For three years, I have had a sole focus, a very special little girl who has had my exclusive attention. I have had nothing more important, nor wanted to do anything other than to study her, be with her. I have learned so much. I have loved most every second. And to my utter delight, this child of ours has become one of the dearest people to me. Not only because I am her mother, but simply because I like her. It makes me so happy to be able to say that. Even after long days with just the two of us. Even after battle of the wills that wage almost daily. Even after discipline. She is my buddy, my sweet child whom I adore. And here are a few reasons why...
* She is quite simply the most observant person I have ever met. It seems to me that even at the age of three, she has mastered the art of observation. Even from birth, it seemed she took in every detail, smell, sound and taste. I love this fact. I pray God will continue to develop this trait in her. Because to me, it takes a special person to observe. These are the few people in this crazy world that keep their eyes off their self and onto others. They are the ones who if submitted to the Lord, will develop the precious gift of discernment and will see when others are hurting or scared or sad or confused, even if they are trying to show the world otherwise. And prayerfully, she will be able to minister to those.
* She is an encourager. This is linked to her observant heart. She will notice the little details in another. Eyeglasses; a necklace, ring or earrings; the way you have your hair; your clothes; the expression on your face...and then she always, and I mean always, tells you something sweet about these things. Usually using the word beautiful in there somewhere. Who doesn't love to be told they are beautiful? She brightens my day so many times by speaking these precious words of life.
* She loves babies and animals. I mean loves them. She usually talks to them in a higher pitched voice, talking about how cute or tiny they are. She is gentle and patient. She will sit with Belle, our ancient lab for hours just petting and loving on her.
* She has a great vocabulary. This is just a minor one. But I love hearing big words come out of her small mouth. Words like: certainly, absolutely, most definitely, etc...(I just noticed all of these words are synonyms :), guess I better stop teaching her words of absolutes :)
* She loves a thrill. She is such a little lady in so many ways. She loves clothes. She loves jewelry. She loves sparkle and crowns. She loves shoes. But she is also super tough. She loves to be scared. She can fall down and have blood pouring off of her and never even whimper. She can be dramatic, but rarely about things that physically hurt her. She loves being thrown in the air, pushed as high as a swing will go, going down huge hills in the car. I love that she loves adventure. This will be such a sweet ministry to her husband...as I know it is one of Bobby's biggest complaints about me. I am VERY cautious to say the least.
* She has a super vivid imagination. This is actually one thing we have in common. I love hearing the things that comes out of her mouth. The ideas she dreams up. It often is mimicking a show we watched, which makes us (or needs to make us) more hyper vigilant about what she watches. The great thing is though, as much as she wants us to follow script, she often throws her own twist in there, which delights me to no end. Like yesterday when she decided to make a "flower bed" (a towel, her pillow and bunny under the shade of 3 of my huge pots) and take a nap outside (I think this was primarily motivated by the fact that this shady area is Belle's favorite rest spot and AK wanted to rest beside her BFF).
* And a spin off the last, she adores a good story. My single favorite thing is curling up with her to read a good book. I love that she notices every little thing on each page. I love that she asks why one looks happy or sad. I love that she remembers days, even weeks later, what the story entailed. Even stories I make up. I know this sounds silly, but being the bibliophile I am, I so desired for my children to love the written word. AK not only loves it, but loves any good story, told visually, audibly or written.
* And finally, she is HER. She has a ton of idiosyncrasies that I could share but are probably only entertaining to us. She has a strong will but a tender heart. She cannot stand to see or hear someone cry. She is easily delighted. She is opinionated (she comes by that honest), smart and sharp. She laughs easily but takes important things seriously. She tests every boundary laid out there but responds well when actually disciplined. She is just a GREAT KID, a daughter to whom our hearts delight! And we are so deeply thankful we have had solely her for the past 3.5 years. We cannot wait to add Bo to our family. Cannot wait to see Abby Kate become a big sister. But I just wanted to take the time to celebrate our only child one last time. Thank you Father, with all the we are, for entrusting her to us. Thank you for giving us a front row seat to watch all you have planned for her life. We cannot wait!
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