sixteen?!!

b commemorated her sweet sixteen this weekend with a great two-day celebration. on friday, she and a couple of friends made their way to la ronde (the big amusement park just off the island of montreal) for a full day of thrill rides and junk food. they returned at about 11pm, tired but happy. day two of the party was a bit less extravagant — one friend came for a day-long fest of games, food (tacos and arepas homemade by m — yum!), and even a bit of world cup soccer. other than a minor incident in which we had to evacuate the girls due to a house full of smoke, everything went smoothly!

at 16, b is coming into her own. she's become a top student, always near the top of her class. she's a two-sport athlete, competing in soccer and track, and challenging herself at the gym on her 'off' days. she serves as a prefect at westmount high and a leader in her youth group. she talks about, thinks about, and prepares for university on a daily basis. i worry sometimes that she's too driven and too hard on herself (don't know where that comes from), but it's hard not to be impressed with her work ethic and ambition.

i wrote an entire blog entry on her spiritual life a while back, so i won't repeat all of that. i will say that she impresses me pretty much every day with her depth and honesty in wrestling with hard questions about God, faith, and real life. and she too lives up to her name: strong, virtuous, honourable.