Our Hopie Girl

H is for hearty, she has always been so strong, even when sick with RSV and her asthma, she has weathered it all so well, it takes a lot to get this girl down...

O is for observant, she has a keen and discerning way of discovering the world around her and she finds delight in so much of it, perhaps her O should be for optimistic as well...

P is for playful, she loves to have fun, and she loves to play hard and strong (I wish I had half of her energy!)

E is for enthusiastic, she is a girl who puts her all into everything, and her enthusiasm is contagious- just ask those who know her!

Our Hope turned 5 last month, and what a whirlwind her 5 yrs have been. I should have known this child would have a great big bunch of personality when she burst onto our scene after about 45 minutes of labor, all 9 pounds and 12 ounces of her! When she was hospitalized with RSV at 6 weeks old, I truly think it was her robust healthy size that helped her hold her own against that awful virus which also affected her sister and left the 2 of them with some chronic asthma issues. She was such a trooper last fall, when she ended up in the PICU at Children's Hospital with RSV again, and pneumonia, and asthma flare-up.

Hope is a child who can always make us laugh. She says the funniest things I've ever heard come forth from the mouth of a child. I remember laughing so hard one day, while at dinner with the family at my parents', and I said the oft' said "I really should write all of these down!" and my Dad, still laughing quite hard at whatever her latest quip had been answered "No, you need video... because no one would believe you..." which made all of us laugh so much more. It's so true, some of the things she says are so profoundly funny, that it's hard to believe a 3, 4, or now 5 year old could even come up with that. (You may notice that most of the funnies of my kid quotes posts have been Hopisms...)

I look forward to the next 5 years with her, and the 5 years after that, and as many years as the Lord gives us!

Thank you, Lord, for our precious Hope, for the way she makes us smile and laugh, and the way she touches and manages to melt our hearts each and every day. Thank you for her enthusiasm and zest for life, may it never grow old and tired. Thank you for the chance to be her Mommy. I humbly pray that You would grant me, daily, wisdom and guidance that I may be used by You to mold and shape her little heart and life, that she would grow into the woman that You would have her to be.