FIVE!

Little miss Opal is now five years old. A friend told me recently of a tradition her mother-in-law had of writing each one of her children(she had 8 of them!) a letter on their birthday. So now, as adults, all of her children have a stack of letters from their mother documenting who they were and how they were loved each year of their life.

 I know I am pretty late in the game to start that out now but hey, better late than never... right?

Dear Opal,

  Today you are five. We celebrated by having a backwards day(your idea of course). We slept in our clothes the night before, woke up and ate spaghetti for "dinner" and in the evening changed into our Jammies and ate a big egg "breakfast" . We even had cinnamon roll cake! It was a very fitting way to celebrate a girl as silly, creative and fun as you.  

  Your middle name, calliope, means "filled with beautiful music and poetry" and you are exactly that. You are constantly making us smile as you twirl, sing, and dance your way through your days. You are filled to the brim with contagious joy and your smile can melt me on my gloomiest days. You spend your days searching for the perfect dress-up outfit and dancing from one adventure to the next. No day is complete without a colorful drawing, a piece of art dripping with glue and glitter, a lovingly sculpted lump of play-dough or a boldly painted Opal original. You are an artist of the truest kind... one who creates for no reason other than the sheer joy of it.

  You are full of surprises and silliness of the best kind. You are almost always up for an adventure and always ready for an audience. You command attention without even knowing it. 

  Like the rest of us, you have struggles. Right now you are learning what it means to have a baby brother. You were the most excited out of all the kids to have a new baby but it has been the biggest adjustment for you as well. You love Ezra with all of your heart but there are days that you wish there were more attention to go around(and usually you manage to find it... for good or bad). I am sure this phase,like all others, will pass. You will undoubtedly have other struggles but no matter what your struggle....I will always love you and walk with you as you figure them out.

  My little girl, you are loved. So deeply loved, by your heavenly Father(who has so graciously placed you in our care), by me and your dad, by your sisters and brothers and by a whole gaggle of friends and family that you have won over with your toothy grin and silly song. May this year be full of amazing adventure and growth. May you continue your path to finding out more about this crazy world and move just a little bit(but not too much) closer to becoming the amazing woman I know you will be. 

  Love to you today and for always.

              Mom