A post so full of sweetness your teeth will ache afterwards

Today will be photo overload. Proceed with caution. Or not.

My amazing friend Lindy sent home some dresses for our girls. Big deal, huh? Welllllll, they aren't just any dresses! They are dresses made from KIKOIS! And, let me tell you. Have mercy at the cuteness you are about to witness. It's almost more than I can handle.

The good news is that Lindy also sent back a TRUNKLOAD of stuff (along with lots and lots of kikois) all hand made in Kenya. I'm helping with a big fundraiser in early October and once that's over I'll open the Kenyan goodies up to you, here on my blog. I'm telling you, this stuff is AWESOME. Save up your dollars now ladies. Save 'em up.

And yes, I KNOW I'm going to overuse CAPS and italics in this post. But seriously. If you think the caps are loud and the italics are over the top YOU SHOULD BE INSIDE MY HEAD.

On with the photos. I'm posting so many because I promised Lindy good pictures of the girls in their dresses and do you know how stinkin' hard it is to get a good photo of a 6 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and 4 month old?

Impossible, I think.

Here's the best only one I got of all 4 of them where someone didn't have their eyes closed and Ella wasn't trying to eat her dress or Elizabeth's. And this one is good. Even though Ella is clearly more enamored with her oldest brother than me by this point.

Oh my word at the sweetness. I seriously wanna just squeeze them all until they scream. But then I'd regret it because can I just tell you how dramatic a certain 2 of my girls are. Especially those two on the left.

Their wails can make my ears bleed.

Of course, Ashlee is a baby hog, so the first chance she got to sit up by Ella and "read" to her, she did. I love how it looks like Ella is reading along with her.


But that baby hogging and sweetness was short lived because approximately 37 seconds after that photos was taken, I snapped this one.


That girl LOVES her bike. Which is hysterical because this time last year she would only walk beside it and push it. Except she thought she was riding it because when I would ask her, "Ashlee, don't you want to ride?" She'd exclaim, "I am!"

Riiiight. Except you're not.

Elizabeth is OBSESSED with our neighbor's cats. We've told her she can only pet them when our neighbors are outside and, clearly, her ear is finely tuned to the sound of our neighbor's door opening. When they are not outside, she stands just inside our yard and stares at them, like this.

Well, not exactly like that because, you know, she's looking at me in that one. But you get the idea.

And this little girl. Well, I just wanna scoop her up and eat her. I mean, when she's not busy being dramatic which is apparently her new hobby. Ashlee has officially been dethroned as Drama Queen. Queen Olivia has recrowned Ashlee but a mere princess of all things drama. I think explosive drama must come in small packages, don't you?

Good thing she's cute.

And this girl, well, I'm still adjusting to the fact that she SIX. And while I'm adjusting to her new age, she's already begun telling me stories about "Back when I was 5 years old." Yeah. That was just 2 days ago. Slow down, missy.

In this next series of photos I'd like for you to take special notice of each of the big girls' agendas. I told them to "model." Apparently, modeling to Ashlee means work.it.girl. While modeling to Elizabeth means make-sure-Olivia-is-in-the-photo-nomatter-how-many-times-your-Mom-says-to-put-her-down.

Seriously, scroll down and watch them independently. Wow. Just...wow.








Clearly my off handed instruction of "put your hand on your hip or something" was taken seriously by Ashlee. Work it sassy. Work.it.

The next one is great of the older two and I thought Olivia would be a modeling whiz too except that she decided at the last second to bend over behind her sister which makes it look like Elizabeth has the lowest kneecap known to man.

Then I started losing them so naturally we had to do a shot of "Crazy face!"

I don't know what Ashlee is raising her hand for in this photo. Maybe she thought I said "Who wants more drama?" when I clearly said, "Who can look at Momma?"

Oh well. At least I finally got Olivia in there with the older two. Even though she decided it was time for a serenade. Did I mention she sings a lot? And by a lot I mean anytime she's awake.

This is Ashlee, mid camera click leaning forward to ask, "Can I see that one? I wanna see it!"

And, showing Elizabeth some birthday love.

Clearly, never a dull moment around here. Which is fine with me, because I love it that way.

Now, who wants to buy a kikoi and make their little girl a dress just like these? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

Six

Today our firstborn turns six years old.

Six.

Seriously. Where did the time go? I know for a fact that it was only a year or so ago that I held her new little self in my arms and marveled at the fact that the nurses and doctors actually let us bring her home. Clearly, we'd somehow slipped through the hospital's cracks because we seriously had no clue how to be parents.

Six years later, I still stand in awe of this precious little girl and I'm still struggling to figure out this whole motherhood thing. My bald headed, easy going baby is now a beautiful, curly headed young girl and sometimes I look at her and she just takes my breath away.

I'm not quite sure why God chose to bless us with this treasure but He did and I am forever blessed by His goodness in her. Completely loving, the best big sister any sibling could ask for, she's never too far from a younger brother or sister who needs a little help. In fact, quite often lately, a favorite of her and Olivia is this:

If you think either of them is disliking this set up, think again. Olivia couldn't be happier resting right there on her big sister's hip. And Elizabeth, well, she couldn't be more delighted that Olivia requests to be held, often exclusively, by her.

Now that my baby is moving into new phases of independence I find my heart soaring with joy and breaking with sorrow all in the same breath. How my heart overflows when I hear her speak to others with kindness and grace, knowing that she desires to please us and the Lord with her actions and words. At in the next moment, my mother's heart tears apart, knowing that this is just the beginning of me having to let go and not always answer the questions asked of her. Watching her grow up seemingly day by day, even minute by minute, and her have thoughts and questions and ideas that are original to her little self is amazing and sad. How can my little girl already be able to be so independent of me?!

But she is. And my heart overflows with pride for being her mother. This tender hearted hazel eyed girl is so concerned with the well fare of others. "Do they have food Momma?" and if they don't, "How will their tummies get full?"

Seeing her experience the hurt of this world, in limited portions, and knowing that it hurts her fragile heart is sometimes more than I can bear. Knowing that she's able to experience and remember such hurts makes me want to lock her away so that her innocent spirit won't get damaged and her desire to change the world will always be pure.

But I know that would do her much more harm than good. And as I sit back and soak in the conversations that we are now having, discussions of life and theories and understandings that her six year old mind can comprehend, I savor every second.

She's gone from a toddler who we've had to explain the world to, to a young girl who is able to understand the things around her, understand her God and see the world with eyes of her own. It's so much fun to sit and talk with her about the mundane and the majestic. Seeing the world, fresh, through her eyes makes me fall in love with her all over again.

Never too serious for a laugh or a little sassiness, she makes me realize, daily, that I have the best job in the world. We laugh together regularly and I love watching her wit grow and her sense of humor develop.

And it's because of her that I can never doubt that God's plans are ultimately best. For the heart of a man can plan his way but the Lord establishes his steps (Prov. 16:9). This tiny little miracle that entered our lives 6 years ago showed me that my plans were futile. The Lord knew that deeply rooted in me was a desire to be a Mother. And it was with her first breath that He granted me a life I never even realized I wanted. With the beginnings of her tiny heartbeat, He transformed in me a heart that would have been forever separate from Him. And I also believe that He placed within our little girl and heart sold our for the Lord. She continually amazes us with her understanding of a mighty God, His marvelous mercy and His compassion for hurting people.

How I pray that Luke and I can equip her for the purposes of God's kingdom, whatever they may be.

Our sweet birthday princess. We love you more than words could explain! Happy #6 baby girl. You make our hearts overflow.