Ten days ago she turned thirteen.  We celebrated the gift of her with cake and song and laughter, but I never celebrated with words.

Emma Joy is a blessing to our family.  A true second born, she is often striving to differentiate herself just a bit from everyone else.  Her passions include soccer, the Kansas Jayhawks, Doctor Who, 80’s music, and baking.  Her dry, witty sense of humor is often unexpected, coming from this seemingly quiet, reserved girl.  She excels in the kitchen with anything involving the words “bake” and “dessert”, and she even volunteered to make her own birthday cake.  (Which isn’t all that surprising, considering the Rainbow Cake fiasco.  More on that another time, if you missed it on Facebook.)  She rocked that cake and I decided I will never bake again.

This year brought Emma’s first opportunity to travel to Haiti and she worked hard and the Lord provided as she raised money (by baking) to pay her way.  I was so encouraged as her Mama to watch the Lord bless her efforts and watch her rise to the challenge.  And since then, her own outpouring of generosity has shown God’s work in her heart.

Emma is steady, but in a different way from her older sister.  She is becoming very good at finding hidden things that need to be done.  Trash taken out.  Stray items picked up.  A sister read to.  She is reliable and another girl I can depend on to get things done.  She is such a gift and continually becoming a true “joy” to me.

Happy thirteenth, Emma.  Welcome to the teen years.  May God richly bless you and may you continue to seek Him and follow hard after Him in all that you do.

Love,

Mom

Two weeks ago she turned eleven.  And she doesn’t ride anymore, but she’s a hard one to get a picture of and this really still depicts her first love.

She’s a second born, this one is, doing what she can to differentiate herself in this house full of girls and way too eager to not miss a thing big sister is doing.  She’s funny and kind and can be oh-so-generous.  She’s also known to have periods of “high drama”.  Sometimes I wonder where she gets it and sometimes all I have to do is look in the mirror to know.

She came out frowning (I kid you not) but she’s learning to laugh at herself and not take life so seriously.  She’s a gift and a joy and I’m so thankful she’s ours and I look forward to seeing what the Lord does with this mysterious second-born one day.

Happy (belated) birthday, dear Emma.  We love you!

Mom

Nine years ago today, I am sure I was sitting in my bed, in our first home, nursing our second daughter, a mere twenty four hours old.  Yesterday we celebrated her birthday with gifts and singing and phone calls from family and friends.  Today we will finish the celebrations with foods of her choosing, as I have been under the weather for a couple of days and her foods just didn’t get made yesterday.  I am thankful for her grace and understanding.

Our second born daughter, Emma Joy, she can be a great mystery and offers her own challenges.  I, too, am a second born, so I understand what it is to live in the shadow of the first born child.  But I was also the youngest by many years, so really I had my own lime light.  Emma has to work for hers, striving to stand out from her steady, responsible older sister, and her wildly unpredictable younger sisters.

Emma is funny and smart.  She is sometimes quick witted and sometimes quite ditzy.  She is stubborn and has an inner passion that I pray God will use one day.  She is beautiful and sacrificial.  She rarely walks through the house, preferring instead to dance through in some nature of ballet movement.  She.loves.horses.  And while the driving to lessons can be inconvenient, it delights me to give her that one hour a week that is entirely hers.

She keeps me on my knees and on my face, revealing so many of my weaknesses.  But then she will blindside me with her generosity, like when she took all the money she had been saving for herself and decided to buy her sister a birthday gift.  Or the time she had saved up half the money she needed to buy an American Girl horse (this girl who does not like to work and so has a difficult time earning money) and came quietly to me one afternoon and said she could always save more money and would instead like to give this money to a missionary.  And I still tear up at the memory of it because that is not me, that was God doing His thing in her.

I know God has great things planned for Miss Emma.  He will use her sweet spirit and the gifts He has given her for His glory.  I look forward to seeing His plan revealed in her life as the years go by.

Happy (belated) 9th Birthday, Emma Joy!

We love you!