Happy Birthday Maddy!

Tomorrow is the big day! Maddy will be 7 years old! It's so hard to believe that the sweet little baby I once held is growing up so fast! Slow down, please!!! If I could stop time I would. I always get emotional when another birthday rolls around. I do want her to grow up into a respectful young lady (and give me lots of grandbabies...many many years from now, of course) but another year older is another year closer to her being gone from our home. She tells us that she is never leaving us! She says she has no desire to get married and have babies. However, she is in love with a boy from church already! ; ) Although I am always sad to see her leave a stage of her life and enter into a new one, her stages have never ceased to make me love her more! I do sometimes long for that fat baby I used to hold, and for that toddler with the squeaky voice, but as each new stage of her life approaches, I love it more than the last one. She is at such a fun age right now. She loves make-up and pocketbooks, American Girl dolls, Build A Bears, reading, games, gymnastics, dancing around the house, and just acting plain silly. I love that we can have mother/daughter conversations with each other and she actually pours her heart out to me. I love how she will come up to me and say, "I want to ask you something." It's like a wrapped present when she says that because I NEVER know what's coming next. I just love this little girl with all of my heart and I am so incredibly blessed that God chose me to be her mommy!