Happy Birthday, Miracle!

Today is Nin's 4th birthday. I think every year I've described her as our miracle, the baby we really never thought we'd have. And every year I've talked about how she is the challenging child that we love dearly. The girlfriend has a way of pushing buttons we didn't even know we had! She is very much our little sanctifier; so needed in our lives! We are better because of her.

She loves coffee (she gets decaf), technology, her big sister, letters and numbers (my copy of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is one of her favorite books to look at - seriously!). She cannot wait to read and we'll be working on that this summer. She loves to teach Annie to do things - some good, some not so much. She loves Harrison to bits. She loves her Daddy, her Uncle Chris and Dr. Wendel (in that order -- Uncle Chris and Paul are both tall...she loves tall men).

We asked her last week where she wanted to eat for her birthday. Her response? "I want to go to Wendy's and go inside and read the menu. You and me and Daddy and Elizabeth and Annie and Harrison." So, today as we were leaving church, "Nin, where do you want to eat?" She replied with the same bit about Wendy's. So, Wendy's it was. And hey, they weren't swamped like every other restaurant in town since today is also Mother's Day! We had a great time together and she's so stinkin' cute. I think she told every single person she came into contact with, "Do you know whose birthday is today? Mine! I'm four!" Everyone laughed and said, "Well, happy birthday to you!" She would beam. It wasn't just the people at Wendy's either - she and I took a trip to WalMart to buy all the stuff to make M&M cookies for her birthday snack at school tomorrow. She told many, many of the people at Wal-Mart - from the greeter to people shopping to the cashier to people we passed in the parking lot (I do not exaggerate!)

I am so thankful that God gave us this sweet girl who challenges me to grow and requires me to lean on Him as I parent her. She is above and beyond all I could have asked or thought and it is a privilege to be her Mommy.