For Leah on Her Birthday

Things have been awfully busy around these parts!  The girls are finally feeling better and we're all getting more sleep...huge bonus!  Now I'm working on my talk for the Women's Day Seminar at church on Saturday.  It's coming together really well, but it means less time for blogging.  Such is the ebb and flow of life, and it's all good.

I'll recap Leah's birthday festivities later, but for now, here's a little letter...a day late :)

Leah enjoying her birthday meal of hot dogs, cheetos, strawberries and cherry limeade
while wearing her new aqua fleece with thumb holes!

Dear Leah, 

You are 8!  Halfway to driving...yikes!

You were born during the winter Olympics, which is kind of cool seeing as they're on right now.  We had a lot of fun joking about Bob Costas when you were born and how we should have photoshopped him into our family pictures from those first few days!

Anyway, I just wanted to share my hope/prayer for you for the upcoming year.

You've come a really long way in terms of being flexible with life which is awesome to see!  But, you are still the firstborn daughter of a firstborn daughter, and I feel like it's fair to say the we both reeeeeeally like knowing what to expect and are less than thrilled when life throws us a curve ball.  Neither of us really love to try something new unless we are fairly certain we'll be good at it.

Risk takers we are not.

My prayer for you this year is that you would be brave and courageous and not afraid of the future.

print we are getting for her room

I want you to walk into the future with confidence and be brave even when you face the little uncertainties in life.

You have plenty to be confident in when it comes to who God made you to be!  You are so incredibly friendly and bright and cheerful and giving and resilient and happy.

But, more importantly than that, I want you to be confident because of Jesus.  

...because you trust Him so much that you know that you know that you know that He will never let you fall.

...because you know that Jesus walked through uncertainty and pain so that He would know what it is like for you to have a hard time.  He is the perfect intercessor and comforter for you.

...because you safely rest in His unconditional love for you even when things don't turn out the way you expect.

...because you are deeply convinced that Jesus' opinion is the only one that truly matters so you don't even worry if you make choices that your friends might not understand.

It's okay to make mistakes, and it's okay to not be perfect.  Those times are just reminders to us of how very much we need Jesus.  You can always go to Him and He will always meet you.

I know that 8 will be great!

Please know, too, sweet girl, that being your mom is one of the most precious gifts God has given me.  I'm insanely humbled by the opportunity to have a front row seat to witness the person you are becoming.  

Let's always be friends and love each other and remember to laugh and point each other to Jesus.

Okay?

Okay!

I love you La-Lee-La!

Love, 
Mommy



Leah's letter from last year with lots of pictures.