hApPy BiRtHdAy!!!

Today our 10 year old turns 11.  

I remember the day she was born.  Her older brother was born via c-section due to fetal distress and her older sister was born via induction, horrible epidural, and threat of vacuum extractor.  I was so thankful when my contractions began about a week before my due date.  I awoke on Sunday morning 11 years ago to some faint, but regular contractions.  They progressed throughout the day.  We took the older two kiddos to their grandparent's (who had just moved from 3 hours away in Michigan to about 30 minutes in a near by town just a few days before --so thankful for that!).  I walked around their culdesac with my mother-in-law until I figured it was about time to make our way to the hospital.  I was thinking all the way there that I might get an epidural.  I was sadly mistaken. There was no time.  I was already dilated to 7 and about 45 minutes from arrival at the hospital Hannah Arline was born! (Arline after her great-grandmother who passed on a few months before.) She was a perfect little bundle!  Still is! 

We love her so much!  She's so full of laughter. She loves to tell funny stories and jokes.  She's a hugger!  She loves to sit on our laps and cuddle.  (Although there's not much room on my lap lately!) Her goal is to make people laugh and feel loved.  She loves to read books!  Oh how I wish I had the zeal for reading that she does!  When we were packing for our camping trip she brought me 7 thick children's novels and asked if she could bring them.  If any one of our other children would have asked I would have helped them whittle down the pile to just a few, but I let Hannah bring all of them.  If the weather would have been dreary and had there been nothing exciting to do I believe she would have read through that entire stack in that camping trip.  She did manage to finish the thickest book, though, between driving up to northern Michigan and back. 

Hannah has a love of all things theological, as well!  Often there are times she asks me such a deep theological question that I'm not sure how to answer her.  I know how I would answer an adult, but would a child her age understand the answer?  Can she grasp it?  She wrote a book a few months ago that just blew me away!  It was a full explanation of the Gospel.  It was amazing.  She's such a special little gal. I know God has wonderful things planned for her and I can't wait to see how they unfold in her life. 

Happy Birthday young lady!  

We love you so much, Hannah Arline!