Another teenager in our midst

She turned thirteen today. . .

a milestone achieved in a young girls heart

to call herself a teenager.

Most of today's society would cringe at the thought of having a teenager in their brood; when society thinks of teenagers often words like ‘problem’, ‘trouble’, ‘attitude’ and ‘lazy’ come to mind.

But that could be further from the truth, for I say "Praise the Lord for teenagers," especially the ones I have been blessed to raise!  It is an encouragement to me to see Anne step up in responsibility and be able to successfully embrace life and handle many situations all on her own accord, with little or no supervision from her father and I.  We are watching her grow into a very beautiful, godly woman right before our eyes. 

She loves her sisters and brother and it shows everytime she spends a moment with them.  She is more than helpful around the house taking over many chores to unburden my shoulders - she can cook an incredible Golden Ribbons Pasta dish.  She is completely gaga over couponing and has a strict "hands off - MOM" policy when it comes to her coupon binder!  Raising teenagers is challenging at times; so many mixed emotions running rampid inside of their bodies - they have to come out somehow.  It's how I chose to respond to all of that emotion and the question I keep on asking myself is, "Do I have their heart forever?"  If I have their heart, I can manage through the worst of the emotions.

I wasn't sure if she was going to make it through her "pepperoni and gold fish" stage when she was two, the stage of carrying around a bucket because she thought she'd be sick and throw-up, the stage where she sucked her fingers way too long , the stage where she just had to wear glasses even though she didn't need them because her eyesight was perfect, or even her twelfth, or eleventh  birthday, but she did and now she's going to enter another stage of her life - being a teenager!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!  We wish you so many more wonderful years.  Love, Momma, Dad, Sarah, Hannah, Lindsay, Abby and George