Happy Birthday, Ada! (and Scott!!)

This past week I sat Ada down for what I hope is going to be our annual birthday interview.  We did our first one last year, and I used the exact same questions this year for the sake of comparison.  It was so interesting to see how different her response was.  Last year she was very eager to answer all of the questions, and she was very decided on her answers.  This year she was very half-hearted about the whole thing, and I had to prompt her a lot after she answered "I don't know" to most of the questions...maybe she just wasn't in the mood right then?  Anyway, here it is...

What is your favorite food?  mac and cheese and 'pasghetti' (she loves spaghetti, that is true.  She continues to say mac and cheese is her favorite but she rarely wants to eat it anymore.  She also loves to eat buttered pasta, cucumbers, carrots, grits, anything sweet of course like candy and cupcakes, and she loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches.  Just so I know what her real favorites were at age 5.)

Your favorite sport to play?  catch; I like to play that with daddy

favorite thing to watch?  Caillou and Bernstein Bears (yes, Caillou continues to be a favorite, much to my dismay.  If she is ever watching that one, I have to really listen in and make lots of comments like, "was that a good way for Caillou to respond?" since Caillou spends the majority of the episode whining!!)

coolest person on earth?  God (here I said, okay, what about a human who lives on earth, and she said she didn't know)

favorite thing to learn in school?  art (this is definitely true.  In fact she told me the other day that she thinks all of school is boring except for art)

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?  Heaven (again, I prompted her to choose somewhere on earth, and by the way, she is definitely beginning to give "church answers" because she thinks that is what she is supposed to say), Near's house and Mae Mae and Pop's house

Favorite color?  red, pink, and purple.  pause. and yellow.

What do you want to be when you grow up?  a princess, (I prompt, "anything else?") I don't know, a nurse?  (really she always tells me she wants to be an artist or a waitress)

What is your favorite song?  Do Not Be Anxious (a seeds family worship song--the words to Philippians 4:6-7  it's the song we sing when she is scared about anything)

Favorite book?  Betsy, Ramona, and the Boxcar Children

What are three words that describe you?  "I don't know," me--"well, what are you like?" "a princess, a stinker, and a big sister," she answered

When I was little I used to:  paint, wear diapers, and "I taked a nap in a crib.  I hate cribs because you can't climb out"


What is your favorite season?  winter because it snows, and summer because you get to swim in the pool, play in the sprinkler, go to your friends' houses a lot, and my birthday is almost here

What is your favorite snack?  pop tarts, me--"really, you don't eat those very much at all," her--"okay, string cheese" (true, she eats string cheese at least once a day)

Food I don't like:  tomatoes

Who is your best friend?  Hannah and Kayla and everybody (Kayla is a sixteen year old girl that goes to our church, and Ada LOVES her)

What is your favorite thing to do with John (I added this one)?  hang out together, me--"what do you like to do when you hang out together?" her--"play like a monster is trying to get us."  (yes, John is obsessed with this game)

If you could make one wish, what would it be?  a princess would come

What is your best memory?  "What is a memory," asks Ada, "something you remember doing," I answer.  "when we got to see Near," answered Ada.

Is there anything else you want to say?  "Are you going to ask me a bad one?" asks Ada, "A bad what?  A bad question?" I ask, "are you going to ask me about a bad memory?" said Ada, "do you want me to ask you that?" me, "yes...it's when the car caught on fire; that's a really good one isn't it?" said Ada (with a really big grin on her face)

What are you most excited about your birthday?  all of my friends are coming

And there you go...my big five year old Ada.  She is a stinker ;)  Like I have already  mentioned, I am feeling rather sentimental about this birthday.  Maybe because she is officially school age?  I don't know.  I think it's because I was looking through her baby book the other day (poor John doesn't even have a baby book, but he has the blog, right?)  Anyway, I was reading something in her baby book that I wrote when she was 9 months old, "I look at your old clothes now and wonder how you were ever that tiny.  I know I will blink and you will be 5 and then 10 and then a young woman.  I guess this is motherhood, wishing the time away then wanting it back again.  Oh Lord, don't let me waste a moment!"  And, of course, she is five now.  And she was just a tiny baby, wasn't she?  It's cliche, but it's oh so true.  The days are so very, very long, but the years are painfully short.  I think the part that overwhelms me the most is knowing all of the things I have gotten wrong over the past five years.  So many failures.  I was talking to a friend who is pregnant for the first time, and I told her that nothing has ever made me feel as inadequate as motherhood makes me feel.  Nothing has made my need for the gospel more painfully obvious than motherhood has.  But, He is, indeed, a God of mercy, grace, and redemption, and that is what I have to teach my children.  I have to say to Ada, that I fail all of the time, and that she fails all of the time, and that striving for goodness is empty and futile.  Instead, we run after a God who will take all that failing and He will redeem it and use it for his glory, and that is my hope as I look back at the past five years and as I look ahead to all of the mothering years stretched out in front of me.  I am absolutely the most unqualified person for this job, but God chose me to be their mom.  Maybe because I would have no choice but to rely on him?  Because there is no fooling myself that I can do this on my own (though I still act like I can most days).  I am so thankful for grace.

As for Ada at age five.  I think this picture sums it up.  One day if she says, "what was I like when I was five?" I will show her this--princess dress, ballet shoes, and art.  And that is her five year old world in a nut shell.  I love this girlie.  She is creative and dramatic and disobedient and sometimes obedient and she challenges me and exhausts me and brings so much life to this family.  Oh how thankful I am for God's timing.  That His ways were so much higher than my and Scott's ways, and that despite the fact that we were so not ready to be parents, God gave her to us anyway.  I have said it a million times, and I will say it again, what a gift!!!! 

My sweet, Ada, I love you my precious girl!!!

us then

And now

(Ada loves to pose, so this is also an appropriate five years old picture.  It's so hard to take her picture these days because she immediately goes into some sort of pose.)