My Sunshine

After Angie came to live with me in Bolivia, we would often take walks with our only other family member at the time, our darling Labrador, Ruby. During those strolls, Angie would open up to me and tell me about her past. There was something freeing about the activity, the fresh air, being side by side instead of face to face maybe. Sometimes, it seemed that her little 8 year-old mind was forming the thoughts as she was sharing them, as if she was digging up stories that had long been buried.

It was on one such walk when she mentioned that her name wasn't always Angie. She used to have another name, she told me, but she didn't like it, kids made fun of her, "it was the name of some kind of oil or something." So, her mother at the time, changed her name to her own name, Angelica.

That day, I found out that before my little girl was called "like an Angel," her name was Girasol. When Angie told me this, I remember stopping dead in my tracks. Stunned. I had never heard that name before. And she had no idea that Girasol had been the perfect name for her. As this was long before I had a smart phone, I had to wait until we got home, open the computer, and pull up "Girasol" on Google Images. Her eyes lit up as the screen did with gorgeous, brilliant, breathtaking Sunflowers.

My little girl is turning 16 this week, and we celebrated last night by filling the house with laughter, food, friends, and sunflowers.

 

If you know Angie, you know that when she smiles, her face glows as bright as any sunflower. There is no happier happy than Angie's. When God saw the world needed a little more sunshine, he created my Sunflower. 

Angie, mi Girasol, if you remember from the vast fields of sunflowers in Bolivia, they are drawn to the direction of the Sun, and when they face skyward they are in their full glory. Sweet Girl, you too, will be your most glorious, your most beautiful, exactly the perfection you were created to be, when you face heavenward, and look to the Son. Thank you for bringing so much light into our family. I know God will use you to shine into the lives of so many others for a long long time.

Feliz cumpleaños a Ti, mi Amor! Te quiero mucho!

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." -Matthew 5:16