Sunday Letters

{John asked me last week what happened to my Sunday Letters. That was just the motivation I needed to start back up!}

Dear Abbey,
What a fun week we had celebrating having YOU in our lives for NINE years. I really think you love being the center of attention and I really think we all kinda like giving you our attention. In addition to your birthday and getting your ears pierced, you also got to have your first sleepover at a friend's house. Mom and Dad missed you like crazy but we were thankful you had a great time. I think my favorite moment of the week was when you told me on a scale of 1-10 your birthday was a 200! I'm so glad it was everything you wanted!!! We love you, sweetie. So very much.

Dear Sarah,
You are simply awesome! You were a HUGE help to me with Abbey's party and you were really in your element. Thank you! You loved going to the mall this week (three times--whew!--that was a LOT for me but you sure were happy). I'm so glad you found some cute stuff that we both liked and I am always struck by your gratitude, Sarah. I bet you told your dad and me "thank you for my new clothes" at least ten times.  You're welcome, sweetie, you're very welcome. And we love you so much!

Dear Will,
We definitely haven't found our stride lately, have we? Seems like I annoy you more often than not these days but I really think you're such a great kid and a super big brother to your sisters. They look up to you so much whether you realize it or not. I'm glad you got to have some fun with your friend this week because track starts tomorrow and that's going to keep you busy (and probably exhausted)! My favorite "snapshot" of you this week was seeing you looking through our family scrapbooks. We got Abbey's baby album out for her to look through but you got each one out and read them from cover to cover. It was sweet and made my heart happy to see you reading "our family story". We love you, buddy. Very much.

Dear John,
You turned another year older this week. As you like to say, "The older the violin, the sweeter the music". That's so, so true. I loved celebrating you! I know you don't mind sharing your birthday with Abbey but I feel guilty that so much of the focus gets shifted away from you. You're a good man, JB.

Your book deadline is just a few days away and I know you will be so glad to have that behind you. I'm proud of the job you've done and can't wait to read it. You are my favorite writer EVER. Finish strong (you can do it!) and we'll be ready to celebrate with you on April 1.

I love you, J. Even if you wear square pants. ;)

Sunday Letters

Dear Will,
Aside from a few homework issues, you've had a pretty big and a pretty terrific week.
High school registration? SUPER fun!
Your birthday party? Also SUPER fun!
I think my favorite memory of this week was sitting in front of you and your whole row of friends in the high school auditorium listening to you all talk and laugh. You've been friends with most of those guys since fourth grade (and one of them since first grade!) and I hope you all remain friends for a long, long time. You are all great guys and I think you're going to have a blast in high school.

PS: Your dad wrote something sweet about you here. He loves you so much, buddy, and I do too!

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Dear Sarah,
You are such a sweet sister to Abbey. Thank you for fixing her hair yesterday (she loved that!) and for being patient with her and for sharing your cool "big sister" stuff with her. She looks up to you so much...she literally hangs on your every word.

I loved listening to the two of you singing in the van tonight. You guys sound awesome together and you look pretty cute when you share earbuds too. :)

You have the BIGGEST heart, Sarah. You wanted to give gifts to all of your teachers and all of your friends so you spent a lot of time working on Valentines and Valentine goodies this weekend. I hope everyone loves your treats as much as they love you! I love you, sweetie.

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Dear Abbey,
You made me laugh so hard this morning on the way to church. We were talking to Will and Sarah about summer camp and when Will admitted his hesitancy about going, you got frustrated. You were afraid he'd back out and you'd lose your "only child for a week" privileges. So funny.

Your daddy bought you a pillow pet this weekend--a fluffy brown dog. You named her Lily but later changed it to Chip. Your treasured stuffed doggie that you've had since you were a baby is named Chocolate, so you named your pillow pet Chip to make Chocolate Chip. You're a clever one, Abbey, and I love you very much.

I'm also proud of you for reading FOUR books this weekend, and so glad we found this book series for you.

____________________

Dear John,
I think this was the best weekend we've had in a long time--it was perfect!

Thanks for making me laugh. Thanks for staying up late to watch Mad Men with me. Thank you for driving Will and his friends all over the place on Friday. And thank you for our family Valentine dinner date tonight.

This is our 23rd Valentine's Day to spend together and you're still my favorite Valentine. I love you!

____________________

Want to write your own Sunday Letters? You can! Go here to link up.

