Five years old!

Today Elisabeth turned five. Five! It feels so significant to me; for five years I have been someone's mama. This little girl has created so much change in me in the half-decade that she has journeyed with me. My little girl, my fierce, tender one. My firstborn child, she who made me a mama. She entered this world with the same ferocity with which she continues to live her life, and quickly turned our lives upside down. She has motivated us in so many ways ~ as parents, as individuals. I have learned more from her and through her than I would've been able to in many lifetimes had she never joined me. What a gift she has been, in her intensity, her force of will, in her needs that we have learned to meet as best we can. In this challenging, spirited child, I see my own flaws reflected back at me as through a microscope, and sometimes I feel like I am facing my own ugliest self. The awe-inspiring thing about a child is the ability to transform that very ugliness into beauty and growth for both of us.

As fierce as Elisabeth is, as individual, and sometimes stubborn, she is a generous, creative, fresh, and deeply sensitive soul. She approaches empathy and tenderness as vehemently as she approaches everything else.

I am amazed by her "five-ness" in so many ways already ~ she seems at once so much like a "big kid" now and still so small. I just can't wait to discover what this year holds for all of us. Many new adventures, no doubt.

Happy birthday, sweet girl. What a joy it is to celebrate your presence in our lives!