Sweet Caroline,

Eight years have now passed since we first welcomed our precious second daughter into the world, and each year has brought more joy than the last. You are growing into such a beautiful young lady, both inwardly and outwardly, and the privilege of raising you is not lost on us. 

• The absolute highlight of your year was the birth of your baby brother. You have always loved babies, and so having one of our very own has given you more joy than I knew was possible. You constantly are asking to be on “baby duty” and you love making Christopher smile and laugh. You really are like a little mama to him and he loves you.
• Similarly, you are also very protective and mothering toward Eleanor. You always include her when you go outside with the big kids, and you take such good care of her. You also do a great job of including her and inviting her to play pretend games with you at home.
• You are truly Anna Kate’s best friend and sidekick. You always have each other to lean on, whether at home, at school, or out in the neighborhood. You love going out to play with friends together, but you are also just as happy spending hours in the downstairs playroom building Lego cities and then playing pretend.
• You’ve now been in the “big” school for a full year (plus a month) and you have absolutely blown us away. You are at the top of not only your class (of 28 kids), but in the top ten of your entire grade level (of almost 200). You take your school responsibilities very seriously and rarely do I have to remind you of anything. Your teacher regularly sends home notes about what a hard worker you are!
• Your biggest struggle at school is that you have too many “best friends”! In all seriousness, there are so many little girls who want you to be their best friend that it is hard for you to divide your time. You are working on learning to be assertive and telling people that you want to spend time with lots of friends, but they are always welcome to join you!
• You truly have a sensitive heart. You hate to feel that you have caused anyone pain, even accidentally. You pick up on others’ feelings and emotions very easily. Our prayer is that God would use your empathetic nature to be a blessing to many.
• You are still continuing dance instruction at the art/music school and you love it! Your favorite style is “Steps” or tap dancing. It could have something to do with your super fun teacher, Māris! In fact, you were wanting to practice so much at home that Daddy went to the hardware store and bought you a piece of laminated plywood to keep in the basement to practice on!
• You are doing so well with violin and are now playing the Minuets in Suzuki book 1. We’ve also found that you really love figuring out and playing songs that you know (e.g. Christmas carols or Latvian songs from school). If I print out new sheet music for you, you will often ask to practice without being told.
• You’ve also begun to really figure out and enjoy “grown-up” board games. You now love to play Catan, Clue, and Monopoly, all games that you weren’t quite ready for last year. In fact, you have some very interesting strategies (purchasing all development cards in Catan, for example), but you often surprise us all and win!
• This year, your big birthday present was going to get your ears pierced. It worked out that Mimi and Papa were here with us and we all got to go together! You were pretty nervous, but you were determined and were so brave as the lady did first one ear, and then the other. 
• Your other “big” present from Mommy and Daddy was a sparkly fanny pack and you would have thought you won the lottery when you opened it. You’ve been wanting one for quite some time and you love keeping your treasures in it and wearing it on field trips, or just around the neighborhood.
• For your birthday party this year, you wanted to invite 13 little girls! Like I said before, you have a lot of friends! Because there were so many, we decided to do an “easy” party, so we did a Saturday morning waffle and pajama party. It was quite a full house, but so much fun!
• Over the past year, you have truly begun to understand the gospel in a deeper way. You had many questions around Easter time last spring and after several conversations with Mommy and Daddy, we believe you gave your heart to Jesus one night alone in your room, just praying and talking with God. 
• Not long ago we asked each of you to share one prayer request for our newsletter and without hesitation, you asked for prayer that you would know the right words in Latvian to tell your friends about Jesus. That is your heart, precious little one.

Caroline Hope, our sweet little Bears, we are so grateful for you. We love you with all our hearts!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy