How can my little girl be 9? (Obnoxious bragging mother alert)

9 years ago today we celebrated the birth of our first child. Annsley LaNae came out and I was so thrilled to have a little girl. I wanted a girl so bad to share the kind of relationship that I have with my mom. And there she was. I realized that I have probably blogged more about Seth than I have about Annsley, so today is my tribute to her.
This is a poem I wrote one day when she was three and the sun was shining in on her blonde hair and chubby thighs. I would still say the exactly the same about her today (minus her chubby thighs!!)

You stand before me a picture of light
The sun shining on your golden hair,
reflecting the sparkles in your blue eyes.
Your smile lights up every shady spot in the room.
You in pink-there is no more innocent sight.
Purity and goodness.
You are a precious gift from God.

The word "good" is a weak word. They tell you not to use it when writing, but it describes Annsley. She is a "good" person. From the time she was a baby she was good. She was happy, loving, and obedient. She is considerate far beyond her years. She anticipates what might hurt someone's feelings and makes sure that she doesn't do that. She loves deeply. She loves life. She loves learning.

Here is a story that shows her sweet heart. When we were at the National Art Gallery I was really excited about all the wonderful paintings. Many were things that we had studied. The kids were really tired because we had been walking all day and they weren't totally in the mood for an art gallery. I was a bit frustrated because the men were acting like it was something to rush through as fast as possible and the kids were following that lead. I leaned over to Annsley and I said, "Annsley, I was really hoping that this would be something that you and I would enjoy together." She could tell that it was important to me, and from that minute on she walked hand in hand with me throughout the gallery and really participated. Once she chose to put her mind to it I think she really did enjoy it a lot, but it brought tears to my eyes to watch her choose to do something just to make me happy.

I could share story after story about her sweet nature. People who know her in real life know that I am really not exaggerating. She is the kind of child that makes a parent want to write a parenting book, but we are smart enough to know that God had a lot more to do with who she is than we do.

She has been a spiritually sensitive child since she was old enough to tote books around. Her favorite book was the Bible. She accepted Christ when she was 4 and she prayed a prayer (on her own) that she read in the back of her Bible. We never really pushed her to "accept Jesus" although we talked about Him a lot. She did that totally on her own. She still can be found pouring over her devotions and memorizing verses on her own.

Happy Birthday, sweet Annsley!