Look Who's FIVE!

I can barely bring myself to write this. How can I be putting together a birthday blessing for my baby.... Age FIVE?! Five is a milestone. A big one. It is HUGE.
When my little girl was born, I held her so close all night long. Every minute that passed I remember thinking: "She's one minute older. Wow, the seconds are just ticking away". Then 4am came and I remember thinking, "this is the first 4am of her life!" It was Friday, and I naturally thought, "wow, I am holding someone who has never experienced a Friday!" then Saturday. Then Sunday. I thought about the time passing, and all her first, and seconds, and thirds ALL the time!

Nothing had ever touched those little hands before! I would begin thinking about how new she was all over again. I was purely and simply awestruck. Have you ever thought about how many things your hands touch in an hour, or a day. Now think about your life so far and how many different things that your hands have touched. It's a lot. So to comprehend just how pure and perfect and new she was was beyond me and it awed me constantly. Not surprisingly, when she was hours old I tried to savor every minute of that newness. I knew it wouldn't last and I didn't want to take a second of it for granted. And I thought about the day that she would turn five. I wondered what she would be like. What would her personality be like? Would she love to dance and sing? What would her favorite color be? Would she be a Tom boy or girly girl? Would she love dresses or hate them? Would she keep her highlighted hair and blue eyes?

Well here we are. My little one is five. I have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.

Here she is.

More beautiful and wonderful than I could ever have imagined. She is creative and artsy, but doesn't like a mess, especially on her hands.

She is girly right to the core. Dresses must be fancy, "twirly" and worn everyday.

She is kind and caring. She has always shared well and taken care of others.
But she is the boss, and don't you forget it!

I can't believe all the memories that you can make in 5 years. I will never forget raspberry picking with her. 3 years old an already an addiction!

She has always loved the beach. This is her first time at the beach with her feet in the sand.

And her first Pumpkin Festival at the farm.
She's the cutest little pumpkin in the patch!

Ug, that ridiculous Dora hat that started it all! That hat was a gift from her Uncle Matt.
Before that, she didn't know who Dora was.
She quickly learned and fell in love.

And the unforgettable "TRIANGLE"!
Ask me about that sometime.

Five years. I can't believe it. I knew it would go by fast, but that was really fast.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! The first five have been incredible. We have loved watching you grow and learn. We are excited to continue to experience life with you. And this is our prayer for you: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

*This is a catch-up blog post. Larissa turned 5 in November 2010