Category: BRAVO

And Now We Have a Teenager

It was a fantastic day filled with friends, rollercoaster rides and fun!

Then we headed to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Where you happily snuggled your baby sister to sleep and ate with one hand because you didn’t want to pass her off.

We topped the night off with cake (that you wanted to make and decorate again this year- naturally decorated with a stethoscope and sutures) and ice cream: of course both were mint chocolate themed. 😉 And also a few sweet gifts from friends and family.

Rachael, you are a delightful young lady. Your heart is so prevalently shared with others and you always look for a smaller hand to hold. You are a wonderful leader of our sorority and model of gentleness, diligence and responsibility. You are blossoming into such a pursuer of Christ and faithfully seeking out servant-hearted ways. I couldn’t be more thankful to be your mom and love getting lost in conversations with you. You know, everyone jokes that teenagers are a pain to raise, but I happen to think that you have broken that stereotype already just on your day 1. Keep living life to the fullest, Rachael, pursuing Christ and His fabulous plan for your life. And I cannot wait to see you embracing all that your first year in the teens has to offer your growth and maturity. Rachael, keep smashing all the stereotypes with your beautiful heart poured out into others’ lives. And this mom will be standing behind you applauding your many achievements.

❤️Happiest of Birthdays, my Rachael! ❤️
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Year 12 Has Begun!

To my sidekick,

You dominated that 10k at 10 years old.
6a lap swim during the summer couldn’t keep you down.

To my dominator of crossing cultures

Portuguese school immersion couldn’t hold you down!

To my little bug

(I couldn’t resist)

And my wild chatter-box

How you’ve found such contagious joy in life

To my deep investor

I want to be like you when I grow up.

To my delighter in life

Keep finding reasons to be amazed.

To my encourager of the small

Always keep looking down for a hand to hold.

To My reader, my discoverer, my delighted learner

Keep getting lost in the next adventure.

🎉Happiest of birthdays, my Rachael!🎉

May year twelve bring you just as much love, delight and sheer life as ever before.

Love you to pieces, Rachael.

And I’m so honored to get to be your Mommy.

Even if the time has flown way too fast!

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Our Great Eight!

It was a whirlwind day after a whirlwind get-away, but happiest of birthdays to my newest 8 year old.

You chose an animal themed party, asking everyone to bring their favorite stuffed animal and couldn’t wait to hear about everyone’s furry friend as we went around the room and shared.

You were over-the-moon excited to have family near and were so gratefully overjoyed at every new animal trinket or toy you were showered with today.

Hannah Joy, you are such a delight. Your joy radiates until others around you can’t help but smile. You are a ball of energy who is 100% committed to being helpful. How you seek out the right paths with such determination, child. Hannah, you’re my wild child and still my biggest, uncontrollable laugher who is always on the lookout for an adventure. You continue to soar through life because you just love life and all it has to offer. You’re reaching for the stars and bounding for the moon, child, and I’m doing everything I can to keep pace behind you as you embrace life head-on. Girlie, I’m right behind you, let’s explore! Your heart is so big and your curiosity and compassion are endless, precious girl. I’m overjoyed to see you grow up and mature into the wonderful little lady that you already are and yet are also continuing to pursue. I love you so, so much, Hanny. It’s an utter privilege to be your mommy.

You have such a beautifully compassionate heart, my love.

Happiest of birthdays, beautiful Hannah-girl.

You’re ALWAYS bound to have a wonderful time.

No doubt year 8 will be the most amazing one yet!

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The Happiest, Biggest Littlest

Today you turned 6, Eden! I still can’t believe it! I mean we all expect you to just keep on growing, by the grace of God, but at the same time it is so utterly shocking that you are getting SO BIG!

Today we celebrated you with letting you open those presents early this morning that you had been DYING to open for months now. Nope, we didn’t make you wait a second longer than we could drag Daddy from bed (sorry, Matt) because the rest of us were all up.

And yes, naturally the ducklings needed a front row seat.

And then we just let you play, play, play: dolls, house, princesses, magic wands – your morning was filled with much imagination and love. Breakfast wasn’t even on your radar once the gifts were opened and there were games to be played. Even the ducklings took a back seat to all the excitement… temporarily before they were introduced into your game. Ha! (Sorry, ducks- there is too much love for you guys.)

Our day held our online conference, a special birthday message from your kid’s class teacher, and an afternoon of more play fun (and even taking your dolls to the library!).

The birthday dinner of your choice this year was nachos, which left everyone enjoying the fruit of your great pick. Mmm.

“Did you only eat all the black olives off of your nachos?”

Eden’s silent response:

😂

Purple cupcakes, of course, and a side of moose tracks ice cream (ahh, one of the wonders of America, Eden!) and you felt thoroughly celebrated and honored as we went around the table and shared what we love about you.

