Happy 17th Birthday Laney!!

Well, it's two days late, but I had to include a post celebrating Laney's birthday last weekend.  I can hardly believe that I have a 17 year old young woman.  It seems like only yesterday that we brought her home, having absolutely no idea what we were doing.  I am convinced that those who come to earth as the oldest children have an extra dose of strength thrown into their personalities so that they can withstand all of the mistakes that their parents make while we try to figure out the whole parenting gig.  Laney is a young woman full of strength and goodness who really does try each day to make the right choices.  She loves to talk about what a terrible daughter she was during her 7th and 8th grade years, but if that was her worst I will take that any day.

Laney has really tried to look to other people lately and see what she can do to help.  She has an energy and enthusiasm that can't be matched as she has played and worked with her new little sister.  When she saw that JoJo needed some extra attention she made plans to take him shopping with her so that they could plan a fun family activity together.  She loves to check out Pintarest to get all sorts of crafty ideas for her to try out because she is absolutely convinced that she needs these skills if she is going to be a good wife and mother someday.  I try to point out that although I love crafts, I'm not the craftiest lady on the planet, and yet I have managed to be an adequate mom and wife.  But Laney doesn't want to be adequate.  She wants to be extraordinary.  I think she is well on her way, and if she ends up doing better than me at all this then I think I have succeeded as a parent (or I'm just so bad at it that she can't help but do a better job).

So for Laney's 17th birthday . . . here are 17 things I love about Laney:

1. Her Compassion
2. Her Humility
3. Her Kindness
4. Her Sense of Style
5. Her Smile
6. Her Enthusiasm
7. Her Testimony
8. Her Need to Succeed
9. Her Extraordinary Friendship with Savannah
10. Her Big Dreams
11. Her Willingness to Do What is Right
12. Her Taste in Music
13. Her Ability to Befriend Those Who Need Her
14. Her Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies
15. Her Poise in Difficult Situations
16. Her Beautiful Singing Voice
17. Her Love for All Things Good in Life -- Especially for Us, Her Family