Our Birthday Girl

Rachel's 15th birthday started off with a surprise at breakfast while we were at RDA in Sugar Land, TX. All the ballet company girls gathered in the breakfast room and surprised Rachel with cookie cake and singing Happy Birthday. There were two cookie cakes and sadly, I only got a picture of one of them. The other one had white frosting and a pink ballet shoe - it was so pretty! Most of the girls ate some of the cookie and then we packed the vans to come home. One of the guys at the hotel was helping me load my van so I set the leftover cookie cakes on the curb while we unloaded the luggage cart. About an hour down the road the girls started asking about the leftovers and suddenly I remembered I had set them on the curb and guess what? They were still there!!!!!! Well, really, they probably weren't still there. I would imagine that at least the unopened one was probably enjoyed by the valet parking attendents who had teased earlier in the weekend that they took French fries for tips : ) Rachel did finally forgive me for leaving her cakes on the curb!

A couple of days later I took Rachel and her friend, Jessica out for lunch and to a movie to celebrate. For our family celebration we made her favorite chocolate cake and had dinner at Cheddars. She also got to stop by the driver's license office and pick up a study guide to study for her driver's permit - oh, no!!
Rachel entered the world just before midnight, March 23, 1994 after 20 *long* hours of labor ending in a c-section. We were overjoyed to have a girl join our family as girls are rare on Robert's side of the family. Rachel was such a good baby! She was quite shy as a preschooler and through early elementary age but she was never quiet at home : ) We started homeschooling when she was in second grade. She's always been a hard worker and always wants to please and do things correctly. Rachel started dancing that same year and hasn't stopped. She *loves* ballet and is a senior company member of Western Arkansas Ballet. She takes class four nights a week as well as many Saturday rehearsals for The Nutcracker and Cinderella ballets each year. Rachel loves the Lord and her favorite passages to read are usually Psalms and Proverbs. The next year should be exciting to see her grow and mature. She's leaving home for the month of July to attend a summer dance intensive at North Carolina Dance Theatre and she'll be learning to drive soon. She's gaining her independence and growing her wings - a scary thing for this mom, yet also a welcome sign of growing up. We love you birthday girl!!