Happy Birthday, JP!

 Dear JP, 

Happy 11th Birthday! I can't believe you're 11. For some reason this feels so much more grown up than when you hit double digits last year. I think maybe it's because not only are you 11 but you are in your last year of elementary school. It's hard to believe that the baby who was born when Emerson started kindergarten is now in 5th grade. 

JP, I LOVE the kiddo you are. You are kind. You are absolutely hilarious. You are the king of sound effects and funny facial expressions. You are a good friend. You are easy going. You are polite. You can talk to adults as easily as you talk to other kids. You are friends with everyone, from kids that are much younger than you all the way to kids in high school and college. You have a wide variety of interests. You are rough and tumble but you also love a good hug. You love to help, especially if it's an outdoor job. You are a hard worker and always try your best in school. You are just all around fun to be around!

In the past year you have played soccer, flag football (rec league and school), basketball, and done summer swim. You love all sports and we love watching you play them! You always give 100% to whatever sport you're doing and I love seeing your improvement each season. This year we also went skiing, placed some top golf, and participated in your first youth triathlon. 

This year you finished up 4th grade with one of your very favorite teachers. I don't know what she said to motivate you but you went from dragging your feet about school and plodding along to being really invested in your academics. You now always work really hard to get the best grade and you do your best on all your school assignments. Your favorite subjects by far are math and science. You have always had to work harder at reading but you made HUGE strides last year and you're always so proud when you do well on a reading test. It makes me so happy that you like school and that you are motivated to do your best! You have had some really great teachers throughout elementary school and I know you're going to have another great year this year with a fantastic teacher! 

You have a great group of friends at school, in the neighborhood, and at church. You get along with everyone and for that I am so grateful. You are kind to others which is one of the best character traits to have! I am thankful that you have surrounded yourself with friends who lift you up and encourage you and that you are an encouraging friend. I pray you always keep these friends close. It's a beautiful gift to have friends who only want the best for you.

I love watching you with your friends but also with your sisters. You are so tolerant of them and I know its not always easy to be the youngest AND the only boy! Ellie and Emerson are the ones you go to with your problems, when you need some sympathy (Emerson), or when you need a laugh or someone to be silly with (Ellie).  Ruthie is your buddy. Y'all are 2 peas in a pod and I can't imagine one of y'all without the other. I love the special relationship you have with each of them and you are most definitely the baby we didn't know we needed. You round out our family perfectly and I am thankful for you every single day (who else would teach us how to make a fart noise by sticking a straw in our armpit?).

This year we lost PaPa. Anytime we were in Summerville he was your buddy. You loved your time hanging out with him while the girls went and did other things, like shopping. It absolutely broke your heart to lose him but I'm so thankful for all the wonderful memories you have with PaPa.  I know you will treasure the time you had with him always. 

JP, this year had its highs and lows but through it all you kept your easy going, laid back personality. You "roll with the punches" and keep on going and I hope you always hang on to that. I am so thankful that I am your mom. I am thankful that I get to watch you as you grow and mature. I am thankful that you still like to hang out with me sometimes and you are always willing to jump in and help me with whatever needs doing. I pray your love for others and your servant's heart continue to grow. You are a joy and I'm so thankful that you're mine!

Here's to an amazing 11 year old year!

Love, 
Mom

Happy Birthday Ellie!

 Dear Ellie, 

I am SO excited to write this letter for you this year. You are FIFTEEN and what a year it has been! Over the years that I've been a mother I've learned that there are seasons where your heart aches for your child and all you can do is support them and give them guidance as they navigate tough situations. There are also seasons where you get to rejoice in seeing them grow and learn and find success and this past year was definitely a season of joy and growth for you. 

About a year ago you decided, very last minute, that you wanted to start swimming year round. We were all a bit shocked as you have frequently told us that you don't love swim team and you are "not really a sports kid". But you said you wanted to so we got you signed up and I was pretty sure you'd come home after the first practice or two ready to quit. But you once again surprised us by saying you liked swim. You definitely made year round swim fit what you were looking for in an activity. You chose a light practice schedule and you opted not to do most of the meets and the beauty of year round swim is that this was just fine. You made some new friends and you really liked your coach a lot. You started sleeping better and eating better thanks to the consistent exercise and I think that made such a difference in your year!

This year you started high school. You had some bumps in the road at the beginning and some hard lessons to learn. You then faced the choice of letting it pull you down or using what you'd learned to pull yourself back up and boy did you grow! For years you have made great grades with little effort and in the last two years classes have started to get harder and it definitely made you feel like you were losing a piece of your identity. This year I watched you face challenges in school and finally realize that just because you have to study more or work harder or ask for help it doesn't mean you are any less than the person you were before who never had to study or ask for more help. You became a student who started engaging more with your teachers, who went to extra help (and discovered that there were lots of really smart kids at the extra help sessions!), who put in time studying. You set goals for yourself and then did the work to achieve them. It was so fun to see the excitement on your face when you achieved your goals! I know this year wasn't always easy but I hope you see the value in the lessons you learned and how what you learned this year can help you achieve all your dreams!

You also found a love of medicine and are leaning toward studying nursing in college. You took a sports medicine class this past year and every day you would come home so excited to tell me what you had learned! You have an amazing ability to retain information so its been really neat to watch you apply what you've learned to more real world situations. Whether you choose a career as a nurse or something else in the medical field or something totally different I know you will excel. My hope for whatever you do is that it brings you joy!

Beyond the academic side of high school you have also blossomed. You have lots of the same friends you had in middle school but you have also made new ones. You seem to have really found your people and that makes me so happy for you. You have also put yourself out there in order to get involved in activities at the school. You applied for yearbook and student council for this coming school year and were accepted for both and you are so excited! Yearbook and student council have had things you had to do this summer to prepare for the upcoming year and you have been so enthusiastic about all the things!

This year wasn't all rainbows and unicorns though. This was the year we lost PaPa. You loved him so much and walking through your grief with you was heartbreaking. I hope you always treasure the memories you have of him and your time together. He loved you SO much and the love of a grandparent and the relationship between a grandparent and grandchild is such a sweet thing. You and your siblings are incredibly blessed to have 4 grandparents that love y'all more than you even know. So many people don't have what you have so I hope you always treasure the time you had with PaPa and realize what a special gift it was to have had 14 1/2 years with him.

Through all the ups and downs of this year I have watched you come to a crossroads where you can choose to wallow in the hard and let it defeat you or you can choose to come out of the hard stronger than when you went in. I have watched you become stronger, more self assured, and more prepared for the next challenge over the course of this year.  God has big plans for you Ellie and I love watching how He is using these years to shape you into exactly the person you are meant to be. Its not always easy to go through the challenges but His plan is perfect and there is so much peace to be found in that truth. 

I love you Ellie Belly. You have been such a gift to our family from the moment you were born (although to be honest you seemed less gift-like the first 3 months of your life when you didn't sleep...but we still loved you). Your humor and quick wit bring so much laughter to our house. You have a personality that is uniquely yours and we are so thankful for the amazing human you are! Keep being you Ellie, you are one of a kind and I wouldn't want you to be anyone other than exactly who you are (but if you wanted to clean your room more often I wouldn't object)!

Love, 

Mom