Hailey's 13th Birthday Interview

Hailey Faith's Birthday is next Monday. She is about to turn 13! She is our first born and what a blessing she to us! It is so obvious why these years have come to be called the TWEENS because we see this struggle happening within our precious daughter. The struggle between childhood and being a young lady. She had grown so fast over the last year especially! Besides the fact that she is in my shoe size (9!) and almost as tall as me; she is also maturing in her interests as well. She is a "fun lover" by nature, so I think part of her struggle is not being quite sure that she likes the changes she is experiencing from the inside out. I think she is not quite sure if it is still OK to be 'fun' - yet at the same time...she is excited about the and realizes these new things are 'fun too'...so she inches forward to embrace them.

We thought we would take this opportunity to introduce her new project. Hailey is starting her own blog called Heroine of Faith . If you would like to visit or follow her there she would love the encouragment. It might be a little slow going until fall with all the new farm activities of the season, but this is a "school" excersize for her to practice her developing English and Communication skills in a fun way so it will be ongoing.

Hailey has become such an amazing helper to me in the home. She LOVES to keep the home and she has learned so much so fast. She has more homemaking skills entering into her 13th year than I had when I married at 26!! She slings Chazaq around on her hip like seasoned momma and changes a diapers like a pro! Not to mention her Hebrew is stronger than mine and she plays piano like I always wished I could! What a joy it has been for me provide an environment for her to blossom and excel in so many ways as a growing maiden! I don't know who it blesses more; me, her, her future husband or the generations to come! But what I do know, is that YHVH is faithful and when we walk in His ways and follow His lead for our lives, the rewards far outwiegh anything we could have done on our own!!

I could go on and on about my precious growing girl...watching her grow up makes me want to freeze time for the rest of them...(because it hurts so good) but I know that is not right - so instead I will try to remember to number our days and treat them as preciously as they true are!!

Instead of having her birthday interview with the rest of the kids, she wanted to do it after they all went to bed. Girls like those quiet talks with mom when they get older you know! However, I quickly learned that her and her brother (Elijah) had already conspired. His birthday is one month later...so they worked out a couple deals between them with their birthday plans! :-) She was still undecided about what her main event should be though. I suggested we look through some of our books for inspiration. We got out Kids Love Tennessee and Fun with the Family in Alabama to see look for something speical to do. She had it narrowed down to two choices that she was very excited about. One was called Constitution Village (An open air historical museum in Hunstsville AL) or a Really Large Flea market! Hmmm... she chose the flea market! The one we saw in the book was over 3 hours away, so we decided that was too far to go...but that we would hunt for a really big one closer and with the help of Pappa asking around, we think we found one. We are going to celebrate on Sunday, and they are open on that day too. She is so very excited! She is hoping for birthday money from Grandparents to spend at the market. :-)

We have a special gift waiting for her too, which I can not reveal, because she likes to read our blog and I don't want the surprise spoiled, but I bet she will post about it. :-)

For her birthday meals she has chosen:
Breakfast - Cherry Shaker Cake , because we can make it ahead and "get on the road" to the flea market.

Lunch- Flea Market Food of her choice! Which will include some sort of birthday treat (instead of having cake at home)

Family Style Dinner Theater - She has requested broccoli cheese baked potatoes and a movie. She has chosen 'UP' for the movie. This was one of those moments where she stopped and questioned herself as far as maturity. She also confessed this was the "part" that her and Elijah had conspired about. She really wanted to see the movie, but felt like maybe she was getting to "big" for a cartoon. I reassured her that this was a family event, and daddy reassured her that it was one of HIS favorite movies...so she thought maybe it was an OK selection after all. ;-) We watch so little TV just occasional movies/documentaries and teachings now and then (and actually this has to go on our computer screen because we don't have a TV in the house anymore). So it is a real treat.

Signed,
The Most Blessed Mamma in the World!