How can she be 24?

Twenty-four years ago today my sister and her husband submitted an application to the only adoption agency in the DC/MD/VA area that Kate was not affiliated with due to her being the director of a special needs foster care program in Northern Virginia. She did not want any impropriety or special favors from an agency she already worked with.
On that very same day, 24 years ago, my niece Karen Holly Haywood was born into this world by a loving birth mother in Columbia Maryland.
Who would know that two such divergent paths would then meet on that fateful day in July, 14 months later?
She brought all the hopes and dreams of my sister and her husband to fruition. She was loved and cared for by a mother who gave up her career to be home with her blessing from heaven. And heaven sent she was, with blue eyes, brown hair and the love for two parents who wanted her so badly. She crawled into her father's lap and it was love at first sight. She bonded with Kate like no other. She was home and home she has been. I remember that day like it was yesterday (or maybe last month!)

Happy Birthday Karen Holly Haywood. May the next 24 years be as special as you are.

A chocolate cake made with love my her Mom. She is really getting quite domestic!




TA DA!
24!