love her!

Happy 10th Birthday, my Grace!