happy birthday, rebekah

it's rebekah's birthday today. she's 6. i'm a little (ok, a lot) in "reminiscing" mode - since it's her birthday AND she's about to start 1st grade - so bear with me. you're about to get a whole lot of history and my thoughts.

when pat and i found out we were pregnant with rebekah we were in shock for AWHILE. this wasn't my plan. and i live by my plans. we weren't ready...emotionally, financially. or at least we didn't think we were. i was only in my 2nd year of teaching, yet i knew i wanted to stay home with my kids. i decided to quit teaching (can it be called "retiring" after only 2 years??) and stay home. with pat's current salary at the time, we weren't going to be able to have enough money to buy groceries - only to pay the rent and utilities for our 1 bedroom apartment. i remember going to the christian bookstore one day and i found a ring that's silver and says, "faith" all the way around it. i bought it (shouldn't have - we had no money!) because it was all i had to cling to - faith that God was going to provide, faith that He wasn't surprised by our news, faith that this was His plan. Rebekah's middle name is faith. and i still wear that ring every day of my life. the month that Rebekah was born a job literally fell in pat's lap (a guy he knew called him and offered him a job). it met our needs. God was faithful. and He has continued to be. and He will continue to be. that's just who He is.

Rebekah has been an intense, little girl since the moment she was born. she has such a heart for people - she loves to be around people, she loves to be watching people. she has been the source of so many extreme emotions in me that i didn't know i had....frustration, anger, joy, amazement. we definitely didn't have the "wow, this parenting thing is so easy" experience with our first child. truly, i'm surprised we had another child when i think back on some of those days. most days she seems years beyond her age - in the phrases she says and the expressions on her face. yet she loves to sit on her daddy's lap and read books. she will give a hug to ANYONE - she LOVES hugs. she gets VERY upset when one of her siblings is hurt or near danger - i love to see the care for them she has. she is very patient with their "younger" needs...i guess partly because it's always been a part of her life.

i pray she continues to grow in Him...that she would become a woman of strong character, that she would use her intensity to love Him and others INTENSELY, that she would always think of others before herself.