Sweet 16

Here are a few photos and thoughs of our marvelous and talented daughter.  She is a wonderful girl with many gifts.  She has done so much growing in her 16th year already, and been to so many places and had so many experiences.  She is mature for her age and oh-so-thoughtful about many things.  She is already learning what it is like to be a college student with taking a few college classes along with her high school classes.  Some experiences have been phenominal like all her travels, and others have been soul-stretching and painful.  Growing up in this world as a teenage girl can be very challenging.  She has so many opportunities, people, family, mentors, and friends that love her and think the world of her.  She has grown up in a beatufiul world and community with many educational benefits in our public schools.  And most of all, we love her.  She is a blessing to our family and is so quick to obey and help here at home.  She is conscientious and courteous.  Fun and funny with a quick whit.

We did something a little extra special because it was her Sweet 16.  We got her a cool chair for her birthday and we went shopping for it everywhere.  Not kidding.  Took a couple weeks and many different stores. At first she wanted a fuzzy white chair but that was a little too expensive, so we found the perfect alternative- a fuzzy white pillow instead!  Awesome!  We served her favorite meal- taco salad.  She eventually got together with friends the next weekend even though she made it clear it wasn't a "party."

16 Sweet Things about this Girl
1. She is sweet, truly sweet.
2. Music rings from her.  Her daily piano playing MELTS my heart and makes my soul sing. When she is happy and when she is sad- we find her making music.  She has a great capacity for playing many instruments. (we found a wall in downtown Minneapolis and this is HER wall!)

3. Very senstive to things going on around her.
4. Very thoughtful.
5. Has the best laugh.  I've never heard anyone laugh like her and just hearing it makes me laugh.
6. She loves to read and think
7. Chasing sunsets (might even say a slight obsession with sunsets and lakes)- she loves nature and looking at light and the sky (I love this photo because it shows her love of nature and also her silly side).

8. Loves hiking and nature walks
9. Deep thinker and introverted.  She gets renewal by thinking, reading, drawing, piano, cello, etc.
10. Artistic.  Beautiful at drawing.
11. I love her long dark hair and how it reminds me that she and her sister and I all come from a line of extremely thick hair.
12. Dedicated to taking good care of herself and working out often
13. Self-motivated and organized
14. Loves to travel (I like this photo because it shows her with two loves- her cello and her map of travels!)

15. Leadership skills
16. Tender hearted

We decked the halls for her birthday dinner.

And these are her Sweet 16 photos from a photographer friend of ours.  I love my daughter with all my heart.  She is so special to me and my family.

"Mi Hija" opens her mission call

All the stars alligned just right, and my daughter (Spanish translation: mi hija) received her mission call early one Friday morning.  This also happened to be the day she and her roommates were heading to Salt Lake City to spend the weekend at her roommate's home to have some fun and go hiking.

She was able to take her mission call with her.  Her roommate's parents had the graciousness to allow J to open her call there.  Not only did they allow her to do that, but they also let her invite her Minnesota friends attending BYU in Provo to come up and join in and then eat dinner.  Idaho relatives then google-chatted with them and us here in Minnesota during the moment she opened her call.  Even though we weren't there in person, it felt like we were, and even though we couldn't host all those kids, the mother there did it just as I would have.  It was all such a blessing and helped my mother heart with this whole process of letting my child go far away for 18 months.  It helped me realize that even though I am not there to manage the details, the Lord is-- and he knows our needs and desires.  He is watching out for her, too, because she is just as much His daughter as she is mine.

It was a very exciting moment to hear her say "You have been called to serve for a period of 18 months in the Lima Peru West mission."  It was an even bigger surprise to hear her say that she would report to the Missionary Training Center in Lima Peru to learn the Spanish language.  Wow!  Holy Smokes!  Yippee-ay-aye!  No-that is too far away!  Yep- all of that at once!  Tears of joy and fear all at once.  It was simply amazing.

She was just thrilled.  She was pretty elated and had an amazing weekend in Salt Lake to celebrate.

They went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate, the Capitol, hiking, shopping, and to the SLC Temple.

Second Semester of College

My oldest daughter continue to shine accademically as she applied herself to serious study.  I love that she still made time for working out, church activities, spending time with roommates, and having fun.  She had a really fun time going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for her communications class.  She had to write a marketing brochure about visiting there.  More hiking along with trips to Idaho Falls and Salt Lake made for an enjoyable semester full of new experiences and learning.  And one of the sweetest things was that she and 2 of her other roommates experienced receiving their mission calls.  It was a blessing having eachother to prepare for their missions together.