Emma Kay Age 9

Today my beautiful, amazing, remarkable daughter turns nine years old.  I really have no idea why God has blessed me with such an amazing girl.  The only thing I can say is thank you to Him for answering the many prayers and sleepless nights that have already come when it comes to Emma.

I know I'm biased but I really do think that Emma has something completely special about her.  As I had in my post last week, she has such a heart for service and I don't think that's super common among nine year olds.  She loves to please and loves God with all her heart.  By far the best thing about this past year was the fact that she decided to give her life to Christ and be baptized.  Please take the time to watch that amazing day below.

Here is a list of some of the great things about Emma this past year:

• She had a ton of fun taking multiple trips to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and it was so great to see her reading all of the exhibits and really taking in her surroundings while still having that little girl attitude and having tons of fun with her brother and sister.
• She LOVES water.  Not a new idea by any means, but the love definitely hasn't worn off but gotten stronger.  This summer in swim lessons she reached the highest level and was doing things like jumping into the pool holding a brick and would go down 12 feet and swim back up with the brick.
• This was her first year being a girl scout.  While it took her most of the year to feel comfortable and make friends since it's at a different school and she's the only one coming from DMC, she stuck it out and after a camping trip in March that she went to all on her own, she now loves it and has learned so much and been able to be a part of some really neat activities like spending the night with the dolphins at the Indy zoo and going to the Nutcracker ballet. 
• She has grown to loves mommy and daddy dates.  With our lives being so crazy these days, every so often one of us will take her out to do something special and she is so polite and grateful for that special time with us.
• She loves helping little kids.  She is the greatest big sister that Jackson & Laila could ever ask for and a great friend to many others.  She's so patient and kind and loves to teach.  She even comes up with therapy games to play with Laila to help her grow stronger.
• She's got quite a bit of silly in her.  You can almost always get some sort of crazy face or game out of her at any point.  She loves to sing and dance and doesn't care who's watching.  I love that about her and that is something she and I have prayed about for a very long time.  I want her to be Emma no matter who is around or what they think.  I know that is a big task for young girls these days but as long as we keep it in prayer together I believe God can answer us.
• She continues to be the girl who is friends with everyone, which sometimes means being left out of the big crowd.  She always wants to make sure everyone has someone to play with and that means even the kids that no one else wants to play with.  She's kind and considerate of every one's feelings and in the process will get hers hurt.  She's very tender hearted and is still so innocent and wonders why people have to act the way they do sometimes.  We talk a lot about how the bible says that if we're not fitting in we're actually exactly where we need to be.  She's understanding that standing up for what is right isn't always popular but that we should only care that we're pleasing God.
• She was able to be a part of the Love Notes choir at church again this past year and had lots of fun being a star in the Christmas program and playing Potiphar in the spring program.
• She and Jackson came up with a great idea to make a free lemonade stand in our neighborhood after we had severe damage in our neighborhood from a terrible storm.  They said they just felt like they needed to do something to help people.
• She is still very scared of storms.  We're four years and going strong.  We can usually talk her down but it is still something that she has a lot of anxiety about.
• She is a perfectionist.  I remember in her parent teacher conference last year trying to come up with a way to tell her not to try so hard because she was taking too long on her work.  She is definitely a people pleaser and sometimes to the point of giving herself headaches and stomachaches.  I fear some of that is my fault because she tends to be so grown up about some things that I forget how young she really is.
• She had her first overnight experience at church camp this summer.  She has a blast and can't wait to go back next year.
• She's not always the perfect child and that nine year old attitude has already showed it's face on certain days.  Like on the first day of school this year and she was too cool to let me take her picture outside like I do every year.  She let me do it the second day and now we'll always remember that as the day she was too cool for third grade.
• She has been a part of Omnibus again this year which is an extra class every Wednesday for kids who are little more advanced.  They do extra projects and reports and she loves the challenge.
• She loves Christian radio and listens to every word and analyzes the songs and asks questions about the meaning.  She's even written a few of her own praise and worship songs.
• She is a blessing.  Period.

So I sit and think about the fact that nine years old means that we are half way to being an adult.  God has given us this gift of a daughter to raise and we're half way to the year that she possibly moves out and becomes the woman God has chosen for her to be.  I hope and pray that we can make it through those teenage years with wisdom and strength for her.  She has told me that she's already praying about sticking close to God and being respectful of us when she's a teenager even though that's not what kids normally do.  I should video tape her saying that so I can show her later!!   Please enjoy this video of some of our favorite pictures of the last year.  The song in the background is her favorite:  Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman.