Happy Birthday Ema!

Today, despite the gloomy national news, we are celebrating Ema. Seven years ago today, we were in Midland Memorial having our beautiful Ema Cheri. She was finally born at 6:26 pm. She was 7 lbs, 1 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. One of the first things said in the delivery room was "He" is a "she" because they kept calling the baby "he." I can still remember the feel of her soft, warm, tiny head in my hands. I just can't believe that was seven years ago!

Ema, you are such a special girl. You are creative, silly, ornery, energetic, stubborn, caring and thoughtful. You always want to be doing something, whether it's making a project out of paper cups and sticky letters, or just going out and getting a drink with Daddy. You are so smart and have an excellent memory. You keep us on our toes with your quick thinking. When we were trying to pull your tooth the other night, I said, "Let me try to pull it and you just talk to Everet." The look on your face was priceless and you said, "how can I talk to him while you have your finger in my mouth?" You are such a sweet girl. You love to make cards for people, even if a lot of them say the same thing, you know that someone may need a card and you make a few for them. You are usually pretty helpful with Everet like holding him when I just need to do something. I can remember you even helping with Eli and Elena. The older women at church were surprised, and a little scared about you carrying Elena around, but you've always been pretty careful. My hope for you is that you will always focus your energy on doing good for others, and that you will always be as confident in your beliefs as you are today. Your stubbornness might get you into trouble at times, but hopefully it will come in handy when you are faced with bigger issues. I promise you that I will always be there for you to help and support you and most importantly, to pray for you. You are one in a million and I hope we can always show you how special you are.

I was trying to think of some funny or neat things Ema has done. There are so many so I may come back and forth adding them as I think of them. Feel free to add your memories of her in the comments. I have a bad memory, so I always appreciate when someone reminds me of something.

I remember:
-reading "The Fox Book" with her when she was about 2. One of the pictures has a huge woodchuck next to a small fox. I read "the fox pups go out and meet their neighbor, a [giant] woodchuck." We laughed together for so long. We still read it that way and laugh.

-playing Barbies with her and making up silly conversations for them.

-her screaming at the top of her lungs in the middle of the night because there was a dinosaur with "shaap teef" in her bedroom. We didn't watch Jurassic Park anymore after that.

-going for walks on the dairy with her, feeding the calves, looking at all the cows.

-fainting in the emergency room as I watched her get her first stitches.

-her wiggly worm dance she did when she was about 6 months old. She put her hands behind her head and wiggled her body from side to side. So cute!

-she has always loved to read. She is one of the best readers in her class. She even was reading a card written in cursive to me yesterday.

-she has also always loved singing and listening to music really loud. She likes to make up songs too.

I probably could go on, but I need to get some other things done. I am going to make cookies and take them to her class in a little while. I am still having trouble getting into our old pictures on the computer, but I am amazed at how much Everet looks like Ema. They actually all look quite similar. All of them are as beautiful and handsome as they can be!

We love you Ema and hope you have a wonderful birthday!!