Fifteen years

Today my firstborn is 15 years old.  We had the joy of celebrating last weekend, because she is out of the country at camp today.  As I often say on here, she continues to be a blessing to us.  When I look at the person she is becoming, I am overwhelmed with the mercy God has extended to us through her life. We have made so many mistakes in parenting her, but God has lavishly extended grace upon grace to compensate for our sinfulness.  When I look at her life I am truly convinced that apart from Him, we can do nothing.  

Here are a few pictures of our birthday festivities:

 Special treats came in via a church in Florida from both sets of grandparents.  Here's a sweet treat from Grammy.

 Nana sent nail polish, sunglasses, and a few new clothes too.

 Isaac found the packing material more exciting than the accessories!

 Ryan and I decided to make our purchases in our new city, with the exception of an Itunes card, which a man from Alabama brought us.  We decided to buy 15 things for her 15th birthday.  Things like blueberry poptarts, ranch pringles, and a raspberry chocolate bar were as popular as the perfume, new shirt, and picture frame.  It took two weeks of date nights as well as some intense scouting on grocery store trips, but we found 15 things that made her smile!

She really wanted a cheesecake, but with Philadelphia cream cheese coming in at $12.50 a stick, that was a no-go.  Instead, I made mini-cheese cakes using a soft cheese substitution.  We were all pleasantly surprised by how well they turned out.  Now that we've found an affordable way to have "cheesecake" the possibilities are endless (and dangerous!)