Someday I believe you'll read this. You will wonder at the world and what it could have been before you. And I will tell you, there was a missing piece in it that wasn't filled until we had you. Our rainbow after the storm, our star. Evangeline, we wanted you so. We prayed for you every day while you were growing beneath my heart. Before you were born we loved you.
And then you came and joy was multiplied.
Your sister's eyes shone when they met you at first. Sarah was shy, Josie was excited. A tiny one, a dark one, so like Marie and yet entirely your own self.
And Daddy... In his strong arms, in his kind hands, Daddy held you so tightly. And I could see the love he has for you shining from him.
Over the last year you have grown! We see Marie in you, and I hope that as you age that is a comfort. Even though you never walked together in this world I think your souls must know each other. The nurse told me when you were born, while I cried with all the emotions of a mother holding her child for the first time in her arms that surely you left Heaven with a kiss from your sister on your cheek. I don't know if that is true, but I know that the heart knows what the heart knows. I hope that as you age you feel the blessing that your resembling Marie has been to us. It helps us to feel she is not so far away. Some concrete proof that she was, because you look so like her.
You are always ready with a smile, always quick to snuggle into arms. You laugh often, filled with joy daily. You love your sisters and follow them from place to place. You adore Daddy, chattering to him on the telephone. Your first words, "Daddy", "Hi, Daddy". You spend hours at the window watching the dog outside, you do not like it if he comes to close.
