Friday, December 20, 2013

A milestone birthday!

We now have three adults in the Lewis household! Yes, Older Daughter turned 18 yesterday.

When she got up in the morning, we all asked if she felt any differently now that she's legally of age. Of course the answer was "No." At least -- not yet.

We had no special plans for the day, so we took a celebratory walk. It was cold and windy, so rather than follow the gravel road (which is exposed) and face the wind, we ducked down a series of access roads. The wind had blown a small dead tree down...


...so we pushed it out of the way.


Lots of frozen puddles which Older Daughter bravely skated across. Me, I had slippery sneakers and circumspectly avoided puddles.


The access road we chose gradually became impenetrable...


...so three of us turned back and headed for a higher road. But Older Daughter decided to scramble up a steep brush-filled incline and wait for us on the higher road. Don told her we were out for a winter walk, not a winter crawl, so she crawled uphill while the rest of us walked around and met her.


(This photo doesn't begin to do justice to how steep the slope was.)


We found ourselves perched on a ledge over the canyon, where we could juuuust glimpse the lake in the distance.



Coyote tracks.



Flock of turkeys.


I asked Older Daughter what she wanted for her birthday dinner. She chose spaghetti.


The girls were invited to attend a choral concert in the evening, in which a neighbor was singing. So we waited until they got home (late!) for cake, ice cream, and presents.


Eighteen candles!


Presents included a new Bible, smaller in size and with a nice concordance, for when she leaves home next September.



Also, two new (old) teapots. This girl loves her tea!


Hard to believe that the little Christmas baby I had eighteen years ago is now a grown-up young lady!

20 comments:

  1. Congratulations, you must be so proud !

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  2. Happy Birthday Older Daughter!

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  3. Happy birthday kiddo. I will warn the world to be on the alert because you are on the way. Many happy returns.

    Huggs..

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  4. WOW! You should have had the Fire Dept. on standby with all those candles! Just kidding, Happy 18th Birthday to older daughter.

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  5. Christmas birthdays! I had no idea so many people were born at Christmas time. My wife's birthday is Dec. 22. My good friend whom I e-mail with every day was born on the 21st. (He lives in northern Montana.) My mother-in-law's birthday is the 19th. An old friend I recently got back in touch with who lives in Idaho was born on the 23rd. My goodness! It appears that March is a very busy month. Must be that hope truly does "spring" eternal, ya think? LOL --Fred in AZ

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  6. Heck I don't even know her but I'm really proud that and 18 yr old knows what a concordance is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. Congrats to your daughter and the rest of your family!

    -B

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  8. Patrice,

    Happy Birthday To Your Daughter, wow 18 years of age!!!
    How time flies.

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  9. Our daughter and the son of friends were both born on December 23 of the same year although many miles apart and well before we met. We discovered that both families celebrated a " half birthday" with some kind of special food, etc on June 23 when things didn't seem so rushed and focused on the birth of Christ.
    Sometimes the "real" birthday gift is tiny since there will be presents from all the family on Christmas. In that case there will be a larger "half birthday" present. It's a chance to have the special birthday feeling of being the important person for that day.

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  10. My little girl turned thirty today. I don't know where the past three decades have gone.

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  11. 18 years...
    Probably feels to you like about 6 or 8 weeks...

    Even if she becomes President of the USA, you'll always see her as 9 years old, doing her homework at the kitchen table...

    That's how my Mom described it, even after I had passed my 40th birthday.



    - Charlie
    '

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  12. That last picture is perfect, sweeeeet!

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  13. That's a good way to celebrate a birthday!

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  14. Happy Birthday! Get ready world here comes Miss Lewis...

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  15. Priceless.

    Happiest of happies to your Baby Girl.

    Ya done good, Lewis Parents.

    Hugs all around.

    A. McSp

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  16. Happy Birthday Older daughter!! Wishing you many more years of God's favor and blessings in your life. May you be a shining light for His honor and glory to the many folks you encounter. May you read a portion of that Great Book each day, so that the Holy Spirit can guide you in all your ways. A guiding light IT will always be, if you obey IT and live your life by IT.
    As a tea lover myself, I love your pots and actually having a cup of Oolong tea right now. Enjoy this day; that is all about you. I hope you have an awesome time celebrating. Lots of hugs and blessings your way....Alicia

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  17. Blessings and happy birthday to you Older Daughter! You are a beautiful a gracious young woman. You have fulfilled God's promise to your parents to be a heritage of the Lord and an arrow in their quiver. Walk in the Truth and know there are many who are rooting for you and who believe in you as you enter the adult world.

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  18. Congratulations! She is a beautiful girl that has a firm grasp on reality--but dreams too, I'm sure! It must be a sobering thought for a momma, to have that firstborn turn 18 years old! All the best, and thanks for sharing your celebration with us.

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  19. Happy Birthday and many Blessings to you!
    Lisa from Canada

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  20. You have a beautiful daughter and I know you are proud of her! As a long time reader, I feel like I've watcher her grow up a tiny bit, lol. :)

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