Savannah is 16

This is my favorite photo of Savannah in Ethiopia. She didn't want to go. She didn't tell me how much she didn't want to go until we came home. I thought it would be a good experience for her. An opportunity to see the world beyond the U.S. I would have loved to have traveled internationally when I was a teenager, but she is not like me. I guess that's usually how it is with daughters. Savannah has her own interests, struggles with school subjects I loved, and she loves scary movies-I can't sleep after watching one.

Yesterday Savannah turned 16. She was so excited. Turning 16 is a big deal and it means alot in our culture. She can get a driver's license and date.

Savannah was an only child for 15 years. She had both of us all to herself yet she is not the typical spoiled only child. I don't think it had anything to do with our parenting style. I think it is her nature. She has a goodness and sensitivity about her that is innate. I think that's why she didn't want to go to Ethiopia. She knew the poverty we saw would bother her and she wasn't sure how to process what she would experience.

But she did this hard thing. She went to Ethiopia, saw what the world can be like and came home. She survived. She experienced strange and different food. She handled the beggars and boys selling gum on the street. She breathed the diesel fumes and pollution and was o.k. She gave hugs to the children and held every child that climbed in her lap.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet Savannah. She may not be mine much longer. As she makes her way in the world, I hope that she will become the woman that she is meant to be.