Dear Emerson

Dear Emerson Jane, Happy Birthday sweet girl! You are 13 years old today. An official teenager! It feels like just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital while also feeling like you have been part of our lives forever. This has been a great year for you. You finished 6th grader and started 7th grade. You became a pretty good skiier and love skiing. You did summer swim and had a great season. You decided to stop playing soccer and take up year round swimming. You discovered that you like roller coasters. You went to church camp for a week. You became a member of our church, which brought us great joy. You got round 1 of braces off. You grew many inches in height and your feet grew about 3 sizes seemingly overnight. You have been off seizures meds for almost two years, something we had come to peace with never happening. This year you have become much more independent with your school work. Because of your adhd, things that require lots of executive functioning skills (like school) are more challenging. But you have worked hard to figure out what strategies work best for you. After so many hard, hard years where everyday felt like a struggle I have loved watching you thrive this past year. One of the things I see in you that makes me so proud is your persistence and dedication. You are an incredibly hard worker. Because of your learning disabilites you have to work so much harder in math than most kids your age. Because of your seizures and the medication you were on you had to work so much harder to focus and you often had gaps in your learning. But I watch you sit and work and try so hard and rarely complain about all the extra time it takes you. I would never wish struggles in school on anyone but I love how it has shaped you into someone who truly understands what it means to work hard. Even when your grades don't reflect all the hard work you put in you STILL work hard. I have seen the defeat and dissapointment in your eyes and you have a moment and then continue to work. You generally don't get down on yourself when you're not the best at something but you celebrate the small victories and you work harder. And people notice. In fact just today your swim coach pulled me aside and told you what a great kid you are to coach and what a hard worker you are. Your teachers at school tell me often that you are such a hard worker. I hope that as you grow older you see the beauty that has come out of the hard. When we welcomed you into the world thirteen years ago we never dreamed what the next thirteen years would hold for you. There have been big challenges and big joy. We have cried with broken hearts and we have cried tears of laughter. You have faced things that I never would have wished on anyone and you have come out stronger. We are incredibly proud of the person you are. You are kind and caring. You are funny and sensitive. You are a helper. You love people, all people, and you love to hear their stories and you have a gift for making them feel heard. You are an incredibly hard worker. I don't know what you will do with your life (right now you are between a teacher and a lawyer) but I know whatever you do you will touch the lives of those around you. I love watching you grow up. I love watching you figure out who you are and who you want to be. You are growing into a person I hope you love and are proud of. I hope as we start the teenage years that you remember that God made you and thinks you are beautiful and He loves you for you and He is bigger than all your problems and worries. I can't wait to see what this year holds for you Emmie J! Love, Mom