Happy Birthday Rylee!

Today is the birthday of my favorite people in the world. Today is my friend Rylee's birthday. So today I am wishing Rylee a Happy Birthday!!! She turns 11 today and a few days ago when we asked her how old she was going to be her response was great, "11 baby!!" I love it, she's 11 baby. It has been almost seven years since I first meet Rylee, she was actually the same age as Jennifer is the first time I meet her. I got the chance to get to know Rylee so well because I worked with her mom (my dear friend Chris). Often times after school Rylee would come into my room and want to play. Seriously, would I rather work or play with Rylee, the answer was easy, this little girl had a way of making me want to stop what I was doing and play a quick game of let's go fishing or build something with blocks. Rylee opened my eyes to a new way of looking at life, she captured my heart. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that God brought this little girl (and her family) into our lives for a very specific reason. Two years after meeting Rylee, Jennifer was born. When Jennifer was just a few weeks old we were told she had Down syndrome and while we went through a grieving process it didn't last long because I often thought Rylee and what an amazing little girl she is. God had used Rylee to prepare my heart for an incredible new journey in life. Almost seven years later the girl still makes me smile. She loves our girls to pieces, Jennifer has sort of lost her high ranking since Mikayla came into our lives, it is fun to watch her love them both so much. Rylee's older brother watches our girls on Sunday nights when we have small group and I laugh as we see her in church on those mornings. "Mikayla, Jennifer my house tonight!" is what she always says with such excitement. I thank God for bringing Rylee into our lives, what joy she has brought to us. So Happy Birthday Rylee, enjoy being 11 baby!This a picture of Rylee and Jennifer when Jennifer was just a few weeks old. I searched my pictures and could not find a recent (good) picture of Rylee with my girls, so this will have to do for now.