My Britt:
God made you so incredibly special! From your fabulous smile to your silly personality to your sweet hands I’m so thankful He made you mine. You bring such a light into every room you enter. You know how to draw people in and everywhere we go you are our most talked about child 🙂 I think everyone wants to kidnap you and take you home with them! You have this natural way to make others feel so special. You always ask lots of questions about how others are doing and genuinely care about even the small details in their lives. You are a great listener and when handed the phone to talk to someone you ask more questions than you do talk about yourself. I think this quality really draws people to you. You always want to make sure everyone around you is happy and are so considerate of everyone’s feelings. When we go to Disney you are careful to not favor riding with one parent over the other and like to make sure we all have fun with you 🙂
You have that special spark, that special “it” factor that can be used for so much good in this world. My prayer for you is that you use the way people admire you to teach them about Jesus. It’s so easy for girls to turn mean and catty and ugly to each other and I pray that you never take that route but instead always consider the feelings of your peers, always be an includer and always build people up around you. I also pray you always keep that strong sense of self you have. You are never shy to sing at the top of your lungs (even if pretty much always off tune ha!) and I constantly catch you looking at yourself in the mirror and smiling. You think you are beautiful. And you are sweet girl. You are beautiful from the inside out and don’t let ANYONE ever make you feel otherwise! Your confidence is something I truly admire and I love that you wear all sorts of crazy accessories and just own it. You don’t care if people laugh at you…in fact you want that reaction from others. I’ve never been a “silly person” myself and I appreciate this quality in you!
This year has been a lot of growth for you and I. Your personality is so different from my own which can often make it difficult for me to understand your perspective. There are times where you just seem to enjoy pushing my buttons and pushing those boundaries with me. We have dealt with a lot of attitude and respect issues and I’m so thankful for your daddy during such times. Having such a hands on dad ensures that these type issues won’t get out of hand and he is able to better understand a lot of your personality traits since you get them from him 😉 The three of us are figuring things out together, but most importantly we’re looking to the Lord for that guidance. For this I’m truly thankful for you. You have allowed me to grow in my parenting. I love that you push me to find new ways to do things. I love how much more involved in God’s Word I’ve become through our trials during this year. I love that I’m becoming a better mom because of you and I pray that in this coming year I can better parent you to your specific, individual needs but that most of all I can parent you through truly utilizing God’s Word in every aspect of your life.
You are our middle child and in so many ways I can see that struggle for you. In many ways you are a “big girl” and in others you are a “little girl.” Sometimes Daddy and I fail to have age appropriate expectations for you. We often assume you’re older than you are or we treat you like you’re younger than you are. I know it’s a tough balance and you manage it so well. You are both an AWESOME younger sister as well as an AMAZING older one. You adore Kye (and are totally in the annoy him to death stage of life ha!) but you equally adore Tess. When she was first born you really didn’t pay much attention to her, but now you love to look out for her, help her with things, share with her, and just talk to her. It makes my heart SO happy to see the bond you already have. I always wanted a sister living in my home with me, and you have that gift! I know you’ll be the best of friends and nothing is cuter than hearing your already natural “baby voice” talk in an even more exaggerated “baby voice” when you talk to her 🙂
I’m very proud of all you have accomplished this year. Weaning from sucking your fingers was a HUGE deal! You just decided it was time and then you did it and you never looked back! I am SO proud of you for that and it’s yet another trait I admire about you. I pray you always have that will power! Of course sometimes that stubbornness can cause us to butt heads…but I see the positives in that as well and know it’s a tool you will be able to use for good in your future.
You love school and have learned so much this year. You also have started to blossom in Sunday school class and your teachers are always telling me how smart, attentive, and caring you are. You make me proud every single day! You have so many friends in your class at school and so many of your classmates consider you their “best friend” which is so precious. Your classmates go to school 5 days a week but I keep you home with me for two of the days. You enjoy the time with Tess and I but you also would rather be at school. I think you miss snack time the most as I hear from your teachers how you GRUB out! You love sweets and especially chocolate. You are still a picky eater (meal time is our main source of head butting struggles) and would rather spend your time entertaining at the dinner table than eating your food!
