Check out the letters from her 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th birthdays.
Dear Zoey,
WOW! You’re officially 11. This past year has been one heck of a wild ride! It was such an honor and privilege to watch you blossom into the young woman you are today. We all spent more time at home together as a family and it turned into the biggest blessing.
Here are some things that happened:
- Your entire 10th year of life was spent during a major global pandemic. The U.S. completely shut down two weeks before your 10th birthday and now it’s starting to open up, little by little, in time for your 11th birthday.
- Your 10th birthday came and went, spent at home in quarantine, but we got to make up for it 5 months later with a joint birthday party between you and 3 other friends! So fun!
- You moved into a new bedroom in the house and got a really cool bunk bed.
- We finished your 4th grade year at home doing “distance learning” through your school district, but transitioned to full-time homeschool with LUOA for 5th grade. You’re no longer a public school kid!
- You learned how to sew by hand and make meatballs from scratch this year. In fact, the pandemic opened up the opportunity for so much home ec learning!
- You got to spend part of your summer with purple hair.
- In spite of the pandemic, we managed to take three vacations: the beach in Florida, Texas, and Universal Studios!
- You earned your Junior Bronze Award in Girl Scouts by helping the homeless.
- You’re completing your second Junior year of Girl Scouts and will graduate to Cadette this summer! This is your 4th completed year of Girl Scouts.
- You gained two new cousins.
- We still enjoyed every holiday to the fullest – Halloween, Thanksgiving (even with the ‘R0na), and Christmas.
- You became a lizard mom! We adopted Allie, a leopard gecko, and you’ve done such a good job caring for her.
- After taking an 18-month break from gymnastics, you re-enrolled in tumbling and have been loving it!
While these are all of the “events” that happened, they don’t include the most important one: your growth. Not just in height, although you definitely passed me this year! You’ve gotten more mature in many ways. Just watching you interact with others, especially children younger than you, I can see how much you’ve grown. You’re changing before my very eyes and I am so blessed to be your mom. You’re 11 now, which means I only have 7 more years with you before you’re a legal adult and paving your own way in life. I feel a huge responsibility now more than ever to ensure that you are being raised to be a godly woman, fierce, and wise. I want you to be able to go out into the world as an upstanding citizen who works hard for what she gains, who doesn’t bulldoze people, and who certainly doesn’t expect everything to be handed to her. My daughter, remember that hard work is important to succeed. You must earn your way, nothing is guaranteed, and nothing is owed to you. You are not entitled to anything beyond what you work for yourself. You’re responsible for treating people equally, but for also setting boundaries against those who are harmful to your wellbeing. Your worth and identity are in Christ, not in what the world says. Your worth and identity are in Christ, not in your genetics. Your worth and identity are in Christ, not in what big government says. Love others hard and be respectful. Remember these things and you’ll be ready to be a good citizen, capable of contributing goodness and godliness to the world.
Zoey Liz, you’re officially a preteen. I can’t believe we’re in this stage of life. We look forward to many more amazing memories with you, because girl, you are our favorite person! Giving you a childhood full of experiences and love is priority. Here’s to another year of vacations, local outings, family game nights, laughter, and adventure.
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
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