here's to beans

My baby sister is 14 years old.

Hannah is as sweet as they come.  She was the cutest little girl and has become a gorgeous young lady.  There has never been a better baby sister.  She loves us and is always so ready and willing to show us just how much.  No one can make me happier.  She is a light to everyone she comes in contact with.

Hannah grew up faster than any of us.  She can do makeup and hair better than I will ever be able to.  Her style is a unique blend of all of her sisters - she learned how to make our old clothes look fabulous.  She is my go to style consultant.

I am so proud of Hannah and who she is growing up to me.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing her sharing my passion of working with students with disabilities.  She is a peer tutor at her school and is always telling me cute stories.  She has probably come to my class more than my other siblings and has come with me to cheer on students at the Special Olympics.  She has a heart of gold. 

Oh, and she was the only sibling who would cry when I left for school.  Nothing has ever made me feel more loved.

Hannah banana, my beans, my sweet baby sister - I hope you know how much I love you.  You really are something wonderful and I am so grateful to call you my sister.  I am proud of you.  You are a bright, beautiful girl with so much to look forward to. 

p.s.  I hope you get married before you are 24 and old...haha like me. :)

p.p.s. Thanks for spending the night last night when I was too scared to sleep on my own.

xoxo - your big sister.

kindness

I was listening to the radio on my way to work this morning.  Often times they have people text in stories on some scandalous or bizarre topic, but today they were asking for stories on random acts of kindness.  It changed my morning.  There is so much good in the world that we often overlook.  People were excited to send in stories and the hosts were happy to read them.

My family was touched by the many acts of kindness we saw last year.

We also met/heard of many others whose stories touched our hearts.  A few of them were recently in the news.

Though Porter and Lexe were diagnosed with different cancers completely, they started and finished treatment close to the same time and were both diagnosed while attending Alta High School.  I haven't met Lexe, but she has been such an inspiration to me and reading this article reminded me of how amazing she is.  She won her fight and is now preparing to play soccer at the University of Arizona.

When talking about her fight she says, "Getting sick was the hardest thing, but I learned to slow down and focus on what's important, and that's family and faith.  It was difficult, but if I were promised I would get the experiences and blessings I did, I'd do it again."  Amazing right?

Read her article here.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Zach Sobiech and his song "Clouds".  CNN recently met with Zach.  You can watch that here.  Zach is a hero.  His story melts my heart, makes me want to cry, and brings a smile to my face.

p.s. If you haven't downloaded his song "Clouds", go do it.