Sister, sister!

These two, oh they melt my heart daily. From the moment Hannah was born, no before Hannah was even conceived Linnea loved her. 

When Linnea was around two she started praying for a sister named Hannah. At the time we weren't sure if we wanted another, we were happy, Linnea was so much fun and were enjoying every moment of her twoness. But Linnea kept praying for her sister named Hannah, and a few months later both Joe and I had a deep longing for one more child.

When we told L we were expecting another she gleefully jumped up and down, clapping her hands and declaring, "I knew Jesus would answer my prayer for Hannah." When we tried explaining to her that we did not know yet if it was going to be a girl, that it could be a brother, L (we do call her L) stubbornly put her hands on her hips and fiercely declared, "No, Jesus would not do that to me."

A few weeks latter when the ultrasound showed the baby was in fact another girl we could not of been anymore relieved. Not naming her Hannah never crossed our minds, she was Hannah, the sister named Hannah that L prayed so faithfully for.

Linnea never doubted that it was a girl, so upon telling her the good news she just looked strait at us and said, "I told you, Jesus keeps his promises." And that was that.

Linnea was part of nearly every aspect of preparing for Hannah's arrival. Joe and I spent months praying for their relationship to always be as strong as Linnea hopped for, for them to always be the best of friends.

Hannah arrived, after a very easy labor, and upon entering the room, Linnea joyfully cried, "Hannah, my Hannah, is really here!" (My sister recorded it on video and it gets me every time I watch."

Their relationship has never skipped a beat. They have been the best of friends from that moment on, and would rather be with each other than anyone else. When friends are over they include each other, their friends know that the sisters come in a package. 

They may bicker but they usually self-resolve within seconds, but when they don't our punishment  is loosing to playing with their sister--the worse punishment we could bestow upon either of them.

They have always had their own rooms, I think it helps their relationship by having their own space.

One thing that continuously surprises Joe and I, their personalities are so different, yet they get a long so well. I could write a book about how different they are. People who know them always comment on how glaring different their personalities are.

A couple years ago they started singing a song they made up about their differences, and how much they love each other. Linnea sings something like, "I am a tennis girl!" Hannah sings, "I am a baseball girl!" L sings, "I like ballet!"Hannah sings, "I like gymnastics!" then the chorus they sing together, "But we are sisters, we are best friends, we don't have to be the same to love each other!" It is about as cute as it gets--the song is much more detailed and longer, it changes as they change,

I write this because yesterday was an especially special sister day. It was a rare Saturday that had nothing scheduled after Linnea's morning ballet class. The weather was perfect, they declared it a "Secret Sister Day" and spent hours upon hours in our backyard playing, giggling and laughing. They barely came in for lunch and dinner, and played relentlessly and joyfully until we forced them into showers and bed. My prayer is still their relationship only grows stronger, for nothing to every change it.