I’ve been asked before about what I want for my girls when they grow up. I’m a stay at home mom and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I hope you follow in my path. I pray that I’m the kind of wife and mother that you want to be when you become an adult. I pray you find a man worthy of your love and who will lead your family to Heaven. I would be so honored if you chose to stay home with your babies like I have with you. I am so passionate about being your mom and I truly love my “job.” I never take it for granted that I am able to be part of every part of your day. I love being able to be there for every school event and I love being the one to prepare each of your meals for you (even if you do struggle to eat them!). I love our quality time. I love our cuddles. I love our bond and my ability to spend as much quality time with you as I possible can. You will grow up before I know it and I’ll never regret having this time with you. I hope if it’s your desire to be home with your children that you will be able to do so. I know you may have other career goals in life and of course I will support you in all that you do! You are so smart and have such a great personality that I’m sure whatever you put your mind to will be able to happen for you (especially with that head strong stubborn side!)
I’ve seen so much change in you during this year. You really went from “little kid” to “big kid.” When we started the “Big Kid Club” you were so pumped to be a member! You take the big kid role very seriously and love being a little adult in many ways. I was always like that as a kid myself and love that you have such a great balance of being mature yet also being so silly. You truly bring FUN wherever you go! You are so appreciative of all the fun things we do together and you make them extra special by just being you. I have LOVED all of our trips together this year. You were SO stinking cute when we went skiing and did so awesome on that mega long car ride. You are my beach loving girl and are just so happy at the ocean in a way where I can tell it’s your happy place. Plus, duh, Disney is awesome with you by my side! I do think you prefer the beach to Disney and that’s okay, I won’t hold it against you 😉 You were daring this year and tried out all the fast rides with the boys but decided they aren’t your style. Which I’m secretly thankful for b/c that means you and I can do our own thing while the boys tackle the fast stuff! Seeing you meet Elsa and Anna was one of my favorite moments this year. Oh my goodness you were SO PRECIOUS!!! I cried!
My favorite memory from this year with you though was def our girls trip together. Man it was amazing. We really just needed that time in a way that I didn’t realize until after we were back home. You may not have a lasting change from it for you, but it did change me in a big way. I feel such a deeper connection with you and a better appreciation for you and a stronger bond together with you. Quality time is my love language and what better place to have that quality time than Disney? From start to finish it was just straight up magic and seeing the joy on your face and holding your hand and laughing and singing princess songs at the top of our lungs…it was all just one big bubble of happy and something that I will NEVER forget. I’m so so thankful we had that trip together and I’m so so thankful for the gift of having YOU as my daughter!
I know there will be times in life where you may feel stuck in the middle. Or where you may think you are less special to me b/c I have two daughters, not just one, but that’s not the case. You will FOREVER and EVER be special to me. I always tell you that I prayed and prayed for a daughter from the time I was a little girl. And God answered my prayer when He gave me YOU. I will never, ever forget that moment when they said “it’s a girl!” and laid you on my belly. A girl. MY girl. My precious, perfect baby girl. I want the world for you and I want that best friend bond for us as you grow up. I know it may not always seem like it. I know I am not your best friend now, nor will I be anytime soon. But every decision I make, every time I tell you “no”, every time I discipline you, it’s all because I love you SO much and it’s all for the purpose of raising you to understand how to honor God and how to be the best YOU possible. I want the world for you and I cannot wait until you are an adult and able to be my best buddy. I also can’t wait to experience every single moment from now until then with you 🙂
I know many bumps lie in the path ahead but I also know, without a doubt, that we will face them together. I’m always in your corner. I’m always going to be your biggest cheerleader. I’m always, always, always going to have your back and be right here for you. I will listen when needed, give advice when asked, and keep my opinions to myself the best I can when you need to figure things out on your own. But even when we don’t see eye to eye I will never stop loving you or stop being your supporter. You never, ever will have to question that. Ever. I may fail at many things in this life but I am promising you in this area I will not fail. I am your mother and my love for you will never falter!
I’m so thankful for this past year. I’m so blessed to be able to experience life with you and create our fun memories together. I’m thankful for your continued good health and never take that for granted. I am so proud of you for being YOU and for loving Jesus the way you do. You have started to understand things on a deeper level and are really developing your own faith and your own relationship with God. I can’t wait to see how that grows and changes in this coming year and I love answering your questions about faith and I love seeing God’s word through your perspective.
I’m so excited for this coming year for you. I know you are SUPER pumped about being 4 and I can’t wait to experience making more special memories together! It’s going to be tough on my heart to send you to school all 5 days in the fall and I’m going to be cherishing our mornings together until that time comes. I know so many great things are ahead for you Britt. I’m so proud of you and so confident that this year will be your best yet!
Happy Birthday my sweet girl! I love you from your head all the way to your toes! You are my sunshine!
Love,
Mommy xoxo
Past Birthday letters to Britt from Mommy:
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