AnnaLee

When I say she came from the womb smiling I mean it.

With a full head of the darkest black hair and the chubbiest ruddy cheeks.

Hi friends.

My familiar desk next to the window here at Panera greets you.

I wore short sleeves by faith today and might need to reheat my tea until the April sun decides to warm things up.

When my second girl came around we felt we had waited forever and a day for dresses once again.

Back-to-back boys and a trip to Mongolia and back made us wonder if another girl was in “the mix” for us.

That last boy had the audacity to have blue eyes and blonde hair so we were definitely excited to see what the Lord had in store for us.

This sweet girl was only one of TWO babies that we let completely surprise us in the delivery room.

Best decision ever.

The second best decision was bringing a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies for my anesthesiologist which by this time we figured out was the one person we depended the most on in the ER.

Those cookies and his promise to only give me half the normal dosage of a spinal block made this birth story one of the absolute best.

So the moral of the story is never underestimate a well-timed plate of cookies friends.

We actually had the phone number of a dear woman from church in our pocket who was never able to have any children.

We decided to allowed her and her husband to enjoy the full “newborn experience” while my husband and I shared a bed sipping hot tea and dipped Lorna Doones.

We just sat back and watched them “OOooo” and “Ahhhh” over her, counting fingers and toes and have never regretted giving them this first experience with our number five.

I truly believe that from the beginning she was destined to be a complete bundle of joy to others.

Unlike her tomboy older sister she loved having her hair done which changed from a raven black to a beautiful shiny BLONDE right in front of our eyes when she was a toddler.

Because we thought she was our last girlie we heaped upon her all of the names we had hoped to use.

She was where my husband and I met in the middle as far as names go.

We gave her two first names so we could give her MY enormously long middle name.

Her full first name is AnnaLee, but we called her Anna or Annie out of respect for my sister in law who always wanted to use the name “Annaleese” if the Lord gave them a boy.

And then the Lord gave US an Annaleese too!

Unfortunately now if I call her AnnaLee she fears the world is for sure coming to an end.

She has the distinct honor of being the only child I know who received ten stitches in the chin from a fall down the stairs in PINK PLASTIC HIGH HEEL SHOES.

So her feet may not share her “gracious” name meaning but the rest of her sure does.

Growing up she was the “sprite” who flitted around the house.

Always smiling, always singing, always changing her clothes two, three, four times a day.

Never afraid to share a smile or shake a hand at church or hug someone at the nursing home.

She never wanted to miss a moment of something fun and was the original creator of FOMO.

She’d be fast asleep and pop straight up afraid she’d miss out on some great adventure.

Always wide-eyed bright green eyes, and always hair sticking straight up as if it was afraid to miss out too.

When the dentist told us she had an extra front tooth, we shrugged, of course she did.

If anyone had a little extra anything it was this girl.

TWO rounds of braces and one giant tooth extraction took her down a “long journey” she never wanted but faced graciously.

I remember the first time I heard her sing a solo, clear and joy-filled and knew that THAT was a gift straight from the Lord to communicate his love to others.

She was Mary in the Christmas play and I was a bucket of tears watching her reach right into the hearts of others.

Somewhere along the line she went from wanting to be Amish to narrowing down her color pallet to three shades of green with the occasional brown sweater.

She loves any kind of green plant that was popular in the 70’s and I’m not too sure she’d make a good farmer’s wife.

She’d much rather get her chicken from the store.

She was the one I would wake to rubbing my feverish head, wondering if I needed more water.

She has an unhealthy addiction to pretzels of all things and has to have some kind of metal water bottle within reach at.all.times.

She doesn't run per se but JUMPS up and out and calls it “running.”

She knows the PERFECT iced Dunkin’ secret order with Blueberry and hazelnut and could actually live on pink drinks with extra strawberries.

She sees the cuteness in just about anything and squeals with delight, starts laughing half-way through HER OWN JOKE making you laugh as well, and gets a twinkle in her eye when she has a really BAD idea that she will convince you is a good deal.

She’s my companion in “Feeling all the feels,” about things and can feel the weight of a situation I’m in with me and that is a real gift.

She fiercely loves and feels like a little rainbow when you’re with her.

She will cheer you on, make you feel like you matter and that your gifts should be celebrated.

She’s learning how to lean hard on the Lord and finds new courage each day to know his will for her life.

She’s someone everyone wishes to have on any car ride, adventure and prayer team.

I love you AnnaLee.

Thank you for understanding how much it meant to stand there in the Louve and view the Mona Lisa until the museum worker finally forced me to go on with the next group.

I love that you are a “leftie.” I’ll teach you to knit yet.

I’m sorry I discovered a little too late that bangs weren’t your “thing.”

Keep laughing.

Keep extending grace.

Keep remembering that I am your biggest cheerleader.

Let’s get pretzels soon.