sweet sixteen

My oldest, my once little, but now almost grown, sweet Hannah turns sixteen today. I know it’s cliche, but I really do wonder where the time has gone. I remember turning sixteen, and honestly, it feels as if it was just yesterday. And, yet, now today, my lovely picture taking photographer daughter is celebrating that milestone  sixteenth birthday.

photo taken by Madeline Hunt

It makes me ponder those sixteen years where I’ve been called mom. It’s this tension of not wanting her {or her siblings} to grow up and yet and the same time being so thrilled to walk beside them as they do. Yes, thrilled. I remember when they were young telling them {over and over} that the world will tell them that these teenage years are years of conflict, and battle, and thinking your parents are dumb – and yet – our story, your story, doesn’t have to follow that pattern. In fact, also from being young, I would tell my children {and still do tell them} how I’m excited to journey with them through those years and how they can be wonderful despite the ups and downs.

little Hannah

I love {most days} having teenagers in my house. They can be so full of life, with opportunity everywhere, and it can be an honor to walk the path with them. Culture is trying to rip them from our homes – it tells them that parents aren’t intelligent {look at most cartoons/television shows/books, or that we must fight a great deal, and more. But, here’s the deal, just as I must fight to be attentive in my littles lives I must equally fight {and pray} for my teenagers. They deserve respect in a world that tends to look down on them and calls them “trouble” or “up to no good” and so on. It’s a fight for their hearts, and of sitting up late, and bending a knee in prayer, and talking, or listening, and admitting one’s wrong, and being willing to cut some strings, but also willing to enforce rules, and of still saying I love you even in those stressful times.

chloe and hannah 2003

So with that, my dear Hannah Nicole, I want to wish you a Happy 16th Birthday. You know I can’t even type those words without getting just a tad teary. It wasn’t that long ago when I would rock you asleep in the chair, or we’d play dollhouse, or walk to the store to get a chocolate dipped cone {wait we still can do that — hmm} or you’d ask me to read your just one more story at bedtime. I remember the excitement on your face as the plane took of when we flew to California, and the joy with which you wandered around the ocean when we lived in San Diego. You were a fighter {Still are} – I saw that grow in the time when Dad went through cancer treatment and then again when Samuel was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.

You are a beautiful addition in my life. I don’t know what I thought those sixteen years would be like when they placed you in my arms at 11 pm on June 3, 1996, but I can tell you I never thought that they would go this fast or that I would be so blessed and honored to have you call me mom.

newborn Hannah and me {with my very large hair} June 1996

So today, on your sweet sixteen, I celebrate you. I love you with all my heart and am forever blessed to have you share this walk on this earth with me. I like you as well – who you’ve become, and how you love the Lord, and the goals and aspirations that you’ve set. You’re pretty amazing. I’m thankful for all you do for this family, and the laughter that you bring, and the creativity that you bless us with. I’m grateful for your willingness to help, and how you’re an amazing big sister, and a wonderful daughter. Hannah, I love you and am thankful for you. So grateful – so remember that deeply – that you are forever loved.