This one is 13 tomorrow. 
Nora has a mighty heart for the underdog, is a dedicated writer of journals and enthusiastic reader of books, and has an affinity for Pinterest.
She is fiercely loyal to those who are kind or hurting. She’s developing awareness and intolerance for the fact that social injustice abounds, has mad skillz for volleyball, ALL the moods, a hilariously silly sense of humor, a flair for the dramatic, and enthusiasm that attracts positive people and pisses off the negative ones.
My hope for her 13th year: may she be surrounded by the Holy Spirit, true loyalty, friendship, kindness, love, and endless opportunity.
I hope she’s safe but immensely challenged.
I hope life proves messy, so she becomes wiser, stronger, and able to see the truth: there is no black and white.
I hope she laughs ten times more than she cries, but that when tears come, she’s vulnerable enough to shed them in front of people who love her.
I hope, with all my heart, that she blows off miserably mean girls, fails to adhere to diet culture, trend worship culture, vanity, selfishness, one-upping, keeping up, and lacks the standard desire to fit into this world.
I hope she adapts solid boundaries but never uses them to rationalize being a crappy, careless or selfish person.
I hope she inspires people without knowing.
I hope she calls people out when they need it, and accepts it in kind.
My prayer for her thirteenth year:
That she does not sell out to people-please, nor desire everyone to revere her, so instead, she holds people’s respect.
That she is both sincere and surrounded by sincerity,
That she holds life with open hands, ready to receive, but also has the discernment to know what to let slip back out of her hands.
I desperately pray that her sensitivity will not make her a sitting duck for this world and that God protects and repairs her compassionate heart enough that she can keep going after she’s hurt, forever walking confidently with a hard-earned and beautiful limp. The good ones always walk a limp.
May Nora’s thirteenth-year hold magic, adventure, mystery, knowledge, strength, and an abundance of easy laughter.
It’s a rocky road, these years, but we’ve got you, and we’ve got this Nora Anne. Be patient with your parents; we have never had a 13-year-old before.
We love you big.❤️
