I Was Not There

I Was Not Here

Little chubby checks and dark black hair, but in those days I was not there.

Cooing, crying and grunting sounds, yet I heard not one, for I was not around.

First steps along the furniture, then hand to hand, yet not mine you reached out to.

Cute shoes, dresses, and frilly things to wear, but not able to smile at these, for I was not there.

Mama, papa, mommy, daddy, they're just words, but precious ones I missed, wish I heard.

Family pictures, laughter and family time, back then I did not call you mine.

Birthdays, Christmas and Easter too, many special days spent without you.

Scraped knees, crocodile tears for which to care, for even these I was not there

Yet time did come when close we'd be, high in the Ferris wheel you called to me

Hi dad, hi mom with smiles so wide, a name I'd behold with great pride.

Days went by, a year, then two, and finally the day I adopted you.

What's mine is yours and yours is mine, even till the end of time.

Good days enjoyed with camping, sandlot ball, then teen years came, our lives began to fall.

Away from each other, I wish it not so, but life does bring twist, heartache, apart we did go.

A son, a daughter, then your baby girl, life spun so fast as if in a whirl.

Today they're grown, hard to imagine somehow, when I think of life then...and now

Years have flown by, so many they be, once was close, now separated the three

No replay in life as on TV, wish it was so, the difference perhaps we'd see.

What would we change, our lives much better, I can think of a song, maybe a letter.

I would sing it aloud, I would tell of the story, parents and child living solely for His glory.

I long for the day, when dad is the name, you proclaim with a smile and without shame.

No more can we do, than what we have done, our daughter you are till the setting of the sun.

So we'll wait for the day, wait till you say, to be part of your journey...along life's highway

Little chubby checks and dark black hair, only in those days I was not there.

A 40th Birthday Celebration...A Good Day it Was

From the Beginning

 Though our circumstances of 'adoption' are quite different...none-the-less... 

'Love does take you in, takes you in for good. When love takes you in...for good'. I love you, dad.