a birthday list

If you know me much at all, you know that I hold on to things just a little bit past their expiration date.  Sloane turned eleven today and she had a wonderful birthday.  We all enjoyed every minute of it.  Now, here I am at the end of the first day of her eleventh year - celebrating ten.  I find it necessary for me to look at something closely and offer deep thanks before letting it sink into the past.

What I want to remember about ten...

• the bittersweet moment when I realized that Sloane was at school every day without me - and we were both OK with it
• how she never lets anything ruffle her feathers or aggravate her
• the deep well of compassion that has her begging us to sponsor a child from Watoto and has her spending hours writing letters to our little Anita
• the excitement on her face as she received her school iPad, and watching her become more and more comfortable with technology
• the way she inevitably asks us to turn the radio back to our local Christian station
• her easy acceptance with the faults of others
• how she never goes anywhere without at least 3 books in her backpack
• swim team and volleyball adventures
• her love for her music teacher and her passion to sing in the choir and play the guitar
• the strange mixture of little girl and young woman, content with both American Girl dolls and mascara
• the joyful, marvelous tenth birthday trip to Alaska with my parents
• her gift for friendship
• that great big heart full of love, the heart that has her look up at her Daddy with big eyes and say, "Daddy, Operation Christmas Child is my very favorite part of Christmas."
• her passion for cupcakes and owls as decorative motifs
• that she still asks me to snuggle with her before she goes to sleep
• she adores dragons, but refuses to read any book in which the dragons are villains (with the exception of The Hobbit, which she has read four times this year)
• how much she enjoyed redoing her bedroom this past summer
• when she flew alone to Oregon and never once was nervous
• the way she volunteers with a little autistic boy during Children's Church and is endlessly patient with him
• her kindness to my second graders and her patience with their hero-worship
• the fact that she went to bed last night with Gareth tucked under her chin, she's not too old yet
• and the way that tonight she has Gareth and Hootie (her new owl stuffie) wrapped in her arms as she falls asleep

What a joyful thing it is, being momma.