Little Mountain Momma: Today You Are Three!

Dear Mackenzie Leigh,
Today you are three. I can hardly believe it as I sit here and type these words. Three. Three? Really? Has it already been three years since I held you, my bundled burrito baby, in that city hospital room overlooking our world below? I remember how tiny you looked, barely filling out those red piggy pajamas I waited so long to dress you in. I remember your wispy blonde mullet and how you kept yanking off those ugly hospital caps the nurses kept stuffing onto your head. Even then you knew what you wanted. I still struggle with memories of bringing you home from the hospital and of being so scared because I didn't know what to do or how to care for you. I felt so unprepared to raise this little life we had created. I remember thinking we would never get past those days. And yet somehow, we've made it here. We've made it to today. And today, I can hardly look at you without crying happy tears. Without thinking of the incredible girl you are. Never in my wildest, craziest dreams, could I have imagined you as you are today.

Here are my prayers for this coming year for you:

I pray that your tender heart continues to develop. You've got such a sensitivity in you and I've seen it from just six months old. The way you can look deep into the eyes of someone who is hurting and feel that pain with them. It really is amazing to me to see how God has already given you the gift of compassion. This year, I am going to pray specifically that God will continue to bring that beautiful heart of compassion to its full purpose.

I pray that with that tender compassion for others, your heart will not be broken. Because you are so sensitive, I worry that it will allow for too much pain. And I want you to stay innocent for as long as you possibly can. This world is filled with too much bad. And I hope that your tender heart won't show you too much of that bad too soon.

I pray that you will continue to learn discipline. I pray that you won't be embittered towards discipline. That you will know see the love that is behind it and how God uses discipline to teach you and others how to live life well. I pray that God will develop a heart that sincerely want to do right for yourself and for Him.

I pray that you will learn and know that it is okay to make mistakes. I pray that even from this young age, God will begin to teach you about grace and the need to have grace for yourself and for others. I want this so much for you.

I pray that you will have fun. I see an old soul in you already. I see that you want to grow up quickly and fast. I see it in you because you are an only child and because you just want to be a part of the adult conversations. But you are still a baby. You are my baby. And I pray that you will know that it is okay to have fun and be silly. To have dance parties in the middle of the day. To sing at the top of your lungs when you are happy. To run through the sprinklers on days that it is so scorching hot and to jump in the leaves this fall when we rake them into big piles in the back yard. I pray that you will do these things without inhibition. Without hesitation or worry of you how you look. I pray that you will grow up slow and have fun every single minute of while you are doing that growing.

Most of all, this year, I pray that you will know how unbelievably loved you are. That in the deepest parts of your being, you are certain without a shadow of a doubt, that you are loved. I love you. Your daddy loves you. Your ornery kitty even loves you. Your papas and your grandmas love you. Your uncle and your aunties love you. You've got friends who love you. But most of all, God loves you. He loves you with a love that never wavers. A love that is stronger than all of the human love combined. And this year, more than anything, I hope you feel and know this.