It's Official

I am now the parent of a teenager. Today Madeline turns 13, and today I have a brighter outlook on raising this special girl. Madeline has always kept me on my toes, ever since she was just a wee babe, but these past few years have been filled with unique challenges. But today I have hope. Hope that she will grow into a fine young woman and lead a successful life.

Without getting into the details of the challenges, I would just like to thank my dear mother for her words of wisdom and gentle nudging to take Madeline to see a very special doctor in Hermiston. We went to Dr. Kris yesterday on the eve of her 13th birthday, and he helped me understand her so much better and so today I have hope that I can be the support system that she needs. That is the best feeling ever.

Madeline has always been a special child. She is a joy to call my daughter and she has some really wonderful talents...today, for her birthday post, I would like to discuss some of those.

• She is generous. She loves to give, give, give. On Sunday it was Friendship Day. Did you know that? Well, I didn't. But Madeline did. And she went to church with gifts in hand for her friends.
  

• She is a good friend. On Monday, I mentioned a beloved sister from our ward who passed away. Well that was a particularly hard situation because that sister was one of Madeline's best friends' grandmother, who was also this young girl's only guardian. Losing her was the equivalent of Madeline losing me. It was hard for Madeline and she was concerned for her friend and I have seen a really loving and caring side of her throughout this experience.

• She is creative. She loves to make things. She has helped with sewing some of her own clothes, she loves to make cards, she loves creative projects, and she is good at them.

• She has a good ear for music. She follows in my footsteps in the music department. She loves all kinds of music and listens to everything from Van Morrison to Rihanna to Rosemary Clooney. The girls got great taste!

• She is athletic. She loves to play sports. She was in dance for several years and did really well in that. She has also played softball for years and is a valuable and consistent player on her teams. She also tried volleyball last year and won the award for most improved. She tried really hard and is looking forward to playing again this year.

She is a wonderful young woman and she tries hard to choose the right always and keep her standards high. She started a blog a while back (it's private) and I was immediately impressed with her ability to customize the features and choose the content that she would post about. Her blog is called "12 and Fashionable"...but today, she will have to change that to "13 and Fashionable."

Happy Birthday Madeline!