Anna Kate,

Our precious firstborn daughter. You are nine years old today! Sometimes I get sad about how quickly you are growing up, but then as I see who you are becoming, I am filled with joy. So today we celebrate. We celebrate all that you are, all that God has done in your life, and all that he is creating you to be.

• You begin every morning (early, as you’ve always been an early riser!) with your Bible. You usually read a portion of a devotional and then continue working your way through a book of the Bible. Right now you are reading through the Psalms.
• You have officially become bilingual this year. It has truly been miraculous to watch. You went from not speaking a single word of Latvian, to getting the highest honors in your school. You were even chosen to represent your class last week in a region-wide quiz bowl! Update: we just found out that out of all ten teams that participated, your team of four kids won!
• Not only do you speak both languages, but you love to read in both languages as well. In fact, we simply cannot find books quickly enough for you to devour them. You are constantly asking us to take you to the Ādaži public library (for Latvian books), or for us to download more books to your Kindle (English books). You also still love read-alouds from Mommy and Daddy.
• Speaking of reading, we often joke about finding you “in your natural habitat” either up on your loft bed or down on a couch in the corner of the downstairs playroom, curled up with a book. You would be content for hours in those places.
• While you do love a comfy couch and a good book, you also enjoy playing outside with your sisters and friends. You love sledding and skating and snowball fights in the winter, and bike riding, rollerblading, and swimming in the summer.
• You are developing a true love for and talent in the visual arts. You started art school this past fall two afternoons a week and you love it. You are studying drawing, painting, and mixed media art. You received an award in December for being the most talented painter in your class.
• You are also continuing to grow in your musicianship on the violin. You are playing with more musicality now and are about halfway through Suzuki book 2.
• God has truly blessed you here in our new home with more friends than you could have asked for. I think you invited twelve to your birthday party and they all came! Your biggest problems at school come from too many people wanting to be your friend and arguing over who gets to sit next to you! Our terrace is frequently filled with neighborhood little girls that you have invited over (or who just show up)!
• Another of your favorite pastimes is board games with your family. Favorites these days include Yahtzee, cribbage, Pass the Pigs, Tenzi, Catan, Takeoff, Clue, and the list goes on. You’ve even figured out how to play a couple of those over FaceTime with Grandma and the Hanks boy cousins!
• You are a deep thinker. Sometimes I can just look over at you and know that you are thinking deeply about something and working on formulating into words what you want to say or ask. You aren’t satisfied with just letting things go, you really want to know and understand why and how and what things mean.
• You are an excellent writer. You have faithfully continued to write your monthly newspaper all year. You’ve written several continuing stories and are now working on a series of women who changed the world (based on some biographies you’ve been reading). This has been a wonderful way for you to keep in contact with all of your extended family back in the United States. It’s also been a great way for you keep up your writing in English!
• This year for Christmas, the only gift you asked for was crocheting materials. You have been talking for several months about wanting to learn to crochet, so we gave you yarn, needles, and a beginner’s how-to book. You have taught yourself the basics and have been having a great time learning different stitches and making various gifts for your sisters and your teacher!
• You are such a help to me, especially as we’ve recently been blessed with a new addition to our family (baby Christopher!). I truly don’t know what I would do without you. You help with the laundry, the dishes, the vacuuming, the entertaining of your littlest sister, running errands around our neighborhood, and the list goes on. Sometimes I worry that I depend on you too much, or ask too much of you, but I appreciate you more than you know.
•  It has been so fun to watch you embrace your role as a big sister for the third time. It is so different to watch nine-year-old Anna Kate with a baby than it was to watch you as a toddler with Caroline and Eleanor (although that was precious too). You are completely smitten with your little brother and ask to hold him every chance you get. You tell everyone who asks that he is just the cutest and sweetest brother in the whole world. You’ve also been announcing to anyone who will listen that he is so big and strong he can already hold his head up! I have a feeling you’re going to be one of his biggest cheerleaders his whole life.
• This year has been one of great growth for you. Sometimes you find yourself in an in-between place of not knowing whether you want to be grown up or keep being a little girl, and that’s been hard at times. You are so mature in so many ways, and then at times you just want to be little. And baby girl, that’s ok. My prayer is that you would always be wise in the things of the Lord, but innocent to the ways of this world.

Anna Kate, you are such a precious gift to us, and we are so grateful for you. You have such an important role and place in our family as the oldest child and you handle it with such grace. We love you, sweet girl.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

And here are all of your birthday pictures!