a thirteen year old Pookie

So I don't know about y'all, but I'm thinking life needs to slooooow down. Good grief. The Pook is a teenager.

Teenager. 

Which seems nearly impossible.

Since I just went through the valley of the shadow of death to give birth to her yesterday.

Seriously. My first baby is a teenager. I am still processing it. I know, I know. Get used to it. There are three more behind her and it's just the beginning. But I'm still just wondering how this happened so dang fast!

I'll let you in on a little secret though.

I'm kinda diggin' it.

Maybe because we've loved teenagers for forever. Or because she's so darn funny these days that I bend over at the waist in laughter at her and with her. Or because she's manifested 100 new facial expressions lately that are downright hysterical. Or because she's been so helpful in recent days and so thankful for what she has and just pretty much a gem to be around.

Maybe it's because she sends me texts just to say "i love you, mom" while she's upstairs and I'm downstairs. It's all of this and more. My sweet and funny Pookie is thirteen. Wow. We took her to Uncle Julio's {the best Mexican food in the world} the weekend before her birthday...her bestie, Emma, tagged along all the way from out of state. This was a huge surprise for KG and she was stoked. And my mom and sister came up on her actual birthday for some lovin' and lemonade cake {and to give her some presents!} Suweet! Mom and Dad got her several things but among her favorites, were her last needed Harry Potter hardback and some HP bookends. She loved it all.

Kennedy has talked countless times about how much she wants to join the military when she's older. Specifically, the Navy. I'm not sure why. She's pretty adamant about it at this point though. Who knows? She may keep sensing this leading. She may not. But she's also dying to join our school's JROTC this next school year. It's steep...$1500 for the year. And Jase and I are working hard to try and save this extra $ so she can follow through with it. She asks so little...doesn't play sports or take dance or anything really except piano. We so want to do this for her and let her join. Time will tell if we are able to or not. She participated in a "shadow day" a few weeks ago where she got to see how it works and what she would be doing on a typical Tues/Thursday. It'd be so great for her. Mom and Dad surprised her with a $100 bill to go toward her JROTC aspirations. Really unexpected and sweet.

So we decided to get her a few little Navy gifts {tshirt and hat} since we knew she'd love those. And she asked for some weights, so she could bulk up her 70lb tiny frame and be ready for the Navy when the time came. We bought her a yoga mat to work out on, a pair of 7.5lb weights to go with her 2 and 5lb ones that she already had and a rack to keep them all on.

We also made her two wooden signs like our Scripture one that now hangs in our master bathroom. Kennedy's favorite quote {outside of the Bible} is Twain's "Sail away from the safe harbor." She has it everywhere. On the toes of her Chucks {"Sail" on the left foot, "Away" on the right}, scribbled on paper in her room, her notebooks, etc. So that was an easy choice for the first sign.

The second is likened to it. Only the man who said it was perfect. "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." We thought these two complimented each other well and have the same sentiment. And both we hope, are true for Kennedy. That she will do hard things. That she will not play it safe all the time. And that her life will be lost in what matters most, Jesus.

Happy 13th birthday, Kennedy Grace! We love you more than you know. Our prayer for you is that you would see the beauty in losing your life for His sake, all the while knowing that finding it in Him is infinitely better than anything this world has to offer. Sail away from the safe harbor, baby girl.

~Mama & Daddy

Joel showing his Aunt KK that he's a "good reader!"