Today, my daughter turns 21.

She is beautiful inside and out with an amazing ability to make everyone around her better.

She has a great laugh that is captured in this photo…

Interestingly, her name was going to be Kate, after my grandmother.

But the circumstances of how she came into our lives dictated that she be named Hope, after the Bible verse of Romans 15:13…

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Through our daughter, God restored hope to our lives after our first child died.

And God has been using her to be a source of hope to all who have known her.

Hope.

What a beautiful word.

What a beautiful idea.

What a beautiful aspiration.

To me, my daughter is the embodiment of Hope.

And I am so proud of her.

Happy birthday!