Brynna's Eyes Those eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes. Never has a child spoken so much with just her eyes.

What I saw in those eyes was the soul of my child. My daughter. A child who had been passed over by many others…waiting for me to find her. Like many others this child had not had an easy path in life. Born with a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate and having huge difficulties feeding it seemed this child survived by will alone.

Others saw those eyes and were drawn to her too. And so her healing journey began, first with surgery to mend her lip followed by the incomparable care of Hope Foster Home. Our family watched in gratitude as she made her appearance on the LWB Cleft Trip blog. There she was, our beautiful pony-tailed daughter waiting her turn for healing surgery. There she was, after surgery, being rocked and cuddled by the team volunteers, always surrounded by love.

Finally it was my turn to hold her, my turn to gaze into those soulful eyes. I cried.

Now those eyes are still as brown, still as full of promise. This child, once thought developmentally delayed, is anything but. She is life itself at full throttle. She knows what she wants. She knows nothing will hold her back.

She does have one more hurdle.

Soon Brynna will have surgery to remove a tumor in her middle ear. She is too young to worry about it but I do. Once again she will face surgery. Once again she will face pain. Once she had a whole team of folks caring for her. Now she will have her family.

But I still worry about what lies ahead.

For now I think I’ll smooch my sweet daughter’s face and bask in the glow of the love of life shining in Brynna’s beautiful eyes.