17 reasons why I love Honey

My friend Becca from The Texas Darlings did this post in April, I knew right away I would be doing a similar post when my daughters celebrated their next birthdays. Thanks Becca for the great idea {giving credit where credit is due is not very hard!}.


Today my Honey is turning 17. To celebrate here are pictures of Honey on each of her birthdays {or very close} and 17 reasons why I love her so! 

1. Your smile is contagious! Even at one you could light up a room with that infectious smile! 

2. You're caring and gentle. Your need to take care of anything started at two. To this day you always root for the underdog, cry for the hurting and give to the needy. Your decision to work with special needs children came as no surprise. Your heart is pure!

3. Your eyes tell it all. I can tell if you're being mischievous, sincere or straight up lying to me by looking into those big brown eyes of yours! 

4. You walk to the beat of your own drum. 99% of the time you could care less what others think of you. This picture was taken while you were singing and dancing in the rain down Disney's Main Street. You were a spectacle to say the least especially when you stopped in the middle of your show to pick your nose!  

5. You are bossy love to run the show. We don't call you Julie the cruise director for nothing. To assure everyone was having a good time and singing to you just the way you wanted you conducted your own happy birthday song. 

6. You're an incredibly wonderful big sissy! From the time you were old enough to understand what a little sister was you wanted one. I'm sure there are days when you would like to rethink that request but for the most part I know you love her! 

7. You are generous. Your true desire to help others developed when you were 7. This was the first year you had a charity birthday party. I know with certainty that we will never forget this birthday! You made sure every child at local abuse centers had a birthday present to open {gifts from your friends} and you brought in cake {donated from a local grocery store}, ice cream and a full pinata {also a gift}. Being told the definition of abuse was not the same as seeing it first hand, the black and blue marks, split lips, broken arms and the Mom on crutches sent you running to the kitchen crying but did not stop you from completing your mission of given those kids {some their very first} a birthday party. 

8. You love animals. If you had your way we'd have more than we do {Lord help me!}. You loved taking Gator into the show ring and you were a natural at it. I'm sad you gave it up after he died! 

9. You're a beach bum just like your Mommy! I love that we can go to the beach for hours together and just sit and read. 

10. You're adventurous and will try anything once. I'm very thankful there's a minimum age on skydiving, I now only have 364 days until I need to worry about that!

11. You're creative. You can come up with some pretty crazy and fun ideas. Like your fish birthday. Everyone went home with a fish with blue stones and a blue bow around the bowl. I'm thinking I wasn't very popular the next day with the other Moms! 

12. You're a Daddy's girl. I'd love to say that you're my girl but I would be straight up lying. You love your Daddy fiercely and have him exactly where you want him. In his eyes you can do no wrong! 

13. You're persuasive. Whether you're trying to talk your way out of something or rallying your family and friends for a good cause you generally get what you want. When you heard that our troops over seas needed things to occupy them during their time off you jumped on it.

14. You are super photogenic and have a great sense of style! Not many people can sit on a dirty window ledge wearing yellow shoes and make it look this good.

15. You know how to have a good time. You can go from looking like a million bucks to...

...being a good sport in a flash. 

16. You learn from your mistakes. You've made your share, a few have given me grey hair and wrinkles, but you have learned and grown from them which is the true measure of a person. Everyone make mistakes but not everyone recovers so beautifully!

17. You're endearing. I haven't meet a person yet that doesn't like you. You have such a likability about you and you're comfortable, everyone just loves you! 

Somehow you have gone from this...

...to this in the blink of an eye.

I'll be honest, I'm not so sure I'm ok with it. I do know that I am proud of the person you have become and I thank God every day for gifting me on my 24th birthday with the best present ever, I am truly blessed! 


Happy 17th birthday Honey, I love you!