Happy Birthday my sweet Fancy Cara!!

Today, June 20th, my first born precious baby girl turns 3. I cannot even begin to imagine where my life would be had she not joined our family back in 2006. And oh what a change it was. I had planned on taking some prolonged time off from my awesome job at ConocoPhillips (5 months), which put me going back to work right after Thanksgiving, 2006. One of the very first questions my new boss asked me when he offered me the (internal) job at CoP, and I blurted out I was pregnant (I got the new job 2 days after I found out!!) was, "that's fine, you aren't planning on staying home are you?" My response, "Of course not!! My husband is a school teacher, I couldn't afford it even if I wanted to!" ;) The minute I held her the first time I knew I'd do anything to not have to go back to work. Once we got home, after a few weeks, I mentioned it to Eric. He was oh so supportive, and we decided I'd try to find something part time so we could get out of debt. God is so amazing in His plans and provision!!

Anyways, fast forward to 2009 (wait, WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN!?!??!?), and my girly girl is so amazing. She's beyond me. I never thought I'd have a girly girl that liked playing dress up. She has lots of friends, both boys and girls, and she can hang with both! She likes playing tea party, dress up, doctor (with my old playskool set from when I was a kid), kitchen, with blocks, she LOVES reading, she loves making Micah laugh, she loves cuddling, she enjoys watching the occasional movie, she loves swimming and anything outside. She loves her family. She is so sweet. She has a temper. She is impatient at time (don't know where she gets that!). She likes to learn. She enjoys reading her bible stories each night. She LOVES to dance and we can't wait to find her a dance class here in Katy this fall. She loves all music. She likes her puppy dogs (ok, I guess we can stop calling them puppies as they are almost 9 and 5!). And her most recent interest is Fancy Nancy. So we are having a Fancy Nancy tea party, with homemade tablecloths and miniature table runners for the kids tables, place cards, and dress up!! I can't wait. I think Eric (yes, he admitted it) and I are more excited than her at this point :). It'll be a lot of people crammed in my little house, yet again, but I can't wait!! I will post pictures at some point tomorrow.

Cara,

Our sweet girl, we pray over you each night as you go to bed. We pray for you to come to know Jesus on a personal level at a young age, so your Daddy and I can train you up in the way you should go, His way, so that when you are old you won't depart from it. We pray for your heart to be obedient, kind, patient, gentle, loving, peaceful, and self-controlled. We pray that you know how much we adore our little girl, and how much you changed our lives. We are so thankful for you and your brother. We love you immensely and are enjoying every minute of raising you to be Godly men and women. Jesus, bless our sweet Cara and be near to her.

Happy 3rd Birthday Cara Bell! :)