Today is your birthday

You’re seven years old

If someone were to tell me eight years ago that I would one day have a little sister, I would have said they were crazy. But here you are.

You’re not that little anymore. You’ve been growing and growing, shooting up more and more every single time I come home from school.

It's all going too fast.

I need you to slow down.

You smile, and say that you’ll try, and then the next day you say that its okay, because the more you grow, the more you will catch up to my age (oh little one, you make me laugh).

You run into my outstretched arms, I hold you close, and I can't help but think of all the things I want to protect you from.

I want to promise you a world safe from worry, safe from harm, safe from trouble. I want to give you sunshine and happiness, cupcakes and sprinkles.

But the world seems like a dark place, with a new tragedy painting the headlines each day. Danger seems to lurk around each corner, despair seems to lurk about--just waiting to catch ahold of its next victim

I wonder about the future of the world, what it will be years from now when you are no longer a child, but an adult trying to make her way. Will there be peace? Will the world have made it out of the mess that it's in, or will we continue to sink lower and lower into distress and disrepair.

I want to promise you goodness and joy and hope.

Little one, I want you to live your BEST life. I want the world to be a safe place for you, so you can claim all the good that you deserve

I let go of you, and look into your shining eyes and your toothy grin. I think of the good you have brought into our lives, our little miracle from heaven.

YOU are hope. You are joy. You are goodness.

You have changed our lives in more ways than you can possibly imagine. You came into our lives with joy and blessings. I cannot imagine our household without your jubilant smiles, your compassionate nature, and your beautiful innocence and wonder.

You fill our lives with wonder. You and all the little children around you. In a world full of darkness, you bring about hope. You spread joy and love wherever you go, and you will continue to do so as the days go by. You will grow up into a charming, lovely, and compassionate young woman, and you will spread that joy to those around you. And all of those joy-filled souls will spread that love to those around THEM. This joy and love will grow and grow. In a world full of darkness, you and the other children around you are a source of light that can never be extinguished- a light that will never die with age. You and your generation will bring good to this world.