Oh Eden-girl, you are such a wonderful kid. We all adore you and your genuine little heart. Life is so wonderful and has so much to offer in your joyful world. You utterly delight over the simplicity of being given a piece of candy when others wouldn’t think anything of it. You dance and sing at all possible occasions. And you are so snuggly. The world has all been the same playing field of a learning curve for you. Mozambique has so many layers of culture to learn for the first time and America as well. But you embrace both with open arms and much courage. I admire your willingness to try even when you hold Daddy or my leg for a little more reassurance in a shy moment. I’m thankful that you know our legs will always be there. We are in this together, Beeden! You are quick to say thank you, going out of your way to say it many times and in different ways in an outpouring of gratitude. And I absolutely love that you find just as much joy in homemade gifts as in store bought ones. You wear your heart on your sleeve, loving others deeply and intentionally. And you bust out silly dance moves when you’re happy with zero shame. Haha. Be your awesome “lost five teeth in two weeks” self, kid! I hope you never stop hugging ducks and squealing at how adorable every animal is that walks by. I hope you never stop laughing uncontrollably at absolutely nothing. I hope you never stop giving monster hugs to people you met yesterday, but have proven to be trustworthy in your loving worldview. I hope you never stop singing at the top of your lungs when you don’t know any of the words to the song but have 300% confidence that it doesn’t matter because you’re going to have a great time regardless. Eden, you are an absolute delight of a child and it is an honor to get to be your mommy. Thank you for being my little Eden-Beeden. And Happiest of birthdays, sweet girlie. I cannot wait to see what God continues to have in store for you in year six!

I love you, my little sweetness! 😘
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Take Your Marks

I posted these on Facebook as they happened but I wanted to archive them here.

I have begun taking the girls on runs with me, to their desired excitement, and they have done incredible!

THIS KID took her first run with mom and ran TWO MILES (3K’s)!!! Way to go, Rachael!!! You rocked it!!! – sweaty and thankful – oh right, and did I mention that it was 95 (35C) degrees? – she’s a fighter!!!

(Rachael has more recently run 3 miles [5 k’s] with me).

THIS KID took her first run with mom and rocked a MILE (1.6k) like a champ!!! Great stamina for an 8 year old pushing through 82F (27C) degree weather! And, of course, what run would be complete without pretending to push your kid in a huge mud puddle, picking flowers and balancing on the curbs? 😉 – soaking up time with this awesome kid. – Abi’s crazy enough to want to do it again – ❤️ her so.

THIS KID ran for 1.5 MILES (2.4k’s) on her first run with Mom. My little Energizer Bunny did her run in spurts with her longest spurt being 3/4 of a mile (1.2k’s to be precise). And naturally, what run is complete without hopping to touch tree branches, skipping, singing, talking a hundred miles an hour, and voluntarily holding mommy’s hand when crossing the road? And in proper Hannah fashion, she even confidently directed post-run stretching. Hehe.- Love her joyful world. – Six years of amazing.

Eden’s still a bit young to run with me and hasn’t expressed an interest, but the older three have done amazing and I’m so proud of their hard work!

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Oh What a Joy!

Our Hannah Joy turned 6 years old yesterday. To celebrate, she picked our plans for the day.

After some extended family spoiling, we headed to her favorite beach spot with friends.

And while we never once stepped foot on the beach because everyone was fascinated with the pool, we had an absolute blast.

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Hannah even decided she wanted to start learning how to swim.

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And our new six year old was all smiles going under and coming up from the water as she learned to swim some, thanks to the encouragement of Elizabeth. (For serious, she had water pouring out of her smile. Hehe. This kid just LOVES life.)

Hanny love,

You are an absolute joy. You find such giggling delight of life. You are so full of energy and love for life that it’s easy for the rest of us to love life more when we are with you. Your laugh, child, is one of my favorite sounds.

You work hard, baby, and pour your whole heart into all that you do. Whether it is your school work, learning to ride your bike, learning to swim, dancing in the living room or jumping on the trampoline, you are ALWAYS burning a TON of energy at 150% commitment.

You love deeply and hug often. And I love that you still snuggle Mommy, even though I know you have ants in your pants.

You are almost always loud (but in a fun way) and have something to contribute to every conversation.

And I love how curious you are about life. You just have to know why things are spelled different ways. You just have to read one more book. You just have to understand how to put together a hard puzzle faster. You cannot wait to figure out why things work the way they do and it’s so fun to have no idea what question you will ask next, but to know for certain that a next question is being thought up every few minutes.

Hannah Banana, you are an absolutely amazing little girl and Mommy is just so terribly proud of you. We all are so proud of you, love. And it is an honor and a privilege to get to encourage the wonderful little lady that you are becoming. Never stop laughing, baby. And keep moving mountains.

🎉🎉🎉Happy sixth birthday, Hannah!!! 🎉🎉🎉

We love you so. (Even if Niblet looks less thrilled in this picture.)

Love,

Mommy (and I think I can speak on behalf of Daddy and your sisters too. 😉)

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