A Note From Mom: Lucy is NINE YEARS OLD!

Oh, Babe... nine years old. I can't believe you're nine years old.

You are a beautiful, beautiful soul. You are so filled with purpose... and you're nine. You speak truth with such confidence and it's been incredible to watch that over this last year. I pray that the Truth that fills you will be covered in compassion and gentleness and that you will be courageous and purposeful in your words and your actions.

I've witnessed many moments this last year where your eyes were open to the Beauty and the Grace that knit you together. Your heart was being captured. The day you decided you wanted to follow Jesus, will be a day that I continue to rejoice over again and again. We know that God's ways are not our ways and I pray that you will crave HIS ways. I pray that you will always see the beauty in His purpose, and that you will cling to His grace. I pray that through life's pains and joys, you will always be a reflection of Beauty and Grace.

You are so smart and equally hilarious. You just recently read Little Women, a 47 chapter book that you managed to finish in less than two weeks. That's incredible and I hope that you will always have a yearning to read. I pray that the treasures you read will create beautiful places in your mind that you can visit whenever you'd like to. You are infatuated with France right now, and even learning some basic French phrases online. I hope one day we are hand in hand looking out from the Eiffel Tower (and I'm sure we'll both have tears streaming, because it will just be too beautiful for us to handle), and that it will just be one of the many, many adventures for you around this beautiful Earth.

My little Lucy, you were such an incredible gift to me the moment I knew you were there, but with each year that comes and goes, I see more and more of what an indescribable gift you are to me! I just needed you SO much, and I'm so thankful to be your mom.

I love you, Babe... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A Note From Mom: Three Years of Ruby Jane!

Three years with the sweetest, orneriest, naughtiest, little precious gem of a girl! Babe, you stretch me. You stretch me THIN these days. And then you wrap those tiny little arms around me and whisper how we're going to be best friends forever and I somehow just forget all the naughty things you've done.

You have so many ideas right now that you try to execute everyday. Some of them are really great, and some of them I have to just excuse myself away from, let out a good scream, and clean up the aftermath. I hope you always have ideas and that you keep just trying them out. I fully believe that your curiosity (and the loss of my sanity) will be used with grand purpose. 

Even in the midst of your wild ways, you continue to be a source of comfort and peace. Your hugs give life. Your smile is contagious. I pray that this only continues more and more as you grow, and that you will be used to provide healing to many souls.

I love you deeply little one. You are just the reflection I needed to see a different perspective of myself and the world around us. Happy Birthday, Babe!

A Note From Mom: My Little Elly Is Seven.

Oh, golly... look at that round little babe! You're the sweetest thing I've ever known. You have such a beautiful perspective and I love getting to see the world and people through your eyes. 

Your love runs deep. For me (you hug me at least three times before you go to bed or if I ever leave to go somewhere... I love it so much), for nature, for animals, your love is so strong. You feel things deeply. You're incredibly sensitive to the needs that surround you and just take care of them, very rarely drawing attention to the fact that you are, but you just do it... and you do it joyfully.

 You are adventurous and confident... oh, I hope you carry that with you through life. You are already so good at knowing what you're capable of, and you put every ounce of heart you have into it. You are strong and you are so full of courage. I'm so incredibly excited to see how that courageous strength will be used.

You just love life and that's such a beautiful gift to those of us that love you and get to live alongside you.

My little Elly, I love you so deeply. I pray that your eyes and ears and your heart and your soul will continue to be opened more and more and that the One who loves YOU so intensely will continue to use you as a vessel to love others in the same way. Happy Birthday, Babe.

A Note From Mom: Judah is FIVE!

Buddy, you are such a gift to me. Getting to see the world through your eyes, and hear your perspective of how everything works is just an amazing gift for me. The world you live in is so full of hope and life and I love getting lost in it with you. 

You have such an incredible imagination and it's coming through in your stories and your drawings. I love watching you as you're speaking about a superhero, or a pirate, or telling me what kind of creature you are. Those little dimples come out and your eyes twinkle and your smile just about kills me. 

You have such a tender heart and it humbles me every time you share pieces of it with me. You are so gracious to me, so quick to forgive, and your love is such a humbling gift. I pray that these things will only grow deeper within you and that you're able to love others in such a way that it changes them, the way you continuously change me!

Buddy, I love you so much and I'm so incredibly grateful for you. You are my most favorite boy in the Universe!!!! 

A Note From Mom: Lucy is an Eight Year Old!!!

Oh, my little Lucy!! You're eight years old. EIGHT YEARS OLD. It doesn't seem possible since I remember vividly what it felt like holding you in my arms for the first time, and that seems like that JUST happened. Eight years of your love has been incredible. 

I needed you so much and I still do. You remind me to be free. You remind me to just enjoy things. You give me a picture of myself that sometimes hurts so much to see and sometimes makes me so proud I could bust. You are an incredible gift that seems to just keep getting better and better, which doesn't seem possible as I remember the indescribable joy that I felt as you grew in my belly and dreamed about you. You're more amazing than I had dreamed you'd be. 

You have such an incredible mind that soaks in every single little thing and the creativity that flows from that is unbelievable. I love reading your stories, seeing your drawings, hearing your songs... I just love watching you live life.

Babe, I hope you keep singing as loud as you can. I hope you keep reading... books, newspapers, magazine recipe cards, letters... just keep soaking in all that information. Keep reading your Bible and memorizing those words that poured from the hearts and minds of those who lived before us. The One who loved them deeply and gave them those words, loves you so very deeply and will use those words to be a comfort to you as time goes on. You will find your joy and your hope in those words. Let them root in your heart and allow them to transform you. 

I pray you have lots and lots of opportunities to feel the deep love of the One who loves you most. Sometimes it will be through great joys, and sometimes it will be through crippling pain. He is faithful through them both and He is greater than them both.

Little Lucy, I love you. I love you to the moon, around the mountains, through the deepest oceans, and back again.