Kaitlyn turns 3

Wow. how can 3 years go by so fast and yet some times seem so slow? She is such a little girl now....definitely not my 'baby' anymore. Her new thing to say is.....I don't need any help....I'm 3! and she holds up three of her fingers just in case i need some visual help :) so hilarious.
I love watching Kaitlyn interact with Lily, when she 'mothers' her in a gentle way or when she crouches down to Lily's eye level and talks in a high pitched voice and puts a soft hand on Lily's shoulder....it melts my heart. so loving and adorable.

Kaitlyn making her birthday pizza!

Oh Kaitlyn, you are so sweet. so full of life. you love to sing....about everything....inevitably whatever is happening will soon be narrated by a song that you are making up in that moment. You love me. and i love you. we love eachother even when we have our moments of selfishness (many of those) and impatience......we say sorry to each other and give hugs and start fresh in that moment. You love your daddy....and your sister Lily too.

Phil's artistic skills....

You get sooo excited about picking rasberries, and getting chased around the park.....you are scared to go too fast on your big girl bike.....but you go head first down the yellow slide at the park.....you like to go as high as the bar on the swing set.....and love going barefoot everywhere (except if you have your new running shoes on!). You're favorite books are curious george, berenstein bears and your picture bible. You're into coloring in your little spiral notepad and you can now draw flowers all on your own! if you could have candy, chips, juice, gum and peaches and plums every day you would! You love helping me with anything in the kitchen and you are so good at putting away laundry in the appropriate rooms. You like to pick the peas from our garden and feed them to lily and yourself. You LOVED your princess cake for your birthday party and had fun roasting hot dogs too. Jelly beans were on the menu and hate to say it but your poop was the weirdest color the next day. :) we are now on a serious veggie consumption diet right now to make up for all the junk we ate at your birthday party. but you had so much fun and we made such good memories.

Loving the princess cake...

Kaitlyn, I hope so many things for you......here are just a few:
-that you'll love, know deeply and serve Jesus with your whole life
-that Phil and i would point you to Jesus as we live out our lives in this family
-that you would not make the same mistakes i did growing up
-that we would have a close real relationship
-that you would be healthy, happy, rich in friendships and world experiences
-that you would have the courage and boldness that i lacked in my teen years to stand up for what you believe in ("if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything")
-that family would be important to you
-that you would get married and have lots of grand-babies for us!

man....this list could go on and on.....but those are some of the top things i hope for in your life. I have some serious work to do in my own life if i want to point you to Jesus. I always thought that by 30 i would have it mostly together...turns out that is not the truth.....i am still struggling to make time for God each day, and to have him be Lord over everything in my life. My fear is that i won't be the kind of example that you need of a Christian woman and all that entails. It is then that i realize that that fear can never be overcome without God's DAILY grace and mercy and strength to over come my own selfish desires and will. I pray you will see that in me.
3 years on this earth. I can't wait to see what is to come....
Love you peanut,
Mom