sixteen.

Marissa is sixteen.  It's really surreal to have her be sixteen.  Oh, what does that song, "Butterfly Kisses" say?  Something like, "Sweet sixteen today... one part woman, one part girl..." 

So true.  Except, really, she's not so much "girl" as she is "young lady" these days.  It's been fun watching the transformation.

I am exceedingly thankful for the gift of Marissa in our lives.  

When she was born, it was so wonderful, so healing to have a baby daughter again after losing Jessica 15 months earlier.  But Marissa is not a replacement for Jessica, don't get me wrong.  

She is a blessing in her own right... with her own personality, strengths, character, sense of humor, and interests.  It's such a fun adventure watching her grow and develop in her walk with God and in finding out who she is.  I just know God has great things in store for her and although it's hard to imagine her leaving home, it will be fun to see where God leads her in those years, too.

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In early December, we had a surprise sixteenth party for Marissa and her friend Hannah, a couple of days after Hannah's birthday.  Here are a few shots from that...

Our friend Alyssa (also Hannah's sister-in-law) made an amazing greeting for them on the wall in their front room.  And got them each a tiara to wear during the party.  Here's Marissa by her name, and with her tiara.

And here is Hannah, with her tiara and by her name.  I think they both had a great time.  There was fake snow in the backyard, and Nate & Alyssa had done an amazing job transforming their house & yard into a "winter wonderland".

The birthday queens with some adoring kids before opening their gifts.

Younger siblings playing wii after the party wound down. :)

And, here are a few shots from Marissa's actual birthday yesterday.  New Year's Day.

Marissa on the morning of her birthday.  She doesn't like how her hair looks here, but I think she looks beautiful. :)

About halfway into the day, I realized that the birthday girl had not only painted her own fingernails, but she had done Zoe's, too.  With sparkly purple nail polish.  What a tolerant dog, huh? :)

Matt found an amazing deal on an iHome speaker for the iPod Touch to plug into.  It has amazing sound, and she loves it.  We also got her a purity ring that we gave her at the surprise party.  It has the word "purity" on it in Greek, which is really cool.

We got our hot tub hooked up & running yesterday, and had friends over for hot cocoa and rootbeer floats.  We had a fire in our firepit, the boys played a game upstairs, the teens had fun hanging out, and the adults visited.  It was a really nice time, and everybody left just after midnight.  :)