Happy Heavenly 2nd Birthday Ella!

Dear Ella,

Happy 2nd Heavenly Birthday, Sweet Girl.

Mommy and Daddy have been looking forward to today for a long time.

Not because today is easy.

It isn’t.

We would give anything to celebrate your birthday with you here in our arms.

To watch you blow out your candles.

To hear you laugh.

To watch you run through the house with Bugsy and Hercules chasing after you.

But that wasn’t God’s plan.

Even though you’re not physically here with us, you have never stopped being our daughter.

You are still one of the most important parts of this family.

You changed us forever.

You changed the entire dynamic of our family.

You brought people together who may never have been connected otherwise.

The Patricks.

The Bullards.

The Kelsos.

The Wileys.

Because of you, our family became something new.

I think even your fur brothers, Bugsy and Hercules, know today is your day.

Hercules knew you were there before anyone else did—even before Mommy and Daddy knew you were there.

And today, they’re celebrating their baby sister right alongside us.

Unlike most parents, we never got the chance to introduce you to the world.

We never got to watch people hold you.

We never got to hear your first words.

Or celebrate your first birthday.

Or watch you grow.

For a long time, that broke our hearts.

Then one day, Mommy and Daddy realized something.

Just because we couldn’t introduce you the way we had dreamed…

Didn’t mean we couldn’t introduce you at all.

So we started writing.

We wrote letters to you.

Letters filled with our love.

Our memories.

Our hopes.

Our dreams.

Our promises.

Sometimes we laughed while we wrote.

Sometimes we cried.

Most of the time, we did both.

Those letters became something much bigger than we ever imagined.

Today, on your second Heavenly Birthday, those letters became a book.

Not because Mommy and Daddy wanted to write a book.

But because we wanted the world to know our daughter.

We wanted people to know your name.

To know your story.

To know the little girl who forever changed our lives.

Today, that dream came true.

Today, the world finally gets to meet Ella Gloria Jean Patrick.

Your story will continue long after Mommy and Daddy are gone.

People will know your name.

They will know how deeply you were loved.

And they will know that your life mattered.

Because it does.

It always will.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Sweet Girl.

Thank you for making me a mommy.

Thank you for making Bernard a daddy.

Thank you for teaching us that love isn’t measured by time.

It’s measured by the mark someone leaves on your heart.

We love you more than words could ever say.

Forever our daughter.

Forever our miracle.

Forever our angel.

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy