15!!

Dear Chloe, 

Wow! 15! I can't believe I have been your mom that long. You are an amazing girl who has a heart for the broken, lonely, & outcast. Your love for music is exciting to see. When you play I can see you instantly relax and smile a smile that only comes when you are truly at peace. This last year has been probably the most difficult in our relationship. We have definatly had a lot of growing pains.  You have always been a patient child that is instantly forgiving of my mom mistakes. I will say although it's been hard, I think this year has also helped our relationship grow and given us the opportunity to reconnect and learn from each other. You have worked so hard this year to overcome so much change and have begun the healing process for hurts in your life. I am so very proud of you. At church, you have blossomed into an amazing leader and have turned your life experiences into ministry by embracing those who are new and those with similar struggles you have and do face. You are an amazing big sister and you have really made a HUGE effort to get along better with Allie. You are so good with Emilia! You know how to make her smile and can calm her with your music talent when she is inconsolable by anything else. In four short years,  you will be an adult. I hope these next few years we continue to grow our relationship, make lots of fun memories, and when hard times come we can trust each other's hearts to know we want the best for each other. Most of all I love because....my love is unconditional. Just like God is with us, I hope you know there is nothing you can do to make me love you more and nothing you can do to make me love you less. 

Love, Mom

This year Chloe had a slumber party with girls from church. We also discovered that our new friends that just moved here from South Africa had a Chloe that has a birthday close to our Chloe's so we decided to have a party for both Chloe's. 

She also asked for a long board for her birthday! I think the smile in this pic says how she feels about it.