Happy Birthday to KA!

We have entered a new place in our house - OFFICIAL TEENAGER LIVING HERE!

Today is KA's 13th birthday. I cannot believe this child is now a teenager. I don't feel old enough to have a teenager but I really can't believe that 13 years have gone by so quickly.

She is my oldest daughter and one of my friends. I am still her mom, but neither of us have lots of close friends and we just seem to connect. We have literally grown up together. I was only 20 when we had her. We made mistakes and unfortunately she has taken the biggest hit with that. Two immature young kids raising a child - there were bound to be some mistakes made.

However, she has and is continuing to grow up to be an awesome young lady. She is a great student who loves history, math and science. She loves books and always had. I remember when she was about 2 or 3 her favorite book was "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." One night when my parents were at the house, she sat down to "read" to my dad. My dad thought he would be reading and asking questions about the book, but KA sat down and "read" the book. My dad looked at me and questioned "she can read?" I said no but she has the book memorized and it is a rhyming book so it is easy for her to catch on to. She has an amazing memory for things - songs she has heard, books, etc.

One of things I treasure most about her is her giving heart. She is compassionate and passionate. When she finds a cause, she wants to help. Lucky for us, we have found a church that is missions focused where we do lots of things for the community. KA loves that. In fact next week we are helping an elderly woman with her house - kind of extreme makeover - on a smaller scale. She is so excited for that! They were doing stuff today on her birthday, but it didn't work out for our church. She wanted to go down and do stuff on her birthday. Unfortunately it didn't work out for us either, but next week we will be there. I can definitely see her as a missionary or a head of some non-profit somewhere helping someone.

Well I could truly go on and on about this kid. She is fabulous! I love her dearly and cannot wait to see the wonderful woman she will become.

Happy 13th Birthday, KA! I love you more than 1 million sour gummy worms!