happy 13th birthday, rebekah!

13 years ago she made up parents.
for the first 2 years of her life, she cried.
for the next 4 years of her life, she said, "NO!"

but for the past 6 years she has been nothing but a thoughtful, confident, beautiful, generous little girl that has turned into a young woman before our eyes.

 it was so fun to celebrate her ALL DAY yesterday.
we went to the late service and had a big breakfast (her favorite) and opened her gifts from us.

she and i spent the afternoon together...shopping at a fun, girly store...

 getting pedicures.  this is something she's wanted to do for a long time...and wanted to do this for her party this year. i've fought it and fought it. i just think it's kinda "over the top!" she has friends that get mani/pedi's all.the.time. i didn't get a pedicure until my prom when i was a senior in high school (WHY did i need it then?!? i don't think i wore flip flops?!?) so i compromised and told her we weren't going to do it for her party...but she and i could go together...she was fine with that. and a party of  5 year old girls were next to us - ha! i just wonder what is going to be special for those girls when THEY are 13?? i feel like 13 is too early!!

then i presented her with the MOST precious gift of all. a handful of letters from women in her life that love her...and wrote her with wisdom and encouragement.

 then we arrived home to one last surprise (to both of us!) my parents had stopped by to give her 1 of her gifts :-) (they were on their way to a wedding...)

 then we had her party. she LOVES grilled pizza. so we grilled 12 pizza's in a thunderstorm. and are thankful we survived...and the pizza did, too!

 she wanted just a few girls so that things weren't "crazy." her maturity amazes me.

it was SUCH a joy to celebrate her and her life! we look forward to the teenage years! (pat did some math...we are going to have teenagers for the next 16 years... :/)