What you should know

...about Emma.

 

*she can make a cookie last longer than anyone else I know.  nibble, nibble, nibble. 

*she has a massive quantity of thick, healthy hair.

*she always pulls the sheets out from the bottom of the bed - EVERY NIGHT!

*she is the only one in our family who really likes the cat.

*she hates whipped cream.

*she is a deep thinker and challenges me everyday with questions like: "Mom why would God create people that He knew would never come to love Him."?

*she prefers to squeeze hands with me (vs. giving me a kiss) when I drop her off now. 

*she has an uncanny ability to find things that are lost.  Countless times she has retrieved remote controls, keys, wedding rings, missing shoes, and library books.

*her deep belly laugh is terribly contagious.

*her compassion towards others astounds and challenges me.

*she likes things to be organized and gets so flustered with my lack of ability in this area.

*she is her father's daughter (see above).

*she is a total sap and cries at all the "mushy" parts between Bob Saget and his daughters on Full House (her favorite show).

*she will not eat eggs without ketchup.

*she informed me recently that she no longer wishes to wear any pink.

*she's got some pretty smokin' dance moves.

*she hardly ever sleeps past 7:30am.

*she is transparent and freely offers her thoughts and feelings- I'm not ever left wondering.

*she is a hopeless romantic and is always asking about how her Dad asked me to marry him, or when we first kissed, or what I first loved about him.

And finally you should know that she is 8 years old now. We celebrated her birthday this week. Her infancy feels like just yesterday and also like an entire lifetime ago.  I am in awe of the way God trusts us enough to give us little human beings to mold.  I remember thinking when I brought her home for the first time, "I don't know what to do with her.  I am so afraid to ruin her!" There have been countless moments since when I have felt completely unqualified to be a mother- her mother.  But, Emma has a way of reassuring me, a way of encouraging me, a way of telling me that we're doing fine.

We are growing together.  Somehow, she has become this a long-legged, rosy lipped, amazingly intelligent, young lady. And I find myself exceedingly grateful to be counted worthy of the title, "Emma's Mother".

Happy Birthday Ems, I love you.