celebrating Madyline Grace

Today we are celebrating 16 years of our first born, Madyline.

Named after my grandmother, she's like her in a lot of ways - beautiful in a stunningly understated way - head strong and always right - able to create magnificence from anything on hand - full of stories and a talent for writing that can make even an every day letter something beyond interesting, but fun -

Miss Madi - with huge ideas, dreams often bigger than her britches. It's always an adventure around you. You make big things happen (or you die or kill all of us trying). May God give you the dreams that are worth all your energy - and may you open your arms to let him carry your energy along as you pursue those dreams.

Madyline - with your great sence of justice. You have always, always had a strong vein of needing to see justice prevail. My tagline to you over the years has been "life isn't always FAIR - but if you choose to see it, you'll realize life is GOOD. There is a difference. " May your sense of justice be your greatest strength instead of a great vice. May you learn to spend it on things that truly matter and learn the paths to best find ways to find opportunities to right the things that are truly unjust.

Madi - who is at her very best with little ones. You naturally scoop them up into your arms and are immediately both silly friend and comforter. No matter where we've gone, Michigan, Rwanda, South Africa, Zimbabwe.... it takes about 5 minutes for you to have little ones following you along, vying for your attention. I remember your second year of Holiday Club, when you had the second graders... I'd pop into the group and find you teaching them all to memorize a bible story, complete with actions and a tidy little moral at the end.... and they were loving it. May you keep that sense of joy and excitement and nurturing, not only with little ones, but with everyone in your life. May you never misplace your sense of wonder.

Madi- who gets excited about new cultures and isn't afraid to jump right in to experience them. You are the only one who stepped up and asked if you could collect water from the spring in Zimbabwe. You even carried it the kilometer back on your head. In Rwanda, you engaged with a street seller and before we knew what was happening, she was giving you a lesson on carrying a basket of bananas on your head. In NYC you were haggling with street vendors in China Town by the time you were 5, guiding us around the city by subway and taxi by the time you were 8, and remember the time you started a stoplight conversation with a limo driver and the next thing we knew, we were all piling inside to ride in style to our show at the theatre?

Madyline we adore you. We adore who you are. We pray for your blooming life every single day. And we promise to walk with you through all that lies ahead. You are our treasure.

And we celebrate you.

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