Anna asked me yesterday how Justin and I picked her name.
“Anna is for the prophetess Anna in the New Testament. The one who went to the temple every day and recognized Jesus as a baby. She had incredible faith.”
“My favorite scripture is about faith. ‘Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge….’ She grinned.”
“Lyn is for Auntie Jessie. You see, my middle name is Sue, Auntie Amy’s middle name is Sue, Gram’s middle name is Sue, her sister’s middle name is Sue, her nieces middle names is Sue… When Jessie was born, apparently Papa was sick of the tradition and put Lyn on her birth certificate. We gave you the middle name Lyn so she wouldn’t be lonely.”
“I love Auntie Jessie. What about my last name how did you pick that?”
I glanced back at her serious face and suppressed a smile. “Well, have you noticed we all have the same last name?”
“Yep.”
“Well you don’t get to pick, you are just born with it.”
“ooohh.”
Oh I love this sweet inquisitive girl. She had an entire birthday weekend.
Friday morning her brothers were very excited to bring her breakfast in bed. Josh was up at 6. I had to convince him that it wasn’t really a birthday gift to wake his sister up 2 hours before her usual time. We held off until 7ish. She got to open one of her presents before Justin left for work. He got a pretty big hug for staying up until 2 am to finish her doll wardrobe. Off to school.
Then the traditional lunch date with Daddy. That night it was time to party. Anna hadn’t had a party in a couple of years. Initially, she wanted a doll party, complete with crafts and a photo booth. I was psyching myself up to do it when we picked up Josh from one of his friend’s birthday parties at a local swimming pool.
“Wait! Mom could I do a swimming party?”
“Hmm maybe.” That party looked so much easier. So I asked how much it was.
SIXTY DOLLARS! I still can’t believe it. That included food, party favors, and two hours of swimming and water slide.
“Yes Anna. Yes you can have a party here instead.” As a bonus, every Mom thanked me for wearing out their child right before bedtime.
That Sunday we had a family celebration. Anna was lucky enough to have one grandparent and 4 great-grandparents attend.
We sure adore this cute, sweet, artistic, smart, kind, athletic girl of ours.