Happy 11th Birthday Eliana!

I can't believe that our oldest child is now 11 years old.  Because of the fact that I got married when I was 20, I have started thinking that if Eliana followed in my footsteps, we have already passed the halfway mark to launching her out on her own to start her own family.  (What in the world were my parents thinking, allowing me to get married so young?  :)  No really, it is amazing how fast children grow into adults and it often feels like yesterday that we ourselves were launched into parenthood.  And, we have loved every minute of it....well, minus the screaming, the sleepless nights, the difficult decisions, the hardheaded moments....but we wouldn't trade them for the world.  We are who we are today because of our wonderful Eliana.  

I think the best way to describe Eliana would be to compare her to the wind.  She is fast and furious one moment, and gentle and still the next.  She moves like a whirlwind, and likes to stir things up around her.  Some days she is like a gentle breeze, bringing a scent of flowers to refresh you and some days she is like the hot Chadian wind, not relenting until she accomplishes her goal.  She is never predictable, impossible to ignore, and incredibly determined.  

I love the way the work of the Holy Spirit in the book of John is compared to the wind, no one knowing where it comes from and where it will move to next, but blowing into the lives of people as He wills.  Our prayer is that Eliana will grow to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and the wind in her life would be none other than Jesus himself.  We love you Eliana, and are blessed to have you blowing through our lives! 

Here are 11 fun facts about Eliana...

1. She can read incredibly fast.

2. She is not afraid to talk to anyone.

3. She loves to wear long african dresses.

4. She can make this incredibly loud awful noise that makes the hair on your arms stand up.

5. She loves wearing William on her back.

6. She has graduated from learning to do the dishes, to single handedly washing our family's dishes (that's 8 people) with cheerfulness!

7. She does not like to read out loud as it forces her to read slower than she wants to.

8. She is a patient preschool teacher

9. She likes to cook, and will gladly make anything by herself that I will allow her to. 

10. She makes jumping from boulder to boulder without shoes a simple thing to do.

11.  She truly is an undeserved gift from God like her name means!

Happy Birthday Eliana, We love You!!!