as I watch her...

I love how God has given us 3 children, but all three are very different from each other. They're not little repeats of each other, not little robots or even kids that look a ton alike. They're individually unique and special, in their own ways.
Today I took the time to especially enjoy Rachel; to watch her play, to stop and really listen to her talk. To remind her how much I love her and to thank God for the daughter He's given to m

• She's 3 years old and doesn't have a care in the world.

• She loves to be girlie and thinks shorts and pants are for girls who actually wish they were boys. She changes her clothes about 15 times a day, going through every dress and dress-up dress we own.

• You can often find her dancing around the living room, to her own beat; smiling as you tell her she dances quite lovely.

• Her cheerful attitude and sweet sounding voice in the morning has been what gets me out of my grouchy funk, when I've had a night with little to no sleep.

• Her zest for life makes me realize I need to be more thankful.

• She loves to cook and thinks she's quite good at it. Splashing milk as she stirs, she tells me "I learned this from you, Mom!"

• Kisses for Daddy are very frequent. She doesn't just give him kisses though - she must lay in his lap, rub his face and tell him how wonderful he is. She wants nothing in return and there's no manipulation, just wants to tell him she adores him.

• The voice she gets when she talks to her baby sister is... priceless. Its full of emotion and sweetness.

• She's drama and delightfulness all wrapped up in one.

• When she's happy, you can hear it.

• When she's sad, you can hear it.

• She's a home body, but loves to shop; finding just her size is her specialty.

• She doesn't care if the clothes match, just as long as each piece has a fair amount of pinks, purples, flowers or hearts.

• I watch her play house with her dolls, stuffing the blankie down her shirt to give herself a nice, round, pregnant belly. I stop and stare, realizing that day is going to come way sooner than I think.

• I wonder what kind of woman she'll be; she's so bold and friendly, so kind and full of emotion. Surely God has great plans for her.

• She's my daughter, but is quickly also becoming my friend.

• I love her eyes. Thankfully she inherited her Daddy's gorgeous eyes. I'm glad we handed them down to a daughter. Its never fair when boys get such long, gorgeous eye lashes.
• She's stubborn, oh, how she is stubborn! I love that she'll give herself a time-out and not come out of her room until she's ready to "be happy!"
  

• I love that she likes being a big sister so much, that almost every day she asks me, "Mom, will you have 5 more babies for us?"

• my heart melts when she bows her head to pray and says "thank You for making me so happy and for giving me a wonderful life."
  

When I stop and think about my 3 year-old girl, I'm not quite sure our lives were as beautifully blessed before she joined our family.