Firsts

First time to touch the ocean.  Before  Elie came home I thought I would have already missed out on so many firsts.  The reality is experiencing firsts with a five year old is just as powerful, if not even more so, than with a small infant.  There is much that has been lost.  But every day brings new hope, new life, and new firsts.  And we get the awesome front row seat to her life.  When she first set her eyes on the sand, the water, the horizon, she was in awe.  The spirit of the ocean captured her heart, just like it has every other member of our team.  Toes in the sand.  That unsure and odd feeling of something new beneath her feet.  She locks onto the hand of her Daddy to steady her gait and to gain the confidence to approach the ocean's edge.  It is loud, it is cold, it come in and it goes out, filling the bucket again and again, jumping in the waves, letting the water wash over her body, pure joy.  So thankful we said yes.