My sweet baby girl turns four years old today.

Four.

My, my, where has the time gone? I cannot begin to wrap my mama mind around this fact. In the last year, Julia has become such a big little girl and has shed so many of the baby things she use to do. It’s all very bitter sweet. She started preschool, learned to swim, learned to write her name {along with her ABC’s}, started “reading” sight words and became a big sister a second time.

Dear sweet Julia Mabel,

I can’t begin to tell you what a joy you are in my life. Not to mention just how helpful you are around the house! Your infectious laughter, your desire to care for Hannah and Joseph and your never ending love for learning are just a few things that I love about you. In this last year, you’ve started asking more and more questions about the world around you. Honestly, sometimes it gets a little overwhelming for your mama, but I am so happy to be the person you trust to ask and learn from. Some of the best “Q & A” times are when you start asking about Jesus. Who He is, what He has done and how it applies to you. Each time I can see in your eyes how God is using these moments to reveal Himself to you. Then there are the songs you’ve learned at school that you are constantly singing and teaching to Hannah. My personal favorite has been your rendition of “Frosty the Snowman” which goes like this “Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy soul, he was made of snow on the hills of woe…”

You are a beautiful and sweet girl. It is my constant prayer that God uses you in powerful ways. That you allow not only your strengths, but your weaknesses, to be a testimony of how great your God is. Even at the age of four, I know that you will be a woman that brings this world light, just as you have done for our family.

I love you,

Mama