Happy Birthday, Christiana

Could she be any cuter? All grown up and fully adult. Eighteen years ago on March 5th, in the hills of Mt. Union, PA., I gave birth to a rolly-polly, 9lb 4oz., beautiful, and I mean beautiful baby girl. We named her Christiana Spring and the day we drove her home we had the biggest snow storm ever.

Even though we named Christiana after a Gulf War reporter named Christianne, we could not have picked a more fitting name for her - a Christian true and true. Christiana has a heart for the Lord and a heart full of compassion. She is bold in sharing her faith and fearless when it comes to praying with her peers. Just a couple of weeks ago, we attended the school's Bistro where individuals and groups perform their talents. One girl in particular played a phenomenal piece on the piano. Later, Christiana told me that that girl was so nervous to play that she came and asked her to pray for her. I find that so amazing in this crazy mixed up day and age.

My memory is not very sharp but it would be hard to forget one particular thing about Christiana. Her hair. She was born with a head full and it never went anywhere but crazy. She had curls and frizz and a never ending amount of locks. I fixed more pigtails, french braids, and side ponies than all her Barbies put together. We laugh now at all the big bows I found to place in the masses.

One of Christiana's teachers, in reviewing her vocabulary words she had placed in a spiral of index cards, saw that we had placed a label over the title I had written on there "Scriture Memory 2009" (this is what happens when your children need something right then). When she returned the cards to Christiana she had written in this verse for her: "As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." Prov. 27:19. That verse sums it up. Her heart reflects who she truly is - kind and compassionate, helpful and self-sacrificing, a servant.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for my girl.