The Great Sparky Update...

I figure I'll spend the next few days updating you guys on my family...

I'll start with Sparky...

(Photo by Sparky)

Here she is...

You guys missed her more then me...

Admit it...

It's ok, I would too...

This girl is literally a little bubble of joy in a world that sometimes lacks it!

I've started to write this post three times now, but each time my words fail to capture who she is and more importantly who she has become in the past seven months... She has really fully embraced her journey into adulthood recently, but manages to keep her joyful nature.

Like most teens she has immortalized her life in digital photos,

 so I decided the best way to update you guys is in pictures...

(Photo by Cate)

For those of you guys not in the north...

We had a VERY snowy winter...

Blizzard after blizzard...

Here Sparky expresses her feelings about one in mid-February.

(Or this could be because her sister just pushed her into the snow...)

Because of the snow she was forced to do lots of indoor activities...

(Photo by Friend)

Here she is after ice skating with friends...

I guess "indoor" doesn't always mean warm in these parts!

(No, I have no idea why Dakota is licking Jed's head...)

She did spend a lot of time with friends...

(Photo by Sparky)

Sometimes at our house...

(Photo by Sparky)

Or their homes...

(Note them jumping for joy at the lack of snow... this was late April)

(Photo by Sparky)

Even at school...

(In fact she has so many pictures like this I wonder how there is time for school left at school...)

Youth group took up a lot of her time...

And she LOVES it!

(Photo by friend)

(I love seeing kids praying!)

(Photo by friend)

This was after youth group in April and you know it was a long hard winter since it was only 45 degrees out but here they are... Not a real coat in the group!

Her youth volunteered at a Jeremy Camp concert...

Here she is selling merchandise for Adam Cappa...

(Adam Cappa was the opening act... Look him up on youtube... He is really good!)

April also brought a milestone...

Yep.. Her Sweet 16

Here she is with her close friend before the party...

(Photo by Cate)

We rented a hall and hired a DJ... A blast was had by all!

Dance was a huge part of her year...

She takes Hip-Hop and loves it...

Here she is at her spring show.

(That's her in the center standing up)

She also got invited to prom...

By a friend...

(She wants me to make sure you know that part!)

Here's the whole group she went with...

And a close up of her beautiful hair.

(I love this photo!)

She took a couple photography courses this year

and these photos are part of a self-portrait series she did...

(Photo by Sparky)

(Photo by Sparky)

The name of the assignment was "Profiles of Self-Contemplation"

I think she looks sad, which isn't her at all, but I humbly think they are good!

We have spent a lot of time on Islesboro...

(The little island my parents have a cabin on.)

(Photos by Cate)

Here she is waiting for the ferry...

You can kinda see it approaching.

Does it look cold? It is and this was Memorial Day weekend!

It has finally warmed up... But it took it until July before we even needed a fan!

(Plese note the school jacket... This was actually part of her track team uniform... She won't let me post any actual track photos so I guess the mention that she did varsity track this spring will have to do...)

(Photo by Sparky)

This photo highlights our number one struggle this year...

Nope, not the sassy attitude... I love her silly sassiness...

Our struggle is that bra strap! I spend a gazillion hours reminding her to cover those!

Call me old, but I just don't get it...

I not only think it's immodest, but just plain trashy!

I could rant here about this for hours, but I won't. I keep telling myself I am hugely blessed that this is the biggest problem we have with her! (Not that I intend to stop the battle.)

These days she spends most of her time at the beach or hanging out by our little pool with friends... It is a rare day when we don't have a group of teens hanging out here all afternoon and evening, and we love it! I truly love teens, it is definitely my favorite age group! The fact they want to hang out here is great... We had a group here last night around the fire pit until about 1 AM... Great kids, every one of them!

(By the way... I don't know how you mom's of teen boys afford to feed them! I am shocked daily by how much food they pack away!! If I didn't coupon I'm sure we'd run out of food!)

Well, that's Sparky's past 7 months in a nutshell....

(Photo by Sparky)

Let the record show...

 I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!

Thanks for listening,
rebecca d