Sunday Letters

Dear Abbey:
I am so thankful you are finally feeling better! It just breaks my heart when you're sick and I can't do anything to make things better. I think we're all thankful that you're back to your funny self! You were (finally) chosen to be the Star of the Week in your class for this upcoming week and the grin on your face when you told me that your name was drawn was priceless. You've been waiting (not too patiently I might add) for this honor. Saturday morning we picked out pictures and got them printed so you could take them to school tomorrow. You loved looking back at your baby pictures but I had to fight back tears. You are growing up too fast. I love you, sweetie. Sooooo much.


Dear Sarah:
I am so proud of you! You've really found a few things that you enjoy doing and that you're really good at--like Reader's Theater and Duets. I'm sorry your group didn't make it into the finals at your speech tournament yesterday, but I'm super proud of you for sticking with it. I'm also proud of you for waking up super early on Saturday with a cheerful attitude. Your daddy and I often talk about how you're growing up so quickly, but there are still some things about you that are little-girlish. This morning in church you leaned over and put your head over on my shoulder. You do that almost every week and every time you do it, I just melt. I love you, girlie. So very much. And PS: Your daddy wrote something very sweet about you this week. He's pretty crazy about you too. :)


Dear Will:
Well, your freshman registration was post-poned a week because of sub-zero temps and windchill, but by this time next week you will be registered for high school. You'll also be a year older since you'll turn fourteen this week. Fourteen. Wow. I remember the day you came into this world...surrounded by family and friends who loved you from the moment they saw you. I feel really lost some days as I try to navigate your world of Xbox and 8th grade and junk food and girls and all the other high tech stuff you love, but being your mom is a huge blessing. I'm proud of you and I love you, buddy.


Dear John:
I think most of all I just want to tell you thank you. Thank you for driving the kids to school when it's snowy. Thank you for unloading the dishwasher every single morning. Thank you for having coffee ready for me when I wake up. Thank you for locking up at night and for always taking out the trash and keeping gas in my van and for helping me keep the laundry caught up and the other hundreds of things--both big and small--that you do to help me on a daily basis.

Thank you for loving me--especially on days that I'm not easy to live with.
Thank you for loving our children and for being generous with them in ways that they'll remember for a lifetime.

PS: I really love my new vacuum. THANK YOU! And I'm sorry I made a big deal about you running that red light this morning. Grin.
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Want to write your own Sunday Letters? Visit Deidre at For Such a Time as This for details!

Sunday Letters

My friend, Deidre, writes a letter to her family every Sunday. I love this idea so much that when she invited her readers to join her, I was more than willing to throw my self-imposed "No Blogging On Sunday" rule out the window.

Here we go.

Dear Abbey,
(Sounds like I'm writing a letter to a newspaper columnist. Giggle.)
I'm so sorry you've been sick this weekend. You were excited to get to spend the night with your favorite friend on Friday and were so disappointed when you had to leave school early because you weren't feeling great. It would have been your VERY first time to sleep over at a friend's house. We'll make it up to you, sweetie. I promise.


Dear Sarah,
I had a fun time with you yesterday afternoon. Love that you talked my head off in the car. Love that you wanted to look at every single thing in Ulta. I also love that you told me I was your favorite Mommy. Maybe that was because I took you to Starbucks after we did some shopping, but I really just think you enjoy the one-on-one time with me as much as I enjoy it with you. You are so sweet to always say "Thank you" whenever we help you or do something for you. And your generous heart is a blessing to everyone around you.

Dear Will,
You came home from church today and put your pjs back on...that made me smile so big. You love to be at home, but "weekend" plans with friends are becoming more and more the norm for you. That makes me both happy and sad. I like your friends--you've made wise choices in regard to who you spend your time with--and I'm proud of you for that. I just love it best when we're all home together! Every afternoon for the last couple of weeks, you've gotten in the van after school and asked about my friend, Joanne. Your concern and compassion has been so genuine and so touching. I love you, buddy. This week we'll be heading to the high school to get you registered for your freshman year. I don't know if you saw my tears last night when we were discussing your schedule/classes, but they were there...and they were real. Denial doesn't seem to be working for me.

Dear John,
(Giggling again. This time it sounds like I'm writing a "good-bye" letter.)
I know you're under enormous stress right now because of the projects you're juggling. Thank you for working so hard for me, for us. I probably don't say that enough.

Thank you also for always being so quick to forgive and seek restoration when our relationship is challenged. After two "discussions" this week,  you came to me, apologized, and asked forgiveness. I think we both know that I was the one who should have initiated the apology. You continually set an amazing example of humility, sacrifice, and compassion--both for me and for our children. I love you!

I'm also sorry that I missed the class you were teaching at church this past week. I think you know how much I wanted to be there and how torn I was. Thank you for releasing me from guilt and sending me off with your blessing (and your Visa gift card!)

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Deidre would love for you to join her in writing Sunday Letters to your family. More details here.