Happy 17th Birthday, Maddie!

Dear Maddie,

Today you are 17 years old.  It's fun to look back over your 17 years and see how God has shaped and molded you into the amazing young woman you are today.  His fingerprints are all over you and that gives me a lot of joy and peace.

As a preschooler you loved lip gloss and outfit changes.  That’s mostly still the same.  You are incredibly good at putting together a good look.  When someone in the house needs outfit advice, we go to you.  I love shopping with you because you give encouraging, truthful compliments and recommendations. 

You continue to be one of the most balanced people I have ever known.  Somehow, you juggle super high academic performance, spending time with friends, being in Chamber Choir, playing multiple sports throughout the year, attending church and volunteering in various ways, being a Dollars For Scholars liaison, working a parttime job, going to YP, and more.  Your schedule makes my head spin.  I don’t manage any of that for you.  You take care of getting yourself to all the places you need to be on your own.  And you seem to have a really good grasp on how to keep yourself on track and not burn out in any one area.  I honestly don’t know how you do it at all – much less do it as well as you do.  I love that you care so deeply about whatever your focus is at that moment.  Wherever you are and whoever you are with – you are all there and all in. 

I love watching you play sports.  This past year it was volleyball and soccer.  The best thing about the way you play is how you are intense but not in a scary way.  You exude this calm seriousness in the way you play.  After last year’s shoulder dislocation, you have had to manage a recovery and rehab.  I will say this – you are one STRONG girl.  You go to the weight room to lift when you don’t have to.  You make health and fitness a part of your routine.  When sports season comes around, you are ready to go.  Watching you play soccer both terrifies and thrills me.  You are unafraid of seemingly everything.  You never give up.  You are a positive presence on the team.  You play smart.

At school, you set very very high standards for yourself and you meet them.  You do whatever it takes to achieve the goals you have set.  You know you don’t have to be perfect, and yet you always strive to do your best.  You have a tendency to underestimate what you are capable of as well.  I hope as you continue to learn and study that you will gain more and more confidence. 

You have several different groups of friends.  You have been through a lot of different things with those different groups.  I see you managing all of that well.  It isn’t always easy.  There are times when apologies need to be made and you are willing to admit when you have been wrong.  There are times when you need to maintain a healthy boundary and you try to do that with gentleness.  It can be so challenging, and we’ve navigated a few trials here and there.  And yet I see you continue to love and reach out and laugh and learn how to be peacemaker.  You have learned and grown so much in the past year.  I’m proud of the effort you have made to maintain these friendships and keep them healthy and strong. 

One of my favorite things about you is the way you are with your siblings.  It’s been a different year with Reagan off at college.  You and Hunter have found your way.  The two of you have learned how to get along and spend time together and depend on each other.  I appreciate the way you help him and care for him.  Your relationship with your big sister is something really special.  The two of you understand each other in a way that few people in the world understand another person.  The love and care between you is beyond anything I could have ever expected.  When Reagan hurts, you hurt.  When Reagan has success, you are joyful.  Now that she is home for the summer it is not uncommon for me to go to bed and hear the two of you laughing downstairs.  Even though you are similar in many ways, you are also very different in other ways.  And yet that works so beautifully.  I’m so glad that Reagan and Hunter have you in their lives.  You are an essential part of this family.

You got to see real, live pandas this year.  What a joy!  You love your pandas, coloring, reading books, listening to music, thrifting, making reels for Instagram, bedazzling almost everything and eating parfaits.  You are a vibrant spark at times and a calming presence at others.  You make us laugh and often make us shake our heads.  You are endlessly creative and incredibly hardworking. 

You are a caring girl.  You have a gentle and tender heart for others.  You long to help people.  You crave deep connection.  You are kind and compassionate.  I see so much of Jesus in you in the way you interact with others.  And that’s the very very best thing about you, Maddie: you LOVE Jesus.  You love Him first and above everything else.  You pursue a relationship with Him.  You walk with Him each day.  When you are hurting, He is the first place you go.  You look to Him for guidance and identity and purpose.  You are His and He is yours. 

I see so much good in you at the age of 17 that it makes me excited to watch you make your way through the rest of God’s good plans for you.  There’s a lot of hope in your future because there is a lot of faith in your today. 

Our celebration of your 17 years is full of so much gratitude.  We love you so much more than we could say.

Happy Birthday, Mads. 

I love you so.

~Mom