Birthday Girl!

Yesterday Sophie turned 6. Since we had already had her birthday party we had a pretty calm day. Taylor got her a balloon bouquet and her presents were out when she got up.

The was the year of the American Girl doll for Sophie. Her face in this picture says it all.

Grammy and Bumpaw got her the doll and everyone else got her clothes and other accessories to go with it.

The doll, Sally, has not left Sophie's side since she opened her, much to Spot's dismay. Up until yesterday morning Spot was the one who went everywhere with us. Unfortunately, Spot has been sitting on the kitchen table where Sophie left him when she got up yesterday. Poor Spot!

Sally does everything Sophie does. She has watched a movie with Sophie, eaten snacks, gone to multiple stores, had a broken arm fixed with band aids, gone out to eat, and had her clothes changed over and over. Sophie tries to make sure her clothes coordinate with Sally's and their hair must be done the same as well.

We let Sophie pick where we went out to eat for lunch yesterday and she chose her favorite place - China Garden. You can get all the shrimp you can eat right off the buffet. It doesn't get much better than that. Sophie's friend, Avery got to come to lunch with us, too (along with Sally of course).

We always make sure Sally is buckled in nice and tight. After all, she did cost about as much as Sophie did.

Last night we had some friends come in from Waco to visit. Sophie wanted quesadillas and you know out of 101 grilling recipes there was one for quesadillas. We'll cover the meal in another post. After dinner we has cake and ice cream.

Then both the girls were worn out.

If you are not a family member you might want to stop reading at this point because I'm going to gush and it might get a little long. Sophie blesses our family every single day. She has a sweet and sensitive spirit and longs in every situation to do the right thing. She is learning to deal with her imperfection as she grows and sometimes it is hard on her little heart.

Sophie has a real thirst for knowledge. She loves to read about animals, insects, and nature. She likes to study about places we travel to or would some day like to see. She loves to draw pictures and do crafts. She is a neat freak and likes order. She has a hard time having friends over to play because they often mess up her room. We are learning to be more generous with our friends in this area, but it is a real struggle for her. Her room is always neat and picked up, without any prompting from me. If only this were true of every family member :)

My girl has a very tender heart towards God and his Word. She has not "walked the aisle" in a formal sense, but I believe God has a hold of her heart. She loves to sing songs to him and write about him during church.

Almost a year ago when I was sending Sophie off the kindergarten, I was really struggling with letting her go. On the first day of school I was sitting on my swing on the back porch before everyone was up praying for her and her first day. I can remember telling God that she was mine and I was scared to let her go. I'm not one who says God speaks to me often, but immediately I remembered she isn't mine. I had her all to myself and been blessed by her for 5 years, and I felt like God was telling me it was time to let her bless others. I have to trust Him with her life. This letting go of control is the hardest thing I've found in my life as a parent. And yet God proved faithful. I saw over and over how Sophie was blessing the lives of teachers and students at her school. I've had teachers tell me that she is the first one to notice when a child is left out or upset and she always stops to comfort them. I've had teachers I don't know stop me in the hall and tell me what a joy she is. My biggest prayer for Sophie is that she will have courage to continue to be this little light. Right now it is easy to do the right thing, but it won't always be. I pray she'll have courage to stand up for those no one else is standing up for, courage to try new things without fear of failing, courage to follow God even when it's hard, courage to help right the injustices of the world. I know those are big prayers for such a little person, but I guess my job is to pray those big prayers.

I could go on but I know this is getting a little long. There is my Sophie update. She is blessed to have many people who love her (including most of the people who read this blog) so to you I say thank you for investing in her life.