dear avery

 Dear Avery,

I will never believe you are as old as you are because it's all moving at warp speed right before my eyes and my heart and mind can't keep up.  

You have been a joy from day one. You have made this parenting journey pretty easy on us. You have had leader qualities from the beginning that seem to have been hiding away for a bit as you fiught through the beautiful messiness of teenage life. But we are watching you re-bloom with those leadership gifts God gave you. You know what you want and nobody has ever been able to tell you any different. You have always had your own ideas and ways that make you uniquely you. 

You're still writing. Always. You constantly have fresh ideas in your head for new stories or ways to make old stories new. Your imagination is wonderful and never stops. This might be why you don't seem to require as much sleep. Your mind has too much work to do. Your eyes continue to light up when you share those ideas floating around in that brilliant mind of yours. You love reading your stories aloud to us and we love listening to them. You are our favorite author.

In the past year, you have been excited about decorating and re-decorating your room. You want everything to be perfectly coordinating and the word "aesthetic" flows from your mouth constantly. You are no doubt your Momma's girl in that way. Your Christmas and Birthday list were full of decor items and you have had so much fun making over your room. Your bedroom has transformed into a beautiful grown-up space for all those ideas to be typed up and all those FaceTime calls with Reagan to be made.

This past year has taught us all so much and we have watched you struggle through hard lessons while at the same time taking them all in and being changed by them. You have learned the hard way how to deal with disappointment in missed plans and opportunities. You're working on setting realistic expectations or none at all and dealing with ones unmet. All part of the journey. 

One of the neatest things about you is that you actually listen to us. You listen to our advice and actually put it into practice. We have earned your respect over the past 15 years and for that we are so very grateful. You know the deep love we have for you and that we are constantly praying and working to be the best we can be by the grace of God. 

Your faith has grown and is becoming your own. You have a small group at church to be a part of now full of girls who support and encourage each other and it has been so good for you. You and Reagan have a special kind of friendship that can only truly happen with that shared faith. You have so many groups of friends and they're all so different and they're all answers to prayer. 

You have tackled this crazy first year of high school in the midst of a worldwide pandemic with so much grace and confidence. You still enjoy school and continue to get those straight A's. 

You got to spend your special day at Magic Kingdom this year. You had a special birthday shirt and ears to wear to the park and we opened gifts at the condo late that night. It was a memorable one for sure. 

Happy 15th Birthday our precious firstborn baby girl. You are loved and treasured beyond belief by us and even more by your Heavenly Father. We can't wait to see what He does with you over the next year and we're grateful every minute for the privilege of watching you grow.

We love you to the moon and back a million billion times infinity.

Mommy