This milestone birthday is a sobering reminder of how fast time flies and how short a child’s time at home really is. There’s so much I still want to tell you, teach you and affirm in you. It’s quite incredible to me that the little girl we brought home 5 1/2 years ago at a mere 43 lbs. is now a beautiful young woman who shares my clothes.
While your time living in Niger was filled with hardship most of us will never know or understand, when I really think about it, your time here in America has been filled with its own share of hardship and challenge that I also can’t fully understand. A new language, a new culture, a new family, school for the first time, blacks and whites and colors in between.
Young lady, you have done remarkably well, and we are very proud of you. You are still so much a little girl inside a big girls body. You are not eager to grow up and still long in many ways to be a child with a life filled with simple things and fun activities. Doing hard things has been something you have had to face on a daily basis, and we have fought with you, fought for you and cheered you on along the way.
Your English teacher recently wrote to me and said, “She tries so hard; we see it every single day. She never gives up. And she perseveres. With a smile and a wonderfully buoyant, joyful spirit. Every. Single. Day. She is a very special young woman.” We hear this over and over that you are delightful, sweet and funny among other things.
And when things feel hard and school seems like too much, we remember that the strength of your character and a heart committed to others and the Lord will far exceed straight As on paper.
Your favorite things include rice (of course!), hot wings, spicy chips of all kinds, listening to music, braiding your American Girl doll’s hair, coloring, playing basketball, going to youth group and spending time with friends.
Your driver’s license is still in the distant future but for now you’re asking more questions while we’re driving and perfecting your skills on the 4-wheeler and golf cart. You’re blazing your own trail at your own speed in your own way, and along the way you are touching lives. We love you.
Momma and Daddy
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