Our eight-year-old girl

Nine years ago, we were at a point where we were wondering if we would ever have children. We had been trying for 9 months with no success and were starting to have tests run and doctor appointments. I remember the awful unknown feeling, wondering if I would ever know what it would be like to be pregnant and have a child of our own. I had prayed and prayed, and finally came to the point where I was accepting that my plans may not be God's plans. Right when the doctor's reports were not looking good, I found out I was pregnant. How amazingly blessed we felt! I know that many others have been through so many more struggles with infertility or miscarriages, and that I only had a little taste of that. But I have to say that nothing in my life has built my faith more, because I absolutely had no control and I was able to see how God was in complete control. That is true, whether he had blessed us with children or not. The work he did in me during that time was invaluable, and I am so thankful for the lessons I learned and the comfort and peace that I know only he could have provided.

That being said, how grateful I am that he blessed us with our first little girl! I can't believe Symantha is 8. I say that with every age, and she seems to be growing up faster and faster.

First birthday

Second birthday

Third birthday

Fourth birthday

Fifth birthday

Sixth birthday

Seventh birthday

Eighth birthday

Symantha at 8

Animated

Bright eyes

Cheerful and easily excited

Sometimes too loud

Scheming, always making a plan or having big, crazy ideas

Creative

Dramatic - Super highs and super lows

Very talkative

Lost in books

Loves Jesus and wants other to also

Good vocabulary

Social butterfly, social planner - always wants to get together with or call friends

Active, loves to go

Deep thinker, questions many things

Caretaker - awesome with Addison and loves little kids

Can be stubborn, argumentative (like her Daddy)

Sensitive, gets her feelings hurt easily by friends. Wants to be friends with everyone

Makes her Daddy and Mommy very proud