Birthday Girl

Today is Emily's 18th birthday! Yes, somehow we managed to get another child to adulthood. The year since her last birthday has been a pretty great one so we're going to do a quick rundown of the highlights of the last 365 days for Emily. 
  • International Student Leadership Institute (ISLI) in Germany. Emily was one of six students from her school selected to attend this week-long conference where she learned more about being a leader and made friends from all over Europe.
  • Varsity Soccer. She hadn't played soccer since eighth grade but she jumped back into it, had a great time, and made some new friends. The only downside was that she failed to reach her goal of getting a red card. But she really, really tried!
  • Prom with Joe. Emily has been wanting to go to prom ever since she knew what prom was. She was so excited about it that we went out and bought a prom dress in February, well before she even had a date for the dance. 
  • Student Council. Emily was elected student body vice president for the 2017-2018 school year. It's been a chance for her to use the leadership skills she learned at ISLI and to make a difference in her school. 
  • Bethany! Emily's best friend Bethany came to visit this summer. Moving here was hard for Emily and a lot of that was because she had to say goodbye to a great friend. Having Bethany here for a couple of weeks was really special for her.
  • FSY aka EFY. Especially for Youth in America or For the Strength of Youth in the UK, either way, it was a week-long spiritual high. Emily went to FSY a little reluctantly but came home strengthened, just like the name of the program suggests. 
  • Volleyball. Emily has loved volleyball since she was twelve and her final season was the best yet. Her team won the European Championships and she received the Coaches Award at the end of season banquet. It was actually a year of volleyball with Emily playing on the squadron team with Jared in the spring and coaching a youth sports team over the summer. 
  • Homecoming with Jake. Homecoming was possibly even more fun than prom because she had a role in the planning and execution of the event thanks to her student council responsibilities. Plus she likes her date a whole lot. 
  • Sicily for her birthday. Last year we went to London for her birthday so we had to do something pretty cool this year too. What's cooler than a trip to Sicily to visit your father who you haven't seen for three months?
  • Cheesecake and presents. Today was the actual birthday celebration and it was filled with some of Emily's favorite things: shepherd's pie, cheesecake, movies, and presents. 
Two varieties of cheesecake because you only turn eighteen once!
Luggage has become our family's traditional eighteenth birthday gift.
It says, "Congratulations on becoming an adult, now get ready to move out!"
At least the fact that the luggage was filled with presents softened the blow a little....
Madison always finds the funniest cards! Sadly, Emily was the 1 in 5 who doesn't get money in their birthday card
There's no question which college Madison is hoping Emily will choose!
We love Emily! She's smart, funny, strong, kind, and talented and we're blessed to have her in our family.
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Comments

  1. AleciaNovember 14, 2017 at 2:52 PM

    Man, I love this girl! Give her a big birthday hug for me and I'm so glad she's had such a wonderful year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah MoranNovember 15, 2017 at 12:26 AM

      Alecia you're the best! I'm so glad Emily was lucky enough to have you as her young women leader!

      Delete

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