When Our Anna turned TWELVE

At the tail end of a nightmarish month of family crisis, the clouds started to part and it happened none too soon - Thank you, Lord.  We had an Anna birthday to celebrate and I so wanted it to be sweet for her and not marked by this year and this month of pain.  And like the gift that Anna has always been, her birthday was a gift to us all; it was JUST what our family needed to focus on joy and scramble back to our feet if we could.  Presents were opened, a delicious Publix cake was picked out on the fly, birthday mail arrived, and the family Brown checked into Gaylord Opryland Hotel for two days of indoor/outdoor waterpark fun at their new Soundswaves attraction.  It was a delight for all!

Gifts this year included a pottery wheel, a memory foam topper for her bed, snazzy new sunglasses she will lose in no time, a bedside lamp, homemade coupons for various favorite things at home, a new game - Skyjo - that we cannot get enough of, a new sleeping bag, a girls devo (Lies Girls Believe), birthday cash, a Nerf bow and arrow, and a giant coloring Mandala poster.  

I cannot tell you how precious this girl's heart has been to me this year specifically - at this age and in this hard, hard season for our family.  She and I have gotten closer and processed pain and suffering and faith in conversations together and in our Mother/Daughter journal.  She blesses me with artistic Scriptural encouragement gifts she makes.  She blows my mind with how uniquely the Lord is shaping and maturing her belief and trust in Him.  I never interacted with the Lord at her age the way she is already.  How dear to know she walks with Him and He is holding on to her.  Some other Anna snippets and facts coming at ya:

• This year has been the best sister year for her, I think.  She has done MUCH babysitting for us and plays so attentively and responsibly with Lasa.  Sometimes irritably, but mostly not.
  
• She doesn't like gum; doesn't see the point.  HA!
• Funny quote this year:  This movie is really goooood.  (why?)  Because it's messing with my emotions.
• As already mentioned, she skipped 6th grade this year and jumped right into 7th.  
  
• I adore how she loves cloud gazing and admiring leaves and trees with me.  
• In the garden, she has emerged as more of a tree planter guru of sorts.
• She's learning how to manage her moods when a certain big brother does what all brothers do - annoy the fire out of you. Ha!   
• She is thriving in her creative writing work on her solo Tuesdays while Noah attends his co-op.  I love her love for and way with words.  She has written prayers and rhymes to express her emotions this year and it is altogether beautiful to me.  Her puns and jokes also steal our hearts.  
• She has the heart of an angel, always making gifts, cards, notes with all the supplies she can get her hands on.  No craft is too time-consuming for this one.
  
• She has a bedtime milk routine that cracks me up.  And I am thankful for it.  If it works, it works.  She doesn't struggle with getting to sleep anymore between that, a lavender oil roll on, and lots of dim-light reading at night.  Also, a book of tips this year helped a bunch called When You Dread your Bed.
  
• She can disappear like nothing else - caught up in a project in the tree or the yard or the lego room.  I miss her on those days!
  
• She loves to text and Facetime with cousins, Brooklyn and Natalie, several times a week.
• She can make anything - ANYTHING - happen with duct tape.  Her day was made today with a gift of dry-erase duct tape Josh found in his shed. Ha!
• She perfected her bed/side of the room this months with fairy lights and a repurposed shelf and a llama lamp along with her new mattress topper and curtain divider.  She loves her little retreat and I love that she loves it.
• Her watercolor pieces are just the best! 
• Anna is full-on preteen these days with her moods and emotions - we can tell we are in for a ride with this one.  But it will be a precious ride as I know she will continue to seek the Lord and yield to Him as she works these self-control issues out.
• She has started to fret the fact that she is shorter and much skinnier than the norm for her age, so we are working through healthier habits she can maintain as well as not comparing herself to others and just trusting her specific body design to the Lord who created her. 
• I cannot keep her in books these days; she reads and reads and reads.
• Bunnies have become the theme of her life.  She is bunny crazy and everyone knows it. She takes the best pics of her bunnies and then creates art from those. She makes costumes for them.  Her Gatlinburg souvenir was a bunny pull-chain for her fan. 
• Anna LOVES being in the youth group now - her favorite thing being how the leaders treat the kids like equals.  Growing up rocks! 
• Side braids and ponies are her jam these days.
• Here at 12, Anna is about 79 pounds and is 4'11"  She's moving into size 14 clothes and size 4ish shoes.  She highly resents that fact that Lasa is gaining on her in the hand-me-down department though.  Lasa is wearing clothes at 5 that Anna wore at 10. 
  
• She goes days and days between showers before we notice and have to make her take one.  Y'all pray for us.
• She does not like scary movies, but she toughened up to watch Signs with us this weekend.  She and I clutched each other for the scary parts.  Next on our list is The Sixth Sense.  But Anna and I draw the line at World War Z which Josh and Noah have in mind to see this month as well. Yikes!
• Her favorite TV show these days is Disney's Bunk'd.  Favorite song is Chillin' Like a Villain.  Favorite food is most italian stuff.  Favorite restaurant is still Chick-Fil-A.  Fave thing to do is watch and play with her bunnies. Favorite book she read this year is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.  Favorite book of the Bible at the moment is 1 and 2 Corinthians.  Favorite game is SkyJo or Apples to Apples.  Her fave friends are Naomi, Lyla, Addie, and Kate.
  
• This girl is a PRO at sleeping in.  She sleeps the latest of us all.
  

Isn's she a lovely thing?  She means to get her ears re-pierced this year maybe ... probably time to try that again. We are negotiating for this Christmas. Twelve looks good on her and she is more than ready for it!  Thank you, Lord, for the work you completing in this precious one.  Lead us on as we lead her with the years we have left to guide her.  We love you to pieces, Annabelle.  You are a treasure and I am always, always, always so proud of everything about you.  Keep on, Baby Girl!  Happy Birthday!

Love, Mom