Snapshots

I have this box of pictures. They are all from my childhood, some are things I actually seem to remember but many are just posed shots of me with the Christmas tree or a cat or my birthday cake. Being an only child was not all bad. I guess we are never totally happy with our station in life. But, I do at least have pictures. My precious additions don't have the luxury of looking at themselves in stages. Sweet little CJ asked me this morning "Mommy, what did I look like when I was a baby?". I told her she was beautiful just like she is now. I have never seen a picture of her any younger than three. I met her for the first time then. She was chubby and rosy cheeked with pitifully short bangs but she was beautiful. It pains me to tell her I don't know what she looked like. There are lots of pictures now! Starting just after Christmas in 2006 before her January birthday, and several pictures of her at her "Strawberry Shortcake" birthday party we threw when she was four days ours.
I found a picture of myself when I was about eight. Something about it was so familiar besides the fact that I've been staring at that face for fifty years. It was something about the eyes. I took other pictures turned over and framed the eyes by themselves...it looked exactly like Elle(Ariel). I took the picture still covered except the eyes and showed it to everyone in the house...told them to see if they could guess who it was...everyone guessed Elle. Could it be that my adopted daughter has my eyes? Who but God could do that. She honestly looks like her birth mother with the exception of her coloring. Otherwise she looks a lot like me. I have been challenged several times on that one by people thinking she was my biological child. We have had no pictures of her prior to age five. I received a call from my dear friend Leann tonight to tell me she had gotten her hands on some pictures of Elle as a toddler. (Leann is the adoptive mother of my girls' sister. She got a chance to visit their dying grandmother this week, talk about a committment to that child's happiness...I nominate Les and Leann parents of the year! They flew with her to Nevada to visit with this lady for a few hours.) I can't wait to see my little blonde as a mischievious baby. I know she will cherish the pictures too.
I have hanging in my dining room some beautiful pictures of the three girls I took at the beach this past summer. I am committed to them having pictures of themselves as children, happy, loved, dressed up and playing. They deserve that. Micah read a story about a young woman who carried a picture of a red haired child in her purse. She grew up in the foster system and had nothing of her childhood. She made the statement if anyone had cared to take her picture this was what she thought she looked like. My heart broke when I thought of all the silly pictures I have of my original four babies and how I would be devastated to lose them. They are the story of each one's childhood, and the fun they shared.
I haven't had my camera out often enough lately. I've blamed the dead battery. I have to do better as the Christmas season rolls in. I want my little girls to know they were cherished and loved as children and someday have a box of pictures they can pull out. I hope they laugh together about how Mom was the paparazzi at all their events and holidays, preformances and parties. I hope they know they were beautiful.